Chapter 915: One-Time Grain Seeds [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Qi Shan was bursting with energy; that very evening, she took Shu Xiu and her daughter to find Doctor Dong to become his apprentice, using connections to get her in.

Dr. Dong had a lot of dealings with Qi Shan.

During the year or so that Shen Tang led his team out to fight, Qi Shan was in charge of the clinic's budget. However, Qi Shan was injured because of Shen Tang, and it was Old Doctor Dong who treated him several times. When he saw Qi Shan come to the clinic, his first thought was that Qi Shan was injured again.

"Is the registrar feeling unwell?"

Qi Miao obediently followed behind Qi Shan, secretly observing Doctor Dong. She was secretly surprised by his youth—before coming, her father said that the famous doctor she was going to visit was definitely a master of medicine and the best doctor in the world, so Qi Miao thought he was seventy or eighty years old.

To everyone's surprise, the other party was a young man with white hair.

Although Qi Miao hadn't seen many men and couldn't easily compare their appearances, she knew that the white-haired youth had regular features, fair and delicate skin, and a clear, bright complexion. His skin was so smooth and flawless that even the most aristocratic ladies, who used expensive ointments daily, couldn't achieve such perfect results. Ignoring his hair color, he was at most twenty-five or twenty-six years old. A renowned physician… so young?

Or perhaps, the other person has excellent skincare routine?

Qi Miao noticed the other person's eyes, which held the marks of time, and felt more inclined towards the latter. She just wondered if this beauty secret could be revealed to outsiders. Of course, it wasn't for her own use; she was still young and far from needing such a beauty regimen.

When she was learning to manage the household from her birth mother, her mother would give her the accounts from previous years to practice with, teaching her how to manage them and how to spot any irregularities at a glance. Her birth mother had managed the vast Kang family business so efficiently for years, so the accounts she handled were naturally flawless. Even if there were problems, they wouldn't be something a child like Qi Miao could detect. However, she noticed something interesting: her birth mother, who had never cared much about her appearance, suddenly started spending money on skincare one year.

Your father is a scholar with a refined and cultured nature; he will maintain his current appearance for the next few decades, but your mother will not.

Women from prominent families are often troubled by similar issues to varying degrees. Their husbands are in the prime of their youth, while their own aging is hidden in fine lines and gray hair. The growing age difference between the couple is nothing short of torture.

Therefore, many women from wealthy families are obsessed with skincare and beauty.

The annual expenditure in this area is staggering.

The effectiveness is hard to say.

Qi Miao was distracted for a couple of breaths when her father explained his purpose to the white-haired youth, and she happened to see the look he was giving her.

The white-haired youth seemed to disagree: "The registrar's willingness to trust me and entrust your daughter to him is an acknowledgment of my medical skills. But why should a young lady, raised in seclusion, suffer such hardship?"

Firstly, he had some reservations about people from aristocratic families; secondly, medicine wasn't a good career path in the current environment; and thirdly, studying medicine was arduous. With Qi Shan's abilities, his daughter could live a life of comfort and ease, so why should she suffer like this?

Suffering is one thing.

The key issue is that it will be criticized.

A daughter of a prestigious family learns a low-class medical skill.

Although Dr. Dong did not attend yesterday's adoption ceremony, he had heard that Qi Shan's daughter was adopted from the Kang family. If word got out that Qi Miao was studying medicine, he wondered how much ridicule, criticism, and attacks it would attract, and even the Kang family would be mocked.

In an attempt to please Qi Shan, he sent his daughter away, only to have Qi Shan turn around and send the daughter to learn magic arts.

Qi Shan and the Kang family will become a laughing stock. There are some things that Dr. Dong cannot say to Qi Miao's face, but who is Qi Shan? He can naturally understand the unspoken meaning in Dr. Dong's words.

"Perhaps Dr. Dong would like to hear why she wanted to study medicine?"

Qi Shan's words carried a hint of pride.

Looking at Qi Miao, Dr. Dong noticed that she instinctively straightened her back and softly explained the reason, saying, "I'm not afraid of hardship."

The voice was soft, but firm.

Doctor Dong chuckled, “Even if it takes fifteen years to learn, are you not afraid? Medicine is different from other things. If you become my disciple, I hope you won’t consider marriage for fifteen years. Even so, is that alright? Think it over carefully, you’ll be twenty-six by then!”

In a world where women typically marry at sixteen, twenty-six is ​​a good age to consider arranging marriages for their children. While there are female doctors nowadays, their numbers are extremely small, their living conditions are far more difficult than those of ordinary itinerant doctors, and they face even more contempt and discrimination.

Their patients were mostly women confined to their homes and women working in brothels.

Seeking treatment for conditions that are difficult to discuss or that are best left untreated by male doctors.

These ailments are often left untreated until they severely impact marital relations, at which point a small number of men will seek out a female physician. Most, however, they simply grit their teeth and endure the pain. The opportunity to be assessed by the Temple of Medicine only arises every fifteen years, making it virtually impossible for a female physician to accumulate enough patients to meet the temple's assessment criteria.

Fortunately, Qi Miao has a father with exceptional abilities.

Qi Miao said, "Even if I am sixty-two, as long as Father is still alive, I will still have plenty of talented young men to choose from."

Once she successfully cultivates her literary spirit and becomes a literary scholar like her biological father, she will no longer need to worry about the years leaving their mark on her face. Finding a twenty-six-year-old man at sixty-two is not out of the question. A mere fifteen years is nothing; she can easily afford to waste that time!

Dr. Dong was shocked by Qi Miao's startling words, but upon reflection, they made sense. Who wouldn't want to pursue power?

A powerful man is like a pear tree in full bloom, overshadowing a crabapple tree.

Similarly, powerful women can also do the same.

Qi Shan raised an eyebrow at Doctor Dong and said with a smug smile, "Well? Should I accept this student or not?"

Doctor Dong readily agreed, "I'll take it!"

With Qi Shan's daughter becoming his apprentice, wouldn't it be possible to secure a better budget for the clinic? He had already written letters to his acquaintances, inviting them to come and work with him. Since there was a risk of "medicine hunters" in the future, what needed to be done now was to rapidly expand the medical community and gain a certain status and rights. Only with these could they better protect the lower-class medical practitioners.

Not only should Dr. Dong refine his medical skills, but he should also take on more apprentices. If one person isn't enough, he should encourage his fellow practitioners to take on more, so that medical families will flourish everywhere, using their skills to treat ordinary people and earn a reputation. As long as the reputation is good enough, ordinary people will be able to afford medical care and become completely dependent on doctors, thus ensuring the stable continuation of the medical lineage.

He never voiced these ulterior motives.

After paying the tuition fee, Qi Miao was asked to offer tea and formally become a disciple.

On her second day after being adopted, Qi Miao received a packed schedule, learning the basics of literati from Qi Shan while also studying the fundamentals of medicine with Doctor Dong. Doctor Dong would occasionally take Qi Miao along on his house calls, allowing her to learn alongside him.

Even more 996 than 996.

"Your daughter wants to study medicine?"

Shen Tang only learned of this the day after Qi Miao became her disciple.

Qi Shan: "If she wants to learn, then she should learn."

Shen Tang worriedly said, "Aren't you afraid Kang Nian will beat you up?"

"My daughter, how could he reach so far?"

Shen Tang was not optimistic: "Kang Nian might not take action to save face, but it's hard to say about Ji Shou. There's a saying that goes, 'Advising someone to study medicine is like being struck by lightning.' If your daughter only specialized in pediatrics, that would be fine; it's easy to find sick children in the world. But she specializes in gynecology. Where can she find patients to practice on and gain experience? Unless they're seeking a child..."

There is a good market for helping women improve their health and conceive.

Qi Shan said, "There will always be a way."

Shen Tang: "For example?"

Qi Shan said casually, "They give money to people who come for a consultation."

Because of unhygienic sexual practices and frequent childbirth, women with health problems are everywhere. Getting them to come to your door for medical treatment is difficult, but getting them to come and collect money is easy, right? As long as there's money to be made, they're willing to throw away all pretenses.

Shen Tang: "...Where did you get so much money?"

The impoverished lord shed tears of sorrow in his heart.

Qi Shan said, "The gathering of the gods is quite generous."

Over the years, with so many aliases, he had amassed a considerable fortune. Qi Shan was always ascetic, with little demand for material possessions; money was merely a number to him. The vast majority of it was left to his descendants, specifically Qi Miao. Spending money on patients was something Qi Shan didn't hesitate to do without.

This money really fell from the sky.

Shen Tang: "...Don't let Hanzhang know."

If Xun Zhen found out, he would really fight Qi Shan to the death and make the other party return the salary he had received under Qi Shan's pseudonym over the years.

Qi Shan, however, showed no fear whatsoever.

"I'm earning my salary through my own abilities, why should I be afraid of him?"

Shen Tang: "..."

At that moment, a message came from outside the tent.

Lin Feng, covered in the frost of the elements, stepped into the tent.

With the New Year over, she also grew a year older.

On New Year's Eve, she went on a team-building trip, and afterwards asked Shen Tang for leave to handle matters concerning the Lin family. "Handling" was a euphemism; it really just meant finding a house, bringing the elderly from the old family home, and spending the New Year with them. Then she received an urgent summons and returned.

"Greetings, my lord."

Shen Tang told Lin Feng not to stand on ceremony.

She just didn't say what was wrong.

Seeing Lin Feng's confusion, she said, "Some people are not all here."

A while later, Luan Xin and Cui Xiao arrived one after the other, and Shen Zhi was the last to arrive, and she was also the most confused among them.

Her situation was rather unique; her main job was to optimize grain varieties, and she wasn't very capable of handling other tasks, which were usually delegated to her subordinates. Therefore, Shen Zhi was the most relaxed, with a two-week holiday before the Lunar New Year, which lasted until the second half of the following year.

There are still eight or nine days until the next shift.

Shen Tang said, "Alright, everyone's here."

Cui Xiao and Luan Xin exchanged a glance, vaguely guessing what was going on.

Shen Zhi leaned closer to her, secretly tugging at her sleeve, her eyes signaling for a hint. Lin Feng shook her head; she was unaware that the Northern Desert envoy was in the camp and had no clue what to do. However, apart from Qi Shan, the others present had all participated in the grain seed optimization project. Lin Feng guessed that the lord had gathered them together for this very reason.

Lin Feng guessed correctly, but only half of it.

It was indeed for the sake of grain varieties, but not for optimization.

Shen Tang summoned them to induce a certain degree of "degeneration" in the seeds, ensuring that they could only be sown for one generation, with the second generation losing all the advantages of the first. In other words, to make the advantages of this batch of grain seeds extremely unstable.

At this moment, Cui Xiao suddenly spoke up.

It nearly startled the shocked Shen Zhi.

She had no idea that someone had been sitting there!

"Does the lord intend to sell this batch of grain seeds to the Northern Desert?"

Shen Tang pulled a scroll from the table: "Come and see, I really didn't know that the Bei Mo family was so wealthy."

Qi Shan, who was closest, took the scroll, read it quickly, and then handed it to Luan Xin. Luan Xin's reaction was usually a beat slow, but this time, his pupils were surprisingly in sync with his thoughts. He let out a long breath.

Suppressing the shock in my heart.

No wonder our lord summoned them for a meeting today.

The price offered by the Northern Desert envoy was indeed tempting, and given that our lord is particularly poor, it was an offer he couldn't refuse.

Luan Xin guessed the truth correctly.

Shen Tang originally intended to continue to leave the group from Bei Mo waiting.

Bargaining is a psychological battle.

Whoever loses patience and reveals their bargaining chips first will be at a disadvantage. Shen Tang can afford to wait, but Wu Yuan cannot. They urgently need this batch of grain seeds. If they can solve the food problem in the Northern Desert, Wu Yuan will gain another political bargaining chip in the Northern Desert.

Seeing that Shen Tang had ignored them and seemed to have forgotten about this group of people in the main camp, Wu Yuan couldn't help but send over this scroll. Although Shen Tang felt there was still room to raise the price, it didn't stop her from gathering the people first to produce a one-time supply of grain seeds.

Yes, it's a one-time use only.

Bei Mo wants to take advantage of her, but will she let him?

The seeds can be sold, but you must buy them from her every year.

Moreover, it's something I have no choice but to buy!

Shen Tang stroked his chin, a cunning glint in his eyes: "Bei Mo is so rich, wouldn't it be a disservice to ourselves if we didn't engage in sustainable extortion? We should not only sell them grain seeds that can only be grown once, but also the grain seeds that are most damaging to the land."

As she spoke, she seemed to have thought of something.

He exclaimed excitedly, "Yes, that's the worst for the land. Ideally, it should be ruined after only two plantings, taking three to five years to recover. Lingde, remember this: we need to provide the Northern Desert with the best grain seeds—high germination, high yield, disease and drought resistant, so they'll grow wildly and be immune to disease once planted. We guarantee our Northern Desert customers will enjoy the thrill of a bumper harvest!"

For grain to achieve high yields, it naturally needs to absorb nutrients from the soil.

The higher the yield, the more nutrients are absorbed, even to the point of severely damaging a field. That's normal, isn't it?

Shen Tang's smile took on a sinister and vicious edge.

"Ideally, let the Northern Desert fall completely in love with this special-supply grain variety. Having experienced the astonishing yield per acre, why would they still crave the old, low-yield grain variety? To destroy them, first make them arrogant. Let the Northern Desert be smug first, and then—the true colors will be revealed!"

Apart from Chen Zhi, everyone else's expression remained normal.

She had never seen Shen Tang become ruthless.

He stammered, "But if that's the case..."

"My lord is directly targeting the people and the land; it's no exaggeration to say he's eradicated completely." After saying this, Shen Zhi realized that this was the ambitious and ruthless Northern Desert. She stopped herself from speaking further and changed her words: "Indeed, it's very effective."

only--

If we conquer the Northern Desert in the future, won't we still have to clean up the mess?

Cui Xiao: "It also needs to be frost-resistant. There aren't many places suitable for planting in the Northern Desert. If the grain can withstand the frost, no tribe in the Northern Desert can refuse it. Only in this way can we eliminate the root cause of the problem."

Lin Feng remained calm and composed: "These characteristics are not difficult, but since this is the first time, could my lord grant me some time?"

Hu Cao had experience in developing these grain varieties.

Simply filter according to the desired direction.

"How many days?"

"At most seven days."

If this succeeds, the lifeline of the Northern Desert will be in our hands.

|ω`)

(End of this chapter)