After receiving professional training in the imperial capital, Miaomiao and Wei Ziqi's learning progress indeed advanced by leaps and bounds. Many things in the textbooks that required flexibility were taught and explained by professional people.
With their smart little heads, the two kids quickly became the darlings of the Chinese Medicine Research Institute and the Western Medicine Research Institute.
However, relatively speaking, Miaomiao had a higher aptitude for medicine. Grandpa Sun would occasionally go to the Western Medicine Research Institute to show off, which made Teacher Tang, who took Wei Ziqi as his student, grind his teeth in anger.
"Hey, our Miaomiao finished all the college courses two days ago. At this rate, she'll probably finish the graduate courses soon."
Grandpa Sun came again with Miaomiao to show off.
The old man opposite, blowing his beard and glaring, was Wei Ziqi's teacher. His name was Tang Xuan.
At the moment, Grandpa Tang was extremely angry with Grandpa Sun because two days ago, Miaomiao could already prepare medicine on her own, while Wei Ziqi's learning progress was still stuck at recognizing the pharmacology.
"Humph, that's because you Chinese medicine only has medicinal herbs, and there are fixed formulas when they are combined. We Western medicine has to start learning from chemistry. Of course, it's a bit more difficult and has more courses than yours."
"Hey, Old Tang, you're wrong with that. How can you say that Chinese medicine is simpler than Western medicine? Our four diagnostic methods of looking, listening, asking, and feeling the pulse require a lot of hard work to learn. We can diagnose a person's illness just by feeling the pulse. Unlike you, you still have to do all kinds of CT examinations."
Grandpa Sun wasn't happy to hear this. He came from a Chinese medicine family and couldn't stand it when others compared Western and Chinese medicine and tried to tell which one was better. If someone must compare the two, Grandpa Sun would surely argue vigorously to make Chinese medicine win.
The two old men started arguing again. Miaomiao and Wei Ziqi were already used to it. These two old men were a bit like old children. They liked to bicker when they had nothing to do, but in their spare time, they would put their arms around each other's shoulders, go for a drink, or play a game of chess. Their relationship was so good that there was no need for the kids to worry.
"Is the schoolwork tiring recently? Can you still handle it?"
Wei Ziqi was obviously referring to the school courses. Although they were being professionally trained, they still couldn't miss the knowledge that junior high and high school students should know. He was afraid that learning so many things would make Miaomiao confused, just like English and Pinyin.
"It's not tiring. I can handle it. Anyway, there's no need for an exam. I can recite all the things in the textbooks." Miaomiao shook her head. As long as she didn't have to distinguish between Pinyin and English, she could learn anything.
"That's good. By the way, Tao Jing's birthday is coming up in a few days. Have you thought about what gift to give her?"
Tao Jing had taken good care of them at school recently.
After all, the kids in the international school had their own circles. As transfer students, they two seemed extremely out of place at school.
On the afternoon when she met them, Tao Jing went to their class and found someone she knew, asking them to take good care of the two. So the classmates in the class weren't too exclusive. When they couldn't record the homework left in some courses in time, the classmates would help them write it down.
So they couldn't possibly decline the invitation to Tao Jing's birthday party.
However, the two kids were in a difficult situation when it came to choosing birthday gifts.
The four of them never gave gifts to each other on birthdays. When someone had a birthday, they would just go to that person's house for a meal or go out to play. The little friends would just have a great time together. They had never given any birthday gifts before.
Occasionally, when they saw some delicate little trinkets on the street or something they liked, they would buy it and give it to the other person.
"I haven't thought of it yet. But I asked Dad. Dad said he would take care of it. The express delivery should arrive tomorrow."
Miaomiao always turned to her father when she was in trouble. She could leave this kind of brain - wracking thing to her father. Anyway, Dad would always arrange it properly.
"Hey, you have Uncle Lin to pick a gift for you. I have to choose it myself. My biological father gave me a lot of money. I don't have any problem with the price. But it's my first time giving a gift to a girl. I really don't know what you girls like. When Uncle Lin's gift for you arrives, let me take a look so I can use it as a reference."
"Okay!"
The two kids were chatting away here, completely ignoring the bickering of the two old children beside them.
"Miaomiao, tell me I'm right, right?!"
Grandpa Tang's words suddenly interrupted the friendly conversation between the two kids.
"Huh?"
Miaomiao was stunned for a moment. She hadn't been listening to what the grandpas were talking about at all.
"You child, that old Sun has made you stupid. What do you mean 'huh'? I'm asking you, if you chose Western medicine, would you be able to learn better than now?"
In the end, the two old men's argument would always boil down to competing for disciples. Miaomiao seriously thought about this question and replied, "I don't know. I've never learned Western medicine. Although I've read Teacher Wei's books, without real experiments, I don't know which one I would learn better."
"Then why don't you come under Grandpa Tang and be Grandpa Tang's student. Try Western medicine and compare. What if you find that you like Western medicine more when you start learning it!"
"Get out of the way, you old fool! Don't even think about stealing my disciple! Miaomiao, let's go. We won't play with them anymore."
Miaomiao: ...
Wei Ziqi: ...
The two grandpas parted on bad terms again over academic exchanges and the competition for disciples. Miaomiao was dragged away by Grandpa Sun. Before leaving, she still looked back reluctantly, waving her arms to say goodbye to Wei Ziqi.
Wei Ziqi just watched Miaomiao's back, looking helpless.
"Can you just be more competitive! Hurry up and catch up with Miaomiao's learning progress. Among our two research institutes, you two are the youngest and of the same age. Everyone studies by competing with each other. Why are you so unmotivated?!"
Grandpa Tang glared at Wei Ziqi beside him. The kid was smart, but all his attention was on that little girl. Whenever the little girl had something, he would run around to help. He didn't even care about his studies. He was really not doing anything proper.
Wei Ziqi didn't refute. He shrugged helplessly. His learning level was already far ahead of his peers. It was just a bit worse compared to the extremely talented Miaomiao. But Miaomiao was only talented in medicine, while he could excel in any subject.
Wei Ziqi was absolutely confident in his smart brain. But out of respect for his teacher, he didn't say a single word of refutation.
There was nothing he could do. Every time there was a conflict between these two old men, he was always the one who got hurt.