No one was spared

As Bai Shu had expected, the day Yang Gongfeng's granddaughter entered the palace, she attracted the attention of the entire Imperial Medical Academy.

Yang Huaishu had just turned fifteen and was two years younger than Bai Shu. The little girl looked like she hadn't grown up yet, with a round face. She blushed shyly as she was surrounded by her fellow disciples, and gave a bashful smile, revealing a pair of shallow dimples on her cheeks.

Su You whispered to Bai Shu, "She doesn't resemble Boss Yang at all."

—Because Yang Gongfeng was an old-fashioned man who was devoted to studying medicine, he was also known as "Old Man Yang" or "Boss Yang" for short.

Generally speaking, "seeking medical advice" is a tradition of welcoming newcomers to the Imperial Medical Academy. In particular, the disciples under Yang Gongfeng not only did not let Yang Huaishu off the hook, but also asked even more tricky and strange questions.

Young Yang had never spoken in front of so many people before. She blushed as she was bombarded with questions, and her speech became somewhat hesitant. Bai Shu, deeply empathetic to her predicament, pushed through the crowd to help Yang Huaishu out. Yang Huaishu gave Bai Shu a grateful look and whispered, "Thank you, Senior Sister."

The little girl's voice sounded like a child's, sweet and charming, which melted Bai Shu's heart.

Oh, little sister, what an adorable little sister!

Bai Shu patted her chest and said to Yang Huaishu, "If you need anything, just say the word, and your senior sister Bai will protect you."

Xiao Huaishu smiled and nodded, "Mm!"

Bai Shu led Yang Huaishu on a tour of the Imperial Medical Academy and introduced her to Su You.

Bai Shu thought her second-generation lazy bum group had gained another powerful member, but she soon realized she was wrong.

Yang Huaishu was just shy, didn't like to talk, was easily embarrassed, liked listening to others talk, liked reading alone, and liked being quiet and alone, but actually he was not at all—incompetent!

Atractylodes macrocephala was severely impacted.

It turns out that in the Imperial Physician's Garden, the only truly lazy person was herself.

Su You comforted her, "You've improved very quickly; you're very talented. Look, apart from Senior Sister Pan, no one has noticed that you're just pretending."

Bai Shu pouted and waved her hand: "Senior sister, you don't need to comfort me. We all just see through it but don't say anything. I understand."

Su You felt embarrassed, and then said, "But you have worked very hard. In two or three years, you will definitely be able to become a renowned doctor with both virtue and skill, just like Senior Sister Pan and Senior Sister Qiu."

Bai Shu was moved and hugged Su You, resting his head on her shoulder: "Waaah, senior sister, you're so good."

Su You rubbed Bai Zhu's head and chuckled, "Alright, cheer up."

Yang Huaishu became Qiu Chuxin's disciple.

Qiu Chuxin has always been a loner, neither formally apprenticing nor taking on any disciples. However, her medical skills are widely recognized as excellent; her prescriptions are accurate, and she can often cure illnesses with the fewest medicinal ingredients.

Yang Gongfeng personally went to visit Qiu Chuxin and asked her to accept Yang Huaishu as her apprentice. Yang Gongfeng was the most senior of the three gynecologists and pediatricians. Approaching sixty, he was also the most rigid and serious, often showing no courtesy even to concubines and princesses.

Qiu Chuxin dared not accept Yang Gongfeng's bow, and repeatedly said, "You flatter me, sir. I only know some folk remedies, and I am not worthy of such a refined audience."

Yang Gongfeng sighed and said, "I know your abilities, no need to be modest. You can take this girl. She'll be fine for the tasks of pouring water and adding ink."

Qiu Chuxin thanked Yang Gongfeng for his kindness, and then chose a day for the apprenticeship ceremony to be held in the courtyard of the female physicians. From then on, Yang Huaishu had a master and Qiu Chuxin had a disciple.

Qiu Chuxin still visits the Jiaofangsi once a month, and besides Bai Shu, she also brings Yang Huaishu with her.

The consultations were much faster with the three of them together. However, it didn't end any earlier—the "relatives" of the music and dance troupe had increased even more.

The "relatives" came for Qiu Chuxin, not for Bai Shu and Yang Huaishu, two young girls who looked quite young. So Bai Shu and Yang Huaishu often managed to steal a moment to whisper amongst themselves. The ladies of the brothel were all around the same age as them, and they gradually became acquainted. The brothel wasn't busy during the day, and when they had free time, they would chat and laugh with the two girls, sometimes even playing the zither and singing for fun.

The ladies of the brothel were worldly-wise and knew many jokes, often making Bai Shu and Yang Huaishu laugh so hard they couldn't stand up straight. However, the ladies were used to the jokes of the brothel. Even though they carefully remembered that Bai Shu and Yang Huaishu were young girls and that there were some things they shouldn't hear, they couldn't help but get a little risqué when they got excited.

"What don't you understand, you medical students?" Bai Shu and Yang Huaishu both understood. Little Huaishu blushed with embarrassment and covered her face with her hands behind her back, saying, "If you sisters tease me again, I won't come next time."

It makes people laugh out loud.

"Don't be like that," said Madam Liu from the Jiaofangsi with a smile. "The sisters look forward to seeing the little miracle doctor every month. Tell the sisters what the little miracle doctor wants to eat or play, and we'll definitely serve him well next time."

There's nothing wrong with what he said in the sense of it, but when Liu Niangzi said it in her soft, sticky voice, it suddenly became more ambiguous.

Yang Huaishu's face turned even redder, and everyone laughed again, wanting to tease her even more. Bai Shu also laughed.

From then on, Yang Huaishu refused to listen to the women of the brothel "telling jokes," especially Liu Niangzi. Whenever she opened her mouth, Yang Huaishu would cover his ears and say, "I won't listen, I won't listen. Liu Niangzi is deliberately trying to make me a laughingstock."

Not being able to tell jokes to Xiao Huaishu became a great regret for Liu Niangzi, so she could only say, "Alright, I'll teach you in two years."

The girls at Ruanyu Tower were all very talented, and Lady Liu was the most outstanding among them. She had a seven-stringed zither, which Bai Shu and Yang Huaishu found interesting. They learned most of it from Lady Liu and her sisters.

That's a story for another time.

The current saying is—

The Imperial Medical Bureau was punished.

The entire Imperial Medical Bureau was punished.

It was an ordinary morning. Bai Zhu packed her medicine box, preparing to go out to see a few patients for follow-up appointments; Qiu Chuxin finished her shift and returned to complete the pulse diagnosis records; Pan Cheng muttered to herself as she corrected Su You's messy pulse diagnosis records; Chang Zhifang had been experiencing neck pain for the past two days and sought acupuncture from Xu Qingyan; Lin Shaoyin moved trays of medicinal herbs to steam and dry; Xiao Fu carried a stack of prescriptions and moved between the medicine cabinets to prepare medicine; Yang Gongfeng was still scolding his disciple for being careless; Shen Gongfeng and Wan Gongfeng discussed how to stabilize the pregnancy of the Imperial Concubine, whose pregnancy was unstable; Second Senior Brother Yiqiancao was fiddling with his walnuts in one hand and sketching out what kind of meeting was going to be held that day...

Suddenly, dozens of eunuchs and strongmen stormed into the Imperial Medical Academy. They rushed past with a whoosh, heading straight for Fang Cheng's storeroom.

The scene was terrifying. Bai Shu, who was about to leave, stepped aside and saw his senior brother. He went over and asked, "What's going on here?"

The eldest brother looked like he had a toothache. He lifted his official hat and smoothed his sparse hair on his head, saying, "Here they come again. These are the people from the Imperial Household Department."

Bai Shu then saw the portly Xue Cheng accompanied by a group of civil officials, several of whom were carrying abacuses. The eldest disciple gasped, "The Court of Imperial Sacrifices is here too?"

Soon, the chief physician, the assistant physician, and the assistant pharmacist came out and ordered ten rooms in the main hall to be cleared out for the officials of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Imperial Household Department to carry out their duties. Boxes of medical records were moved out of the shelving. The Imperial Medical Bureau was in a flurry of activity, with many people peeking and looking around.

Bai Zhu also wanted to see, but her senior brother glanced at her medicine box and asked, "Are you going on a house call?"

The eldest brother urged her on, "Hurry up, hurry up, don't delay our business."

After Bai Zhu returned from his rounds of consultations, news had already spread that the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Imperial Household Department had conducted a surprise inspection of the Imperial Medical Bureau.

The Imperial Medical Bureau was shrouded in gloom, everyone wearing a pained expression. Upon inquiring, Bai Shu learned of the unusual nature of this situation—

This time, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Imperial Household Department are jointly investigating the case, going back three years.

"Why do we need to check this again after checking it so many times?" Lang Dianxian paced back and forth in frustration. "I can't take this job anymore, I might as well resign."

Shen Gongfeng sighed and said, "I told you to be more careful with the pulse diagnosis records on a daily basis. You must remember everything about the diagnosis and pharmacology. They will all be useful."

“Two days to file the records? With night shifts and house calls, where would I find the time?” Su Youchou frowned, her medical records were the worst.

Chang Zhifang added, "We still have a meeting to attend."

Xiao Fu agreed: "That's right."

Yang Huaishu asked, "As medical officers, shouldn't we be treating patients? If the illness is cured, why are there still so many troubles?"

Bai Shu blurted out, "Xiao Shu, you're thinking too simply."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Bai Shu was stunned; she couldn't believe such words would come out of her own mouth.

Even Bai Zhu, driven to madness, couldn't resist pulling out her hair.

The clattering of abacuses echoed in the Imperial Medical Bureau for several days, keeping the physicians on edge for days.

More than half a month later, the officials from the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Imperial Household Department withdrew from the Imperial Medical Bureau and issued an exorbitant fine.

—The amount is too large to be displayed.

Yes! Crazy!

Even Su You, the most powerful second-generation official in the Imperial Medical Bureau and the eldest daughter of the Duke of Huai's mansion, couldn't hold back any longer and shouted, "I want to resign!"

Fang Lingshan patted her twice to calm her down: "Write a petition."

Su You countered, "Will it work?"

The superior gave the order: even if it's useless, you have to write it.

The entire Imperial Medical Bureau worked tirelessly, burning the midnight oil, to write petitions.

The one who was punished the most was the coingrass. Yes, the most cunning and cautious coingrass was punished the most severely this time because of licorice.

Licorice harmonizes the effects of other herbs. It is sweet and neutral in nature, inexpensive, and easy to use. In almost every prescription, there is a different amount of licorice.

Therefore, the Prefectural Governor determined that Qian Yicao had misused licorice, and each prescription was fined three times the amount.

Three years' worth of prescriptions, thousands of prescriptions.

I dare not calculate it, it's terrifying.

Secondly, there's Su You. Her medical skills are so-so, so her prescriptions aren't very precise. She often hesitates to prescribe, fearing the medicine won't be effective enough, so she adds this and that, resulting in a prescription with a dozen or more herbs. Keep in mind that the average prescription in the *Qianjin Fang* only has five or six herbs, so many of her prescriptions are considered excessive. From the perspective of Wan Gongfeng and Chen Gongfeng, one can only say that her prescriptions are haphazard and crude, but not necessarily wrong.

They were punished the same way.

Since Su You didn't spend much time treating patients on her own, she wasn't punished too severely.

Pan Cheng was also punished. She was meticulous in her prescriptions. Since all medicine has some degree of toxicity, she always tried to use the fewest and most precise herbs to treat illnesses. While precise, she didn't pay much attention to the price. Many of her prescriptions for the same ailments were much more expensive than those used by Qiu Chuxin and Lang Dianxian, and thus she was also heavily fined.

Qiu Chuxin was also punished. She used some unorthodox remedies in several prescriptions, and some of the ingredients in these remedies were not available in the palace. She brought them from outside the palace, so the prescriptions recorded by the apothecary did not match the ingredients that were actually dispensed. As a result, she was also punished.

Fang Lingshan was punished mainly because of the prescriptions from three years ago. The medical records from that time were not written in such detail. She was a general practitioner who could interpret anything. She had seen thousands of patients in the past three years, so how could she possibly remember the details from three years ago? Therefore, she was also punished quite a bit.

In the Imperial Medical Bureau, apart from Yang Huaishu, who had just arrived, no one was spared.