Chapter 117: What a Genius!

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Someone loudly voiced an objection.

It was none other than the dim-witted Sheng Qianqian, who angrily pointed at Liu Hongfen. “She must have cheated.”

“Or perhaps you’re showing favoritism!”

The moment Tang Banxia saw who it was, she stopped worrying altogether. “Oh? Then tell me—how exactly am I showing favoritism?”

The girl had been here for a month, yet had already made quite a fool of herself. She was obviously a sheltered young lady who had never known hardship and understood nothing of human nature or the ways of the world.

“You—you… I want to see her paper!” With that, she strode over and snatched Liu Hongfen’s exam paper away. It was covered from beginning to end in atrocious scrawl.

At first, she laughed so hard she could barely stand upright, holding up Liu Hongfen’s dreadful handwriting for everyone to see. Only after she had laughed to her heart’s content did she look at the answers.

But the more she read, the uglier her expression became. In the end, she flung up her sleeve and stormed away.

Tang Banxia did not even need to explain. Liu Hongfen’s answers alone were enough to silence every doubter.

Tang Banxia yawned. “Anyone else dissatisfied?”

Naturally, there were.

But no one was willing to step forward.

After waiting a while and seeing that no one spoke, Tang Banxia said, “Then it’s settled. Liu Hongfen, you’re our chosen educated youth. Report to the clinic tomorrow. The rest of you may disperse.”

With that, she was the first to leave.

Good grief. Beauty really could be a menace, and too much indulgence was bad for the body. She needed to exercise some restraint.

After she left, more than twenty people surrounded Liu Hongfen, passing her exam paper from hand to hand.

Some made sour remarks that it was nothing special, while others fell silent after reading it.

Everyone had their own little schemes, but none of them were truly bad people. Even if they were unwilling to accept the result, they had to admit that Liu Hongfen’s paper was far better than theirs.

In truth, Tang Banxia had not set especially difficult questions. They were simply the sort that required lateral thinking.

One needed a flexible mind and keen powers of observation to answer them.

And those were the two qualities most important in a doctor.

Thus, Liu Hongfen became an apprentice barefoot doctor with flying colors.

That night, she was so excited that she could not sleep. The next morning, however, she arrived at the clinic full of energy.

Seeing how thrilled she was, Tang Banxia did not say much. She merely tossed her a chart of acupuncture points. “You need to know this by heart.”

“But mastering it isn’t something that can be done in a single day. So you’ll also have to learn to identify medicinal herbs.”

Liu Hongfen was an honest girl. Whatever Tang Banxia said, she nodded obediently, to the point that Tang Banxia began to feel guilty.

Still, the assignments had to be given.

On the first day, Tang Banxia went easy on her. She selected only a few easily identified herbs and made her memorize everything from their roots and stems to their veins, leaves, and fruit, along with their uses, habitats, growing conditions, and so on…

To someone encountering them for the first time, it was practically an incomprehensible scripture. Yet Liu Hongfen showed not the slightest sign of being daunted.

After explaining each one, Tang Banxia asked, “Have you remembered them?”

Liu Hongfen shook her head quite matter-of-factly.

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Tang Banxia said, “Go through them yourself from the beginning. Ask me whenever you come across something you don’t understand.”

The entire morning passed in their back-and-forth questions and answers.

Tang Banxia soon discovered that although Liu Hongfen seemed plain and simple, her mind worked remarkably quickly.

There were ten completely different herbs, and she had memorized every one of them by noon without the slightest error.

Even if she did not yet understand them, being able to remember them all was already an impressive feat.

Everything is difficult at the beginning.

Since she had memorized them, the next step was to understand them.

That afternoon, Tang Banxia took her into the mountains to gather herbs. They searched only for those ten varieties, allowing Liu Hongfen to gain a deeper understanding of each one.

After bringing the herbs back, Tang Banxia personally taught Liu Hongfen how to process them.

When one was fully absorbed in a task, time passed quickly.

Before they knew it, darkness had fallen. It was not until Wen Muba came to fetch them that the two women realized how late it had become.

Tang Banxia glanced at the sky and said, “Hongfen, we’ll stop here for today. Go home first and review everything tonight. I’ll be testing you tomorrow.”

Liu Hongfen nodded. She watched Tang Banxia walk away, then finally dared to let out a small cheer.

It was the first time anyone had praised her.

And Tang, no—Banxia had said that she was very clever, even more so than Banxia herself. As long as she worked hard and was willing to endure hardship, she would certainly become a doctor.

She returned to the educated-youth compound in high spirits, completely ignoring the sour remarks of the others.

After washing up, she lay down with an empty stomach and continued reviewing what she had learned that day before falling asleep. Even in her dreams, a smile lingered on her face.

The next day,

Tang Banxia did exactly as promised and tested Liu Hongfen on what she had learned.

Liu Hongfen surprised her once again. She answered every question fluently, without a single mistake. With each question and answer, Tang Banxia’s eyes grew brighter and brighter.

This girl was a genius.

So, on the second day, she increased the difficulty and raised the number of herbs to twenty.

Just as on the first day, Liu Hongfen spent the morning memorizing, the afternoon practicing and being tested, and the evening reviewing.

When Tang Banxia tested her early the next morning, Liu Hongfen was not quite as flawless as she had been on the first day, but she was still nearly perfect. Tang Banxia therefore slowed the pace.

The third day still covered twenty herbs.

In just three days, Tang Banxia had force-fed Liu Hongfen knowledge of fifty different medicinal plants. It was only then that Liu Hongfen began to feel the strain.

Tang Banxia stopped cramming her and gave her time to consolidate what she had learned.

On the fourth day, she told Liu Hongfen to study on her own while she wandered over to the neighboring brigade headquarters.

She went to chat with Huang Xiaocui.

After living in the village for more than a year, Tang Banxia had made quite a few good friends, ranging from the elderly to young children.

“Banxia, come over here and sit with me!” Huang Xiaocui called, pulling out a stool for her.

Tang Banxia readily sat down. “Sister Cui, what are you all talking about? Everyone looks so happy.”

“What else could it be? The selection of the model village is coming up soon.” Huang Xiaocui got the conversation started.

Someone else immediately picked it up. Song Weimin poured Tang Banxia a cup of rough tea and said, “Secretary Yu let me in on it. Our village is practically guaranteed to win this time.”

Being named a model village was not merely an empty title. It came with substantial benefits.

For example, at the end of the year, the village could exchange for more cloth coupons, receive priority use of the commune’s tractors, obtain a quota for raising pigs, and enjoy certain advantages when turning over its grain allotment.

The exact benefits varied from year to year, so nothing could be confirmed yet.

What made everyone happiest was the pig-raising quota.

In those days, raising pigs was not something one could simply decide to do. The quotas had to be fought over. In the past, Ancient Moon Village had never received one, but this year it finally had.

If the village could raise pigs of its own, then wouldn’t it be much easier for the villagers to eat meat?

The more they thought about it, the happier they became.

The brigade headquarters rang with laughter. Tang Banxia happily joined in, eating and drinking whatever was offered.

She was very fond of Ancient Moon Village and naturally hoped to see it prosper more and more.

Their conversation continued until evening. As dusk began to fall, everyone finally brought the discussion to an end.

Song Weimin, the brigade leader, had left early to keep an eye on the work in the fields.

Huang Xiaocui had also gone home to cook.

Accountant Hu had openly slipped away early as well.

The other scorekeepers and team leaders did not have office jobs, so in the end only Tang Banxia and Geng Zhengfei remained in the room.

Only then did Tang Banxia take out a list of herbs. “Please arrange for these herbs to be gathered as soon as possible. In addition, I need some Western medicine.” As she spoke, she produced another list of medications.

Both lists were extremely long. When fully unfolded, each one was taller than Tang Banxia herself.

Yet Geng Zhengfei accepted them without changing expression. “Understood. Is there anything else you wish to instruct me to do?”

Tang Banxia thought for a moment. “I’d like to visit the black market.”

Since she was here, she might as well see what the black market of this era was like.

It was an important part of the times.

Geng Zhengfei agreed at once. “I’ll accompany you when the time comes.”

Tang Banxia let out an awkward sound. Faced with the square-faced man’s unwavering insistence, she finally surrendered. “All right.”

“Oh, right.” Halfway down the road, Tang Banxia remembered something else. “Winter is almost here. Could you ask whether I might send some supplies to my parents?”

Geng Zhengfei answered with solemn precision, “I’ll make the request.”

“Good. That’s all.”

Tang Banxia truly could not stand being addressed as “you” with such reverence every other sentence, so the moment she had finished her business, she fled. Geng Zhengfei was left thoroughly puzzled.

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