Gasp! She's a Time Traveler Using Modern Tech to Improve Ancient Life-Chapter 597 - 595: Becoming an Apprentice
Spring evening, warm winds, flowers bloom in Beijing.
It’s Qingming Festival again. Lin Wanwan time-travels back to the present day, buys a red-eye flight ticket, flies back to Yongcheng at midnight, and takes offerings and her German Shepherd, Fugui, to the cemetery to pay respects to her grandparents.
As dawn breaks, Lin Wanwan’s phone rings, a WeChat message comes in.
She opens it and sees it’s a message from Lu Shouyue.
Lu Shouyue: "Wanwan, are you up?"
Lin Wanwan: "Not only up, I’ve already finished sweeping the tombs (≧▽≦)"
Lu Shouyue: "...You went back to Yongcheng?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
Lin Wanwan: "Yeah."
Lu Shouyue: "Red-eye flight?"
Lin Wanwan: "Yes, the 11:30 pm flight last night."
Lu Shouyue: "Didn’t pay me any mind all day yesterday, and quietly flew back to Yongcheng at night. Wanwan, you’re such a rogue."
Lin Wanwan: "What makes you say that=͟͟͞͞(꒪⌓꒪*)"
Lu Shouyue: "Master.JPG"
While bantering, she hears her cousin Su Yanwei’s voice: "Wanwan sis? When did you come back to Yongcheng?"
Lin Wanwan looks towards the voice and sees Su Yanwei climbing the steps at the edge of a grave group, carrying two plastic bags full of offerings.
"Just came back this morning." Lin Wanwan gives him a slight smile, "You always come early for tomb sweeping."
Su Yanwei nods, "Yeah, the mornings are quieter, so I can talk to Grandpa, Grandma, and my mom."
"You’ve already paid respects on Aunt’s side?" Lin Wanwan asks.
"Not yet, it’s too crowded up the mountain there, so I came here first."
In the years following Aunt’s death, Lin Wanwan would go with Grandpa to her grave on her death anniversary every year. Then Grandpa suddenly seemed to forget about it, and Lin Wanwan never went by herself again.
Lin Wanwan sighed, "It’s been a long time since I last swept Aunt’s grave. I’ll go with you later."
"Alright." Su Yanwei reaches out and starts laying out offerings, incense, and scriptures from one of the plastic bags.
Lin Wanwan bends down to help. In this world, they’re probably the only ones left who will burn incense for their grandparents.
Of the three children, two left before the grandparents did, and the one who indulged in Western education for a few years deemed post-mortem rituals superstitious and stopped attending.
Even last year on Grandpa’s death anniversary, that family didn’t come, let alone on Qingming Festival.
When a person leaves this world, their closest family might feel devastated for a few days, friends and relatives will be sad for a few days, acquaintances will sigh for a few days.
Three months later, those who still grieve might only be their parents and children, and three years later, the ones who remember to visit their grave might only be their descendants.
Lin Wanwan chats with Su Yanwei while sweeping the tomb, and he updates her on some matters in the Yongtang Company.
"Wanwan sis, you haven’t restocked the finished Hanfu and embroidery for a while. When will it be available? The goods you bring to our store are the most popular, even more than the series we’ve cooperated with heritage inheritors!"
"I’ve been studying traditional Chinese medicine and haven’t had time to stock good goods."
Lin Wanwan wishes she could, but before she went to Chang’an, she assumed she would return to Mao County soon after meeting Li Shimin, so she didn’t prepare for the months ahead, not expecting to be stuck in Chang’an!
In the modern world, she can be a frequent flyer, but in the Great Tang, if she suddenly appears in the streets of Mao County, there’d be no explanation.
Especially since the County Government is not far from the Lin Mansion in Xiaoxi Town, and Xiao Chong has probably returned to Mao County by now. If he suddenly sees her, there’d be no suitable excuse.
Why did she come back alone without servants? Why did she suddenly return so quickly?
Xiao Chong is too smart to fool.
Su Yanwei, obviously unaware of these complexities, notices her difficult expression and tactfully doesn’t press further, changing the subject: "Wanwan sis, I never thought you’d suddenly decide to study traditional Chinese medicine, and even go as far as the Ancient City. Won’t you be opening a clinic someday?"
Lin Wanwan jokingly says, "If I get my practicing certificate, it’s not impossible."
Isn’t it just a shop! Sis isn’t short of money, I’ll buy it when it’s time!
Staying in Chang’an this time has indeed sped up Lin Wanwan’s process of obtaining her practicing certificate.
Initially, with just online courses, she would need three full years of study to qualify for the exam. But now, having enrolled in on-site classes, her remarkable medical talent caught the attention of Dr. Liang from the Ancient Capital University’s Chinese medicine course, who wants to take her as a disciple.
When she returns to the Ancient City this time, she will formally visit and perform the apprenticeship ceremony. Then, with her teacher’s recommendation, she’ll be able to expedite her exam process.
Dr. Liang was shocked that she hadn’t graduated from medical school but reached this level of traditional Chinese medicine by learning from a barefoot doctor.
He believes the barefoot doctor Lin Wanwan spoke of was a hidden master in the field, perhaps wronged and reluctant to return to the public eye.
Lin Wanwan naturally isn’t clear, goes with the flow, mixing truth and fiction in her explanation.
As for her mentor, of course, he was extraordinary—the Medicine Saint from 1,400 years ago! In the modern Ancient City, even Dr. Liang can only bow to the clay idol in the Medicine Saint Temple, while Lin Wanwan can meet him whenever she wants, having a dedicated courtyard for Sun Lao in her estate!
The modern Dr. Liang, who she’s about to become a disciple of, also has a notable background as a successor of Liang’s Pulse Diagnosis Method.
Liang’s Pulse Diagnosis Method’s most famous figure was the elderly Chinese doctor, Liang Xiuqing, a ninth-generation hereditary practitioner.
He had a nickname "Number One in the World for Pulse Diagnosis," renowned for treating cancer, was a legendary figure in traditional Chinese medicine alongside the developer of "Breakthrough Heart-saving Soup," attracting patients from around the world.
He could draw a diagram of a patient’s internal organs after feeling their pulse and even diagnose the size, nature, and location of tumors, or if someone had surgery or bore children.
Of course, the Dr. Liang Lin Wanwan is about to apprentice under isn’t as impressive as Liang Xiuqing. The essence of Liang’s Pulse Diagnosis Method was lost after Liang Xiuqing’s passing, and successors never surpassed him.
However, even so, Dr. Liang is more than adequate to teach Lin Wanwan.
Lin Wanwan joined Dr. Liang’s class thanks to her financial "abilities," but being accepted as a formal disciple is owed to Sun Lao’s tutelage and her own daily efforts.
Becoming a disciple has its pros and cons because Lin Wanwan can’t stay with the teacher for too long. She had discussed this concern with Dr. Liang in advance, and although a bit regretful about her talent being wasted, he still decided to take her in as a pupil.
If Lin Wanwan genuinely wanted to be a famous doctor, she’d devote herself to the Great Tang to study with Medicine Saint Sun Simiao for ten years, and she’d surely make a name for herself after finishing.
But Lin Wanwan just can’t do it! At heart, she prefers a laid-back lifestyle!
As long as she can frequently listen to Sun Lao’s teachings while in Chang’an, she’ll be content. Once she fulfills the prenatal care task given by Li Shimin, she’ll surely return to Mao County at the first opportunity!
