Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Rong Shu: I Know That Alchemist

Even so, given that the girl worked hard and had only done tasks in the Hundred Herb Garden for two months, the hunchbacked uncle decided to endure it and let it pass.

Besides, he had his own guilty conscience. He feared that if he angered her, she would air his affairs in public.

Who would have thought… the very girl who had cost him so much sleep had come back again.

“You even took a night shift?” When the hunchbacked uncle checked Rong Shu’s task details, one of his eyebrows rose.

If she had taken a daytime shift, he could have said there were enough people and sent her away on the spot.

But for night duty, manpower was scarce. It was hard enough to have someone come; if he chased her off, he would not know where to find another person.

For a moment, the hunchbacked uncle hesitated.

At this time, Rong Shu smiled with crescent eyes, completely unfazed by the resistance radiating from the old man: “Heh heh… uncle, we get to work together again.”

“Right, I just returned from going out on a mission with senior brothers, and I bought a few little things outside. I have not been in the sect long, and aside from the people on Limitless Peak, the only person I can really talk to is you, uncle.”

Hearing this, the hunchbacked uncle immediately guessed her intention and stopped rushing. He wanted to see what this girl could take out.

“This is a small gift I brought back from outside the sect,” Rong Shu said, not beating around the bush as she handed over a prepared bottle of pills.

Seeing that it was medicine, the words of refusal that had risen to the old man’s lips were swallowed.

“What is this… Tendon and Bone Pill?” The hunchbacked uncle looked genuinely surprised.

Moreover, it was an excellent batch of Tendon and Bone Pills. Buying such a bottle outside would cost a fair number of spirit stones.

This girl… had put thought into it.

He did not know that Rong Shu had refined them herself, but he did not refuse. While tucking the bottle into his storage pouch, he registered her name in the book: “How long will you be on night duty?”

“Half the night,” Rong Shu answered naturally.

The hunchbacked uncle froze for a moment: “You… you did not also take the Spirit Beast Garden shift, did you?”

Since Rong Shu had previously held both the Hundred Herb Garden and the Spirit Beast Garden posts, he knew her habits.

“I did,” Rong Shu said with a nod.

The hunchbacked uncle looked at her as if she were a madwoman.

“On night duty, you cannot fall asleep. If you are caught, you will be fined spirit stones,” he said fiercely, feeling that this girl did not understand how serious it was.

“I know.”

“The Hundred Herb Garden is one thing, but if you nod off in the Spirit Beast Garden, a spirit beast might carry you off and you would not even know.”

“Mm, thank you for the reminder, uncle. I will be careful.”

The hunchbacked uncle immediately rolled his eyes and waved her away in disgust: “Off with you, off with you. I will check on you at random times tonight. If you so much as doze, prepare to get out.”

“All right, uncle.”

“…”

Having settled matters at the Hundred Herb Garden, Rong Shu went straight to the Spirit Beast Garden.

By the time she finished both sides, dusk had already fallen.

For the first night, Rong Shu tended the medicine fields in the Hundred Herb Garden for the first half.

She then tended the spirit beasts in the Spirit Beast Garden for the second half.

Since this was the first night of her assignment, she did not sit to cultivate on either side. She simply made sure the stewards on both ends saw how diligently she worked, so they could rest easy.

The next day.

Rong Shu came again to the Hundred Herb Garden to register her shift. Noticing that the hunchbacked uncle’s vitality seemed somewhat improved, she asked casually: “Uncle, did you take the Tendon and Bone Pills?”

With no one else around, the hunchbacked uncle answered coolly, as if he had not been the one to accept the gift yesterday.

Rong Shu did not mind. She only asked two more questions: “Did they work?” and “Do you need more?”

At that, the hunchbacked uncle’s expression shifted.

Those Tendon and Bone Pills were indeed far better than the scraps and leftovers he had been using.

He had an old ailment that required him to take a certain number of Tendon and Bone Pills every month, or else his bones would ache as if they were about to come apart.

To manage this, he had once built a connection with an alchemist and had been able to get three or four pills each month. But a year ago, that alchemist went into seclusion. When his stash ran out, the hunchbacked uncle had no choice but to seek alternative means, using odds and ends of the pills’ main ingredients to ease his symptoms.

In truth, it had occurred to him to buy Tendon and Bone Pills from the sect’s Pill Treasury Pavilion or outside, but in the end he gave up on the idea.

First, he had the coveted post of guarding the Hundred Herb Garden and could not leave for long.

Second, many had their eyes on this sweet assignment. If news of his condition leaked, someone might use it as a pretext to have him removed.

Sensing that the time was right, Rong Shu glanced left and right. After confirming no one was nearby, she said in a conspiratorial tone: “Actually, I know that alchemist.”

“You, know one?” The hunchbacked uncle’s first reaction was disbelief, with a snort to match.

He had guarded the Hundred Herb Garden for decades and only managed to connect with a second-grade alchemist. Even then, he did not always receive pills every month; if the alchemist was in a bad mood, he simply refused to refine them, and there was nothing the old man could say.

This girl had hardly been in the sect long and had neither power nor status. How could she know those lofty sirs?

“I do,” Rong Shu said with a nod.

With nothing pressing to do, the hunchbacked uncle did not mind listening to her chatter; it helped pass the time: “Then tell me, how do you know them?”

Rong Shu lowered her voice: “I will only tell you, uncle, because that alchemist does not want anyone to know he still has the ability to refine pills.”

“If any word leaks, I might not be able to buy discounted pills from him in the future.”

The hunchbacked uncle looked more and more suspicious: “Discounted? Pills can be discounted?”

Rong Shu nodded as if it were the most natural thing: “I know the alchemist and we have some friendship. Also, we are fellow disciples, so he gives me a discount. For example, if a bottle of pills costs one hundred spirit stones, I only pay seventy spirit stones.”

“A thirty percent discount?”

The hunchbacked uncle was stunned by the generosity of this so-called alchemist.

Most alchemists were aloof. Being willing to refine pills for you was already a favor; what discounts could there be?

Suddenly his heart grew hot: “Who is this alchemist?”

“It is… Senior Brother Lin Dao, the one who traveled on mission with me,” Rong Shu said without so much as blinking, her expression perfectly sincere and giving nothing away.

“Lin Dao?” The hunchbacked uncle had never heard the name.

But with so many disciples in the sect, who could know them all? That was only natural.