Master and Apprentice

Originally, Mr. Dong wanted to speak up for Meng Zheng, but after learning the reason why he was punished to sweep the floor, Mr. Dong directly opened the bag of candy, grabbed a handful of candy and gave it to him, saying, "I hope you will be happier after eating the candy in the next few days."

Meng Zheng, who was also counting on Master Dong to intercede for him, looked at the candy: "..."

Seeing that her parents and brother had all given gifts to Grandpa Dong, An An was not to be outdone. However, she had no money and had not prepared anything in advance, so she had to run into the main hall, instruct her brother to help her take a lotus flower from a vase, and then ran out with it to give to Grandpa Dong.

An An couldn't say more, and after a long while she could only utter two words: "Mine!"

This was the first time that Mr. Dong had received flowers in his life. He couldn't help but smile. He took the lotus, touched An An's head and said, "Thank you."

An An was satisfied. She walked to her throne with a smile and stretched out her hand for her father to hold her and sit back.

Mr. Dong put away the gifts and said, "I had a very happy birthday this year. I haven't been this happy in many years. Thank you."

Ye Min smiled and said, "If you are happy, we will celebrate your birthday again next year."

Mr. Dong smiled and did not agree, but did not refuse either.

Because sweeping the floor when guests are present means sending them away in some places, Ye Min originally planned to postpone Meng Zheng's punishment. But Mr. Dong said it was okay, he also wanted to watch Meng Zheng sweep the floor, so after dinner, the father and son went into the kitchen and the main house respectively, and both began to get busy.

After sweeping the ground for a while, Meng Zheng had already gained experience. Not long after Meng Cheng finished washing the dishes, he came out dragging a broom and a dustpan for garbage.

The young man was in a bad mood after sweeping the floor. His face was droopy and his lips were tightly pursed.

When Mr. Dong saw this, he peeled a White Rabbit candy for him, fed it to him personally, and asked, "Are you happy now?"

The sweet taste flowed down his throat along with his saliva, and then gradually spread throughout his body. Meng Zheng's eyebrows gradually relaxed, and he nodded and said, "I'm happy. The candy is delicious."

Seeing that he was forgotten, An An, who was tied to the chair, stretched out his arms and said, "Mine!"

Old Dong raised his hand to peel another candy, but was stopped by Ye Min in time: "Give me the candy, I will feed it to An An." After that, she took the candy from Old Dong's hand, held it in her hand and let her daughter lick it one bite at a time.

After the siblings finished eating the candy, Mr. Dong was ready to go back. He stood up and said to Ye Min, "Would you like to walk with me?"

"good."

Ye Min responded immediately, walked to the sink, turned on the faucet, briefly rinsed the water stains on her hands, then said something to Meng Cheng and went out with Mr. Dong.

A few days ago, a dormitory building was completed at the hospital's staff college. Logically, Mr. Dong could have moved in, but he was too old to move, so he still lived in the house behind the Women's Federation.

The two walked along the nearest road. They didn't talk much for the first half of the way. It was not until they passed the basketball court that Mr. Dong asked, "Have you finished reading the book I gave you before?"

"I read half of it."

The book that Mr. Dong was talking about was a book about acupuncture. After the new hospital opened, he found it from the few remaining books in his collection and gave it to Ye Min, asking her to read it when she had time.

Although Mr. Dong did not say anything when he handed the book to Ye Min, Ye Min quickly realized what he meant. She did not slack off during this period and would read the book and take notes whenever she had free time.

Mr. Dong was not surprised by her answer and continued to ask, "Have you remembered everything you have seen?"

“I’ll remember that.”

"When you finish reading this book, come and learn acupuncture from me."

Ye Min held her breath and asked softly, "Mr. Dong, what do you mean..."

Under the cold moonlight, Mr. Dong stood there like a pine tree, speechless for a long time.

This decision was indeed a difficult one for him to make.

He was born in the late Qing Dynasty and grew up in the Republic of China. Although he attended a new-style school, he was a very old-fashioned person. In his mind, a master and his apprentice were like father and son.

During those years, he really taught his apprentice as if he were his own son.

However, the apprentice he taught with all his heart betrayed him for the sake of profit, and quickly distanced himself from him after he was accused.

So when he was first sent down to Donghe County, he swore in his heart that he would never accept an apprentice again and would never give up everything to teach someone like that again.

However, no matter how strong my original intention was, it could not outweigh the daily companionship over the past six months.

It would be fine if Ye Min was mediocre or had bad intentions, but she was intelligent and passionate about Chinese medicine. She could remember every word he said and apply it to the next consultation.

Initially, the purpose of recording patient data was to determine the purchase quantity of Chinese herbal medicines. Now there is a dedicated person in charge of this area, but she has never stopped recording and often reviews it.

It is precisely because of this passion that Ye Min was able to quickly transform from a person with some talent but lack of experience to a person with superb medical skills in less than a year.

She was a very honest person, and although the news of her participating in the organization's seminar had not spread widely, the leaders in the hospital basically knew about it, and he had also heard about it.

Although Dong Lao didn't know the details, she could imagine that this was a thankless task, and she was an internal medicine doctor, so it could be said that this matter had nothing to do with her. Even if the matter was done well, she would not get any benefits, but if it was messed up, she would be implicated.

But she did it without any hesitation or doubt and worked with others to get it done.

Taking all the above into consideration, Mr. Dong felt that even though he could not teach his disciples everything he knew like he did to his previous disciples, he was willing to accept Ye Min as his disciple in his heart.

But the above reasons were not the only ones that made Master Dong decide to accept Ye Min as his apprentice.

More importantly, he learned from Yao Lin a few days ago that his traitor Xu Jianchang, who had been doing well in the capital by relying on the title of Dong family's heir after he was demoted, had killed someone.

Although no doctor can guarantee to cure a patient, as death due to ineffective treatment is not uncommon, the mistake Xu Jianchang made was serious.

The human body is complex. A person may have several diseases at the same time, and even one disease may have constantly changing contradictions. Therefore, when treating diseases with Chinese medicine, we must not only grasp the main contradictions and pay attention to the priorities and urgency, but also take the overall situation into consideration. We cannot focus on the head and ignore the butt, which will lead to the deterioration of other symptoms when treating the main disease.

This was the mistake Xu Jianchang made. He only focused on the most serious problem and used strong medicine in order to see quick results. However, not only did it not work, it caused the patient's body to rapidly weaken.

Mr. Dong was not surprised by this result. If Ye Min was talented and passionate about Chinese medicine, then Xu Jianchang was a typical example of a person without talent. As for passion, he may have had it in his twenties, but it had been corrupted by fame and power after he was in his thirties or forties.

Therefore, although Master Dong taught him everything, Xu Jianchang's medical skills were still mediocre. In order to prevent him from harming others, Master Dong could only suppress him and not let him move up.

The relationship between them as master and disciple gradually deteriorated during those years of oppression, but Mr. Dong had never expected that Xu Jianchang would resort to such means to get ahead, even resorting to slandering him and putting labels on him.

The patient Xu Jianchang treated this time held a high position. After his death, not only did his reputation fall to pieces, but he was also hated by that person's family. He might not necessarily be demoted, but it was impossible for him to stay in the capital.

This result is completely different from what Xu Jianchang expected when he framed him.

Mr. Dong should feel happy that evil people get their comeuppance, but that is not the case.

Although he had long been disappointed with the apprentice whom he had carefully trained for many years and did not sympathize with him for ending up like this, he could not be happy when he thought about the reputation of the Dong family being ruined.

He regretted very much that he had not accepted more disciples.

Now that he was still alive, he could restore the Dong family's reputation that was ruined by Xu Jianchang, but what about after his death? When Xu Jianchang was flaunting himself as the heir of the Dong family, who could tell everyone that he had been expelled from the sect?

Moreover, Xu Jianchang is unable to uphold the glory of the Dong family in terms of both medical skills and character. If he does not want the Dong family's century-old medical skills to be destroyed in his hands, he will have to take in another apprentice and teach him all his skills again.

But he was already sixty-three years old, and he didn't know how many more years he could live, so he couldn't take in another child with no foundation and teach him from scratch.

He also didn't want to take another child as his apprentice. Although children are innocent and kind, there are too many factors that affect their character during their growth. Just like Xu Jianchang, he used to be honest, but what happened later? He became profit-driven and completely changed.

So Ye Min stood out.

She has a background in traditional Chinese medicine, has a talent for medicine, and is an adult with a sincere heart.

Apart from her, Mr. Dong couldn't think of another suitable candidate.

Thinking of this, he finally said, "You should change your words."

Although Master Dong did not specify what to call him, Ye Min quickly understood what he meant. Unable to contain his excitement, he raised his voice and shouted, "Master!"

Mr. Dong nodded calmly, waved his hand and said, "Go back and have a rest early, you still have to go to work tomorrow."

"Yes!" Ye Min nodded heavily and said, "I will finish reading the book as soon as possible!"

Mr. Dong nodded and went upstairs.

Soon, his figure appeared in the corridor on the second floor. He walked step by step to the door of the room at the end and stopped. After a moment, he opened the door, walked in and closed it.

Only after seeing his figure disappear from her sight did Ye Min turn around and go home.

Because his mother died early and his father didn't love him, Ye Min had to live under the care of his stepmother at a very young age. He matured more precociously than his peers and was better at controlling his emotions.

But that night, Ye Min could not control her inner excitement. On the way back, she started walking fast, then slowly jogged. By the time she reached the alley where the Meng family lived, her jog had turned into a gallop.

Running into the yard, she rushed directly towards Meng Cheng, who was sitting in a rocking chair watching An An play.

Originally, Meng Cheng was just sitting on the rattan chair and didn't lean back, but the momentum when she rushed over was too great, and when she threw herself into Meng Cheng's arms, the two of them fell back along with the rattan chair.

Fortunately, Meng Cheng reacted quickly. He held Ye Min's waist with his right hand and supported her on the ground with his left hand, thus avoiding an oolong in which both the person and the chair fell over.

After stopping the tendency to fall, Meng Cheng raised his left hand and swung back a little bit by inertia. With both feet on the ground, he smiled at Ye Min and asked, "What did Mr. Dong say to you? Why are you so happy?"

Ye Min raised her head from his chest and said with a smile: "Master Dong has agreed to take me as his apprentice!"

Meng Cheng understood: "It is indeed a happy event."

As the two were talking, a scream of "Ah!" came from the bathroom door. They looked in the direction of the sound and saw Meng Zheng standing there, covering his eyes with his hands, shouting, "I didn't see anything! I didn't see anything!"

In the yard on the other side of the bathroom wall, a man also covered his eyes, then quickly turned around and ran home, shouting, "Dad! Mom! Xiao Fengzheng's parents kissed!"

Ye Min, Meng Cheng: "..." We didn't! We didn't! Don't talk nonsense!

Facts have proven that children are much more powerful in spreading rumors than adults, and it is even harder to defend them because everyone thinks that children will not lie, and if they say they saw something, it must be true.

So no matter how Ye Min explained to everyone the next day that she and Meng Cheng did not kiss in the yard, everyone still nodded perfunctorily to show their belief, while asking them indirectly why they were so excited last night that they kissed in the yard?

Ye Min: “…”

Fortunately, after the arrival of medical staff who assisted in the construction of the military district hospital, the population increased and there were many new things, and rumors spread quickly in the compound.

For trivial matters like theirs, people would just talk about them and make a few jokes about them throughout the day, and by the third day, no one would mention them again.

…

After being formally accepted as a disciple by Master Dong, Ye Min's life did not change much.

She had thought about holding a ceremony to pay respect to her father as a disciple, just like before, and formally offering a cup of tea to Mr. Dong. But Mr. Dong said that a ceremony to pay respect to his father as a disciple was too extravagant and wasteful, so he only asked Ye Min to make him a cup of tea.

Ye Min had done this activity many times before, so she was very familiar with it this time. After taking the enamel cup, Mr. Dong drank a sip of tea and said, "I have no other requirements for you. I just hope that no matter when and where, you can remember one thing: you are a doctor."

Ye Min said firmly, "Master, don't worry. No matter when or where, I will never forget my responsibilities as a doctor!"

"Okay." Mr. Dong nodded and said, "Go back to work."

Master Dong had not originally intended to publicize the fact that he accepted Ye Min as his disciple, but Ye Min changed his title, and anyone with ears could hear it and understand the reason.

When other Chinese medicine practitioners in the department learned about this, they were envious. Although they had attended medical school and had a smoother career path than Ye Min, in the long run, they might not be able to surpass Ye Min.

Because in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, graduating from a medical school may not be as good as learning from a famous teacher.

After all, classes in school are one-on-many and there are few opportunities for practice. However, if you study under a master of traditional Chinese medicine, you will receive one-on-one teaching.

If the teacher is willing to teach, there will be no shortage of opportunities to practice. When Mr. Dong was teaching Ye Min, he often tested her by seeing patients.

This is also one of the reasons why Ye Min can grow so fast.

But no one was jealous of Ye Min. Although the two of them had never been in the title of master and apprentice, everyone knew that Mr. Dong had long regarded her as his apprentice. This result was expected.

Yao Lin was very happy when he learned about this and went to find Mr. Dong to take credit for it.

In the past, Master Dong would have definitely exposed his original plan, but now that he had accepted Ye Min as his disciple, and he was indeed very satisfied with her, he did not say anything harsh, but only asked in a sinister tone, "Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

Yao Lin seemed not to notice his strange tone, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I will definitely not make it difficult for you. Look, this disciple is teaching, and two disciples are also learning. When you teach Comrade Xiao Ye, I will arrange for a few people to go and listen. Is it not too much?"

Mr. Dong raised his eyebrows: "How many?"

"No more than five." Yao Lin said immediately.

Mr. Dong's face darkened and he said, "Three, no more!"

Yao Lin conceded quickly: "Okay, three is fine."

Mr. Dong added: "I only teach Xiaoye. I don't care if other people have problems."

"No problem," Yao Lin agreed, and then asked, "If Comrade Xiao Ye is willing to answer their questions, you won't interfere, right?"

Mr. Dong knew that Ye Min was different from him. He was invited by Yao Lin. As long as he did the work he promised to do, it would be fine if he gave up other tasks. But Ye Min was Yao Lin's subordinate. She couldn't refuse the leader's request.

After thinking for a moment, Mr. Dong said, "It cannot affect my teaching."

Yao Lin immediately smiled and said, "No problem!"

…

Although Mr. Dong said that he would formally teach Ye Min acupuncture after she finished reading the book, she did not rush through the book in order to save time. Instead, she increased her study time to catch up.

At the end of August, Ye Min finally finished reading the book that Mr. Dong gave her and understood about 70% to 80% of the content in the book. The rest needed to be absorbed through further study.

September 1st was the first day of school for the seedling class. Meng Zheng was promoted from the small class to the large class this year, and Ye Min also began to learn acupuncture with Mr. Dong.

Because this matter had been approved by Yao Lin, the hospital adjusted their shifts after the matter was confirmed.

From then on, Ye Min and three other doctors who were assigned by Yao Lin studied with Professor Dong on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, carried out their own work on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and all rested on Sundays.

After the teaching started, Mr. Dong, as he said, only took care of Ye Min and was not responsible for answering other people's questions, except when he was in a good mood.

But Yao Lin did not select people randomly. Those who were assigned to him were all very talented and had a solid foundation in acupuncture. They knew that they would be arranged to study with Master Dong, so they had studied in advance.

In the early stages of teaching, they understood a lot of content faster than Ye Min. Basically, Ye Min would raise any questions they didn’t understand, so they didn’t encounter any difficulties in the learning process.

Time passed quickly in the intensive study and work, and by the end of September, the family compound was bustling again.

It’s not that something big happened inside the family home, but that a batch of new houses were built in the staff home of the hospital next door, and the first batch of employees who were eligible for housing allocation had to draw lots.

This matter has nothing to do with Ye Min. Although she is a hospital employee, she is also a military wife and currently has a house to live in. Of course, even if these are not taken into consideration, just looking at her qualifications, she is not eligible for this batch of houses.

Mr. Dong does have a chance.

After Xu Jianchang got into trouble, all the things he had done were exposed, including framing Mr. Dong.

The problem that led to Mr. Dong's demotion was not a big one, and the accusations were made for no reason, with more rumors than real evidence. These two people have been declassified one after another, so it would be easy to prove Mr. Dong's innocence if someone helped.

Although Mr. Dong was alone and had no relatives in the capital, he had been practicing medicine for many years and had hundreds or even thousands of people who helped him govern the country. When he was down and out, those people might not have dared to lend a hand, but when he had a chance to turn things around, many people were willing to help him.

Mr. Dong himself also has this value. If Xu Jianchang is using the title of Dong family successor to gain fame and reputation, then he is a true medical expert.

In the past, Xu Jianchang was so famous that few people dared to mention him, so that some people thought he was dead. But after Xu Jianchang's accident, people who knew he was alive no longer had to worry about him, so he was remembered again.

With someone mediating on his behalf, it was natural for him to be removed from the list.

The hospital where he worked before being sent down wanted him to return to work, but apart from the graves of his relatives, there was no place in the capital worth him staying, and he had already accepted Ye Min as his apprentice, so he rejected the invitation and chose to stay in the military hospital.

After being removed from the list, Mr. Dong no longer had to keep a low profile like before. His benefits were raised by several levels, and naturally he would be included in the housing quota.

But Mr. Dong felt that he was alone and could not live in a big house, so he might as well give the opportunity to doctors and nurses who had families so that they could be reunited with their relatives and children.

As for him, he was used to living in the small building behind the Women's Federation and didn't want to move.

After word of Mr. Dong's choice spread, many people in the compound praised him for his noble character.

There were several leaders in the hospital who had housing quotas, but whose families did not come with them. After learning about this, they also declined the opportunity, saying that they wanted to save the houses for people who needed them more.

This incident added fuel to the fire of the housing lottery, because the lottery was scheduled for the evening. On that day, people from the two compounds who had time, whether related to the housing allocation or not, all went to join in the fun.

Although Ye Min and his wife did not join in the fun, they soon got first-hand information and found out who had drawn which building and unit, whose house had a good orientation, and whose house had a good floor.

As for the person who brought the news, it was undoubtedly Liang Juan, who loved to join in the fun.

But despite the excitement of the day, she felt a little sad: "I went to see the houses next door. They are all made of red bricks and look beautiful from the outside. The inside is also good, with running water, squat toilets in every household, and balconies for drying clothes. We don't have to worry about rain in the summer or snow in the winter. It's great."

After saying these words of envy, Liang Juan looked at her own house again and said, "I wonder when we can live in a high-rise building."

"I think the house we live in now is pretty good. Although there is no running water in the house, the yard is not bad, and we can install a squat toilet ourselves. Although the yard has no roof, we can move the clothes into the living room to dry them when it rains." Ye Min paused and looked at her house. "Although the house doesn't look as beautiful as the high-rise buildings from the outside, every house is different and unique. Our house is big, and one room can be used as a rooftop for two high-rise buildings."

After hearing what Ye Min said, Liang Juan smiled and said, "You're right. I have three children in my family, and the current house is barely livable. If we move into a building, it will be difficult to separate the rooms."

"So everything has its pros and cons. We can't just focus on the good in others and see the bad in ourselves. If we do that, we will be dissatisfied with our lives no matter what kind of life we ​​lead."

Liang Juan nodded with deep emotion and said something else: "Once the people who have been allocated houses by lottery move in, we will probably have a wedding in our compound."

"happy event?"

"Didn't Captain Hong's daughter and Dr. Chen from your hospital's orthopedics department fall in love? Originally, it wasn't Dr. Chen's turn to allocate a room, but because several people gave up the lottery, the last spot just happened to fall on him. Isn't that a coincidence?"

Talking about this, Liang Juan couldn't help but sigh: "There were more than a dozen couples at the social gathering, but after a few months, none of them have reached the stage of marriage. However, the daughter of Captain Hong and Doctor Chen, who did not get together through the social gathering, are getting married."

Ye Min had heard about this before and nodded in agreement, "It is indeed surprising."

"Of course not," Liang Juan approached Ye Min and lowered her voice, "I heard that at first, Captain Hong's wife was not satisfied with Doctor Chen. She thought he was average looking, too old, and didn't have a room in the provincial capital. His conditions were not as good as her own daughter's. But her daughter was determined to marry him, and it just so happened that Doctor Chen got the last spot in the room next door, so she reluctantly agreed."

Captain Hong's daughter just graduated from high school this year. Because she started school late, she is quite old, already twenty years old.

Captain Hong and his wife wanted their daughter to continue her education, but they didn't get a place in college, so they had to change their mind and send her to the army. However, because of the college, they missed the conscription period, so Captain Hong and his wife let their daughter stay at home and plan to wait until next year.

Who would have thought that Captain Hong's daughter met Dr. Chen, who was over 30 years old, after only staying at home for a few months. The two quickly fell in love and she insisted on marrying him at home.

Just like an arm cannot bend a thigh, Captain Hong and his wife could not bend their daughter. No matter how firm their attitude was at first, they finally gave in.

Although Dr. Chen seemed to have no other problems except for his old age, and his career seemed promising, after this incident, the ladies of age in the compound were still on high alert, fearing that something similar would happen at home.

Liang Juan has participated in several mediations and knows Dr. Chen quite well. She thinks that Captain Hong's daughter is not crazy to choose him. But she also has a daughter, so she understands the feelings of Captain Hong and his wife. After gossiping, she couldn't help but sigh: "Children are all debts!"

Ye Min's thoughts were similar to Liang Juan's. Although she always felt that as long as An An lived a happy life, she could not help but feel sad for Captain Hong and his wife whenever she imagined that An An would be like Captain Hong's daughter when she grew up, fighting for a man who was a dozen years older than her.

Fortunately, her daughter is still young and cute, so she doesn't have to worry like Captain Hong and his wife. As for the future, she will try her best to help her daughter choose a partner. As long as she is still alive at that time, no matter what An An chooses, she will support her daughter.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

Looking at An An who was cheering with joy as she puffed up her cheeks and raised a small iron ring made of wire towards Meng Zheng, she blew out colorful bubbles.

Ye Min suddenly laughed. She suddenly realized that it seemed a bit redundant to think about these things now.