Chapter 205 - 204: Seeing is Believing

Chapter 205: Chapter 204: Seeing is Believing

Arriving a little late, Yu Zhiming quietly slipped into the group standing behind Academician Tan.

He sized up his three fellow doctors from the United States, and it didn’t take long for him to tell them apart.

The first one Yu Zhiming identified was Claude Su, a forty-seven-year-old Chinese-American physician with black hair, a round face, and a medium build.

The fifty-five-year-old physician, Gede Kant, was tall and burly, with brown hair and a bulbous nose.

The forty-two-year-old surgeon, Werner Schuler, was tall and thin with blue eyes, a cleft chin, and brown hair.

Yu Zhiming also noticed that while Academician Tan and the others exchanged pleasantries with the three Americans, Qiu Yi would occasionally approach one of them and murmur a word or two of introduction.

He then remembered that Qiu Yi had completed a year of advanced training at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States and hadn’t been back in China for long.

Qiu Yi probably knew these three American doctors from Johns Hopkins Hospital.

He was here this time to act as a guide and translator...

After exchanging pleasantries in English for a while in front of the Liver Disease Research Center, the group entered the building and took an elevator to a meeting room on the fourth floor.

Since this was a medical exchange and not a formal conference, the chairs in the meeting room were arranged in two curved rows facing a whiteboard and a projection screen.

Qiu Yi sat behind the three Americans.

Yu Zhiming, for his part, sat behind Academician Tan.

As they were all medical professionals, there was no need for idle pleasantries. After Academician Tan gave a brief welcoming speech, the medical exchange officially began.

The Chinese-American, Claude Su, was the first to speak.

He started by projecting the case file of a liver disease patient, including symptoms and relevant test results, and began a discussion with Academician Tan and the others about a treatment plan.

Yu Zhiming stuck to his plan of listening without speaking, paying close attention to their heated discussion, and even their arguments.

But after listening for just a short while, Yu Zhiming was dismayed to find that he couldn’t follow their train of thought.

Yu Zhiming understood each of the English medical terms they used individually.

But when they were strung together, he was lost.

There was a whole series of transformations and processes required to connect one medical term to the next.

By the time Yu Zhiming figured out the intrinsic link between two of the terms, he’d find that a dozen more medical puzzles had already popped up, waiting to be solved.

At that moment, Yu Zhiming had a thought. ’So much for being a medical genius. I’m just a complete slacker.’

It was as if the blackboard read "one plus one equals two," but in the time it took him to bend over and pick up a pen, he’d look up to find it already covered in complex formulas and diagrams.

It left him utterly dumbfounded.

His confidence shaken, Yu Zhiming discreetly glanced at the other young doctors sitting in the back row.

He saw that they weren’t faring much better; their brows were either knitted in concentration or their faces were blank with confusion.

Yu Zhiming even locked eyes with one of them. They exchanged a knowing, sheepish grin before quickly straightening up and feigning rapt attention.

This put Yu Zhiming’s mind at ease.

’Thank God,’ he thought, ’I’m not the worst one here. At least a few others are just as lost as I am.’

But then, on second thought, Yu Zhiming understood why.

The speakers were all leading experts who had been immersed in the field of liver disease for at least two or three decades.

To be more efficient, they skipped over the intermediate steps they considered too simple or not worth mentioning, communicating in conceptual leaps.

This was tough on the less experienced junior doctors. Trying to follow along was mentally exhausting.

For Yu Zhiming, whose foundational knowledge of liver disease was even weaker, it was like listening to gibberish.

’This discussion is on another level,’ he thought. ’I’m a total novice here. The barrier to entry is just too high; I don’t belong.’

Yu Zhiming grumbled to himself, realizing that he wouldn’t get anything out of this exchange other than a stark awareness of the massive gap in knowledge and expertise.

He patiently endured the ordeal for nearly an hour.

Once Claude Su finished his case presentation and everyone was taking a short break, Yu Zhiming leaned in close to Academician Tan’s ear.

"Academician Tan..."

Yu Zhiming gave a sheepish grin to Academician Tan, who had turned his head, and admitted frankly, "This discussion is too advanced. I really can’t keep up."

"It’s a waste of my time to stay here."

"I’m going to head back."

Academician Tan asked, feigning surprise, "Dr. Yu, you can’t keep up?"

Inwardly, he was already struggling to hold back a smile.

Academician Tan had specifically invited Yu Zhiming to this high-level medical exchange.

Of course, he knew that with Yu Zhiming’s current level of knowledge, he was bound to be lost.

His goal was to teach the kid that no matter how good you are, there’s always someone better, and to knock him down a peg or two.

However, to Academician Tan’s surprise, the kid actually admitted he couldn’t keep up.

He’d thought the young man would be too concerned with saving face and would just pretend to follow along until the very end.

It seemed that honesty and frankness were among the kid’s commendable qualities.

Yu Zhiming nodded. "Academician Tan, I’m just a doctor with an undergraduate degree who’s only been working for four years. Your discussion is far too advanced and in-depth for me. It’s like listening to gibberish."

"This level of medical exchange isn’t for me. Academician Tan, I’ll be heading back now."

A faint smile appeared on Dean Tan’s face. "Dr. Yu, that was my oversight."

"Go on and head back."

Yu Zhiming stood up, gave a nod to a few doctors he knew, and headed for the door.

"Dr. Yu..."

Yu Zhiming stopped and turned to look at Qiu Yi, who had called his name.

He saw the man, wearing a proud and pleased expression, turn to the three Americans and say...

"Dr. Kant, Dr. Su Le, Doctor Su, allow me to make a grand introduction..."

Qiu Yi gestured toward Yu Zhiming. "This is our Huashan Hospital’s acknowledged medical genius, the young and promising Dr. Yu Zhiming."

Seeing the three American doctors turn their gazes on him, Yu Zhiming had no choice but to walk a few steps closer.

He said in fluent English, "Dr. Kant, Dr. Su Le, Doctor Su, it’s a pleasure to meet you."

"I wouldn’t call myself a medical genius."

"I’m just somewhat skilled in physical examination techniques, like auscultation and percussion."

The eldest of the group, Gede Kant, eyed Yu Zhiming with interest and asked with a smile, "And how skilled would that be?"

Well...

Yu Zhiming shot a sideways glance at Qiu Yi, who was grinning at him with an encouraging, "I’ve got faith in you" look on his face.

’I doubt Qiu Yi is being this meddlesome just to give me a chance to make a name for myself; he definitely has an ulterior motive. Still, at a time like this, I can’t back down and lose face. I am, after all, considered the top young doctor here. Now that I’m in the spotlight, I can’t let these foreigners look down on me.’

Yu Zhiming’s gaze returned to Gede Kant.

He said after a moment of thought, "Dr. Kant, it’s hard for me to say exactly how skilled I am."

"We have a saying in China: ’Seeing is believing.’"

"If you’re willing, Dr. Kant, give me five minutes, and I can perform a physical examination of your internal organs for you."

Gede Kant looked at Academician Tan and said with a laugh, "Doctor Tan, this young doctor of yours is certainly confident."

"Is he a practitioner of your mysterious traditional Chinese medicine?"

"You could say that," Academician Tan said vaguely.

He then added, "Dr. Kant, our young Dr. Yu truly has a unique skill when it comes to physical examinations."

"I suggest you accept his offer."

"Let me put it this way: there are a lot of people here lining up, hoping for an examination from Dr. Yu, and they can’t even get an appointment."

Gede Kant let out a hearty laugh and stood up.

"Well, since you recommend him so highly, Doctor Tan, and I’ve come all the way to your country, I suppose I ought to experience the examination techniques of this mysterious Chinese medicine."

"Dr. Yu, how do we proceed...?"

A minute or two later, a patient gurney was wheeled into the meeting room.

Following Dr. Yu’s instructions, Gede Kant obediently lay down on it.

Everyone in the room gathered around the gurney, silently watching as Yu Zhiming began the examination with a series of taps and presses...

"Dr. Kant, have you had a ventricular septal defect repair procedure?"

Gede Kant’s face was a mask of astonishment. "I had that procedure done when I was seven years old. You can actually detect that?"

"The residual surgical scarring on your heart is still quite distinct," Yu Zhiming said nonchalantly.

A moment later, Yu Zhiming started patting and kneading the sides of Gede Kant’s abdomen, continuing for a minute or two without stopping.

Academician Tan, familiar with Yu Zhiming’s methods, asked in Chinese, "Dr. Yu, found something?"

Yu Zhiming replied softly, also in Chinese, "Academician Tan, his pancreas... something feels wrong."

"I need to confirm..."

The moment Yu Zhiming uttered his signature phrase—"something feels wrong"—all the Chinese doctors in the room turned to look at Gede Kant with expressions full of sympathy.

A sympathetic gaze isn’t bound by language barriers; Gede Kant clearly felt the change in everyone’s eyes.

He asked, "Doctor Tan, what’s happening?"

Academician Tan exchanged a look with Yu Zhiming before turning back to Gede Kant.

"Dr. Kant, Dr. Yu has a strong suspicion that you may have pancreatic cancer. He strongly recommends you get a targeted workup."

"That’s ridiculous."

Clearly disbelieving, Gede Kant swung himself off the gurney, his hazel eyes fixed on Yu Zhiming.

"You diagnose me with pancreatic cancer just from a few taps and presses? That’s not mysterious Chinese medicine, that’s a fairytale."

"Dr. Yu, tell me..."

"Did you find out about my ventricular septal defect repair from my medical records, or did you hear about it from one of my friends?"

Yu Zhiming met Gede Kant’s sharp, scrutinizing gaze and replied with calm composure, "Dr. Kant, like I said before: seeing is believing."

"You don’t have to believe me, but we’re in a hospital. You can easily get a pancreatic scan to confirm."

"If I’m wrong, the test is on me."

"I’ll even treat you and your colleagues to a lavish Chinese feast."

Academician Tan also spoke up. "Dr. Kant, I will stake my reputation on it. Dr. Yu is not joking..."