Chapter 19: A Lesson
Since Hua Changxi helped Du Ruo pull medicinal herbs to the Second Department every day, Du Ruo turned a blind eye to Hua Changxi waking up late and didn’t bother with it.
Thus, Hua Changxi’s days in the Labor Department became regular.
She would wake up at the hour of the snake (9-11 AM), then go to the storeroom to get dozens of medicinal herbs from Yu Hui to wash at the Sixth Bureau; after washing her 500 medicinal herbs in the afternoon, she would first report to the Second Department, then help Du Ruo pull medicinal herbs; she would go to bed punctually at the hour of the dog (7-9 PM) and then begin her cultivation.
Time flew by, and ten days passed.
『 Realm: Qi Refining Realm 108/1000』
『 Hundred Herbs Annotation （ Perfection ）: Taste Hundred Herbs 1101/10000』
『 Pure Body Technique （ Perfection ）: Wash Medicinal Herbs 6022/10000』
Over the ten days, all the data steadily improved.
During this time, when Taste Hundred Herbs broke through 1000, a voice sounded in Hua Changxi’s mind again: 《 Hundred Herbs Annotation 》 Divine Plant Chapter unlocked.
The Divine Plant Chapter is even more profound than the Spiritual Plant Chapter, recording various plants, demonic beasts, and spiritual treasures that enhance, weaken, consume, consolidate, and repair the primordial spirit.
At the same time, the types of divine plants are much fewer than spiritual plants. The Spiritual Plant Chapter records at least tens of thousands of types, while the Divine Plant Chapter records only a few thousand things.
“I haven’t even seen a single spiritual plant, and now divine plants have appeared.”
Hua Changxi marveled at the vastness and depth of the path of cultivation, and at the same time, her desire to quickly improve her realm grew stronger.
As long as her realm was high enough, she was sure she could completely open the door to the path of cultivation.
When starting a new job, newcomers are always bullied.
Among her dorm mates, there were friendly people like Lu Qingluo; there were also those who were displeased with Hua Changxi’s early nights and late mornings, and who harbored hostility towards her.
“What a dead pig, we’re talking so loudly, and she can still sleep so soundly!”
The speaker was a young woman named Wang Yun Chu.
In the Labor Department, the ratio of married women to unmarried young women was roughly fifty-fifty.
Generally, in each dormitory, the older and more experienced women had more say. However, in the ten-person dormitory where Hua Changxi lived, there were seven young women and only three married women. The two groups stuck to their own kind, and the young women had the numerical advantage.
Among the young women, Wang Yun Chu had a more assertive personality and was more willing to step forward when something happened, so she became the primary spokesperson.
Apart from Lu Qingluo, Hua Changxi was indifferent to everyone else in the dormitory. A couple of days prior, Wang Yun Chu saw Hua Changxi washing medicinal herbs for Lu Qingluo again and asked her to wash some for her, but Hua Changxi flatly refused.
This refusal, of course, offended Wang Yun Chu.
“Why is the room so messy?”
After a day of hard work, hungry and tired, she returned to the room and saw Hua Changxi sleeping soundly. Wang Yun Chu, who was already dissatisfied with Hua Changxi, became even more displeased. Seeing that the room was not cleaned and everyone’s clothes were piled everywhere, she immediately found a reason to erupt.
“Hua Changxi, get up!”
Seeing Wang Yun Chu loudly calling Hua Changxi, Lu Qingluo quickly tried to mediate, “Sister Yun Chu, Changxi is still young.”
Wang Yun Chu interrupted her, “Young what? Once you’re in the Labor Department, everyone is the same laborer. She’s young, but it’s not like we forced her to be a laborer.”
Saying this, she walked to Hua Changxi’s bed, reached out her hand, and directly pulled back Hua Changxi’s quilt. Seeing that she was still not awake, she began to shake Hua Changxi’s body with her hand.
Hua Changxi was immersed in the satisfaction of being enveloped by a warm current during her breathing and exhalation when she suddenly felt her body shaking, and the warm current flowing within her body began to become unstable.
“Hua Changxi, get up, don’t play dead with me. I’m telling you, this is not your home, you…”
Before she could finish speaking, Wang Yun Chu saw Hua Changxi’s eyes snap open with a ‘swish,’ and a cold glint shot out from her eyes like a sharp sword.
Before Wang Yun Chu could recover from Hua Changxi’s sharp gaze, in the next moment, Wang Yun Chu felt the world begin to spin, followed by intense pain in her arm and body.
“Ah~”
On the earthen kang, Hua Changxi stood in a bow stance. Wang Yun Chu was almost pulled by her arm and directly thrown onto the kang. Currently, her right hand was twisted behind her back, and her lower back was firmly pressed by Hua Changxi’s knee.
At this moment, Hua Changxi’s expression was indifferent, and the cold glint in her eyes was unlike that of a young woman in her teens, making those in the room feel uneasy.
“Why did you disturb my sleep?”
Hua Changxi’s voice was devoid of any warmth. She pushed Wang Yun Chu’s twisted arm further towards her head, simultaneously increasing the force in her hand.
“Ah~”
Fearing that the screams would attract the attention of the adjacent room, as soon as Wang Yun Chu cried out, Hua Changxi grabbed a pillowcase and stuffed it into her mouth.
“Mmmph mmmph mmmph~”
With her arm twisted and her body pinned, Wang Yun Chu was in so much pain that sweat beaded on her forehead.
Hua Changxi looked at Wang Yun Chu expressionlessly, then glanced at the others in the room: “Are you still going to scream?”
Wang Yun Chu, while making muffled sounds, quickly shook her head.
Hua Changxi loosened her grip and removed the pillowcase from Wang Yun Chu’s mouth: “Speak, why did you disturb my sleep?”
Wang Yun Chu didn’t answer, but instead shouted, “Hua Changxi, let me go!”
Seeing her like this, Hua Changxi sneered and increased the force in her hands again.
“Ah, I’ll talk, I’ll talk.”
Wang Yun Chu relented. After Hua Changxi eased her grip, she said with little confidence, “You didn’t clean the room. I came to remind you to clean it.”
Hua Changxi’s gaze turned cold again, and she snorted, “If I remember correctly, I cleaned the room the day before yesterday. There are ten people in the room, one person cleans for one day. How is it my turn again?”
Wang Yun Chu: “You come back to the room so early every day, while the rest of us are busy until dark. Since you come back first, can’t you share some of the cleaning duties?”
“Besides, you’re still new.”
“Go ask in other dormitories, for any room with a newcomer, aren’t the cleaning duties for the first two months always taken up by the newcomer?”
Hua Changxi sneered, “What are you to me that I should share the tasks that should be yours with you?”
“Also, other newcomers take on all the cleaning because they are counting on the help of the older members. What help have you given me?”
“You want to gain without working for anything, yet you contribute nothing. You shouldn’t be laborers; you should go home and be pampered ancestors.”
Hua Changxi threw Wang Yun Chu away with a flick of her wrist.
As soon as Wang Yun Chu was free, she immediately scrambled off the kang and quickly moved away from Hua Changxi.
Hua Changxi sat on the kang and looked at the people in the room: “I don’t like bullying others, and I even less like being bullied. Whoever bullies me, I will repay them tenfold.”
“We are all working in the Labor Department, and it’s not easy for anyone. I know you work hard, but your hardship is not caused by me. Don’t vent your accumulated anger onto me.”
“I have a bad temper, and don’t think you can take advantage of me just because I’m young.”
“Remember, don’t provoke me again, especially don’t disturb my sleep.”
Her physique had improved considerably due to her cultivation, but she still got tired after working. She wasn’t a saint, and she had neither the obligation nor the inclination to help others for free.
To integrate into the group, she didn’t mind doing a little extra work, but only if she was willing. She strongly disliked the mindset of people like Wang Yun Chu who thought she should naturally do more just because she could.
After that, Hua Changxi said no more. Disdainfully, she threw the pillowcase that had been in Wang Yun Chu’s mouth aside, lay back down on the bed, closed her eyes, and resumed her cultivation.
The others in the room, seeing Hua Changxi continue to sleep as if nothing had happened after her outburst, had strange expressions on their faces.
“Hurry up and tidy up and go to sleep.”
Someone in the room patted Wang Yun Chu’s shoulder in comfort, and after that, the voices in the room were deliberately lowered.
Wang Yun Chu looked at Hua Changxi’s sleeping face, her eyes filled with both resentment and fear.
