Her mind was a complete blank, but she still forced herself to imagine the scenario.

If Dr. Jiang were really standing in front of her, asking that question...

"I... I... I’d say yes, I would," she said.

Just then, the screen suddenly froze.

"Hello?" Jiang He leaned closer to the microphone. "Can you hear me?"

"Hello, hello... Dr. Jiang? Your video is frozen..."

"I’m frozen on my end too. You..."

Before Jiang He could finish, the QQ window went black, and a system notification popped up:

[Your internet connection has been lost. Please check your network settings.]

Jiang He: "..."

’What is this internet speed? When is the 5G era going to get here?’

「Meanwhile, in a girls’ dorm at North Normal University.」

The moment the video call dropped, her roommates erupted.

Liu Xiaotian was exasperated. "Shen Xiaoyu! What are you doing? What are you even doing?! How could you just agree like that?!"

Shen Yu buried her burning face in her hands, not daring to make a sound.

Yan Tong analyzed calmly, "Logically speaking, it’s possible Jiang He was just joking, going along with the story about the student’s proposal. If that’s the case, your overly serious answer might put pressure on him."

"Exactly!" Liu Xiaotian immediately agreed. "How can you take something said online so seriously?"

Xu Juan crossed her arms. "Shen Xiaoyu, I know you’re throwing yourself at him, but you can’t be *this* eager. He hasn’t even confessed to you yet. You can’t just agree because he said something casually online, right? Shouldn’t there be a little ceremony involved?"

Amidst her roommates’ chattering critiques, Shen Yu kept her face firmly hidden in her hands.

"Aiyah, I know... Please stop, everyone. I won’t do it again..."

"Like hell you won’t."

Xu Juan scoffed, feeling like she could see right through Shen Yu now.

"What good are your promises to us now? The moment you see Jiang He, you’ll surrender instantly, won’t you?"

Still hiding her face, Shen Yu mumbled, "I don’t know..."

Xu Juan frowned.

’Those two are so sweet together. It’s a good thing. They’d definitely be happy if they got together.’

’But, as her best friend, she felt a girl should be a little more reserved in a relationship. You can’t skip any of the proper steps.’

’But right now, the girl wasn’t listening to anyone. Her mind was completely filled with her Dr. Jiang.’

’Looks like I’ll have to step in and help.’

’Since I can’t get through to Shen Yu, I’ll have to start with Jiang He.’

Xu Juan found Chen Hao’s number.

Chen Hao was Jiang He’s good friend. If she could influence Chen Hao, she could influence Jiang He through him.

Her core idea was simple: she had to let Jiang He know that the proper formalities were essential. He couldn’t just skip steps because he knew Shen Yu liked him!

Xu Juan quickly typed out a text message and hit send.

...

「At Southern Medical University.」

After the internet cut out, the atmosphere in the guys’ dorm was completely different from the girls’.

Wang Bo: "Holy shit! Old Jiang! That was awesome! What a savage move!"

Li Zijian also exclaimed, "I’m impressed, truly impressed."

Everyone fully approved of and praised Jiang He’s direct approach.

Guys, after all, tend to think more simply and directly.

If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

Just charge ahead and get it over with!

Amidst the noisy cheering, only Chen Hao sat silently at his desk.

Just then, the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.

Chen Hao quickly took it out to look.

Sender: [Xu Juan].

Chen Hao: "!!"

He grabbed his phone and rushed out onto the balcony.

After a single glance at the message, he started giggling foolishly as he quickly typed a reply.

Jiang He also walked out onto the balcony, planning to wash his face to clear his head.

Pushing the door open, he saw Chen Hao grinning like an idiot.

Jiang He casually teased him, "What’s up? Don’t tell me Juanzi finally replied to you?"

Chen Hao jumped, his hand shaking so much he almost dropped his phone.

He quickly put his phone away, stuffed it in his pocket, and gave a dry laugh. "No, no, I just saw a funny joke on the forums."

Jiang He turned off the faucet, grabbed a towel to wipe his face, and gave Chen Hao a second look.

’This kid hasn’t been bought off by Xu Juan, has he?’

But Jiang He couldn’t be bothered to dig deeper.

He knew Chen Hao’s personality; even if he really was a spy, it wouldn’t amount to much.

Jiang He hung up the towel, turned back into the dorm room, and prepared to get to work.

Sitting back down at his desk, Jiang He first opened QQ and sent a message to Shen Yu.

[The connection is too laggy. Let’s not video call for now. I’m going to get some work done. Talk later.]

She replied instantly.

[Okay! Go get busy! I won’t bother you. [Bear nodding.gif]]

He closed the chat window and logged into Dingxiang Garden.

Inbox: 99+.

Jiang He first browsed through the posts casually.

Soon, he found a post related to him.

Title: [A new lease on life! Grateful for the guidance of the great Zhiyu, the patient is now out of danger!]

The post was from Gu Yizhou.

In it, he described in detail the desperate situation of his girlfriend’s worsening severe pancreatitis. He explained how he received a reply from "Zhiyu" on the forum and, using the stepwise minimally invasive treatment plan, successfully had the surgery performed at Southern Medical University First Affiliated Hospital.

Gu Yizhou’s words in the post were extremely sincere, the entire text filled with gratitude for Zhiyu.

Jiang He closed the post and opened his inbox.

Most of the private messages were from people who had seen Gu Yizhou’s post and had come seeking help.

Some sent examination reports; others sent long, detailed descriptions of medical histories.

But as he scrolled down, Jiang He discovered that amidst the long string of requests for help, there were also a few messages filled with harsh insults.

Jiang He clicked on one of them.

[Why could you save that person with pancreatitis but not my dad? I sent you his medical records the day before yesterday, and you just replied that there was nothing you could do! Are you looking down on us? Or did you just not get a red envelope from us? Do you even deserve to be called a doctor?]

He opened another. The content was more or less the same, but the tone was even nastier.

[What fucking expert? You’re just a fraud. You see a complex case like my mom’s and just say sorry. Quack!]

Looking at these angry words, Jiang He let out a deep sigh.

He wasn’t angry.

Having been a doctor in two lifetimes, he had seen too much of humanity’s complexity in his clinical practice.

A little help earns you gratitude, but a lot of help can earn you resentment.

Some things were just like that.

"I’m sorry," he whispered at the screen.

For many illnesses, there was truly nothing he could do.

After deleting those private messages, Jiang He continued scrolling.

Suddenly, a long message caught his attention.

[Hello, Dr. Zhiyu. I apologize for the intrusion. I am Wang Xiaoqing, a professor at Southern Medical University’s Medical School.]

[I have carefully studied your "step-up approach to minimally invasive therapy" for severe acute pancreatitis with infection, which you posted on the forum. I am very interested in this plan.]

[Currently, domestic research in this area is relatively lacking. I believe that with sufficient supporting clinical data, this plan could absolutely be developed into a high-quality academic paper for publication in a top-tier journal.]

[If you are interested, I hope we can discuss the possibility of a collaboration, whether it’s exchanging information on surgical details or the subsequent writing of the paper. I look forward to your reply.]

After reading the private message, Jiang He was slightly surprised.

This was truly an unexpected windfall.

’My professor’s wife... uh, Professor Wang is right. This step-up treatment plan is indeed revolutionary for 2008. It’s definitely good enough for a high-impact SCI paper.’

However, Jiang He quickly calculated in his head.

This wasn’t part of his plan.

His main goal right now was to advance the peripheral blood miRNA early screening project.

Writing a paper on clinical surgery would inevitably take up a lot of time and energy. The cost-benefit ratio was too low.

’...But it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let Professor Wang Xiaoqing handle it herself.’

’I would only need to provide the core theoretical support and could get a top-tier publication out of it for free.’

’However, I can’t expose my alt’s identity. I plan to use this account to post many cutting-edge ideas in the future, and it would be hard to explain later on.’

With this in mind, Jiang He replied:

[Hello, Professor Wang. Regarding this plan, I previously had an in-depth discussion with a student from your university. Many of his insights coincided with my own. If you wish to move forward with this paper in the real world, you might want to talk to him.]

[He is from the Class of ’06, Clinical Medicine, Class 2. His name is Jiang He.]