Although Qin Changlin was not bad, his time spent learning was short. He could handle minor injuries and illnesses, but as for the more serious ones, he was unable to cope. He suggested that we should go to other towns, or to Yangguan City to see a doctor, but the journey was far, and those who could go had already gone. Those who remained were the ones who could withstand the hardship!"
Gu Youyou nodded, understanding that this was indeed the case. This was an ancient era with backward transportation, how could a sick person withstand such a journey?
Anyway, since Doctor Zhou wasn’t around, the ailing neighbors had no choice but to disperse slowly.
Of course, some left and new patients kept arriving one after another, leaving Qin Changlin busy explaining to them.
He furrowed his brow into a ’川’ character, wailing in pain, "Master ah! When will you return, elder?"
Gu Youyou came to buy medicine and watched for a while. Then, she squeezed through the crowd to Qin Changlin’s side.
"Doctor Qin, if you’re not treating patients, you’re still selling medicine, right?"
Seeing a young and beautiful girl approach and also calling him doctor, Qin Changlin immediately became bashful and stuttered, "I... I haven’t graduated yet, miss. Please don’t call me doctor, just Xiaoqin is fine."
"Oh, alright, Xiaoqin, do you sell medicine?"
Qin Changlin, who appeared to be around fourteen or fifteen years old, was dressed in short-sleeved shirt and long trousers, with all his hair tied up and bound with a long cloth on top of his head.
When Gu Youyou asked again, he nodded repeatedly, saying, "We do sell, miss. Where’s your prescription?"
"Prescription?" Gu Youyou had forgotten to write down the prescription beforehand. She glanced at the room’s table, which had an abacus, a small scale, thick yellow paper, and items like an inkstone and brushes, and asked in a low voice with some embarrassment, "I didn’t bring the prescription; may I... borrow your ink and paper?"
"This..." Qin Changlin looked at Gu Youyou somewhat embarrassedly. Gu Youyou quickly said, "I’ll pay for it, could it be included in the medicine charge?"
"Ah...?" Seeing that Gu Youyou misunderstood him, he hurriedly waved his hands and said, "No, no, miss, that’s not what I meant. What I mean is, without a prescription I daren’t just sell you medicine, even if you remember the prescription it still won’t do. Medicine for treating illnesses isn’t to be taken lightly, what if you remembered it wrong?"
"Don’t worry, I have a good memory, I won’t remember it wrong!" Gu Youyou said.
"Hey, you know some medical theory too, right? I’ll write it down, and you can check it. If it’s wrong, then don’t sell it to me. How about that?"
After thinking for a bit, Qin Changlin said, "Well... Alright! Miss, this way please!"
Gu Youyou thanked him and followed Qin Changlin to the table. After grinding some ink, she stood there and wrote out a prescription.
Gu Youyou blew on the ink to dry it and handed the prescription to Qin Changlin, saying, "Please take a look, can you sell the medicine?"
Qin Changlin skeptically took the prescription from Gu Youyou, and just by looking at the writing, he was stunned.
He glanced at Gu Youyou, then looked down at the prescription again, murmuring to himself, "Atractylodes, Poria, Dong Quai, Cinnamon... You... you are the doctor who made the detoxification prescription?"
"Huh? What?" Gu Youyou was puzzled. Her recipe was a common one for nourishing qi and blood, and it could also relieve cold toxins!
Qin Changlin, thrilled, exclaimed, "Right, right, it must be you. Lotus Village’s Wang Shun, every time he came to buy medicine I prepared it for him. I remember this handwriting very clearly. You’re that doctor, aren’t you?"
Qin Changlin was so excited he gave Gu Youyou no chance to speak, "Yes, yes, it’s definitely you. Ah, I never thought that the one who could create that prescription would be a young woman. Miss, my master, Doctor Zhou, never stopped praising that prescription..."