"Grandpa Chen, I've brought back all the herbs."
In the small courtyard halfway up the mountain, Lu Qing, slightly out of breath, showed the medicine basket to Doctor Chen.
After digging up the oxbone grass, he ran all the way up, afraid that he wouldn't have enough time.
The old doctor glanced at the herbs in the medicine basket and nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad, not bad. It's really impressive that you managed to collect all these herbs."
"Grandpa Chen, what do you mean by that?" Lu Qing asked, somewhat puzzled.
The old doctor seemed to be implying something.
"Do you know why I set the scope of the assessment near the village?" the old doctor asked.
"I don't know." Lu Qing shook his head.
"That's because there aren't many medicinal herbs growing near the village, maybe only about ten at most," the old doctor said, stroking his beard. "The fact that you were able to dig up and bring these herbs up intact within an hour shows that you pay close attention to them."
Hearing this, Lu Qing felt ashamed.
Normally, he didn't pay special attention to what herbs were available near the village.
Perhaps subconsciously, they believed that there wouldn't be any precious medicinal herbs near a village with many people coming and going.
So unless I encounter it while out and about, I'll use my special abilities to check it out.
However, if you were to actually search carefully for the total number of medicinal herbs near the village, you wouldn't find any.
It seems I've been too lax in my thinking.
Even the old doctor knew what medicinal herbs were available near the village, yet he, with his special abilities, failed to do so, which was truly unacceptable.
Lu Qing couldn't help but reflect on himself.
Seeing that Lu Qing remained silent, Dr. Chen assumed that he had tacitly agreed.
He smiled and said, "Alright, you've passed this test. Now go and invite the village elders up."
"Please invite the village elders up?" Lu Qing was somewhat taken aback.
"That's right. I'm going to formally accept you as my disciple. There should be some witnesses present, otherwise it would be too frivolous."
"Yes, I'll go right now!"
Lu Qingxin was overjoyed and ran down the mountain again.
The villagers knew that Lu Qing was going to be tested by Doctor Chen today, and they had been paying close attention to him.
When they saw Lu Qing running down the mountain, and learned that the old doctor had invited the village elders to the mountain to witness the ceremony in which he formally accepted Lu Qing into the family, they were all overjoyed.
"Great! Now our village will finally have a doctor!"
"Well done, Aqing! You truly deserve to be the smartest kid in our village. You really passed the test."
"Aqing, go tell Dr. Chen that we'll be up there soon!"
The villagers had previously seen Lu Qing go to Doctor Chen's place every day to learn things, and at one point even thought that he was already the doctor's disciple.
But later Lu Qing told them that he could only be considered Dr. Chen's apprentice at best, and was not yet qualified to formally become Dr. Chen's disciple.
Now that he heard that Lu Qing had finally passed the test and would be formally accepted as a disciple by the old doctor, how could he not be excited?
Lu Qing returned to the small courtyard halfway up the mountain. Not long after, the village elders, all dressed neatly, also came up the mountain.
Some of the village elders even specially wore clothes that they only wore during the Chinese New Year.
Besides the village elders, some other villagers who were at home also came up to watch the excitement.
Some villagers also brought rice, flour, eggs, and meat.
Dr. Chen was already waiting at the entrance of the courtyard.
Seeing everyone come up, he stepped forward and bowed.
"Thank you all for gracing me with your presence at my apprenticeship ceremony."
"Doctor, you're too kind of us," said Mr. Zhang, the leader of the group. "We should be thanking you."
"Since you came to our Jiuli Village, you have cured us of countless illnesses. We will always remember your kindness."
"Old Zhang, you flatter me. I was just doing my duty as a doctor. I don't deserve any gratitude," the old doctor said with a faint smile.
"Whether it is a favor or not, we know it in our hearts."
Grandpa Zhang took a basket from a young man behind him.
"Dr. Chen, we live in a poor village and don't have anything valuable to offer. Here are some eggs and cured meat, and some rice and flour. Consider this our apprenticeship gift for Aqing. We hope you won't find it too much."
After he finished speaking, two more young men carried up two bags of rice and flour.
This scene not only stunned Lu Qing, but also left Doctor Chen speechless.
Grandpa Zhang continued, "It's embarrassing to say, but most of the people in Jiuli Village are people who fled from other places during the famine years ago."
“That was a difficult time. If it weren’t for the support and guidance of Aqing’s grandfather on the road back then, we probably wouldn’t have been able to escape that disaster. We persevered all the way and found this place to settle down and take root.”
"It can be said that without Aqing's grandfather's leadership back then, there might not be the Jiuli Village we know today."
"Unfortunately, Aqing's grandfather fell ill during his escape and did not receive proper treatment, passing away at a young age."
"And we couldn't protect his son and daughter-in-law either, which led to them being deceived and suffering misfortune, leaving behind only two orphaned children, Aqing and Xiaoyan."
"It is a great blessing for Aqing to be favored by you and become your disciple. I hope that you will understand his poor background and be more tolerant of him even if he makes a mistake in the future, and give him more chances."
After saying this, Grandpa Zhang bowed deeply to Dr. Chen.
The other villagers also followed suit and bowed to the old doctor.
Seeing the villagers bowing to him in unison, even with Dr. Chen's decades of self-cultivation, he couldn't help but feel a little shaken.
As for Lu Qing, he was already completely shocked.
First, some of the things Grandpa Zhang mentioned were not in the original owner's memories.
Another thing is that he never expected the villagers to go to such lengths for him.
Dr. Chen was stunned for a moment, then quickly stepped forward to help Mr. Zhang up.
"Please rise, fellow villagers. Your behavior is truly making this old man ashamed."
Then he said to Grandpa Zhang, "Grandpa Zhang, Lu Qing is a very intelligent child. It is a great blessing for me to take him as my apprentice, so don't worry, I will definitely teach him well."
Grandpa Zhang's face immediately lit up with excitement: "Then on behalf of his grandfather and parents, I thank you very much, Doctor!"
He then handed over the basket he was holding.
"Please accept these small gifts without any objection."
“Old Zhang, you mustn’t. I know you have a hard life, so there’s no need for such formalities.”
"Propriety cannot be neglected. Since it is a formal apprenticeship ceremony, how can we not present the proper apprenticeship ceremony?"
...
After several refusals, Dr. Chen finally took a few eggs and a piece of cured meat from the basket as a gift from the villagers to Lu Qing for his apprenticeship.
As for the rest, nothing more can be taken.
Lu Qing watched this scene and secretly made a note of it, planning to make up the money when he got back.
To be honest, he really hadn't thought about the apprenticeship ceremony.
I thought it would just be a matter of kowtowing to the doctor a few times in front of everyone.
However, they overlooked the fact that this was an alternate world similar to ancient times.
The formal apprenticeship ceremony was more complicated than he had imagined.
After this little incident, the old doctor finally invited the villagers into the courtyard.
Then, witnessed by everyone, Lu Qing began the formal apprenticeship process.
