Chapter 67

Qin Chuan returned home, and it was already evening. Old Qin and Qin Chuan’s mother did not ask where their son had been. They were very trusting of Qin Chuan.

"Have you eaten?" Old Qin asked.

"Yes, I have." Qin Chuan scratched his head, remembering that he had forgotten to call home. His parents must have waited for him to eat for a long time.

"You naughty boy, you didn’t come back for dinner, and you didn’t even call." Qin Chuan’s mother glanced up at him.

"I forgot." Qin Chuan laughed.

"Did you go on a date with a girl?" Qin Chuan’s mother asked.

"No, I went to a colleague’s house for a meal." Qin Chuan said.

"When are you going to bring your colleague over for a meal? You can’t keep freeloading at their place. When they come to our house, give me a call in advance." Qin Chuan’s mother said.

Qin Chuan was about to mumble something and go to his room.

"Huh?" Seeing that Qin Chuan didn’t respond, his mother put down her work and turned around, "Did you hear me?"

"I heard. They live close by, but our place is far away. They might not want to come." Qin Chuan said. He didn’t dare bring Jiang Lingling home yet. After all, they hadn’t officially confirmed their relationship. Bringing her home would mean they had to confirm it. Qin Chuan didn’t know what he was hesitating about.

After Qin Chuan entered his room, his mother smiled at Old Qin and said, "Our son seems to be in love."

"How do you know?" Old Qin was rather careless in such matters.

"I can tell. If it were a male colleague, he would have agreed right away. So, he must have gone to a female colleague’s place for dinner. He hasn’t even eaten breakfast at home recently. It shows they’re getting along well." Qin Chuan’s mother said.

"Why didn’t you ask him just now?" Old Qin asked.

"We shouldn’t ask. He’ll tell us when it’s the right time. Our son has good taste." Qin Chuan’s mother smiled proudly.

Qin Chuan returned to his room and practiced the first movement again. His body only felt a slight warmth, no pain, and he felt full of energy. Then he started practicing the second movement. The second movement was still very difficult. As soon as he started, the excruciating pain made him feel like he was dying, extremely intense.

But Qin Chuan persisted for a long time until he couldn’t hold on any longer. He had been practicing the second movement for several days in reality. Although he couldn’t complete it perfectly, his progress was still quite fast. Qin Chuan estimated that the time to complete the second movement might be shorter than the first. That is, the time to complete the ten basic movements might be shorter than expected. Of course, he didn’t know the difficulty of the subsequent movements yet. With experience, his progress was indeed much faster. Qin Chuan expected to complete the second movement smoothly in a few more days. The proficiency of this movement was already around eighty percent. Of course, the higher the proficiency, the slower the improvement.

When Qin Chuan’s body was drenched in sweat, he couldn’t even bend a finger. He then exited the system, took a shower, and returned to his room to continue learning in the system. His enthusiasm for learning was even greater than when he studied. However, learning in the simulated classroom was not boring at all; it felt like playing a game. After a round of the game, the knowledge was naturally acquired. No wonder Qin Chuan was more motivated to learn, feeling like he was binge-watching a series.

During the evening English study, Qin Chuan’s English score had unknowingly improved to 85 points. Above 60 points, daily conversation was no problem; above 70 points, it was almost native-level standard English, with no issues for living in an English-speaking country; above 80 points, he could read any foreign material, truly mastering the language. If he reached 90 points, he could even become an English language expert.

At this level, Qin Chuan felt his English was almost mastered. He decided to write the paper. In the simulated classroom, he wrote the paper directly. With more virtue points, the simulated classroom had a 10-fold time advantage. He could also use his mind to conceptualize the paper, which would then be automatically generated based on his imagination. Of course, he still needed to retype the content on his computer in reality.

After completing the paper, the system gave it an 88-point evaluation. There were no grammatical errors, and it fully met the requirements of a paper. The system even evaluated the medical level of the paper, which was not high, only basic popular science, with a practicality rating of half a star (out of five stars). However, Qin Chuan knew that this standard was from 500 years in the future. In the present, the value of the paper was hard to evaluate, but it was definitely better than half a star.

Although Qin Chuan completed the paper independently, according to domestic customs, many people’s names would be listed. Qin Chuan didn’t want to stand out; after all, maintaining good relationships with colleagues was important for the future.

The next day, Qin Chuan printed out the paper and gave it to Cheng Guanhua to review.

"So fast, the paper is already written?" Cheng Guanhua was very surprised.

"I got help from a classmate with good English. Director Cheng, please check if there are any issues." Qin Chuan gave a plausible reason. If he said he had mastered English in such a short time and written the paper himself, it wouldn’t be believable.

"Don’t put me in a difficult position. I studied Russian in college. I don’t understand English. Is your classmate reliable?" Cheng Guanhua asked.

"A high school classmate, now studying English, and has been in graduate school for over a year. Their undergraduate degree only takes four years." Qin Chuan said.

"Then it should be fine. Submit it first and see. If it doesn’t work, we can revise it. Anyway, I think the content of your paper is good." Cheng Guanhua said.

"Alright, Director Cheng, I’ll list you as the second author. This paper wouldn’t have been possible without your guidance. Also, I plan to list a few colleagues from the department. Dr. Wu is so capable, I feel uncomfortable listing him." Qin Chuan said.

"Me as the second author?" Cheng Guanhua was surprised.

"Since you guided me." Qin Chuan smiled.

Cheng Guanhua laughed, "Thank you then."

This was very common in China and did no harm to Qin Chuan. It was just a paper, and the hospital’s rewards would only go to the corresponding author. There would be no issues with future promotions. Moreover, some treatment methods had indeed been discussed in the department, so listing their names was appropriate.

"Director Cheng, remember, if your name is listed, don’t deny it later." Qin Chuan smiled.

Cheng Guanhua chuckled.

Qin Chuan returned to the department and submitted the paper to the *Journal of Preventive Medicine*.

Wu Xiaoming had been in high spirits recently. His mailbox received messages from journal editorial offices every few days. Although about half were rejected, several were accepted. He had already had five papers accepted, which was quite a high output. He didn’t plan to waste the rejected ones and submitted them to other journals.

With five accepted papers, Wu Xiaoming felt he had the capital to talk to Cheng Guanhua about some conditions.

"Director Cheng, I’d like to discuss something with you." Wu Xiaoming entered Cheng Guanhua’s office.

"Speak your mind. I prefer straightforwardness." Cheng Guanhua said.

"Director Cheng, as you know, the hospital encourages us to treat patients well and also to publish academic papers. Recently, I’ve been responding to the hospital’s call, summarizing some of my case experiences and lessons learned during treatment, and writing several papers to submit to medical journals." Wu Xiaoming said.

"That’s a good idea. But we should focus on treating patients. If you feel capable of writing papers, you can share your experiences and provide valuable insights to your peers." Cheng Guanhua spoke in an official tone, not particularly fond of Wu Xiaoming.

Wu Xiaoming, now arrogant, ignored Cheng Guanhua’s attitude and didn’t pick up on his subtle hints: "Director Cheng, that’s exactly what I thought. So, I’ve been working hard and have written several papers. I’ve submitted them to some academic journals, and I’ve had quite a few accepted. Five papers have been accepted."

"You have five papers accepted? Are you kidding?" Cheng Guanhua asked.

"It’s true. Here are the journals where my papers were accepted, and the papers I’ve published." Wu Xiaoming handed a piece of A4 paper to Cheng Guanhua.

Cheng Guanhua glanced at it and understood the situation. The journals were of very low quality, which explained why Wu Xiaoming could get accepted so easily. Moreover, the titles of the papers suggested that their content was largely the same, making Cheng Guanhua frown.

"Are these cases all handled by you?" Cheng Guanhua asked, frowning.

"Most of them are, but some were handled by colleagues. I carefully reviewed their cases." Wu Xiaoming said.

"Did you get the other doctors’ permission to use their cases? I see that their names are not listed on the papers." Cheng Guanhua noticed that only two names were listed: Wu Xiaoming and Zheng Yuanmeng.