MMB Chapter 1 The Self-Cultivation of Leeks
Chapter 1 The Self-Cultivation of Leeks
In October in Changxiang City, the lingering summer heat hadn't completely subsided, and the air was thick with a stifling, oppressive heat.
Wang Minyu, dragging a 24-inch suitcase, stood in front of the glass door of "Renxin Pharmacy" and looked up at the slightly mottled signboard.
The red background with white lettering had a handwritten job posting pasted in the lower right corner, the corners of which were curled and swayed gently in the wind as cars drove by.
"Looking for a licensed resident doctor. Experienced candidates preferred. Base salary negotiable."
He unfolded the nearly crushed resume in his hand and pushed the door open to go inside.
The air conditioner's cool air hit me in the face, carrying a faint smell of Chinese medicine and disinfectant.
Behind the counter was a middle-aged man with his head down, scrolling through his phone. He was bald, with a shiny bald head, and his reading glasses were perched on the very tip of his nose.
Hearing the noise, the person didn't even look up, his fingers flying across the screen: "Look for medicine yourself, the cold medicine section is on the left, the anti-inflammatory drugs are on the right, and you need a prescription for prescription drugs."
"Boss, I'm here for a job interview."
Wang Minyu placed the resume on the counter with just the right amount of force, making a soft "snap" sound.
The boss then looked up from his phone, squinting as he sized him up.
"So young? Have you taken the assistant physician certification exam?"
"Just passed, the certificate hasn't been issued yet, but I have the transcript." Wang Minyu said calmly, pulling out a printed transcript from his bag. "I worked at a small clinic in Hengzhou for a year and a half before, and I had no problem with suturing, giving IVs, and treating common illnesses."
The owner, surnamed Liu, is also the legal representative of this shop. He picked up the performance report, glanced at it, and curled his lip: "These days, most young people are all talk and no action. My shop is small, I don't support idlers, and I also have to sell medicine. The base salary is 2,800 yuan, and the commission is calculated at 3% of the gross profit. Accommodation is provided, but meals are not. There is a small cubicle in the back. If you can accept this, stay; if not, turn right and go out."
In Changxiang City, such conditions would be tantamount to giving alms to a beggar.
But Wang Minyu's pockets are now emptier than his face.
"Okay," he agreed readily.
Boss Liu was taken aback for a moment, seemingly not expecting this young man to be so easy to talk to, and then added: "One-month probation period, during which commission will be halved."
"Can."
Wang Minyu didn't even ask how small the "little compartment" actually was. All he wanted now was to find a place to hide himself away from his "parents" who were trying to drain his bone marrow as far as possible.
Boss Liu pointed to a small door at the very back of the pharmacy: "Go put your luggage down and come out to familiarize yourself with the medicines. By the way, what's it called?"
"Wang Minyu".
"Oh, Xiao Wang. Hurry up, I have to go out for a bit, will you mind watching the shop for a while?"
The cubicle was really small, located right behind the Chinese medicine cabinet. It was originally supposed to be a warehouse, but it was filled with unopened medicine boxes.
A cot was crammed into the corner, covered with a straw mat, leaving barely enough room to turn around.
Wang Minyu stuffed the box under the bed and sat on the edge of the bed in a daze for a while.
The phone screen lit up and then went off, displaying three missed calls, each labeled "that person".
That was his biological father.
When he was six years old, these two people left him at the gate of the orphanage, saying they were going to buy a steamed bun. Eighteen years have passed since then.
He returned eighteen years later, not out of a change of heart, but because his younger brother, whom he had never met, had leukemia and urgently needed a bone marrow match.
They found out he was interning at a community hospital in Hengzhou, and they blocked the entrance, crying their hearts out, using moral blackmail to their fullest extent.
What about "blood is thicker than water" and "give him a chance"?
Wang Minyu felt nauseous at the time. He packed his bags and ran away overnight, without even settling his wages for the past two weeks.
"bite--"
A crisp electronic sound suddenly rang in my mind; it wasn't from a cell phone, but from inside my head.
[Host's emotional fluctuations detected. 'Playing Hard to Get System' successfully activated.]
[New player gift pack has been distributed: Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis (beginner level), basic suturing (beginner level), and the skill "Verbal Abuse - Sarcasm" (beginner level).]
[Current Task: Inflict extreme distress on the first patient and successfully cure them. Reward: 500 RMB.]
Wang Minyu paused for half a second, then twitched the corner of his mouth.
Are systems this bizarre these days? They're designed to make people unhappy?
Before he could think it through, Boss Liu's loud voice rang out from outside: "Xiao Wang! Come out! We have work to do!"
Wang Minyu lifted the curtain and went out.
An older woman entered the shop, carrying two bags of groceries. She had a ruddy complexion and a strong voice. Pointing to her throat, she gestured to the shop owner, Mr. Liu, saying, "Ouch, I feel like there's something stuck in my throat. I can't cough it up or swallow it down, it's so uncomfortable. Could it be a tumor? I read online that it's a precursor to esophageal cancer!"
Boss Liu was clearly having a headache dealing with this hypochondriac. He was just about to recommend a few boxes of throat lozenges to get rid of him when he saw Wang Minyu come out. He immediately shifted the blame: "Hey, Wang, you're a doctor, can you take a look at him?"
The older woman turned her head and looked at the unusually young man with suspicion: "This kid can treat illnesses? He's barely grown any hair!"
Wang Minyu didn't speak, he just looked at her quietly.
On the system panel, a few words floated above the old lady's head: "[Plum pit qi (caused by emotional distress), perfectly healthy, just bored out of my mind.]"
He walked to the counter, picked up a pen, twirled it in his hand a couple of times, and suddenly asked, "Auntie, how long have you had these symptoms?"
"It's been a week! Oh dear, I can't sleep at night, I always feel that thing moving!" The old lady slapped her thigh, as if she had found a kindred spirit.
Wang Minyu nodded, but instead of prescribing any medicine, he took out a piece of white paper, quickly wrote a few words, and pushed it across the way: "Go to the supermarket across the street to buy something."
The woman leaned closer and saw two large characters written on the paper: **Bitter Gourd**.
"Huh?" The woman's eyes widened. "I came to see a doctor, and you want me to buy groceries?"
"This isn't an illness," Wang Minyu said, leaning back in his chair with an indifferent expression. "You're just bored. Your daughter-in-law just had her second child, right? Is she trying to keep you out of the way of helping with the baby? All that energy you have is stuck in your throat."
The woman's face changed, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on: "How did you know? That little vixen thinks it's unscientific of me to take care of children! I raised two sons, how is that unscientific?"
"So," Wang Minyu shrugged, "that stuff in your throat, that's your breath. I'll give you a prescription: buy three bitter melons every day, and you must eat them raw for three days in a row. While eating them, silently recite, 'Children and grandchildren have their own blessings; don't be a beast of burden for them.' If you still feel congested after eating them, I'll eat this signboard."
The woman's face turned green with anger: "You little rascal! Are you trying to make fun of me? I'm going to file a complaint against you! What kind of lousy doctor are you? Get your boss out here!"
Mr. Liu, watching from the side, was sweating profusely and was about to step in to smooth things over when Wang Minyu remained calm and collected: "Auntie, do you feel better now, and all you want to do is yell at me?"
The woman was taken aback.
She subconsciously swallowed.
That foreign feeling... seems to be really gone? I was so focused on being angry that my blood rushed to my head, and that feeling of frustration actually dissipated a lot.
"This..." The woman touched her neck, her expression strange, "It seems a little better."
"That's right." Wang Minyu stood up, crumpled the paper with "Bitter Melon" written on it into a ball, and threw it into the trash can. "This is 'emotional therapy.' Now that you're better, go back. Don't buy any more medicine; it's a waste of money. If you really want to spend money, turn right when you go out, there's a foot massage shop there. A foot massage is more effective than taking medicine."
The middle-aged woman was speechless for a long time, pointing at Wang Minyu and stammering "You, you, you" for ages before finally stomping her foot hard: "You win!"
He picked up his shopping bag and left in a hurry.
Mr. Liu was dumbfounded: "This...that's it? Not a single penny of medicine sold?"
[Congratulations, host, on completing the mission! Patient's mood: From extreme displeasure to utter bewilderment. Treatment effect: Immediate results. Reward: 500 yuan in cash.]
My phone vibrated, followed by a text message that my bank account had received a deposit.
Seeing the pained expression on Boss Liu's face, Wang Minyu felt inexplicably better: "Boss, even if you sell her medicine worth several hundred yuan, she'll still cause trouble if it doesn't work. It's better to just cure her and have some peace and quiet."
Boss Liu smacked his lips, thinking it made some sense, but then something felt off: "But you can't just drive people into a foot massage parlor! Is that a legitimate business?"
Wang Minyu shrugged, didn't respond, and turned to go back to the small cubicle to pack his things.
Outside the door, Boss Liu watched his retreating figure, touched his bald head, and muttered to himself, "This kid is a bit strange."
The pharmacy closes at night.
Wang Minyu lay on the narrow cot, surrounded by the musty smell of damp cardboard boxes. He turned over and looked at the balance on his phone: 5032.5 yuan.
This is all he has.
The phone calls from Hengzhou finally stopped, replaced by several lengthy text messages.
"Minwoo, your brother really needs you. We know we were wrong, we had no choice back then... You can't be so heartless, that was a human life!"
"We're already in Changsha and have found your train travel records. If you don't come out, we'll place a missing person ad in the newspaper!"
Wang Minyu looked at those words, his eyes devoid of any warmth.
He blocked that number and then opened a WeChat chat window with a profile picture of a husky.
This is his best friend from medical school, Zhang Kai, who is currently undergoing residency training at the Second People's Hospital of Changxiang City and is being treated like an animal.
Wang Minyu: [Are you there?]
Zhang Kai replied instantly: [Just had surgery, so hungry I could eat a whole cow. What, are you treating? I heard you ran away to Changxiang?]
Wang Minyu: [No money to treat, but I can get a free meal. By the way, have you heard of any middle-aged couples lately who are constantly asking around about bone marrow matches? The man is lame, and the woman has triangular eyes.]
Zhang Kai: [Holy crap, your description... sounds familiar. Apparently, there was a commotion in the hematology department today. Apparently, some parents tried to save money by finding a match privately, and they even threw a tantrum in the lobby. Could it be your awful parents?]
Wang Minyu didn't reply; his fingers gripped the edge of his phone tightly, his knuckles turning slightly blue.
They arrived as expected.
Changxiang is neither a large nor a small place.
The medical community is also interconnected.
Zhang Kai's message popped up again: [Bro, if you ever run into trouble, come find me. Even though I'm just a resident trainee, I can at least help you out. By the way, where do you live now?]
Wang Minyu replied: [Renxin Pharmacy, I'll be the resident doctor. I'll just have to wait it out for now.]
After sending the message, he tossed his phone aside and closed his eyes.
In the darkness, the system interface glowed faintly.
[A potential threat to the host has been detected. An advanced mission has been issued: Within the next three days, through unique treatment methods, make Renxin Pharmacy famous and establish your own 'eccentric doctor' moat. Only by becoming irreplaceable can you confidently tell anyone to 'get lost.']
Wang Minyu smiled silently in the darkness.
Did it become famous?
This seems to be what he's best at.
After all, if you're going to be a leek, you have to be the most thorny one.