Chapter 57: Cannot Accept a Disciple

Liu San resolutely refused to accept it. At this time, Zhang Yikun, who was beside him, said “Oh” and said, “Isn’t this the book you dried the other day?”

Yu Qing also thanked Zhang Yikun, “Yes, I also want to thank Master Zhang for his trouble in preserving this ancestral item for me.”

It turned out that after Yu Qing was rescued that day, all his belongings were lost in the water. When the nurse was tidying up his wet clothes, she found this book wrapped in oilcloth in his bosom and handed it over to Zhang Yikun for disposal. Master Zhang didn’t pay much attention to it and just told her to dry it and return it to him. It just so happened that Liu San was nearby. He had once been interested in sorting out and restoring ancient books. Seeing this, he said, “You can’t sun-dry it. Although it’s wrapped tightly and didn’t get much water, sun-drying it will cause the pages to stick together, the paper to wrinkle, and the handwriting to fade. If it has any value, wouldn’t it be a pity to destroy it like this? You should use a fine cloth to absorb the water, put it in a dry box, press it with a heavy object, and surround it with highly absorbent lime. Change the lime every day, and the water will be absorbed in two days.” The maid followed his instructions, and sure enough, the book was saved.

Zhang Yikun laughed and said to Yu Qing, “You should keep this as a memento. Your benefactor Liu doesn’t need it.” As he spoke, he took a book from the shelf behind Liu San and handed it to Yu Qing, saying, “Look at this one. How does it compare to your family heirloom?”

Yu Qing took it and saw that the title was “A Collection of Folk Remedies.” Below it was a line of words: “Compiled by Liu San of the Chinese Medicine Research Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Great Song Australian Administration.” He quickly flipped through it and found that almost all the prescriptions in his own handwritten copy were in it, with only slight differences in the combination of medicines. He couldn’t help but be both surprised and embarrassed, and he stammered, unable to speak. He thought to himself, “My family’s book is clearly an ancestral secret, never shown to outsiders. I originally thought it was a priceless treasure, but who knew that this benefactor is a master of medicine, and the wonderful prescriptions he knows are more than ten times that of my family. I have made a fool of myself by showing off my meager skills.” His face turned red with shame, and he was very disappointed.

Liu San couldn’t help but glance at Zhang Yikun, thinking to himself, “This guy still doesn’t know how to behave. Don’t I see that his treasure is not valuable? But why bother to expose it and embarrass him?” He then comforted him, “An ancestral item has a special value to you. You should keep it well and not damage it. Also, since you also have family medical skills, I think we are colleagues. I will give you this book as well.”

Yu Qing knelt down and kowtowed again, saying, “I have no home to return to now. Since I have met such a divine doctor as my benefactor, I beg my benefactor to accept me as a disciple. I am willing to follow you and serve you for the rest of my life to repay the kindness of giving me a new life.”

Liu San saw his sincerity and that he was also quite smart and capable, and he was very interested in taking him as a disciple. But he thought of the recent security education lectures and various reminders issued by the Political Security Bureau. This Yu Qing’s origin was unknown. The Political Security Bureau had no ability to investigate his true background. Taking him in rashly would pose a great hidden danger. He couldn’t help but hesitate.

Yu Qing saw the difficulty on his face and knew that he was in a difficult position, so he dared not say anything.

Zhang Yikun came out to smooth things over, “This Dr. Liu doesn’t easily accept disciples. How about this, we are also going to open a pharmacy in the Grand World. You can be a resident doctor here. On the one hand, you will have a livelihood, and on the other hand, Dr. Liu can teach you from time toto time.”

Although this was not considered becoming a formal disciple, he could still be with him day and night and receive guidance from time to time. Yu Qing was overjoyed and said that since Liu San was like his reborn parent, to show his loyalty, he was willing to take his master’s surname and change his name to Liu Qing.

Liu San advised him, “This is not acceptable. How can you change your ancestral surname so casually?” But Yu Qing insisted on changing it. In the end, Zhang Yikun smoothed things over and suggested that he change his name to Liu Yuqing. So they both agreed. Liu Yuqing then paid his respects to his senior brothers, and the matter was settled.

Liu San ordered his apprentice to go down and pack his things. Zhang Yikun said, “This person’s origin is unknown. You must be more careful.”

Liu San didn’t take it seriously, “Even if he is a spy, his appendicitis can’t be fake.”

“The spy Wang Qisuo who was caught in Lingao didn’t deliberately get stabbed in front of Emperor Zhao. If this person is also from Shaanxi, don’t tell me he is a spy sent by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong’s group.”

“You are too paranoid. Does Li Zicheng have such great ability?” Liu San expressed his disbelief. “Besides, he is a hundred and eight thousand miles away from us. What’s the use of planting a spy here? It would take a year for a message to go back and forth.”

“You are just careless and naive,” Zhang Yikun shook his head. “You don’t know the twists and turns in the minds of these Ming people. They are much more formidable than us.”

“Let’s not talk about it, let’s not talk about it,” Liu San quickly interrupted this topic, and the two of them picked up the previously interrupted conversation. Liu San said with a smile to Zhang Yikun, “Runshitang is a small business, not as big and powerful as you, Boss Zhang. In the future, please take care of the business in Guangdong. As for our matter of opening a branch here…”

Runshitang currently did not have its own directly affiliated branch in Guangdong. The ones opened in Guangdong were all joint ventures in cooperation with Yang Runkai Tang, selling proprietary Chinese medicines. They could only be considered as a special counter. Now that they were going to conquer Guangdong and had the ready-made base of the Grand World, Liu San immediately incited the bigwigs of the health department to support Runshitang’s entry into Guangdong and open a Runshitang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. On the one hand, it could promote the efficacy of various proprietary Chinese medicines, and on the other hand, it could also use this to recruit traditional Chinese medicine talents in Guangdong.

However, the bigwigs of the health department were basically all detractors of traditional Chinese medicine. Fortunately, traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and the like were still quite effective and solved many medical problems after D-Day. Liu San still had a place in the health department. But on the matter of opening a Runshitang branch with the nature of a “traditional Chinese medicine hospital,” Dr. Shi and others were not so happy. After all, this would occupy the resources of the Provincial and Hong Kong General Hospital. Director Deng, who was in charge of general affairs, was even more evasive, leaving Liu San helpless. In the end, it was the commercial department that expressed strong interest, and the project was finally approved. However, because it was a commercial project, it could only be considered as a pharmacy with a resident doctor.

Zhang Yikun patted his belly and said with a smile, “I still have the final say in this one-third of an acre of land in the Grand World.” He had been doing very well in Guangzhou these years, was complacent, and lived a comfortable life. He already had the air of a standard wealthy Ming gentry. “We are not outsiders. Brother Liu’s business is my business. Needless to say. But although I have the name of a rich man, all the assets belong to the Senate. I am a servant girl with the keys, in charge but not the master. Don’t look at me having shops, personnel, and silver here, but if I want to spend money and use resources, I have to apply to my superiors first and dare to act only after it is approved. Of course, since Brother Liu has opened his mouth, I will do my best to help. It’s all for the service of the Senate, haha.”

Liu San saw that his words were slick and that he had said a lot without a single reliable sentence. He couldn’t help but get a little angry, “Old Zhang, when we first met a few years ago, you were a very straightforward person. How come you have become so full of the stench of money now? Could it be that the feudal and corrupt atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty has defeated you? Sure enough, people are different once they have money, haha.”

Zhang Yikun was a little unhappy to hear this, but his face was still full of smiles, “Little Liu, you are wronging me. You don’t know the price of firewood and rice if you are not in charge. If you could also come out and take some responsibility, you would know our difficulties outside. Just talk about the preparations for the Grand World in the past few years. Although we relied on the prestige of our attack on Guangzhou and the support of the special investigation team that only kills and doesn’t bury, we still spent countless efforts.”

“Stop pretending. Who wronged you? You are just a guy with a very bad conscience.”

Zhang Yikun saw that the conversation was not going well, so he changed the subject and discussed the Guangdong campaign, “So many Faction members have come this time. It seems that the Senate is going to do something big here.”

“This attack on the mainland, although there is no specific plan yet, is different from the previous few attacks. In the past, when we attacked Guangzhou and Xiamen, we left after the fight, in a way that only killed and didn’t bury. This time on the mainland, we are going to occupy it and not leave. Establishing effective rule is much more difficult than simple destruction.”

“We are not without experience. Now on the entire island of Hainan, Taiwan, and Jeju Island, isn’t the government’s production and construction all doing very well?”

“It’s different. In these places, we have an overwhelming advantage in military, organization, and manpower. To put it bluntly, these are all marginal areas of the Ming society, with weak ruling power and not strong popular forces. Once on the mainland, we will be facing feudal people and intertwined feudal forces that are a hundred times greater than ours. It’s not as easy as imagined.”

“In my opinion, it’s no big deal. When the Manchu Tartars entered the pass, were there more people than us? Was their production relationship more advanced than ours? Their system of universal slavery was even worse than that of the Ming Dynasty, but didn’t they eventually rule China? Don’t forget that it was still the most successful dynasty of feudal society. Why? A strong fist is the truth.”

“I don’t think now is a good time. We should still take a long-term view. I strongly disapprove of this war, which is based on the blind activism of those guys in the military. If we wait another ten years, when the Ming, Manchu, and roving bandits have all been defeated, no, all three have been defeated, and the whole of China is in misery, wouldn’t it be easier and more popular for us to go and pick the peaches as liberators and saviors?”

“That’s what we originally thought. The problem is that we can’t wait another ten years,” Zhang Yikun said with emotion, rubbing his head. “Although people can live to be seventy or eighty, how many years can they actually work? I was in my thirties on D-Day, and now I’m over forty. How many five or ten years does a person have in life?”

Liu San opened his mouth, originally wanting to talk about the “Nanshan Project” that the health department was studying, but then he thought that this project was being carried out in secret, and rashly speaking it out would bring great pressure to the health department, so it was better not to say it. He still couldn’t help but say, “Although you are over forty, how do you think your energy is compared to the past?”

“It’s not bad. I don’t feel any signs of decline.” Zhang Yikun didn’t know what he meant. “Maybe it’s because we live in a good natural environment, eat organic food, and have a regular life.”