Chapter 126: Chen Baishu’s Time to Shine

As expected, the next day, the old village secretary and the others heard the news and immediately decided to make the matter a communal village resource—no need to quarrel over those cicada nymphs anymore.

Once it’s owned by the village, everyone gets a share. No more arguments, right?

The old secretary even sought out Zhou Yimin to talk about it.

“I don’t mind at all! If that’s the case, then you can just go over to Dafu’s place and take the oil,” Zhou Yimin said.

It was the peanut oil used to fry the cicada nymphs last night—about half a bucket of it. That amount of oil could last the whole village several days. No wonder the old secretary came looking for him; it was definitely for the oil.

That oil had already been used to fry braised pork earlier, and then again last night for the cicadas. Zhou Yimin wasn’t interested in keeping it, which was why he let Zhou Dafu and the others take it away.

In modern times, if someone were caught reusing days-old oil like that, they’d be absolutely dragged online.

But in this era, who cared if peanut oil had been used before or had been sitting for a few days? As long as it hadn’t gone bad, it was perfectly fine. Even if it tasted a little off, people would still eat it without hesitation.

Satisfied with Zhou Yimin’s answer, the old secretary left with a cheerful smile.

He had indeed had his eyes on that oil. Coming to find Zhou Yimin was essentially just to beg for that half bucket. The villagers were lacking in cooking oil, and he had no other choice but to put his pride aside.

“That old rascal is getting bolder by the day,” Grandpa grunted.

Zhou Yimin smiled and tried to soothe him. “Grandpa, it’s fine. The oil’s already been used twice and it’s been sitting there for days. It’s better to let someone finish it off quickly.”

Since his obedient grandson had spoken, Grandpa finally dropped the matter.

“Yimin, are you heading back to the steel factory later?” Grandpa asked.

Zhou Yimin nodded. “Yeah, I’ll stop by there for a bit, and then I need to make a trip to the noodle factory too. Either way, I hold a position there, so it counts as a source of income.”

Grandpa and Grandma instantly swelled with pride.

Their eldest grandson was truly something else—he held positions at not one, but two factories. Or rather, the factories were practically fighting over him. Other people had a hard time getting into even one factory due to the lack of openings, but their Yimin? Those factories were breaking their heads just to recruit him.

“Mm! You should go, otherwise people will start gossiping,” Grandpa said with a chuckle.

Zhou Yimin added, “Grandma, if the braised pork from last night has gone off, don’t eat it. Just give it to someone else.”

There were still leftovers from last night’s braised pork, and knowing Grandma and Grandpa’s personalities, throwing food away was absolutely out of the question. But Zhou Yimin was worried the hot weather would spoil it.

They were getting old—he didn’t want them to end up with upset stomachs.

“I know, don’t worry! If it’s spoiled, we won’t eat it.” Seeing their eldest grandson so concerned about them, the old couple felt warm inside—they’d practically forgotten who their own son was.

Still, they couldn’t bear to just give away that braised pork so casually.

After all, Yimin had used quite a bit of sugar making that dish.

Putting sugar in braised pork was completely normal. And when it came to sugar, what province could compare to Jiangsu? Especially Wuxi—a place where even noodles had sugar added to them.

No wonder the area had always been known for its wealth.

Did people in other regions not like sugar back in the day?

It wasn’t about liking—it was about affordability.

Sugar had always been expensive. Ordinary folks couldn’t possibly afford to eat it daily. If a region developed a cultural tradition of eating sugar, it meant the people were genuinely wealthy.

While Zhou Yimin was on his way back to the city, Elder Chen Baishu arrived at the medical exchange conference and met with the renowned medical expert, Elder Dong Chunhua.

Elder Dong was a towering figure in the current medical community and one of the few remaining masters of traditional Chinese medicine—a high-status figure, even considered one of the “imperial doctors.”

As the most prominent figure at this conference, he took the time to offer words of encouragement to every doctor present.

He had the authority to do so.

When it was Chen Baishu’s turn, Elder Dong scrutinized him for a moment, making Chen’s scalp tingle under the pressure.

“You’re Chen Baishu?” Elder Dong asked with a smile.

Chen Baishu was stunned.

He never imagined that someone like Elder Dong would even know who he was.

What an honor!

He stammered, “Hello, Elder Dong! Yes, I’m Chen Baishu.”

In fact, Elder Dong’s remark shocked everyone else present as well. All eyes turned toward Chen Baishu, wondering—who is this guy? To be recognized by Elder Dong, of all people?

Dong Chunhua smiled. “Don’t be nervous, relax. I heard about your proposal. It’s excellent.”

Proposal? What proposal? Everyone except Chen Baishu was dying of curiosity.

Chen Baishu suddenly understood—no wonder Elder Dong had sought him out.

There was no need to guess—this had to be from Old Li’s side passing the idea along, which eventually reached the ears of this medical titan and got him interested in this nobody.

At this moment, Chen Baishu was still feeling very emotional.

In fact, when Dong Chunhua heard about the matter the night before, he had been deeply moved and became intrigued by Chen Baishu. After arriving at the event today, he had already asked the staff to identify him and had been observing him quietly for over ten minutes.

Taking the opportunity, Dong Chunhua introduced Chen Baishu to everyone.

“Everyone, you might not know this comrade, Chen Baishu. I won’t comment on his medical skills for now, but he has a great idea—one worthy of our praise and support.

We all know that rural healthcare in our country is still underdeveloped and quite severe. The central government is already paying attention to the issue of how difficult it is to access medical care in rural areas.

Comrade Chen Baishu proposed a bold idea: to compile a plain-language medical book capable of addressing the majority of common illnesses. With this, even someone who is merely literate could, after simple training, serve as a barefoot doctor and help fill the gap in rural healthcare…” Dong Chunhua explained the ambitious plan in detail.

This was, in essence, a public endorsement of Chen Baishu. He hoped others in the profession would join in this visionary plan—to create such a medical manual as soon as possible and put it into use, thereby training competent barefoot doctors for the countryside and benefiting the people there.

Upon hearing this, everyone in the room looked at each other. Their expressions toward Chen Baishu became ones of admiration.

At that moment, Chen Baishu felt like he had reached the pinnacle of his life—he had never experienced such recognition before.

“I’ll also share a bit of news: a high-ranking leader has taken special interest in this matter. He’ll soon be contacting Comrade Chen Baishu, appointing him as the project’s lead initiator.

I hope everyone here will lend their support to Comrade Chen Baishu,” Dong Chunhua said.

As soon as the words left his mouth, the crowd practically erupted—everyone wanted to join in. After all, who wouldn’t want their name printed on a medical book of such historic significance?

And Chen Baishu? He was completely dumbfounded.

He hadn’t expected the matter to blow up to this extent.

A top leader was paying attention to it? And they would reach out to him personally? Make him the leader of the project?

He didn’t feel worthy—pressure flooded his chest like a tidal wave.

Not daring to take credit, Chen Baishu quickly clarified: “Elder Dong, I’d like to set the record straight. This idea actually came from a young man in my clinic—Zhou Yimin. He initially suggested I write such a book, but I never thought I was capable of doing it. So I…”

He went on to briefly explain how everything came about.

Seeing how openly and humbly Chen Baishu explained things—without trying to claim all the credit for himself—everyone respected him even more.

(End of Chapter)