Chapter 249: Chapter 218: Three Apothecaries in One Family

"Mr. Lin."

"Didn’t I tell you not to come here? Why didn’t you listen?" Lin Miao turned over and knew that the person who came in was Yue Mei’Er.

"Boring, how did you know I’m not Si Miaoxue?" Yue Mei’Er pouted, staring at Si Miaoxue’s face, and mumbled.

"If Miaoxue came to see me, she wouldn’t need to say anything, she would just get under the covers." Lin Miao chuckled. If it weren’t for Yue Mei’Er pretending to be Si Miaoxue, he wouldn’t have noticed these details.

But since that incident, he paid attention.

"Is Sister Miaoxue really that direct?" Yue Mei’Er’s eyes widened, clearly surprised by Si Miaoxue’s boldness.

"Why did you come to see me?"

"Young master, you haven’t come to find Mei’Er for many days. Since Mei’Er has become your woman, shouldn’t you care more?" Yue Mei’Er said plaintively, lying down beside Lin Miao. Her boldness was no less than Si Miaoxue’s.

"Are you healed?" Lin Miao implied.

Yue Mei’Er blushed, recalling the strange occurrence when she had overexerted herself the first time and got injured. She shyly said, "Young Master, you’re so bad, my injury healed a long time ago."

"Once the wound heals, the pain is forgotten."

"It’s not that. It’s just that the young master made Mei’Er think of him constantly, losing appetite..." Yue Mei’Er slipped her hand under the quilt to start teasing. After all, it wasn’t the first time, she was quite familiar with it by now.

"Ah, young master, your..." Yue Mei’Er’s face suddenly turned as red as a sheet, her mouth opened in shock.

The character for ’lust’ has a knife on top of it.

Many times, men fall victim to this ’lust’. Lin Miao found that his resistance to beauty grew weaker and weaker.

Perhaps, deep down, he is a lecherous person.

There was no helping it; he was just an ordinary person.

From ancient times to the present, how many among emperors and generals aren’t fond of beauty? An emperor like Emperor Sui Wen, Yang Jian, is quite rare.

As long as he maintains a clear head, there’s no need to be overly critical of other things.

"Scared?" Lin Miao teased, as he found it hard to resist Yue Mei’Er’s teasing.

"Not scared; if Sister Miaoxue can, so can I."

"In that case, don’t beg for mercy later..." After that, Lin Miao got up, put on a robe, picked up Yue Mei’Er around her waist, and disappeared into the night like a rabbit.

In Lianxin and Liansuo’s room.

The two sisters opened their eyes simultaneously and glanced up at the ceiling.

"Sister, the young master..."

"I know. Just pretend you don’t know and don’t meddle." Lianxin rebuked, also feeling unsettled. A letter had arrived from the Snow Mountain Sect saying that the royal family of Da Yue Country, Yuwen Hu, had sent someone to propose marriage, specifically asking for the two sisters to become his secondary wives.

The Snow Mountain Sect is quite open about its disciples’ marriages; otherwise, how could Bai Feng have married Su Qi back then?

They can make their own choices, but once made, they cannot be changed, because besides representing themselves, they also represent the Snow Mountain Sect, known for keeping promises like gold.

"Sister, what are you thinking?"

"Sister, don’t you know what I’m thinking?" Liansuo retorted.

"Uncle Bai Feng arranged for us to be by the young master’s side with this intention, sister, what do you think?" Lianxin asked.

"Our situation is special; in the future, we can only serve one husband together. But with more women surely by the young master’s side, how much favor can we really get if we stay?" Liansuo questioned.

"I know, but between the young master and Yuwen Hu, I can only choose the young master," Lianxin said.

"Though Yuwen Hu is a royal of Da Yue Country, he’s already thirty, and I’ve heard he’s naturally violent, can tear tigers and leopards apart, and enjoys eating animal hearts," Liansuo said.

"Sister, the Snow Mountain Sect is rooted in Da Yue Country, and they will want us to make a decision soon," Lianxin said.

The room fell into silence.

...

The date for the Pharmacist exam has been set.

April 3rd.

First, a written test, followed by drug identification. Quite a number are taking the exam, more than for the Physician exam, with over a thousand participants.

Many take the Pharmacist exam just to secure a respectable profession. Compared to the Physician exam or the Imperial exams, it’s easier to pass the Pharmacist exam.

The candidates are either very young or over thirty. Many who see no hope in the Imperial exams turn to medicine, getting a Pharmacist license to secure an easy and respectable job.

The younger ones aiming for the Physician exam are serious about studying medicine and only take the Pharmacist exam incidentally, planning to take the Physician exam later on.

Some repeatedly fail the Physician exam and then decide to try the Pharmacist exam.

The Physician exam is akin to the Jinshi exam, highly difficult with an extremely low passing rate, a single-plank bridge crowded with a thousand troops, whereas the Pharmacist exam is much simpler.

Out of over a thousand candidates, over a hundred can pass in the end.

Lin Miao and Sun Youwei both registered for the Pharmacist exam, so on the exam day, the Convenient Medical Diagnosis Point was closed.

The testing sites were randomly assigned, with ten in total. Lin Miao was assigned to the "A" site, and where Sun Youwei was assigned was unknown.

The written test lasted only one hour.

The exam questions were all objective, with standard answers, correct or incorrect without dispute. Whether you could answer them or not was clear as soon as you saw the questions.

This kind of exam mainly tested memory, and for those with photographic memory, unless the questions were exceptionally obscure and unstudied, there was no difficulty at all.

Lin Miao finished the exam in just over half an hour.

The Pharmacist Exam allows for early submission of the test.

After checking and confirming no errors, Lin Miao handed in his paper and left the examination hall.

He wasn’t the only one to submit early; soon others were handing in their tests as well, and Lin Miao spotted the figure of Sun Youwei among them.

If he hadn’t been waiting for his senior sister, he might have left earlier.

As for the exam scores, he wasn’t worried. The Pharmacist Exam would set a score threshold, and as long as one surpassed it, they’d pass the first round of written tests.

The focus would then shift to the second round, which involved identifying medicinal herbs.

The role of a pharmacist heavily emphasizes practical skills, and identifying herbs is extremely important. However, with diligent practice and reasonable eyesight, passing shouldn’t be difficult.

Sure enough, the results of the written test were posted the next day. Lin Miao didn’t even look at the list, confident he passed the exam.

It was Xu Qixi who brought the news that both Lin Miao and Sun Youwei had scored full marks in the written test, along with Xu Qixi himself.

All three achieved full marks in the written test.

Tied for first place in the written exam.

The medical community in Dongshan City took notice.

The Pharmacist Exam didn’t feature any particularly brilliant individuals, like Zhong Yu, who had passed long ago and naturally wouldn’t participate again.

The herb identification test was scheduled for the day after the results were posted.

As usual, the Convenient Medical Diagnosis Point closed, and Lin Miao, along with Sun Youwei, went together to take the test.

This year’s difficulty in identifying herbs was noticeably increased, with the Pharmacist Association bringing out some obscure and similar herbs.

This was obviously targeted.

However, it posed no issue for Lin Miao and Sun Youwei, whereas it was quite unfriendly to the other candidates.

The test involved identifying the shape, taste, appearance, and production area of the herbs.

The herb packets were assigned randomly, with each candidate drawing a lot, opening the packet before the examiners, identifying the type, quantity, preparation method, and origin, and separating ten types of herbs.

This type of exam generally didn’t include powdered herbs, but if there were any, those candidates would have an advantage as powdered herbs were placed separately.

Luck of the draw for each candidate.

Lin Miao’s luck was good; he picked a packet without any obscure herbs and quickly identified and separated all of them.

Because it wasn’t difficult, the examiner could grade on the spot, and as long as certain requirements were met, one could immediately know if they had passed.

The Pharmacist Exam didn’t restrict the list of successful candidates; everyone who passed received a Pharmacist Seal and certificate.

So, after the exam, Lin Miao was informed that he had passed.

After Lin Miao finished, Sun Youwei hadn’t started yet. She was a bit nervous, but after seeing Lin Miao come out with a smile, her mind was put at ease.

When it was her turn to enter the exam room, Lin Miao gave an encouraging look. Sun Youwei’s ability in identifying herbs surpassed his; she truly had talent in her area of expertise.

Sure enough, not even a tea’s time after she entered, she came out, her face all flushed, beaming with happiness.

Clearly, she had passed the Pharmacist Exam.

"Come on, senior sister, let’s go home and celebrate. I’ll cook dinner myself tonight!" Lin Miao joyfully lifted Sun Youwei, spinning her around in place.

"Junior brother, don’t do that, so many people are watching..."

Sun Youwei was mortified, feeling thoroughly embarrassed. Her junior brother didn’t know when to draw the line; how could he act so intimately in public?

Such behavior was unbecoming.

"I don’t care, I’m not hugging anyone else." Lin Miao laughed heartily, thinking his senior sister’s thin-skinned nature shows. If it were Si Miaoxue or Yue Mei’Er, they’d eagerly want him to act this way in public.

Yue Mei’s "Inner Charm" was indeed far superior to Si Miaoxue’s, and with her special enhancements, if it weren’t for his practice of "Embrace Yang," he might not have been her match.

Lin Miao took Sun Youwei shopping at the market and personally cooked a good meal in celebration of their success in the Pharmacist Exam.

This meant that, in addition to Xia Zhu, the Lin Clan now had three pharmacists.

Sun Youwei was so pleased that she indulged in a bit of wine that evening. After Lin Miao had forcibly unblocked her meridians, she was as healthy as anyone else and had even started practicing martial arts to strengthen her body.

However, she had started training late, and it was uncertain how far she’d be able to go.

In any case, Sun Youwei now faces no risk of an untimely death.

"Junior brother, growing up, this is my first time drinking. I didn’t expect wine to taste like this—so sweet and nice, hehe..."

Clearly, Sun Youwei didn’t have a head for alcohol; she was tipsy after just three glasses of low-alcohol wine. If it had been stronger liquor, half a glass would have sufficed to floor her.

Lin Miao carried the intoxicated Sun Youwei to her room; her body felt significantly heavier than it did when she was sober.

"Junior brother, don’t go, hug me, kiss me..." Indeed, a drunken woman is like another being; these requests would never come from the lips of the sober senior sister.

"Yuzhu, bring the sobering soup in."

"Yes, milord."

Senior sister Sun Youwei handled her drink well, and after taking the sobering soup, she peacefully drifted into sleep with a sweet smile, Lin Miao staying by her side.

For Sun Youwei wouldn’t let go of his hand.