The Martial Doctor-Chapter 57: Baoan Hall’s Olive Branch

The young prodigy, yet not arrogant!

Xu An couldn’t help but nod slightly. He and Xu Qixi came to the Lin Residence again today; firstly, because they hadn’t met Lin Miao last time, and he was very curious about this sixteen-year-old who could take charge, supporting both a sickly senior sister and an elderly nanny.

The three of them broke into Dongshan City and within just two or three months managed to establish themselves and create a considerable business.

For the common people, food is paramount, and he didn’t consider opening a tofu shop and selling tofu to support oneself a lowly endeavor.

If all of this was the work of this young man, it could be imagined that he was no ordinary character.

Moreover, when he learned that this young man was planning to take the Physician Examination and had aspirations in the medical field, he became even more curious.

After checking the list for the Physician Examination and seeing Lin Miao’s name among the top three, he was even more eager to come over.

All these years, he had been searching for someone to pass on his skills.

Xu Qixi was indeed intelligent, but she was a woman who might need to marry in the future; even if a husband joined the family, it would still be inconvenient for a woman to practice medicine.

Although there was a branch of gynecology, its scope was limited.

This was not her prejudice, but a consensus of this world.

Over the years, he had taken in many apprentices, many of whom were quite skilled, and even surpassed him as "physicians".

However, he wanted to find someone capable of inheriting all his medical knowledge.

This would be his closed-door disciple.

Therefore, in recent years, every black horse that appeared in the Physician Examination, he would pay attention to, although those with mentors were off-limits as he couldn’t possibly snatch someone else’s disciple.

And finding a remarkable one from children was rare.

Suddenly encountering a black horse like Lin Miao, whose mentor had passed away, and who could score third in the exam at such a young age.

Perfectly fitting the criteria for the closed-door disciple he envisioned. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Thus, he disregarded his usual tolerance, and early the next morning after the results were released, brought Xu Qixi along, fearing being too late and letting others take the opportunity.

He knew that some old guys in Dongshan City were also eyeing Lin Miao now, but it would take them some time to find out Lin Miao’s residence.

But he had already gained the upper hand.

Of course, first, he had to test Lin Miao’s temperament and character, for no matter how talented, if he were like Ye Xizhao from the Ye Family, he’d rather not accept him.

Such a person, even if their medical skills are exceptional, might become a disgrace to the medical community in the future.

Neither arrogant nor impatient, courteous and measured!

Exuding an air of distinction.

Xu An liked Lin Miao from the first glance.

"Mr. Lin, I apologize for the sudden visit. Last time I came empty-handed; this time I bring gifts both as an apology and to meet with Mr. Lin!"

"Mr. Xu, you’re too kind, you are a senior in the medical field. Your visit to my humble abode is an honor for one as junior as myself." Lin Miao raised his hand slightly and nodded, "Please, welcome."

"Lin Miao, there’s also me, why didn’t you call me?"

"Miss Xu, please come in."

"Hmph!" Xu Qixi snorted softly, following behind her granduncle Xu An into the house.

They circled the screen wall, arrived at the front yard, and then entered the main hall.

"Sun Youwei greets Mr. Xu and Miss Xu." Sun Youwei, as the hostess, naturally accompanied to meet the guests, especially when there were female guests.

"Youwei, you’re too polite, we’ve met before."

"Mr. Xu, please." Lin Miao ushered Xu An to the seat of honor. For one, he was an elder, and he was also bringing gifts today, showing no hostility.

If he wanted to establish himself in Dongshan City, naturally, he had to deal with his peers. The Xu Family’s Baoan Hall was one of the four major medical halls in Dongshan City.

Being friendly with them would be highly beneficial to himself.

"Someone, please serve tea!"

As soon as Lin Miao finished speaking, Shi Yin entered holding a tea tray, dressed in a light pink cotton robe.

"Miss Shi Yin, why did you..." Lin Miao was slightly surprised; there were maids at home, how could they let Shi Yin, who was a guest, serve tea?

"I asked Zhu’Er to let me do it. Mr. Xu gave me a prescription without charging, so serving tea as thanks is fitting." Shi Yin explained.

Indeed, prior to leaving last time, Xu An diagnosed Shi Yin and left her a prescription. It was reasonable for Shi Yin to express her gratitude.

"You’re too polite, Miss Shi Yin. I can only lessen your pain but have no way to cure it entirely, regrettably." Xu An nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

"Mr. Xu, this is the best outcome one could hope for." Shi Yin respectfully bowed, sneaking a glance at Lin Miao before swiftly averting her eyes.

Sun Youwei noticed this, and surprisingly, Xu Qixi also sensed it, slightly curling her lips back.

Only Xu An, with his attention focused entirely on Lin Miao, remained oblivious.

The prescription that Xu An gave to Shi Yin was seen by Lin Miao. While it’s definitely effective, it’s used a bit too cautiously, which might greatly reduce its impact. If he were to use this prescription, the dosage of one or two particular herbs might be large, but generally, most doctors wouldn’t dare to use it.

So, you can’t say it’s wrong. After all, Mr. Xu is getting on in years and being cautious with prescriptions isn’t a problem.

"Mr. Lin, the last and most important hurdle of the physician examination, the face-to-face diagnosis test, is approaching. How confident are you?" Xu An asked directly.

"If there are no external factors, I believe I should pass," Lin Miao added a caveat to make himself seem less arrogant.

"What are these external factors?"

"Oh, things like fraud or disturbances that interfere with the final score can be counted among them," Lin Miao pondered and said.

Xu An nodded. Having been through decades, how could he not know that no matter how well-designed and strict the system is, those who want to exploit loopholes will always find a way.

However, the more stringent the system design, the higher the cost for these people; when the input cost far exceeds the benefit, naturally, there will be fewer unscrupulous acts.

After all, if this physician examination let someone incompetent pass and something happened, even if responsibility isn’t pursued, some people’s reputations would be ruined.

A doctor, once they lose their reputation, loses everything—social status and wealth, all gone.

Getting someone "mediocre" or "incompetent" to pass by sacrificing one’s own reputation, how much would it cost to buy that?

Is it worth it?

In some places, this isn’t cared about much; in others, it’s relatively strict. Dongshan Prefecture is a place that’s relatively strict about this.

Such things rarely happen here.

The gold content of physician exams passed in Dongshan Prefecture ranks quite high in the Da Li Dynasty, able to reach the top ten.

Thus, the number of physician assessments passed each year ranks at the forefront.

"Mr. Lin, do you know how many names will be added to the list of newly recognized physicians in this year’s exam?" Xu An asked with a slight smile.

"Five people. Isn’t that the usual number?"

"No, starting this year, it will be ten," Xu An shook his head and said.

"Why is that?"

"Although the gold content of our Dongshan Prefecture’s physician exam is high, it takes place every two years, and picking only five each time is too few. More than ten usually pass the face-to-face diagnosis. If we continue with the old numbers, we might drive our talent to other prefectures, causing a talent drain in medical studies in Dongshan Prefecture. So, we decided to increase the number to ten this year."

"Isn’t it necessary to get approval from the government to increase this number?" Lin Miao asked. For a prefecture to increase the number of recognized physicians, it must be sanctioned by the government; otherwise, even if the number of passes increased, without the government’s ’physician’ order, what use would it be?

"Actually, we’ve applied a long time ago, but there was resistance in the government, and only this year we got approval. The complexity of this matter, Mr. Lin, you need not know. Anyway, you just need to know that it’s ten people this year."

"So, this means the opportunity is greatly increased this year?"

"The opportunity is increased, but the difficulty might also increase. With the first increase in slots, true skills need to be tested, and the government will send people to monitor this face-to-face examination. If our standard is too low to meet the increase’s criteria, it could be just this one chance, and the next one might revert, and no further applications for ten years!" Xu An explained.

"That’s quite rigorous," Lin Miao nodded. This system design has no flaws and prevents arbitrary relaxation from below.

"Therefore, everyone in the top ten has a chance this time."

"Thank you, Mr. Xu, for sharing this information; otherwise, I really wouldn’t have known."

"You’ll also know soon. The Medical Bureau will post related notices on the bulletin board. This is not confidential," Xu An smiled and said. "I just happen to know some internal news and informed you in advance."

"Mr. Xu, please have some tea."

"Thank you." Xu An nodded and said, "I came today also to ask Mr. Lin one more thing."

"Please, Mr. Xu, go ahead."

"Mr. Lin should be aware of our Xu Family’s Baoan Hall. I sincerely invite you to join us at Baoan Hall. What do you think?" Xu An said solemnly.

"Well..." Lin Miao hesitated. Actually, he hadn’t thought about joining any particular medical hall. After all, joining a medical hall means signing a contract. The medical hall would train you and offer a high salary, but they wouldn’t allow you to leave once you’re experienced without tying you up with a very strict agreement of ten... even twenty years.

Within that, there are many restrictions, such as needing to find a doctor to mentor you even after getting the ’physician’ order, gain a year’s work experience, and meet the number of consultations in order to independently diagnose patients and establish a medical hall.

Unless you’re a close disciple, they won’t train you and set you free afterward. Medical halls aren’t charitable institutions; if they train you and you run away, what happens to the human and material resources invested?

But if you don’t join a medical hall or find a doctor to mentor you, there’s only one path left.

Apply for a temporary "physician" diagnosis qualification from the government.

Consultations at the government-designated Convenient Medical Diagnosis Point require more than a thousand patients treated in a year with a patient mortality rate of less than 1% to pass, and obtain a permanent "official physician" qualification, allowing you to apply to establish a medical hall directly.

The Convenient Medical Diagnosis Point is managed and supervised by the Benefit People Pharmacy.

This path is tough; first, there’s the time limit of one year, and you need to diagnose over a thousand patients. In a normal medical hall, a physician sees around twenty to thirty patients per day, theoretically possible in a year. But that’s just theoretical.

The consultation fee at the Convenient Medical Diagnosis Point is minimal, only ten coins per visit, and even with the Benefit People Pharmacy running it, there are often vacancies for stationed physicians.

In fact, some Convenient Medical Diagnosis Points are either occupied by others or have become homes for beggars.

A young physician who has just passed the "physician" exam, how much trust can they earn, and how many people are willing to bet their lives on them?

Even a genius physician wouldn’t dare try it easily.