Chapter 123 Process
Li San Niang also saw the young man, whose face was still flushed, clearly having rushed over in a hurry.
It's better to avoid trouble, so Li San Niang went along with everyone's politeness and went first, leading the way as the young apprentice went up to the second floor.
The young apprentice led them into a room with a wooden sign outside that read "Examination Room," and the layout inside was similar to that of a modern classroom.
Li San Niang sat down at the head of the first row, and everyone else took their seats.
A moment later, an elderly man in a round-necked official robe entered. Behind him was a young apprentice carrying a stack of papers. Li San Niang recognized them as the exam papers that her second brother Li had mentioned.
Next, the old man explained a few exam rules, which were nothing more than not being allowed to talk, not being allowed to look at each other's papers, and that those who finished could raise their hands to signal that they could leave the exam room early, etc.
When Li San Niang received the scroll, she realized that it was handwritten, and in very beautiful regular script.
Li San Niang first glanced through the exam paper, which mostly consisted of very basic prescriptions, testing the physician's understanding of herbs and ability to prescribe.
In this respect, Li San Niang was no match for the native Tang Dynasty physicians. However, fortunately, Li San Niang had been educated by her father since childhood and had some talent, so she managed to submit her paper in third place.
The others answered quickly as well, but what surprised Li San Niang the most was that the first person to hand in his paper was the very handsome young man who was almost late.
Everyone returned to the side hall and waited for about half an hour. Then, a junior apprentice came to inform them that everyone present had passed and could participate in the second round of assessment.
This second round of assessment was quite interesting. It was still the same room, but the layout had been rearranged.
Five people form a group, with candidates facing each other back to back, each facing an examiner.
This time, the young apprentice led everyone to their seats in order of name on the list, and Li San Niang was the third person to be called.
Standing next to the third position, Li Sanniang thought to herself that this ranking was probably based on her scores in the written test.
After the young apprentice finished reading the names of the nine people, ten doctors, who were today's examiners, entered one by one through the door.
After bowing to the examiners, everyone sat down in order.
Li San Niang saw that the physician Wusun Jin, whom she knew, was at the end of her line, while she herself was facing an older physician who looked to be in his forties.
What followed was a unique assessment.
Each examiner directly addresses the candidate and asks different questions.
What is your strongest medical skill? What illness are you best at treating? Do you have any special family background in medicine?
If you ask what constitutes a special family tradition, it would be acupuncture, secret recipes, and the processing of prepared medicines, among other things.
Faced with this family tradition, Li San Niang wondered if she would be reported and taken away if she said that she knew the poison skills of the famous Poison King.
This poison technique must not be revealed in the slightest, so she naturally mentioned the Heinrich's technique, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, suturing techniques, and midwifery techniques!
The doctor opposite didn't show much expression when he heard Li Sanniang mention the first three. After all, he had already been informed that a young woman, namely the famous Li Sanniang from Chang'an, would be coming to take the test.
The special skills that Li San Niang mentioned had already been shared with the alliance.
However, the other doctors present were quite surprised. The young man who was late was indeed young, and he actually exclaimed, "Ah, you are Li San Niang!"
After saying this, the young man quickly covered his mouth, smiled at the physician who was testing him, and then continued to answer the questions.
Li San Niang certainly couldn't say to the young man, "Ah, yes, I am that Li San Niang."
However, the doctor who was assessing Li San Niang raised an eyebrow when he heard her mention the delivery technique, and said to Li San Niang, "Oh, Li San Niangzi, what is your delivery technique?"
Li San Niang claimed that her mother was a midwife who had delivered countless babies, and that she herself was a mother who had already given birth. She had also been taught medicine by her father since childhood, so she had a lot of experience in delivering babies.
The examining physician nodded, noting this point carefully on the paper he was writing down to score Li San Niang. He thought to himself, "I didn't expect Li San Niang to actually want to be a female doctor who treats women. I thought she was trying to compete with male doctors."
Each doctor will ask each candidate five or six questions. In total, each candidate will be asked fifty or sixty questions, which can be used to assess whether the candidate has sufficient medical skills and whether they should join the medical alliance.
After going around like this, it was almost noon.
The young apprentice told everyone that the results would be available in the afternoon, and asked them to check the results after noon.
Li San Niang didn't expect to know the result so quickly, on the same day.
In the meantime, Li San Niang thought she would need to demonstrate her skills, or have a few patients come forward to take her pulse and prescribe medicine.
As Brother Li said, in his second round of assessment, the alliance examiners found ten patients, and the ten candidates drew lots. Each person took a pulse and wrote a prescription. The examiners then scored the prescriptions to determine whether they could join the alliance.
Unexpectedly, this assessment was indeed in the form of a question-and-answer session.
It's probably because the assessment format of the pharmaceutical alliance has changed in recent years. After all, the assessment of Brother Li was something that happened many years ago.
Li San Niang carried her medical kit toward the door, intending to go to the teahouse to find her father and second brother. Just as she was about to step out the door, she heard a clear, youthful voice: "Li San Niang, wait a moment."
Li San Niang stopped and turned around, where she saw a young man, about her height, looking at her with a smile.
“Mrs. Li, I have been presumptuous. I am Bi Yuanjia, and I have met you before, Mrs. Li.”
After the other person introduced themselves, Li San Niang naturally returned the greeting.
"When I first came to Chang'an three months ago, I heard of the great name of Lady Li! Lady Li actually brought the dead back to life! I was very curious, and I never expected to meet Lady Li here. So I abruptly stopped Lady Li and wanted to get to know her."
Li San Niang looked embarrassed, truly not expecting that this young man had heard the rumors about her.
"Please excuse my ignorance, Dr. Bi. These are just rumors. How can the dead be brought back to life? I was just about to go to the teahouse ahead to find my father and elder brother. If Dr. Bi has nothing else to do, would you like to come along?"
Bi Yuanjia readily agreed and walked towards the teahouse while talking with Li Sanniang.
In just a few minutes, Li San Niang learned from the young man that he came from Runan County, was sixteen years old, but his baby face made him look younger.
When this was mentioned, Li Sanniang found the displeasure on Bi Yuanjia's face quite amusing.
Bi Yuanjia also mentioned that his grandfather requested him to come to Chang'an to join the Medical Alliance, and that it would be best if he could pass the imperial medical examination after reaching adulthood.
As they were talking, they arrived at the teahouse. Li San Niang immediately spotted Li Er Xiong standing at the door.
"Second brother, second brother."
Brother Li felt sorry for Sister Li carrying her huge, heavy medical kit all the way, so he took it from her and carried it on his shoulder.
Li San Niang then introduced the young man who had come with her to Li Er Xiong. The two greeted each other, and Bi Yuanjia, without any hesitation, followed Li Er Xiong directly up to the second floor of the teahouse.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com