Chapter 23

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

Whenever Hua Changxi came over before, even if Yu Gui didn't greet her with a smile, he would respond familiarly.

But today, Yu Gui just glanced at Hua Changxi indifferently, pointed casually at a male menial, told him to take Hua Changxi to collect medicinal herbs, and then ignored Hua Changxi.

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

Seeing Hua Changxi looking at Yu Gui without moving, the male menial urged her impatiently.

Hua Changxi withdrew her puzzled gaze and followed the male menial.

"You came too late. Take these medicinal herbs back to clean."

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

Hua Changxi saw this, said nothing, and began to move the medicinal herbs.

Not long after she started moving them, the male menial suddenly leaned close to Hua Changxi: "Little sister, these medicinal herbs are not easy to clean. Do you want to swap for some that are easier to clean?"

Hua Changxi glanced at him indifferently and continued moving.

The male menial continued to lean toward Hua Changxi: "Little sister, Brother Yu doesn't like you anymore, but your Brother Mao likes you." As he said this, he reached out to put his arm around Hua Changxi's waist.

"Ah~"

Hua Changxi grabbed the male menial's wrist and applied a little force, causing him to scream in pain.

"Bitch, let go of me!"

Mao Wei shouted, his tone fierce but his spirit weak.

Hua Changxi looked at him expressionlessly: "I have great strength. I've broken other people's arms and legs more than once when I was young. This brother, don't go around touching people. Next time, I might not be able to hold back my strength."

After saying this, she threw Mao Wei aside.

Mao Wei took several steps back before stabilizing his body. When he felt that his right arm had been sprained, he glared at Hua Changxi in anger and shame: "You..."

Hua Changxi looked back with a cold expression, which made Mao Wei not dare to say any harsh words.

"What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and move the medicinal herbs."

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

Hua Changxi moved the medicinal herbs onto the cart and pulled them away. When passing the warehouse gate, she looked at Yu Gui again. She didn't believe he hadn't heard the commotion of her conflict with the male menial just now, but he didn't pay any attention to it.

What was wrong with this person? Their relationship had been fine just yesterday, and she had even helped him. How could he turn his back on her today?

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

But the withered herbs were discarded. If she asked for them, it wouldn't cause Yu Gui any trouble, nor would it cause him any loss of interest. What was there to mind?

She had helped with physical labor for an entire afternoon, and it was reasonable and fair for the withered herbs to be given to her as a reward.

Could it be that this Yu Gui was someone who couldn't bear to give even the slightest bit of effort?

If that were the case, then such a person wasn't worth associating with.

Afterward, when Hua Changxi came to collect medicinal herbs and saw Yu Gui, she would greet him as usual. After he failed to respond several times, she didn't ask for trouble again when she came to the warehouse.

When the people of the Sixth Bureau saw Hua Changxi pulling a cart of hard-to-clean medicinal herbs back, they were first surprised, and then they began to gloat.

"Lost favor so quickly?"

When Hua Changxi passed by the ditch, a woman sneered loudly, which immediately caused the people on both sides of the ditch to burst into laughter.

"Hua Changxi gets up late every day, yet the medicinal herbs she brings back are always easy to clean. See, she's provoked public anger."

Wang Yunchu said gloatingly to the people in her group.

On the other side, after hearing the woman's words, Hua Changxi took a few deep breaths. She had wanted to settle the matter, but after enduring and enduring, she still couldn't suppress the burning anger in her heart.

So, no more enduring!

Hua Changxi put down the cart, walked to the woman expressionlessly, grabbed the other party's hair, and kicked the woman's calf hard. Once the woman knelt in the ditch, she forcefully pressed the woman's head into the water.

"Ah~"

"Gurgle gurgle~"

"Help~"

"Gurgle gurgle~"

"Help~"

"Gurgle gurgle~"

Hua Changxi pressed the woman's head down. Only when she was almost unable to breathe did she pull her out of the water. As soon as the woman took a breath, she pressed her head back into the water.

The people on both sides of the ditch didn't know if they were scared silly or what. At this moment, the entire Sixth Bureau was unusually quiet, with only the woman's screams and splashing in the water.

Hua Changxi waited until the woman had drunk enough water and didn't even have the strength to call for help before pulling her out of the water. Looking at the woman who was soaked through, her voice was unusually gentle:

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

The woman was trembling all over, already scared out of her wits: "I... I didn't say anything."

Hua Changxi smiled: "Oh? Then was it my auditory hallucination?"

The woman was so scared that she shuddered. Unable to suppress the fear in her heart anymore, she cried loudly: "I was wrong. I shouldn't have talked nonsense. Please spare me."

Hua Changxi looked at her for a while: "Big sister, trouble comes from the mouth. You'd better take care of yourself."

The woman nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, tears streaming down her face: "I will never talk nonsense again, and I will never spread gossip about others again."

Hua Changxi let go of the woman, returned to the cart, pulled the medicine to the spot where Du Ruo's group was responsible for cleaning, moved the medicinal herbs into the water, and began to bury herself in cleaning the herbs.

Watching Hua Changxi washing the medicinal herbs with a normal expression, Wang Yunchu and the others in the group looked at each other and silently moved away from her.

The ten managers of the Sixth Bureau had all seen the scene just now.

Ling Xiao looked at Du Ruo angrily: "Du Ruo, how are you managing your people? How could you let your subordinates hit people at will? You must give me an explanation, or we will go to Manager Leng to reason this out."

The woman who had just been disciplined was her subordinate.

At this moment, Du Ruo's expression wasn't very good either. She knew Hua Changxi was a bit unsociable, but she hadn't expected that a young lady like her would have violent tendencies, resorting to force at the slightest disagreement.

Another manager, Zhou Huilan, also spoke up: "Du Ruo, you really should manage that new menial well. Leaving everything else aside, the fact that she sleeps until the Si hour (9:00-11:00) every day must be changed."

"I know that new menial is very capable, but that is not a reason for her to break the rules. If others follow her example, how will we manage people in the future?"

Other managers echoed: "Exactly."

Seeing that the other managers were all denouncing Du Ruo, Ling Xiao was very happy and added: "And that new menial and the people over at the warehouse..."

Before she could finish, Zhou Huilan interrupted: "Her being able to get along with the people in the warehouse is her own ability. Just like you, Manager Ling, getting along with Manager Niu of the Fifth Bureau—we didn't say anything about that, did we?"

Hearing this, Ling Xiao's face immediately turned ugly.

The crowd ignored them and dispersed.

Du Ruo returned to her group, first checking the medicinal herbs cleaned by her subordinates, and finally came to Hua Changxi.

The medicinal herbs Hua Changxi brought back today were all very difficult to clean. Du Ruo had originally thought Hua Changxi would clean them very slowly, but after walking closer, she discovered that the herbs covered in hair and thorns, which would hurt one's hands if one wasn't careful, didn't affect Hua Changxi's cleaning speed in the slightest.

In just a short while, most of the medicinal herbs had been cleaned.

Seeing Manager Du come over, Hua Changxi greeted her with a smile: "Manager Du, is something the matter?"

Du Ruo looked at Hua Changxi, who had just disciplined someone from another group in the water not long ago. Seeing that she not only had no sense of guilt but instead greeted her proactively with a smile, she had to admit that she felt inferior in terms of mental fortitude.

"Your late rising is against the rules of the Menial Hall. From now on, you must get up before the Chen hour (7:00-9:00)."

Hua Changxi was silent for a moment, then smiled and agreed: "Manager Du, I clean medicinal herbs relatively quickly. After I finish the day's chores, can I arrange my time freely?"

Du Ruo nodded. Before leaving, she hesitated for a moment but still said: "The Menial Hall is very chaotic. Because the work is heavy, the identity verification isn't that strict."

"Don't look at the Menial Hall as being at the very bottom of the Medical Department; the Three Offices and Nine Warehouses are not lacking in capable people. The male menials are not lacking in martial artists, and the female menials also have their own connections."

"Don't rely on your great strength and stop taking everyone seriously."

"Also, some paths look like shortcuts, but they are buried with huge pits you can't even imagine."

"One should still live a down-to-earth and honest life. You are still young, so you must not take the wrong path."

Hua Changxi knew that Du Ruo was talking about the rumors and gossip of the past two days, so she smiled and said: "Thank you for the advice, Manager Du."

After Du Ruo left, Hua Changxi accelerated her cleaning speed. Since she had to get up early in the morning from now on, she could only finish her chores earlier and use the other time for cultivation.

Because of Hua Changxi's fierce actions in disciplining the woman who gossiped about her, Hua Changxi's ears were finally clean. She was no longer pointed at wherever she went, and no one dared to spread rumors about her to her face.

However, the attitude of the people over at the warehouse toward her became increasingly worse.

Every time Hua Changxi went to collect medicinal herbs, Mao Wei would assign her the hardest ones to clean. For ordinary people, cleaning them was not only easy to get injured, but because they were bulky, just transporting them required going back and forth a dozen times, which was exhausting and time-consuming.

Seeing that Yu Gui didn't stop him, Mao Wei became even more arrogant. He didn't dare to touch her again, but he often teased Hua Changxi with words in front of everyone.

"It still has to be Brother Yu; his eye for things is just good. Look at our Little Sister Changxi, although she isn't old, this chest is a chest..."

"Crack!"

The people in the warehouse were listening intently when they saw a figure flash by, followed by a "crack" sound. Looking closely, they saw Mao Wei being held by the face by Hua Changxi, his jaw already dislocated.

"Ah~"

Hua Changxi increased the force in her hand. Mao Wei whimpered and screamed, blood streaming from the corners of his mouth: "Since you can't spit out human words from your mouth, then there's no need for this mouth to exist."

Watching this scene, Yu Gui was so shocked that he jumped up from his chair. His eyelids twitched as he looked at Hua Changxi, and he stammered: "Stop... no... let go, hurry up and let go!"

Hua Changxi glanced at Yu Gui and threw Mao Wei aside. This time, she threw him directly onto the ground.

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

Seeing this, the people in the warehouse all moved away from Hua Changxi in unison.

"Brother Yu..."

Hearing Hua Changxi's call, Yu Gui shuddered.

Hua Changxi looked at him: "Brother Yu, I don't want to cause trouble, but if trouble finds me, I am absolutely not afraid of it."

She knew that she was a vulnerable group in the Menial Hall. She had to stay in the Menial Hall to cultivate and improve her medical skills. When facing oppression, she should have endured it.

But facing the people in the warehouse who were unscrupulously spreading lewd rumors about her, she really couldn't endure it.

If she endured even this, her Dao heart would become unstable.