When We Were Young, We Swore to Become Great People

Night!

A ringing phone woke Strange from a deep sleep. He picked it up and saw that the caller was his friend Billy.

They called each other friends, but in truth, they were business partners.

Strange was an outstanding neurosurgeon with a stellar reputation, known for his exceptionally high surgical success rate. He was only a few papers and a more mature-looking face away from becoming the most authoritative figure in the field.

His extraordinarily high success rate was no accident. Besides his own superb medical skills, Strange was also good at managing his patients.

Other than rare cases that piqued his interest, he usually investigated a patient's condition beforehand and judged whether a complete cure was possible.

If he was not confident and the procedure might affect his success rate, he would find an excuse to turn it down or simply refuse.

That was important. It affected his value!

Before becoming famous, Strange had not feared challenges and had considered saving lives his duty. After gaining fame, he began caring about his reputation and how much profit each operation could bring him.

Money, honor, social status—things one could neither bring into life nor take into death—had become the things Strange desired most.

Billy was responsible for making connections, providing Strange with difficult cases from major hospitals. Once Strange nodded in agreement, Billy would contact the patient or the patient's family, negotiate the price of the operation, and take a broker's commission.

They each got what they wanted. Bound together by profit, their relationship was extremely solid—the kind where they would live and die for each other.

When we were young, we swore we would become great people, bright and positive, unafraid of failure.

After growing up, we kneaded our innocence into a ball and threw it into the trash.