Chapter 35.3

On the way, as they chatted, Guan Yue learned that these three were no ordinary individuals. They had once been well-regarded doctors in their region. One of them had even served in the military in his youth before retiring and returning home.  

Guan Yue remarked: “The nursing home is under the jurisdiction of the Southwest Military District, and many of the people there are soldiers. You’ll probably find it easy to adapt.”  

The man nodded. “I can adapt just fine.”  

He had already endured so much; what more could he ask for? His only hope now was to establish himself in this new place and eventually bring his wife and children here.  

When they arrived at Qingxi Village, Wang Tiejun greeted Guan Yue with a smile. “Who are these three?”

Gu Sui answered: “They’re doctors who’ve come to join us. Make the necessary arrangements to welcome them.”  

“Understood. Dr. Gu, Dr. Guan, you two can head back. We’ll take care of things here.”  

Gu Sui nodded and took Guan Yue’s hand as they headed home together.  

As they walked up the mountain, now with just the two of them on the path, Guan Yue finally spoke: “They’ve all had a hard time.”  

“Yeah.” Gu Sui replied: “like you said, things will gradually get better.”  

Thanks to the Qingxi Village nursing home’s open policy, more and more doctors arrived there. It wasn’t until July or August that the influx of new arrivals began to slow down. By then, a peculiar situation had developed in Qingxi Village: the number of doctors was double that of the patients.  

New patients arriving at the hospital were often dumbfounded by the situation. How could the facilities at this nursing home be this good?  

Take, for example, the injured soldiers who came from out of town. Early Monday morning, they would arrive at the nursing home’s outpatient department. As soon as they stepped through the door, they were immediately surrounded by doctors.  

Two doctors would take hold of their hands, one on each side, checking their pulse. Once those two finished, they would step aside, only for two more to take their place.  

Then, inevitably, arguments would break out.  

“This condition should be treated like this—”  

“Nonsense! He’s suffering from yang deficiency. If you treat it as yin deficiency, are you trying to make his illness worse?”  

“Where did you come from, you quack?”  

“You’re the quack! I’m a disciple of the Sun family from Gansu, with twenty years of medical experience. How could I misdiagnose something so basic?”  

“Hah! Ridiculous. You can’t even distinguish between yang deficiency and yin deficiency. How many patients have you harmed in your twenty years of practice?”  

“You little brat, slandering me like this! I won’t let this go until we settle it properly!”  

“Bring it on!”  

As the argument escalated, bystanders hurried over to break it up. But the two doctors refused to back down, insisting on settling their disagreement.  

Meanwhile, one of the doctors trying to intervene grabbed the patient’s hand to check the pulse himself and declared: “Both of you are wrong in your diagnosis. What are you even arguing about? You’ve got no right to bicker here.”  

The two who had been quarreling turned their fury toward him. “What did you just say, you little punk?”  

Caught in the middle, Deng Baishu tried his best to mediate, but no one paid him any attention. He could only sigh in exasperation.  

The doctors who had come to Qingxi Village were all different in their expertise, personalities, and schools of thought. Even the smallest disagreements could spark debates.  

In recent weeks, as more doctors poured in, it seemed like arguments had become a daily occurrence.  

It wasn’t surprising. The people who came here were those who had struggled in life. They had spent years treading carefully, trying to survive. Now, in this more relaxed environment surrounded by peers, all their long-suppressed tempers came bursting out.  

Finally, Deng Weimin arrived, frowning deeply. “What are you all yelling about? Get out! From now on, no one is allowed to disturb the patients without my permission!”  

Deng Weimin was the leader of this hospital and the one who had rescued them from their hardships. The moment Deng Weimin spoke, the room fell silent.

Guan Yue walked in and said: “Why are so many people standing here? You’re blocking my way.”

When the doctors saw Guan Yue, they immediately stepped aside to clear a path for him.

Guan Yue approached the patient, who was already in a daze, and took his pulse. He said: “Take off your pants. Let me see your leg.”

Under the gaze of dozens of eyes, the patient felt a bit embarrassed.

Guan Yue continued: “Do you need me to turn around? You’ve got one minute. I’m busy and don’t have time for you to dawdle.”

The patient stammered: “I’ll take them off right away, right away.”

After all, the man was a doctor here to treat him. There was nothing to feel embarrassed about. He decided to just take off his pants—it wasn’t like he wasn’t wearing underwear.

After examining the swollen leg, Guan Yue concluded: “Your leg hasn’t healed because there’s a very small fragment of shrapnel embedded in the muscle that hasn’t been removed.”

The patient protested: “That’s impossible! The doctors at the military hospital examined me several times before and said there was no issue.”

Guan Yue replied: “That’s because they didn’t do a thorough enough job.”

He then turned to Deng Baishu and instructed: “Take him to the operating room and have Gu Sui perform the surgery. There’s no need to keep him on our side.”

Deng Baishu immediately responded: “Understood.”

A newly-arrived doctor seemed like he wanted to say something, but the others nearby quickly covered his mouth. 

They whispered to him: “Don’t let her youth fool you into thinking you can provoke her. She’s on a completely different level from us. You can’t afford to mess with her. If you try, you’ll just end up humiliated.”

Initially, some of the senior doctors didn’t believe it and insisted on challenging Guan Yue. In the end, without exception, they all lost face and were thoroughly embarrassed.

After finishing his consultations, Guan Yue headed to Deng Weimin’s office. He said: “Keeping all these people here isn’t going to work. It’s far too noisy, and it’s affecting the patients.”

Deng Baishu also seemed troubled by the situation. “What do you suggest?”

Guan Yue said: “Didn’t we talk earlier about setting up a school? Doesn’t a school need teaching materials? First, organize these people to compile textbooks. We can discuss the next steps after that.”

Deng Weimin nodded. “From now on, they’ll carry out their activities in the family compound over there. They are no longer allowed to come to the sanatorium.”

In fact, one of the main reasons these people were so eager to come to the sanatorium to help was that they currently had nothing to do. When people are idle, they tend to overthink and always fear being sent back. 

Here, they could live comfortably, eat well, and no one discriminated against, belittled, or cursed them. None of them wanted to leave such a good place. They had been through enough struggles before and were now traumatized by it.

Since they had nothing to do, it was better to find something for them to do.

Deng Weimin selected a few respected individuals to take the lead. For now, he told them to focus solely on compiling a set of textbooks and not to worry about other matters.

The people in the family compound eagerly asked: “Are we going to open a school in the future?”

“Are we being asked to teach students?”

“Can we even teach traditional Chinese medicine now?”

“Why not? Without doctors, how will patients be treated? Are they supposed to just tough it out on their own?”

“They’ve oppressed traditional Chinese medicine for too long. We treat illnesses and save lives—how is that feudal?”

As they spoke, the crowd grew agitated and seemed ready to stir up trouble again.

Deng Weimin calmed the situation. “Don’t panic. Just do what you’re assigned. You won’t be left with nothing to do.”

One person spoke up hesitantly: “Sir Deng, my medical skills aren’t great, but I can help with other things. I’m really good at preparing herbal medicine.”

“I can do that too.” another echoed.

When it came to compiling medical books, those who felt their skills weren’t up to par stepped forward voluntarily to admit it.

With that, the group naturally divided into two factions.

Once the medical books were completed, there was no need to worry about recruiting students right away. They planned to first teach and graduate the less skilled individuals before assessing the situation further.

Deng Weimin assigned tasks to the group: “Those who are capable will help compile the books. The rest of you will assist with cleaning, cooking, and other chores. Understood?”

Everyone nodded in agreement, indicating they understood the instructions.

Since Deng Weimin still had to manage the work at the sanatorium and couldn’t oversee everything here, he decided to write to his cousin, Deng Weijia, asking him to take charge.

After consulting Guan Yue, she nodded and agreed, saying: “Let him serve as the dean of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Academy.”

Guan Yue had no issue funding the project, but she found managing it too troublesome and didn’t want to get involved.

Deng Weimin sighed: “These people are like frightened birds now, scared out of their wits.”

In the past, many of them had been renowned doctors, highly respected and full of pride. None of them could have imagined they would face such circumstances today.

The next day was Tuesday, Guan Yue’s day off. After dinner, she left Gu Sui behind and prepared to head to her villa in the mountains.

Just as she was about to leap into a tree, Gu Sui grabbed her arm. “You heartless little thing, are you leaving me behind again? When are you coming back?”

“How about noon the day after tomorrow?” she replied.

That evening, Gu Sui had prepared a variety of dishes. Guan Yue packed some of them to take to the villa and store in the fridge, planning to make do with them for two meals. The fridge also contained buns and dumplings that Gu Sui had made a few days ago, which she could steam for breakfast.

Gu Sui said: “Come back tomorrow evening, and I’ll make something delicious for you. The cafeteria is going to the meat processing plant tomorrow to buy pork, and I’ve asked them to bring back some pig intestines. I’ll braise them for you.”

Guan Yue unconsciously swallowed. “I want dry-fried pork intestines too.”

“I can make both.” he said. “I’ll prepare two dishes.”

Guan Yue quickly nodded. “I want both! I’ll definitely come back tomorrow afternoon.”

Satisfied with her answer, Gu Sui finally let go of her arm. “If you don’t come back, I’ll eat it all by myself.”

Guan Yue huffed: “I’ll make it myself.”

Amused, Gu Sui teased her: “You? Cook pork intestines? Do you remember on Dragon Boat Festival, you promised to cook for me? And what happened? Two days later, all you made was a bowl of noodles to brush me off!”

“What’s wrong with noodles? There were vegetables in the noodles too, and didn’t you enjoy them?” Guan Yue replied before stepping onto a tree branch and darting off. “I’ll come back tomorrow. Don’t miss me too much.”

Watching her figure disappear into the distance, Gu Sui chuckled softly. “Why does she love eating so much?”

He could already foresee that for the rest of his life, he would hold her in the palm of his hand with his cooking skills.

At her current level, Guan Yue couldn’t yet handle books on virology. She was still studying the basics of medicine, using the textbooks that had once belonged to Gu Sui. She would study on her own first, then ask him to explain what she didn’t understand. Her progress had been remarkably fast.

Now, she was simply waiting for her virology teacher to arrive.

Robert had reached out to Professor John, who, upon hearing that a doctor in China could cure his paralysis, agreed to come to China without much thought.

According to Zhang Mingrui’s updates, Professor John was expected to arrive by the end of October.

Guan Yue stayed busy with her studies and occasionally checked in on the progress of the medical school’s textbook compilation. However, there had been little headway.

In the past, studying traditional Chinese medicine started with memorizing the classical medical texts passed down through the ages, followed by learning pulse-taking and prescription-writing from teachers. Turning this into a comprehensive textbook was an entirely new challenge, and they didn’t know where to start.

It wasn’t that they were deliberately withholding knowledge—they genuinely didn’t know how to structure it.

Arguments were frequent, and it wasn’t until October that they finally came up with some ideas. They decided to divide the work based on their areas of expertise, compiling books like *Pediatrics in Traditional Chinese Medicine*, *Gynecology in Traditional Chinese Medicine*, and *Internal Medicine in Traditional Chinese Medicine*.

When Guan Yue asked why there wasn’t a foundational textbook for traditional Chinese medicine, they formed another team to work on that.

Guan Yue reviewed their drafts and could tell that these people had real knowledge. Much of the information in the manuscripts was new to her and couldn’t be found elsewhere.

Her money had not been wasted!

That Monday, Guan Yue made her routine trip to the sanatorium to see patients. As always, there were many new patients waiting for her, and she worked tirelessly all day to get through them all.

She hadn’t even had a chance to take a sip of water when Xiao Ma informed her: “Dr. Guan, the teacher you’ve been waiting for has arrived in Hong Kong. They’re taking a day to rest there and should be brought here in about two days.”

“How will they be brought here?” Guan Yue asked.

“He’s paralyzed, isn’t he? After they cross over by boat, they’ll be transported here by military aircraft.”

Guan Yue nodded. “Finally!”