The Martial Doctor-Chapter 68: Father, I Want to Take a Master

Some rejoice, while others mourn.

Ever since returning home from Xinglin Institute, Xia Yuan locked himself in the study and skipped dinner, leaving Xia Zhu to bring the meal inside.

She found her father sitting dazed, originally with only a few strands of gray hair, now nearly a third of his hair had turned white.

Today’s incident, though it didn’t result in a catastrophe, originated from his own misdiagnosis.

If something were to happen to Xiaolian today, how could he explain to her family, and how would he live with his conscience?

If he hadn’t put his pride aside and given up his reputation, this matter might have been impossible to resolve, and even returning home would be a luxury.

As a physician, misdiagnosis is not uncommon; after all, humans are not deities, and a certain probability of error exists. Even the three sages wouldn’t dare claim never to have misdiagnosed in their medical careers.

Yet, misdiagnosis can be timely discovered and corrected or discovered too late to remedy.

The former is merely a minor issue, while the latter is a matter of life and death; even if acknowledged, misdiagnosis usually results in mere penalties from authorities, but it severely impacts a physician’s reputation.

Different situations bring different impacts.

Today’s incident after the face-to-face examination, though not yet leaked, it’s inevitable that secrets will eventually be revealed to the world.

This may not affect Xia Yuan’s position in the Benefit People Pharmacy Dongshan Branch, but reputation damage is not easily repaired.

Moreover, he fears he can no longer bear the embarrassment of his vice seat position and its accompanying benefits.

Has Xia Yuan, who usually imposes strict demands on others, now faced an incident and simply pretend nothing happened?

"Father, please eat, or mother will worry."

"How is your mother?"

"Her old ailments have improved with the medicine you prescribed." Xia Zhu nodded and said.

"Alas, as a famed physician, not only have I failed to cure your mother, but I also caused a misdiagnosis today and made a fool of myself in front of many." Xia Yuan said, "I plan to resign from the vice seat and become an ordinary physician on duty."

"Father, this wasn’t your intention." Xia Zhu comforted, "Moreover, your courage to admit your mistake makes me proud!"

"Ah Zhu, though I have only one daughter, you surpass many men." Xia Yuan felt much better after hearing this.

"Father, I’d like to discuss something with you." Xia Zhu suddenly said.

"What is it? Speak."

"I want to apprentice."

"Apprentice?" Xia Yuan’s heart skipped a beat and looked at his daughter in shock. Strictly speaking, Xia Zhu isn’t his formal apprentice; it’s just that she insisted on learning medicine, and he couldn’t refuse. Therefore, she attended classes alongside the apprentices he accepted, and she inherited his medical talents, succeeding quite well compared to other apprentices.

She was also the most hopeful to pass the ’physician exam,’ yet she had the bad luck of drawing the number six patient.

It was he, this father, who dug a pit and placed his daughter into it.

"Ah Zhu, whom do you wish to apprentice under?" Xia Yuan couldn’t help but feel sorrowful. Has even his daughter lost faith in him now?

"Lin Miao."

"What, you want to apprentice under Lin Miao? How old is he?"

"In learning, there is no precedence, merit comes first." Xia Zhu said, "Isn’t this what you’ve taught me since childhood? Today, when I saw Mr. Lin’s medical skills, I realized there are always greater heights and stronger people. Thus, I wish to learn Lin Miao’s medical skills."

"Ah Zhu, have you made up your mind?" Xia Yuan inhaled sharply. Since childhood, his daughter always had her own ideas, much like him. Unexpectedly, this incident prompted such a thought.

Indeed, Lin Miao has remarkable skills, but can this alone qualify him as a mentor? Granted, he’s attained the ’physician’ qualification, yet lacks the authority to independently practice medicine, and by rules, cannot bestow apprentice status to others.

Even if he were qualified to accept apprentices, he could only mentor one person, per junior physician rules. Upon promotion to intermediate, they can mentor two, advanced four, and reach ’physician’ level to mentor ten.

Upon disciples qualifying as physicians or voluntarily abandoning status, their slots become open again, explaining how a physician could amass numerous apprentices in life, contingent on their disciples’ success rate.

Mentoring apprentices is cautious work, and as a senior physician, Xia Yuan has officially accepted only seven or eight apprentices.

Many learned from him informally, making alternate careers like pharmaceutics possible.

Medicine without pharmaceuticals is akin to chefs without ingredients; curing is nearly impossible.

"Father, I’ve decided." Xia Zhu said, "Tomorrow, I’ll visit Mr. Lin’s residence and request him to accept me as an apprentice."

"Alright, since you’ve decided, I won’t stop you. However, bear in mind that once Lin Miao takes you as an apprentice, he becomes your mentor. Regardless of skills taught, you must never betray your mentor." Xia Yuan solemnly instructed, adhering to the Xia Family’s principles.

"Yes, Father, I shall remember." Xia Zhu nodded solemnly.

"Ah Zhu, I dare not comment on Lin Miao’s skills, but a lone tree facing the wind is doomed to fall. If you become his disciple, expect substantial criticism and pressure. Moreover, you are no longer young; you should consider marriage, lest you become a spinster." Xia Yuan warned.

"Father, I..." Xia Zhu hesitated, acutely aware of what her decision implied for her future.

"Your fifth senior brother, Shen Haidong, has always admired you. He’s only three years older than you, with good character and abilities. I won’t stop you from apprenticing under Lin Miao, but you must promise me one thing: finalize your marriage with Shen Haidong." Xia Yuan said slowly, understanding his daughter as a father. Blocking her directly wouldn’t work, but he could steer the situation to make her make a choice.

"If Father thinks Senior Brother Shen is a good match for your daughter, then your daughter will agree to this marriage." Xia Zhu considered for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"So, you agree?"

"Yes, your daughter agrees."

"Good." Xia Yuan also breathed a sigh of relief, as if a weight had been lifted.

...

Shanyuan Square, Ye Mansion.

Seeing Ye Xizhao reeking of alcohol, Ye Shengyuan could not help but feel infuriated. However, tonight he was hosting a few of his peers.

This was considered serious business. After all, these people might join the Ye Family’s Shengyuan Hall, and Ye Xizhao was building relationships in advance, which wasn’t wrong.

At this moment, Ye Xizhao, being the top scorer, was the right one to represent.

"Ye Xizhao, don’t provoke Lin Miao recently, did you hear?" Ye Shengyuan waited for his return to personally remind him.

"Father, that Lin kid just got lucky, barely securing third place. But your son got first. Why should I fear him?"

"Mr. Wan from Li Jing Imperial Pharmacy is in Dongshan City, and the top three are under his observation. If you provoke him now, are you trying to bring trouble to the Ye Family?" Ye Shengyuan rebuked angrily.

"Not to provoke him means not to provoke him," Ye Xizhao said sheepishly, "But Father, the murder of Dong Hu and Zhao Wu must be related to Lin Miao. You need to have the Arresting Department investigate."

"Investigate what? That you arranged for Dong Hu and Zhao Wu to follow Lin Miao, intending to abduct him and force his senior sister for you?" Ye Shengyuan snorted angrily.

His son was good in every other way, but his lecherous nature was truly incorrigible.

"But Dong Hu and Zhao Wu can’t die in vain, can they?"

"Rest assured, even though you’ve passed the medical exam, next, the ten of you have to choose a clinic for internship. No matter which clinic he enters, I have ways to get a hold of him." Ye Shengyuan said.

"What if he enters the Xu Family’s Baoan Hall?"

"The Ye Family and Xu Family are about to form a matrimonial alliance, if he enters Xu Family’s Baoan Hall, it’ll be perfect!" Ye Shengyuan chuckled.

"Father, I don’t want to marry the Xu family’s girl..."

"Outrageous! The marriage between the Ye and Xu families is a move I’ve planned for a long time. Even if you don’t like it, you must marry her and ensure she gives birth to a son!" Ye Shengyuan rebuked.

"Yes, Father." Ye Xizhao immediately felt deflated, unable to disobey his father’s orders.

...

At the Xu Family, apart from the protagonist Xu Yao, Lin Miao was the most talked-about topic at the evening’s celebration banquet.

After the banquet ended.

Xu An deliberately entered Patriarch Xu Zheng’s study.

"Mr. An, I know your intentions, but the Ye Family has already sought Mr. Pei privately to mediate, wanting to have our Xiao Qi and them marry. I really can’t refuse." Xu Zheng was distressed.

How could he not know that Ye Xizhao from the Ye Family is a playboy? But one can’t deny this boy’s high talent; he’s acknowledged as a medical prodigy. He even won the top spot this time, proving to be excellent in many ways.

As for being flirtatious and lecherous, it’s nothing for a man. As he ages and matures, he’ll naturally change.

When he’s had his fill of fun, he’ll settle down.

"As for Lin Miao, he’s not someone our Xu Family can accommodate." Xu Zheng’s assessment was based on years of experience despite his not-so-good Qi Observation Skill. He was objective.

"Ah Zheng, I know it’s been hard for you maintaining this family and Baoan Hall all these years, but doing so is like pushing Xiao Qi into a fire pit!" Xu An expressed anxiously.

"I have no choice, today Mr. An informed me that after the contract expires at the end of the year, he won’t renew."

"An Jiahe is leaving?" Xu An exclaimed in surprise, "How come I didn’t know about this?"

"Ye Shengyuan approached him a long time ago, offering him a position at Shengyuan Hall, with double the current salary and a settlement fee."

"Ye Shengyuan is truly generous!"

"The Ye Family is different from us. They don’t just have clinics; they also have warehouses and wholesale medicines, controlling the pricing in Dongshan City’s medicine market. Compared to them, our finances are far more limited!" Xu Zheng explained, "The Xu Family only knows how to treat patients; we can’t do anything else."

The Xu Family’s Baoan Hall is one of Dongshan City’s four renowned clinics. Except for Benefit People Pharmacy, their consultation and medicine fees are the most reasonable.

The Xu Family also has a bit of a philanthropic mindset, offering affordable medicines to ordinary people, naturally resulting in lower income compared to other pharmacies.

Benefit People Pharmacy has government support, so they don’t have high-profit requirements. As long as they’re not losing money or losing less, it’s acceptable.