September 3rd, Thursday, nearing autumn according to the lunar calendar.

Long County is quite elevated, though there's still the city heat, the morning and evening chill invades the body.

Lu Cheng was wearing a jacket and riding a little electric scooter to work. He only took off the jacket and hung it on his wrist after he arrived at the hospital.

Lu Cheng went straight to the doctors' lounge, preparing breakfast for Professor Chen Song, but to his surprise, Chen Song had arrived even earlier than him.

At that moment, Chen Song was flipping through the book "Xu's Bone Setting Technique" that Lu Cheng often read.

"Xiao Lu, you've been acting all mysterious lately. Is this what you've been watching?" Chen Song asked Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng nodded with a smile while folding his jacket into the cabinet, "Yes, Teacher Chen. You're here now, shall we have our usual breakfast? Dumpling noodles?"

Chen Song's eyebrows straightened with a muscle pull, "You still watch this, can you manage it all?"

"In my opinion, you don't need to fight orthopedic teams over fracture cases. Let it go when you have to."

"Your emergency department doesn't have the surgical rights for fractures, why bother?"

Lu Cheng said, "Teacher Chen, it's just that you haven't been teaching me new things lately. So looking at it during duty hours is quite good, since I can't perform surgeries, but I can still do manual repositioning."

"As for surgical indications in patients, it seems orthopedics wouldn't turn them away."

Chen Song raised his chin, "Hey, why are you being sarcastic with me? So cheeky, huh?"

"It's not that I don't want to teach you; you also need to give me the chance to teach."

"About Spleen Preservation Surgery and Gallbladder Preservation Surgery, you've reached the peak at your current level, and to go further, you need to integrate with embolization and laparoscopy."

"Your Director Lin can't manage to get laparoscopy, so even if I teach, it's useless."

"Regarding Gallbladder Preservation Surgery, there's still an absolute contraindication that's a no, even I would run when encountering it."

"As for Liver Preservation Surgery, it's too complex. With less than a month left, I won't introduce it to you and leave you feeling helpless and uncomfortable.

After Chen Song finished his pep talk with Lu Cheng, he said, "So now, the orthopedics department at your hospital just means you can take fracture and dislocation cases, and they won't interfere?"

"You decide life and death on your own?"

Lu Cheng nodded and sighed, "It's mainly that I do manual repositioning, which touches the core foundation of Director Peng and their surgeries."

"But I'm not who I was before. As long as I find my footing, I'll do what I can. If I can't, I'll refer them."

"Patients come, I can't just ignore them."

"What I see and know, I won't hide and keep silent." Lu Cheng expressed his attitude.

In orthopedics, Xiang Kuihua is determined to teach him a lesson, but Lu Cheng has no choice.

The opponent has strong connections, even with the state. Lu Cheng can only block moves as they come.

Moreover, Lu Cheng can foresee that after Professor Chen Song leaves, the storm he encounters might be even more "violent", the pitfalls even more, with no one to help him fill them.

He can't be forced into quitting, right?

Actually they aren't forcing, just leaving him to fend for himself.

Waiting for Lu Cheng to make a mistake and then putting him down completely in this category of illness!

"So how's your basic skills going? Recently, Tong Yuan'an hasn't been replying to me much; what's up between you and him?"

"Had a fallout again?" Chen Song asked Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng looked at his suturing skill basics [Suturing Skill (Specialization 20/20)].

[Current Skill Points Balance: 12.1!]

Lu Cheng's current skill points acquisition rate averages out to 4.5 points a day. After all, surgeries don't stop, and Lu Cheng also needs to ensure rest to maintain surgery quality. It's impossible to be on call 24 hours a day, every day.

In the past ten days, the acquisition rate has even been slightly lower than before.

Then, the skills Chen Song taught him were maxed out to Specialized Level by adding points, and the remaining skill points were added to Suturing Skill.

Lu Cheng is still quite honest, adding a point every couple of days, but even at such a rate, it still made 'Tong Yuan'an' go into a huff.

Lu Cheng doesn't understand why Professor Tong Yuan'an enjoys shutting himself out, kind of like having a 'reclusive' personality.

"Teacher Tong said he wants some quiet. But his wife isn't named 'Quiet', right?" Lu Cheng made a somewhat common joke.

Chen Song clicked his tongue, saying, "Then you've probably really struck at his most cherished pride, and even bent it."

"Otherwise, Tong Yuan'an wouldn't react this way."

"Alright, since he won't teach you Suturing Skill, I'll start teaching you Hemostasis Technique. Hemostasis is one of our emergency department's core skills and the foundation of many surgical fields. Master it, and you could even compete..."

"Yeah, starting tomorrow, otherwise you'll always say I never teach you anything."

"Soft-spoken when fed, short-handed when taking, helpless!~" Chen Song arrogantly wagged his tail.

He understood why Lu Cheng hadn't completed Spleen Preservation Surgery and Gallbladder Preservation Surgery. Lu Cheng's basic skills weren't enough; he had reached a threshold for the time being.

Had Lu Cheng's Hemostasis Technique basics not been improved and yet managed to break through these two paths, Chen Song would really have to pull off something outlandish...

Lu Cheng was certainly not so unbelievable, but Chen Song really hadn't had enough of enjoying the 'aftermath' of being a teacher, so after some deliberation, he thought of starting a new lesson.

"Teacher Chen, I want to ask you something. What kind of level is needed to win a prize in the provincial competition?" Lu Cheng asked Chen Song.

Chen Song replied, "Mm, to achieve good results, you need a level just slightly weaker than Tong Yuan'an's Suturing Skill and comparable to my Hemostasis Technique. Actually, my Hemostasis hasn't improved in a long time."

"Too difficult..."

On hearing this, Lu Cheng's expression stiffened; that's quite a challenge.

But when he thought about it, the provincial Young Physicians Skill Competition set the age limit at 35.

Chen Song and Tong Yuan'an aren't that old, both around thirty-eight or thirty-nine years old.

Improving basic skills becomes increasingly difficult later on, from specialization to the next level, needing at least 40 skill points!

Lu Cheng once calculated that many experts from Xiangya Second Hospital spend a full twenty hours of practice to gain around 1 skill point...

So from specialization to beyond requires '800 hours'; even with eight hours of diligent practice every day, doing nothing else other than practice, it still requires 100 days of effort.

It's impossible to practice without distractions. It's already amazing to extract two hours a day.

That's 400 days of tireless hard work, and if a surgery occasionally delays, then it's 600 days, 700 days.

An intelligent person's speed might be faster, but with many distractions, it still takes a considerable amount of time.

According to Chen Song, for Lu Cheng to win in the competition.

He must break through the blockade of 'prodigies' younger than him, who are also associate professors and associate chief physicians at Xiangya Hospital...

The further he learns, it's said, advancement isn't something mere practice time can dictate, relying only on talent and opportunity.

"So, how do you feel about what you learned from this book?" Chen Song saw Lu Cheng silent and tried to change the topic.

Lu Cheng smiled and replied, "Not too bad. If encountered, I can use it!~"

Lu Cheng's smile seemed harmless, but in Chen Song's mind, a turbulent storm was brewing.

Why do you seem to learn everything and manage to grasp it all?

"True scoundrel!"

"An academy scoundrel is more disgraceful than a real scoundrel, most infuriating are people like you!~"

"Don't talk to me anymore." Chen Song lowered his proud head, refusing to speak further with Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng: "..."

Why? Because he always wanted to be this kind of person but never achieved it, so he despises such people the most.

Outsiders have several refined terms for such people: "overworker", "freak", "ultimate", "genius"...