Chapter 204: Buying a Villa Isn’t Everything

A luxury villa—something many people chase for a lifetime, yet Zhou Can just saw it as no big deal.

He couldn’t afford a hundred-million villa right now.

But anything in the ten or twenty million range? Not a problem.

No need for a mortgage, he could buy it outright if he wanted.

In the provincial capital, the more affordable villas cost around five million. The pricier ones, with underground pools and prime locations, could get close to twenty million.

The best, rarest types? Those got really expensive.

Now, all the villas at Jiangxin Garden had pretty much hit their price ceiling.

“Thanks, darling! But I want to buy it myself. I don’t want to become a man’s accessory.” To his surprise, she turned him down.

It wasn’t that she was foolish—she’d always been fiercely independent.

Back when Zhou Can offered to help pay off her hundreds of thousands in debt, she flatly refused.

Some women think it’s natural for men to provide. Others prefer being financially independent—it just feels more dignified.

Generally, independent women have a unique aura about them. They live more freely, and honestly, they tend to look better too.

“Wouldn’t it be great if I bought you one? Don’t you often buy me things too?”

Zhou Can asked, genuinely puzzled.

Back when she finally paid off her debts and had a bit of spare cash, she spent over a month’s salary to buy Zhou Can a watch. He was deeply touched by that gesture.

Even after that, she never hesitated to spend on him.

She never relied on Zhou Can financially. In fact, she gave him so much.

Now, buying a villa for her—even if they broke up someday—Zhou Can felt he’d still be glad he did it.

“A house isn’t like clothes or a watch. For us women, it’s a safe harbor. It’s somewhere to heal when we’re hurt. Even if the whole world turns its back, it’s a place to retreat to. If I have a place of my own, even if you ever leave, I still won’t be without a home.”

Her words stung a little. They hit close to the heart.

A woman without her own financial footing—when youth fades or the spark’s gone, if she’s tossed aside, her fate is rarely kind.

Su Qianqian had clearly seen it happen before, which was why she’d insisted on her independence from day one.

“Silly, how could I ever leave you? Fine, I respect your wishes.”

Zhou Can didn’t push further—he chose to respect her choice.

They chatted a while longer. It was late, so Zhou Can urged her to wash up and get to bed.

Right now, Su Qianqian was still staying at Zhou Can’s place by Baying Lake.

She said that apartment was special to her.

It was where she fell in love with Zhou Can—and where she saw hope during her darkest days.

…

After following the process, Zhou Can registered for his Physician’s Certificate and officially became a certified trainee doctor at Tuyu Hospital.

With the certificate, he felt a lot more confident. His status in both the hospital and his department climbed fast.

General Surgery kept him busy, but compared to Cardiothoracic Surgery, Neurosurgery, or Critical Care, there weren’t many critical patients here.

The pressure was a little lighter.

He’d thought that passing the physician’s exam would finally let him relax a bit.

Turns out, his days were just as packed as ever.

Director Xueyan had already mapped out a new learning plan—he needed to spend at least two hours every day brushing up on basic medical science.

On top of that, he’d locked in a new research paper with Dr. Shi.

The case of that 17-year-old boy whose digestive issues stemmed from stress proved quite representative. Their paper would focus on the impact of psychological stress on adolescents and the various illnesses it could cause.

Young people are the future, yet few pay attention to their emotional struggles.

So if this paper turned out well, it could make a real impact.

After plenty of discussion, Zhou Can and Dr. Shi decided to broaden their scope to stress-induced diseases in general.

Just limiting it to stress causing digestive trouble felt too narrow.

Covering the whole range of stress-triggered illnesses gave them a lot more material.

It also made the topic far more meaningful.

But collecting such medical data and then analyzing, correlating, and clarifying each case’s pathology took a huge amount of work.

They’d even need to consult other specialists and senior physicians in related fields.

It’s easy to say, but much harder to actually do.

Luckily, Zhou Can had built solid relationships with department heads across the hospital. Whenever they needed advice, he was the go-to guy.

Dr. Shi wasn’t great at socializing—he was honest and threw himself into medical research. He became the backbone for digging up info, compiling data, and drafting the manuscript.

Zhou Can, leaning on his strengths in pathology, analyzed case records and nailed down mechanisms behind each illness.

Some cases they’d gathered weren’t actually caused by stress at all.

So each had to be double-checked, or else they’d end up making a joke of themselves.

A sloppy paper wouldn’t make it past peer review.

Beyond writing, Zhou Can juggled studying basic science and practicing rapid scalpel and surgical skills after work. He was always on the go.

Most days, he didn’t even have time for dates with Su Qianqian.

She was still the one making allowances, squeezing in study dates so they could be together.

While Zhou Can studied or practiced, she’d sit beside him, working on music theory, acting, memorizing scripts and lines and more.

They were the picture of countless young couples chasing their dreams.

Many young people come to the big city with dreams, just to put down roots and create a place to call their own. Then they pour themselves into making a life together.

The only way to really stay competitive is to keep learning.

Truth is, school is only the beginning. Most knowledge is gained bit by bit after you step out into the real world.

…

Without realizing it, Zhou Can had already been a trainee in General Surgery for over a month.

Under Director Liu, he’d gradually become a top asset. Whether it was performing surgery, making pathological diagnoses, or pinpointing the cause of illnesses, he was second to none.

He managed wards well—handling wound care, predicting risks, and catching missed or mistaken diagnoses with real finesse.

Lately, he’d been learning a lot about medications from Director Liu and the senior doctors.

Right now, his pharmacology reasoning skills sat at level three—not bad for a resident, but still average.

It wasn’t enough. He could manage regular cases, but anything more complex left him struggling.

For tougher cases, he had to dig through books, look up articles, or ask senior doctors for advice.

Just learning from textbooks wasn’t enough when it came to prescribing meds.

Practice was vital.

For a single illness, there might be a dozen different drug treatments. Which to pick? How to combine them? What dose? It took serious experience.

Without that real-world background, you’d never get comfortable handling medicine.

Treating patients is tough in three main ways—diagnosing, prescribing, and operating.

Diagnosis comes first, medication second.

Just shows how much weight drug therapy carries.

That day, Zhou Can showed up early to work in General Surgery like he usually did.

First, he opened his computer to check the team’s upcoming surgeries.

Deputy Director Liu had two operations scheduled—both were major, grade-three surgeries.

Even though an Associate Chief Physician’s skills are up to par, the hospital’s grading system only lets them independently handle up to grade-three procedures.

One was a cardia plasty—a surgery digestive or general surgeons could do.

The rule was usually simple: whichever department the patient was admitted to, that’s where the operation took place.

But there was always room for exceptions.

If a case was especially complex, they’d hand it to whoever had the right expertise.

The other operation was a biliary endoscopy with stone extraction.

General Surgery had done plenty of those before.

Experience and technique for this procedure were well-established.

Not many realized General Surgery had pioneered the concept of minimally invasive surgery. Over time, with market demand, it spread to other fields—including Internal Medicine’s interventional procedures.

Seeing an endoscopic surgery on the list made Zhou Can secretly pleased.

He’d already proven his skills in endoscopy to Mr. Liu. He figured if he tried, this one could go to him too.

That meant another haul of valuable surgical experience.

After looking over Mr. Liu’s cases, Zhou Can checked the rest of the team’s assignments.

Attending Dr. He Hansheng had six surgeries lined up. He was gunning for the associate chief title, so he was really pushing himself.

He Hansheng was the team’s top attending doctor, usually serving as first assistant, and could handle the core sections of grade-three operations on his own.

Back when Zhou Can was an intern, He Hansheng had lent him a hand.

Now that Zhou Can was back in General Surgery, things had changed—he got along great with He Hansheng.

Attending Dr. Song Ze had three surgeries as well.

He was also strong, often serving as second assistant under Mr. Liu.

But he’d never managed to outshine He Hansheng.

Chief Resident Dr. Fang hadn’t been around for more than a year, but now he’d been promoted to attending. He still needed to wait for the hospital’s official appointment, since competition was fierce.

General Surgery was full of talent, so passing the attending exam wasn’t hard.

In particular, grad students or doctorates with a year’s work could move straight up.

But you still had to line up to get the official job offer.

Top-level degrees and connections meant some people could jump the queue.

Dr. Fang had a master’s degree, which was a solid qualification.

Tuyu Hospital mainly recruited masters and PhDs nowadays.

Unless a bachelor’s was truly outstanding, it was tough to land a permanent job here.

Most did their internship or training, then headed to other county or city hospitals.

As Zhou Can checked his team’s surgical cases, Dr. Fang poked his head in. “Director Xia says everybody needs to meet in the grand conference room—there’s an important announcement.”

General Surgery almost never held meetings—everyone was always too busy.

Zhou Can had been in General Surgery for over a month and only attended team consultations, never a meeting with the whole department.

He quickly finished reading the last case before getting up to leave.

“Dr. Zhou, hurry up! Someone important’s coming today—don’t be late,”

Dr. Fang called back to him.

By now, Zhou Can was no longer the rookie Dr. Fang could order around.

Even though Dr. Fang passed the attending exam, Zhou Can’s status was higher.

“Coming!”

Zhou Can picked up his pace.

Despite his growing reputation, he never slacked off or acted arrogant. He never missed a required meeting.

He always finished every task assigned by his seniors.

He wondered, just who was this big shot everyone’s making such a fuss for?

Who could be important enough to warrant all this preparation?

Following Dr. Fang to the grand conference room, Zhou Can headed straight for Mr. Liu.

A spot was open next to He Hansheng.

“Dr. Zhou, sit here!”

He Hansheng called him over.

Getting to sit next to the department’s top attending was no small thing—even Song Ze got seated after Zhou Can. That was how high his status had become.

As for Dr. Fang, he could only sit beside Song Ze.

He was now a quasi-attending, after all.

A step above a regular resident.

You could see how strict hospital hierarchy was just by watching the morning meeting.

The seating order always mattered.

You’d never see a resident in a spot reserved for a deputy director.

“Good morning, Mr. Liu!”

Zhou Can greeted Deputy Director Liu politely.

“Take a seat!”

Mr. Liu was still very supportive of him.

Without Mr. Liu’s nod, Zhou Can would never have gotten such a prominent seat.

Before sitting, Zhou Can smiled and nodded at Song Ze—a quiet hello.

“Dr. He, any idea who’s coming?”

He and Dr. He had a great relationship.

“I’m not sure, but it sounds like a top doctor is joining our team.”

He Hansheng was pretty well-informed.

“They’re just parachuting someone in?”

Zhou Can kept his voice down.

Whoever this was, it definitely wasn’t just anyone—otherwise, General Surgery wouldn’t be pulling out all the stops.

He figured they must’ve recruited some big talent from another hospital or department.

“I think so! No news on which group they’ll join, or maybe they’ll form a brand-new team,” He Hansheng speculated.

As they spoke, Chief Surgeon Xia Huai’an entered with a young doctor at his side.

Wow—getting escorted in by the department head? That took some real clout.

The newcomer was striking—tall, handsome, brimming with quiet confidence.

Some of the young female doctors and nurses practically swooned.

Their eyes sparkled with admiration whenever they glanced his way.

Guys liked pretty women, but women definitely liked handsome men.

“Isn’t that Du Leng?”

Zhou Can had expected some mysterious big shot—turns out, it was the overseas PhD, Du Leng.

Rumor was, since joining Surgery, Du Leng had published several SCI medical papers.

Those were international journals—a whole level above domestic ones.

Academically, Du Leng really was a force to be reckoned with.

He surveyed the room like he owned it.

When his eyes found Zhou Can sitting in the front row, there was a slight pause. Their gazes met—a silent clash, with Du Leng’s hostility obvious.

Back when they first joined Tuyu Hospital, Zhou Can had seemed unremarkable while Du Leng was the hot commodity.

Du Leng held a winning hand, while Zhou Can got dealt the short straw.

But over the past year, Zhou Can’s achievements had rewritten the rules for trainee doctors.

Every department he trained in, he shined.

His skills were dazzling.

Now, there were rumors about two trainee geniuses running neck-and-neck in the hospital.

Some even said Zhou Can’s reputation among department heads far outshone Du Leng’s.

No matter how impressive your degree, it counted for little if you couldn’t actually heal people.

Real skill showed in patient outcomes.

If hospital leaders had their pick, they’d all go for Zhou Can without hesitation.

Even Du Leng knew it.

That just made his animosity toward Zhou Can burn brighter.

Zhou Can, on the other hand, just smiled coolly at Du Leng’s sharp stare, unfazed by the hostility.

Let the world be as fierce as it wants—a mountain breeze doesn’t care.