Chapter 113: Eldest Uncle Takes a Disciple

Chen Baishu also smiled and nodded in approval.

“Mm! You’re quite good. You have a talent for medicine. What’s your name?” Chen Baishu made no effort to hide his appreciation.

“Doctor Chen, my name is Zhou Daqiu.”

Zhou Daqiu was overjoyed to receive such affirmation and praise for his abilities.

Immediately, he agreed to the arrangement made by the old village secretary.

Just then, Zhou Yimin spoke up. “Eldest Uncle, are you interested in taking on a disciple?”

As soon as he said that, the room fell silent.

Zhou Daqiu was filled with anticipation. His dream was to become a doctor.

In the past, he had learned to identify medicinal herbs from a barefoot doctor and had even gone up the mountains to collect herbs. However, that doctor had only taught him to recognize herbs—nothing more, and he never took him as a disciple.

The old village secretary was quite hopeful.

After all, Daqiu was from Zhoujiazhuang. Having someone from their village become a doctor would be the best possible outcome.

Others around were slightly envious.

If this worked out, Daqiu would establish a connection with the steel factory’s clinic. He wouldn’t just learn medicine, but might even get a job at the factory. That was the dream!

Chen Baishu paused for a few seconds, caught off guard.

If someone else had made this request, he might not have outright refused, but he certainly wouldn’t agree so easily—he would’ve taken time to seriously consider it.

But since it was Zhou Yimin who brought it up, he had to give him that face and favor. In fact, he had always wanted to deepen his relationship with Zhou Yimin. A chance that Zhou Yimin personally handed to him—he wouldn’t refuse it.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have agreed to come to Zhoujiazhuang to see patients in the first place.

Besides, he genuinely admired Zhou Daqiu and felt he was a promising candidate for learning medicine.

“Taking a disciple sounds good,” Chen Baishu said with a smile.

Zhou Yimin noticed Zhou Daqiu was still frozen, and gave him a swift kick.

Zhou Daqiu snapped out of it, overjoyed, and immediately tried to kneel to call him “Master.”

“Don’t rush it. A formal apprenticeship ceremony is needed. I’ll talk to your father and have him set up two banquet tables at noon. We’ll make a proper event of it. You better study hard,” Zhou Yimin said.

This pleased Eldest Uncle.

If the boy just knelt and kowtowed right here, it would feel too casual. Back when he learned medicine, he paid a heavy price.

Even though he agreed to teach Zhou Daqiu for Zhou Yimin’s sake, he still felt slightly uneasy about it.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Yimin considered his feelings and decided to make the ceremony more formal—to give him due respect.

He waved his hand with a chuckle. “No need for all that pomp and ceremony. Let’s keep it simple.”

The old village secretary agreed with Zhou Yimin. “Taking on a disciple is a serious matter. It should be done properly. Yimin, let me talk to Daqiu’s father.”

Zhou Yimin nodded. “Mm! That works too.”

And so, the matter was settled.

The old village secretary immediately went to find Daqiu’s father, Zhou Zhicheng.

“That doctor’s really taking Daqiu as a disciple?” Zhou Zhicheng couldn’t believe it—he thought he had misheard.

“It’s all thanks to Yimin. If he hadn’t brought it up, do you think the doctor would’ve agreed? Hurry and set up two banquet tables. I’ve got some grain bits at my place—come pick it up later. You’ll also need to serve the apprenticeship tea.

Oh, and do you still have any meat? We can’t make it look too stingy,” the old secretary said.

Daqiu’s maternal grandparents were ecstatic.

Just days ago, they had been discussing with their son-in-law how to find Daqiu a job in the city. They never imagined that the opportunity would come this fast. Although it wasn’t a city job outright, getting an apprenticeship and learning a skill was even better.

As long as he mastered the medical arts, he would never have to worry about supporting a family in the future.

They were especially grateful to Daqiu’s Sixteenth Uncle. If he hadn’t brought up the idea of taking a disciple, this blessing would never have come to their family.

Dachun and his new wife Xiaofang were equally happy. If the younger brother (or brother-in-law) became successful, they’d benefit as well.

“Alright, I’ll start preparing right away,” Zhou Zhicheng said quickly.

Once the old secretary left, the whole family was brimming with excitement and began discussing the matter.

“Dad, we really owe Sixteenth Uncle for this!”

Zhou Zhicheng glared at him. “You think I need you to remind me? I don’t know that? Go to your Second Uncle’s place and borrow his two chickens. Tell him I’ll go buy two more tomorrow to return.”

They had no meat at home, so they’d have to borrow some in the meantime.

“Got it!”

Just as Zhou Dachun was about to head out, Zhou Dazhong arrived carrying two smoked ducks, two strips of cured meat, several jin of cured sausage, two bottles of wine, two cans of canned yellow peaches, and a small tin of tea leaves.

“Dazhong, what’s all this…”

Zhou Dazhong replied, “Sixteenth Uncle told me to bring it over. He said to collect 30 yuan. Also, the cured meat, yellow peaches, and tea leaves are part of the apprenticeship gift—don’t mix them up.”

Remembering something, Zhou Dazhong pulled out two unopened packs of Da Qianmen cigarettes from his pocket and handed them over.

“Oh, and these too.”

Zhou Zhicheng’s family was speechless, deeply moved.

There’s no way all of this cost only 30 yuan.

Clearly, Sixteenth Uncle knew their family couldn’t afford anything nice, so he deliberately had Zhou Dazhong bring things over and asked for just a symbolic amount of money so they wouldn’t feel embarrassed.

Zhou Zhicheng didn’t say much—he went to his room and came back with 50 yuan, stuffing it into Zhou Dazhong’s hands.

“Take this back to Sixteenth Uncle. Dazhong, come have lunch with us too,” he said.

Zhou Dazhong didn’t refuse. He took the 50 yuan and went back to deliver it to Sixteenth Uncle. Everyone knew that 30 yuan couldn’t possibly buy that much.

Especially the tea leaves—they looked high-end and were not something regular folks could get their hands on.

In truth, Zhou Yimin had only spent one yuan in his mental shop to buy them—far inferior to the tea he gave his own grandfather. But in this era, they were premium goods.

“Alright, I’ll go give the money to Sixteenth Uncle now,” Zhou Dazhong said as he left.

Dachun’s grandmother said to her son-in-law with emotion, “Your Sixteenth Uncle is really something. Just one word from him, and the doctor agreed to take a disciple. I’ve said it before—we should get closer to him in the future.”

With one grandson married and the other studying medicine, she could finally be at peace—no more worrying about them toiling in the fields forever.

She believed that if her daughter were watching from heaven and saw how well her sons were doing, she would be at peace too.

Zhou Zhicheng got busy preparing.

Now that Sixteenth Uncle had provided all those ingredients, he could make two full banquet tables.

At the clinic, the waiting room was filled with elderly folks waiting to see the doctor. Zhou Yimin’s grandfather had driven out all the unrelated younger people.

Chen Baishu first examined Zhou Yimin’s grandmother.

Everyone thought this was only natural. After all, it was their grandson who had brought the doctor here. The others were simply riding his coattails.

“Auntie, you have a bronchial issue. It’s not serious. I’ll prescribe some traditional medicine to slowly treat it,” Chen Baishu said after the examination.

He did have Western medicine, but it only treated the symptoms, not the root cause.

Of course, Western medicine had its advantages—it worked fast.

However, every doctor knew that excessive use of Western medicine could lead to dependency, and the condition would never fully resolve.

“You’re the doctor. I’ll follow your lead,” said Zhou Yimin’s grandmother with a smile.

Since the doctor had been brought in by her own grandson, she had no reason to hide her illness or question his judgment.

(End of Chapter)