Despite all efforts to nurture flowers, they don’t bloom; carelessly planting a willow, it thrives into a shade-giving tree—this saying couldn’t be more accurate.
Gu Youyou became a gynecologist by chance, which unexpectedly saved her a lot of trouble, both openly and covertly.
Lingnan is a large city, and it wasn’t possible for Jisheng Hall to be the only doctor’s practice, belonging to Gu Youyou.
There were also two centuries-old famous medical institutions, three struggling small clinics, and five pharmacies that didn’t provide medical consultations, only dispensed medicines.
As Jisheng Hall opened its doors, all eyes were fixed on her.
From initially being the subject of jokes to now, with her business flourishing, they were unable to sit idly by.
One anxious voice said, "Should we teach her a lesson? She’s an outsider..."
An elder raised his hand, stopping the speaker, and said, "No, she’s just a woman treating other women’s ailments, what’s the difference between her and a doctor from Yanliu Lane? Lowering ourselves to challenge her would only diminish our status. Let’s wait and see. As long as she doesn’t treat many other diseases, we’ll leave her be."
"But hey, these women come to her not just for women’s issues. Now the whole of Lingnan City knows that Jisheng Hall has a female doctor and they think it’s more appropriate than seeing a man for their problems—they consult her for all kinds of ailments."
How could this be allowed to continue? There were no shortage of women in Lingnan City and they were more prone to illnesses than men. Was she aiming to snatch half of their business?
The elder furrowed his brows.
Gu Youyou flipped through her abacus, calculating this month’s income and expenses.
To be honest, she didn’t like using an abacus and found it a bit clunky, but there was no choice; there were neither calculators nor spreadsheets here, and all accounting had to be done manually, making the abacus the best option under the circumstances.
"Sigh, it’s no use having apprentices; it would be better to hire a professional accountant," she murmured.
Jin Zijin tuned the oil lamp to make it brighter and suggested, "If you’re going to hire anyone, hire a woman."
Gu Youyou looked up and asked, "Why?"
"Hiring a male accountant could hurt the business."
Gu Youyou: "..." It seemed she was quite the renowned gynecologist.
Given the stubborn nature of ancient times, the advice from Zijin made perfect sense. If a man were to be seated here, one couldn’t guess how many women might feel embarrassed to step in.
"Are you taking Abao to the military camp again tomorrow?"
"Yes, Abao’s size could frighten people if he stayed at the clinic."
With the New Year fast approaching, Abao had grown to the size of an adult wolf, an admittedly frightening sight.
Jin Zijin added, "They keep some fierce Tibetan Mastiffs in the military camp, and Abao seems quite happy playing with them."
Gu Youyou frowned, put down her pen, and gave a wry smile, "Actually, I prefer the sight of Abao chasing butterflies."
She had not expected Jin Zijin to have intentions of turning Abao into a warlike wolfhound.
After securing the ledger, Gu Youyou cast her eyes on a package nearby, saying, "Considering the days, Erya and Shunzi’s wedding must be approaching, right? These are the gifts I prepared for them, have a look and see if they’re suitable."
It had been a while since they last received a letter from Qingshui Town, and Jin Zijin’s expression turned expressionless.
He remembered the last letter mentioning that Erya and Shunzi’s marriage arrangement might fall through, as Shunzi’s family wouldn’t accept someone like Erya.
Erya’s father had killed her brother and his wife, beast-like characters, and her mother had committed suicide; if she were to marry into another family, she’d also have to bring her young brother along, a burden indeed.
With circumstances like hers, it was feared that any decent family would refuse to take her, meaning the marriage arrangement was likely doomed.
"Youyou, perhaps we shouldn’t bother with the gifts."
Sending them now would only be like rubbing salt into their wounds, wouldn’t it?