Chapter 49: The Hunchbacked Old Man

Chapter 49: The Hunchbacked Old Man

"Preposterous! This is simply preposterous!"

That a mere minor servant would dare threaten him—Eunuch Lu was truly incensed. "I must have her expelled from the Servant Hall."

Hearing this, Yu Hui's eyelid twitched. After a moment of hesitation, he mustered his courage and said, "Eunuch Lu, Hua Changxi has always been bold. If you expel her from the Servant Hall, she might actually dare to go and make a scene in front of Eunuch Yu, or even worse, she might actually try to strike you in the dark."

Upon hearing this, Eunuch Lu's expression darkened further as he looked at Eunuch Yu. "Just what rank of martial artist is this Hua Changxi, anyway?"

Eunuch Yu shook his head. "I haven't sparred with her, but my pressure has no effect on her."

At those words, Eunuch Lu sat back down with a grim face. "Are we just going to let this matter slide? Just let a mere servant ride over our heads and act with such impunity?"

Eunuch Yu indeed wanted to cooperate with Eunuch Lu; after all, it would allow them to access more medicinal herbs. More herbs meant more pills could be refined, which meant more silver could be earned.

He was also unwilling to give Hua Changxi a forty percent share of the profits, and her complete lack of reverence toward them made him quite displeased.

"Think of a way to teach her a lesson."

The pill refining could not stop, but they could not allow Hua Changxi to hold the upper hand.

Yu Hui glanced at Eunuch Yu and then at Eunuch Lu, reminding them, "The various medicinal estates will soon reach the time for harvesting herbs."

Eunuch Yu glanced at Yu Hui, somewhat surprised; his godson had usually been quite good to Hua Changxi.

Yu Hui's expression stiffened under the gaze, and he immediately spoke with righteous indignation, "In my heart, my godfather always comes first."

Eunuch Yu looked satisfied upon hearing this and turned to Eunuch Lu. "What do you think?"

Eunuch Lu hesitated. "Helping out at the medicinal estates will take several months."

He wanted to discipline Hua Changxi, but he didn't want to delay his silver-making either.

Yu Hui shot a quick, contemptuous glance at Eunuch Lu. He found him despicable—wanting to earn money through Changxi while simultaneously trying to suppress her. He wanted everything; he was even greedier than his godfather.

Eunuch Yu also did not want to interrupt the pill refining. After a moment of thought, he said, "I have thought of a way to make Hua Changxi behave."

Yu Hui's expression tightened as he watched Eunuch Yu, waiting for him to continue.

Unfortunately, Eunuch Yu said nothing more, merely telling Eunuch Lu to wait for news.

Ever since she had crossed Eunuch Lu and Eunuch Yu, Hua Changxi had been prepared for retaliation. To her surprise, after waiting for several days, nothing happened.

On the fifteenth of the second month, Yu Hui informed Hua Changxi that Eunuch Yu had acquired another batch of medicinal herbs and told her to go to the Ninth Qihuang Hall to refine them, with the profit split remaining the same as before.

"I don't know what Godfather is planning, so be careful in everything you do."

Yu Hui, after all, still gave her a warning.

Hua Changxi thanked him and went directly to the Ninth Qihuang Hall.

Upon arriving at the Ninth Qihuang Hall, Hua Changxi noticed that Xiao Xizi, Eunuch Yu's attendant, was not there.

Whenever she had come here to refine pills before, Xiao Xizi was almost always present; even if he wasn't watching her refine, he would drop by from time to time.

Hua Changxi looked at the medicinal herbs laid out in the courtyard, her eyebrows arching.

There weren't many herbs, and they were all already processed.

After inspecting them one by one, Hua Changxi realized these were the ingredients for refining Earth-Qi Pills.

Earth-Qi Pills were the most sought-after pills for Seventh-Rank martial artists, as they could assist them in converting internal strength into astral qi.

Naturally, the herbs used by Seventh-Rank martial artists were incredibly precious. Within the Medical Bureau, a warehouse manager could easily produce them, but in the outside world, a martial artist might spend years collecting them just to complete a single refinement.

Not knowing what Eunuch Yu was up to, Hua Changxi proceeded with the refining while remaining vigilantly aware of her surroundings.

Soon, she heard several very faint footsteps outside the courtyard. A few breaths later, the sound vanished.

Hua Changxi's five senses were currently quite acute. Though the footsteps had stopped, the sound of breathing remained. She didn't need to go out to know that several people were definitely monitoring her outside the Qihuang Hall.

She seemed to have guessed what Eunuch Yu was planning.

Most likely, Eunuch Yu intended to frame her for the theft of medicinal herbs. The fact that no one had rushed in yet suggested they were waiting for her to finish refining the Earth-Qi Pills.

Even as these thoughts crossed her mind, Hua Changxi's movements in refining did not stop.

The herbs Eunuch Yu had placed in the courtyard were collected according to the Medical Bureau's recipe for Earth-Qi Pills, requiring over seventy types of herbs.

To refine the Earth-Qi Pills, she only needed thirty-six types.

She had no intention of leaving the surplus herbs for those people outside to use as evidence. With a flick of her spiritual power, she turned the extra herbs into fine powder, which was then instantly scattered by a gust of wind.

At this moment, aside from the herbs currently in the cauldron, there was no trace of any other medicinal ingredients in the courtyard.

Before long, the Earth-Qi Pills were finished. Hua Changxi quickly packed the pills into porcelain vials and, before the people outside could react, she vaulted over the wall and fled the Ninth Qihuang Hall.

She would not submit quietly. With the herbs gone, once she found a place to hide the finished pills, even if Eunuch Yu tried to frame her for theft, there would be no physical evidence.

The layout of the Medical Bureau was generally rectangular: the Nine Streets Pharmacy was at the front, with the Apprentice Hall and the Servant Hall at the back.

Between the Apprentice Hall and the Servant Hall lay a massive plaza.

The Ninth Qihuang Hall was located exactly at the northwest corner of the Servant Hall. As soon as Hua Changxi cleared the courtyard wall, she landed in the plaza.

With people chasing her, Hua Changxi had no choice but to run rapidly toward the Apprentice Hall.

In the exact north of the center of the plaza stood a massive, three-legged stone tripod. As she ran, she couldn't help but steal a few glances at it.

This stone tripod... it looked just like the Shennong Tripod from her previous life that she had used as a storage jar!

Just as Hua Changxi ran past the stone tripod, a sudden "buzz" rang in her mind, as if something were trying to burst out of her brain.

Hua Changxi's face turned deathly pale instantly. Her only sensation was that her head felt as if it were about to explode.

The intense pain drained all her strength; dizzy and disoriented, she collapsed directly onto the ground.

"Quick, Hua Changxi is by the stone tripod!"

The men Eunuch Yu had sent to capture her had already caught up.

Hua Changxi's vision was blurring from the splitting headache. Not knowing what was happening to her, she instinctively channeled the spiritual energy within her body toward her head.

As the spiritual energy circulated, the excruciating pain in her brain gradually subsided.

Seeing that this worked, Hua Changxi breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing Eunuch Yu's men drawing closer, she struggled to pull herself up.

At that moment, a "creak" sounded from the north of the stone tripod. The old, weathered courtyard gate directly facing the tripod was opened from the inside.

In the next instant, a white-haired old man, whose back was hunched at nearly a ninety-degree angle, stepped shakily out of the gate, leaning on a cane.

The sudden appearance of the hunchbacked old man caused Eunuch Yu's men to stop in their tracks.

Looking at the hunchbacked old man approaching her, Hua Changxi's expression was one of utter bewilderment.

In the distance, Eunuch Yu, knowing Hua Changxi would not surrender easily and fearing he wouldn't get the Earth-Qi Pills, had been secretly following behind the men he had dispatched. When he saw the hunchbacked old man, his brow furrowed into a knot.

The hunchbacked old man walked up to Hua Changxi and studied her carefully, his eyes flickering with confusion. He then circled her a few times. "Little girl, what is wrong with you?"

Hua Changxi instinctively hid her condition and blurted out, "I have low blood sugar."

The hunchbacked old man: "...Would you like to come to my courtyard to rest for a while?"

Hua Changxi found the old man very strange, and his appearance was somewhat frightening, so she refused directly. "I am fine, I won't trouble you, elder."

Having said that, she struggled to her feet.

The hunchbacked old man looked up at her and smiled. "Little girl, you look like a kind face. You may come to my courtyard as a guest in the future."

Hua Changxi glanced toward the old courtyard with its half-open gate. As her gaze fell upon the interior, her head began to throb and spin again.

As she pulled her gaze away, she caught a fleeting glimpse of a magnificent and grand palace; but when she endured the pain to look closely again, there was only a dilapidated courtyard.

Hua Changxi had no strength to wonder if she was hallucinating. She curled her lips into a forced smile and politely declined, "I am just a minor servant; I must be busy with my duties every day."

The hunchbacked old man smiled and said nothing more. He turned around shakily, cast a glance at the distant Eunuch Yu, and hobbled back into the broken courtyard.

As the courtyard gate closed, only Hua Changxi and Eunuch Yu's group remained in the plaza.

Hua Changxi's head still ached severely, making it impossible for her to think about how to deal with Eunuch Yu. She could only wait for them to make the first move and then react accordingly.

Eunuch Yu looked at the old courtyard gate, then at Hua Changxi, and finally waved his hand, leading his men away.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi was very confused, but she couldn't spare the energy to wonder why. Clutching her head and enduring the pain, she hurried back to the Sixth Bureau.

"Where is Hua Changxi? Did you not catch her?"

Eunuch Lu looked at the empty-handed Eunuch Yu with dissatisfaction.

Eunuch Yu gave Eunuch Lu a flat glance. "I saw Gu Lao at the plaza."

Eunuch Lu frowned. "Gu Lao? What Gu Lao?" His expression suddenly changed. "You don't mean... that old camel?"

Eunuch Yu suddenly lost the desire to speak to Eunuch Lu. A man whom even the Director gave face, yet he maintained such a contemptuous attitude—it was better to avoid such people.

"I do not wish to continue the matter of disciplining Hua Changxi. How you choose to cooperate with her is up to you; I will still give her the original share on my end."

Hearing this, Eunuch Lu's face turned unsightly. "You, a manager in charge of the warehouses, are actually afraid of a mere servant."

Eunuch Yu was not angry. At this moment, his mind was entirely occupied by Gu Lao's invitation to Hua Changxi to visit his courtyard.

Gu Lao rarely appeared in public, let alone invited people to his courtyard.

He only knew of three people who had been invited by him: the Minister of the Heavenly Department, the current Director of the Medical Bureau, and Celestial Master Zhang of the Celestial Master's Mansion.

Regardless of why Hua Changxi had caught Gu Lao's eye, based solely on the status of the three people previously invited, he had no intention of clashing with her again.

Eunuch Yu let Hua Changxi go, but Eunuch Lu did not want to let her off so easily. After much thought, he decided to send Hua Changxi to help out at a medicinal estate.

Knowing that Mao Yong and Mao Wei of the Sancha Medicinal Estate held a grudge against her, and in order to force her to submit to him sooner, he directly added Hua Changxi's name to the list of those being sent to the Sancha Medicinal Estate.