In the Capital’s noblewomen’s circle, what they talked about wasn’t which silver building had the prettiest jewelry, nor which shop had the best silks and satins, but Chunshan Women’s Medical College.

"The Mountain Master is called Xiao Chunnuan?"

"Yes, she’s the legitimate granddaughter of the former Doctor Xiao."

"How can a woman serve as Mountain Master?"

"But it was decreed by the Empress Dowager herself."

"That’s right, I heard the Empress and the Concubines of the inner palace all contributed money together to establish Chunshan Women’s Medical College."

"A clanswoman of the Empress went to enroll and study."

"A concubine-born granddaughter from the Prime Minister’s family also went to study."

...

They wouldn’t have known if they hadn’t asked, but once they did, they were shocked to find that the daughters, nieces, and even goddaughters of all the big households in the Capital had gone to study.

The Chunshan Women’s Medical College for women suddenly had quite a crowd.

Originally they only planned to take thirty people, but more than eighty showed up.

"Young mistress, what should we do?"

Bai Mei was anxious on behalf of her young mistress; she’d thought that once they returned to the Capital they’d be able to live a leisurely life.

Who knew that the Xiao family would take in three disciples and be running back and forth between the Xiao and Zhao mansions every day.

And on top of that, the Empress Dowager even told her to open a medical college.

And of course, the young mistress actually agreed.

Teaching thirty people was one thing, but she hadn’t expected eighty-six to come.

With so many people, a whole black mass filling the classroom, how was she supposed to train them?

Chun Nuan was surprised too.

How many of the Capital’s noble young ladies were truly passionate about learning medicine?

Most of them were probably forced by their families, right?

After all, since the maternal families of the Empress Dowager and Empress were sending people to study, if your own family didn’t send anyone, wouldn’t that mean you weren’t giving Chun Nuan any face, and making it impossible for the Empress Dowager and Empress to save face?

They had to go, no matter what!

Willing or not, they had to go.

Meanwhile, some girls from poor families wanted to come learn as well, but were afraid there would be tuition fees.

Once they heard there was no tuition, twenty-four of them came.

Relatively speaking, it was much harder for these girls to study.

Because basically none of them could read.

But they had the desire to improve themselves!

Chun Nuan was willing to give them a chance too.

"Let’s split them into two classes."

Chun Nuan said, "One class for those who can read, and one for those who can’t."

Which suited those young ladies just fine—they had no desire to be lumped together with a bunch of mud-legged peasants.

Deep down in their bones, they simply felt themselves more noble than the daughters of poor families.

Chun Nuan was speechless about this.

A doctor is supposed to have the heart of a parent; if you’re already looking down on your classmates, how can anyone expect you to treat patients and save lives later?

Besides, she knew all too well why most of these noble girls had come to study medicine, so she didn’t have high hopes that they’d truly learn it well.

How to put it?

They were really letting down the original intention behind the Empress Dowager and Empress funding the establishment of Chunshan Women’s Medical College.

Yet these were precisely the people she couldn’t afford to offend.

After going through a major catastrophe, the Xiao family had become very cautious in everything they did.

For no other reason than that King Yan is easy to meet but little devils are hard to deal with; if you want to gain a firm foothold in the Capital, you have to be good at smoothing things over and not offend anyone.

She could only accept all comers.

Of course, this place wasn’t actually a charity hall.

If they wanted to study medicine, and she was the Mountain Master, she would have her own rules.

"The first thing you have to do is memorize the Tangtou Songs." Chun Nuan said, "There’ll be an exam in a month. Those who can’t recite them will please leave of their own accord."

When they heard there were two hundred and two Tangtou Songs, everyone gasped.

"The Tangtou Songs record more than three hundred commonly used formulas, arranged into two hundred and two verse-form formulas, divided into twenty categories: tonifying, releasing the exterior, attacking the interior, inducing vomiting, harmonizing, interior–exterior, dispersing and tonifying, regulating qi, regulating blood, dispelling wind, dispelling cold, dispelling summer-heat, draining dampness, moistening dryness, clearing fire, resolving phlegm, astringing, killing parasites, treating sores and ulcers, menstruation and childbirth, and so on. They are the foundation every student of medicine must learn."

Seeing the uneasy expressions on some of the ladies’ faces, Chun Nuan knew they already regretted coming.

"Studying medicine is not like practicing the zither, chess, calligraphy, or painting. It concerns human lives, so it must be rigorous, and you must be diligent." Chun Nuan said, "If you can’t memorize them, that means you’re not suited to study medicine. At that time, I’ll issue each of you a certificate stating you’re not fit to practice medicine."

A few of them let out a big sigh of relief.

They’d been forced by their families to come study, but if they tried and still weren’t suited, then they really couldn’t be blamed.

They were even already plotting how to slack off.

Chun Nuan saw all of this and tucked it away in her heart, but she kept quiet.

"Young mistress, this rule is going to be a real test for those girls who can’t read."

Bai Mei herself was a girl from a poor family and was lucky enough to serve at Chun Nuan’s side. She knew the young mistress was a good person, willing to give poor girls a chance.

But they really might not be able to do it.

"You feel that sorry for them?" Chun Nuan glanced at Bai Mei. "Then you can go read to them."

Huh?

"It’s settled then. You’ll read the Tangtou Songs to them. The time limit is the same—after one month, anyone who can’t recite them will have to leave."

Bai Mei sucked in a breath of cold air.

Where would she find that kind of time?

"You’ll stay at the college for this month; you don’t need to attend to me."

"Young mistress..."

"Decision made."

"Yes, young mistress!"

Bai Mei was a bit upset—serves her right for talking too much.

Now look, she’d annoyed the young mistress.

Still, since the young mistress had arranged it this way, she’d just have to do it.

"Miss Bai Mei?"

The twenty-four girls from poor families, wanting to come here to study medicine, had all been told by their families that they were daydreaming and that it was impossible.

Yet here they were, they’d actually gotten into the Women’s Medical College.

They’d also heard about this assessment, and they were worried about their illiteracy.

When they heard that Bai Mei would be reading to them, each of them secretly made up her mind to listen well and memorize carefully.

That’s right, they believed that as long as they worked hard, miracles could happen.

One month later, Chun Nuan personally conducted the exam.

Among the young ladies from big households, only twenty-six remained.

What no one expected was that all twenty-four girls from poor families passed the exam.

If the test hadn’t been conducted in front of everyone, with all the girls reciting aloud where everyone could hear, people would definitely have suspected some kind of trick.

When the twenty-four learned that not a single one of them had been eliminated and that they could all truly study medicine, they were so excited that they all ran up to hug Bai Mei.

"Thank you, Miss Bai Mei."

"Yes, if it weren’t for you, we could never have passed."

"You should really be thanking yourselves. Only because you refused to abandon or give up on yourselves can you see how amazing you really are."

After living with them for a month, Bai Mei had discovered that these girls were truly impressive. At the very beginning, they’d been illiterate.

But every day she read to them, and they’d point at the characters one by one as they listened. Slowly, they not only memorized the entire Tangtou Songs but also recognized all the characters in the book.

"Next, you’ll be learning to identify medicinal herbs."

Chun Nuan set them to learning herbs.

"I know all of these herbs."

When it came to literacy, the girls from poor families were at a disadvantage.

But when it came to recognizing herbs, these girls knew far more.

They named each herb one by one. Some of the names weren’t the ones written on the labels, but Chun Nuan nodded all the same.

"Teacher, she’s clearly saying something different."

A noble young lady felt that Chun Nuan was obviously favoring them.

"Because some herbs have several different names. She’s using one of them."

It could be like that?

The young lady was stunned on the spot.