Chapter 31: Listening to Grandfather Talk about Medicine
Being praised by all her little cousins, Zhao Zhitong felt a bit embarrassed. "Haha, no, no, I’m not that amazing. I just happen to know these few herbs."
Zhao Zhitong was not lying. The ones they showed her were indeed very common plants in their area.
These days, whenever Zhao Zhitong had free time, she would go to the wild fields to look for herbs. Thus, she had happened to see these few by the roadside. Comparing them with her books and Grandpa Bai’s hints, she had learned their names and functions, and then memorized them.
Still, for this to happen to a four-and-a-half-year-old child was surprising enough.
Sun Kang, standing not far away, felt the same.
Talent. He saw the talent for studying medicine in his four-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter. For a moment, his emotions were mixed and intertwined. He felt both surprised and amazed, feelings that slowly turned into regret and pity. Family inheritance had always passed from father to son, not to daughters. Moreover, medicine emphasized Inspection, Auscultation, Inquiry, and Palpation. For a woman to be involved with all sorts of patients would inevitably lead to contact with men. This would undoubtedly cause gossip, which would be terrible for a woman’s reputation. He couldn’t bear the thought of his beloved granddaughter becoming the subject of such talk in the future. And yet, it wasn’t easy for a child with such talent to emerge in the family. For a moment, Sun Kang was caught in a dilemma.
Just then, the children’s shouts brought him back to his senses.
"Grandfather, come and see! Our little cousin is so smart! She knows so many herbs."
Sun Daqing, her second older cousin, turned, saw his grandfather behind him, and jogged over. He eagerly tried to pull Sun Kang to watch Zhao Zhitong’s herb identification "performance."
Sun Kang composed himself and stepped into the circle of little children.
Seeing her maternal grandfather arrive, Zhao Zhitong called out sweetly, "Grandpa, you have so many herbs in your house! I can’t even look at them all. There are so many I’ve never seen before!"