Chapter 3 Unveiling the Rankings

  Jia Ding rushed in front of Lu Jinping, pointing at the maid who had run into the alleyway, saying: "Is that your maid? Did you tell her to take down the notice?"

  Lu Jinping was somewhat perplexed. Although the little maid who had just run past was quick, and her clothes and height were similar, he still saw clearly that it wasn't his own little maid Ye Qingqing. This notice had been posted on the wall of the government office for quite a few days now, so naturally he knew its contents. He picked it up to take another look, and indeed it was the notice from the official in the capital seeking a famous doctor to treat his precious daughter's illness. Just as he was about to speak, his maid Ye Qingqing had already walked out of the small alleyway.

  Jia Ding had just seen the maid's back, didn't see her face, judged from her clothes and height that it was the maid who had torn down the notice earlier, pointed at her and shouted: "No mistake, it's her! She was the one who tore down the notice earlier. Is she your maid? Since you've torn down the notice, let's hurry up and go see our old master!"

  Ye Qingqing was somewhat puzzled and asked: "What's this about uncovering a list? Who uncovered your list?"

  "It's obviously you, how is it? You've made a big show of it and now you don't dare to own up to it? Are you intentionally trying to humiliate the High family? Let me tell you, even if you are from a good family, or even if you are an official in the capital, you still have to give face to our Old Master High. You wouldn't dare to offend us in the slightest. If you really have the ability to cure our young lady, then naturally we won't skimp on your reward money. But if you're intentionally causing trouble and trying to humiliate us for fun, I'll take you to see the official! The Governor will also have to give some face to our Old Master High! Not only will you be beaten, but you'll also be put in a cangue for three months as an example!"

  Many terms used in the Tang Dynasty are different from modern people's understanding. For example, a servant calling his master "Alang" would make readers feel disrespected. A servant addressing both his elderly female mistress and her daughter as "niangzi" would also cause confusion among readers. Imagine a sly male servant calling the madam "niangzi" and her daughter "niangzi", it would be quite uncomfortable, with a feeling that he is taking advantage of them. In the Tang Dynasty, sons called their fathers "gege" or "yeye", if written this way, readers would become even more confused about the generations. Therefore, in this book, regarding the issue of titles, wherever there are obvious differences from modern people's understanding and may cause misunderstandings, for the convenience of comprehension, we uniformly use titles that modern people can understand. For example, an elderly male master is called "lao ye", a young master is called "xiao ye", a mistress's daughter is called "xiaojie" etc., rather than using the actual titles from the Tang Dynasty era. This explanation is made here, hoping that fellow history enthusiasts will not take it too seriously and just smile it off.

  As soon as he heard this, Yao Baozi, who was watching the commotion from a distance, almost burst out laughing and turned his head to look at Zhang Tou and others in the alley, smugly pursing his lips, implying that I'm right, this time I'll make sure he can't get away with it!

  Lu Jinping had already seen the smug smile on Yao Baozi's face in the distance and immediately understood what was going on. This kind of thing wasn't easy to explain, but he didn't feel like explaining it either, because even if he tried to explain, it wouldn't be clear anyway. After all, he was a medical student, although the Western medicine he studied was basically useless in ancient times. However, when it came to diagnosing illnesses, he had no problem with that. Maybe he could figure out what was wrong with this official's daughter and then let the traditional Chinese doctor prescribe some medicine based on her symptoms, which might be helpful. Before this, when he was struggling financially, he had thought about going to take a look at the official's daughter and earning some money for treatment, but then he thought that as a Western medical student specializing in forensic medicine, his skills would probably not be useful, and people might even think he was a swindler. So it was better to just forget about it and not bother.

  Unexpectedly, I've been dragged into this now. It's not like I have a choice anyway. I waved my hand at the maid Ye Qingqing and smiled at the servant, saying: "No need to explain, we'll go with you. Let's take a look at your young mistress's illness."

  Jia Ding's face immediately eased up as he smiled and said: "Alright then, let's go."

  After that, the family servants helped Lu Jinping and others move all the tables, chairs, and stools to a nearby store for storage, which was previously negotiated by Lu Jinping with this store.

  She put away the table and chairs, Lu Jinping dusted off her clothes, and took Ye Qingqing with the house servant to walk towards Old Master Gao's residence. As they passed by Yao Pianzi, a cold smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

  Here is the translation:

  "This time, Yao Pangzi was somewhat stunned. He had originally thought that Lu Jinping would desperately argue and dispute, but instead, the house servants were relentless and even used their fists and feet. Although they definitely couldn't beat that stinky girl, they wouldn't eat this loss either. So they went back to report to Old Lady Gao, who might organize a large group of house servants to severely punish Lu Jinping and that stinky girl, or use the power of the yamen to directly arrest and prosecute Lu Jinping. Either way, it would be what he had hoped to see. But unexpectedly, they acted as if nothing was wrong, just waiting for this opportunity, and actually followed the house servants back to Old Lady Gao's house."

  Could it be that this poor and stingy gentleman can actually practice medicine?

  It's impossible, he has never been known to practice medicine, this bookworm only knows how to read books, when did he ever learn any medical skills? He must have known that he couldn't explain clearly, so he decided to just go through the motions. But, how could that imperial official, Old Master Gao, be appeased? The previous doctors who went before him were all scolded and chased out because they couldn't cure his illness. And two of them, because they obviously didn't understand medicine, were accused by Old Master Gao of being charlatans who cheated people out of their money, and were directly sent to the yamen, where they were beaten and put in the cangue as a warning to others. It seems that Lu Jinping will also be unable to escape this calamity!

  Thinking of this, Yao Baozi became excited again, and with a grin on his face, he hurried to the small alley and told Zhang Dazi and others about the situation. Zhang Dazi and others were also very happy, and immediately followed behind him, wanting to go to Lao Taitai's door to see if Lu Jinping would be scolded or directly taken away by the yamen to be punished. He didn't understand medicine, so it was likely the latter.

  Lu Jinping arrived at the front hall of Gao's residence with her maid Ye Qingqing and waited, while a servant ran inside to report.

  When Old Man Gao first posted the notice, his beloved daughter had already seen many famous doctors, but her condition hadn't improved in the slightest. As he watched his daughter's health decline day by day, she was now on the brink of death. Desperate and at a loss, he posted the notice offering a large reward for a cure, even promising to adopt the doctor as his son-in-law and heir to his estate. Although many people came to try their hand at treating her, none were able to cure her illness. Instead, he encountered several charlatans who swindled him out of his money, leaving Old Man Gao on the verge of madness. Now, with his daughter slipping into a coma, he was beside himself with worry.

  At this moment, he had just come out of his daughter's room and heard that someone was coming to take the notice again. He couldn't help but raise a glimmer of hope once more. Although he had been disappointed countless times before, whenever the person taking the notice reappeared, this faint hope would rise again. He hastily went to greet them in person.

  The family's young master secretly found it amusing. Every time someone came to take down the notice, the old master would be full of hope and go out to welcome them. But after that person had no choice but to leave, he would fly into a rage and scold loudly, even going so far as to have people dragged away to the yamen. He was afraid that this time the scholar running the stall would meet the same end.

  Old Mr. Gao entered the living room and saw Lu Jinping, he couldn't help but be slightly stunned, only because Lu Jinping was too young, Old Mr. Gao really didn't dare to believe that a young doctor could cure his daughter's illness.

  Lu Jinping naturally saw the disappointment on Old Man Gao's face. In fact, Lu Jinping wasn't very keen on continuing with this case, because Old Man Gao's daughter had already been treated by many famous doctors, but to no avail. As a Western-trained doctor, without access to Western medicine and modern medical equipment, he didn't have the confidence to treat her effectively. Now, seeing Old Man Gao's disappointed expression, he took it as an opportunity to retreat, smiled faintly, and bowed his hands, saying: "If Old Man Gao doesn't believe in my medical skills, then please invite someone more skilled. I bid farewell!" With that, Lu Jinping turned around and walked out.

  Old Man Gao was somewhat surprised, because previously, whether it was a doctor or a Taoist priest who came, they all boasted about their medical skills or Taoist techniques, claiming that they could definitely cure his daughter. But this young man didn't seem to care about these things at all. This actually gave Old Man Gao a few more glimmers of hope. Because none of the people who had come before and boasted about themselves had been able to cure his daughter's illness, whereas this young man was completely different from them. Maybe he had some special abilities that set him apart. So, Old Man Gao's face suddenly broke out into a smile, and he hurriedly stepped forward, bowing his hands together in greeting: "Young master, please stay for a moment! Since you've come, of course we'd like to ask you to take a look at our daughter's illness. How could you just leave like this? May I ask your esteemed name?"

  Lu Jinping shook his head and said, "No need to mention my name, because if I can't cure your daughter, you won't be interested in remembering it anyway. Hurry up and go see how serious your daughter's illness is."

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