Chapter 84: I Really Am His Master

"You've misunderstood. He and I are indeed master and disciple, but I am not his disciple—I'm his master!"

As soon as Yan Yuanqing said this, the president's expression turned remarkably complex, shifting rapidly in the space of a few moments. Clearly, Yan Yuanqing's words had left him reeling.

"This is outrageous! I've urged that old fellow to take on a student for ages, yet he always refused. And now, he just casually finds someone to fill in, someone who doesn't even show the most basic respect to his elders!"

"Now, I must ask you to leave our Association of Traditional Medicine. Your joke is neither amusing nor appropriate. I will also write a letter to Yuan Hongyu about this. If you think your current status entitles you to do as you please, let me tell you: you are gravely mistaken!"

With that, the president pointed at the door, clearly issuing an order for Yan Yuanqing to leave.

Yan Yuanqing felt utterly helpless. Ever since he had arrived at this Association of Traditional Medicine, he had been repeatedly subjected to such inexplicable accusations. No one ever listened to his explanations; they all clung stubbornly to their own judgments.

At that moment, someone knocked at the office door.

"Come in!" the president barked, shooting Yan Yuanqing a glare before turning away from him.

A staff member from the association entered, visibly excited and agitated.

"What is it? What's happened?"

The staff member seemed almost unable to speak coherently. "President, in today's assessment, there was actually a perfect score! I came to report the news immediately!"

Hearing this, the president's eyebrows rose in surprise. He was clearly taken aback by such news.

"A perfect score? How could anyone possibly achieve that? The exam covered every facet of traditional medicine. No one could have mastered all of it—could there have been a mistake during grading?"

The staff member shook his head. "Absolutely not, President. At first, we all thought there must have been an error, so we called in several of our most respected elders to review it. In the end, every one of them confirmed there was nothing wrong."

"In fact, many of the answers gave these examiners new insights. Each of them returned to reflect deeply on the benefits they'd gleaned from the paper."

"What? It had such an effect? Who wrote this paper, and where is the author?"

At this point, the staff member's expression turned a little awkward. "Well, the paper was written by someone named Yan Yuanqing. But when we tried to find him, he was already gone. We made some inquiries and learned he had a conflict with the chief examiner."

"Now we can't find him. He’s probably already left the Association," the staff member said, his tone full of regret. Even though he was not a formal member, just a staff recruit, he could clearly see how talented the author of that exam paper was. Yet, due to a minor oversight by the chief examiner, the entire association had lost such a promising individual.

Upon hearing this, the president’s face went through a dramatic transformation.

Yan Yuanqing, meanwhile, began to make his way out.

"Wait!" the president called from behind. After listening to the staff member, he had finally realized that the author of the exam must have been Yan Yuanqing himself. There was no way he could let Yan Yuanqing leave just like that. Only now did he see how wrongly he had judged him from the very start.

But this time, Yan Yuanqing ignored him completely. With no hint of deference, he simply pushed open the door and walked out, paying no attention to anything the president said.

The president's face darkened with regret, his heart filled with remorse.

"What have I let slip through my fingers?"