Chapter 39: Apprenticeship Ceremony
"Grandpa Chen, I brought back all the herbs."
In a small courtyard halfway up the mountain, Lu Qing showed the medicine basket to Doctor Chen, a little breathless.
After digging up the oxbone grass, he ran all the way up, fearing that he would not make it in time.
The old doctor looked at the herbs in the medicine basket and nodded with satisfaction.
"Not bad, not bad. It's amazing that you can collect all these herbs."
"Grandpa Chen, what do you mean by this?" Lu Qing was a little confused.
The old doctor seemed to have something else in his words.
"Do you know why I set the scope of the assessment near the village?" asked the old doctor.
"I don't know." Lu Qing shook his head.
"That's because there aren't many herbs growing near the village. There are only about ten species at most." The old doctor stroked his beard and said, "You were able to dig up these herbs intact within an hour. I can imagine that you pay a lot of attention to them on a daily basis."
Hearing this, Lu Qing couldn't help but feel ashamed.
On weekdays, he didn't really pay attention to what kind of herbs there were near the village.
Maybe subconsciously, people think that there wouldn't be any precious medicinal herbs near a village where people come and go.
So unless I encounter it when I am out, I will use my supernatural powers to check it out.
But if you really try to find out how many kinds of medicinal herbs there are near the village, there are none.
It seems that my mentality is still too casual.
Even the old doctor knew what medicinal herbs were available near the village, but he, who had special powers, failed to do the same. This was really wrong.
Lu Qing couldn't help but reflect on himself.
When Doctor Chen saw that Lu Qing didn't say anything, he thought he agreed.
He smiled and said, "Okay, you have passed this test. Now go and invite the village elders to come up."
"Please ask the village elders to come up?" Lu Qing was a little stunned.
"Yes, I want to formally accept you as my disciple. There must be some witnesses present, otherwise it would be too much of a joke."
"Yes, I'll go now!"
Lu Qing was delighted and ran down the mountain again.
The people in the village knew that Lu Qing would be examined by Doctor Chen today, and they had been paying close attention to him.
Seeing Lu Qing running down the mountain, they learned that the old doctor had invited the village elders to the mountain to witness the ceremony in which he formally accepted Lu Qing as his disciple, and they were all overjoyed.
"Okay, okay, now our village will finally have a doctor!"
"Well done, Ah Qing, you are indeed the smartest kid in our village. You really passed the test."
"Ah Qing, go tell Doctor Chen that we'll be up soon!"
The villagers had previously seen Lu Qing go to Doctor Chen to learn things every day, and at one point they thought he was already the old doctor's disciple.
But later Lu Qing told them that he could at most be considered an apprentice of Doctor Chen and was not yet qualified to formally become the old doctor's disciple.
Now hearing that Lu Qing had finally passed the assessment and would be formally accepted as a disciple by the old doctor, how could he not be excited.
Lu Qing returned to the courtyard halfway up the mountain. Not long after, the village elders also came up the mountain in neatly dressed clothes.
Some village elders even wore clothes that they only wore during the Chinese New Year.
In addition to the village elders, some other villagers who were at home also came up to watch the fun.
Some villagers also brought some rice, flour, eggs, meat and other things.
Doctor Chen had already been waiting at the gate of the courtyard.
When he saw everyone coming up, he stepped forward and bowed.
"Thank you all for coming to my disciple-taking ceremony."
"Old doctor, you are really embarrassing us." The leader, Mr. Zhang, said quickly, "We should be thanking you."
"Since you came to our Jiuli Village, I don't know how many illnesses you have cured us. We will always remember your kindness in our hearts."
"Mr. Zhang, you're too kind. I'm just doing my duty as a doctor. I don't deserve any favor." The old doctor smiled faintly.
"Whether it is a favor or not, we know it in our hearts."
Uncle Zhang took a basket from a young man behind him.
"Old Doctor Chen, we are poor in the countryside and don't have anything valuable to give away. These eggs and bacon, as well as the rice and flour at the back, are our apprenticeship gift to Ah Qing. I hope you don't mind."
After that, two young men came up with two bags of rice and flour.
This scene not only stunned Lu Qing, but even Doctor Chen was stunned.
Uncle Zhang continued, "It's embarrassing to say that most of the people in Jiuli Village came here to escape famine and disaster from other places."
"It was a difficult time. If it weren't for the support and guidance of Grandpa Qing, I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to escape the disaster and survive all the way to find the place where we are now and take root."
"It can be said that without the leadership of Ah Qing's grandfather, there might not be Jiuli Village today."
"Unfortunately, Ah Qing's grandfather fell ill during his escape and died early without receiving proper medical treatment."
"And we were unable to protect his son and daughter-in-law, who were deceived and passed away due to misfortune, leaving behind only Ah Qing and Xiao Yan, two helpless children."
"Now that Ah Qing has the honor of being favored by you and becoming your disciple, it is a great blessing for him. I hope that the old doctor will understand his lonely life and be more tolerant and give him a few more chances even if he makes careless mistakes in the future."
After saying this, Uncle Zhang bowed deeply to Doctor Chen.
The other elder villagers also learned to bow to the old doctor.
Seeing all the villagers bowing to him in unison, even with decades of experience in cultivating qi, Doctor Chen couldn't help but feel shaken in his heart.
As for Lu Qing, he was already shocked.
First, some of the things that Uncle Zhang said were not in the original owner's memory.
Another thing is that he never expected that the villagers would go to such lengths for him.
Doctor Chen was stunned for a moment, then quickly stepped forward to help Uncle Zhang up.
"Please stand up first, fellow villagers. You are really ashamed of me, an old man, by doing this."
Then he said to Uncle Zhang: "Mr. Zhang, Lu Qing is a very smart child. It is a blessing for me to have him as my apprentice. So don't worry, I will definitely teach him well."
Uncle Zhang was immediately excited: "Then I will thank you, doctor, on behalf of his grandfather and parents!"
As he spoke, he handed over the basket in his hand.
"I hope you won't despise these small gifts and accept them."
"Mr. Zhang, please don't do that. I know your life is not easy, so there's no need to be so polite."
"Etiquette cannot be abolished. Since you are becoming a disciple, how can you not present the etiquette of becoming a disciple?"
…
After several refusals, Dr. Chen finally took a few eggs and a piece of bacon from the basket as a gift from the villagers to Lu Qing.
As for the rest, nothing can be collected anymore.
Lu Qing watched this scene, took note of it secretly, and planned to make up the money after returning.
To be honest, he had never thought about the apprenticeship ceremony.
I thought I just had to kowtow to the old doctor a few times in front of everyone.
But they overlooked that this was a different world similar to the ancient times.
The formal ceremony of becoming a disciple was more complicated than he had imagined.
After this episode, the old doctor invited the villagers into the yard.
Then, with everyone's witness, Lu Qing began his formal apprenticeship.
(End of this chapter)
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