After the crowd had finally dispersed, Fang Jieru chuckled and spoke to Liang Fei, "Divine Doctor Liang, you're really at fault here. Look at what you've done with your free clinic; my village health clinic can't even operate properly now."
"Hahahaha..."
Upon hearing this, Liang Fei burst into laughter and replied, "Jieru, no worries, no worries, your health clinic belongs to the state; it won't shut down."
"Humph, smooth talker!"
Fang Jieru pouted and glared at Liang Fei irritably before shifting the topic and saying seriously, "Besides, Liang Fei, with your medical skills, why not open a clinic in the village? It's surely better than farming. Look at you, working all morning and breaking out in sweat."
As she spoke, Fang Jieru took out her handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the beads of sweat from Liang Fei's forehead.
To Fang Jieru, such an intimate gesture was no big deal, but it made Liang Fei blush hotly with embarrassment.
Meanwhile, Mother Liang watched this scene in silence from the side, a satisfied smile spreading across her face.
Mother Liang liked Fang Jieru very much and had always hoped she would pair up with her son. But before, her son was not around the village, so there weren't many opportunities to interact with Fang Jieru. Now seeing Fang Jieru caring for her son so attentively, as a mother, her heart bloomed with joy.
After Fang Jieru finished wiping Liang Fei's forehead and saw his face turn bright red, she didn't immediately realize what was happening. When she turned around and saw Mother Liang's expression, which was just like a mother-in-law's approval of her daughter-in-law, she woke up to the situation and looked down, embarrassed.
"Hehe... Xiaofei, Xiaoru, you two have a good chat, I'll be off now!"
Noticing their bashful, coy demeanor, Mother Liang realized she was becoming a third wheel and chuckled as she walked away.
Only when Mother Liang had walked a considerable distance did Fang Jieru finally lift her head and, grabbing the stunned Liang Fei who was gazing at her, said, "Brother Afei, let's not just stand here in a daze. Come on in and we can talk!"
Without further ado, she pulled Liang Fei into the village health clinic.
"You just said farming isn't good, I take exception to that," Liang Fei said as he sat down on a chair inside the health clinic, crossed his legs proudly, and declared, "I'm even planning to build a large farm in our village in the future, dedicated to selling the vegetables I grow!"
"Brother Afei, I didn't say your farming is bad, just that running a clinic is better than farming," Fang Jieru said as she sat down beside Liang Fei with a smile, "I just think it would be a waste if you didn't practice medicine and open a clinic with your expertise."
"What's there to waste? Our village has your health clinic, right? I see no need to open one myself," Liang Fei said with an indifferent smile, then added, "Moreover, since I'm often in the village, if any of our fellow villagers has a difficult illness, I'm happy to help out. Charging a fee for a clinic would just make things awkward."
"Brother Afei..."
Fang Jieru had grown up with Liang Fei and knew him well; she knew he was a kind-hearted person. Hearing that Liang Fei intended to provide free medical consultations for the villagers, her fondness for him grew even stronger.
After chatting for a while, Fang Jieru suddenly seemed to remember something and said to Liang Fei, "Oh, by the way, the Health Bureau is hosting a lecture by veteran experts in traditional Chinese medicine, and we're supposed to attend. Brother Afei, with your expertise in traditional Chinese medicine, why not come and listen in with me tomorrow?"
"Go to a lecture?"
When Liang Fei heard this, he laughed and replied, "Silly girl, this lecture is organized by the Health Bureau, surely only internal staff of medical institutions can attend. I'm an outsider; they definitely won't let me in."
"They will let you in!"
But Fang Jieru shook her head and responded, "This lecture will be held at the People's Theater. It's a large event, and there will be many veteran TCM practitioners in attendance. Each person can bring one companion, and if you come with me, they won't stop you."
"Is that so... Well, then I'll come with you tomorrow," Liang Fei said, somewhat intrigued, and promptly agreed to accompany her.
After all, he had interned at Wu Liang's clinic for a few years without really learning much. Although the Shennong Scripture was powerful, it provided only a general idea about the foundation of Chinese medicine.
Liang Fei wanted to deepen his understanding of traditional Chinese medicine; this expert lecture could be a golden opportunity for him.
Seeing Liang Fei agree, Fang Jieru was overjoyed. After agreeing on a time for the next morning, Liang Fei left the village health clinic.
Back at home, Liang Fei seized the opportunity to channel his Body of Intent and entered the Cultivation Space to start his cultivation practice.
Nowadays, whenever Liang Fei found the time, he would enter the space to cultivate the Shennong Scripture.
In each chapter of the Shennong Scripture, there are ten minor realms. After these days of diligent cultivation, Liang Fei's cultivation had reached the bottleneck of the fourth minor realm of the Initial Chapter.
The reason he had not broken through was partly because Liang Fei had only recently started with the Shennong Scripture and had not yet fully grasped the essential principles of this scripture.
More importantly, each ascent through a minor realm required a substantial amount of medicinal herbs or gemstones to be put into the Refining Furnace at the center of the Shennong Temple for refinement, in order to generate vast amounts of spiritual energy needed for cultivation.
However, given Liang Fei's current financial situation, he simply couldn't afford to acquire such a large quantity of materials. Therefore, he had no choice but to rely on the weak spiritual energy naturally produced by the Shennong Temple for slow cultivation...
The next day, Liang Fei and Fang Jieru took the bus from the village entrance to Binyang City.
After a slow journey, the bus finally entered the city area.