Chapter 23: Beyond the Limit of Endurance

"Brother Yu, I'm here to collect the medicinal herbs!"

Previously, when Hua Changxi came by, even if Yu Hui did not greet her with a smile, he would respond familiarly.

But today, Yu Hui merely gave Hua Changxi a fleeting glance, casually pointed to a male laborer to take her to collect the herbs, and then ignored her entirely.

"What are you standing there for? Follow me."

Seeing Hua Changxi staring blankly at Yu Hui, the male laborer urged her impatiently.

Hua Changxi withdrew her puzzled gaze and followed the laborer.

"You're too late. Take these herbs back and clean them."

The laborer led Hua Changxi to a pile of herbs covered in long hairs and sharp thorns.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi said nothing and began moving the herbs.

After she had been working for a short while, the laborer suddenly leaned in close to her. "Sister, these herbs are hard to clean. Want to swap them for some easier ones?"

Hua Changxi gave him a cold look and continued her work.

The laborer continued to crowd her space. "Sister, Brother Yu doesn't like you anymore. Brother Mao likes you." As he spoke, he reached out to grab her waist.

"Ah—!"

Hua Changxi grabbed the laborer's wrist. With a slight application of force, she made him cry out in pain.

"You bitch, let go of me!" Mao Wei shouted, his bravado masking his fear.

Hua Changxi looked at him expressionlessly. "I have great strength. When I was young, I broke many people's arms and legs. Big brother, don't touch me so casually. Next time, I might not be able to hold back my strength."

Having said that, she flung Mao Wei away.

Mao Wei stumbled back several steps before stabilizing himself. Feeling the injury in his right arm, he glared at Hua Changxi, both furious and humiliated. "You—!"

Hua Changxi met his gaze with an indifferent expression, her sheer coldness preventing Mao Wei from daring to utter any further threats.

"What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and move the herbs!"

Mao Wei only dared to urge her on with muttered curses, keeping himself several meters away from her.

Hua Changxi loaded the herbs onto a cart and pulled them away. As she passed the warehouse entrance, she glanced at Yu Hui again. She didn't believe he hadn't heard the commotion between her and the laborer, yet he had chosen to ignore it.

What was wrong with him? Their relationship had been perfectly fine yesterday, and she had even helped him. Why was he turning his back on her today?

Was it because she had asked for the withered herbs yesterday?

But the withered herbs were waste; taking them wouldn't cause Yu Hui any trouble or any loss of profit. Why would he care?

She had helped with manual labor all afternoon; it was only reasonable that she be given the withered herbs as compensation.

Was Yu Hui the kind of person who was stingy even with the smallest amount of effort?

If that were the case, he wasn't worth associating with.

Afterward, whenever Hua Changxi came to collect herbs and saw Yu Hui, she would greet him as usual. After he failed to respond several times, she stopped seeking his attention when she returned to the warehouse.

When the people of the Sixth Bureau saw Hua Changxi pulling a cart of difficult-to-clean herbs, they were initially surprised, but they quickly turned to gloating.

"Lost her favor so quickly?"

As Hua Changxi passed the drainage ditch, a woman sneered loudly, instantly triggering bursts of laughter from the people on both sides of the ditch.

"Hua Changxi wakes up late every day, and she always picks the easiest herbs to clean. Look, she's finally provoked everyone's wrath," Wang Yunchu said gloatingly to her teammates.

On the other side, after hearing the woman's words, Hua Changxi took several deep breaths. She had intended to keep the peace, but no matter how much she endured, she could not suppress the fire of rage burning in her heart.

So, she would not endure it!

Hua Changxi set down the cart, walked expressionlessly toward the woman, grabbed her by the hair, and delivered a forceful kick to her shin. Once the woman was kneeling in the ditch, Hua Changxi forcefully shoved her head underwater.

"Ah—!"

*Gurgle, gurgle—!*

"Help—!"

*Gurgle, gurgle—!*

"Help—!"

*Gurgle, gurgle—!*

Hua Changxi held the woman's head down. Only when the woman was nearly unable to breathe did she pull her up. Just as the woman gasped for air, Hua Changxi shoved her head back into the water.

The people on the banks of the ditch were either stunned into silence or paralyzed with fear. In that moment, the entire Sixth Bureau became unnaturally quiet, save for the woman's muffled screams and the splashing in the water.

Hua Changxi waited until the woman had swallowed enough water that she no longer had the strength to cry for help before pulling her out. Looking at the soaking wet woman, Hua Changxi's voice was eerily gentle

"What did you just say? I didn't hear you clearly. Say it again!"

The woman trembled violently, her mind completely lost to terror. "I... I didn't say anything."

Hua Changxi smiled. "Oh? Was I hallucinating then?"

The woman shuddered, unable to suppress her fear any longer, and burst into loud sobs. "I was wrong! I shouldn't have spoken recklessly! Please spare me!"

Hua Changxi watched her for a moment. "Sister, trouble comes from the mouth. Watch yourself."

The woman nodded like a pounding drum, tears streaming down her face. "I won't say anything reckless again. I won't spread rumors about others ever again."

Hua Changxi released the woman, returned to her cart, and pulled the herbs to the cleaning station managed by Du Ruo's group. She dumped the herbs into the water and began to focus on cleaning them.

Seeing Hua Changxi cleaning the herbs with a calm expression, Wang Yunchu and the others in her group exchanged glances and silently moved a distance away from her.

The ten Third Managers of the Sixth Bureau had all witnessed the scene just now.

Ling Xiao looked at Du Ruo with anger. "Du Ruo, how are you managing your people? How can you let a subordinate just hit people like that? You must give me an explanation, or we will take this to Manager Leng to settle the matter."

The woman who had just been disciplined was one of her subordinates.

At this moment, Du Ruo's expression was also poor. She knew Hua Changxi was somewhat socially isolated, but she hadn't expected a young woman to have such violent tendencies, striking out at the slightest disagreement.

Another manager, Zhou Huilan, spoke up: "Du Ruo, you really should manage that new laborer better. Setting aside everything else, she must change the fact that she sleeps until the hour of Si every day."

"I know that new laborer is capable, but that is no excuse for breaking the rules. If others follow her lead, how will we manage people in the future?"

The other managers chimed in: "Exactly."

Seeing the other managers condemning Du Ruo, Ling Xiao felt quite pleased and added, "And there's that new laborer and the people in the warehouse..."

Before he could finish, Zhou Huilan interrupted him. "If she can be on good terms with the warehouse people, that is her own ability. Just like you, Manager Ling—you are on good terms with Manager Niu of the Fifth Bureau, and we haven't said a word."

Hearing this, Ling Xiao's face instantly darkened.

The crowd ignored the tension and dispersed.

Du Ruo returned to her group, first inspecting the herbs cleaned by her subordinates, and finally approached Hua Changxi.

The herbs Hua Changxi had brought back today were extremely difficult to clean. Du Ruo had originally thought she would be slow, but upon closer inspection, she found that the hairy, thorny herbs—which could easily injure one's hands—did not affect Hua Changxi's cleaning speed at all.

In just a short while, most of the herbs had been cleaned.

Seeing Manager Du approach, Hua Changxi greeted her with a smile. "Manager Du, is something the matter?"

Du Ruo looked at Hua Changxi, who had just suppressed another group's member in a ditch, yet showed no sign of guilt and instead greeted her with a beaming smile. To be honest, Du Ruo felt inferior to her psychological resilience.

"Your habit of waking up late violates the rules of the Labor Hall. From now on, you must be up before the hour of Chen."

Hua Changxi fell silent for a moment before agreeing with a smile. "Manager Du, I clean herbs quite quickly. Once I finish my daily tasks, may I arrange my own time freely?"

Du Ruo nodded. Before leaving, she hesitated and then said, "The Labor Hall is quite chaotic. Because the workload is heavy, the background checks aren't as strict."

"Don't be fooled by the fact that the Labor Hall is at the bottom of the Medical Bureau. The Three Bureaus and Nine Warehouses are not lacking in talented people, and the male laborers are full of martial artists. Even the female laborers have their own connections."

"Don't rely on your strength and think you can look down on everyone."

"Furthermore, some paths look like shortcuts, but there are pitfalls ahead that you cannot even imagine."

"One must stay grounded and live an honest life. You are still young; do not take the wrong path."

Hua Changxi knew Du Ruo was referring to the rumors of the past two days. She smiled and said, "Thank you for the advice, Manager Du."

After Du Ruo left, Hua Changxi increased her cleaning speed. Since she had to wake up early from now on, she could only finish her chores early to use the remaining time for cultivation.

Because Hua Changxi had acted so fiercely to discipline the woman who spoke ill of her, her ears were finally free of noise. She was no longer the subject of pointing fingers wherever she went, and no one dared to spread rumors about her to her face.

However, the attitude of the people in the warehouse toward her became increasingly hostile.

Every time Hua Changxi went to collect herbs, Mao Wei would assign her the most difficult ones to clean. For an ordinary person, these were not only easy to get injured by, but because of their size, they required dozens of trips back and forth, making it both exhausting and time-consuming.

Seeing that Yu Hui did not stop him, Mao Wei became even more arrogant. He didn't dare to touch her physically anymore, but he frequently used verbal harassment to tease her in front of everyone.

"It has to be Brother Yu; his taste is impeccable. Look at our sister Changxi—though she's young, her chest is..."

*Crack!*

The warehouse workers were listening intently when a shadow blurred past them. They heard a "crack" and, looking closely, saw Mao Wei being held by the face by Hua Changxi, his jaw already dislocated.

"Ah—!"

As Hua Changxi increased the pressure, Mao Wei let out a whimpering scream, blood streaming from the corner of his mouth. "Since your mouth can't produce human words, there's no need for it to exist."

Witnessing this, Yu Hui jumped straight out of his chair in shock. His eyelids twitched as he stared at Hua Changxi, stammering, "Stop... no... let go! Let go of him!"

Hua Changxi glanced at Yu Hui and flung Mao Wei away, this time throwing him directly onto the ground.

Mao Wei lay on the floor, spitting out a mouthful of blood mixed with several broken teeth.

Seeing this, the people in the warehouse instinctively moved further away from Hua Changxi.

"Brother Yu..."

Hearing Hua Changxi's call, Yu Hui shuddered.

Hua Changxi looked at him. "Brother Yu, I don't want to cause trouble. But if trouble comes looking for me, I will not be afraid of it."

She knew that she was in a vulnerable position in the Labor Hall. She needed to stay there to cultivate and improve her medical skills, and she was expected to endure oppression with silence.

But when faced with the warehouse people's unbridled sexual harassment, she truly could not endure it.

If she even endured this, her Dao heart would become unstable.