The teaching doctor announces to the newly picked medicine maids that for the next 6 months they will undergo strict training. They must study very hard to pass the medicine license and each maid has 3 warning strike system. If a maid gets 3 strikes against them they must leave the group and go back to being a slave or servant. The lecturer tells Jang-Geum she already has a strike against her for saving a scholar’s son when she was still a slave, and trying to use that as a stepping stone into the palace medicine department.
The medicine maids complain to each other how strict the lecturer is but Jang-Geum goes to see him instead to explain that he saved the boy without any other motive. The lecturer tells Jang-Geum she doesn’t have the make up of a medicine maid. Jang-Geum returns to study but the other maids refuse to be her study partner since the lecturer dislikes Jang-Geum, except Shin-Bi (Han Ji Min) who agrees to study with her but warns Jang-Geum she’s not too good at it.
The head master quizes the maids on orthography and unerstanding of proverbs. No one knows what the head master is talking about except Jang-Geum. The lecturer is impressed and calls Jang-Geum to the front of class for dictation exercise.
Next, the maids have to memorize hundreds of ingredients and their usage. Jang-Geum successfuly names all the usage but her partner Shin-Bi struggles to remember everything. The other maids realize Jang-Geum’s skills and ask her to study with them. Jang-Geum passes onto them medical knowledge she has acquired in Jeju Island.
Min Jung-Ho begins his efforts in gathering loyal men who used to work in the palace but either retired or left the palace to stay away from the corruption. Min asks an old general, then a retired scholar and another warrior to come back to the palace. Each declines but Min states he will continue to try until they agree. Min goes to the countryside to ask master Jung to return to the palace. Master Jung had left the palace to get away from the corruption. Min Jung-Ho begs the doctor to return so he can help the palace stay healthy and help Min counter corruption.
Gang Duk Gu and wife plead to Choi Pan Sul to forgive them since they’re innocent, so that they can sell their wine in the palace and in the market again but Choi Pan Sul tells his servant to send them away.
Jang-Geum begs her lecturer to show her how she can be a palace medicine woman. The lecturer insists Jang-Geum is not a medicine woman material and gives her another strike. Jang-Geum continues to beg saying she will endure punishment and do all the cooking, cleaning chores for everyone if only the lecturer gives her a chance. The lecturer replies he doesn’t think Jang-Geum can be a medicine woman not because he detests her but because he truly doesn’t believe she can be a medicine woman. Jang-Geum is rendered speechless and remembers her past as a child maid of soo-rak-gan when the Sang-Goong told her she couldn’t be a kitchen maid and sent her off to clean instead.
Shin-Bi is surrounded by other medicine maids who accuse her of bribing the lecturer or related to the lecturer since she got a higher mark then the other maids. Jang-Geum watches as Shin-Bi tries to defend herself by denying the accusation made by her peers.
Jang-Geum gathers dirty clothes from the other maids to wash for them and memorizes her literatures as she cooks their meal. The other maids are happy that Jang-Geum does all the chores for them and wonders if she’s trying to win the lecturer’s favor. Just like she did when she was a child, Jang-Geum washes clothes and cleans during the day as she listens to the lecturer and stays up late to clean the dishes. The lecturer tells Jang-Geum to not bother with unnecessary tasks.
Jang-Geum returns to the sleeping corridor and the maids tell Jang-Geum the head master asked to see her. The head master tells Jang-Geum he can help her get rid of her 2 strikes, then tells her to prepare to go an officer’s party tomorrow. Jang-Geum is worried about going because the lecturer had set tomorrow to be a training day. Alone, Jang-Geum cries out the hardships she is now enduring as as she remembers Lady Han saying she’s waiting for her in the palace.
Next day, all the other maids left to go with the head master. Only Shin-Bi and Jang-Geum showed up to the training with the lecturer. The lecturer brings them to a room of sick patients. Jang-Geum diagnoses her patient at once, but Shin-Bi can’t pass. The lecturer tells Jang-Geum to watch the patients and do laundry until Shin-Bi gets it right.
The lecturer leaves, and Jang-Geum asks Shin-Bi if she’s related to the lecturer since he’s so nice to her
but Shin-Bi states no and she doesn’t understand why he’s so kind to her.
but Shin-Bi states no and she doesn’t understand why he’s so kind to her.
The maids all return, the lecturer gets angry at them and tells them to never show up to his class. The lecturer goes to see his superior the head master who yells at him for being so stiff and tells him to follow his orders from now on.
Meanwhile, Shin-Bi continues to try to figure out why her patient is ill. Jang-Geum watches as Shin-Bi asked for the patient’s symptoms very detaily. From what she listens Jang-Geum figures out what the patient’s illness is and realizes why the lecturer has given her 2 strikes. Jang-Geum realizes until now she relied too much on her own skills and her confidence kept her from giving her patients the detailed care they require.
The head master sends all the newly returned maids into the training room. The lecturer asks them what they learned from the training. Jang-Geum states what she learned and gives Shin-Bi credit for diagnosing her patient correctly but Shin-Bi says Jang-Geum made the diagnose. But Jang-Geum replies that she learned how to treat the patients by watching Shin-Bi. The lecturer tells them to prepare for another test.