Chapter 41 Examination (Part 1) Preparation
Once back at the Li family home, Li San Niang couldn't contain her curiosity and quickly took out the few pages of paper that Mr. Bu Ke had given her to read.
It turns out to be just a brief explanation from a dozen or so doctors in the Chang'an Medical Alliance.
This alliance has been established for about ten years. It is a non-governmental organization directly under the management of the Imperial Medical Bureau. Its members include about a hundred doctors with names and surnames throughout Chang'an City, of whom dozens of them hold clinics regardless of the size of their clinics.
Among them were Li's father and his second brother.
Li's father was in the second tier, with his own sizable clinic. He had practiced medicine for decades and had gained some reputation in Chang'an.
Li Erxiong passed the doctor's exam a few years ago. Since he works in his family's clinic, his father can handle the patients. Li Erxiong himself is not very talented and does not particularly enjoy seeing patients or writing prescriptions, so he directly took charge of the medicine cabinet.
The first tier consists of families of physicians who have been practicing medicine in Chang'an since the city was founded. Unlike the Li family, who can only be considered second-generation, these families have been practicing medicine since their great-grandfathers. Five or six generations is the minimum, and some families have two or three members from more than ten generations. These first-tier physicians usually have several of their children working in the Imperial Medical Bureau.
The information provided by Mr. Bu Ke clearly states who holds the most power in the alliance, who is behind them, and who belongs to which faction.
Wherever there are people, there is a world of its own.
The alliance is divided into three factions: the moderate faction led by Dr. Gao, who is easy to talk to, leaves room for maneuver in all matters, shares credit for achievements, and makes money together;
Furthermore, behind them is the faction of Prince Xiang, who are dedicated to collecting information and amassing wealth for Prince Xiang. They will get involved in anything that can make money, and they are domineering and ruthless.
Although Emperor Wu did not kill Prince Xiang after ascending the throne, and even allowed Prince Xiang to remain active in the court, who knows what really happened between the mother and son?
Another group consisted of physicians drawn from the Imperial Medical Bureau. These physicians were rotated every six months to prevent them from developing personal relationships that could affect alliance affairs.
This faction has the most manpower because it can arrange for doctors from the alliance to work in the Imperial Medical Bureau and receive government salaries. It can also arrange for doctors to study in the Imperial Medical Bureau to learn more knowledge and skills. Some doctors who are not very famous are most willing to follow this faction so that they can become familiar with the people.
Li San Niang was able to get this opportunity for two reasons: first, she had gained some fame in Chang'an City for saving the young master of the Qian family and the daughter of the Duke of Liang; second, the old physician Gao vouched for her, and the moderate faction provided some support.
Of course, Li San Niang is now an unofficial member of the Bad People, and it's uncertain how Mr. Bu Ke will arrange things for her, but he will definitely provide her with some conveniences.
After all, if Li San Niang focuses on women's illnesses and childbirth in the future, the backyards of aristocratic families will be an important source of information. This would be a good information channel for the Bad People, and it would be worthwhile to help Li San Niang go further.
The message highlighted a physician from the Xiangwang School named Sun Chengren.
The note indicates that this person had some disagreements with the old doctor Gao when he was young, and even more so with the old doctor Gao's son, Gao Dalang, who is now a doctor in the Imperial Medical Academy and treats officials.
It is said that when selecting people to enter the Imperial Medical Academy, one person had to be chosen from two candidates. In the end, Gao Dalang was chosen, which made Sun Chengren resentful. He always felt that it was not because he was less skilled than others, but because Gao Dalang had used the connections that the old doctor Gao had to find, which caused him to be rejected.
At this point, Sun Chengren had a 100% chance of sabotaging Li Sanniang's assessment the following day!
Mr. Bu Ke pointed this out to Li San Niang herself.
The teacher at the academy where the four children study is going to take the official selection exam next month. It was just issued this year and is an opportunity for those from poor families who are not noble. Even if they are selected, they will start as the lowest-ranking ninth-grade official and will be assessed for a year. If they do not perform well, they will be dismissed the following year and will not be allowed to take the exam again for two years.
This was also an opportunity that Emperor Wu came up with to counterbalance the powerful aristocratic families and give to people from humble backgrounds. The teachers at the academy valued it highly.
The academy was given a ten-day holiday, which meant that the four children only had a ten-day break. Li San Niang decided to have Li Da Lang and Li Si Lang serve as models to demonstrate Hai's techniques and CPR.
Word descriptions are not as good as practical demonstrations, which are more intuitive.
The day before the assessment, Li San Niang called the four little ones to discuss what was appropriate to do.
Li Erlang and Li Sanlang, who were standing nearby, were quite eager to try, but Li Sanniang felt that only Li Silang, who was a little older than a toddler, could be considered a young boy. Of course, Li Sanniang was reluctant to let a real toddler be a model, and it would be even more inconvenient for other people's children, so naturally, only her own child could take the place.
So, after speaking with Li Ersao, they still asked Li Silang to be the little model.
While the group was still simulating how to improve the demonstration, Li San Niang asked Li Da Sao, who had gone out to buy groceries that day, to bring back a piece of pork with the skin on, so that she could use it to demonstrate how to sew it up.
After the group had finalized the demonstration process, Sister-in-law Li brought back two large pieces of pork, each about the length of an adult's forearm and one and a half hand widths, with skin and pig bristles still attached.
"Butcher Zhu won't remove the hair, but I'll find a pot for you to boil and remove it later."
"Hey, sister-in-law really has a plan. I hadn't thought of comparing them before. It just so happens that you bought two. You can help me remove the hair with one later."
Dewdrop and Little Yellow were in high spirits, thinking they would have meat to eat tonight, but it seems they're not going to.
"Mother, aren't you going to eat meat anymore?"
"Haha, Dewdrop wants some?"
With her bright, expectant eyes wide open, Dewdrop nodded obediently, saying as she did so, "Dewdrop wants to eat, and Little Yellow wants to eat too."
It was because the last time we ate meat at home, the pork bones that were left after stewing and had no flavor were given to Xiao Huang to chew on, and that's how she remembered them.
Sister-in-law Li was so enamored with her little Luzhu's adorable eyes that she quickly stepped forward and scooped Luzhu up in her arms. "Auntie will cook some big pieces of meat for our Luzhu in a little while! How about that, Auntie?"
"Hello, Auntie! Zhu'er likes you the most!"
"Isn't Mother's precious baby the one who loves Mother the most?"
Li Dalang chimed in, "Isn't Dewdrop's favorite brother?"
Dewdrop looked left at Li Dalang, right at Li Sanniang, and then at Li Dasao. She sighed like a little adult, "Alas, all of them are loved by Dewdrop. Today, I love my eldest aunt the most. Tomorrow, I will love my mother the most. The day after tomorrow, I will love my eldest brother the most."
Haha, everyone else around was amused by Dewdrop's "equal distribution of rain and dew" remark.
For dinner, Sister-in-law Li actually cut off a small piece of pork and cooked a radish and pork soup. Of course, each person only got a piece of pork to taste.
After dinner, someone who wasn't too unexpected came to the Li family's house.
It was Dr. Gao who arrived. Father Li invited Dr. Gao to take a seat and served tea. Dr. Gao then spoke with the group, especially Li San Niang, about the factions within the alliance, who was on their side, who might try to sabotage them, and who might sit back and watch the two sides fight while he reaps the benefits.
They dared not reveal the news about the scoundrels to Doctor Gao, but it was good to hear inside information from the other side. So the Li family did not stop Doctor Gao from giving them his earnest advice and listened carefully.
They talked for two hours, until it was late at night and curfew had been imposed. In the end, they asked the old doctor to stay at home for the night and he stayed in the front yard.
Dr. Gao hadn't planned to leave that night; he had told his family in advance that he wouldn't be going home that night.
Besides discussing the alliance factions and wanting Li Sanniang to have a clear understanding of the situation, his main purpose in coming today was to have a serious talk with Li Sanniang tomorrow about how to proceed and how to best spread the techniques that Li Sanniang wanted to reveal, while also preserving Li Sanniang's credit and preventing her from being overshadowed.
The day before the assessment, Li's father and second brother assisted Li's third mother and four children in the courtyard, where they gave Dr. Gao a thorough demonstration of how to use the Heimlich maneuver and cardiopulmonary resuscitation to treat adults and children.
They even used the Bad Guys to find a master craftsman in the palace to forge a curved needle and needle holder to demonstrate three types of needlework in surgical suturing.
To be honest, this move really shocked Dr. Gao.
After all, the old doctor was skilled in acupuncture, and his eldest son was selected into the Imperial Medical Academy because of his expertise in acupuncture.
He hadn't seen many of these surgical techniques before, so he immediately felt that Li San Niang's skills were quite impressive.
"Third Sister's method is quite good. If it is really as miraculous and effective as Third Sister says, and can promote wound healing, this is a skill that can be passed down through generations. Third Sister, do you really want to share it?"
“Grandmaster, of course it should be spread so that more people can be saved. Most of these wounds are inflicted by soldiers on the border. Without them protecting the country, how could Third Sister have a peaceful life? How many people can Third Sister save by herself? It is better to teach it to more people! Besides, Grandmaster, I still prefer to treat women. At most, I can cut and stitch them up during childbirth. This technique is not very useful in my own area.”
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