Chapter 198

"Hall Master!"

Seeing that Hua Changxi had finally returned to the Qihuang Hall, the other seven medicine boys all breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts simultaneously.

Entering the No. 13 Qihuang Hall, they all carried tasks on their persons. One was to learn the art of pill refining, the second was to find the secrets of the Qihuang Hall, and the third was to collect information on Hua Changxi.

Who would have thought that Hua Changxi was not an ordinary person; after seeing them once, she had never come to the Qihuang Hall again.

Hua Changxi looked at the seven medicine boys who followed Pharmacist Xu into the main hall: "Do you have business?"

The seven medicine boys felt the impatience in Hua Changxi's tone and exchanged glances with each other. Finally, Hua Shuran, relying on the fact that she was of the same clan as Hua Changxi and also the legitimate daughter of the Count's Mansion, spoke first: "Hall Master, we are here to await your orders."

Hua Changxi looked at the seven: "You were not selected by me to enter the hall, so I have no orders for you."

As soon as these words were spoken, all seven, including Hua Shuran, looked stunned. Even Pharmacist Xu hadn't expected Hua Changxi to speak so bluntly.

The room went quiet, and the atmosphere became somewhat stagnant.

Neither Hua Shuran nor Hua Wanyue had expected Hua Changxi to be so disrespectful. Both felt that Hua Changxi didn't have to treat others as her own, but they were both of the Hua clan and naturally on the same side. However, looking at Hua Changxi's style, it was clear she hadn't considered this point at all.

He Sirong and He Siqi exchanged helpless glances. When they learned that their families had arranged for them to enter the No. 13 Qihuang Hall without notifying Hua Changxi, they guessed that this would make Hua Changxi unhappy, but they hadn't expected Hua Changxi to be so repulsed that she couldn't even be bothered to do the face-saving work of being hypocritical.

Zhu Yu, Zhou Bin, and Wan Feng all lowered their heads to look at the ground, their expressions still relatively calm.

Hua Changxi took in the reactions of the seven: "If there is nothing else, you may leave."

Hearing this, Hua Shuran and the others looked at each other and stood still.

He Sirong took a deep breath and stepped forward: "Hall Master, the masters of the other Qihuang Halls all teach their medicine boys how to refine pills."

After hearing this, Hua Changxi looked at Pharmacist Xu: "Are the spirit herbs needed for medicine boys to refine pills also distributed by the Medicine Department?"

Pharmacist Xu shook his head: "No, every month, the Medicine Department only distributes sixty portions of spirit herbs for refining first-grade spirit pills to each Qihuang Hall." Spirit herbs were precious, so naturally, they couldn't be supplied to medicine boys for practice.

Hearing this, Hua Changxi smiled: "So that's how it is; the Medicine Department doesn't want to cultivate medicine boys at all, and the medicine boys of each Qihuang Hall are just servants helping with rough work?"

"Uh..."

Pharmacist Xu gave a sheepish smile and didn't take up the topic.

The others learned once again of Hua Changxi's sharp tongue. What servants? They were not lowly people. Those who could enter the Qihuang Hall all had deep backgrounds, and they were only staying in the No. 13 Qihuang Hall now because they had something they wanted.

Hua Changxi asked again: "Has this month's share of spirit herbs been issued?"

Pharmacist Xu nodded: "Issued. On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, I went to collect the spirit herbs."

Hua Changxi: "Go and get thirty portions of spirit herbs."

Pharmacist Xu wanted to ask what the spirit herbs were for, but thinking that he and Hua Changxi were currently in a superior-subordinate relationship, he swallowed the words that came to his lips and went directly to get thirty portions of spirit herbs.

Hua Changxi checked the quality of the spirit herbs; the processing and storage were very average, and over thirty percent of the spirit herbs showed signs of spiritual energy dissipation.

It seems the Servant Hall is lacking people who truly know how to handle spirit herbs!

Thinking about it, it made sense. For the various spirit herbs that were constantly emerging, unless one had obtained a heritage in the field of spirit herbs, they probably couldn't even name the spirit herbs, let alone process and prepare them.

"You eight, divide these thirty portions of spirit herbs. Those who get less this month will be compensated next month, and it will be like this every month from now on."

Pharmacist Xu wanted to say something, but seeing Hua Changxi's unquestionable demeanor, he could only quickly distribute the spirit herbs.

Hua Changxi waited for him to finish distributing: "Alright, you have received the spirit herbs, you may leave."

Hua Wanyue couldn't help herself: "Hall Master, none of us know how to refine pills. Aren't you going to teach us?"

After hearing this, Hua Changxi let out a light laugh and looked at the eight medicine boys: "I know you all have extraordinary backgrounds, but in the No. 13 Qihuang Hall, your status is that of medicine boys. If you don't recognize this point, you'd better hurry back to where you came from."

She paused.

"You must remember, it wasn't me who demanded you come to the No. 13 Qihuang Hall. Before you entered, you should have been prepared to be medicine boys. Now you are turning around and demanding things of me; are you certain that I should be responsible for you?"

Zhu Yu spoke up: "But the Hall Master has the responsibility to teach the medicine boys."

Hua Changxi: "That is other hall masters, not me. I am just like this. If you have any opinions, the door is right there; you can leave at any time."

At this, everyone stopped talking.

Hua Changxi curled the corners of her mouth, the smile on her face somewhat cold: "Don't compare other Qihuang Halls with ours. They are grasshoppers on the same rope, while as for me and you... if you don't stab me in the back, I'll be burning incense in gratitude. You actually delusionally expect me to teach you pill refining? Do you really take me for a fool?"

Pharmacist Xu and the eight: "..."

With Hua Changxi having said things to this point, Hua Shuran and the others had no choice but to withdraw from the main hall.

After Pharmacist Xu and the others left, he looked at Hua Changxi helplessly: "Jiuniang, that is not how one acts as a Hall Master."

Hua Changxi didn't care and shrugged: "I am just that special."

Pharmacist Xu felt a heart attack: "... If you are like this, you won't have any subordinates to use in the future."

Hua Changxi looked at him and laughed: "If I use subordinates with ulterior motives, how much of a failure must I be?" Seeing Pharmacist Xu still wanted to say something, she interrupted him directly: "Uncle Xu, you just help me handle the miscellaneous affairs of the Qihuang Hall; as for other matters, I have my own plans."

Seeing her like this, Pharmacist Xu could only shake his head and sigh.

After he withdrew, Hua Changxi's divine sense scanned the four pill-refining rooms in the west wing and found that three of them had restrictions activated, leaving her speechless.

Openly "conspiring" under her nose, how much do they look down on her? Are they afraid she won't discover the restrictions, or do they think that even if she discovers them, she can do nothing about it?

In the No. 1 pill-refining room, Hua Wanyue was complaining to Hua Shuran: "Does Hua Changxi have something wrong with her brain? It's one thing not to give us face, but can the things she said be said in front of outsiders? Is she stupid?"

Hua Shuran didn't take up the topic, and after a moment of silence, she spoke: "But what I see is that Hua Changxi has plenty of confidence." As she spoke, she looked at the furious Hua Wanyue: "She doesn't care about our reactions at all, nor is she afraid of us spreading her words."

"We entered the No. 13 Qihuang Hall without her consent. Now, she just wants to make us unhappy and wants to slap us in the face in public."

Hua Wanyue's anger weakened a bit, and she said indignantly: "She has too little reverence for the clan. She doesn't even think about it; without the Hua clan, where would she be?"

Hua Shuran didn't take up this point. Her father had told her that for Hua Bin's family, except for Hua Bin, whose parents died early and who had received care from the clan, the others not only never received care but were even suppressed. Trying to use clan sentiment to coerce them was almost impossible.

In the No. 2 pill-refining room, He Sirong and He Siqi were also discussing Hua Changxi.

He Sirong: "The Hua family's social standing is still too low after all. Hua Changxi's style is clearly still that of a lone wolf. She is so unscrupulous because she never thought of using us at all."

He Siqi: "What should we do now? Hua Changxi is so repulsed by us; whether it's pill refining or anything else, I'm afraid we won't be able to achieve our goals."

He Sirong: "The mansion spent a lot of effort to arrange for us to enter the No. 13 Qihuang Hall, so of course we will continue to stay. The higher-ups distributed sixty portions of medicinal materials, and Hua Changxi gave thirty portions to us. What does this mean?"

"It means she is very confident, confident that she can use the remaining thirty portions of medicinal materials to refine the thirty bottles of spirit pills that need to be submitted to the Medicine Department."

He Siqi widened her eyes upon hearing this analysis: "In that case, wouldn't Hua Changxi's success rate in refining spirit pills be as high as one hundred percent?"

He Sirong: "This point will be verified very soon. If it is really like this, then Hua Changxi's pill-refining technique far exceeds what you and I imagined. In the entire Medicine Department, there are quite a few pill refiners, but who dares to stand up and say they succeed every time they refine pills?"

"Even if Hua Changxi is unwilling to teach us, when the Qihuang Halls take turns giving lectures after the new year, you and I can get close to the water and listen in; I think we can also learn a lot of things."

In the No. 3 pill-refining room, Zhou Bin and Wan Feng were also speaking in low voices.

Zhou Bin shook his head: "Before entering the Qihuang Hall, I heard that our Hall Master's temperament wasn't very good and that her relationship with her family was very strained. Today, we have truly experienced it."

Wan Feng was also full of disapproval: "It's still the lack of upbringing in the Hua family. The Hall Master speaks without thinking at all, completely following her own temperament. Although the words are spoken with satisfaction, she doesn't consider the consequences at all. Just wait and see, in the future, the Hall Master will have to slap her own face."

In the No. 4 pill-refining room, Zhu Yu sat alone by the window, holding the "Complete Book of Ordinary Plants" that Hua Changxi had primarily edited. She appeared to be reading seriously, but in reality, she was thinking about what Hua Changxi had just said.

"Grasshoppers on the same rope..."

Was this the rambling of someone with insufficient knowledge, or did she not put the other seventeen Qihuang Halls in her eyes at all? Did she feel that the imperial family's arrangement and allocation for the Qihuang Halls would ultimately end in nothing?