Chapter 17: Not Optimistic

Because Hua Changxi had helped Du Ruo pull two cartloads of medicinal herbs, she clearly felt Du Ruo treating her with greater warmth.

When the two returned to the Sixth Bureau, it was just time for dinner; Du Ruo voluntarily invited Hua Changxi to join her at the mess hall.

There were very few people in the mess hall; not many could finish their duties on time each day. Those with slower hands had to work until the middle of the night, and some might even have to stay up all night.

Hua Changxi asked, "Steward Du, if we work late and miss the meal, what should we do?"

Du Ruo replied, "That requires you to build good relationships with others, asking them to bring a few steamed buns to the dormitory so you can pad your stomach when you return at night. If no one helps, you can only go hungry."

"By the way, I forgot to tell you earlier: the Corvée Hall grants one day of leave per month, and every ten days, there is also half a day for rest and recuperation."

Afterward, Du Ruo told Hua Changxi a few more things about the Corvée Hall; once they finished dinner, the two parted ways.

Hua Changxi returned to her lodging; since no one was in the room, she quickly washed up, climbed onto her bed, lay prone, closed her eyes, and began cultivating.

Having worked all day, she was actually quite tired, but as cultivation progressed, the physical exhaustion was gradually alleviated bit by bit.

The sky gradually darkened, and only when it became completely black did people start returning to their rooms one after another.

Seeing that Hua Changxi had gone to sleep, her roommates made no effort to lower their voices; instead, their talking grew louder and louder.

Unfortunately, no matter how loudly the others spoke, Hua Changxi showed no intention of waking up.

"How can she sleep so soundly?"

"She looks young, and today is her first day in the Corvée Hall; she must be exhausted."

The voices of the crowd gradually faded.

At the Hua family residence in Xiuzheng Fang.

When Hua Sanlang returned home and relayed the message brought back by Apothecary Xu, learning that Hua Changxi intended to live in the Corvée Hall with only one day of leave per month, the expressions of the Hua family members all became complicated.

Lady Yao was extremely worried: "Ninth Girl has never left home since she was little; when she left this morning, she didn't even bring any luggage. I must pack some things and send them to her."

"Stop!"

Old Master Hua called out to halt Lady Yao, looking sternly at the members of the eldest branch: "None of you are permitted to send anything to Ninth Girl."

"Ninth Girl is far too willful; she is so willful that she does not even listen to me, her grandfather. To enter the Medical Bureau, she has been stubbornly following her own path, disregarding the family's opinion entirely."

"Where does her confidence to act this way come from?"

"Does it not come from your indulgence? You always clean up the mess whenever she causes trouble."

"When she was small, it was acceptable, but now that she is growing older, can you guarantee that the troubles she causes in the future will be within your ability to fix?"

"Let her suffer some hardships in the Corvée Hall; only when she knows how difficult it is to make a living will she understand how important her family is to her."

"She must realize that the reason she dared to be willful before was because her family protected her; now that she has left home, she is nothing."

Hua Minghe's brows knitted together, while Hua Sanlang and Hua Liulang also wore tight expressions, clearly somewhat disapproving of Old Master Hua's approach; Lady Yao simply lowered her head to conceal her reluctance.

Seeing the atmosphere was becoming tense, Old Mistress Hua stepped in to smooth things over: "When children grow up, they need even stricter discipline, especially young ladies."

"Eldest Son, Eldest Daughter-in-law, tell me yourselves: with Ninth Girl's temperament, which family would dare to take her?"

"If her temperament does not change, she will suffer greatly after marrying into her husband's family."

"Since she has not yet married, if we help manage her more now, she will endure less torment later when she joins her husband's household."

"Your father and I have worried ourselves sick for this family; if you do not understand or cooperate, you truly chill our hearts."

Second Uncle Hua immediately chimed in: "Big Brother, Big Sister-in-law, I think Father and Mother are right. None of the young men in the family are as willful as Ninth Girl; her behavior is unacceptable and must be strictly disciplined."

Saying this, he looked toward Fourth Uncle Hua: "Fourth Brother, what do you say?"

Fourth Uncle Hua glanced at the Old Master and Old Mistress, then looked at Hua Minghe and Lady Yao, murmuring ambiguously, "Ninth Girl... is indeed not quite respectful and humble."

As soon as he finished speaking, Old Mistress Hua turned her gaze to Hua Minghe: "You may ignore what your father and I say, but surely you should consider the words of your two brothers."

Hua Minghe hastily stood up, bowing deeply: "Mother, how could you say such things? We have never disobeyed you and Father; we simply ache seeing Ninth Girl suffer hardships in the Corvée Hall."

Old Mistress Hua retorted irritably: "Did the family inflict this suffering on Ninth Girl? She brought it upon herself. As the saying goes, 'A fall into the pit makes you wiser'; whether Ninth Girl learns her lesson depends entirely on what you do."

Hua Minghe remained silent for a moment before finally compromising: "We will obey Father and Mother."

"I hope you keep your word."

Old Mistress Hua and Old Master Hua exchanged a glance, their faces showing satisfaction.

Hua Twelfth Girl leaned toward Hua Seventh Girl and whispered, "Seventh Sister, you previously said Ninth Sister's confidence would only grow stronger; see now, even Eldest Uncle does not favor Ninth Sister."

"At home, Ninth Sister wouldn't even wash the clothes for Eldest Uncle, Third Brother, or Sixth Brother; how could she possibly endure the hardships of being a corvée laborer?"

"Just wait; perhaps in a couple of days, Ninth Sister will come slinking back in disgrace."

The next day, as the first ray of sunlight illuminated the earth, a piercing gong sounded in the Corvée Hall; people in all the corvée dormitories opened their eyes one after another, preparing to rise and begin work.

"Why hasn't she woken up yet?"

"Should we call out to her?"

"Why call her? She works so fast; what harm is there in letting her sleep a little longer?"

"Enough, Qingluo; stop meddling in unnecessary affairs. Perhaps if you wake her, she won't even appreciate your kindness."

"Hurry up and go; if we arrive late, we'll have to queue again."

The corvée laborers had to race against time every day: queuing for meals, queuing to collect medicinal herbs, and queuing to submit tasks. With such heavy duties already, any slowness in movement would make time even more insufficient.

At the beginning of the Chen hour (7:00), the corvée laborers had successively collected the medicinal herbs designated for cleaning that day, dragged them to the irrigation ditches, and begun washing and processing them.

After all her subordinates had started working, Du Ruo came around for an inspection and soon discovered that Hua Changxi had not yet arrived.

Having stayed in the Corvée Hall for several years, she understood that Hua Changxi had simply failed to adapt to the schedule, oversleeping, and that her roommates had not woken her.

After a moment of hesitation, Du Ruo ultimately decided not to send anyone to summon Hua Changxi.

Newcomers must suffer some hardships before they learn to strive to integrate into the team and understand how to conduct themselves.

At the second mark of the Si hour (9:30), Hua Changxi finally opened her eyes, stretched lazily, and got out of bed with a smile curling her lips, her face bearing undisguised delight.

She discovered that cultivating here was much faster than cultivating at home.

[Realm: Qi Refining 51/1000]

After one night had passed, not only had all the spiritual energy consumed yesterday been fully restored, but her realm points had also increased by two.

Hua Changxi calculated that cultivating at home for one night would only increase her realm points by two, whereas cultivating here would gain her five points in a single night.

Cultivating here was more than twice as effective as at home!

This discovery left Hua Changxi both excited and puzzled.

Why was cultivation in the Servant Hall faster than at home?

Could it be that the spiritual energy in the air of the Servant Hall was more abundant than at home?

"Joining the Servant Hall was truly the right choice."

Hua Changxi glanced at the sky; seeing the sun already high overhead, her expression changed.

She had definitely overslept!

There was no help for it; cultivation during the midnight and dawn hours was most efficient, as spiritual energy flowed most smoothly then, and she had not wanted to waste that time.

Breakfast would likely be missed.

"Eh?"

Hua Changxi noticed two multigrain steamed buns placed by her bedside, and joy lit up her face: "Who put these here?"

It seemed there were still friendly people among her new roommates.

Hua Changxi hurriedly washed up, grabbed the buns, and walked toward the front courtyard while eating.

Upon reaching the front courtyard, the servants on both banks of the ditch were busy working with great fervor.

Du Ruo saw her and said, "Today you must clean and process five hundred medicinal herbs; if you do not finish, you are not allowed to sleep. Go quickly to the storage room to collect the herbs you need to process."

Seeing that Du Ruo had not scolded her for oversleeping, Hua Changxi felt a surge of delight and immediately decided that as long as Du Ruo said nothing, she would continue to sleep in late.