In October, the summer heat in South City was gradually fading, leaving a hint of coolness in the mornings and evenings.

Jiang He woke up on time every morning. After washing up, the first thing he did was chat with his wife.

When he missed her too much, he would give her a call.

"I have a full schedule of classes today, and I have to go to the study hall this afternoon." Over the phone, Teacher Shen’s voice was as energetic as ever.

Jiang He leaned against the balcony railing, watching the students occasionally walk by below. "Make sure you drink plenty of water," he replied. "Did Juanzi make sure you ate breakfast?"

"I did, I did. She’s fussier than my own mom now."

"Is that so."

"Yep! It’s all your fault for planting a spy on me!"

"Hehe, is that so."

At the end of their conversations, it took a great deal of willpower to hang up the phone before he could start his day’s work.

He had completely stopped attending his major-specific courses.

None of the professors cared about his attendance.

His life had essentially become a straight line between two points: the library and his dorm.

In the library, he would pore over massive amounts of literature.

The database search speeds of this era were far inferior to those of later generations, so he needed a great deal of patience.

From time to time, he would also make a trip to Affiliated Hospital No. 1.

With the temporary pass given to him by Director Liu Jianbang of the Critical Care Medicine Department, he could enter and exit the ICU without any issues.

Gu Yizhou’s girlfriend was recovering smoothly post-surgery, and the infection was under control.

Each time he went, he would check the patient’s various vital signs, chat a bit with the on-duty Lin Peidong about her condition, and then leave quietly.

The days passed by, one after another.

Finally, the day of the miRNA project’s recruitment assessment arrived.

At eight in the morning, Jiang He, holding a stack of exam papers, pushed open the door to an empty classroom on the second floor of the Clinical College building.

It was a venue he had borrowed in advance from Brother Sun.

According to his original plan, only six people were supposed to be here for the assessment today:

Chen Hao, Li Zijian, Wang Bo, Yi Xiangwan, Gu Yizhou, and Cheng Xiyao.

However, when he pushed open the door, he found at least twenty people in the classroom.

Jiang He: "..."

He immediately glanced at Chen Hao.

Chen Hao gave a dry cough, averted his gaze, and reached up to scratch the back of his head.

The case was solved in an instant.

He didn’t even have to guess the cause; it was obviously Chen Hao, that big mouth.

Chen Hao told his neighbor, his neighbor told the class monitor, and the class monitor told the upperclassmen.

Within two days, the news that "Jiang He has a major project and is recruiting internally—just pass the assessment to join the team" had spread like wildfire...

Even Lu Xiaolin showed up.

"Senior," Jiang He said, his voice tinged with resignation. "Why are you here too?"

Lu Xiaolin’s expression was very serious. "I want to give it a try too and join your project team."

Jiang He asked, "Don’t you have your own research project?"

"Boss Yang said your project team has a boundless future. Besides, I’ve pretty much finished the final work on my paper. It’s currently in the review stage, so my schedule is wide open. What, Junior, you don’t want me to participate?"

After hearing this, Jiang He said, "Of course I’d want an outstanding senior like you to join."

Lu Xiaolin turned, found a seat near the front, and took out his pen, looking like he was ready for a big fight.

Just as he sat down, two more people walked over.

Zhou Yang and Lin Yue.

Zhou Yang said, "Jiang He, we came to take the test too."

Jiang He: "Oh? And why is that?"

Zhou Yang glanced at Lin Yue beside him and said with a serious tone, "Now that Lin Yue and I are officially dating, we’re definitely heading toward marriage. So I have to work hard now—study hard, do research, and save up more money so I can provide for our little family in the future."

Lin Yue: "Indeed."

Zhou Yang suddenly seemed to remember something and contradicted himself, "No, wait. Lin Yue only agreed to be my girlfriend; she hasn’t officially married me yet. We can’t say that yet, right, Lin Yue?"

Lin Yue pressed her lips together and said nothing.

Seeing her silence, how could Zhou Yang not understand what she meant?

So he started chuckling, laughing like the foolish son of a landlord.

Jiang He stood at the podium, a polite and gentle smile on his face.

But inwardly, he had already made a decision.

’No way. There is absolutely no way I’m letting these two pass the assessment.’

’The moment the exam is over, I’m kicking them out.’

After dealing with Zhou Yang and Lin Yue, Jiang He spotted another character.

Li Wei.

Now this was truly a surprise.

Jiang He asked, "You’re here for the exam too?"

Li Wei said proudly, "Didn’t I say it? I’ll always respect Jiang He and always respect Clinical Class 2! I’m completely won over now, for real. Your theories, your skills—I, Li Wei, am thoroughly convinced. I just want to improve myself now."

As he spoke, he pulled a USB drive from his pocket and secretly slipped it into Jiang He’s hand.

"This is all the good stuff I’ve collected over the years. It’s all on this drive. From all different countries, high-def, uncensored, and there are even some out-of-print resources. I hope you’ll let bygones be bygones and give me a chance."

Jiang He: "..."

He was at a loss.

He could only sigh and say, "Go find a seat."

Li Wei let out a sly grin and eagerly trotted to the back to find an empty seat.

Jiang He continued to scan the classroom.

He saw Pan Wen, a fifth-year senior, and Tang Pei, a senior as well.

After witnessing Jiang He’s deep blind suturing in the advanced class, the two of them clearly had a whole new understanding of his abilities.

They were currently sitting in the middle section, quietly reviewing the materials in their hands.

Some of his own classmates had come as well.

For example, Liu Qiang from the neighboring dorm.

The kid had his head down, staring at his phone, obviously texting or chatting on QQ.

He didn’t even have a pen on his desk.

The kid hadn’t reviewed at all; he was clearly just here to fill a seat and mess around.

He’d often encountered this kind of situation back during the postgraduate entrance exams.

On the first day of the exam, the classroom would be packed, but the number of people would dwindle with each subject until, in the end, only a few were left...

Jiang He glanced at the time. It was about time, so he announced:

"Since so many people showed up, please spread out a bit. Leave an empty seat between each person. Put all your materials away."

A rustle of activity filled the classroom.

Jiang He walked along the aisle and began to distribute the exam papers.

"The multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions are worth forty points. The remaining sixty points are for short answers and two case study analyses."

"You have two hours. A passing grade gets you on the team."

Once every person had a paper, the classroom quickly fell silent.

After handing out the last paper, Jiang He returned to the podium to proctor the exam.

A short while later, Xu Chen happened to be walking past the door.

Upon seeing Jiang He, he quietly stepped inside and said, "You guys are having an exam?"

Jiang He glanced at him and nodded. "Yeah."

Xu Chen said, "Our team is also next door, in the conference room, holding a prep meeting for our preliminary review."

Jiang He already knew about this, so he wasn’t surprised and just grunted in acknowledgment again.

Xu Chen’s gaze fell on the few remaining blank exam papers on the podium. He paused for a moment before asking, "Got any extra papers?"

"Why?"

"How about... you lend me one to take a look?"