Doctor’s Rebirth - Chapter 688

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 688
A month had passed since receiving my appointment letter.
Wei Qingqing, who had undergone training directly under Jin Cheon-hee—training given the name “continuous education”—was finally released.
Now I was officially a Dong-jang!
‘Ilgwang, you crazy bastard. I didn’t die. I survived…. Hic.’
Tears blurred my vision, and my heart soared with indescribable joy.
Despite the grueling overwork, the officials of Baekrin County—which had the Baekrin Medical Guild, one of the three greatest medical guilds under heaven, as its headquarters—maintained their health through sheer force.
Even when my body was ground down like marbled pork belly, my vitality was somehow forcibly sustained.
It was a strange thing.
Even as I poured out my life force, the doctors would laugh and say, “Hehe, people don’t die so easily. Don’t worry,” and pour new life back into me.
The administrative duties of Baekrin County—with their various qi-healing treatments, tonics, and forced martial arts training—were slowly pushing them into the realm of the inhuman.
Even if I wanted to escape, unemployment would simply begin anew.
Moreover.
-Everyone envies him for working at Baekrin County. This old mother can finally hold her head high thanks to her son.
As they say, the people’s heart is heaven’s heart.
The more famous Baekrin County became, the better the surrounding people viewed it, and the higher my family’s reputation rose.
An official position for life.
In this Confucian society, there was no title greater than a government post.
True, I worked harder than friends who entered through family connections or back doors, but wasn’t this the very essence of a true administrator’s virtue?
“Excellent! Let’s go!”
Wei Qingqing walked out with spirited determination. And shortly after.
I stopped by the Personnel Department to select individuals to assist me, then departed for my assigned post.
Seokmeong-dong.
One of countless villages within Baekrin County.
Originally called Seokmeong Village, it was a settlement in a newly consolidated region.
Naturally, it had no administrative facilities or infrastructure. There wasn’t even a guard station where constables worked.
Wei Qingqing arrived several days later, accompanied by three administrative officials to serve as subordinates, one Podoo, and ten guards.
“Sigh… So this is my assigned post….”
Naturally, with no administrative facilities or infrastructure, I had to start from zero.
Normally, one would be at a loss, but I had already experienced such situations several times before.
That is, I had accompanied other Dong-jangs when they took their posts.
First, I went to the village’s only inn and arranged a long-term lodging contract, then had dinner with my three direct subordinates to discuss future plans.
The Podoo and guards?
That’s the Podoo’s job to handle!
The Podoo would become the station chief of this Seokmeong-dong anyway.
“Now, listen up, everyone.”
“Thank you, Dong-jang Wei.”
“Listen while you eat. Right now, there are four of us including myself. And this village has approximately 600 residents. In terms of households, it’s a town of about 70 to 80 homes.”
It was small, if anything.
In any case, it was certainly not a large population.
“This place is primarily focused on medicinal herb cultivation, so it’s a village with considerably more money flowing through it than an ordinary farming community. You all know that normally, a population this size with this level of economic output would require ten officials.”
Gulp.
One of the officials swallows hard.
Currently, Baekrin County was expanding continuously under the Emperor’s favor.
That meant they were in a transitional period with insufficient administrative personnel.
“But right now we’re understaffed. So the four of us must handle all the work that ten people should be doing!”
“A letter arrived stating that officials would be recruited within a few months.”
Upon receiving the letter, it stated that a guard office should be established next to the administrative office.
One guard captain and ten guards were being dispatched urgently, with plans to expand to thirty personnel once staffing stabilized.
‘They’ll be worked to death too.’
Baekrin County.
I understood why Ilgwang had been so delighted when Wei Qingqing pursued advancement despite this grueling workload.
-To maintain such ambition even amid these overwhelming duties—what an admirable attitude! I have high expectations for you, Director Wei!
That was it.
To climb the pyramid of power, one had to work like a dog.
That was Ilgwang’s law of Baekrin County.
“Gah, I will absolutely become a chief inspector!”
The Thousand Character Classic at five, the Elementary Learning and the Four Books at eight, the village prodigy.
Wei Qingqing.
He was a sapling of power.
* * *
My day moves three times faster.
“Now… the next chapter of Administrative Fundamentals: ‘The common people are the foundation of the nation.’ This is something Confucianism emphasizes constantly, but you shouldn’t view it superficially. Think about where your monthly salary comes from—it’s simple.”
The Baek Hwan-hu children rapidly transcribed the lecture content.
“So we start with the basics: how taxes are measured, how they’re collected, and where those collected taxes go.”
I was conducting intensive lectures directly to the Baek Hwan-hu children.
This made my teaching method quite different from how ordinary scholars typically taught, but I was grateful they didn’t regard me as a madman and followed along well.
When teaching the children, I had shed my usual clothes and donned a dark scholar’s robe.
Several of the Baek Hwan-hu children gazed at me with hazy eyes.
‘He’s so handsome.’
‘Can a person really be this beautiful?’
‘Look at his profile. Ah, so this is why I’m clinging to Baek Hwan-hu.’
While some were more interested in the feast than the sermon, even that contributed in its own way to their educational enthusiasm.
When I turned around, several of them couldn’t tear their eyes from my pale nape and stopped taking notes.
‘The kids who went to the Medical Guild must have it good… we only get temporary lectures when the scholars’ schedules don’t align, but they see him every day.’
They quietly continued writing, unbothered by what the Medical Professionals would think if they heard such thoughts.
“Now then, when corruption occurs in tax collection—when tax revenue that should clearly arrive doesn’t come in—how can we detect such corruption? I’ll teach you the reverse calculation method. You friends will have many opportunities to use this~”
My pale fingers rapidly sketched a table.
Chalk and blackboard.
Items I had brought while teaching at Baek Hwan-hu.
In typical academy settings, reading and discussing texts form the foundation of instruction, but when teaching arithmetic and tables, a blackboard proves far superior.
It’s excellent for writing and erasing, and organizing information.
“This will be on tomorrow’s quiz~”
Whoosh!
At those words, the children frantically began taking notes.
* * *
My self-invented fountain pen proved quite useful.
Of course, using it directly would damage or smudge the paper, so it was something I’d refined over a considerable period.
Now I use it for shorthand, and depending on the ink employed, some formulations survive on bamboo strips quite well, making it quite practical.
‘It’s already been half a year since Gwon Je’s funeral.’
Time passes in a blur.
I sat lost in thought, sipping the wild strawberry cordial with soft slurping sounds.
Since I prefer drinks without intoxicating effects, the doctors began pulling out one secret recipe after another for non-alcoholic fruit cordials made back in their hometowns.
Some say that drinking even the highest-proof spirits cheerfully is the mark of a hero.
But the doctors have no aspirations to heroism, and we know how severe alcohol addiction is within Gangho.
No matter how excellent a warrior’s life-cultivation techniques, if they drink spirits instead of water, their liver, brain, kidneys, and bones inevitably fail in their final years.
Warriors at the level of Hwagyeong might manage differently, but among ten thousand warriors, the probability of even one reaching Hwagyeong level is often zero or one.
Unless humanity evolves to have three livers to rotate through, moderation in drinking is best.
Thus, following my example, non-alcoholic fruit cordials have become fashionable within the Medical Guild.
“Oh, this wild strawberry cordial tastes wonderful.”
“I simmered down honey and added quite a lot—it seems to work well.”
The difference from mass-produced goods.
It requires considerable hand labor and expensive ingredients.
But since we’re not making it for sale, that’s acceptable.
Today as well, I worked through the ledgers stacked like mountains, one by one.
‘At this rate, we’re nearly filling all the administrative gaps. We’ve even established the specialized medical training division for warriors.’
It’s an insane plan—selecting children with warrior talent and teaching them medicine.
The world speaks of it thus.
-Why would anyone become a doctor when they could become a Kang Ho master and make their name resound across the realm?
-No matter how I look at it, isn’t this foolish? The martial and medical arts are clearly distinct.
-Ilgwang is throwing money down the drain this time.
Well, I understand that perspective.
However, among those talented children, there might be some who simply don’t wish to become warriors.
And aren’t there children who could become warriors, but whose talent simply isn’t sufficient to contend for supremacy across the realm?
Honestly, if every dog and cat could achieve dominion over the realm, there’d be nothing left of Gangho.
‘I’ll pay them.’
Therefore, what I chose was the option to provide payment.
I pay them even during the learning process.
However, once registered, they cannot simultaneously enter other sects, and must live solely as a doctor of Baekrin Medical Guild.
-You pay them to learn?
-So Ilgwang has finally gone mad.
-But wouldn’t it be worth trying for impoverished martial families?
With this approach, children from Hangzhou who possessed vague martial talent began flooding in.
Baekrin Medical Guild’s influence in Hangzhou was absolute, and they were handing out money on the spot.
Money is always right.
That was Sama Hyeon’s teaching.
‘Next would be a loupe for surgery, I suppose.’
A magnifying glass.
Roughly 2.5 times magnification.
It wasn’t as technologically sophisticated or refined as modern versions, but it meant physicians didn’t have to expend their inner energy through their eyes during delicate surgical procedures.
With this, even physicians with insufficient inner power could perform surgery more comfortably.
When I distributed them to the medical staff as a trial, they received them with pale faces and genuine joy.
-Wow, Patriarch! You even made this so we wouldn’t have to retire!
-Now even with presbyopia, we’ll have no choice but to perform surgery! Hehehehe! You truly are the Patriarch. Such meticulous care.
-At this point, there’s nothing but cultivation of life essence! Everyone! Let’s at least preserve our joints!
-Using this for a while will probably make my head heavy, but there really is no answer except cultivation of life essence….
-It’s better than not seeing anything. Still.
-Patriarch! Long live! Long live!
I sensed a hint of madness in the medical staff, but it was fine.
That was normal for them. And in a way, it was actually true.
‘Hm, with this I can work them at least until they’re sixty.’
How could I let people I trained so carefully retire?
I had to preserve these newborn-fawn-like bodies in every way possible and squeeze every bit of use from them for years to come.
‘Only I look after your health. You lot.’
At Baekrin Medical Guild, smoking was nearly impossible, there was no alcohol, and the only food was medicinal tonics and fresh air.
I was raising the surgical staff like organic crops.
To work them until sixty, or even seventy if cultivation of life essence permitted.
‘That’s right. Sixty is still active service.’
On Earth, there were quite a few surgeons wielding scalpels at that age, but this was Gangho.
Considering the average lifespan in this region, it was an enormously ambitious goal.
But from my perspective, it was entirely achievable and then some.
‘Let me see…. If I make good use of the Xiao Qing Dan I learned from the Wudang Sect this time, it should work well for preserving my medical staff’s health….’
Thinking of medical staff who would be worked until seventy, or even eighty, rather than retiring, I picked up my brush.
‘On top of that, I should teach them Hun Yuan Xian Tian Qi Gong too. They already know the basics like Hun Yuan Gui Zong Qi Gong and the Five Elements cultivation….’
Hun Yuan Xian Tian Qi Gong.
Inner power that accumulates rapidly and possesses special properties particularly beneficial to patients—a unique inner power cultivation method!
It surpassed the Hun Yuan Gui Zong Qi Gong currently being taught in Yeonmu City.
It was also the martial art the newly recruited medical students in Yeonmu City would learn.
Of course, I wasn’t a fool either.
Since I roughly understood how Gangho operated, I had arranged cultivation to be possible only within special formations, making it impossible to steal the secrets without the incantations.
However, the medical staff at Baekrin Medical Guild were, after all, established right in the middle of a mountain.
To descend to the village, one had to climb down stairs for at least half a day—this dreadfully steep place.
Because they had to lodge and eat at Baekrin Medical Guild, this heavenly health prison (?) where one had to steel themselves just to make the descent, there were no particular issues.
“That’s right. I want to see my children for a long time, and they want to see me for a long time too. I should keep them healthy. Very healthy indeed~”
I prepared to transmit the Primordial Celestial Qi Cultivation to the medical staff.
They should live long and well~
Long and well~

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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