Chapter 31

By afternoon, no more patients came to Su Fuling for consultations. Even when someone did show up, the moment they heard the free slots for the afternoon were used up and fees would now apply, they simply left, planning to come back the next morning when it was free again.

Zhao Facai understood exactly how these people thought.

If it could be free, who would want to pay? The people who came to see his master weren't emergency cases, so they weren't afraid to wait.

Besides, in his view, if you knew when it was free and still came during the paid hours, wouldn't that make you a fool?

So if his master kept this up, there would be no customers in the afternoons at all.

"Master, you can't keep giving it away for free. Everyone comes in the morning for the free consultations now, and nobody comes in the afternoon."

Su Fuling was also pondering this problem. She had originally set paid hours in the afternoon to make the free opportunity seem scarce, pushing everyone to come in the morning. But now her stall was drawing more and more people. Maybe she could go free all day—that way she'd have the chance to treat even more patients. As for her nominal source of income, she no longer charged for consultations, but she could charge a bit for actual treatment. And then there were the fees for physical checkups... Su Fuling realized she really couldn't drop that service. It had actually become her main source of income.

"Uncle Fa, I'm thinking of making afternoons free too. Do you think that would attract more people to come see me?"

"...Master, aren't you worried about not making money?" Zhao Facai was genuinely worried for Su Fuling. She clearly had the skill, yet she saw patients for free and refused to publicize her fortune-telling.

If his master would just properly offer fortune-telling to outsiders, money would surely come rolling in. Right now it was only those few regular faces coming for readings each day. What if they stopped coming one day? Wouldn't there be no income at all?

He couldn't figure it out. Zhao Facai racked his brains but still couldn't understand what Su Fuling was thinking.

Su Fuling thought to herself: just counting the people drawn in by the free consultations, even if only two out of ten accepted treatment, the merit points earned were already worth several hundred yuan. But Uncle Fa couldn't know about that, so no wonder he worried.

"Lately I've also been reading books on marketing and business. I've found that every business needs to be built up. In the early stage, you have to gain more customers and earn more people's trust. Later on, you won't have to worry about business. Besides, I still need to improve my own abilities."

What Su Fuling said was also from the heart. She truly felt her abilities weren't enough. The common ailments she saw often, she could diagnose, but with some troublesome illnesses, she was helpless. Relying on the system, she could identify what disease it was, but not how to treat it. So improving herself was absolutely necessary.

Zhao Facai looked at her, utterly speechless, thinking: your abilities aren't enough? Anyone else would have long since become an honored guest in Hong Kong's wealthy circles.

The afternoon really was quiet, and Su Fuling didn't waste it. After guiding Facai to start reading introductory medical texts on his own, she pretended to nap and went into the system to study.

The discipline of Chinese medicine was truly vast and profound. A pity she had only just entered the gate. When the day came that she had thoroughly mastered this medicine, she would be able to cure whatever illness she saw. As a doctor, she truly dreamed of having such ability. But dreaming alone wouldn't do it—she had to learn, and learn hard.

"Doctor Su!" Li Liang came rushing in.

Zhao Facai jumped in fright. "Can't you see my master is resting?"

Su Fuling emerged from the system. "What's wrong?"

Li Liang's face was full of alarm. "Something happened. Brother Shan got slashed."

Su Fuling: "..." There was nothing to be done. She had warned him, and he didn't listen. What could she do?

Though Zhao Facai had witnessed this many times already, he was still shocked. So accurate. Truly too accurate.

Su Fuling asked, "Is it serious?"

"Probably not serious—he could still call us. He said not to tell Sasa. Sigh, Brother Shan knew in advance, so why didn't he believe it?"

Su Fuling said, "Actually, believing it or not makes no difference. In his position, getting hurt is just routine." Otherwise he wouldn't have ended up deficient in both qi and blood. That was the result of too many injuries wearing down his body.

Li Liang said dejectedly, "Doctor Su, will I also have rotten luck all the time and get slashed in the future?"

Su Fuling said, "That depends on your choices. Ah Liang, do you really want to do this for the rest of your life? Your mama must be very worried about you."

Li Liang didn't answer. Of course his mama had grabbed him by the ear and told him to leave the Four Directions Society. A small fry like him could actually get out easily enough, but joining the gang had been his own wish. He had hoped that one day he could call the shots. When he was little, his old man had died early, and his mama was always being cursed at by others. He had sworn he would make everyone fear him, and ever since joining the Four Directions Society, no one dared offend his mama anymore.

Leaving now, he somehow felt he was betraying his former self.

"Doctor Su, how about you take a look for me—what would I be suited to do in the future?"

Su Fuling smiled and shook her head. "I can't see that. What you want to do naturally depends on what you think."

Li Liang's eyes were pleading. "You really can't divine it?"

"I'm just a doctor," Su Fuling emphasized.

Li Liang: "..."

He had come in blustering and left wilted. But there was nothing Su Fuling could do to help him.

Although business was slow in the afternoon, Su Fuling still stuck to closing at five-thirty sharp.

Her aunt-by-marriage had also finished cooking, and Su Fuling hurried to help bring over the food.

Zhou Huijuan said, "You work hard every day. Go home and rest."

"It's not hard, not hard at all." Su Fuling was too embarrassed to say she had idled away the whole afternoon.

She didn't see Uncle Tang at the clinic today, but her little uncle was in a good mood. "Tell your aunt I need to make a house call tonight."

Su Fuling said, "Little Uncle, you still make house calls? What kind of illness is it?"

"Ah, it's not convenient to say," Su Jueming said vaguely.

Su Fuling didn't press further. In this line of work, if the patient didn't want it known, the condition really couldn't be shared with others.

Still, if they were seeking out her little uncle, it probably wasn't anything too serious. Of course, she only thought that to herself—she wouldn't dare say it aloud. "Ahem, Little Uncle, I'm heading home for dinner."

The clinic wasn't far from home, just a few minutes' walk. Just as Su Fuling was about to go upstairs, she saw Tang Jing standing at the entrance of the stairwell.

After a full day of work, Tang Jing's complexion looked terrible.

She stood outside the building, seemingly waiting for someone.

When she saw Su Fuling, she walked over with an awkward expression. "Is what you said true?"

Su Fuling said, "What's true?"

"My father—the medicine he's taking isn't right for his condition." This matter had weighed on her heart all day; she hadn't been able to focus on work at all. Thinking that she might have delayed her father's treatment because of her own actions made her miserable.

After her mother passed away, her father had raised her alone, always doing grueling work. Finally she was earning money and could give him a chance to enjoy life; she had encouraged him to take up ball games and exercise like other people, and as a result he got hurt—hurt this badly. And no medicine seemed to help.

Su Fuling said, "If I say it's true, can you fully believe me? If you don't believe me, then saying it is useless."

Tang Jing: "...I'm afraid of giving my father the wrong medicine again."

Su Fuling thought for a moment. "How about this: you accept my treatment first. Experience my medical skill yourself, and once you trust me, then let your father accept my treatment. What do you think?"

Tang Jing considered it in silence and found it workable. Then she worried, "I don't want my father to know I'm sick."

"Just say it's a tonic I recommended. My aunt has been drinking tonic soup lately too. Chinese medicine has no shortage of beauty and complexion-enhancing formulas."

Hearing this, Tang Jing's eyes actually lit up.

Su Fuling said, "Don't get your hopes up about that yet—you don't have the stomach for it. But no worries. Your illness is only in its early stage. Easy to treat."

Tang Jing pressed her lips together and nodded.

Su Fuling took her pulse again and asked carefully about the details of her condition, then settled on a treatment plan and prescription. Besides the medicine, her daily diet would also need adjusting, and her mealtimes had to be regular. Seeing Tang Jing's difficulty, Su Fuling said, "I can make you some stomach-nourishing cakes to keep in your bag. They'll be very convenient for you to eat."

With the plan settled, 8 merit points were credited to Su Fuling's account.

As for funds, the first round of treatment cost 300 Hong Kong dollars—covering the herbs she'd procure on Tang Jing's behalf and the making of the stomach-nourishing cakes.

Seeing this fee, Tang Jing felt Su Fuling's charges were really quite low.

"So little money—are you sure it will work?" Tang Jing asked with some doubt. Her belief was that cheap goods were no good, and nothing could be done without money.

Su Fuling looked at her in surprise. "Are you judging the effectiveness of treatment by how much it costs?" Besides, this really wasn't little—if prices in Hong Kong weren't so high, it wouldn't cost nearly this much.

Tang Jing: "..."

Su Fuling said, "You're quite wrong, then. For some illnesses, once the medicine matches the condition, two cheap doses may cure it. Just wait and see."

She added, "If you really can't stop doubting, you can pay me more. Then I can buy roast goose to eat every day."

Tang Jing: "...That won't be necessary."

Su Fuling had just gotten home when she heard her aunt ask how she and Tang Jing had become so close.

"Your Fourth Aunt just came back and said she saw you chatting with Ah Jing, all chummy. Even holding hands."

Su Fuling thought: that was taking her pulse. She smiled. "Sister Jing is nice, so we naturally hit it off."

"That really is rare." Zhou Huijuan called her to eat, saying as she did, "I can barely exchange a word with Ah Jing. But well, she's capable and earns good money, so of course she's a bit proud. Though you're not doing badly now either. If you can keep up your current business, you'll earn even more than Ah Jing."

Hearing her aunt bring up money the moment she opened her mouth, Su Fuling finally understood why Tang Jing measured everything by money.

In a place like Hong Kong, making money really was the top priority.

Early the next morning, Su Fuling had just arrived at the shop when she saw Chen Shan.

She was somewhat startled—wasn't he supposed to be bedridden? Chen Shan looked at Su Fuling with a complicated gaze, because in his heart, Su Fuling herself was a complicated person.

He had thought about it all night and still couldn't figure out how Doctor Su could see things so accurately.

"Doctor Su, I was worried coming later might disturb your business, so I came early."

He didn't even notice that his tone had deliberately taken on a few degrees of reverence. This came from often seeing how those big shots respected the great masters, which made him feel in his heart that such exalted figures deserved exactly this treatment.

As Su Fuling set her things down, Zhao Facai took over, not letting her lift a finger.

Su Fuling sat down. "Aren't you injured and supposed to be hospitalized?"

"Where would we find time to stay in a hospital? We went back to the hall last night," Chen Shan said with a laugh.

Su Fuling glanced at his shoulder and, in the spirit of not wasting anything, said, "That wound of yours—how about I take a look at it for you? I have a very effective ointment here. I used it on Ah Liang before. You could try it. It might work."

Chen Shan quickly said, "How could I possibly let Doctor Su trouble herself to treat me?"

Su Fuling was surprised. "What's there to be embarrassed about? Are you worried I can't treat external injuries? Rest assured, I actually have more experience treating external injuries."

Chen Shan hurriedly explained, "Of course not—" It's just that the moment he remembered Doctor Su was actually a hidden master of the mystical arts, having her treat such a small wound felt like a colossal waste of her talents. "I just can't bring myself to trouble Doctor Su to do it herself. How about I apply it myself?"

Su Fuling assumed he was just being bashful—some people were particularly particular about the separation between men and women. Little did they know that in a doctor's eyes, no such distinction existed. But Su Fuling didn't insist.

Anyway, as long as she had diagnosed it, recommended the medicine, and the other party kept using it, the merit would count as hers.

"Are those fellows who were with you yesterday all right?" Su Fuling asked with casual concern. If they could all use the medicine together, so much the better.

"They all have minor injuries."

Su Fuling said, "Then they can all use it. Whenever they have time, bring them over for me to look at. Consider it a follow-up visit—whenever they come, I won't charge extra."

Chen Shan said politely, "They're just small wounds. We couldn't trouble Doctor Su."

"It's no trouble. As a doctor, my duty is to heal the sick and save people." Su Fuling was genuinely worried the other party would be too polite and simply not come—that would be a huge misunderstanding. She said directly, "Just have them come, Mr. Chen. We still have our collaboration, after all."

Chen Shan said, "If Doctor Su ever wants to end that collaboration, you can tell me anytime." He didn't want Doctor Su to feel the collaboration was in any way forced on her. Back then he had proposed it thinking Doctor Su was Sasa's friend and had treated him, so he could throw some business her way. Now he certainly didn't think she needed his patronage.

Su Fuling: "...I never said I wanted to end it."

Watching from the side, Zhao Facai grew anxious. He understood Chen Shan's feelings perfectly—facing a mysterious master of the mystical arts, who wouldn't feel a bit of awe? He himself had honestly come to be her apprentice. This Chen Shan was probably too intimidated to let his master treat his little underlings anymore.

But Chen Shan really didn't understand his master. His master was a true medicine fanatic—she loved treating people more than anything.

"Aiya, Mr. Chen, healing the sick and saving people is my master's heartfelt wish. If you don't let her treat people, she'll be unhappy instead."

Only then did Chen Shan come to his senses.

He had gotten it wrong, lumping Doctor Su in with those exalted figures of high society. The truth was, whether or not he knew of Doctor Su's abilities, Doctor Su was still that same doctor of noble character.

"Doctor Su, then I'll have them come over for follow-up visits in a bit. And about yesterday... thank you for the warning."

Su Fuling thought: so he brought it up after all. But this was no longer the first time she'd faced this situation, and she had gained some experience. "Ah, I understand your condition quite well, and I told you to be extra careful. I never expected you'd still ignore the doctor's orders."

"It was my fault. But Doctor Su... can reading illnesses really reveal things like that? You warned me about my shoulder..."

He looked at the wound on his shoulder.

Su Fuling, her face unchanged and her heartbeat steady, said, "I deduced it. Your line of work is prone to clashes, and when a person's reactions slow down, the shoulder gets hurt very easily."

Chen Shan: "..."