Chapter 174: Hiring a Monkey

"Oh, that's because our country changed its system in the middle; those without merit would have their hereditary titles downgraded. Two successive Masters of Songyang Prefecture were mediocre, so the title was downgraded. It wasn't until the late Emperor ascended the throne that the system was changed back. It's complicated to talk about; anyway, the Marquis of Songyang will now have a hereditary title that will not be changed unless a major crime is committed."

Having solved the problem of repairing the broken blade, He Lingchuan made a new request to Liaison Officer Liu: buy a pill furnace.

From now on, he would mainly practice the "Zi Wu Art," which required special medicines and special preparations, making it difficult to buy ready-made pill agents; he would mostly have to rely on doing it himself. He heard that pill furnaces were also divided into many tiers, and a good furnace could increase the success rate by more than ten percent.

Just like last time, Liaison Officer Liu agreed readily and then asked He Lingchuan: "Do you know how to refine pills, or is there an expert in this field by your side?"

"A pure novice. Isn't that why I plan to buy a furnace and go back to learn and ponder it?"

"The Dao of Alchemy is difficult to learn; this terminology, medicinal properties, heat control, and techniques—without three or four years of dedicated practice, one cannot achieve even a small success, and in the middle, one has to waste countless medicines." Liaison Officer Liu laughed. "How uncomfortable."

He Lingchuan heard the implication in his words: "Surely I am not the only one who finds it uncomfortable?"

"The path of cultivation is long; big shots don't want to disperse their energy. I suggest you hire a Medicine Ape to take back."

"Medicine Ape?" He Lingchuan was very surprised. "What is this? A monster?"

A prosperous capital truly had fresh things everywhere.

"Yes, there is a Dao Sect called the Thousand-Heart Flow, which is full of Fire Apes. It also has a branch in our country, especially famous for alchemy. Customers in need can spend a large sum of money to hire a Medicine Ape to take home, specifically to refine medicines for themselves."

"What is the level?"

"They are alchemy technicians, often even better. I heard that National Master Sun used to have several Medicine Apes at home."

He Lingchuan laughed: "Sun Fuping is truly a golden signboard; everything related to him makes money."

Liaison Officer Liu hurriedly waved his hands: "This cannot be said publicly now."

"Then take me there."

"It's just that the price is a bit high, and the Medicine Ape hired back must be promised the rites of an honored guest; one cannot treat it lightly or slowly, and even less can one treat it as a slave or pet, otherwise it can leave at any time."

Mao Tao raised his chin: "Money is a small matter, as long as it is worth the price."

"This word 'price' cannot be used to refer to the Medicine Ape in person, otherwise it will turn against you." Liaison Officer Liu reminded. "I have seen people who angered a Medicine Ape; it truly makes one's face bloom in front of others, and causes diarrhea for three days behind one's back."

So, raising an extra little monkey requires being careful with one's words? He Lingchuan and Mao Tao looked at each other and shrugged.

The carriage changed direction and headed north toward the city.

Passing through the market, Mao Tao, who had been peeking through the curtain, suddenly said: "Eh, isn't that A-Deng from beside Superintendent Old Mo? He is pasting something on the wall."

He Lingchuan poked his head out and looked; it was indeed A-Deng, the little servant from home, who was pasting a proclamation on the recruitment wall, followed by two supporting soldiers.

Liaison Officer Liu immediately called for the carriage to stop.

The market was crowded with people; when the government had news to announce to the whole city, they would come to this place to post it. But conversely, only official documents were allowed here; not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry could come and paste things randomly, otherwise they would be arrested and slapped twenty times, and if the impact was worse, they would be thrown into the jail.

For the He family's little servant to be able to come here and post, he naturally had to have official permission.

The characters on the proclamation were very large, and the three characters at the very top were bold and enlarged. Mao Tao muttered them out: "Recruitment Order?"

There weren't many words, and He Lingchuan finished reading them in two glances. The general meaning was that the newly appointed Xiazhou Superintendent, He Chunhua, was thirsty for talent and wanted to recruit local sages to go north to fight the rebels together. Regardless of background, not sticking to one pattern, as long as one had true talent in marching, managing grain, fighting, or internal affairs, one could come to take the test. The treatment would be excellent, and so on, and at the end was the official seal and wax seal of the Xiazhou Superintendent.

Most commoners couldn't even recognize two characters, so the He family's little servant A-Deng also had to act as a lecturer, reading the recruitment order to the crowd and then answering questions.

He Chunhua's target group wasn't these people, but he hoped to spread the news as quickly as possible through their mouths; after all, the supporting army had limited time to stay in Shi Huan.

The crowd of onlookers grew larger and larger. He Chunhua was an official from out of town and had rarely been heard of before, so everyone felt it was rare and inevitably chattered. Seeing the road becoming more and more blocked, He Lingchuan let the carriage get on its way as soon as possible.

Mao Tao didn't understand: "Why doesn't Lord He bring some people from Black Water City? That would be knowing the roots and the bottom, instead of 'seeking talent' here?"

When He Chunhua went north, he originally had five or six staff members beside him, and he only brought Mo Zhejingxuan. Talents in internal affairs and logistics were even more pitifully few.

"Small place, few talents?" He Lingchuan supported his chin with his hand. "This is, after all, at the feet of the Son of Heaven; what kind of people are not there?"

He remembered his father always complaining about not having enough manpower and having to do everything himself. This time going to Xiazhou, He Chunhua had to set up his own team in the shortest possible time, and preparing talent in advance was the key.

After all, there were enemies in the north eyeing them covetously, and there wasn't much time left for He Chunhua and Xiazhou.

"I hope Father recruits suitable talent as soon as possible."

He Lingchuan shook his head and instantly threw this concern to the back of his mind.

This was none of his business; let He Chunhua and He Yue have a headache about it.

Soon, the carriage drove onto a small hill.

The mountain peak was very delicate, with an altitude of at most thirty zhang. At this time, it was covered in silver, and branches were often seen swaying, with snow falling in a flurry.

The carriage was blocked by a memorial archway and stopped there.

It wasn't that the coachman didn't want to drive up the mountain, but the memorial archway was only six feet high, but its width was remarkable, occupying the entire mountain road.

This memorial archway was built truly wickedly, as if it wanted to collect road money.

He Lingchuan saw from afar that there were several uniquely shaped stone urns standing on the stone memorial archway. When he got closer, he realized that they weren't stones, but large gray-skinned monkeys with a color very similar to stone!

They stood on the memorial archway with their heads and tails tucked in, as dull as wooden chickens, and only when someone approached did they say in a muffled voice: "Thousand-Heart Flow Pavilion, visitors walk!"

Liaison Officer Liu got out of the carriage and handed a few pieces of shortbread to an old monkey with white hair, who distributed them to the other monkeys, before he bowed and said: "Sugar Old Man, haven't seen you for three days. This time I want to hire a pharmacist for the eldest son of Superintendent He of Xiazhou!"

He didn't call the monkeys apes, but pharmacists.

"Do you refine medicine often?"

"Naturally." He Lingchuan took over the conversation. "Once every two or three days on average."

Practicing the "Zi Wu Art" required him to take the Yin-Yang Powder as fresh as possible, so that the medicinal properties could exert their maximum efficacy. He Lingchuan himself wished he could refine a furnace that would last half a month, but if there was a helper to refine medicine, this requirement should be easily achieved.

Liaison Officer Liu explained to him: "Controlling fire to refine pills is an important practice for Fire Apes, and the Thousand-Heart Flow hopes that the Fire Apes sent out can make brave and diligent progress in their practice." He then turned to the old monkey. "In the pavilion, which pharmacist is free?"

"You came at an unfortunate time; just now a large pharmacy from out of town came and hired twelve in one go." Sugar Old Man, the old monkey, scratched his back. "Now there is only one pharmacist left."

Mao Tao immediately whispered to Liaison Officer Liu: "Could it be the one others picked over?"

The old monkey's hair was all white, and not only was he not hard of hearing, but he was also very sharp. At this time, he widened his eyes and said: "What nonsense is the kid talking about!"

Liaison Officer Liu coughed lightly: "Sugar Old Man, both parties in the hiring must negotiate on equal terms, without lying or cheating. Does this pharmacist have any special features?"

Hiring was a two-way street; one wanted to fight, one wanted to take, and both had to understand each other.

"The alchemy technique is extremely good, with very few failed furnaces; he is the best among all the Fire Apes here."

Refining medicine and ruining it was called a failed furnace. The cost of high-grade pills was very high; ruining one furnace could ruin tens or hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

Liaison Officer Liu asked tentatively: "Is it that he eats too much?"

"No, no."

"Is it that he doesn't love cleanliness and has a strange smell?" Monkeys had a smell, and if they didn't bathe, it was even more mutton-like; some families couldn't stand it.

"How is that possible!" Sugar Old Man glared. "Those bad habits you think of, Lingguang doesn't have any of them. He is also the most diligent, progressive, smart, and clever child here; it's just that he happened to be out, so he wasn't hired by others."

The old monkey jumped to the ground: "Come over, I'll take you to see him."

The memorial archway was very low, and He Lingchuan didn't want to jump over it directly in front of these Thousand-Heart Flow monkeys, so he had to bend down and crawl through.

The monkeys watched with smiles, some showing their teeth.

Humans had to bow their heads and bend their waists to pass through the memorial archway, satisfying the wicked psychology of this group of monkeys.

There were only a few buildings on the mountain, large and empty. He Lingchuan looked up and found that tree houses were tied to several large trees, and shadows were swaying on the nearby branches.

That's right, monkeys like to stay in trees.

Sugar Old Man shouted a few times toward the tree, and soon there was a chirping sound from above as a response, followed by an ape climbing down the tree and landing on the branch in front of the crowd.

This monkey's fur color was lighter than its peers, and it even wore a bamboo hat on its head.

He Lingchuan saw that its figure was thin and small, its movements agile, its fur exceptionally clean, and its eyes very lively. Unlike ordinary monkeys whose eyes rolled around, it scanned the crowd and then locked onto He Lingchuan, as if it knew he was the focus.

Sugar Old Man introduced He Lingchuan's identity to it, and the latter immediately asked: "Your name is Lingguang?"

The monkey nodded, not scratching its ears or cheeks, looking as steady as a human.

"Mr. Sugar Old Man recommends you to be my Medicine Ape. I have a few medicinal materials here; how about you help me refine them into Thousand-Settlement Pills?"

Lingguang knew this was its job interview, so it jumped to the ground very simply, and didn't know where it took out a small furnace smaller than a palm and placed it on the ground.

The furnace slowly grew larger until it was level with Mao Tao's shoulder.

Afterward, it extended its hand toward He Lingchuan.

As far as an ape was concerned, its palm was very clean, without a bit of sand, soil, or leaf debris.

After receiving the medicinal materials, it quickly grabbed a few handfuls and threw them into the furnace, not at all like He Lingchuan who was careful in measuring and didn't dare to make the slightest mistake.

Afterward, the monkey blew a breath toward the bottom of the furnace, and with a *whoosh*, fire appeared in the furnace.

No wonder it was called a Fire Ape.

Next, the monkey controlled the fire size throughout the process, the flame color was sometimes deep and sometimes shallow, and from time to time it threw in some medicinal materials, the speed so fast that others almost couldn't see clearly.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 175 =====