Su Xi-er patted Mei Jinxiu’s hand, signalling for her not to be hasty.
Then, she faced the audience and faintly smiled. “All of you are physicians, why do you have to make things difficult for each other? The commoners will go to the physician that they feel has the better medical skills. Physician Mei can’t promise anything, but she definitely won’t lower her prices when rich patients seek her out.”
The commoners around her nodded in unison. “That makes sense. We’ll look for the person with the better medical skills. If Physician Mei’s medical skills aren’t good enough, we wouldn’t look for her even if it was free. Who would mess around with their own health?”
“Exactly, it’s not like we are blind. We will go to the person with the better medical skills.”
“By the way, I heard that Physician Mei has been invited to the Prince Hao Residence to be Princess Consort Hao’s personal female healer. However, Physician Mei is kind and can’t bear to close the medical clinic, so she’s running it while tending to Princess Consort Hao.”
“What a great physician, and to think they’re forcing her to close her doors! That’s too incorrigible!”
Immediately after, the people began castigating the middle-aged men and old uncles blocking the entrance. “If you have no standards, then don’t run a medical clinic! Physician Mei’s medical skills are recognised by Princess Consort Hao. In my opinion, you are all simply attacking Physician Mei with your underhanded methods because you are afraid that she will steal your customers with her superior skills! How can you still practise medicine when you have such vicious thoughts?!”
The few men began panicking; they had already been planning on working together to force Mei Jinxiu to close her doors. Great, now that this pink-dressed woman has entered the mix, even the commoners are starting to mess things up!
Only then did Mei Jinxiu understand that their real intention wasn’t to force her to lower her prices, but to force her to close her doors out of fear that she would steal their customers with her commendable medical skills. Her eyes darkened, and displeasure was practically written on her face. For someone with a straightforward character like hers, they often wore their emotions on their sleeve.
Su Xi-er patted her shoulder. “It’s not easy to practise medicine; those of the same trade shouldn’t make things difficult for each other.” She then turned to the middle-aged men and old uncles who had been making a scene before addressing the crowd, “A physician with vicious thoughts will be detained for trial in the Magistrate Office sooner or later. Of course, I don’t believe that the physicians blocking Physician Mei’s clinic are doing so purely out of ill will but rather because they didn’t have a choice; they practise medicine not just for saving people, but they also have to be able to eke out a living somehow. How are they going to raise their children with no money?”
The commoners agreed with Su Xi-er’s speech, and everyone who heard her speech had gradually quieted down. However, their gazes were all full of admiration as they settled on Su Xi-er.
Su Xi-er turned towards the middle-aged men. “I understand that all of you felt that you had no choice but to strike at Physician Mei’s clinic because you needed to support your families, but you can’t just push all the blame to Physician Mei. There is something that you should all recognise: as a healer, the focus should be on raising your medical skills.”
Some of these physicians were already nearing 100 years old, while the younger ones were already 40. When they heard her words, they felt as if the burden on their shoulders had lightened, and all of them were delighted.
However, Su Xi-er’s next words enlightened them even further. “Since all of you are healers, why don’t you collaborate and exchange meaningful discussions about medicine instead of competing?”
The recesses of Mei Jinxiu’s eyes were filled with admiration for Su Xi-er as she observed the latter’s methods. She easily reversed the situation with just a few words, even managing to render those old physicians speechless. Some of them are even showing signs of approval in their eyes.
