The next morning.

His student counselor, Sun Jianguo, sent him a message:

[Jiang He, the diagnostics professor told me you didn’t show up for class yesterday afternoon. And you left Old Xie’s pathology class early in the morning? You’re a third-year now. Don’t think you can just slack off and I won’t do anything about it. Reply ASAP!]

Jiang He finished washing up, hung his towel with one hand, and blindly typed a reply with the other: [Brother Sun, sorry about that. I was at the library all afternoon gathering materials for the Clinical Pathology Mindset Competition. I forgot to ask for a leave of absence.]

Two minutes later, his phone vibrated.

Sun Jianguo: [For real? You’re not just making up an excuse to skip class, are you?]

Jiang He: [It’s really for the competition. I want to try and get into Professor Yang Xu’s group.]

This time, the reply didn’t come for several minutes.

Sun Jianguo: [Professor Yang? You’ve got some high ambitions, kid... Alright, then. Being motivated is a good thing. It’s better than going to an internet cafe to play games.]

Jiang He: [Got it.]

Sun Jianguo: [Good luck, then. Not many students from our year even signed up. If you actually pass the preliminary round, you’ll make me look good. Prepare well, and leave a written leave request on my desk.]

Jiang He stared at the words, feeling a little emotional.

Brother Sun, despite being a bit of a nag, was actually very good to his students. In his previous life, he had helped many students find internships during the dual-selection job fair.

Brother Sun’s encouragement was also part of the reason he had decided to take the graduate school entrance exams back then.

However, from his current perspective, a third-year student passing the preliminary round was probably a once-in-a-lifetime miracle...

Jiang He went to Cafeteria No. 2, bought two meat buns and a cup of soy milk, and ate on the go, arriving at the library before 7:30.

He headed straight for the medical reading room on the third floor.

As he reached the window area in the far back and rounded a bookshelf, he paused slightly.

Cheng Xiyao was already there.

Her textbooks and notebooks were arranged neatly on her desk, along with a pink LocknLock water bottle.

Hearing footsteps, she looked up.

Their eyes met.

Cheng Xiyao froze for a moment, a flicker of surprise in her eyes.

Clearly, running into Jiang He in different places two days in a row felt like too much of a coincidence.

Jiang He’s expression remained neutral. He simply gave a polite nod as a greeting.

Then, he walked straight over, pulled out the chair diagonally opposite her, and sat down.

He set down his backpack and took out his notebook and a copy of *Abdominal CT Diagnostics*.

Cheng Xiyao glanced at Jiang He twice, looking a little puzzled.

’...CT diagnostics?’

That book was dry and obscure.

’Does he actually understand it, or is he just putting on an act?’

Cheng Xiyao shook her head and looked away.

’In any case, it’s fine as long as he doesn’t disturb my reading.’

An hour later.

Footsteps echoed from not far away.

A tall young man in a gray hoodie walked in.

His hair was a bit messy, and he wore thick, black-rimmed glasses. Tucked under his arm were several foreign-language journals, and in his hand, he carried a slightly misshapen laptop bag.

Cheng Xiyao recognized him.

—Lu Xiaolin.

A legendary figure in the clinical college. Although he was only a first-year graduate student, he had already published two pathology papers in core journals as an undergraduate.

She had heard that even the director of the pathology department at Affiliated Hospital No. 1 held him in high regard, giving him special permission to participate in case conferences for difficult and rare cases.

This was a true academic prodigy, on a completely different level from undergraduates like them who were still worrying about final exams.

Cheng Xiyao was just wondering if she should go over and say hello.

Suddenly, Jiang He, who was sitting opposite her, stood up.

He closed his notebook and walked straight toward Lu Xiaolin, who was standing in front of the bookshelf.

Cheng Xiyao was a little taken aback.

’Jiang He... knows Lu Xiaolin?’

By the bookshelf, Lu Xiaolin had just pulled out a copy of *Robbins Pathology*. Noticing someone approaching, he assumed they were also there for a book and stepped aside.

He didn’t expect Jiang He to be heading for him. Jiang He took the initiative to greet him, "Hello, senior. Sorry to bother you. I’m Jiang He from the ’06 clinical program."

Lu Xiaolin nodded politely. "Hello, junior. What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to ask you about determining microinvasive foci in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma."

Jiang He spoke at a steady pace. "Current textbooks mainly recommend CA19-9. Yesterday, I read your article on intraepithelial neoplasia published in the *Chinese Journal of Pathology*. In the discussion section, you mentioned the polarity reversal of MUC1."

Lu Xiaolin: "?"

He stared blankly for a second, then asked in surprise, "You’ve read my article?"

Although the article had been published, its ideas were so ahead of their time that almost no one in the college paid it any mind. Even his own advisor thought he was splitting hairs.

"I have. It was very enlightening."

Jiang He continued, "But senior, while MUC1 is sensitive, it lacks specificity when differentiating from benign hyperplasia. I was thinking... if we combine it with testing for the loss of the SMAD4 gene, could we increase the early diagnosis rate even further?"

Lu Xiaolin’s pupils contracted slightly.

"SMAD4..." He chewed on the term. "Uh, you mean the DPC4 gene? Right, yes... I’ve read foreign reports on it, but it seems no one in the country has combined the two in a clinical setting yet."

He tucked the book under his arm and leaned closer to Jiang He. "You’re also interested in pancreatic pathology? Which group are you in?"

"I’m not in a group yet. I’m preparing for the Mindset Competition because I want to join Professor Yang’s team," Jiang He said. "But I feel that pathology slides alone have their limitations. If we could combine them with intraoperative frozen sections and imaging guidance..."

"Intraoperative frozen sections are really difficult! If the biopsy site is even slightly off, you get nothing but false negatives!" Lu Xiaolin spoke rapidly. "Surgeons these days have no idea how to send us samples. The tissues they cut out are a total mess..."

"That’s why I want to improve the surgical procedure," Jiang He interjected calmly. "If we could perform multi-point needle biopsy for localization before resection, combined with your pathological diagnosis, it could work."

The two of them stood there by the bookshelf and continued to chat.

Their voices were low; you couldn’t make out what they were saying unless you listened carefully.

But Cheng Xiyao was listening carefully. She heard every single word, but when they were strung together, she couldn’t understand what they meant.

Cheng Xiyao was completely bewildered.

’Jiang He... can actually hold his own in a conversation with Lu Xiaolin?’

Lu Xiaolin was even nodding frequently, his expression showing approval from time to time.

The scene filled Cheng Xiyao with an unprecedented sense of unfamiliarity...

A few minutes later, their conversation ended.

"Junior, come find me at the lab anytime!" Lu Xiaolin took out an old-fashioned Motorola phone. "Let’s exchange numbers. I happen to need someone with clinical knowledge to help me sort through the data for this project."

"Okay, thank you, senior."

Jiang He saved the number and put his phone away.

He hadn’t expected such a pleasant surprise coming to the library today.

In his previous life, Lu Xiaolin had been one of his comrades and was also in Professor Yang Xu’s group.

The guy was very talented, and since his research focus was different from his own, he would be very useful in the future.

Jiang He didn’t mind getting to know him ahead of schedule.

Returning to his seat, Jiang He had no intention of showing off. He simply went back to studying.

This time, Cheng Xiyao secretly glanced at him, remaining silent for a long time.

’Jiang He... really seems different from before.’

Finally, she took a deep breath.

She turned a page in the book on her desk.

’...Well, things are what they are. I should just focus on studying for now. Studying is never the wrong choice.’