Chapter 28 – 25 Elder Doctor’s Merit
Chapter 28: Chapter 25 Elder Doctor’s Merit
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In the end, Old Zhao was carried away by his two sons amid his wife’s scolding.
Old Doctor Chen had given him an acupuncture treatment and prescribed some medicine, and Old Zhao’s complexion had already improved a lot when he left.
Once Old Zhao’s family left, the villagers, having nothing exciting left to see and not daring to disturb Old Doctor Chen further, began to disperse.
“Are you leaving, Ah Qing?” Brother Da An said to Lu Qing.
“Eh, Lu Qing, why are you here, and Little Yan too?”
It was then that the other villagers noticed Lu Qing and Little Yan standing in a corner.
“I’ve been here the whole time, it’s just that everyone was concerned about Uncle Zhao’s health and didn’t notice me,” Lu Qing said with a smile. “Brother Da An, you guys go ahead, I still have some things I want to ask Grandpa Chen.”
“Ask for advice?” It was only then that Brother Da An noticed the book in Lu Qing’s hand, suddenly realizing. “You’re here learning from Old Doctor Chen?”
“Yes, I’m learning a bit about herbal medicine from Grandpa Chen,” Lu Qing didn’t deny.
At this remark, the villagers were all astonished.
Could it be that Lu Qing was so highly regarded by the elder doctor?
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After their surprise, what followed was envy.
The elder doctor’s medical skills were well-known; he could even save those on the brink of death.
Many had seen the state Lu Qing was in when he was ill, but ultimately, it was the elder doctor’s prescription that had cured him.
Earlier, when Old Zhao fell into the water, they said his complexion was ashen and he was breathless.
Then, with just a few manipulations by the elder doctor, the man was revived.
To say his medical skills could bring the dying back to life was no exaggeration.
Now that Lu Qing had the opportunity to learn medicine from the elder doctor, how could they not be envious?
But though they envied him, the villagers knew that such things could not be envied into existence.
Learning medical skills was clearly not easy, and one had to be extremely intelligent; otherwise, one wouldn’t even manage to start.
See how Lu Qing was holding a book? All the characters known by everyone in the village combined probably wouldn’t fill a basket.
Only Lu Qing, who had been taught by his grandfather from a young age, could recognize some characters.
Perhaps, this was also why Old Doctor Chen valued Lu Qing.
Thinking this, the envy in many villagers’ hearts lessened somewhat,
because they knew that even if such good fortune fell on them, they wouldn’t have the capability to seize it.
An elderly villager stepped forward and patted Lu Qing on the shoulder.
“Good for you, Lu Qing. You must learn well from the elder doctor and try to master all his skills!”
The sudden encouragement left Lu Qing a bit bewildered.
He wanted to say that he was really only learning a bit about herbal medicine from Old Doctor Chen.
But seeing the earnest look in the old man’s eyes, he could only nod. “I will try my best.”
Even after the villagers had left, Lu Qing still felt somewhat perplexed.
He had thought that everyone would be envious and jealous to see him studying medicine with the elder doctor.
But he had just seen it.
There was envy among the villagers, and jealousy too, but it wasn’t as intense as he had imagined.
Instead, beyond the envy and jealousy, it seemed they genuinely hoped he could indeed master the elder doctor’s medical skills.
Lu Qing did not like to assume the worst about others.
But he also knew that the human heart is unpredictable, and sometimes jealousy comes without any obvious reason.
“Do you feel puzzled?” Old Doctor Chen came up beside Lu Qing.
“What?” Lu Qing asked, not understanding.
“Don’t you understand why the people in the village hope so much that you can learn my medical skills?” Old Doctor Chen said with a smile.
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Lu Qing nodded. He didn’t quite understand.
Did the elder doctor know the reason?
“Lu Qing, do you know how many doctors there were in this village and the nearby villages when I settled here?”
The elder doctor didn’t directly answer Lu Qing’s question but asked instead.
Lu Qing shook his head.
When the elder doctor came to the village, the original host was young and didn’t have many memories of this.
“Not even one.” The elder doctor gave an answer that surprised Lu Qing. “Before I came to this village, none of the nearby villages had a single doctor.”
“When villagers fell ill with minor illnesses, they would generally pick some herbs they recognized and boil them to drink, or they would go to the midwife or witch for some medicine. The rest depended largely on enduring the illness. Only when they couldn’t bear it anymore would they go to the city to seek medical help.”
“But the serious illnesses in this world mostly evolve from minor ones. By the time they couldn’t endure anymore and went to the city to seek medical help, it was often already a serious illness.”
“Serious illnesses are difficult to treat, even for city doctors who aren’t sure they could cure all illnesses.”
“Moreover, living in the city is not easy, let alone seeking medical help.”
“Even if city doctors were confident in their treatment, the excessive medical fees were not something ordinary villagers could afford.”
“Therefore, for ordinary villagers, a serious illness often meant that their life was soon to end.”
“Before I came to the village, the number of people who died from illnesses every year in your nearby villages was far from small.”
Lu Qing recalled, and indeed, there seemed to be funerals every year in the village before the elder doctor’s arrival.
“When I traveled here years ago and saw many people in nearby villages suffering from diseases without recourse to medical help, I couldn’t bear it and decided to stay, hoping to give these villagers a chance at life.”
“Little did I expect that this stay would last for ten years.”
“In these ten years, I can’t say I’ve saved countless people, but at least I’ve provided a place for the villagers to seek medical help when they fell ill, preventing minor illnesses from turning into serious ones.”
Lu Qing felt deeply moved.
Following what the elder doctor had said, for these ten years, he really had been a living Bodhisattva, ensuring safety for the area.
“So everyone hoped that I could learn medicine from you, so I could also treat and heal people in the future?” Lu Qing asked.
“Yes, probably everyone is tired of the days when there was no access to medical help,” the elder doctor nodded.
“But isn’t Grandpa Chen still here?”
“But I am already very old,” the elder doctor said.
“Although I rarely mingle in the village, I still occasionally hear private discussions about what they would do if I suddenly died one day, where they would go for medical treatment.”
Lu Qing: “…”
He thought of the elder doctor’s identity as a cultivator.
Those critical villagers surely would not have expected an old man to have such keen hearing.
Now Lu Qing fully understood why everyone, despite being envious and jealous when they saw him learning medicine from the elder doctor, still reminded him to study hard.
It turned out that everyone was scared of returning to the days without a doctor.
Afraid that if one day the elder doctor was no longer around, they would return to how things were before.
“Grandpa Chen, does that make you angry?” Lu Qing asked.
“What do I have to be angry about?” Elder Doctor Chen chuckled. “It’s just human nature, and besides, I really am very old, almost one foot in the grave.”
But I see you’re still in very good health.
Lu Qing thought to himself.
He remembered the red light that he had seen emanating from the elder doctor.
“Lu Qing, you are a smart boy. You should understand now what everyone meant earlier, right?”
“I understand a little,” Lu Qing nodded.
“Then, would you like to learn medicine from me?”
The elder doctor suddenly asked.