Chapter 316 Rejecting the Invite!
The top pinned post was on Fang Qiu’s Weibo account was from the competition of the pulse of pregnancy.
It had been there for several months.
There were more than 50,000 comments on his post and more than 10,000 reposts.
The number of comments and reposts had already slowed down as time passed but after he was revealed to be the first invited participant of the competition who would directly progress to the top 50, the number of comments and reposts soared once again.
“My hero, you have been invited!”
“I’ve waited to see you for several months and now, finally, I’ll be able to see you.”
“I wasn’t able to catch a glimpse of your face in the past but now that the Central Television is holding such a large-scale competition, I’m sure I’ll be able to see your face this time, right?”
“As expected of my hero, you even managed to get a special invitation from the Central Television. You’re amazing!”
…
Linxi County.
Fang Qiu who had not logged on to Weibo for several months didn’t know what was going on online and was still resting at home.
He had spent his entire holidays treating patients who were his relatives and patients who were not related to him at all.
The number of people showing up at his doorstep had gradually decreased perhaps in part due to the fact that the lunar new year was almost over.
This was a brief respite for him.
On the 16th day of the lunar new year.
“Beep beep beep…”
Fang Qiu was resting on his bed reading a book when his phone suddenly rang.
He dug out his phone and assumed that it was Jiang Miaoyu but to his surprise, it wasn’t her.
“The third oldest?” Fang Qiu froze in surprise when he saw Sun Hao’s name on the screen. Then, he picked up the call.
“The youngest?” He heard Sun Hao’s familiar voice on the other end of the line. “How did you manage to generate so much publicity for yourself without any warning? I thought we were friends, so how could you not let us know about such an important matter. Do you not know that this isn’t how a true friend should behave?”
“What?” Fang Qiu asked in confusion.
“Why are you still putting on an act even after the news has been made public?” Sun Hao asked disdainfully.
“What news has been made public? What are you talking about?” Fang Qiu asked in bewilderment.
“Don’t tell me you’re not aware of this,” Sun Hao asked when he noticed that something was amiss. “I’m talking about your participation in the Young Physician of China Competition.”
“That might be true but I didn’t make publicize my involvement in it,” Fang Qiu said in confusion and wondered how did Sun Hao know that he was going to take part in this competition.
“You didn’t publicize your involvement but the organizing committee has already revealed that you’re participating,” Sun Hao said. “It is plastered all over Weibo. The organizing committee of the Young Physician of China Competition has already revealed that you are the first participant who has been invited and they even said that you would be able to progress directly to the top 50 without having to participate in the initial and qualification rounds.”
“Hmm?” Fang Qiu froze in surprise. “Is this true?”
Sun Hao was speechless.
He could tell from Fang Qiu’s tone that Fang Qiu was truly not aware of what was going on.
Wasn’t Fang Qiu the main protagonist in this drama?
How could he be kept in the dark of what was going on?
Sun Hao gave Fang Qiu the details of the situation and they chatted for a while before finally hanging up.
After he wrapped up his conversation with his friend, Fang Qiu was about to go online to find out what was going on but his phone started ringing before he could even click on his phone’s web browser.
“Beep beep…”
He received another call.
This time, it was Zhou Xiaotian.
He wanted to speak to Fang Qiu about the Young Physician of China Competition just like Sun Hao earlier.
After he finished speaking to Zhou Xiaotian, he received a call from Zhu Benzheng.
Then, Jiang Mengjie called him as well!
Fang Qiu felt as though his phone was about to explode from the number of calls he was receiving. It seemed as though the moment he wrapped up a call, the next call would come in.
Fang Qiu wasn’t even given the chance to go online.
After he wrapped up his conversation with Jiang Mengjie, he stopped trying to go online and instead, held his phone in his hand.
Then, he waited for more than 10 seconds but he didn’t receive any other calls.
He breathed a sigh of relief and clicked on his phone’s web browser.
However, his phone rang before he could refresh his web browser.
It was Jiang Miaoyu.
“Hello?”
Fang Qiu immediately asked, “Are you calling to ask about the Young Physician of China Competition as well?”
“How did you know?” Jiang Miaoyu replied.
“I’ve received so many calls on this topic,” Fang Qiu replied with a wry smile. “My phone has been ringing non-stop with calls from my friends asking about this.”
“No wonder I kept getting the message that your line was busy even after several attempts at trying to reach you,” Jiang Miaoyu nodded as realization dawned. “Are you really going to take part in this competition?”
“Yes,” Fang Qiu nodded.
“That’s good. This is a rare opportunity and it is even organized by the Central Television,” Jiang Miaoyu said.
“I wanted to make use of this platform to promote Chinese Medicine and raise awareness about Chinese Medicine,” Fang Qiu said.
“I see,” Jiang Miaoyu said as she nodded. “Since you want to promote Chinese Medicine, you must definitely do well. Moreover, unlike the freshmen competition that tested us on our theoretical knowledge where you competed against other freshmen, your fellow opponents in this competition are second-years, third-years, fourth-years, fifth-years, and even graduate students.”
“In addition, there will also be many highly-skilled Chinese physicians who practice among the people, and who hail from prominent families of physicians, as well as disciples of famed physicians who will be taking part in this competition. You mustn’t let down your guard. Now that you’ve decided to take part in the competition, you must go all the way until the very end. It would be too embarrassing if you can’t even make it to the final round when the Central Television has already allowed you to progress to the top 50.”
Fang Qiu nodded as he listened to Jiang Miaoyu.
“Don’t worry, I’ll do my best since I’ve decided to take part,” he said after she said her piece.
“Yes, I trust that you’ll do well. All the best,” Jiang Miaoyu said with a smile.
“Thanks for your faith in me,” he replied.
“Humph,” Jiang Miaoyu scoffed. “Is there a need to thank me when we’re so close?”
“That’s true,” Fang Qiu nodded. He thought for a moment before he added. “Look out for the news. I hope you’ll understand why I’ve decided to make this choice.”
“What do you intend to do?” Jiang Miaoyu asked in confusion.
However, Fang Qiu refused to tell her.
He switched to another topic and ended the conversation after they chatted for a while.
Then, he opened up his web browser and this time, his browsing wasn’t interrupted.
He logged into his Weibo account.
He read through the comments on his Weibo post and looked at the attention that the Young Physician of China Competition had attracted and the posts that bore the hashtag of the competition. Then, he finally clicked on the official Weibo account of the Young Physician of China Competition.
He saw that the first post was the post announcing that he was the first person to be invited to take part in the competition.
He reposted the post and added, “Chinese physicians should not be judged by their fame but by how skilled they are. We treat others not for gain nor for profit, so I shouldn’t be invited just because of my fame, neither should anyone be subverting the rules. In the field of Chinese Medicine, whoever can save lives will be regarded as a good physician and this has nothing to do with fame. Although I must admit that I have gained some fame, I don’t dare to call myself a good physician yet, neither do I want to progress directly to the top 50 in this manner.” #
“I am willing to participate and progress along with the rest of the participants and my progress shall be determined by my skills. I even hope that I’d be eliminated in the first round because this shows how much I’ll still need to grow. This only bodes well for the future of Chinese Medicine.”
“Thus, I will not accept the invite but instead, I will conceal my identity and participate in this competition!”
Fang Qiu had already received the invite on the sixth day of the lunar new year but it was nine days to the fifteenth day of the lunar new year, so even though he did not give a clear response, he had already decided to take part in the competition.
However, he was surprised to hear that the organizing committee had arranged for him to progress directly to the top 50.
He couldn’t accept this.
It might seem like a great honor to progress directly to the top 50 as well as an affirmation of his talents by the organizing committee but he felt that this would only result in him missing many chances, including the chance to find out where his fellow competitors’ strengths lay, and to display his own strengths.
How could he be able to promote Chinese Medicine without the chance to do all of the above?
What was the point in participating in the competition if he couldn’t do that?
Thus, he turned down the invite by the organizing committee.
His post created a huge stir online the moment it was published.
No one expected Fang Qiu who was the only person to be granted this honor to turn it down on his own accord.
This was simply unheard of.
At the same time, his fans immediately posted supportive comments once his post was published.
“I like your style. My hero, you’re amazing!”
“My hero, I’ll support you!”
“My hero is truly incredible. No one else would be as gracious as you are. Your mentality shows that you will make a great Chinese physician!”
“Placing top 50 is nothing to you. I’m sure you’ll be able to make it all the way to the finals. My hero won’t be content with a top 50 ranking!”
Naturally, he had his own share of detractors as well.
“How disrespectful of him to turn them down after the honor they bestowed on him!”
“He must truly think he is all that. Is this what any person in their right mind would do? Who would turn down an offer by the Central Television? He must be using this as an opportunity to show off and generate even more interest toward him. However, he seems to have gone too far this time!”
“Damn it, the incredibly dumb Fang Qiu has returned. How could he turn down the production team’s invite in such a public manner? Isn’t he just asking to be sacked?”
“Please disqualify him!”
…
On the other hand, after he published his post, his phone immediately started to ring.
This time, no one called to ask what was going on but instead, they sent him a flurry of texts and voice messages.
“The youngest, what do you think you’re doing?” Sun Hao was the first to react. “Even if you didn’t know about the announcement that the production team made, they were doing this out of goodwill. At least, they guaranteed you a place in the top 50. This is a huge competition with large numbers of participants. There will be many skilled physicians, so it wouldn’t be easy for you to make it to the top 50.”
“Exactly. Why couldn’t you keep a low profile? I wouldn’t dare to admit that I’m your classmate in the future,” Zhou Xiaotian added.
“The youngest, you’ve dragged us down along with you,” Zhu Benzheng said.
“How so?” Fang Qiu asked in confusion.
“Do you really not know?” Sun Hao said dejectedly. “You’re so clever that you even dared to turn down an offer from the Central Television. If we were to tell others that we are your classmates, wouldn’t we be inviting ridicule? Everyone else would wonder why there is such a vast gap between us. How do you expect me to answer that?”
Zhou Benzheng and Zhou Xiaotian immediately agreed and added, “And to make it worse, we are all living in the same dorm, 501!”
Fang Qiu smiled and sent over an emoticon to soothe their ruffled feathers.
On the other hand, Jiang Miaoyu immediately understood what Fang Qiu meant earlier.
She didn’t ask him what he meant but instead, she registered for a Weibo account and silently followed and supported Fang Qiu.
She knew how ambitious Fang Qiu was and also knew that he would insist on doing things the way they should be done.