As expected, the next morning when Du Fei got up, Wu Chunmei had already left.
"Brother, Mom left too early, didn't she?"
Du Yunyun emerged from her room, her eyes still heavy with sleep.
Du Fei chuckled, "What are you, a little girl, bothering yourself with so much? Didn't you see how happy Mom was yesterday? As long as she's happy, that's all that matters. I'll make breakfast for you. You go wash up and get changed."
By the time Du Yunyun had washed up and changed, Du Fei had also finished breakfast.
Freshly made egg pancakes and oatmeal porridge.
After eating, Du Yunyun walked to school by herself, while Du Fei drove to Jianghua Street, where the traditional Chinese medicine clinic was located.
He parked the car and walked towards the clinic.
However, when he reached the entrance, he found someone he absolutely did not expect standing there.
"Miss Wang, what are you doing here?"
Why would Wang Zhongling be at the entrance of the traditional Chinese medicine clinic? Du Fei was slightly taken aback when he saw her.
Wang Zhongling blinked her large eyes. "Didn't you tell my grandpa you wanted someone to help out? So I came. What, you seem a little displeased with me?"
"I, when did I say I was displeased with you?"
Du Fei truly had no way to explain himself. He had only said a single sentence; how could it imply displeasure?
But Wang Zhongling had always found him disagreeable. How could she now offer to help him?
He had indeed told Wang Qiyang that besides himself as a doctor, the clinic would need one or two more people to help with dispensing herbs and other miscellaneous tasks.
But Du Fei had never imagined that the person who would come would be Wang Zhongling.
Wang Qiyang had said that Wang Zhongling's parents had achieved financial freedom many years ago, and she was their only daughter, lacking nothing in terms of money. Yet now, she was willing to come and help at his small traditional Chinese medicine clinic?
Du Fei couldn't quite figure it out for a moment.
"I'm here purely because my grandpa entrusted me with this task. He highly respects your medical skills in traditional Chinese medicine. I also want to see for myself whether you have just a few tricks up your sleeve or genuine substance. In short, from now on, I plan to work here."
Wang Zhongling didn't bother to ponder what Du Fei was thinking and announced her decision.
Du Fei initially wanted to say that he was looking for someone who could actually do the work, and Wang Zhongling was a pampered young lady who grew up in privilege. Could she endure such hardship?
However, considering her grandfather was Wang Qiyang, Du Fei didn't feel comfortable saying it.
After all, once the work became truly demanding, if she couldn't handle it, she would naturally retreat.
As they spoke, the two walked into the adjacent traditional Chinese medicine clinic.
Although this clinic was located a bit out of the way, it was a complete facility despite its size; everything was present and accounted for.
Du Fei looked at the renovated space and nodded with satisfaction.
"Du Fei, this looks too shabby. In terms of decoration, we still need to..."
Du Fei was satisfied, but Wang Zhongling was shaking her head repeatedly and then listed a long string of things that needed to be redone for Du Fei.
After she finished speaking, Du Fei smiled and said, "Miss Wang, I opened this clinic to help those in need. I think it's good enough as it is. Making it too flashy would be missing the point."
Wang Zhongling opened her mouth, about to say that Du Fei's aesthetic taste was too poor, but the words stopped on her lips.
Du Fei took down the original signboard of the clinic and hung up a new one he had commissioned.
"Miraculous Hands Revival."
Just four simple characters, but the strokes were vigorous, and the font was full and shapely.
"Um, so we're officially open for business now?"
Wang Zhongling had thought that Du Fei was just coming to see how the clinic had been organized.
But when she saw Du Fei sit down, she looked at him in surprise.
Du Fei looked up. "Is there a problem?"
"I've seen how other places open. They invite many reputable people, set off firecrackers, and hold ribbon-cutting ceremonies. How come with you, it's just skipped?"
"I told you, I don't like unnecessary formalities. This is fine."
Du Fei then picked up the Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Chinese Medicine he had bought earlier and began identifying various medicinal herbs by looking at the book.
Although Du Fei had inherited the legacy of his ancestors and his medical skills were superb, when faced with the hundreds or even thousands of herbs in the clinic, he was no different from an ordinary person.
"Du Fei, are you identifying medicinal herbs?"
At first, Wang Zhongling was bewildered when she saw Du Fei flipping through a book and fiddling with the herbs.
But after watching for a while, Wang Zhongling realized that Du Fei seemed to be identifying medicinal herbs. She couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, since no patients are coming in right now, I'll identify the herbs in advance. It would be bad if I dispensed the wrong medicine later."
Du Fei nodded, not feeling that there was anything wrong with his actions.
Furthermore, in Du Fei's view, Miss Wang Zhongling was just here to play. When he prescribed medicine for patients later, he would still have to dispense the herbs himself.
"What? Du Fei, are you joking? My grandpa praised you as a genius in traditional Chinese medicine, a genius who would revitalize it. And yet, you don't even recognize Chinese medicinal herbs?"
If Wang Zhongling had been merely curious at first, now she was so astonished her jaw nearly dropped to the floor.
After all, Du Fei's medical skills were so highly regarded by her grandfather, the honorary president of the Chinese Medicine Association, and combined with the superb acupuncture he displayed at Renxin Tang last time.
This was why Wang Zhongling, who had previously thought Western medicine was superior to Chinese medicine, wanted to study closely with Du Fei to understand traditional Chinese medicine better.
Who would have thought that Du Fei would now tell her in front of her face that he didn't even recognize Chinese medicinal herbs? Was this guy really not joking?
Wang Zhongling was already regretting whether her previous decision was too hasty. Was it too late to back out now?
Just as a series of thoughts flashed through Wang Zhongling's mind, someone entered the clinic.
The person who entered looked at Du Fei and Wang Zhongling inside and thought they had the wrong place.
Then, Du Fei told the person that he was the doctor at the clinic. The person looked him up and down twice, then said they had something to attend to and quickly left.
"Du Fei, I think you should stick a white beard on your face and dye your hair white. Maybe then the patients who come in will have more confidence in you."
Never mind. Since she was here, Wang Zhongling decided to observe first.
If Du Fei had no real skill, she would just pack up and leave.
"Thank you for your suggestion, but I don't think age has anything to do with medical skills."
After speaking, Du Fei continued to sit back and identify the medicinal herbs.
The clinic returned to silence.