The Old Doctor's Merits

In the end, Lao Zhao was carried away by his two sons amid his old wife's scolding.

Old Doctor Chen gave him acupuncture and prescribed some medicine. By the time Lao Zhao left, his complexion had already improved greatly.

Once Lao Zhao and his family left, there was no more excitement for the villagers to watch. Not daring to disturb Old Doctor Chen too much, they began to disperse as well.

"A Qing, are you leaving?" Wang Da'an asked Lu Qing.

"Huh, Lu Qing, why are you here? Xiao Yan is here too?"

Only then did the other villagers notice Lu Qing and Xiao Yan standing in the corner.

"I've been here all along. Everyone was just worried about Uncle Zhao's condition, so they didn't notice me." Lu Qing smiled. "Da'an Ge, you go back first. I still have a few things I want to ask Grandpa Chen about."

"Ask about?" Only then did Wang Da'an notice the book in Lu Qing's hand, and realization dawned on him. "You're here learning from Old Doctor Chen?"

"Yes, I'm learning a little about medicinal herbs from Grandpa Chen." Lu Qing did not deny it.

The moment those words came out, the villagers were all astonished.

Lu Qing was actually so highly regarded by the old doctor?

After their surprise came envy.

The old doctor's medical skill was plain for all to see. He could even pull people back from death's door.

Many people had gone to see how sick Lu Qing had been before, yet the old doctor had cured him with a single prescription.

Earlier, when Lao Zhao had fallen into the water, they had heard his face was blue-black and that he had stopped breathing.

And then what? The old doctor had kneaded him a few times and brought him back to life.

Such medical skill would not be overstating things even if it were called raising the dead.

Now Lu Qing actually had the good fortune to study medicine at the old doctor's side. How could they not envy him?

But envy was envy; the villagers also knew that this was not something they could envy their way into.

Learning medicine clearly was no easy task. Anyone who was not exceptionally clever probably could not even get through the door.

Wasn't Lu Qing holding a book right now? Yet if all the characters known by everyone in their village were gathered together, they probably would not fill a single basket.

Only Lu Qing, who had been taught by his grandfather since childhood, knew a few characters.

Perhaps that was also why Old Doctor Chen valued Lu Qing.

Thinking of this, the jealousy in many villagers' hearts lessened somewhat. They knew that even if such good fortune fell into their laps, they would not have the ability to catch it.

A rather elderly villager stepped forward and patted Lu Qing on the shoulder.

"Well done, Lu Qing! You must study medicine properly under the old doctor and strive to learn every bit of his skill!"

The sudden encouragement left Lu Qing somewhat dazed.

He really wanted to say that he was only learning a little knowledge about medicinal herbs from Old Doctor Chen right now.

But seeing the elder's earnest gaze, he could only nod. "I'll work hard."

Even after all the villagers had left, Lu Qing was still somewhat bewildered.

He had thought that when everyone saw him studying medicine here with the old doctor, they would surely be envious and jealous.

But he had just seen it.

The villagers had envy, and they had jealousy too, but neither was as intense as he had imagined.

Instead, beyond their envy and jealousy, everyone seemed to genuinely hope that he could master the old doctor's medical skill.

Lu Qing did not like to speculate about others with malice.

But he also knew that the human heart was hard to fathom. Sometimes, jealousy could arise for no reason at all.

"Are you confused?" Old Doctor Chen came to Lu Qing's side.

"What?" Lu Qing did not understand.

"You don't understand why the people in the village hope so much that you can learn my medical skill?" Old Doctor Chen smiled.

Lu Qing nodded. He truly did not quite understand.

Did the old doctor know the reason? "Lu Qing, do you know how many doctors there were in the nearby villages when I first settled here?"

Rather than answer Lu Qing's question directly, the old doctor asked one in return.

Lu Qing shook his head.

When the old doctor had come to the village, the original Lu Qing had still been young and had little memory of such things.

"Not one." The old doctor gave an answer that surprised Lu Qing somewhat. "Before I came to this village, there was not a single doctor in any of the nearby villages."

"When the villagers fell ill, if it was a minor illness, they would basically pick a few herbs they recognized, boil them, and drink the brew. Or they would get some medicine from the Midwife or the Witch Doctor. For everything else, they would simply endure it. Only when they truly could not endure any longer would they go to the city to seek medical treatment."

"But most serious illnesses in this world develop from minor ones. By the time they could no longer endure it and went to the city to seek treatment, it was often already a serious illness."

"Serious illnesses were hard to treat. Even physicians in the city could not claim confidence in curing every disease."

"Besides, living in the city was not easy, much less seeking treatment there."

"Even if a city physician was confident he could treat it, ordinary villagers could not afford the exorbitant medical fees."

"Therefore, to ordinary villagers, a serious illness often meant that their days were numbered."

"Before I came to this village, quite a few people in the surrounding villages died from illness every year."

Lu Qing searched his memories. It seemed that before the old doctor had come, there had indeed been funerals in the village every year.

"Back then, when I came traveling through this place, I saw that many people in the nearby villages were afflicted with illness and had nowhere to seek treatment. Unable to bear it, I stayed behind, hoping to give these villagers a sliver of hope."

"Who would have thought that once I stayed, ten years would pass."

"Over these ten years, I cannot say that I saved countless lives, but at the very least, I gave the villagers here somewhere to seek treatment when they fell ill, so that minor ailments would not accumulate into major ones, and small illnesses would not be dragged into serious diseases."

Lu Qing was deeply shaken.

By the old doctor's account, over these ten years, he truly could be said to have kept one region safe. He was the Living Buddha of this place.

"So that's why everyone hopes I can study medicine under you, so that I can treat illnesses and save people in the future too?" Lu Qing asked.

"That's right. Perhaps everyone has grown afraid of the days when they had nowhere to seek treatment." The old doctor nodded.

"But isn't there still you, Grandpa Chen?"

"But I am already very old," the old doctor said.

"Though I rarely walk around the village in my daily life, I still occasionally hear people discussing in private what they would do if I suddenly died one day, where they would go for treatment when they fell ill."

Lu Qing: "..."

He thought of the old doctor's identity as a cultivator.

Those villagers gossiping about him would surely never have imagined that an old man could still possess such sharp hearing.

Now Lu Qing finally understood why, when everyone saw him studying medicine with the old doctor, they still told him to study hard despite their envy and jealousy.

It turned out they had grown afraid of the old days when there had been no doctors.

They feared that if the old doctor was gone one day, they would return to how things had been before.

"Grandpa Chen, aren't you angry?" Lu Qing asked.

"What is there for me to be angry about?" Old Doctor Chen chuckled. "It is only human nature. Besides, I truly am very old—half my body is already in the grave."

But you look remarkably healthy to me.

Lu Qing thought secretly.

He recalled the Red Light he had once seen emanating from the old doctor's body.

"Lu Qing, you are a clever child. You understand what everyone meant just now, don't you?"

"I understand a little." Lu Qing nodded.

"Then are you willing to study medicine under me?"

The old doctor suddenly asked.