The Martial Doctor-Chapter 70: The Lin Family’s First Disciple

Still getting more competitive!

Lin Miao hadn’t used much force just now, considering the opponent was a woman. But now he realizes that this Xia Zhu actually possesses considerable martial skills.

So he decided not to hold back.

He suddenly raised his hand, channeling all his strength into his arm, using it like a lever, and his wrist exerted force again.

Xia Zhu felt a powerful force transfer into her, then felt her body lighten, as she was lifted up by Lin Miao completely.

She was hoisted up in a kneeling position.

"Xia Zhu, you?" Lin Miao was truly dumbfounded. He couldn’t just reach over and straighten Xia Zhu’s legs, could he?

"I’ve already seen your divine skill yesterday, Lin Shi. If you don’t accept me, aren’t you afraid I’ll claim the divine skill for myself?" Xia Zhu bit her lip and said.

"You’re threatening me now?"

"Lin Shi, Xia Zhu sincerely wishes to become your disciple, and means no threat. Please see clearly, Lin Shi!" Xia Zhu remained in her kneeling position, being suspended in mid-air.

"I won’t accept you!"

Lin Miao had never seen such a situation before. Filled with anger, he directly threw Xia Zhu out of the living room.

Xia Zhu’s posture remained unchanged, from kneeling in the living room to kneeling in the courtyard, exactly the same as before: "If Lin Shi does not accept me, I won’t get up."

"Crazy, crazy..."

This scene in the early morning startled everyone in the Lin residence, including Su Chen, who had just woken up from a hangover, and Shi Yin, who was recuperating in the Lin residence.

"Xia Zhu, what are you doing here?" Su Chen knew Xia Zhu and was bewildered seeing her kneeling in the courtyard.

"To become Lin Shi’s disciple."

No wonder Lin Miao called her a "lunatic," Su Chen rubbed his forehead, making sure he wasn’t having a fever or his brain didn’t malfunction, and that his ears weren’t deceiving him. This wasn’t a hallucination.

"You didn’t take the wrong medicine, did you? You said you want to become the disciple of my younger brother Sanshui?" Su Chen asked.

"Yes."

"Hehehe..." Su Chen laughed with a sound like a "goose," suddenly finding this matter very amusing.

Xia Zhu’s face showed no emotion, as if Su Chen’s laughter had nothing to do with her.

"Xia Zhu, could it be that you fancy my younger brother Sanshui and want to make an old cow eat young grass, using this method to get close to him, then take him down at the right moment?" Su Chen squatted down and asked.

Usually, when male doctors take female apprentices, the outcome is always similar: during teaching, they often end up teaching on the bed.

Such things are not uncommon, and generally, aside from their own daughters, male doctors would not take female apprentices, even if they’re their own nieces or nephews.

If something truly happens, so be it. But if nothing happens, why create trouble for themselves?

"Mr. Su, is your mind filled with such base thoughts all day?" Xia Zhu looked up and glanced at Su Chen.

Ugh...

Su Chen was at a loss for words.

Xia Zhu was a female medical apprentice, not the sort of well-brought-up young lady who stays indoors.

"Ahem, all right, you can continue kneeling then." Su Chen lost interest, returned to the living room, and said, "Younger brother, you’re really going to let her kneel in the courtyard?"

"Otherwise, if she kneels at the main entrance, how am I supposed to leave?" Lin Miao felt quite helpless. If Xia Zhu were a man seeking apprenticeship, he would’ve kicked him out, not allowing him to kneel in the courtyard.

"But this isn’t a solution, what if the rumors spread, how will you handle it?" Su Chen asked.

"It’s a headache..." Lin Miao rubbed his temple, troubled not only by Xia Zhu’s request to become a disciple but also by the aftereffects of his hangover.

"Younger brother, do you know why, as someone from Lanzhou, I came to Dongshan Prefecture to take the physician exam?"

"You’re not here for the Xu family’s marriage proposal at Baoan Hall, are you?" Lin Miao thought for a moment and asked back.

"That’s right, even though I’m not keen on such arranged marriages, I had no choice because my father forced me." Su Chen sighed.

"They say the seventh young lady of the Xu family is extremely intelligent with exceptional medical talent. It’s just a pity she’s not a boy; otherwise, Ye Xizhao wouldn’t be getting all the attention. What more could you be dissatisfied with, Mr. Su?" Lin Miao laughed.

"What common ground could there possibly be with a sixteen-year-old girl?"

"Mr. Su, I’m also just over sixteen."

"You’re different. We’re brothers, naturally, we have a lot in common. We can drink, discuss medicine and martial arts, and you get along well with the girls at Huaye Tower next door..." Su Chen said, importantly, their interaction felt comfortable, like they understood each other, with a sense of mutual appreciation.

"Do you want to go next door?"

"No, I have to go back, otherwise, my mother might come looking for me." Su Chen thought for a moment and said.

"Is your mother visiting?"

"Not yet, but soon..." Su Chen smiled awkwardly, got up, and directly took his leave, not even staying for breakfast.

It seems he’s quite afraid of his mother.

In this way, it appears that the Su Family’s Master, Su Qi, might also be henpecked at home.

...

"Junior Brother, Miss Xia Zhu has been kneeling for over an hour now..." Sun Youwei couldn’t bear it any longer and came to the backyard to remind Lin Miao, who was practicing martial arts.

When practicing, remember not to be lazy or give up halfway.

"I didn’t tell her to kneel. If she doesn’t want to kneel, she can get up herself. The gate of my Lin family is open." Lin Miao took the towel from Sun Youwei’s hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead and said.

"What if she just kneels and refuses to leave?"

"Let her be."

"Should we send someone to Benefit People Pharmacy to inform Xia Cixi of Xia Zhu’s situation?" Sun Youwei suggested.

"Hmm, that works. Let Xie go." Lin Miao nodded. He couldn’t persuade her, but surely her father could.

...

"Master, the Ye Family from Shengyuan Hall has sent an invitation card, inviting you to attend their banquet at Shengyuan Hall tomorrow."

"The Xu Family also sent an invitation, inviting you to attend Miss Xu Qixi’s birthday banquet the day after tomorrow..."

"Hall Master Chen Handian from Qingyu Hall invites you for a banquet at Juxian Tower the day after tomorrow at noon!"

"Sansheng Hall..."

"Mr. Pei is hosting an informal banquet at the residence tonight and has asked you to attend."

Ever since Lin Miao was selected as a "physician," and ranked third, the invitation cards started pouring in as if the doorstep would be worn out.

Mr. Pei’s face must be given respect, as he holds a parental officer position in the whole Dongshan Prefecture. Without roots in Dongshan City, offending such a dignitary would make it impossible for him to move forward.

As for the Ye Family’s recruitment banquet, he wasn’t interested and wouldn’t be attending.

The birthday banquet of the girl from the Xu family.

The Xu Family had a good impression, but this birthday banquet possibly had another purpose, leaving him hesitant about whether to go or not.

Sansheng Hall was more detached; they simply sent an invitation, allowing him to visit anytime without any commitments.

As for the other medical halls, they simply sent invitations just to associate faces with names.

Attending Mr. Pei’s banquet, he decided to go alone and certainly would not take his senior sister along, considering Mr. Pei’s second son was also a frequent visitor to Huaye Tower.

Shi Yin almost lost her life, partly because of him, so he couldn’t be sure that Mr. Pei’s second son wouldn’t behave like Ye Xizhao, hence, he preferred to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Besides, his senior sister’s health hadn’t fully recovered yet, and in such cold weather, catching a cold would mean more work for restoring her health.

From morning till noon, then kneeling from noon to evening.

Xia Yuan didn’t come.

Who knew if the father was heartless or too angry with his daughter’s actions, feeling too ashamed to acknowledge her, and pretends not to have such a daughter...

Sun Youwei, fearing Xia Zhu wouldn’t be able to handle it, even gave her a mat, and by noon prepared some food for her.

However, all these were rejected by Xia Zhu.

"Go back, I won’t accept you." Lin Miao prepared to attend the banquet and approached Xia Zhu, "Study well with your father, Xia Cixi, and you might pass the physician exam next year."

Xia Zhu remained unmoved.

"Let me tell you, kneeling here is useless. I’m actually younger than you. If I were to accept you as an apprentice, it would definitely cause a stir throughout Dongshan City. Also, have you considered your father?" Lin Miao decided to speak frankly.

"My father agreed."

"What, Xia Cixi actually allowed you do something so reckless?" Lin Miao felt like he would explode. How could Xia Yuan, such a serious and unyielding man, agree to his daughter doing such rebellious things?

"Because I promised to marry my fifth senior brother, Shen Haidong."

"You sacrificed your lifelong happiness just to become my disciple?" Lin Miao truly didn’t understand, how could there be such a woman.

"Fifth senior brother likes me. We grew up together. While I don’t particularly have those feelings for him, I don’t dislike him either. Marrying him is also my father’s wish. I fulfilled his wish, so naturally, he fulfills mine."

"Xia Zhu, is your relationship with Xia Cixi based on this kind of exchange of benefits?" Lin Miao really couldn’t comprehend the way this father and daughter interacted.

"Not entirely, but on important matters, if our opinions differ, we need to find a way that everyone can accept. This way is most suitable for us."

After listening, Lin Miao couldn’t help but give a thumbs up.

He knew words couldn’t persuade Xia Zhu, and he really wanted to knock her out and send her back. But thinking it over, she might just come back the next day after waking up, so it would be better to wait until she couldn’t hold on any longer.

Human endurance has its limits.

...

Mr. Pei invited him to the banquet not because he favored Lin Miao but because of Wan Bin, the inspector from the Imperial Pharmacy visiting from Li Jing.

Although the inspector from the Imperial Pharmacy was merely a seventh-rank official, such technical officials held an elevated status. Thus, even the fourth-rank official, Mr. Pei Jian, dared not slack off the slightest.

Wan Bin found it inconvenient to personally invite Lin Miao, so he entrusted Mr. Pei to extend a personal "banquet invitation" on his behalf.

Gaining Wan Bin’s attention was mainly because Lin Miao successfully saved Miss Xiaolian, though such acute cases weren’t frequent, when scaled to the entire Da Li Dynasty, there were quite a few, especially postpartum hemorrhaging cases. If a comprehensive treatment method for this emergency could be developed, it would indeed be a blessing for the common people.

Moreover, if such a method was documented and disseminated nationwide, allowing all medical practitioners to learn it, it would significantly reduce the mortality rate of such patients.

Discovering this treatment method and recommending Lin Miao certainly counted as a major achievement for Inspector Wan Bin.

Of course, he had thought about claiming this treatment method as his own, but mastering such emergency techniques wasn’t as simple as knowing them; one needed to be taught and be able to perform them successfully.

This method had to be learned hand-in-hand to grasp fully.

Especially the unique "acupuncture" technique; they all learned from Xia Zhu’s words that it was a special skill, and without knowing its secrets, it couldn’t be mastered.

Therefore, understanding it simply to master it was clearly impossible.

The idea of "claiming it" could only be abandoned, and another path chosen, that is, to maintain good relations with the individual and introduce him to higher levels, obtaining corresponding benefits along the way.

Different choices lead to different futures.