The Great National Doctor is a legendary physician who ranks even higher than an Imperial Physician.
The Great National Doctor, who no longer practices medicine today, had mentored many Imperial Physicians in his early years. He had an exceptional status in Medicine Emperor Pavilion, and in his later years, only kept a Medicine Man by his side.
That Medicine Man is the woman before us, named Qi Fangfei.
Therefore, despite Qi Fangfei’s young age and her status as just a Medicine Man, her position in Medicine Emperor Pavilion is quite distinguished, enabling her to speak up even in front of people like Yao Rong.
No wonder Kong the Pharmacist would be so incredibly respectful upon meeting her.
"So these are the Medicine Men who have come to participate in today’s examination? I heard you are conducting the second round of the Medicine Man Examination. Let me have a look; how well have you brewed your medicines?" Qi Fangfei came to Medicine Emperor Pavilion today to find a Medicinal Herb, and incidentally heard that there was a batch of new Medicine Men attending the examination.
Although she holds a high position in Medicine Emperor Pavilion, she is still a girl in her teens, with a naive and cheerful nature. Recalling her own struggles with the Medicine Man Examination in her early years, she sneakily came over to take a look.
"Miss Qi, please look, these are all the prepared medicines," Kong the Pharmacist readily handed over the judging responsibilities to Qi Fangfei.
Qi Fangfei looked at the medicine bowl placed at the front, and just by observing the color, she pursed her lips, "Not qualified, the heat was clearly insufficient."
The face of the Medicine Gathering Boy changed, and he left in despondency.
Qi Fangfei looked at several other bowls of medicine and, to her surprise, found fault with each one.
At this moment, she approached another medicine bowl and saw an empty bowl placed ahead, inside and out, without a single drop of medicine.
"Ha! This really is rare. You, why didn’t you prepare the medicine?" Qi Fangfei suddenly saw an empty bowl and upon a closer look, realized that its owner was just a little child. "Could it be that you don’t know how to prepare medicine?"
"It’s not that I don’t know how to prepare medicine, but rather my Medicinal Herbs are incorrect, the amount is too small, and the age too young. To do it carelessly would not only fail to save someone, but could also possibly harm them," Yun Sheng said slowly, presenting her portion of Medicinal Herbs to both Qi Fangfei and Kong the Pharmacist.
Such an action from Yun Sheng scared Cheng Qing and a few troublemaking Medicine Gathering Boys, making them bow their heads, not daring to make a sound.
Qi Fangfei was taken aback and couldn’t help but recall her own early days as a Medicine Man. Once, due to the medical warehouse’s negligence, a Medicinal Herb that should have been ten years old was wrongly matched as an eight-year-old. Although she noticed, she thought the two-year difference wouldn’t greatly affect the effect and carelessly prepared the medicine anyway.
Little did she know, the Great National Doctor, upon inspecting the medicine, was furious and scolded her on the spot: "You knew there was a mistake with the medicinal ingredients, yet you still prepared it. How can you consider yourself a qualified Medicine Man!"
After checking, Kong the Pharmacist indeed found that the year of the Medicinal Herb was wrong. Qi Fangfei glanced at Cheng Qing and the others, who were guilty as thieves, and her voice suddenly turned stern with a warning: "Listen, I don’t care how today’s incident happened, but remember, as Medicine Men, you must never switch medicinal materials. If any of you dares to frame your colleagues in the future, you will be excluded from the medical profession forever!"
The few attendant boys were so scared they trembled like chaff, and Cheng Qing was also ashen-faced.
Through this round of assessment, another thirteen Medicine Gathering Boys were disqualified. Although Yun Sheng did not prepare medicine, she smoothly passed the test thanks to her quick wits.
However, Qi Fangfei did not leave. That round of assessment had piqued her interest in Yun Sheng.
She also learned from Kong the Pharmacist that Yun Sheng had accurately identified eighteen Medicinal Herbs in the first round of assessment.
She wanted to see how Yun Sheng would perform in the third round of assessment.
"This third round of assessment involves identifying herbs," by the third round of assessment, the Medicine Gathering Boys appeared much more relaxed than before.
Identifying herbs might be difficult for the average person, but for these Medicine Gathering Boys who have mostly followed their respective Pharmacists since childhood and frequently entered the Medicine Emperor Pavilion’s herbal storehouse, save for some particularly rare Treasures, they recognized most of the Medicinal Herbs.
Kong the Pharmacist watched the change in the boys’ expressions and shook his head: "However, this time’s identification of herbs will be somewhat different from previous years. Your assessment location will not be in the herbal storehouse. Follow me."
Where could the identification of medicines take place if not in the medicine library?
Not just the Medicine Gathering Boys, even Qi Fangfei herself wore a look of utter confusion.
A train of people followed one after another, arriving at the main entrance of the Medicine Emperor Pavilion.
At this moment, including Fan Zhi and Cheng Sihai, along with some commoners who came to buy medicine or seek a doctor’s advice, were also at the main entrance. They all showed an interested expression when they saw a group of Medicine Gathering Boys coming out.
As Qi Fangfei passed by, she caught sight of Fan Zhi and hesitated for a moment, but still called out: "Elder brother apprentice."
Originally, Fan Zhi, Yao Rong, and Cheng Sihai were all disciples of the same reclusive Great National Doctor, making them senior apprentice brothers to Qi Fangfei.
Upon seeing Qi Fangfei, Fan Zhi nodded and said with a wry smile: "I am no longer your elder brother apprentice."
"Ah, elder brother apprentice... Doctor Fan, what brings you to the Medicine Emperor Pavilion today?" Qi Fangfei sighed, remembering that Fan Zhi had long been expelled from both the mentorship and the Medicine Emperor Pavilion.
"Junior sister apprentice, he’s here with his Medicine Gathering Boys to participate in the examination, that little girl there. Hmph, who would have thought she could last until the final round," Cheng Sihai greeted warmly, while Qi Fangfei showed a rather indifferent attitude.
It turns out the young girl was the elder brother apprentice’s Medicine Gathering Boy; no wonder she had a temperament so similar to his.
At this point, Yun Sheng and the other twenty Medicine Gathering Boys were standing at the entrance, clueless.
Kong the Pharmacist chuckled, "Now begins your third round of the examination. You have the time it takes an incense stick to burn to identify which medicinal herbs were used to create the aroma within this Red Gold Tripod. Remember, you must guess all the herbs correctly to pass the examination, otherwise, you’ll be deemed to have failed."
They are actually being asked to differentiate the herbs within the tripod!
All twenty Medicine Gathering Boys were taken aback that their third round of examination turned out to be this.
"Isn’t this just making things difficult? How are we supposed to guess today’s aroma when the incense tripod at the main entrance is filled with a different fragrance each day?" The Medicine Gathering Boys all frowned deeply, and some simply wandered aimlessly around the Red Gold Tripod, sniffing the medicinal fragrance seeping out like dogs.
In the arena, only Yun Sheng and Cheng Qing did not act immediately.
Both were staring into the Red Gold Tripod, the aromatic fumes continuously emerging, trying to discern how many different kinds of herbs were mixed in.
"..." The time of one incense stick was almost up.
Nearly half of the Medicine Gathering Boys had given up partway.
Individuals began to report the components of the aroma one after another, but not one could guess all of the medicinal herbs.
In the field, only two Medicine Gathering Boys were left, Yun Sheng and Cheng Qing.
"Just one herb short," Cheng Qing grew increasingly anxious. He had discerned for a long time but still couldn’t figure out one of the herbs.
He then looked at Yun Sheng and saw no reaction from her. It seemed that she, like him, couldn’t guess what the last herb was.
"There’s only a quarter of an hour left, you two—whichever of you gives the answer first," Kong the Pharmacist reminded for the last time.
"Me!" Cheng Qing stepped forward first.