In Qingzhou East District, the very heart of the city, towering buildings loomed high, and at this moment, the streets teemed with bustling traffic and lively crowds.
In the midst of these many skyscrapers stood an out-of-place, four-story, ancient-style building—Jishi Hall.
Chen Yuan, following the address Elder Fu had given him the day before, made his way to Jishi Hall.
Distinct from the pungent disinfectant smell of other hospitals, here the fragrance of traditional Chinese medicine filled the air, invigorating the spirit.
At the moment, Jishi Hall was very quiet, the only exception being the occasional argument drifting out from the open doors of the pharmacy room.
"Hey, how can you take back your move?"
"Hurry up and make your move, how long do you need to think?"
"What's the rush, wait a moment, let me think some more."
Chen Yuan arrived at the door and saw two old men with gray hair, probably in their sixties or seventies, huddled around a small table playing chess, energetically bickering back and forth, while several middle-aged men looked on.
Just as he stepped into the room and was about to speak, one of the old men playing chess addressed him first.
"Go away, go away, this is the pharmacy room. If you're looking for a doctor, go somewhere else, and close the door on your way out."
"Old Yang ah, it's all because of you that I got distracted. This game doesn't count; let's start over."
Chen Yuan shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm not here to see a doctor."
One of the old men lifted his eyelids and squinted at Chen Yuan.
There were no male nurses in Jishi Hall. He clearly wasn't one, and with that lean physique, he obviously wasn't security either.
Could he possibly be here to be a pharmacist?
The old man chuckled silently and shook his head. The youngest pharmacist in Jishi Hall was already well over forty-five, and this young man looked to be only eighteen or nineteen. Impossible.
Just as the old man was about to dismiss him, Chen Yuan continued:
"I'm the new pharmacist."
The two old men playing chess paused their hands and lifted their heads to look at Chen Yuan, and the middle-aged onlookers also turned their heads to glance over.
"The new pharmacist? How come I didn't know?" Elder Li, who had spoken before, was taken aback.
"Elder Fu invited me here," Chen Yuan said calmly.
Upon hearing these words, both old men scoffed.
"So he's an inside job," they remarked.
"I dare say Elder Fu is regressing, letting some lad who should still be in school get in through the back door."
"If this gets out, people will laugh their teeth off, saying that Jishi Hall has no one to turn to."
The middle-aged onlookers then began shaking their heads and added:
"At such a young and impetuous age, how could he be suitable for the pharmacy room? Even if he comes here, he won't learn anything."
Director Li lowered his gaze back to the chessboard and casually remarked, "Familiarize yourself with the place on your own, and don't interfere with our game."
Right at that moment, a female nurse in a white uniform rushed into the pharmacy room, gasping for air:
"Director Li, Director Yang, the inpatient department says someone needs medicine rushed."
She then pulled out a symptom chart from her hand.
The two old men didn't even lift their heads, simply responding, "Wait a second, we're almost done here, what's the hurry?"
"But it's An..." The young nurse wasn't able to finish her sentence before Director Li interrupted her again, "We've already said to wait! What could be more important than our game of chess?"
The frazzled young nurse, who had hurried in only to encounter this situation, wore a look of frustration and impatience on her face, but was powerless to do anything.
After all, she was just a nurse without authority or the ability to prescribe medicines, responsible only for delivering the message.
Chen Yuan glanced at the hurried nurse—a classic beauty with her oval face, willowy eyebrows, smooth, fair skin, and tall, slender figure. Even standing quietly, she exuded a gentle elegance.
Especially her chest, almost bursting the seams of her uniform with her hurried breaths, bouncing intensely with each breath.
He waved her over with a smile and said, "Hand me the symptom chart."
Lin Bailin turned her head, only then noticing the handsome young man by her side, taken aback with confusion, and before she could react, the chart was already in his hands.
At that moment, Chen Yuan was familiarizing himself with the herbs in the medicine cabinet, and seeing the nurse's urgency, he naturally took the chart.
"Haha, Old Yang, you're just not up to snuff," laughed Elder Li, having just beaten Old Yang, in high spirits, turning his face around only for it to darken again abruptly.
"What are you doing! Who gave you permission to handle the medicines!" Director Li saw Chen Yuan, who had already made his way in front of the medicine cabinet, looking at the chart and selecting medicines, and yelled at him.
With an angry face, he strode forward, snatched the chart from Chen Yuan's hands, mumbling while picking out the medicines, "You're new here so you should learn first—don't just try to do everything! You still have a long way to go. What if you actually kill a patient with your prescription; can you bear that responsibility?"
Unperturbed, Chen Yuan simply stood back and watched as Director Li prepared the medicine.
Just as Director Li was halfway through grabbing the medicines, he suddenly scoffed with a light laugh,
"The patient is suffering from exhaustion due to a blockage in his meridians, are you sure this is the medicine you want to give him?"
"Do you know better or do I?" Director Li said disdainfully. What could a youngster know? He thought to himself that he should speak to the dean about letting such a young and ignorant kid work in the medicine dispensary. Sooner or later, that would become the laughing stock of others if word got out.
Chen Yuan shook his head with a light chuckle. The human relationships in this world didn't seem much different from his own time, still full of such arrogant elders relying on their age. He couldn't be bothered to intervene.
After Director Li had finished preparing the medicine and Nurse Lin Bailin had hurried out with it, the two old men resumed their game of chess.
While playing, they continued to talk,
"Nowadays, the youth have no desire to learn; they always think they know everything."
The onlookers also laughed derisively.
"Could Director Li make a mistake? That's laughable. They should inquire about Director Li's reputation in the national Chinese medicine community."
"Director Li, don't take it to heart. Young people these days are all alike, lacking knowledge and education, but later they rely on connections to skyrocket to success."
"Little do they know, in this field, aside from talent, it also takes time to accumulate experience."
Chen Yuan glanced at the group, who continued to chat idly while playing chess, and paid them no mind. A being who had cultivated for thousands of years in his past life could hardly care about the words of these mere ants.
As their chess game heated up, Lin Bailin rushed in with a panicked expression, "Something's wrong, Director Li..."
"What's with the panic, what happened now?" Old Man Li frowned, about to lose his temper.
But upon closer inspection, he saw a middle-aged couple followed by a group of grim-faced bodyguards charging in behind Lin Bailin. His heart sank with a sense of foreboding.
"Director Li, right after the patient took the medicine, he started vomiting and had diarrhea, then he fainted…" Lin Bailin continued.
"Who prepared the medicine just now!" The middle-aged man, dressed in a Chinese tunic suit and exuding scholarly elegance, now spoke with anger.
Seeing the crowd that had stormed in, with each guard looking formidable, muscular, slightly bulging at the waist, and exuding a faint malevolent Qi, everyone in the dispensary was shivering in fear, too scared to speak.
And Director Li, responsible for preparing the medicine, was now ashen-faced. He had no idea that the medicine he had mistakenly prepared was for the An Family, and he had been so focused on the chessboard that he hadn't even noticed the error.
Director Li didn't dare to look up because that middle-aged man was none other than An Tianqi, a business mogul from Lingnan Province!
As everyone remained silent, Chen Yuan softly spoke up,
"The patient's condition is not difficult to treat. I'll prescribe some medicine for him to take."
An Tianqi followed the voice and saw the young man, his brow furrowing, "You prescribe the medicine?"
He couldn't believe that such a young person could cure his father's illness, which numerous famous doctors had failed to treat. A youngster couldn't inspire his confidence.
"That's correct, but as payment, I want that jade pendant she's wearing," Chen Yuan said, having sensed a faint trace of spiritual energy the moment that group entered the room. His gaze casually caught sight of a jade pendant adorning the beautiful lady by An Tianqi's side, and his interest was immediately piqued.
Upon hearing this, An Tianqi's rage flared. A young kid dared to make conditions at such a time?
He was about to lose his temper and order his bodyguards to teach this naive kid a lesson.
Just then, the mature and charming lady next to An Tianqi spoke, "Tianqi, saving a life is urgent. The old master can't wait any longer. If something really happens, no one in this room can escape responsibility!"
"Fine!" An Tianqi hesitated for a moment but then nodded.
After receiving his consent, Chen Yuan turned toward the medicine cabinet to start preparing the prescription, his hands radiating a pale blue glow invisible to the naked eye.
As he prepared the medicine, the young nurse couldn't help but stare, mesmerized.
Nurse Lin Bailin had been working in Jishi Hall for two years and had never seen Chen Yuan before. She knew that those who worked in the medicine dispensary were usually older, as preparing and dispensing medicine required a great deal of time to accumulate experience.
Witnessing Chen Yuan's youth yet his familiarity with the medicinal herbs and proficiency in dispensing them, she looked on in fascination.
Once An Tianqi and his party had left the room, the rest of the people inside relaxed slightly, though Old Man Li's frown remained tightly knit.
After all, he had prepared the previous medicine, and he didn't believe that Chen Yuan's prescription would revive the patient. He now needed to think of an excuse.
One of the middle-aged men whispered, "Director Li, don't worry. I think if the patient has any problems, it should be this kid's fault, not related to you."
"Right, Director Li, we didn't see you preparing the medicine. In fact, we saw you stopping him from grabbing the medicine at random."
Director Li looked back at the people and understood what they were suggesting. He was determined in his heart.
No matter the outcome, they would push the blame onto Chen Yuan, and he had the support of a group of people.
And even with the An Family's extensive power, they surely couldn't implicate a group of 'innocent' people as well.
With this thought, he completely relaxed, whispering with the others about how to shift the blame to Chen Yuan.
After a while, a series of hurried footsteps approached.
"Slam!" With a loud noise, the door to the dispensary burst open.
Everyone saw An Tianqi's face, now tinged with irritation and excitement, and their hearts skipped a beat.
Seeing his expression, it seemed that the medicine had no effect at all...