A Little Chinese Medicine Doctor Arrives in Chinatown (1980s)

Summer, 1986. London's Chinatown.

A family of three stood outside a Chinese restaurant. The two adults were neatly dressed but looked anxious, while their fifteen- or sixteen-year-old daughter seemed perfectly calm.

"Sweetheart, settle in at your auntie's and make sure you eat well and study hard. Once we've sorted things out at home, your dad and I will come and take you back."

Song Hemian, with her youthful face and steady heart, nodded obediently. "Be careful on your way back."

"Wait for Mama, sweetheart."

Their car arrived, and Song Hemian watched her parents leave.

In her previous life, Song Hemian had been a medical apprentice at the Imperial Medical Bureau. She had been reborn into this world sixteen years ago and grown up in the countryside. She never expected that one day her parents would send her to Chinatown, thousands of miles away.

Though she didn't know a soul here, Song Hemian wasn't afraid.

Song Hemian's bedroom was on the second floor, facing the street. She had barely turned two pages of her English book when the street below came alive with activity.

The Chinese who had crossed the ocean to make a living here came from all over the country, each speaking with a different accent.

The old Chinese doctor at Tai An Tang across the street was from Guangzhou. Despite his age, he had a strong voice, and he stood outside his shop calling out to people, selling his herbal tea for one pound a bowl.

Her aunt bought a bowl and brought it upstairs for Song Hemian, but she couldn't swallow even a mouthful.

"Auntie, he's skimped on the ingredients. It's not worth a pound."

"That old Song's a quack! He can't treat patients, and he can't even brew a decent pot of herbal tea. He thinks he can cheat me? I'll give him a piece of my mind!"

Her aunt carried the tea downstairs, hurried across the street, and stormed into the Chinese medicine shop to argue with Old Man Song and demand her money back.

Onlookers on the street murmured that the clinic was going to go out of business.

Song Hemian raised her eyebrows slightly. Good, let it go under. Better yet, let them transfer it to her.

Theme: Work hard and strive for success