Chapter 19: Lesson

Because Hua Changxi helped Du Ruo transport medicinal herbs to the Second Bureau every day, Du Ruo turned a blind eye to Hua Changxi's habit of waking up late and did not bother her about it.

Thus, Hua Changxi's days in the Corvée Hall fell into a steady routine.

She woke at the Si hour, went to the storeroom to collect dozens of types of medicinal herbs from Yu Gui, and brought them back to the Sixth Bureau for cleaning; in the afternoon, after finishing her quota of 500 herbs, she first reported to the Second Bureau, then helped Du Ruo transport herbs; at the Xu hour, she went to bed on time and began her cultivation.

Time flew, and ten days passed.

[Realm: Qi Refining 108/1000]

[Annotations on the Hundred Herbs Scripture (Perfected): Tasting Hundred Herbs 1101/]

[Stainless Technique (Perfected): Cleaning Medicinal Herbs 6022/]

Over the course of ten days, all her statistics had been steadily improving.

During this period, when her count for Tasting Hundred Herbs broke through 1000, a voice sounded once again in Hua Changxi's mind: The Divine Plant Chapter of the Annotations on the Hundred Herbs Scripture has opened.

The Divine Plant Chapter was even more profound than the Spirit Plant Chapter; it recorded various plants, demonic beasts, and spiritual treasures capable of enhancing, weakening, consuming, consolidating, or repairing the primordial spirit.

At the same time, the variety of divine plants was far fewer than that of spirit plants; the Spirit Plant Chapter recorded at least tens of thousands of items, whereas the Divine Plant Chapter recorded only a few thousand.

"I haven't even seen a single spirit plant yet, and now divine plants have appeared."

Hua Changxi marveled at the depth and breadth of the path of cultivation, while her desire to rapidly advance her realm grew increasingly intense.

As long as her realm became high enough, she would surely be able to fully push open the great door to the path of cultivation.

When first entering the workplace, newcomers are always bullied.

Among her dormitory mates, there were friendly people like Lu Qingluo; there were also those who could not stand Hua Changxi's early bedtime and late rising, filling them with hostility toward her.

"What a dead pig; we're speaking so loudly, yet she can still sleep so soundly!"

The speaker was a young lady named Wang Yunchu.

Among the female corvée laborers in the Corvée Hall, the ratio of married women to unmarried young ladies was roughly fifty-fifty.

Generally, in each dormitory, the older, more experienced married women held more authority; however, in the ten-person dormitory where Hua Changxi lived, since there were seven young ladies and only three married women, with both sides forming their own cliques, the young ladies outnumbered the married women's group.

Among the young ladies, Wang Yunchu had the most domineering personality and was the boldest to step forward when issues arose; thus, she became the primary spokesperson.

Apart from Lu Qingluo, Hua Changxi treated everyone else in the dormitory with indifference; two days prior, when Wang Yunchu saw Hua Changxi helping Lu Qingluo wash herbs again, she asked Hua Changxi to wash some for her as well, only to be flatly rejected by Hua Changxi.

This refusal inevitably offended Wang Yunchu.

"Why is the room so dirty and messy?"

After a day of toil, hungry and exhausted, returning to the room only to see Hua Changxi sleeping soundly made Wang Yunchu, who was already dissatisfied with Hua Changxi, even more displeased; seeing that the room had not been swept and everyone's clothes were piled everywhere, she immediately found a pretext to explode.

"Hua Changxi, get up for me!"

Seeing Wang Yunchu shouting loudly at Hua Changxi, Lu Qingluo hurriedly tried to mediate: "Sister Yunchu, Changxi is still young..."

Her words were cut off by Wang Yunchu: "Young? Young what? Once you enter the Corvée Hall, everyone is just a corvée laborer; she is young, but we didn't force her to become a corvée laborer."

Speaking thus, she walked to Hua Changxi's bedside, reached out, and directly pulled back Hua Changxi's quilt; seeing that she still hadn't woken, she began shaking Hua Changxi's body with her hands.

Hua Changxi was immersed in the satisfaction of being enveloped by warm currents during her breathing exercises when suddenly she felt her body shaking, causing the warm current flowing within her to become unstable.

"Hua Changxi, get up for me, don't play dead; let me tell you, this isn't your home, you..."

Before the words were finished, Wang Yunchu saw Hua Changxi's eyes snap open, shooting out a cold light like a sharp sword aimed directly at her.

Before Wang Yunchu could recover from Hua Changxi's piercing gaze, the next moment she found the world spinning, followed by excruciating pain in her arm and body.

"Ah~"

On the earthen kang, Hua Changxi stood in a bow stance; Wang Yunchu had been practically dragged by her arm and thrown onto the kang, where her right arm was now twisted behind her back and her lower waist pinned firmly by Hua Changxi's knee.

At this moment, Hua Changxi's expression was indifferent, and the cold light in her eyes did not resemble that of a young lady in her teens, causing the people in the room to feel panicked.

"Why did you disturb my sleep?"

Hua Changxi's voice carried not a shred of warmth; she pushed Wang Yunchu's twisted arm further toward her head while increasing the force of her grip.

"Ah~"

Fearing the scream would attract attention from the neighboring room, just as Wang Yunchu cried out, Hua Changxi grabbed a pillowcase and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Mmm mmm mmm~"

With her arm twisted behind her back and her body pinned down, Wang Yunchu was in such pain that sweat broke out on her forehead.

Hua Changxi looked at Wang Yunchu expressionlessly, then swept her gaze across the others in the room: "Still want to make noise?"

Wang Yunchu made "mmm" sounds while shaking her head rapidly.

Hua Changxi loosened her grip slightly and pulled the pillowcase from Wang Yunchu's mouth: "Speak, why did you disturb my sleep?"

Wang Yunchu did not answer, instead blustering: "Hua Changxi, let me go!"

Seeing her behave this way, Hua Changxi sneered and increased the force of her hand once more.

"Ah, I'll say, I'll say."

Wang Yunchu softened; only after Hua Changxi relaxed her grip did she speak with little confidence: "You didn't clean the room; I came to remind you to clean it."

Hua Changxi's gaze turned cold again; she snorted coldly: "If I remember correctly, I cleaned the room the day before yesterday; there are ten people in this room, each cleaning for one day, so how has it become my turn again?"

Wang Yunchu said: "You return to the room so early every day, while the rest of us are busy until dark; since you come back first, can't you shoulder more of the cleaning duties?"

"Besides, you are still a newcomer."

"Go ask the other dormitories; in which room has a newcomer arrived where the cleaning duties for the first two months weren't entirely taken over by the newcomer?"

Hua Changxi sneered: "Who are you people to me? Why should I share the burden of tasks that should rightfully be yours?"

"Furthermore, other newcomers take on all the cleaning because they rely on the help of the veterans; have any of you ever helped me?"

"Wanting to reap without sowing without giving anything in return—you shouldn't be working as corvée laborers; you should go home and be treated like ancestors."

Hua Changxi flung Wang Yunchu away.

The moment Wang Yunchu gained her freedom, she immediately scrambled off the kang and quickly moved away from Hua Changxi.

Sitting on the kang, Hua Changxi looked at the people in the room: "I do not like bullying others, nor do I like being bullied; whoever bullies me, I will repay tenfold."

"Everyone serving in the Corvée Hall has it hard; I know you are tired, but your hardships were not caused by me, so do not vent the anger accumulated in your hearts upon me."

"I have a bad temper; don't think you can push me around just because I'm young."

"Remember this: don't provoke me again, and especially don't disturb my sleep."

Although her constitution had improved significantly from cultivation, she still grew tired from work; she was no sage, bearing neither the obligation nor the desire to help others without reward.

To integrate into the group, she did not mind doing extra tasks, provided it was her own choice; she deeply resented the attitude of people like Wang Yun, who believed that simply because she was capable, she ought naturally to shoulder more work.

After that, Hua Changxi said nothing more; with a look of disgust, she tossed aside the pillowcase she had used to gag Wang Yun, then lay face down on the bed again, closed her eyes, and resumed cultivating.

Seeing Hua Changxi flare up and then casually go back to sleep as if nothing had happened, the others in the room wore strange expressions.

"Hurry up and tidy things so we can sleep."

Someone in the room patted Wang Yun on the shoulder in consolation, after which all conversation in the room was deliberately kept to a whisper.

Wang Yun gazed at Hua Changxi's sleeping face, her eyes filled with both resentment and fear.