Chapter One Hundred and One: The New Apprentice

"Boss, this was my fault for not planning properly. I’ll make it up to you at once." When Zhou Jinfan caught sight of Xie Qingtang’s expression, he shuddered and hurriedly said with a forced smile.

After that, anyone coming to apply for the position would have to wait until after six, when there were fewer patients. Xie Qingtang first finished seeing all of today’s patients.

Once six o’clock arrived, Cunshan Hall was completely closed, and the front room was packed with applicants. Zhou Jinfan, meanwhile, had also begun to act the part, sitting properly behind the consultation desk as he collected the resumes in their hands.

"The hall master has prepared a few very simple questions. The answer sheets are over there. After you read the questions, write your answers on the paper and then you may leave. We will notify those who advance to the next round."

After taking their resumes, Zhou Jinfan pointed to a stack of blank paper beside him. The applicants queued up one by one to stand before the consultation desk. On top of it lay a sheet of white paper, and on that paper were written three questions.

After reading the three questions, they went to the side, took a sheet of paper, and began writing their answers. About an hour later, they gradually left, while Zhou Jinfan was left with a pile of answer sheets filled with handwriting.

After everything had been tidied up, Zhou Jinfan handed the answers to Xie Qingtang and asked, "Boss, all of their answers are here. Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"No need. Go and rest first," Xie Qingtang said calmly. Then she looked through the answers one by one. Her expression would darken at times, then brighten again at others, impossible to read.

Early the next morning, she handed the few she had selected to Zhou Jinfan and said, "Notify these people to come for the second interview."

"Right away, Boss." Zhou Jinfan agreed at once, then called them. When six o’clock came again that afternoon, the candidates who had advanced to the second round appeared at Cunshan Hall.

This time, a thin, haggard-looking boy stood beside Xie Qingtang. His body was frail to the extreme, yet his spirits seemed unusually high.

"Congratulations on making it to the second round. The task this time is simple: within twenty minutes, tell me exactly what illness this boy has, and how you would treat it," Xie Qingtang said with calm composure.

Zhou Jinfan stepped forward, coughed lightly, and looked over the eight people who had advanced. "Who will go first?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the eight of them looked at one another. In the end, a very handsome young man wearing glasses stepped out and said, "I’ll go first."

Xie Qingtang nodded. The young man then went up to the haggard boy, took his wrist to feel his pulse, and after about five minutes seemed ready to speak.

"Don’t say it aloud. Write down what disease you think this boy has, along with the treatment method, on the blank paper," Xie Qingtang stopped him, pointing to the stack of white paper on the counter.

The young man nodded without saying anything and went over to write his answer. Afterward, the remaining seven also came forward one after another, examined the boy’s condition, and then wrote down their own answers.

Once all the answers had been collected, Xie Qingtang read them right there in front of the eight of them. Her brows stayed tightly furrowed, leaving the eight applicants extremely nervous.

About half an hour later, Xie Qingtang finished reading their answers and swept her gaze across them. "Do you think this illness requires medicine?"

After she spoke, two of the eight thought medicine was unnecessary, while the remaining six all believed medication was essential.

After hearing their replies, Xie Qingtang kept the two who said medicine was not needed and eliminated the other six.

"Tomorrow will be the final round. You two should come to Cunshan Hall early in the morning," Xie Qingtang said indifferently. Both of them showed delight on their faces and then left at once.

Zhou Jinfan looked at Xie Qingtang with some confusion and asked, "Boss, why did you keep those two who said medicine wasn’t needed, while driving away the six who said it was? Cunshan Hall still has to survive, doesn’t it? If we don’t sell medicine, where will our income come from?"

"The child has a goiter. Most of the time, as long as he avoids cold foods and spicy, irritating things that could worsen the condition, he can recover through dietary adjustment. There is no need for medicine at all. In fact, medicine itself carries some toxicity and may affect the child’s body."

"Actually, giving that child medicine would have been acceptable, but not using medicine is the best treatment. I cannot harm a child’s future for the sake of Cunshan Hall’s profits. A doctor must first be a kind person," Xie Qingtang said lightly.

After she finished, Zhou Jinfan stood there thinking for a long while. In the end, he let out a sigh and said nothing more.

Early the next morning, the two men arrived at Cunshan Hall very early and helped Xie Qingtang receive all of that day’s patients.

Xie Qingtang also intentionally and unintentionally assigned some of the patients whose conditions were not too serious to those two men to handle. She stood to the side and observed the two of them as they received the patients.

After another day of observation, Xie Qingtang addressed the man with glasses, the same one who had been first to step forward and feel the boy’s pulse before. "Congratulations. Your name is Song Qing, isn’t it? From today onward, you will be Cunshan Hall’s new apprentice."

As soon as she said this, Song Qing’s face lit up with joy, while the man standing beside him was stunned. He looked at Xie Qingtang in great confusion and said, "Doctor Xie, why keep him and not me?"

"Because, in my eyes, he looks more like a qualified doctor. After observing you both all day today, I found that you differ greatly in how you treat patients. When facing patients whose problems are not serious and can be improved simply by changing their habits and routines, you always recommend that they buy nourishing medicine."

The eliminated man was somewhat unconvinced. "Isn’t that a good thing? It can bring the greatest profit to Cunshan Hall, and the tonics I prescribe can also help regulate their bodies. There’s nothing wrong with that."

"But you’ve forgotten that medicine itself carries three parts poison," Xie Qingtang said sternly.