After passing through the selection process which took up to three days, finally, ten more new team members were selected. They consisted of; Xiong the blind young man, Qing the young woman who yearned for studying medicine because her child died due to an epidemic, Fa Ha the tea farmer man, Rui the woodcutter, Han Zhong the miner, Payloth the former soldier from the Kingdom of Lan Xang (Laos), Di Na the girl who opened her own food stall, Xue Mei the masseuse woman, Liao Zhan the wheat farmer woman, and Lin the female tea leaf picker.
"I notice, Yunnan society isn't very strict with gender difference. Many women are active at work, they are also hard working, and having intelligence which is no less than men," Zhu Su said, somewhat got astonished as finding Yunnan society seemed to have a different culture from his hometown. Four of his new team members were female, and it was five if he included Hu Nayin. This was such an impracticable matter which would never happen in Central Plain, where the authorities would recruit one hundreds percent of male team members for sure.
Wu Qi explained, "Yunnan people, especially Miao ethnicity, are not too concerned with gender issues. Women also have to go to the fields and farms. They even have to repair the house. As you can see, all Miao women don't practice foot binding, different with Han ethnicity. And some women are often even more skilled than men."
Zhu Su nodded. In Kaifeng, his team would be belittled as for recruiting plenty of women and a foreigner. Not to mention the blind young man. Yet it did not let him feel ashamed. He was sure, even though they were included in a marginalized group, their enthusiasm and passion were no less than ordinary people. He must not underestimate them, he would respect them. After all, they were his chosen team.
But not Li Heng's chosen team.
Li Heng's statement was proven indeed, since Zhu Su chose based on idealism, not practicality. These ten new members were the real neophytes. Plus, they were not agile, slow, and had difficulty to think smart. It took two to three times repeating just for one instruction to make them fully understand about what they had to do. Thence, let alone provide health education for Yunnan people, they faced difficulty even just to take the right medicinal plants.
"This isn't Shengdi (rehmania). Geez, Xiong! Do you really know it?!" Li Heng yelled in exasperation, while Xiong just looked down, embarrassed. "I'm sorry... I'll take it again later. Please wait a moment Sir..."
"That's not what I mean! You've wasted time for almost half an hour! We have a bunch of works! If you keep doing this way, it won't be finished until tomorrow!"
"I... I really apologize..."
"Okay, okay! I'll get someone else to take it!" Then Li Heng grumbled in a small voice. "Huh! Why on earth can the Prince favor the blind like him?! Our work efficiency will be disturbed if we accept disabled people!"
One thing was out of Li Heng's expectation; the blinds have the ability to hear better than normal people. Although his voice was barely audible, Xiong could hear him. He did remain silent when going out, but on the other hand, his hands were clenched tightly, and his brows were furrowed in anger.
Li Heng disliked Xiong the most, yet he also disliked the other members. Zhu Su was indeed an open-minded person who dared to break with tradition, but Li Heng was different from the prince. The senior physician disliked four other female members as well as Payloth the foreigner no less than he disliked Xiong.
"Aaawww! Centipedes!!!" Qing's scream stirred up the entire medical center. Everyone who was busy working soon twitched in surprise.
Guo Songmi quickly approached Qing. "Take it easy, Ma'am, the centipedes have been dead, they're no longer dangerous."
"It's still disgusting for me!" Qing waved her hand and moved away from the medicinal animals.
Both Guo Songmi and Li Heng clicked their tongues. Li Heng yelled aloud. "Those who want to become physician mustn't be scared of centipedes, scorpions, and even tigers and sharks! Spoiled and whiny people are welcomed to get out of here!"
"Madam Qing... are you okay?" Lin stared closely at Qing, who began to tremble severely.
A chill began to sweep down Qing's back. She stood up abruptly, instantly left the room.
"Payloth! Get the Jianghuang (turmeric)!" Li Heng called Payloth.
"Jiang... what, Sir?"
"Jianghuang! What the hell, you don't know Jianghuang?!"
"Jiang... uh, it is Qianghuo (notopterygium), isn't it?"
"My goodness! You don't understand Chinese, do you?!"
"Yeah... because a former I am Lan Xang people, Chinese not fluent..."
"If you don't master Chinese, then how can you work here?! Humph! I have predicted that it is indeed the result of accepting foreigner. A lot of treasured time has been wasted just because of the communication problem!"
Although Payloth's Chinese proficiency was below average, he knew that he was being humiliated. His hot-blood as a former soldier made his heart boiled in wrath. He murmured with an angry tone in Lan Xang's language, then hurried out.
"Hey, what are you talking about?! Don't use Lan Xang language! Speak Chinese, let me know your true motives!" Li Heng yelled in annoyance. But his yell was unheard by Payloth since he had been out of the room.
And there was still more incompetence of Zhu Su's new team members which made Li Heng and Guo Songmi often quarrel with them. More and more members got hurt, and they now began to whisper in anger. A crash of conflict started to appear.
"Is that the manner a physician from big cities must possess?! Just because we are villagers, he can yell at us arbitrarily?!" Lin asked in exasperation. At that time the new members were gathering in the wheat paddies owned by Qing's family.
Qing replied in the same irritated tone Lin did. "He assumes us as fools because we have neither competence nor experience in medicine. So he thinks that he has a right to "teach" us!"
"Geez, if that is the case, I can't stand for it anymore!" Lin grumbled. "We are social workers, we don't get paid, they just pay us by giving food, and we still have to accept the old fart humiliates us that way! Go to f*cking hell!"
"Should we... report this problem to the Prince?..." Xiong gave a suggestion. "I've heard that it's the Prince who accepts us, the old fart actually doesn't like us, yet he is forced to do so, thence he wreaks his anger by insulting us."
"To tell you the truth, the Prince and the old fart are all the same. This is indeed the true manner of aristocrats. They are a group of sucks egoistical devils," Somebody said. "I have an idea. Together, we are going on strike. We won't work, nothing we will do. If the Prince gets angry with us, we just blame the old fart. We'll push the Prince to the extent he punishes the old fart. We'll make him pay the price!"