The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 632 - 621: Cherishing Talent

Chapter 632: Chapter 621: Cherishing Talent

Doctor Ji glanced at her and asked, "Have you memorized all the acupuncture points?"

Manbao sized up Doctor Ji and said, "Doctor Ji, you’re not young anymore; you must have some back pain and soreness. How about I give you a couple of acupuncture treatments to try afterward?"

"Better not," Doctor Ji shuddered, "I feel my body is quite healthy; no need for needles."

While they were talking, another patient arrived.

Lately, perhaps due to the unstable weather, there have been especially many sick people, with children being the majority, but of course, there were also quite a few adults.

Doctor Ji took his time diagnosing and prescribing, and Manbao noticed that most of the pulse diagnoses were similar so much so that the remedies she could think of were nearly identical. However, as Doctor Ji said, they had to be adjusted and changed according to each person’s constitution.

After lunch, Doctor Ji rested briefly before taking Manbao to identify medicinal herbs, starting with the ones drying in the courtyard.

Manbao had memorized all these herbs, but for many of them, it was her first real encounter.

However, having memorized the herbs made recognizing them much easier, and she soon had all the courtyard herbs committed to memory.

So Doctor Ji had someone bring over many different kinds of herbs from the front hall to continue teaching her how to identify them.

Confidently, Manbao recognized and memorized them.

After teaching for an hour, Doctor Ji stopped and said with a smile, "You can go back for today. I will test you tomorrow. If you can recognize all these herbs, I’ll teach you others."

Manbao agreed.

She thought it was not difficult. She had already memorized a considerable number of herbs today. In a few days, she should be able to match all the herbs to their names.

Unfortunately, many herbs she knew were not available at Jishi Hall, so it seemed there was no chance to see them yet.

Full of confidence, Manbao went back home, and the next day, she returned with the same confidence. But when Doctor Ji brought out two herbs that were almost identical—no, in her eyes they were identical—she was somewhat baffled.

Blinking, Manbao picked up the two herbs and sniffed them. They did smell slightly different, but which one was the processed rehmannia, and which one was next door?

Manbao pondered.

Doctor Ji looked on with a smiling gaze, noticing she was stumped. With a wave of his hand, assistants brought out trays, each with four types of herbs that had one thing in common—they looked strikingly alike.

Not only did they appear similar, but, perhaps due to being placed together, to Manbao, a novice in herb identification, even their scents seemed nearly indistinguishable.

Manbao silently stared at them.

It was then that Doctor Ji said with a laugh, "Today, you should just review the herbs you identified yesterday. When you are adept at recognizing all of these, you can learn the next group."

Manbao focused her mind and dutifully agreed.

Doctor Ji re-taught her some of the herbs that were easily understood, skipping over the ones she could recognize at a glance. The ones he had her identify were those commonly misidentified or confused.

Moreover, the efficacy of herbs could vary with different preparation methods even though they all looked similar. Therefore, as a physician, one had to learn not to rely on appearance but to use scent and energy to distinguish herbs.

After studying for an hour as usual, Manbao went home.

Once home, she couldn’t resist telling Mr. Zhuang, "Teacher, I’ve learned so much at the pharmacy."

Mr. Zhuang smiled and said, "If you can learn something beneficial, then you should study well."

Manbao accepted the advice and casually mentioned, "Oh, Teacher, the manager of the pharmacy and Doctor Ji even wanted to invite you for a meal."

Mr. Zhuang chuckled, "They’re kind to teach you so it should be me inviting them to a meal."

Manbao thought for a moment and said, "But we’ve all been too busy recently, let’s wait until Shanbao finishes his mid-year exams."

They were all busy. Mr. Zhuang still had to prepare for the major lectures at Dazhi Academy. He had already taught one major lecture at the academy recently. Both the students and the teachers received it well, and all felt this fine tradition should be continued.

Of course, when giving the major lecture, he would take Manbao and Bai Er along, partly to give them the chance to learn and partly to help them make more friends.

Mr. Zhuang unknowingly nodded his head.

Jishi Hall must have agreed to let Manbao study at the pharmacy because there was something they wanted from Manbao, and Mr. Zhuang vaguely guessed it was the medical books she had.

As they had needs, there must be a corresponding contribution, which was only fair. Hence, Mr. Zhuang was not in a hurry at all.

Thus Manbao’s days were full: rising early to read and practice calligraphy, then interning at the pharmacy, returning in the afternoon for lessons or going to the bookstore to search for materials.

Occasionally, Teacher Mo would send her some information, usually prescriptions based on her pulse diagnoses. Manbao would print out his prescriptions, copy them, and then show them to Doctor Ji.

The two of them, including Shopkeeper Zheng, would gather around the prescriptions to discuss them.

Sometimes they would admire the prescriptions Teacher Mo had written, and sometimes they would refute them. Manbao recorded their reasons and relayed them to Teacher Mo in the evening. The next day, or the day after, she would communicate Teacher Mo’s replies to them.

In these exchanges of ideas, Manbao, acting both as a messenger and a participant, was growing rapidly.

Of course, what made her most proud was that as her studies deepened, she had memorized all the herbs that could be taken out at Jishi Hall.

Even the herbs that were very similar, she could identify correctly.

Shopkeeper Zheng, on a whim, even mixed several kinds of herbs together and had her sort them out again.

Although Manbao sorted them slowly and hesitated at times, Doctor Ji checked each one and found she had sorted them all correctly.

So, not only Shopkeeper Zheng and Doctor Ji, but even Doctor Ji, who usually did not interact much with Manbao, couldn’t help but run to the backyard to watch her, amazed and looking over her again and again.

As Doctor Ji escorted the guests out, his chest fluctuated with alternating cool and warm feelings.

The coolness was hissing out his mouth while the warmth shot up to his face. He was excited and regretful at the same time. Once the guests left, he couldn’t stop sighing, "Too late, a step too late. She’s already someone else’s disciple."

Shopkeeper Zheng then said, "No wonder, no wonder she said she knows a lot. I originally thought the child was too complacent, considering her young age. But now, seeing how quickly she learns... it’s no wonder that teacher cherishes her talent so much."

Doctor Ji lamented, "If I had such a disciple..."

Doctor Ji couldn’t help saying, "Dad, she’s a girl."

Doctor Ji shot him a look and said, "So what if she’s a girl, there are female physicians in the Imperial Hospital."

"But the highest rank they can achieve is only seventh grade; they still can’t compare with men."

Shopkeeper Zheng shook his head, unable to resist.

Doctor Ji then hit him on the head and scolded, "We physicians rely on our medical skills, not on our official ranks. And do you have a rank anyway?"