The Rebirth of the Fierce Little Cute Girl

Chapter 260: Chapter 259: Meaning

Upon hearing Kong Mingsheng’s words, Yiyi walked forward with a smile.

”You should have already met your second senior brother just now. This is your first senior brother, Qian Jinfan.” Kong Mingsheng smiled and pointed to a slightly chubby middle-aged man beside him, introducing him to Yiyi, then introduced his first and second apprentices to Yiyi, ”She will be your little junior sister from now on. Although she is still a student now, she has great talent in medicine, so you should support her more often.”

”Master, my little junior sister is about the same age as my daughter. We will definitely take good care of her.”

Qi Renkun also smiled and said, ”Master, don’t worry, my first senior brother and I will take good care of our little junior sister.”

Upon hearing these words from his two apprentices, Kong Mingsheng smiled and nodded, then looked at Yiyi and said, ”Alright, let’s get started.”

Yiyi placed the gift she brought for her apprenticeship down and respectfully bowed and offered tea to Kong Mingsheng.

After Kong Mingsheng accepted Yiyi’s tea, the apprenticeship was formally established.

”Ah, this must be Yiyi. She’s really beautiful.”

An old lady came out of the kitchen with a smile and praised Yiyi when she saw her.

”This is your master’s wife.”

Kong Mingsheng introduced her to Yiyi.

Upon hearing this, Yiyi quickly called out, ”Master’s wife.”

”Yes...”

Old Mrs. Kong responded with a smile.

”Master’s wife, will Xiaoyan come over later?” Qi Renkun looked at the time and couldn’t help asking.

Kong Mingsheng and Old Mrs. Kong had only one daughter, Kong Yan, but since Kong Yan became a nun, her relationship with the elders had been just so-so.

Upon hearing the mention of his daughter from his second apprentice, Kong Mingsheng snorted coldly and said, ”She won’t come back. We’ll just have dinner by ourselves later.”

Even Old Mrs. Kong couldn’t help but sigh.

”Xiaoyan has been quite busy recently, so she won’t come back to see us.”

”Busy? That’s just an excuse. It’s Sunday today; could she really be so busy that she doesn’t even have time to come home and see us?”

Upon hearing her husband’s words, Old Mrs. Kong said nothing more, hurriedly changed the topic, and began to invite everyone to tea.

Yiyi naturally noticed something but she was visiting the Kong Family for the first time, so she wouldn’t say anything.

Around eleven o’clock, Yiyi joined everyone at the dining table for a meal. She initially thought the apprenticeship ceremony would end like that, but unexpectedly, Kong Mingsheng asked Qian Jinfan to take her and Qi Renkun out for a walk.

”Little junior sister, let’s go.”

Yiyi felt a bit puzzled but still followed Qian Jinfan and Qi Renkun out.

”This is a customary practice. Whenever Master takes on a new disciple, I take them around Shangjing’s medicinal halls to get familiar.”

Qi Renkun couldn’t help smiling as he looked at Yiyi and said, ”I was a bit confused at the time too. After the first senior brother took me for a round, I curiously asked a question. It turned out that Master’s intention was for us to remember which traditional medicine halls are in Shangjing, so we don’t forget these long-standing medicinal halls.”

Now Yiyi understood and felt a bit excited. She hadn’t really explored Shangjing’s traditional medicine halls, and she hadn’t expected such an opportunity today.

But Qian Jinfan shook his head as he walked ahead, saying, ”Unfortunately, more and more people nowadays don’t believe in traditional medicine. They all believe in Western medicine, thinking that it’s faster and better, and feel that traditional medicine can’t cure their illnesses at all.”

Upon hearing Qian Jinfan’s words, Qi Renkun also shook his head.

”Indeed, more and more people don’t believe in traditional medicine. They all think Western drugs are better than traditional medicine.”

Seeing the somber expressions on the two senior brothers’ faces, Yiyi remained silent because this was indeed the current phenomenon; even more people were studying Western medicine now.

”Alright, alright, let’s not talk about this anymore.”

Qian Jinfan said with a smile and led Yiyi into a small alley, ”There’s a long-established traditional medicinal hall here that has been here for many years.”

However, when the three reached the end of the alley, they didn’t see the medicinal hall. Eventually, Qian Jinfan inquired with nearby residents and learned that the medicinal hall had closed last month.

Upon hearing this news, not just Qian Jinfan and Qi Renkun, even Yiyi was somewhat surprised.

”I hadn’t expected that such a long-standing medicinal hall would close.”

Qian Jinfan let out a deep sigh and then quickly gathered himself, smiled, and said to Yiyi, ”Let’s continue and see the next one.”

Fortunately, the medicinal hall they visited next was still open, and the three even went in and purchased some medicinal herbs, with Yiyi buying wolfberry for eyesight improvement.

But after visiting all the traditional medicine halls in Shangjing, they found that apart from the first one, two other small medicinal halls also had closed.

When the three returned, they shared their experience with Kong Mingsheng.

Upon hearing this, Kong Mingsheng fell silent for a moment, then looked at his three apprentices and said, ”I’m sure you all saw that traditional medicine’s survival is becoming increasingly difficult. So no matter how capable you are, as your master, I hope you can exert your strength and strive to promote traditional medicine, ensuring that the heritage passed down from our ancestors endures forever.”

All three nodded in agreement.

Today’s experience was novel for Yiyi and also very significant. Initially, she didn’t feel much, but visiting these medicinal halls made her realize the importance of traditional medicine’s heritage.

”Alright, Yiyi, that’s it for today. You can head home now.” Kong Mingsheng waved Yiyi away, asking her to leave and also arranging the time for her return next week.

”Come over again next Saturday morning, and I’ll assess your current level and then teach you accordingly.”

”Yes, Master.”

Yiyi hurriedly nodded in agreement.

When Yiyi arrived home, it was already evening. Ding Yuejun saw her daughter coming back and quickly asked, ”Yiyi, why are you back so late? How did the apprenticeship go?”

”Mom, everything went smoothly, Master asked me to go back next week.”

Upon hearing her daughter’s words, Ding Yuejun felt relieved.

The next day, Yiyi continued her school days, but surprisingly, someone was waiting at the school gate in the evening after class.

”Grandma, why did you come over.”

Seeing Old Mrs. Gu, Yiyi was full of surprise and quickly ran forward.

”Yiyi...”

Old Mrs. Gu smiled and beckoned Yiyi over, then asked her to get in the car.

Yiyi didn’t delay and quickly got in the car.

”Grandma, why did you come all the way here?” Yiyi was still puzzled that the old lady had come all the way to the school, ”Did something happen?”

”Indeed, something happened, but it’s not us—it’s about you and your mother.” Old Mrs. Gu said, somewhat reproachfully looking at Yiyi, ”With such a big event happening in the Shu Family, why didn’t you tell us? Your mother was injured and hospitalized, and we had no idea.”