After being forced to leave the marriage, I became the wife of a top scholar.

Chapter 122 Medical Clinic Opens

Back home, Fengniang readily took over the kitchen duties.

Ruixin tidied up the room next to hers, and Fengniang lived next door to her from then on.

Lin Yunche and Master Luo praised the new food they ate that evening, and thus both knew that the family had a new cook.

Lin Yunche looked at Bai Wanqing with a bright smile, and Bai Wanqing felt a chill run down her spine from his gaze.

"Why are you looking at me like this?"

Lin Yunche suddenly remarked, "So this is what it feels like to have a lady of the house."

Bai Wanqing suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for Cui Shi.
The next day was the opening day of their clinic. Lin Yunche was unable to attend due to official business, and Bai Wanqing didn't care much. After watching Feng Niang make sure the house was in order, she took Ruixin and Master Luo to the clinic.

When they arrived, Doctor Zheng was already there, and he seemed even more excited than Bai Wanqing today.

Furong arrived later, bringing Madam Du and Master Du with her to support Bai Wanqing and the others.

Old Wei and his wife from the Wei family also came. The lively scene in front of the door attracted many people to stop and join in the celebration.

"This looks like a clinic," a passerby remarked, observing the facilities inside the shop.

“This is a clinic. You don’t recognize this lady, but don’t you recognize Doctor Zheng?” A passerby pointed at Doctor Zheng, who was setting off firecrackers.

"This is the Zheng family's clinic? The Fang family has allowed them to open it?"

"No! This isn't the Zheng family's clinic. Didn't you see they even changed the sign? This is the new clinic's name." The man was illiterate and looked at the words on the signboard with difficulty.

"A century-old medical clinic? Wow, the owner has quite the nerve!"

"Whether it's a century-old medical clinic or the Zheng family's medical clinic, I don't think they'll be able to stay afloat in Huaizhou City. After all, the Fang family isn't someone to be trifled with. Do you remember how the Zheng family was dealt with before?"

"Shh! You're saying this in broad daylight, aren't you afraid of offending the Fang family?"

The man immediately fell silent, and everyone began to gather around to watch the spectacle.

Bai Wanqing stood in the middle of the crowd and said enthusiastically to the onlookers, "Everyone, our century-old medical clinic is officially open today. Since we have just opened, we will be offering free clinics for the next three days. If you have any discomfort, you are welcome to come and see us."

The onlookers were buzzing with discussion. An old woman clutched her stomach and tried to go in to see what was happening, but her son pulled her back.

"Mother! What are you doing?"

The old woman looked distressed. "My son! My stomach has been hurting for days. Today, this clinic is offering a free consultation, so I'll go in and have a look."

His son disagreed, saying, "Mother, this isn't about whether or not you'll get paid. Have you forgotten about Aunt Niu's family next door? What if you get treatment at this new clinic?"

"If Master Fang finds out, we can forget about getting medicine from the Fang family's clinic in the future."

"What if this new clinic disappears one day? What will we do then?!"

The old woman sighed, and was eventually persuaded by her son, but they didn't have much money and couldn't afford to send her to the Fang family.

It seems this illness will just drag on, and who knows how long it will last.
Bai Wanqing busied herself in front of the shop for quite a while, and although everyone was eager to come in and take a look, not a single person showed up.

Bai Wanqing returned to the shop and asked Doctor Zheng in confusion, "Why isn't anyone coming in? This is a free clinic! We're not charging any fees!"

Dr. Zheng sighed and said, "I guess they're scared!"

“When the Fang family was squeezing out other pharmacies before, they used a lot of tricks.”

Old Wei nodded in agreement, saying, "That's true. There are quite a few families like ours who have offended the Fang family and are now barred from seeing doctors. After many clinics that competed with the Fang family went out of business, those people had no choice but to go to other places for treatment. If it's not an urgent illness, it's fine, but if it's an urgent one, they might lose their lives."

Bai Wanqing had long known that the Fang family was domineering, but she never expected that the Fang family's influence would be so great.

Nobody would believe he has no one backing him.

Meanwhile, the patriarch of the Fang family also received a report from his servants.

“Sir, this century-old medical clinic has quite a history.”

"Oh? Besides the prefect, does she have other backers?" Master Fang had been keeping a close eye on Bai Wanqing's movements these past two days and was extremely curious about her now.

He had originally thought that the prefect's wife opening a clinic was just a hobby, but he never expected her to be so efficient. In just a few days, she not only had the medicinal herbs needed to open the clinic, but she had even persuaded Doctor Zheng to stay and provide consultations. He had really underestimated the prefect's wife.

"Yes! Our prefect's wife's maiden name is Bai, and she is from Huai'an County. Her father was a medicine merchant in Huai'an County, and her mother also ran a clinic. She was the founder of this century-old clinic."

Upon hearing this, Master Fang stroked his beard and said, "No wonder, no wonder our lady prepared the medicinal herbs so quickly. It turns out it's a family business."

"Sir, that's not all!"

"What else?"

"The prefect's wife's mother was a disciple of Physician Luo. I heard that Physician Luo is now working with the prefect's wife, making her his grand-disciple. With Physician Luo's reputation, I'm afraid we won't be able to stop those patients."

They might stop ordinary patients, but there are many other families in Huaizhou City with similar power to the Fang family. If those families were to fall seriously ill, they certainly wouldn't give the Fang family face by not seeking out renowned doctors.

"Dr. Luo? You mean Luo Feng?"

The housekeeper immediately nodded in agreement. The old man gritted his teeth and said, "No matter who it is, keep an eye on them. No one can ruin our Fang family's business."

The housekeeper sensed the old man's anger and, without daring to utter a sound, silently complied and left.

"Luo Feng, what a small world we've run into!" Master Fang slammed down his teacup, the lid shattering in two.

On the first day of business, Bai Wanqing never expected that there wouldn't be a single patient.

"Big sister, why don't you take a look at Furong?"

Seeing Bai Wanqing gazing longingly outside, Furong offered her wrist.

Bai Wanqing smiled and glanced at Furong, then placed her hand on Furong's wrist. "Hmm! Very good, just as good as yesterday."

After saying that, Bai Wanqing laughed to herself. When Furong saw her older sister laughing, she also giggled.

Hearing the laughter coming from the front desk, Dr. Zheng couldn't help but shake his head, inwardly sighing, "Their boss is really carefree! On the first day of opening, they're offering free medical consultations, and there isn't a single patient, yet they can still laugh so happily. Back when Zheng's Medical Clinic had no patients, he turned gray overnight."

Seeing that it was getting late, Bai Wanqing told Baoyue to take Furong back first, and then she wrote a job posting and posted it out.

Seeing this, Doctor Zheng couldn't help but remind the owner, "Owner, we don't have a single patient today. Do we still need to hire a manager?"

“And the medicine boy.”

Dr. Zheng felt there was no need for this; he believed that with the current flow of people, he could temporarily fill in for these positions.

Bai Wanqing carefully pasted up the job posting before saying, "It will come in handy. There may be no patients today, but there might be tomorrow. If not tomorrow, there will be the day after. There will always be some."

"If we were to recruit people from scratch, we'd be at a loss. This is just right."

Dr. Zheng: Is that so?
They waited until the sun had completely set before closing their doors, and of course, there were still no patients.

"Dr. Zheng, don't you have any long-term patients or anyone who comes to you specifically because of your reputation?" Bai Wanqing asked.

Dr. Zheng was speechless again. He wasn't some kind of miracle doctor; he was just a little better at medicine.

"Yes! There are some. Sometimes, when they can't get better at the Fang family's medical clinic, they secretly come to me for treatment."

"But it might not be appropriate to let these people come here openly and honestly."

It's unlikely that anyone would do that.

"How strange! Is my life less important than the Fang family's power?"

"Here's what we'll do! Just go and spread the word to them, tell them about our clinic's background and Master Luo's reputation. I think once they know our clinic is safe and sound, they'll naturally come."

"After all, not everyone is indifferent to their own life, right?"

Dr. Zheng thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay, I'll go back and talk to a few people about this."

Just as Doctor Zheng was about to step out, he saw Master Luo staring straight at him.

Feeling uneasy, he turned to his employer and asked, "Does Master Luo agree to us using his name to attract customers?"

Grandmaster Luo snorted twice, put his hands behind his back, and walked home. Now, without Bai Wanqing having to say anything, Doctor Zheng understood Doctor Luo's attitude.

"Okay, boss, I understand. I'll be going now." Doctor Zheng left in a hurry.

Bai Wanqing, with Ruixin in tow, caught up with Master Luo. "Master, just how domineering is the Fang family that everyone in Huaizhou City is afraid of them?"

Master Luo suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Whose house are you talking about?"

“The Fang family?” Bai Wanqing replied.

"Oh! That's not surprising then." After saying that, Master Luo continued walking forward. Bai Wanqing pressed for the reason, but Master Luo refused to answer.

The three of them strolled back home, where Fengniang had already prepared a table full of dishes.

Old Luo was the first to resist and wanted to sit down at the table to eat.

"Grandmaster! You need to wash your hands!"

Old Luo had no choice but to follow Ruixin to wash his hands first.

Just then, Fengniang brought out the freshly steamed buns. "Madam, Master just returned. Should we go and call him?"

Fengniang came to the house yesterday and knew the broker's intentions. She also knew that the family she worked for was the prefect's family, so she put even more effort into cooking.

"Okay! I'll go call them." Bai Wanqing was about to leave when she suddenly remembered something and turned to Fengniang, saying, "Fengniang, you'll come to the clinic with me tomorrow too!"

Fengniang didn't know anything about medicine and was still a bit confused.

Bai Wanqing continued, "There aren't many patients these past two days, so I have some time. Tell me about your son."

Feng Niang was taken aback for a moment, then immediately and happily agreed, "Thank you, Madam."

(End of this chapter)