Surgery Godfather

Chapter 2203: Chapter 1441: Only Affecting Yourself (2)

He didn’t pull out a manuscript, and his pockets were empty. He didn’t use a PPT, and the big screen behind him had only one line: "Ambassador of Hope — Chen Jianguo."

He was silent for a few seconds.

Then he began speaking, using Chinese.

"Hello everyone, I am Chen Jianguo."

An English translation came through the simultaneous interpretation headsets for the audience. Over two thousand people put on their headphones at once, creating a rustling sound in the venue, like the wind blowing through an autumn forest.

"Twelve years ago, I started sitting in a wheelchair. Back then, I often lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking to myself, this is my life now."

His voice was not loud, but very clear, each word spoken slowly, as if weighed in his heart before being spoken.

"Last year I came to Sanbo Research Institute, where I met Professor Yang Ping. He said something to me that I remember to this day. He said, ’Jianguo, you can stand up.’"

"At that time, I didn’t quite believe it. I had been sitting in the wheelchair for so long that I thought the wheelchair was my legs. But Professor Yang showed me a monkey named M7. Like me, it had a spinal cord injury and its hind legs couldn’t move."

Chen Jianguo paused.

"Later, M7 was able to stand, walk, run, and even play soccer. Watching it run, I thought, if a monkey can stand up, why can’t I? If M7 didn’t give up, why should I give up?"

His voice started to tremble a bit, but he took a deep breath and steadied himself.

"Today, I stand here, in front of over two thousand of the world’s top spinal cord injury researchers. I am not a doctor or a scientist; I am just a patient. But I want to tell you something: My ability to stand is not due to my willpower, not my perseverance, but because of breakthroughs and progress in medicine."

"It is the efforts of Professor Yang Ping, Professor Mainshtan, and Professor August that have led to breakthroughs in spinal cord injury repair."

"Thank them!"

He bowed deeply.

"And thank you all as well. The work you do could achieve breakthroughs in various fields, meaning that because of your paper, we might gain a hope. Because of your experiment, we might gain a chance."

"Thank you. It is because of scientists like Professor Yang and you that medicine progresses."

Everyone in the audience stood up.

It wasn’t a sporadic standing; it was over two thousand people standing simultaneously. Applause surged like a tide, wave after wave, with no sign of stopping. Some were clapping, some were wiping tears, and some were hugging those beside them. Richardson stood by the podium, blocking his mouth with his fist, shoulders trembling slightly.

Chen Jianguo stood on the podium, looking at all of this.

His eyes were red-rimmed, but he didn’t cry. He turned around and walked step by step back to the side of the stage. Twenty meters, two minutes, each step echoing with applause.

Backstage, Chen Jianguo leaned against the wall, panting heavily.

His legs were trembling fiercely, not from nerves, but from exhaustion. Walking from the side stage to the center of the stage and back, forty meters, nearly four minutes, this was the longest distance he had walked in a single go since his rehabilitation.

Mainshtan was waiting for him backstage.

"Jianguo, you exceeded your time."

"By how much?"

"You spoke for almost ten minutes, and Richardson only gave you five, but he didn’t interrupt you."

Chen Jianguo laughed, a tired laugh. "Professor, how did I do?"

Mainshtan looked at him: "You did great, a million times better than I imagined, not because your words were beautiful, but because your mere presence was the best speech."

Sister Li rushed over from the side, hugging Chen Jianguo and crying too hard to speak. Chen Jianguo patted her back, softly saying, "Don’t cry, everything’s good, why cry, there are many reporters, don’t let them see."

Sister Li immediately broke into a smile.

Fritz had somehow flown over from Nandu, standing in the corner of the backstage with a copy of Journey to the West in his hand. He didn’t speak, just looked at Chen Jianguo with an indescribable expression in his eyes.

"Fritz," Chen Jianguo called him, "how is M7?"

"M7 is doing great," Fritz said. "Today it ran 400 meters, breaking Hoffnung’s record."

Chen Jianguo smiled. "Please tell M7 thank you, without it, I couldn’t have walked these forty meters today."

Fritz nodded.

"I’ll pass it on, but it doesn’t understand Chinese, I’ll have to say it in German."

"Does M7 understand German?"

"Probably!" Fritz said seriously.

Chen Jianguo’s speech video was uploaded online that afternoon.

Richardson arranged for the association’s media team to edit a three-minute highlight version, with English subtitles, and posted it on the association’s official website and YouTube channel. The title was simple: "Chen Jianguo — Ambassador of Hope’s Speech."

Within three days, the video had over five million views.

Comments came from all corners of the world, written in various languages, but they all conveyed similar sentiments.

"I cried. I’m a family member of a spinal cord injury patient and have been waiting for such news for fifteen years."

"Mr. Chen, you’re a hero, not because you stood up, but because after standing up, you didn’t forget those still sitting, and you shared this good news with patients worldwide."

"I’m a neurosurgeon, have been doing spinal cord injury surgeries for twenty years. This video made me rethink what I am actually doing."

"Professor Yang Ping and Professor Mainshtan are heroes."

"The theory of Professor Yang Ping is so great that it has managed to help achieve breakthroughs in spinal cord injury repair."

Some also tagged Mainshtan in the comments, asking when the technology could be used in human clinical trials.

Mainshtan did not reply to these comments, he had Tang Shun give a unified reply: "The technology is currently still in the pre-clinical stage, with ongoing assessments of safety and efficacy. We are accelerating its progress, but won’t compromise on safety to save time. Please believe in us, and please wait a bit longer."

This reply was pinned as the first comment in the comment section.

After the San Francisco annual meeting, Richardson called Yang Ping.

"Professor Yang, I’ve watched Chen Jianguo’s speech video many times, and each time it makes me feel like all the keynote speeches I’ve delivered over the past twenty years were nonsense."

"Your reports weren’t nonsense, scientific progress relies on the collaborative efforts of everyone; we merely delivered the final push."

Richardson was silent for a while.

"Professor Yang, I’d like to make Chen Jianguo’s speech video our association’s official promo video, displayed permanently on our website. Do you think that’s okay?"

"Of course."

Richardson was silent for a long time.

"Professor Yang, I sincerely apologize to you. When you published your three-dimensional gene-guiding theory, K Therapy, I was an opponent. In retrospect, how naive and ridiculous I was."

Yang Ping calmly said, "Science itself progresses through constant questioning."

"But... but... my questioning back then was from subjective prejudice, not based on facts. Truly, I apologize for my ignorant arrogance and hope for your forgiveness." Richardson mustered the courage to say.

Yang Ping’s fingers tapped rhythmically on the desktop, speaking into the microphone, "If your questioning stemmed from prejudice, it’s indeed very unfortunate. Since you’ve acknowledged your error, I feel I can forgive you, but hope you remember in the future, arrogant ignorant prejudice won’t impact others’ progress, only your own."

Richardson blushed on the other end of the phone, earnestly saying, "I will remember, Professor Yang, thank you."

Yes indeed!

Arrogant ignorant prejudice won’t impact others’ progress, only your own.

Mainshtan, having now achieved major breakthroughs in spinal cord injury, while I have been imprisoned in the cage of prejudice all these years, unknowingly left far behind. Without that paper, I thought I was still standing at the pinnacle of academia.

In hindsight, at that time, I was nothing but a clown.

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