In the tea room on the third floor of Gui Sheng Tang.
“Sister, are you really going to work at his clinic?”
Li Tianyi, who had followed Li Yuxiu upstairs, couldn't understand what his sister was thinking.
“Yuxiu, you absolutely cannot go!”
Li Tiangui, with a grim face, sat in a chair in front of the coffee table, pointing at Li Yuxiu standing before him. He said, “If you go, it will be a disgrace to our Li family.”
“Yes, sister.”
Li Tianyi went up and held Li Yuxiu’s arm, trying to persuade her. “Even if you don’t go, no one will say anything, and Wan Yunting won’t speak carelessly. So, sister, you absolutely cannot go.”
Facing the persuasion of her father and sister, Li Yuxiu appeared enlightened. Her calm and composed phoenix eyes looked at her furious father, and she said peacefully, “Dad, a bet is a bet. If I lose, I must fulfill the promise and work at his clinic for a month. I don’t think this is shameful.”
*Slap!*
Li Tiangui slapped the table and stood up, his face full of anger. But then he thought that his eldest daughter hadn’t been back for a long time, and it wouldn't be right to get angry with her like this. Li Tiangui suppressed some of his anger and said, “But Yuxiu, you are the face of our Li family! You going to work at his Wan Yunting’s clinic for a month, what does that mean?”
“Does his Xiu Yuan Tang have such a grand facade?”
Li Tianyi, standing beside them, nodded in agreement, shaking Li Yuxiu’s arm. But she calmly shook her head and said, “I know this is embarrassing for the family, but if I don’t go, people will look down on me, and more people will laugh.”
“Who dares to look down on us, who dares to laugh?”
Li Tianyi said proudly, “Sister, you are a legend in the Chinese medicine world. Even those foreigners have to call you a divine doctor…”
“What legend? It’s just some people with ulterior motives spreading rumors.”
Li Yuxiu turned her head, her wise phoenix eyes glancing at her foolish sister. She went up to help Li Tiangui sit down again, and said softly, “If I were really that capable, I wouldn’t have lost to that Wan Yunting just now.”
“But Yuxiu…”
“Dad, although it’s a bit embarrassing, it doesn’t matter much to me.”
Li Yuxiu smiled, personally poured a cup of tea for her father, and handed it to him with a smile. “Losing is losing, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, I’m quite interested in that Wan Yunting. It’s a good opportunity to go to his clinic and exchange some ideas.”
Li Tiangui placed the teacup his daughter handed him on the table and sighed helplessly, “Since that’s the case, then go.”
“No, Dad, you’re really agreeing to let Sister go.”
Seeing this, Li Tianyi still wanted to dissuade her, but Li Tiangui suddenly glared at her and scolded, “How dare you! If it weren't for you, would your sister have made such a bet with Wan Yunting?”
“Tell me honestly, did Liu He and the others know your sister was coming back today, and that’s why they caused this whole thing?”
“I…”
Caught in the truth, Li Tianyi immediately lowered her head, not daring to look at her sister.
Li Yuxiu’s delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly. Her wise phoenix eyes looked at her, and she immediately understood that her foolish sister must have believed what Liu He and the others said.
“You, you. I told you to stay away from Liu He and the others, but you never listen.” Li Tiangui pointed at his silly youngest daughter, truly disappointed in her.
Li Yuxiu turned to look at her father and asked, “Dad, what exactly is going on between you and that Wan Yunting?”
Li Tiangui knew that his eldest daughter had been abroad for a long time and rarely returned to China. She also rarely inquired about matters in the domestic Chinese medicine circle, so she didn’t know what had happened.
Li Tiangui picked up the teacup, finished the tea, and put it down. He beckoned Li Yuxiu to sit down and sighed before saying, “Your Uncle Xue and Uncle Liu all feel that the chairman of our Chinese Medicine Association should not be an outsider.”
“So, at that time, they used this as an excuse to oust Wan Yunting. But they didn’t expect that the Health Commission would then recommend Gu Yuanbai as the chairman, and Liu He would continue as the vice-chairman.”
Hearing this, Li Yuxiu’s delicate eyebrows furrowed. She immediately understood what was happening. Her wise phoenix eyes stared at her father, and she said coldly, “Dad, are you trying to make the Liu family become the second Sima family again?”
Li Tiangui shook his head and sighed, “Yuxiu, this matter is not as simple as you think. There are many relationships involved. Therefore, even if I oppose it, it’s useless.”
Li Yuxiu’s lips suddenly curved into a cold smile, and she said impolitely, “You are truly hopeless. Chinese medicine is even more hopeless!”
Li Tiangui’s old brows furrowed. He turned and gazed at his eldest daughter, understanding why she said that.
The reason Li Yuxiu had fully supported the overseas development of Chinese medicine was that she was tired of the domestic Chinese medicine environment.
Especially in the capital, the Sima family was in control at that time, leaving no room for good TCM practitioners to survive.
Li Yuxiu had seen through a lot long ago and resolutely chose to leave China to promote Chinese medicine abroad. She wanted to break away from that decadent and corrupt environment and create an environment that belonged to her, and to true Chinese medicine.
While Li Yuxiu could not be said to have achieved overwhelming success, she had truly achieved herself.
She had thought that with the fall of the Sima family and the appointment of Wan Yunting as the chairman of the Chinese Medicine Association, everything would change.
But now, she didn’t expect the Liu family, the Xue family, and others to start being exclusive, believing that an outsider was not suitable to be the chairman of the Beijing Chinese Medicine Association. They used the incident of the martial arts world’s criticism and boycott of Wan Yunting to oust him.
Now, they were using this as an excuse again, wanting to oust Gu Yuanbai and have Liu He succeed him as the chairman of the Chinese Medicine Association.
Li Yuxiu felt a sense of irony. Never mind whether Liu He had the ability to be the chairman of the Chinese Medicine Association. With the collusion of these TCM families and the complex network of vested interests behind them, it would inevitably evolve into the same stubborn and corrupt thinking as the Sima family.
“It seems that returning to China this time was a wrong decision,” Li Yuxiu said with great disappointment.
“Sister, you can’t say that…”
“Especially you!”
Li Yuxiu looked up, her phoenix eyes coldly staring at Li Tianyi, and said, “I advised you not to get too close to Liu He and the others before, but look at you now. What have you learned from them?”
Being lectured by her sister, Li Tianyi lowered her head nervously, no longer daring to speak rashly.
“Yuxiu, the domestic environment is like this. You can’t blame everyone else,” Li Tiangui was a little afraid of his eldest daughter.
“Dad, I’ve said it before. The reason Chinese medicine has declined and failed to develop is not only Western medicine, but also those people hiding in the dark, making trouble and preventing the revival of our Chinese medicine!” Li Yuxiu turned her head and said very seriously to Li Tiangui.
Li Tiangui frowned and said, “But you can’t think that all of us are bad, right?”
“The reason Chinese medicine cannot be revived is due to the wars that caused many inheritances of Chinese medicine to be broken and lost, and most of them were snatched away by foreigners. This is no longer something we can change.”
“Wrong.”
Li Yuxiu’s wise phoenix eyes widened slightly, and she looked at her father earnestly, saying, “What you said is only part of it. The vast majority is due to the corruption of those people’s thinking, and the infiltration of people into our ranks, constantly causing trouble and hindering the development of our Chinese medicine!”
These words made Li Tiangui raise his eyebrows. This was not the first time he had discussed this issue with his eldest daughter. Although he felt she was right, Li Tiangui was still reluctant to believe it.
“Alright, alright. You just returned today, and it’s almost dinner time. Let’s go home and have dinner first.”
After a moment of silence, Li Tiangui did not want to continue discussing the issue with his eldest daughter. He got up and asked her to go home for dinner together.
Li Yuxiu nodded, knowing that changing her father’s traditional views would not be accomplished in a few words. It would require gradual change…
In the tea room on the second floor of Liu Ping Tang.
Liu Yuan, Zhang Shunchang, and Tian Xiangrong were sitting around the coffee table, each drinking tea with grim expressions…
It was only when Liu He saw the entrance of the Xiu Yuan Tang clinic opposite from outside, and Wan Yunting personally seeing off the Ge family father and son, that he turned and entered the tea room, saying with a very solemn tone, “I didn’t expect even Li Yuxiu to be helpless against Wan Yunting!”
“Yes.”
Tian Xiangrong’s small eyes were full of helplessness. “We wanted to dampen Wan Yunting’s prestige by using Li Yuxiu’s return today, but now, it has only boosted his prestige.”
Zhang Shunchang fanned himself with a palm-leaf fan and sighed, “It seems that it will be increasingly difficult to deal with Wan Yunting in the future.”
Liu Yuan’s face was grim. “We need to think of a way. We absolutely cannot let Wan Yunting’s clinic continue to open on this street!”
Liu He, Tian Xiangrong, and the others all nodded. Now that even Li Yuxiu couldn’t deal with Wan Yunting, they had to find other ways.
“I wonder if Li Yuxiu will really go to work at Wan Yunting’s clinic for a month?” Zhang Shunchang suddenly said.
Tian Xiangrong couldn’t help but laugh, “If Li Yuxiu knew this was our doing, she would probably hate us even more.”
Speaking of which, Xue Xialan said with a worried face, “Sister Yuxiu already has an opinion about us. Now that this has happened, she’ll probably go abroad again tomorrow.”
“Yes, maybe she will go abroad directly.”
Zhang Shunchang smiled and said, “If she really goes to work at Wan Yunting’s clinic for a month, it won’t just be her who is disgraced, but also Elder Li.”
However, Liu He shook his head and said, “Based on my understanding of Li Yuxiu, she is very likely to honor her bet!”
Zhang Shunchang and Tian Xiangrong’s expressions froze. Liu He raised his eyebrows, his eyes narrowing, and said, “And what I worry about most is that Li Yuxiu might get involved with Wan Yunting!”
“Get involved, Xiao He, what do you mean? Could it be that Li Yuxiu has a crush on Wan Yunting?” Zhang Shunchang didn’t react immediately.
“What are you talking about, Old Zhang.”
Tian Xiangrong and the others looked back at Zhang Shunchang speechlessly and pointed at Liu He, saying, “Xiao He means he’s afraid Li Yuxiu will get involved with Wan Yunting and turn against us!”
As soon as this was said, Liu Yuan’s brows furrowed, and he nodded, saying, “That’s possible. After all, Li Yuxiu went abroad to develop because she disliked the environment of the Beijing Chinese medicine circle.”
Regarding this matter, anyone who had contact with the Li family knew that Li Yuxiu chose to go abroad because she was tired of the harsh environment of the domestic Chinese medicine circle.
The reason Liu He was so worried was that he believed Li Yuxiu and Wan Yunting were alike!
“No, Xiao He, don’t overthink it.”
Zhang Shunchang fanned himself with his fan and said, “Things were already like that before. How could Li Yuxiu get involved with Wan Yunting?”
“Yes.”
Tian Xiangrong nodded and said with a smile, “Maybe she’ll slink away abroad tomorrow. You don’t need to worry about that.”
Zhang Shunchang smiled coldly, “Even if she gets involved with Wan Yunting, they won’t be able to touch our cake!”
As soon as he said this, Tian Xiangrong and Liu Yuan nodded. Liu He’s lips curved into a light smile, and he nodded, saying, “Well, the most important thing now is to oust Gu Yuanbai. As long as I become the chairman, then Wan Yunting and the others will be out of the picture!”
“Exactly.”
Tian Xiangrong, Zhang Shunchang, and the others all agreed with smiles…