Switched Marriage: The Coddled Little Wife

Chapter 729: Chapter 729: Crestfallen

The little girl had changed a lot, wearing a pink dress, making her look even more adorable.

Her soft hair was tied into two little buns on top of her head, melting the old man’s heart.

Qin Yang saw Old Master He disembark and approached with the child in his arms, respectfully calling, "Master."

Then he taught Qi Qi to call him grandpa.

Qi Qi could already say simple words, blinking her big eyes at Old Master He, and in a childish voice said, "Grandpa!"

"Aye!"

Old Master He replied heavily, then looked around for his luggage.

Knowing that Gu Peng had already loaded the luggage onto the jeep, he went to the car to look, and Lin Chuxia couldn’t stop him.

Finally, Old Master He pulled out a doll from the bag, its eyes moving and blinking.

"Qi Qi, Grandpa bought you a doll, just as cute as our Qi Qi, come and take it."

Lin Chuxia looked at the doll, finding it hard to imagine how an old man in his seventies went to the mall to buy such a thing.

Qi Qi hugged the doll, curious about its moving eyes, reaching out to poke them with her little hand.

Finally, she smiled, revealing four tiny front teeth.

Lin Chuxia standing by: "..."

................

Knowing Old Master He was returning, his room was already tidied up.

In fact, every so often Qin Jianjun would clean up Old Master’s room.

Lin Chuxia and Qin Yang made a big table of dishes to welcome Old Master He.

Today Qin Jianjun came back early too, and a few people gathered around the table, Old Master He sighed, "It’s good to be home."

Lin Chuxia served him some dishes, "Since you feel it’s good at home, don’t run around everywhere. At your age, we worry when you’re always out. If you want to return to the old business, I can help you open a pharmacy."

Old Master He shook his head, took a gulp of his drink, "No need, I’m old, the future belongs to you young people."

From getting off the train, the old man seemed cheerful, but now Lin Chuxia felt he had something on his mind.

She gave Qin Jianjun a look.

Having lived with the old man all these years, Qin Jianjun was quite familiar with his temperament, smiled and said, "We young ones still need guidance from you elders, Grandpa He, you’re still in your prime. Traditionally, the older a Chinese medicine doctor, the more valuable they are. To us, you’re a treasure."

Old Master He was coaxed into laughter by Qin Jianjun, pointing at Lin Chuxia with a finger, "See, your nephew knows how to talk, much better than you."

With the topic changed, the meal was lively and cheerful.

After the meal, Lin Chuxia and her family returned home, with all the big and small gifts Old Master He bought for Qi Qi.

On the way back, Lin Chuxia mentioned to Qin Yang about Old Master He’s unsettled mood, Qin Yang noticed it too.

However, where Old Master He had been or what he had done in the past six months, since he didn’t say, they didn’t pry.

Luckily, there was Qin Jianjun around him, that guy was sharp now. If he wanted to find out something, he’d uncover it sooner or later.

Sure enough, a few days later, Qin Jianjun came to Lin Chuxia to talk about Old Master He.

It turned out Old Master He had gone to an old friend’s place in the South over the past six months.

His old friend had opened a pharmacy and taken in several apprentices. Old Master He, during this half-year, had helped train some apprentices for that friend.

This experience over the past six months left Old Master He seeing the current state of Chinese medicine and he had some difficulty accepting it.

He thought that after policy changes, Chinese medicine was entering a springtime, but didn’t expect...

Hearing this, Lin Chuxia also fell silent.

Regarding the country’s policy, since the Hengyang conference in 1982, it was clearly stated to emphasize the characteristics of Chinese medicine, leveraging its advantages to develop its industry.

In June 1985, the Central Committee Secretariat highlighted putting Chinese and Western medicine on equal footing.

Although the state had introduced policies to support the development of Chinese medicine, at the local level, some policies were inadequately implemented, resulting in funding and support challenges for Chinese medicine institutions.

Moreover, with the widespread spread and development of Western medicine in China, Western drugs’ effective treatment of acute and infectious diseases impacted the proportion of Chinese medicine in clinical treatment.

People didn’t care about so-called side effects, just wanted to heal quickly and cheaply.

Furthermore, Chinese medicine education faced issues of overemphasizing theory over practice, with inadequate development of students’ clinical skills. The study time for traditional courses was reduced, lacking a solid understanding of classic theories.

It took longer for talent in Chinese medicine to develop compared to Western medicine.

Growing into a good Chinese medicine doctor indeed faced substantial pressure.

These were facts that neither the old man nor his fellow old friends could change.

No wonder the old man appeared so disheartened.

Not just the talent in Chinese medicine, but even herbal medicine faced developmental challenges.

Previously, gaps in Chinese medicine and overharvesting of wild herbs drastically reduced many species’ resources, damaging ecological environments.

The technology for artificially planting herbs was immature, lacking scientific management, with low pest control skill, leading to instability in herb quality and yield. Additionally, farmers blindly followed planting trends, severely skewing market supply and demand.

To process these herbs required traditional experience, and traditional preparation methods were time-consuming and labor-intensive, with young people unwilling to learn and inherit them, making it hard to ensure herb quality.

After hearing all this, Lin Chuxia felt heavy-hearted too.

Having lived another lifetime, she knew well that good Chinese medicine would be harder to find in the future.

While our country’s heritage might be fading, it’s being celebrated in some other nations.

It’s such a heartbreaking situation.

Lin Chuxia thought of the prescriptions Old Master He had given her.

Previously, when her family got sick, she used those prescriptions and found them very effective.

It’s not that Chinese medicine isn’t effective or slow, but it lacks high-quality herbs and formulas.

When she got those prescriptions, she secretly resolved not to let them be buried.

It seems some things could be put on the agenda.

.......................

In early June, Zhuang Jingshu finally returned from abroad.

Lin Chuxia and Qin Yang personally went to the airport to pick them up.

Zhuang Jingshu wore a moon-white cheongsam, white leather high heels, each step graceful and dignified.

Beside her was another assistant, Luo Sen.

This was the first time Lin Chuxia met Luo Sen, a typical foreigner with white skin and blue eyes.

However, like Zhuang Yang, he had lived alongside Zhuang Jingshu for a long time, speaking Hua Country’s language fluently.

Little Qi Qi hadn’t seen Grandma for almost two months, stared wide-eyed at Zhuang Jingshu, and waved her little arms pouncing toward her.