Chapter 867 A Dream of Youth 399

Xie Ning not only sent people to investigate Lu Xueming, whom Deng Yue'er mentioned, but also investigated the wealthy businessman that Deng's mother wanted to introduce to Deng Yue'er.

The wealthy merchant's identity was nothing more than that of a medicine merchant.

In recent years, apart from Yunxia Pharmacy and official pharmacies, which have female doctors, other private pharmacies have been gradually adding positions for female doctors. However, overall, they are very rare, and most of them are temporary female doctors.

Their medical skills are not high; they are just more experienced. They mostly do assistant work, such as tasks that male doctors find inconvenient to perform.

Regardless, this is a good sign.

The wealthy merchant wanted to marry Deng Yue'er, probably because he knew that Deng Yue'er had some medical skills and pharmacology knowledge, and wanted to expand the business of his pharmacy. However, his pharmacy was not in the capital, but in a county town near the capital.

Upon hearing this, Xie Ning asked Qingxu to pause, and she took out a piece of paper to write down some of her thoughts.

The wealthy businessman was mainly attracted to Deng Yue'er's medical skills, which shows that many people had their eyes on female patients. And judging from this trend, people's resistance to women practicing medicine is gradually decreasing.

This has created a talent gap.

It would be quite difficult to get more ordinary women to study at the Imperial Medical Bureau. Xie Ning couldn't make a decision yet, since the Imperial Medical Bureau had limited funds and resources, and the number of students it recruited each year, regardless of gender, was limited.

Yunxia Pharmacy is currently expanding. In addition to the one in the capital, there are also one in Quanzhou and one in Yizhou, making a total of only three stores. Although it seems like a small number, they are all of high quality. Xie Ning prefers to take a steady and pragmatic approach. Even though she has enough funds, she has not been frantically opening pharmacies in various places.

It now seems that she needs to prioritize talent development, as her abilities are limited, and having a dominant position would be detrimental to competition.

Her goal is not to make money, but to make medical care more affordable for more people.

Therefore, she did not mind sending the talents she had trained to work in other pharmacies or clinics, which would slow down the development of Yunxia Pharmacy and extend its function to another: training and supplying talents.

The Great Zhou Dynasty has a pretty good policy for cultivating talent, somewhat similar to public schools in later generations. Each county has a county school, and then there are government-run schools at each level.

Of course, there are private schools among them, but in terms of the current demand and supply of talent, there is a bit of an imbalance, because everyone wants to become an official and looks down on other professions, which creates a shortage of talent in other professions.

After all, the scholar ranks first.

Whether it's now or in the modern society she lives in, the situation is similar, except that it was more pronounced in ancient times.

Xie Ning wanted to open a private school specializing in medical technology, and then send the trained talents to various places, which was similar to the purpose of the imperial court in establishing the Imperial Medical Bureau, except that one was public and the other was private.

Just like women practicing medicine, once it starts, people's resistance decreases, and then they realize that it is profitable, so people will rush to imitate it.

The same applies to schools; gradually, their scope has expanded beyond just the medical field.

Qingxu watched as the sunset glow outside slowly faded, and the crescent moon hung above the treetops, accompanied by the chirping of cicadas.

"What about Lu Xueming?"

Xie Ning finally finished writing down the general plan. His wrists were very sore. Qing Le put Xie Ning's manuscript into the box, while Qing Xu stepped forward to massage the acupoints on Xie Ning's wrists.

"You guessed correctly, young lady. He is indeed a member of the Lu family, but he is a concubine's son, and is several layers of blood relation to the main branch."

But even in remote areas, large families are still relatives on the same page of the family tree.

"...Lu Xueming met Deng Xiaoniangzi two years ago. Lu Xueming took his aunt to see a doctor, and later he would also come to Yunxia Pharmacy to buy medicine and treat his injuries. Over time, the two became acquainted."

In other words, Deng Yue'er's request for help had little to do with the Lu family.

Xie Ning actually felt it wasn't a big deal, but he was still worried, so he sent someone to investigate thoroughly.

The Lu family did send a letter, but they sent a letter not only to her but also to the three judicial departments that were handling the case. The main request was to the person in charge of the Lu consort's case.

It's just that the old lady Lu didn't know her place. After all, he was her only son, so it's understandable that she would try anything in her desperation.

But after she delivered the jade Buddha to the government office, she quieted down. It's unclear whether she understood Xie Ning's meaning or was warned by other members of the Lu family.

Or perhaps they were frightened by the summons from the Dali Temple.

Of course, this summons was not for the Jade Buddha, but for Princess Baochu, because Madam Lu had also mistreated Princess Baochu, so she was summoned for questioning.

If it weren't for her advanced age and the intervention of court officials, Yan Xi would have wanted to imprison her as well.

Madam Lu was naturally terrified, but she also kept the clan leader's words in mind, kept her mouth shut, and absolutely refused to admit that she had mistreated Princess Baochu.

At first, she respected the princess very much, even though she harbored some resentment towards Princess Baochu, just like Prince Consort Lu.

But given the princess's high status, she dared not overstep her bounds.

Later, seeing that Princess Baochu was gentle and virtuous, and especially fond of her son, she treated her maternal uncle and aunt with great respect, just like an ordinary young lady, without any of the arrogance of a princess.