In the first month after birth, most families leave their children to sleep and eat.
“Stay still, don’t move. You lie down, I’ll go take care of it,” Shen Fangyu quickly stopped him.
However, other people’s children and their own were completely different matters. Despite being somewhat talented in soothing children, whenever he heard his own daughter cry, Shen Fangyu couldn’t help but panic and become flustered.
He hurriedly put Xiaoxiao on the baby crib and rushed to get a diaper. However, the little girl’s cries sounded like an alarm, growing more and more urgent. Shen Fangyu’s hands shook and he accidentally knocked over all the baby products piled up on the table.
Jiang Xu: “…”
Fortunately, Bao Nian’s ears were sharp and she rushed in at lightning speed, forgetting about the milk she was warming up, saving the chaotic room.
“Sister Bao…thank you for your hard work,” Shen Fangyu took the coaxes child from her with a guilty conscious.
“It’s fine, it’s all part of my job.” Bao Nian looked calm on the surface, but sighed inwardly and began picking up the scattered items.
New parents were always like this, getting startled at every little movement their child made. It wasn’t a big deal, as Bao Nian had seen it all before and knew it was normal. But having the baby listen to a thesis every day since she was born…
Bao Nian thought she might not be familiar with the current trends in education, as she had never seen anything like this before.
———–
When Shen Fangyu was preparing to submit his paper to a journal, Zheng Qi came to visit again, this time bringing another man whom Shen Fangyu knew as Professor Qu, one of the main founders of a domestic journal that had been rapidly developing in recent years.
Back at home, Shen Fangyu sat beside Jiang Xu on the bed and relayed Zheng Qi’s message: “He wants us to submit our article to a domestic journal. On the one hand, it can open a back door for us and ensure the quickest publication, preventing Western journals from getting the news ahead of time and leaking it during the review period, thus putting our country’s propaganda in a passive position.”
“On the other hand, since ten years ago, the top authorities have spent a lot of money to bring Professor Qu back from the top journal in M country and have been trying to raise the level of domestic English-language journals.”
“You know Professor Qu’s journal, it has always been supported by the state, and its development in recent years has been good. Although the impact factor is not as high as the journal we had planned to submit to, it has also gradually improved in recent years.”
“Our paper will certainly have a high citation rate, and if we can submit it to a domestic journal, it can give be given another push. Maybe the impact factor will even increase next year.”
“But Zheng Qi also said that it’s fine if we want to submit to a higher-scoring Western journal. He’s just making a suggestion and won’t interfere with our decisions,” Shen Fangyu said. “I haven’t given him a direct answer yet. I wanted to come back and hear your opinion.”
Jiang Xu remained silent for a while before saying, “You have to think carefully. If you submit to a lower-scoring domestic journal, it will affect the value of your evaluations for things like job titles.”
After all, most of the current evaluation systems are based solely on articles, and journal scores and classifications are highly valued in various evaluations.
“I was thinking that since we decided to publish this paper not for the purpose of enriching our resumes and not for job titles, then let’s give our country’s medical field a boost.”
“Wherever this paper is published, it will definitely have a high citation rate. Everyone will come to see our country’s journals. If the score is a little low, it’s okay. I don’t mind. But if we miss this good opportunity for promotion, it will be gone.”
Shen Fangyu had “I want to submit to a domestic journal” written all over his face.
He asked Jiang Xu in response, “If it were you, what would you submit to?”
Just a second ago, Jiang Xu was still persuading Shen Fangyu, but he answered decisively, “Domestic.”
“I knew we had the same idea about this,” Shen Fangyu smiled. “Okay, then I’ll submit to a domestic journal.”
They wrote their paper quickly and it was published quickly too, thanks to the efficiency of the journal, which saved them a lot of waiting time.
On the day the article was published, the official media in Z country appeared calm and composed on the surface but in reality, they were making a lot of noise about it in their countries, making sure that most Western scientists, including Dr. Kenn, knew about it. The relevant staff members didn’t even dare to drink water due to the excitement.
Dr. Kenn received the notification from his assistant before going to bed. At that time, he was brewing drowsiness to soothing music, but when he heard the news, he immediately sat up from the bed.
“It’s impossible!”
After roaring at his assistant, he paced back and forth in the bedroom for several rounds, swearing countless dirty words, and finally repeated firmly: “This is absolutely impossible!”
In fact, not only Dr.Kenn, but also countless Western media outlets questioned the article and sought experts to analyze the paper and related data.
Dr. Kenn even downloaded the article and stayed up all night reading it carefully from beginning to end, not missing a minute of the surgical video that lasted for several hours.
He originally thought that the Z country patient who left him would definitely have gone to Dr. Albert. He never thought that there would be Z country doctors who could perform this surgery.
At first, he had a rather critical attitude and thought that this article was most likely fraudulent. After all, fraud is not uncommon on the academic stage. He even found pen and paper to record any loopholes that might be exposed in the paper or video to support this speculation.
However, as he read on, his anger and disbelief gradually dissipated with the passage of time and nightfall.
There wasn’t even a word left on his notebook.
As a professional doctor, Dr. Kenn knew after reading the entire paper that it must be real.
This case was very similar to the surgery he performed, so familiar that he could tell at a glance whether it was fake or not.
The surgeon even specially wrote a sentence at the end of the paper thanking Dr. Kenn for his encouragement and inspiration. Dr. Kenn didn’t know if it was modest or sarcastic, but he believed that it was probably the latter.
He sat on the red leather sofa in the living room, smoking half a pack of cigarettes in the dim light of the evening. In the smoke, the highly respected doctor looked somewhat tired.
He remembered this Dr. Shen. He had asked him many times if he could communicate the details of the surgery with him, but he didn’t want to waste time on a Z country person, so he almost never paid attention.
But he never thought that such an ordinary person would have such great skills.
Although the surgeon only replicated his surgical plan, surgery was not a theoretical question. Dr. Kenn understood that practice is always harder than it seems. This surgery was not easy to replicate, even he himself did not have the absolute confidence to do it again.
The courage to try and eventually complete this surgery also showed that the surgeon had a considerable skill and a calm and composed mentality.
How could such a be a county Z doctor?
Dr. Kenn even speculated whether he was a foreign doctor working in Country Z, but soon, online information helped him dismiss this. It was indeed a local Chinese doctor, who had not even studied abroad in M country.
Dr. Kenn was not young anymore, and his memory seemed to be stuck in his twenties and thirties. In hus memory, excellent doctors from country Z would come to the US for exchanges, studies, and green cards. They said country Z did not have a good environment or top-notch education, so he naturally thought that the local doctors there used the cheapest equipment to perform surgeries that were not worth mentioning.
Until today, he first reflected on whether he was too stereotyped.
Dr. Albert also received the news and called Shen Fangyu after reading the paper.
At that time, Shen Fangyu had just finished the arranged interview above, and when he received Dr. Albert’s call, he asked, “Are you here to congratulate me?”
“Of course!” Dr. Albert’s tone was very excited: “You did it, Shen! I feel happy whenever I imagine Dr. Kenn’s mood now. You can hardly imagine how much I want to see his expression.”
Shen Fangyu chuckled without any emotion and did not answer Dr. Albert’s words. In fact, Zheng Qi told him that foreign professionals were now working overtime to analyze whether there are traces of splicing, modification, or editing in the video and audio he uploaded, and they were scrutinizing all the data he uploaded one by one with the attitude of nitpicking.
Byt they were also prepared to respond to the dirty water poured by Western media at any time.
In fact, discrimination still exists. The same paper was published, and while there was only praise and celebration when Dr. Kenn published his, there were doubts and nitpicking when it was his turn. Double standards were everywhere.
However, as Professor Hao said, Country Z will have more and more rights to speak.
“But Shen…!” Dr. Albert said: “There is something I shouldn’t say, but I still feel very sorry for you.”
“The case of this surgery is too similar to Dr. Kenn’s, you are lucky, and the surgery went smoothly, but you are also unlucky.”
He said: “You almost completely adopted Dr. Kenn’s surgical and treatment plan, which will make your paper appear mediocre compared to Dr. Kenn’s original paper and greatly reduce its international influence. He is Dr. Lucky, and you are Dr. Study. It has no characteristics, is not exciting, and has no innovation and breakthrough.”
Obviously, the fact that Dr. Kenn stole the lead authorship still haunts Dr. Albert to this day. When Shen Fangyu’s paper came out, all he could think about was this matter.
“Dr. Study?” Shen Fangyu asked in response. “Is this the media release you prepared for me?”
Caught off guard, Dr. Albert paused. “Shen…”
“I know ‘Dr. Lucky’ was your doing, and I can guess how you want to use my surgery to promote yourself.”
The smile on Shen Fangyu’s face gradually cooled. “It’s okay. It’s your freedom to rely on this method to promote yourself, but Dr. Albert…”
He said, “I have no misfortune. Whether it’s this surgery or every surgery, I don’t want any sudden twists or difficulties to highlight how skilled I am. I’m happy to have the opportunity to be Dr. Study.”
“Well,” Dr. Albert smiled bitterly, “ actually… if you want to expand your influence, I can also help you. I have a first-class professional publicity team, although the price is a bit expensive, but the effect should not disappoint you.”
“I am very grateful for your guidance before the surgery, and I also thank you for coming to congratulate me,” Shen Fangyu pursed his lips. “But I don’t want to be a celebrity doctor.”
He hung up the phone after he finished speaking, and Dr. Albert tactfully did not call again.
It was a chance meeting on a journey. Different paths do not meet, and more talk is useless.
One month after Shen Fangyu’s paper was published, Western scientists who were using microscopes to nitpick finally gave up finding flaws in his paper.
Later, I don’t know who said that Z-country people bury themselves in their work, and most of them are not good at expressing themselves, let alone a Z-country doctor who has not studied abroad and may not even speak English well, so those politicians with ulterior motives sent an invitation to Shen Fangyu to come to M country for a conference, intending to criticize him in person
If he didn’t come, they can directly question whether he is guilty.
After discussing with Zheng Qi, Shen Fangyu finally agreed to participate in the conference .
Jiang Xu had just recovered and on the one hand, he wanted to go out and relax, and on the other hand, he was mainly worried that Shen Fangyu would be in trouble abroad, so he decided to go with him.
Zheng Qi sent two assistants to accompany him throughout the process, and Shen Fangyu expected to receive countless inquiries during the conference.
Jiang Xu, who was wearing a black suit, sat in the large auditorium and watched his lover get interrupted several times during the presentation , still maintaining a non-arrogant and calm smile while smoothly answering the questions of those experts.
The originally scheduled one-hour conference lasted four hours due to the other party’s repeated questioning. Shen Fangyu stood and spoke for four hours, with almost no pause in the middle and his voice was hoarse by the end.
Finally, after answering a young professor’s question, he waited for a long time, but no expert in the auditorium raised their hand or got up again.
Perhaps the wheel-like Q&A made them realize that it was not easy to find fault in this aspect, or perhaps after listening to this presentation , they truly understood the significance of Shen Fangyu’s research.
After all, details and familiarity cannot be faked.
Being able to remember every insignificant detail of this surgery, even answering without thinking, and even explain the thought process— This was something that not even Dr. Kenn could do in his presentation .
Shen Fangyu breathed a sigh of relief then picked up the thermos on the table and took a sip of water. He smiled slightly and said to the silent experts, “Do you have any other questions?”
Jiang Xu couldn’t help but cover his face with his hand and laughed softly.
Whether it was a debate during his school years or later presentation s, Shen Fangyu always behaved like this. In his professional field, he was confident and arrogant, clearly knowing that the other side was left speechless by his argument, yet he still had to say, “Do you have any other questions?” in a pretentious manner.
It was infuriating for the opponents, but it didn’t prevent Jiang Xu from feeling great today.
A small reporter, who was sitting in the corner and was probably not an expert as he could not understand those long speeches, raised up his hand. He was probably given the responsibility of bringing back news, so he stared at Shen Fangyu’s thermos, and asked, “Professor Shen, may I ask why you’re not drinking the bottled water prepared by the organizer?”
This question was actually quite easy to escalate, and it was easy to create various speculations, such as disrespect for the organizer or being too arrogant.
However, Shen Fangyu calmly said, “Because this is warm boiled water my partner made for me this morning.”
Jiang Xu felt very helpless at the way Dr. Shen fed dog food in this situation. He picked up a similar thermos from the table, took a sip and smiled with his head down.
The discussion about “warm boiled water” filled their ears, with some people asking what it was and more people questioning if it was drinkable or if it tasted especially bad.
Eastern mysterious drinks may be difficult to be recognized in the West, Jiang Xu thought, but Eastern academics will eventually gain recognition in the West.
Surprisingly, after the presentation ended, a man who had been sitting in the front row but hadn’t said a word throughout the presentation suddenly walked up to Shen Fangyu.
He was dressed in a suit and looked elite and businesslike.
Jiang Xu was helping Shen Fangyu organize the materials that had fallen on the table when he saw the man approach. He thought that he had some questions, but to his surprise, the man looked at the two of them and directly offered an olive branch to Shen Fangyu.
“Our hospital is quite famous throughout M country, and I’m sure Professor Shen has heard of it,” he introduced himself and said to Shen Fangyu, “As long as you’re willing to come to our hospital, immigration, salary, and even your children’s education are not a problem. If you have other requirements, we can discuss them.”
Shen Fangyu refused, “Sorry, I have a good life and a good job in my home country. I have no plans to immigrate for now.”
However, his blunt rejection did not affect the man. He looked at the identical rings on Jiang Xu and Shen Fangyu’s ring fingers thoughtfully and provocatively asked, “What about marriage? Will your country… allow same-sex groups to get married?”
“Dr. Shen,” he said, “I suggest you not make a hasty decision. We can talk first.”
Even if the two were indeed in a romantic relationship, this kind of blunt speculation about their sexual orientation in passing was too offensive. Shen Fangyu’s expression immediately turned cold and he was about to speak when Jiang Xu held his hand.
“As far as I know, M country is a country that highly respects privacy and would not offend its citizens in this way. Perhaps because we are from Z country, you think you can speculate about us without restraint,” Jiang Xu’s voice was light but powerful, “You appreciate Dr. Shen’s talent but do not respect his privacy. This alone cannot be compensated for by any benefits.”
He looked at the blonde gentleman and said slowly, “Decades ago, you didn’t believe socialism could take root in this land. After the Soviet Union broke the treaty, you didn’t believe Z country could manufacture nuclear weapons. And just a few months ago, you didn’t believe Z country doctors could perform this surgery. Just like how you don’t believe that one day, the rights of the same sex community will be fully guaranteed in our country.”
He asked back, “Without respect and trust, how can we talk about cooperation?”
“Our country may still need to develop and progress in certain aspects, but I am willing to wait,” said Jiang Xu. “Dr. Shen is also willing to wait.”
The M countryman who was trying to undermine them looked green and white in the face. He awkwardly smiled and didn’t even remember to give his business card before turning and leaving.
Shen Fangyu leaned on his chin with one hand, his eyes full of smiles as he stared at Jiang Xu and praised, “Little firecracker, you’re getting better at speaking.”
Jiang Xu gave him a glance and handed him a box of throat lozenges, saying lightly, “ Take some medicine.”
