Leisurely Doctor Life (4)

As for the fishing households, there was only one: Tanimura Tsuyoshi, his wife, and their son, a very clever little boy.

As for the craftsman, he was a man living alone named Nakano Teruo. He had been separated from his family while fleeing, and aside from necessary exchanges, he was unwilling to interact much with others, so Bai Sui did not know much about him.

The farming households were the most numerous in the village, totaling nine families, plus two small children.

Aside from three families that were early settlers, the rest of these households had joined one after another in the later period.

Through Bai Sui's observations, the reason for the village's stunted development over these years was the lack of women. There were quite a few single young men in the village who had reached marriageable age, but they suffered from a lack of potential spouses.

However, there was no helping it; the village's location was indeed remote, making it difficult for ordinary refugees to arrive here. At the same time, the village could not let others know its location with great fanfare, as that would invite disaster.

And so, Bai Sui channeled their excess energy into learning. Starting with the kana syllabary, he then used an etymological and associative memory method, beginning with the "pronunciation" and "shape" of the kana to teach them some common words. As for grammar, there was no need to worry; although they were illiterate, they could speak, so he only needed to correct them in specific areas.

After all, Bai Sui's requirements were not high—just being able to read and write and understand basic texts was enough. He was not trying to cultivate any literary scholars.

The more important part actually came later. While learning words, he taught them to recognize some simple plants and shared key points for foraging, letting them collect some whenever they saw them. It could be considered a form of learning through play, heh.

Not only that, but Bai Sui also led them to dig pits in a remote part of the village. There was no help for it; currently, the village dumped excrement directly downstream into the creek. Although it likely wouldn't affect them since they drew water upstream, it still bothered Bai Sui to some extent.

Thus, under Bai Sui's guidance, it took five days to work with the children to dig a two-chamber septic tank. This could prevent the breeding of mosquitoes and flies while also fermenting fertilizer.

The villagers were unaccustomed to using it at first, but since it was requested by the doctor—and upon learning that it could increase soil fertility and boost crop yields—the village head simply made it the rule.

It wasn't that the village didn't know about fertilizing the fields in the past; the key was that they didn't use human waste, as failing to ferment it properly or getting the ratio wrong often yielded the opposite of the desired result.

The method passed down in the village previously was to mix duck manure with some rotting leaves to increase soil fertility.

However, the village was established by refugees, and many supplies were incomplete; there were no ducks, and for these years, there was almost no suitable fertilizer. They could only dig silt from the river to use, which was time-consuming, laborious, and yielded very little effect.

Now that there was a stable source of fertilizer, the village naturally identified more with Bai Sui, and so the entire village began to change under his subtle influence.

Time flew by. Bai Sui not only took deep root here but also established prestige among the people.

After all, whether it was fertilizer or waterwheels, Bai Sui had searched his memories from his past life for these facilities that could benefit the people and tested them one by one.

Although some did not fit the local customs and productivity, many had truly brought tangible benefits to everyone.

And these benefits gradually radiated from the village to the outpost.

This made Kubota Noriyuki, who originally didn't care much about the village, realize that this doctor, Bai Sui, was a man of great background. In fact, the village had always suspected that Bai Sui was a nobleman fallen on hard times due to the war.

Because Kubota Noriyuki had always kept himself detached from the village, Bai Sui didn't have many opportunities to interact with him. Furthermore, through Bai Sui's perception, he could see that he was already far superior to the other man in many aspects, leading him to believe that the man was likely not very influential among the samurai, which was why he had ended up here.

Unexpectedly, after Bai Sui returned from gathering herbs one day, this samurai, Kubota Noriyuki, brought a scent of alcohol and began to chat with him.

He didn't talk about his own experiences, but instead brought up the theory of bloodlines, pouring out his grievances to Bai Sui.

Thinking of how the entire plot of Naruto was just the internal strife of the Otsutsuki clan, Bai Sui disagreed in his heart but said nothing.

He didn't expect the man to act as if he had found a kindred spirit, becoming more and more animated as he spoke: "Everything about us is determined the moment we are born. Whether it is talent or capacity, it is already destined. The future..."

In the end, Bai Sui truly felt that the man had strayed far off course. "That is not necessarily true. To say nothing of far-off things, just look at the village. If it were as you say, then the children in the village would never have the chance to learn to read; no matter what, they would never learn, because they were already destined from birth."

Suddenly hearing Bai Sui refute him, Kubota Noriyuki was stunned and instinctively retorted: "Isn't that because of you..."

"No." Bai Sui interrupted him directly. "I do not believe that everything in a person's life is determined at birth.

I believe the difference lies in opportunity. Your background actually determines a portion of your opportunities; the more privileged one's background, the more opportunities they can access, and the more choices they can make."

Finding that Kubota Noriyuki did not fully refute him, Bai Sui continued, "For example, medicine. While teaching those children to read, I also taught them some simple medical knowledge. This is the opportunity I have added for them.

According to you, they should inherit their ancestors' paths; those who farmed before should only farm.

I don't think it's that they can only farm, but rather that they have very few choices of opportunity, and inheriting their ancestors' path is simply the easiest opportunity for them to grasp, nothing more."

Feeling somewhat persuaded, Kubota Noriyuki hurriedly interjected: "No, no, if you hadn't come, they would certainly still have inherited their ancestral trade. Their change is because of you, not because of themselves."

Bai Sui wore a smile and quietly shifted the concept. "Look, before you thought everything was destined, and now you think other opportunities are only given by others, and that one cannot actively obtain them, is that it?"

"Ah, yes, that's right. Their changes are all because of you, not because of themselves, so this is indeed an opportunity you gave them, not one they obtained themselves." It seemed Kubota Noriyuki did not realize that Bai Sui had already limited the topic to the question of whether one could obtain opportunities.