Chapter 2025 — Deaf Ears, and Youpan Hu Came Sneaking After Him

Wei Zhao found it rather amusing to watch Youpan Hu's figure, which imagined itself unseen, and when he entered the office of Leader Bai, he deliberately left the door half open, dawdling a while at the threshold, until Youpan Hu came over...

Just as Youpan Hu was overjoyed—the door was not shut, and he meant to pretend he had happened by and slip in to join the fun—Wei Zhao banged the door shut with a "bang," and the iron door struck Youpan Hu square on the bridge of the nose; blood gushed forth at once, and Youpan Hu let out a shrill and miserable howl: "Aah—"

"Xiao Yi, what was that sound just now?" Leader Bai had heard Youpan Hu's howl too, though he had not seen Youpan Hu outside the door.

"I don't know. Probably a rat got caught when the door closed," Wei Zhao said.

"There are rats here now? Looks like I'll have to buy some rat poison tomorrow—I can't have them gnawing at my medicinal herbs," Leader Bai said with a nod.

"Leader Bai, you wanted to see me..." Wei Zhao asked, somewhat hesitantly.

"Ha ha, sit down first!" Leader Bai, unhurried, invited Wei Zhao to take a seat, then poured some tea leaves from a small iron canister: "These are tea leaves I grew myself. Have a taste!"

"Uh... Leader Bai, you didn't ask me here just to drink tea, did you?" Wei Zhao gave a wry smile. "To be honest, I'm hopeless at the art of tea and don't know how to drink the stuff. My old man grows some too, but we generally use it to boil tea eggs..."

"Pff..." Leader Bai brewed a cup each for himself and Wei Zhao; he had just lifted his own cup and was savoring the rich fragrance of the leaves, //fastest text update, no pop-ups, no ads// when Wei Zhao's remark struck him like a thunderbolt and he sprayed the tea in his mouth clean out: "Xiao Yi... if this tea were taken to market, it would fetch tens of thousands a tael, and I added some other elements when I grew it, so it's worth more than that—and you actually... use it to boil tea eggs?"

"So... best not to waste it on me." Wei Zhao shrugged. "Leader Bai, shall we get down to business?"

"Very well!" Leader Bai set down his teacup. "Xiao Yi, though everyone in your class is my student, students differ. Among them I had originally intended to pick one exceptionally bright talent to instruct individually in some special medical knowledge. But you and I are fated to meet, and you are also my savior, so..."

Here Leader Bai stopped, squinting at Wei Zhao and waiting for his reply.

"Leader Bai, just say what you have to say. With all this hedging, I can't guess!" Wei Zhao said with a wry smile.

"From the look of you, one would think you're not too keen on learning? You should know that Youpan Hu and the likes of him would give anything for the chance, and they have none!" Leader Bai said.

At the doorway, Youpan Hu had his ear pressed to the door, listening to the broken snatches of conversation between Wei Zhao and Leader Bai inside. When he heard that Leader Bai meant to teach Wei Zhao some special medical knowledge, he was instantly filled with envy, cursing Wei Zhao under his breath for having stumbled into such dumb luck—how had he come to be so favored by Leader Bai?

And from Wei Zhao's tone, he did not even seem much interested, as though he did not want to learn at all?

Youpan Hu nearly pushed the door open and shouted: If you don't want to learn, then give the chance to me! You hem and haw and won't agree—is he begging you to learn or what?

But from what Leader Bai meant, it seemed he really was begging Wei Zhao to learn—otherwise why bring himself up as an example? And Leader Bai seemed to have said Wei Zhao was his savior? When had Wei Zhao ever saved his life?

These questions in a series made Youpan Hu press his ear even tighter to the door...

But next, the room fell silent, which left Youpan Hu puzzled—were the two of them whispering secrets in stealth?

So Youpan Hu pressed his ear a little tighter still. And just as he was about to listen more carefully, a tremendous crash suddenly burst against his ear—"Boom!"—so loud it nearly perforated his eardrum, and he let out a miserable howl: "Aah—"!

Wei Zhao knew Leader Bai was about to tell him some confidential matter, so he deliberately gave a wry smile to stall for a little time, then swiftly kicked the iron office door by the entrance—and so Youpan Hu met his tragedy.

The shock knocked Youpan Hu flat on his backside; clutching his ears, his eyes full of little stars twinkling and sparkling... his head spinning so he could not tell north from south.

"Xiao Yi, why did you kick my door?" Leader Bai smacked his lips. "The door is iron, but kicking it like that will break it easily enough!"

"You know why..." Wei Zhao walked back after kicking the door. "There's a big rat outside the door, always trying to eavesdrop."

"Ha! It's fine. Let him hear, it doesn't matter." Leader Bai waved a hand, for what he meant to teach Wei Zhao, Youpan Hu also knew, and there was nothing to conceal; even if Youpan Hu heard, it did not matter. As for the crucial things, of course, Leader Bai had compiled them into a volume, and Youpan Hu could not see them even if he wanted to.

"It doesn't matter?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback, puzzled inwardly—why not keep it from Youpan Hu? Could it be that Youpan Hu and Leader Bai were on very, very good terms?

"Ha ha, enough, no more beating around the bush with you. Have you ever heard of pill refining?" Leader Bai asked suddenly, his gaze sharpening.

"Huh? Pill refining?" Wei Zhao's eyes went wide, and he stared at Leader Bai in disbelief. Why was everything he had heard these past few days about pill refining? Han Jingyi refined pills, Youpan Hu refined pills, and now Leader Bai refined pills too—was pill refining the fashion of the whole populace now?

"What, you don't understand the true meaning of pill refining, do you?" Leader Bai said. "What I call pill refining here is not the ordinary mixing of several medicinal herbs and then congealing them into a pill..."

"I know. You mean a pill refiner, who tempers medicinal herbs with alchemical fire and condenses them into pills," Wei Zhao said.

"You know?" Leader Bai was somewhat surprised to hear Wei Zhao's words. "You've heard of pill refiners too?"

"Isn't that Youpan Hu a pill refiner... So that's what you meant by not keeping it from him—it was about pill refiners," Wei Zhao said in sudden realization.

"Quite so. Youpan Hu is a Yellow-Rank, First-Grade pill refiner, though he is close to Second Grade. He's a promising seed, but I don't much care for the man himself," Leader Bai said with a nod.

"That kid has some skill after all?" Wei Zhao frowned, somewhat shocked. He had not expected Leader Bai to hold Youpan Hu in such esteem. But to be fair, if Youpan Hu really was a Yellow-Rank, First-Grade pill refiner nearing Second Grade, then even if he was not the head of the You family, he would still hold a very important place in it—no wonder he had so many skilled men about him.

"But what I never expected was that you would know about pill refiners too. So when you applied for the medicine department this time, was it because you had heard of my name?" Leader Bai looked at Wei Zhao with some puzzlement...

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