While Su Tao moved from a third-tiered city to the capital, Shui Junzhuo left for a higher stage.

People’s motivation came from being subjective and objective.

Subjective in nature and will, while objective in facing challenges. The promise that he gave before Shui Junzhuo left made him realise that he might seem to possess many things, but they’re nothing in the eyes of others.

Take the Qin, Shui, and the Four Prominent Families in Beijing, for example. He’s still a nobody in their eyes.

He’s a physician, and he had his ambition of wanting to influence the world with TCM. It was a desire that he kept hidden in the depths of his heart.

However, he felt powerless at this moment since it was too far from his reach.

Shui Junzhuo had given him two years to catch up to Qin Jingyu, which he felt an unprecedented frustration about it, realising how difficult it was for him to accomplish that.

Qin Jingyu possessed the resources of the Qin Family and was also talented. The horizon that Qin Jingyu saw was much higher than his own. A fight between them was like a fight between a middle school kid and a university student. There’s a massive gulf between their wealth and background.

Then again, Su Tao wasn’t discouraged since having a stronger opponent would only motivate him to improve. After all, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.

Back then, he was a small physician in his pharmacy when he met Wang Guofeng. But right now, the latter was nothing but a defeated opponent, and was no longer suitable as his opponent; Wang Guofeng was no longer qualified to be his whetstone.

Qin Jingyu might be powerful, but he’s ultimately still a person, and every person was vulnerable to emotions and illnesses.

Thinking about it, Su Tao wasn’t afraid of Qin Jingyu and so he started to cook up a plan to surpass the latter, who was ranked 2nd of China’s Elite Ranking in two years.

Firstly, he had to get through the National Healer Selection and obtain the title since it would be his entry to interact with more resources. At the same time, it would also grant him an opportunity to make use of his medical skills to conquer those standing on the pyramid and narrow down his distance with Qin Jingyu in terms of connections.

Secondly, the Three Flavour International, Three Flavour Hall, and the Qihuang Charity Funds had to speed up. Although wealth wasn’t the standard for strength, it did give him the capability to compete with Qin Jingyu.

Lastly, he had to put his target on the international community. Compared to the other fields, TCM was too pale. Thus, he needed to prove the position of TCM to the international community for him to establish his worth and overturn the current mindset the country had about TCM.

Although he seemed to have encountered trouble one after another, they had all ended smoothly. An opponent like Qin Jingyu would allow his nerves to be tense and be continuously reminded that there’s always someone better in the world.

As he sorted out his thoughts, he prepared himself to face the ruling phase of the National Healer Selection. Anyone that made it this far were all specialists. Aside from Ling Yu, he also had doctors as his competitors. They’re all in their forties, and for them to be able to make it to the ruling phase at such a young age spoke of their strength.

Compared to the past National Healer Selections, they’re focusing on promoting younger members this year since many National Healers would be retiring because of their age in the next few years. Hence, they’re trying to seek for talented young blood to replace them.

As Su Tao looked through the three’s information, all three of them practiced western medicine with honors of studying abroad, and all sorts of awards decorated their résumé. At the same time, they have also taken charge of complicated surgeries numerous times, creating tremors in the international medical community. Every single one of them was a formidable opponent.

The ruling phase was different every year. Take the previous one, for example, where the candidates were tasked with traveling overseas with leaders, and they would be graded according to their performance.

No one knew what would be the task for this year, but he could predict that it would be far more intense than the Physician King Tournament or his battle with Kim Jung-ho at the International Medical Summit.

After that, he researched all the leaders that were served by the National Healers, since he might be required to service them in the final phase. Hence, he had to understand their lifestyles first as part of his homework.

When Gu Rushan picked up her parents, cousin, and her cousin’s wife from the train station, her heart clenched with emotions upon seeing them carrying all sorts of bags, which many of them were specialties from her hometown. She had been drifting in Beijing for years while leaving her family behind. Suddenly, she realised how unfilial she had been as a daughter.

When her cousin’s wife, Yuan Cui, saw that Gu Ruishan came alone, she was somewhat surprised and asked, “Rushan, where’s your boyfriend?”

Gu Rushan was already prepared for that question and lied, “He’s rather busy recently because of his work!”

“His future father-in-law and mother-in-law are here in Beijing, and he’s working? Isn’t it too unreasonable?” Yuan Cui ridiculed.

Yuan Cui and her cousin have been married for two years. When they heard that their uncle and aunty were coming over to Beijing to visit Gu Rushan, they tagged along as well.

Du Bing worked as a civil servant with a stable income, while Yuan Cui worked as a service manager for an insurance company with a slightly higher salary than her husband.

Although Gu Rushan’s father, Gu Daoshan, seemed somewhat unhappy, he still waved his hand and spoke for his daughter, “For youngsters, their career is more important!”

Gu Daoshan was a section-level official and had some reputation back in the county. Since Yuan Cui worked in the insurance industry, she relied on Gu Daoshan’s connections. The reason why Yuan Cui decided to follow the two elders to Beijing was because Gu Daoshan would be promoted in two years, and she wanted her husband to develop further. So if they managed to build their relationship on this trip, it would be easier for them to ask their uncle for help in the future.

Since her uncle has already spoken up, Yuan Cui no longer spoke and bumped Du Bing’s rib, “What are you standing here for? Go and help out with the luggage!”

Du Bing had an honest character. He placed the luggage behind the trunk and sat in the front passenger seat, while the four of them squeezed in the rear seat.

Because Yuan Cui worked in the insurance agency, her mouth couldn’t be controlled. As the taxi drove, she turned to Gu Rushan and asked, “Rushan, how much are you earning a month?”

“I’m working as a dance instructor with about ¥8,000 a month, and it will be calculated based on my performance.” Gu Rushan told the truth.

“¥8,000? It can be considered pretty decent back in the county.” Yuan Cui furrowed her brows and continued, “But Beijing’s rent must be expensive, right? I’ve seen the news, and many people live humbly in underground rooms.”

Nodding her head, Gu Rushan awkwardly smiled, “You’re right, so I didn’t manage to save any money in the past few years.”

Shaking her head, Yuan Cui clicked her tongue. “That’s why you should return home. With uncle’s connections, you can easily get a job as a dance instructor in a school with an annual salary of around ¥60,000-70,000. Getting another sideline, there won’t be a huge difference from your current salary. Most importantly, working in a school is easy, and it’s easier for you to find a partner.”

Despite her cousin’s wife still being as blunt as before, Gu Rushan couldn’t possibly say anything since they’re the guests. Thus, she smiled. “Working as a dance instructor is only something I do in my spare time. I’m currently filming with a production team. Although the salary is somewhat mediocre, it’s still my dream.”

“The entertainment circle is chaotic right now!” Yuan Cui sighed in disdain and continued, “We should all live realistically, and you’re not getting any younger. You should wake up from your celebrity dream already.”

When Gu Rushan saw the pale expression on her parents’ faces, she knew that they’d probably discussed this on their way here for Yuan Cui to speak up and educate her.

Letting out a sigh, Gu Rushan changed the topic, “What do you guys want for dinner? Why don’t we have roasted duck at Quanjude Restaurant?”

At this moment, Du Bing cooperated and interrupted with a smile. “Let’s go to Quanjude Restaurant, then! It’s rare for us to come here, and we must have Peking Duck! Oh, right. Why don’t you call your boyfriend over for dinner? He’s too mysterious, and both uncle and aunty want to meet their son-in-law. You’ve always been single, and we’re all curious about your boyfriend since you found yourself one now.”

“I’ll give him a call later!” Gu Rushan smiled. A brief moment later, she sent a message to Su Tao.

Fortunately, Su Tao straightforwardly agreed, so Gu Rushan gave him an instruction.

“We’ll move separately, and you come after we’ve arrived so that we won’t bump into each other in the corridor. Otherwise, it will be awkward.”

When Su Tao saw the message, he wryly smiled before he stood up from a pile of books and stretched his waist. After going into the bathroom to wash up, he changed into a set of clean clothes.

He had holed himself at home for a long time, so he needed to move about a little. After all, striking a balance between work and rest was the right method of maintaining a good state.

The traffic was horrible when he headed to the restaurant. When he finally arrived, Gu Rushan had already been waiting for a long time.

Walking out to receive Su Tao, Gu Rushan questioned, “What took you so long? They’ve all been waiting for you!”

“Didn’t you tell me to move separately?” Su Tao bitterly smiled.

Taking a deep breath, Gu Rushan instructed, “Try not to speak later. It’s easy to make a mistake if you speak too much, and my parents are astute!”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m only here to freeload for food today.” Su Tao smiled as he nodded his head.

As a smile rose on Gu Rushan’s lips, she held onto Su Tao’s arm and whispered, “This meal alone is about ¥2,000. So after this meal, the money I owed you from before will be canceled out!”

Su Tao clearly never expected that Gu Rushan would still remember this debt, to which he straightforwardly agreed, “Alright, consider me treating your parents to a meal, then.”

His relationship with Gu Rushan has already exceeded the boundaries of neighbors, and they could be considered as friends. So there’s nothing wrong with treating the parents of his friend to a meal.

Letting out a chuckle, Gu Rushan pulled herself closer to Su Tao. As a fragrance blew into his nose, Su Tao couldn’t help letting out a sneeze. When he felt the soft sensation from his arm, he exclaimed at the convincing act by Gu Rushan.