Chapter 323: Chapter 128 Miao’s Prescriptions_3
Cui Min still resisted, "This is a waste of silver... I’m just a handyman; there’s no way I can pass the exam."
"Minn," Miao Liangfang pleaded with him earnestly, "believe me, you are much better than those doctors. If you truly feel sorry for me, then give the exam your all. If you pass and join the Hanlin Medical Institute, treat me to a drink with your first month’s salary!"
The silver had already been sent, and his name was added to the candidates’ roster for the spring examination. With no choice in the matter, like a duck being pushed onto a perch, Cui Min begrudgingly agreed.
"He worked very hard."
Miao Liangfang looked up at the distant night sky and sighed.
Cui Min’s temperament was entirely different from Miao Liangfang’s. Miao Liangfang was proud and impulsive, always thinking positively. Cui Min was melancholic and cautious, always striving to make things perfect. Fearful of the silver being wasted or perhaps valuing this rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Cui Min would sleep only two hours a night. He spent the rest of the time reading medical texts, his dedication so intense it could be likened to the ancient practice of tying oneself to a post to stay awake or poking one’s thighs with an awl to remain alert.
During the day, they helped carry goods for the boats at the docks to make a bit of money, and at night, they lived in an abandoned house, studying on the floor. These days continued until the spring exam of the Imperial Medical Bureau that year.
Lu Tong said, "He passed the spring exam."
Miao Liangfang smiled, "Indeed. That year’s spring exam, among the commoner medical workers, only the two of us made it into the Medical Officer Institute."
Miao Liangfang still remembered the excitement of the moment when the results were announced. He and Cui Min stood under the list of successful candidates, each searching for their names. Miao Liangfang’s name was third and easy to spot, while Cui Min’s was further down. When Cui Min’s name appeared on the list, Miao Liangfang felt happier than if he had passed himself.
His best friend stood under the list, as if unable to believe his own eyes.
Miao Liangfang punched him on the shoulder, his excitement spilling over, "I told you, you could do it!"
Cui Min rubbed his eyes and stared at the list for a long while. Finally, he pinched himself hard—so hard that tears welled up in his eyes—before he finally came back to his senses and murmured, "I... passed."
He had passed that year’s spring exam.
"We... both entered the Hanlin Medical Institute," said Miao Liangfang.
One was a barefoot doctor from a remote mountain village, and the other was a nameless handyman who had worked in a pharmacy for over a decade; yet both of them had been admitted to the Hanlin Medical Institute. For the two of them, it was like overturning fate, and their story soon became the talk of the town, especially Miao Liangfang, who became quite prominent at the Medical Officer Institute that year.
"Lu, my boy," Miao Liangfang said with a wry smile, "you only see the glamour of the Hanlin Medical Institute, but do not realize how different it is for commoners to enter the palace compared to the students from the Imperial Medical Bureau. For people like us in the palace, it’s our fate to be bullied."
"The good jobs never come your way; all the dirty and tiring work is dumped on you. At the first sign of trouble, everyone else scatters, putting you in the front line to take the blame. Do you know how many medical officers have died in recent years? Among these deaths, the majority were commoner medical workers. Was it because their medical skills were poor? No, it was because their lives were deemed insignificant!"
"In this place, if you’re not careful, there will be plenty who’d sell you out and still expect you to count the silver for them!"
These words sounded like intimidation but also like a bitter statement. Lu Tong said nothing, quietly waiting for Miao Liangfang to continue.
"When I first entered the Medical Officer Institute, I had the luck to cure the Empress Dowager’s chronic cough and was summoned by her quite often, which brought me some attention."
"At that time, I became arrogant, thinking highly of my medical skills and the favor of a noble patron, offending others frequently. It was always thanks to Cui Min, who discreetly offered me advice and helped me escape from trouble."
"Yet back then, I didn’t see it, and I thought it was all due to my own abilities. Every time Cui Min cautioned me, I brushed it off, and eventually, he stopped speaking up."
Miao Liangfang couldn’t remember when he and Cui Min had started to drift apart.
He was always busy then, one day concocting medicinal meals for a lady of the court, the next day treating an old illness for a general. He was the busiest in the Hanlin Medical Institute. People said he would surely become the Chief Officer of the Yiguan Court, and Miao Liangfang thought so too. Those who flattered him, those who were jealous of him, were always by his side, and he failed to notice Cui Min’s absence.
Until one day, after meeting with the emperor and returning to the Imperial Medical Bureau, he happened upon Cui Min. Cui Min was being bullied by a few medical officers. Miao Liangfang loudly scolded those medical officers, and Cui Min looked at him, respectfully calling him "Vice Director." Only then did Miao Liangfang realize how they had become such strangers to each other.
The friend with whom he once shared everything and studied together in a straw hut, now felt as distant as a figure from a previous life.