Chapter 23: When Endurance Reaches Its Limit, There Is No Need to Endure Further

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

Previously, when Hua Changxi came over, even if Yu Gui did not greet her with a smile, he would at least respond familiarly.

But today, Yu Gui merely glanced indifferently at Hua Changxi, casually pointed to a male laborer, ordered him to take Hua Changxi to collect the herbs, and then ignored her completely.

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

Seeing Hua Changxi staring at Yu Gui without moving, the male laborer urged her impatiently.

Hua Changxi withdrew her puzzled gaze and followed the male laborer away.

"You arrived too late; take these herbs back and clean them yourself."

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

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

She had not been moving them for long when the male laborer suddenly sidled up to her: "Sister, these herbs are difficult to clean; wouldn't you like to exchange them for some easier ones?"

Hua Changxi glanced at him indifferently and continued moving the herbs.

The male laborer pressed closer to Hua Changxi: "Sister, Brother Yu doesn't like you anymore, but Brother Mao does." As he spoke, he reached out to wrap his arm around Hua Changxi's waist.

"Ah~"

Hua Changxi grabbed the male laborer's wrist, applied slight force, and made him scream in pain.

"Bitch, let go of me quickly!"

Mao Wei shouted aggressively while hiding his inner cowardice.

Hua Changxi looked at him expressionlessly: "I have great strength; since childhood, I have broken many people's arms and legs. Big Brother, do not touch me casually; next time, I might not be able to restrain my strength."

After speaking, she flung Mao Wei away.

Mao Wei stumbled back several steps before steadying himself; feeling that his right arm was sprained, he immediately glared at Hua Changxi with a mix of anger and shame: "You..."

Hua Changxi returned his gaze with an indifferent expression, effectively silencing Mao Wei from uttering any threats.

"Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and move the herbs."

Mao Wei dared only to curse while urging Hua Changxi to move the medicine quickly, keeping himself several meters away from her.

Hua Changxi loaded the herbs onto a cart, pulled it away, and as she passed the warehouse entrance, she glanced at Yu Gui again; she did not believe he had failed to hear the commotion between her and the male laborer, yet he had chosen not to intervene.

What was wrong with this person? Clearly, their relationship had been fine just yesterday, and she had even helped him; why did he turn his back on her today as if they were strangers?

Could it be because she had asked for the withered herbs yesterday?

But the withered herbs were discarded waste; her taking them would neither cause Yu Gui any trouble nor result in any loss of profit for him, so what was there to hold a grudge about?

She had helped him with physical labor all afternoon; giving her the withered herbs as compensation was entirely reasonable.

Could it be that this Yu Gui was someone unwilling to part with even the tiniest bit of anything?

If that were truly the case, then such a person was not worth associating with.

Afterwards, whenever Hua Changxi came to collect herbs and saw Yu Gui, she would greet him as usual; after he repeatedly failed to respond, she stopped bothering to greet him the next time she visited the warehouse.

When the people of the Sixth Bureau saw Hua Changxi returning with a cart full of difficult-to-clean herbs, they were first surprised, then immediately began to gloat.

"Lost favor so quickly?"

As Hua Changxi passed by the ditch, a woman sneered loudly, immediately prompting bursts of laughter from people on both sides of the ditch.

"Hua Changxi sleeps in late every day and always gets back easy-to-clean herbs; see, she has provoked everyone's anger now."

Wang Yun said this to her group members with gloating delight.

On the other side, after hearing the woman's words, Hua Changxi took several deep breaths; she had intended to let the matter drop, but no matter how much she suppressed it, she could not quell the burning anger rising within her.

Thus, she decided not to endure it anymore!

Hua Changxi set down her cart, walked expressionlessly to the woman, grabbed her by the hair, and kicked her forcefully in the calf; once the woman knelt in the ditch, Hua Changxi forcibly shoved her head underwater.

"Ah~"

"Gurgle gurgle~"

"Help~"

"Gurgle gurgle~"

"Help~"

"Gurgle gurgle~"

Hua Changxi held the woman's head down until she was nearly suffocating, then dragged her out of the water; just as the woman gasped for air, Hua Changxi shoved her head back underwater.

Whether terrified into stupidity or for some other reason, the people on both banks of the ditch fell silent; at that moment, the entire Sixth Bureau was unusually quiet, with only the woman's screams and her splashing in the water audible.

Only after the woman had swallowed enough water and lacked even the strength to cry for help did Hua Changxi drag her out of the water; looking at the soaking wet woman, she spoke with exceptional gentleness:

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

The woman trembled all over, already frightened out of her wits: "I... I didn't say anything."

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

The woman shuddered violently, unable to suppress her fear any longer, and cried loudly: "I was wrong, I shouldn't have spoken recklessly; please spare me."

Hua Changxi looked at her for a moment: "Big Sister, disaster comes from the mouth; take care of yourself."

The woman nodded repeatedly like a pestle pounding garlic, tears streaming down her face: "I will never speak recklessly again, never spread gossip about others again."

Hua Changxi released the woman, returned to her cart, pulled the herbs to the cleaning area assigned to Du Ruo's group, dumped the herbs into the water, and bent her head to start washing them.

Watching Hua Changxi wash the herbs with a calm complexion, Wang Yun and the other members of her group exchanged glances and silently moved a bit farther away from her.

The scene that had just unfolded was witnessed by all ten third-level supervisors of the Sixth Bureau.

Ling Xiao looked angrily at Du Ruo: "Du Ruo, how do you manage your people? How could you allow someone under your command to beat others at will? You must give me an explanation, otherwise we will take this matter to Supervisor Leng for judgment."

The woman who had just been disciplined was indeed under her command.

At this moment, Du Ruo's expression was also quite poor; she knew Hua Changxi was somewhat unsociable, but she had not expected that this young woman would also have violent tendencies, resorting to physical violence at the slightest disagreement.

Another supervisor, Zhou Huilan, also spoke up: "Du Ruo, you really need to manage that new laborer properly; putting other things aside, the fact that she sleeps until the Si hour every day must be corrected."

"I know that new laborer is highly capable, but that is no excuse for her to break the rules. If others follow her example, how shall we manage people in the future?"

The other stewards echoed one after another: "Exactly."

Seeing the other stewards all denouncing Du Ruo, Ling Xiao felt quite pleased and added, "And then there is that new laborer and the people from the warehouse..."

Before he could finish, Zhou Huilan interrupted: "If she has managed to befriend the warehouse staff, that is her own ability. Just like Steward Ling, who is on good terms with Steward Niu of the Fifth Bureau; we never said anything about that, did we?"

Upon hearing this, Ling Xiao's face immediately turned ugly.

The crowd paid no heed and dispersed in different directions.

Du Ruo returned to her own group, first inspecting the medicinal herbs washed by her subordinates, before finally approaching Hua Changxi.

The medicinal herbs Hua Changxi had brought back today were exceptionally difficult to clean; Du Ruo had originally expected Hua Changxi to work very slowly, yet upon drawing near, she discovered that those herbs covered in long hairs or sharp thorns, which could easily injure one's hands with a moment's carelessness, had not slowed Hua Changxi's washing speed in the slightest.

In just this short while, more than half the herbs had already been cleaned thoroughly.

Seeing Steward Du approach, Hua Changxi greeted her with a smile: "Steward Du, is there something you need?"

Du Ruo looked at Hua Changxi, who had only recently pinned another group's members underwater to teach them a lesson; seeing that she not only showed no guilt but instead greeted her proactively with a cheerful smile, Du Ruo had to admit that regarding mental fortitude, she felt inferior.

"Your habit of rising late violates the regulations of the Labor Hall; from now on, you must rise before the Hour of Chen."

Hua Changxi fell silent for a moment, then agreed with a smile: "Steward Du, since I wash medicinal herbs relatively quickly, once I have completed my daily duties, am I free to arrange my own time?"

Du Ruo nodded, and before leaving, hesitated briefly before saying, "The people in the Labor Hall are a chaotic lot; because the work is heavy, the scrutiny of one's background is not so strict."

"Do not assume that just because the Labor Hall sits at the very bottom of the Medical Bureau, the Three Offices and Nine Warehouses lack talented individuals; the male laborers' side certainly has no shortage of martial practitioners, and the female laborers' side each has their own connections."

"Do not rely on your great strength and look down on everyone."

"Furthermore, some paths may appear to be shortcuts, but ahead lie pitfalls far greater than you can imagine."

"One must keep one's feet on the ground and live an honest life; you are still young, so do absolutely not take the wrong path."

Hua Changxi knew Du Ruo was referring to the rumors circulating over the past two days, so she smiled and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Steward Du."

After Du Ruo left, Hua Changxi accelerated her washing speed; since she would have to rise early in the mornings from now on, she could only finish her duties earlier to utilize the remaining time for cultivation.

Because Hua Changxi had acted so fiercely to teach a lesson to the woman spreading gossip about her, her ears found peace; she no longer attracted pointing fingers wherever she went, nor did anyone dare to spread rumors about her to her face.

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

Every time Hua Changxi went to collect medicinal herbs, Mao Wei would assign her the most difficult ones to wash; for an ordinary person, washing these not only risked injury, but due to their bulk, transporting them alone required ten or more round trips, wasting both effort and time.

Seeing that Yu Gui did not stop him, Mao Wei became even more arrogant; though he no longer dared to lay hands on her, he frequently used verbal harassment to tease Hua Changxi in front of everyone.

"It really takes Brother Yu to have such good taste; just look at our sister Changxi—though she is not yet grown, her chest is truly a chest..."

"Crack~"

The warehouse staff, who were listening with great interest, suddenly saw a figure flash past, followed by a sharp 'crack'; focusing their eyes, they saw Hua Changxi gripping Mao Wei's face, his jaw already dislocated.

"Ah~"

Hua Changxi increased the force of her grip; Mao Wei let out muffled, agonizing screams, fresh blood streaming from the corners of his mouth: "Since your mouth cannot speak human words, then this mouth has no reason to exist."

Witnessing this scene, Yu Gui was so startled he jumped straight up from his chair; staring at Hua Changxi with twitching eyelids, he stammered, "Stop... no... let go, let go quickly!"

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

Mao Wei lay prone on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood mixed with several molars.

Seeing this, the warehouse staff unanimously moved further away from Hua Changxi.

"Big Brother Yu..."

Hearing Hua Changxi's call, Yu Gui trembled.

Hua Changxi looked at him and said, "Big Brother Yu, I do not wish to cause trouble, but if trouble seeks me out, I will absolutely not fear it."

She knew that within the Labor Hall, she belonged to a vulnerable group; since she needed to remain there to cultivate and improve her medical skills, she ought to endure oppression and swallow her grievances.

Yet, facing the warehouse staff recklessly spreading vulgar slander about her, she truly could not endure it.

If she could even endure this, her Dao Heart would become unstable.