She didn’t disturb him.

But she wanted him to know she was always working hard.

One day, she encountered Professor Zhang Zongshun at the entrance of the institute.

Professor Zhang was already over eighty, his hair completely white, but he was in good spirits and walked steadily. Seeing her, he paused for a moment, then smiled.

"Sisi? You’ve grown so tall?"

She smiled and greeted, "Hello, Grandpa Zhang."

Professor Zhang held her hand, asked about her studies, her life, her health. She answered everything one by one. He still spoke slow-paced, making people feel at ease.

Before leaving, Professor Zhang said, "Study well, and be a good doctor in the future."

She said, "I will."

Professor Zhang looked at her back and said to the person next to him, "This child, she almost didn’t make it back then. Look at her now, how wonderful."

The person next to him said, "You and Professor Yang saved her."

Professor Zhang shook his head and said, "She was the one with determination, such a young child endured so much without shedding a tear. I knew this girl would achieve great things."

Sisi didn’t know about these conversations, she only knew, her life was given by many people.

It was Grandpa Zhang who took her in, Professor Yang who saved her, her parents who stayed by her side, those doctors and nurses who cared for her for over three years.

She owed them too much.

So she wanted to become a good doctor to repay this kindness.

Sisi always had great grades. The teacher had said, with her level, getting into the best high school in Nandu Province wouldn’t be a problem. But she still felt she wasn’t working hard enough.

Every morning, she got up an hour earlier than others to memorize vocabulary and read passages. Every night, she stayed up an hour later to review the day’s lessons and prepare for the next. On weekends, while others went out to play, she stayed home to do exercises. During winter and summer breaks, while others traveled, she tutored herself.

Her mother felt sorry for her, sometimes getting up at midnight to see the light in her room still on, she would knock and come in, saying, "Sisi, it’s too late, go to sleep."

She said, "Almost done, just two more questions."

Her mother said, "Don’t tire yourself."

She looked up at her mother, smiled, "I’m not tired."

Really not tired.

Because when there’s a goal in the heart, even tiredness is sweet.

Once, she went to the institute to find her mother and ran into Yang Ping coming out of the laboratory, holding a stack of documents. Seeing her, he stopped.

"How’s studying recently?" he asked.

"Quite good," she said.

Her gaze fell on the materials in his hand, densely printed words on those papers, with some charts she couldn’t understand.

"Professor Yang, what are you holding?"

Yang Ping glanced down, smiled, "Oh, it’s research materials on a biological preparation using adenovirus as a carrier. It’s what cured your illness."

She paused for a moment.

Adenovirus, she had heard this term. In those medical books she secretly peeked at, in those knowledge she desperately tried to grasp. But she had never truly seen, what it looked like, how it worked, how it pulled her back from the brink of death.

"Sisi, do you know what adenovirus is?" Yang Ping asked.

She thought for a moment and nodded, "I understand a little."

In her spare time, she read medical books. She studied diligently, made her way through book after book, accumulating quite a bit of knowledge. Not completely understood, but more or less.

Yang Ping smiled, eyes revealing a kind of gratifying light. He said, "When you go to Medical University, you’ll learn it then, study well, it’ll be useful in the future."

She said, "I will."

Yang Ping patted her head and walked away. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

She stood still, watching his back, a surge of determination swelling inside her.

Someday, she wanted to understand these things. To be like Professor Yang and use them to save people.

And that K Factor, she also wanted to figure out what exactly it was. She only knew that thing saved her, killed those damn tumor cells in her body, letting her survive. But how it worked, how it found those malignant cells, how it triggered the "apoptosis program", she didn’t understand at all.

She really wanted to understand.

Her mother walked in and sat beside her.

"Sisi, what are you thinking?"

She looked at the lamp outside the window, said, "Mom, do you think I can really become a doctor in the future?"

Her mother followed her gaze, also saw that lamp.

"You can," her mother said, with undeniable determination in her tone, "As long as you’re willing, you definitely can."

She said, "But being a doctor is hard, you need to learn a lot, it takes many years."

Her mother said, "Hard is not afraid. You got through when it was tough, what’s there to be afraid of?"

She thought it over and felt her mother was right.

Yeah, got through when it was tough.

During those chemotherapy days, she vomited until the sky spun, couldn’t eat anything, yet gritted her teeth and held on. In those post-surgery days, she lay in bed unable to move, pain kept her awake all night, yet she made no sound. In those K Therapy days, she had a high fever up to forty degrees, was in a coma, yet survived.

It was so hard, yet she got through.

What’s there to be afraid of?

She suddenly smiled.

"Mom, I will definitely become a doctor."

Her mother stroked her head, "Mom believes in you."

Outside the window, that lamp was still bright.

She looked at that lamp, silently said a sentence in her heart: Professor Yang, wait for me.

I will definitely become your student.

Definitely.

Sisi finished her homework, told her mother, then went downstairs.

She wanted to go to the institute’s entrance to have a look, not necessarily to see Yang Ping, but just wanted to have a look.