Maotao chimed in with a question. "By the way, wasn't Songyang Mansion originally founded by a prince with a different surname? How has it become the Marquis of Songyang now?"
"Oh, that's because our country changed its system midway through," Fixer Liu explained. "Without new meritorious deeds to warrant rewards, inherited titles were downgraded with each generation. Two successive lords of Songyang Mansion proved unremarkable, so the title dropped. It wasn't until the late emperor took the throne that the old system was restored. It's a complicated story, but either way, the Marquis of Songyang now holds a perpetual, unreduced hereditary title. Barring any grave offenses, it won't change again."
With the repair of his broken saber settled, He Lingchuan raised a new request with Fixer Liu: he wanted to buy an alchemy furnace.
Going forward, his primary art would be the Ziwu Formula, which required special, custom-made concoctions. Ready-made elixirs were hard to come by, meaning he would mostly have to craft them himself. He had heard that alchemy furnaces came in many grades, and a superior furnace could boost the success rate by well over ten percent.
Just like before, Fixer Liu readily agreed, but then asked, "Do you know alchemy, Young Master, or do you have a master of the craft at your side?"
"I'm a complete novice. Isn't that why I'm planning to buy a furnace—to learn and figure it out on the fly?"
"The alchemical path is arduous," Fixer Liu chuckled. "The standard names, the properties of the herbs, the control of heat, the techniques—without dedicating three or four years of devoted practice, one can't even achieve modest success. Along the way, countless batches of medicine will be ruined. It's truly a tormenting process."
He Lingchuan caught the hint beneath his words. "I doubt I'm the only one who finds it tormenting?"
"The path of cultivation is long, and prominent figures are loath to scatter their focus. My recommendation is that you hire a medicine ape to take back with you."
"A medicine ape?" He Lingchuan was thoroughly surprised. "What's that? A yaoguai?"
The bustling capital truly offered something novel at every turn.
"Indeed. There is a Daoist sect known as the Qianxin Sect, made up entirely of fire apes. It maintains a branch in our country, particularly renowned for alchemy. Customers in need can spend a handsome sum to hire a medicine ape to take home and brew medicines exclusively for them."
"How skilled are they?"
"Comparable to alchemical practitioners, often even superior. I hear National Preceptor Sun kept several medicine apes in his household in the past."
He Lingchuan chuckled. "Sun Fuping really is a golden signpost. Anything associated with him turns a profit."
Fixer Liu waved his hands frantically. "You cannot say that publicly nowadays!"
"Then take me there."
"The only thing is, the price is rather steep, and once hired, the medicine ape must be treated with the courtesy due to an honored guest. You cannot be dismissive or disrespectful, and under no circumstances may you treat it like a slave or a pet. Otherwise, it can leave at any time."
Maotao tilted his chin up. "Money is no issue, as long as it's worth the price!"
"You must never use the word 'it' to refer to a medicine ape to its face, or it will turn hostile on the spot," Fixer Liu warned. "I've seen someone who provoked a medicine ape. In public, his face was beaten black and blue, and in private, he had diarrhea for three straight days!"
So keeping a little monkey meant they had to watch their mouths, too? He Lingchuan and Maotao exchanged a glance and shrugged.
The carriage turned around and headed toward the northern district of the city.
Passing by a bustling marketplace, Maotao, who had been peering out from behind the curtain, suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, isn't that A'deng, the lad beside Chief Steward Lao Mo? He's pasting something on the wall!"
He Lingchuan poked his head out to look. Sure enough, it was A'deng, a servant from their household. He was plastering a notice onto the public bulletin wall, flanked by two soldiers from the Auxiliary Army.
Fixer Liu immediately called the carriage to a halt.
The marketplace teemed with foot traffic, and whenever the authorities had news to proclaim to the entire city, they posted it here. Conversely, only official notices were permitted on this wall. No random rabble could put up notices as they pleased, under penalty of twenty slaps to the face, or a trip to the jailhouse if the disruption was severe.
For a servant of the He family to post here naturally required official clearance.
The characters on the proclamation were large, and the three characters at the very top were especially bold and prominent. Maotao muttered them aloud:
"'Order Seeking Worthies'?"
The text was brief, and He Lingchuan scanned it in an instant. The gist was that He Chunhua, the newly appointed Chief Administrator of Xiazhou, was thirsting for talent and sought to recruit local worthies to journey north and unite against the rebel incursions. Regardless of background or social station, anyone possessing genuine talent in military strategy, grain administration, combat, or civil governance was welcome to apply. Generous compensation was promised, and the notice concluded with the wax seal of the Chief Administrator of Xiazhou.
Most commoners were illiterate, so the servant A'deng also had to act as a town crier, reading the Order Seeking Worthies aloud to the crowd and answering inquiries.
These commoners were not He Chunhua's target audience, either; he merely hoped to use their mouths to spread the word as swiftly as possible, since the Auxiliary Army's stay in Shihuan was limited.
The onlookers grew into a dense crowd. He Chunhua was an official from the provinces whom few had heard of before, so people found the affair novel and began chattering animatedly. Seeing the road become increasingly congested, He Lingchuan had the carriage get moving without delay.
Maotao was puzzled. "Why didn't Lord He bring people along from Blackwater City? Those people are thoroughly familiar. Why seek worthies here instead?"
When He Chunhua set out for the north, out of his five or six original aides, he had brought only Mozhe Jingxuan. Capable figures in civil administration and logistics were sorely lacking.
"Small town, sparse talent, I suppose," He Lingchuan said, resting his chin on his hand. "After all, this is the foot of the Son of Heaven. What manner of remarkable figures can't be found here?"
He recalled his father constantly lamenting the lack of manpower and having to attend to everything personally. Moving to Xiazhou this time, He Chunhua needed to assemble his own administrative team in the shortest possible time. Preparing ahead and securing talent was vital.
After all, enemies were glaring hungrily from the north; time was running short for He Chunhua and Xiazhou.
"Hopefully Father finds the right talent soon."
He Lingchuan shook his head, casting the fleeting worry to the back of his mind.
None of it was his concern. He would leave that headache to He Chunhua and He Yue.
Before long, the carriage climbed a small hill.
The hill was picturesque, at most three hundred feet in elevation. Dressed in silver snow, its swaying branches occasionally sent flakes pattering down.
The carriage was stopped by a stone memorial archway blocking the path.
It wasn't that the coachman refused to drive up the mountain, but that the archway was barely six feet tall while spanning an impressive width, completely cutting across the entire mountain path.
Erecting such an archway was truly wicked—it looked just like a tollbooth demanding money to pass.
From a distance, He Lingchuan had spotted several uniquely shaped stone urns standing atop the stone archway. Only as they drew closer did he realize they were not stone at all, but large, gray-furred monkeys whose coats closely matched the color of the rock!
They crouched on the archway with their heads pulled into their shoulders, stiff as wooden statues. Only when someone drew near did one of them utter in a muffled, hollow voice, "Qianxin Sect hostel! Visitors must proceed on foot!"
Fixer Liu hopped down from the carriage, presented several pieces of crisp sugar candy to an old monkey with graying fur, and waited for it to share them with the others before clasping his hands in greeting. "Tangweng, it's been three days. Today, I'd like to hire an alchemist for the eldest young master of Lord He, the Chief Administrator of Xiazhou!"
He didn't call the monkeys apes, but rather alchemists.
"Do you brew medicine often?"
"Naturally," He Lingchuan chimed in. "Once every two or three days on average, I'd say."
Practicing the Ziwu Formula required that the Yin-Yang Powder he consumed be as fresh as possible to maximize its efficacy. Left to himself, He Lingchuan would have preferred to brew one batch to last half a month, but with an assistant handling the brewing, meeting that requirement would be effortless.
Fixer Liu explained to him, "Controlling fire and refining pills is an essential part of a fire ape's cultivation. The Qianxin Sect hopes every fire ape sent out will make bold, vigorous progress in their practice." He then turned back to the old monkey. "Which alchemist in the hostel is available?"
"You've come at an unfortunate time. A major pharmaceutical firm from out of town just stopped by and hired twelve all at once." Tangweng scratched his back. "Only one alchemist is left now."
Maotao immediately whispered to Fixer Liu, "Could it be the leftover nobody wanted?"
Though the old monkey's fur had turned white, he was far from hard of hearing. On the contrary, his ears were exceedingly sharp. Glaring with wide eyes, he barked, "What nonsense are you spouting, boy?!"
Fixer Liu cleared his throat softly. "Tangweng, hiring requires an equitable negotiation between both sides, free of deceit and falsehood. Does this alchemist have any special qualities?"
Employment was a two-way street; one sought to recruit while the other chose whether to accept, and both needed to understand each other.
"His alchemy is superb, and he rarely ruins a cauldron. He is the cream of the crop among all the fire apes here."
A ruined batch of medicine was termed a 'cauldron failure.' High-grade pills came at immense cost; spoiling a single cauldron could waste tens of thousands or even well over a hundred thousand taels of silver.
Fixer Liu probed cautiously, "Does he eat too much?"
"No, not at all."
"Does he neglect cleanliness and carry an odor?" Monkeys tended to smell, and without baths, they smelled even gamier—something some households couldn't tolerate.
"How could that be!" Tangweng glared. "None of the foul habits you're imagining exist in Lingguang. He is the most diligent, ambitious, and clever child among us! He was simply out on an errand, which is why he wasn't hired away by the others."
The old monkey hopped down to the ground. "Come along. I'll take you to see him."
The archway was low. Not wanting to leap straight over it in front of these Qianxin Sect monkeys, He Lingchuan had no choice but to stoop down and duck underneath.
The monkeys watched with beaming grins, some baring their teeth in amusement.
Forcing humans to bow and scrape to pass the archway clearly satisfied the mischievous streak of these primates.
Only a handful of buildings stood on the mountain, spacious and sparse. Looking up, He Lingchuan noticed treehouses built into several large trees, with silhouettes shifting among the nearby branches.
Indeed, monkeys preferred lingering in trees.
Tangweng called out toward the trees a few times, and chattering sounds soon answered from above. Immediately afterward, an ape clambered down the trunk and landed lightly on a branch before them.
This monkey had paler fur than its kin and wore a bamboo conical hat on its head.
He Lingchuan noted that it was slender and nimble, its fur remarkably clean. Its eyes were bright and spirited; rather than darting about erratically like an ordinary monkey's, its gaze swept across the group before locking onto He Lingchuan, seemingly knowing at once who was in charge.
Tangweng introduced He Lingchuan's identity, and He Lingchuan promptly asked, "Your name is Lingguang?"
The monkey nodded. It didn't scratch its ears or cheek, appearing as composed as a human.
"Master Tangweng recommended you to be my medicine ape. I have several medicinal ingredients here. How about you brew a Qianding Pill for me?"
Knowing this was his hiring trial, Lingguang crisply dropped to the ground. From who knew where, he produced a furnace smaller than a palm and set it down.
The furnace expanded gradually until it reached level with Maotao's shoulder.
Then, he extended a hand toward He Lingchuan.
For an ape, his palm was exceptionally clean, without a speck of sand, dirt, or leaf debris.
Taking the herbs, he swiftly grabbed several handfuls and tossed them into the furnace, unlike how He Lingchuan would have had to measure each dose meticulously, terrified of the slightest error.
The monkey then blew a breath at the base of the furnace. With a whoosh, flames surged inside.
No wonder they were called fire apes.
From then on, the monkey controlled the intensity of the flames, making them flare high and subside low, shifting from deeper shades to lighter tones, while occasionally tossing in more herbs at a speed so blinding that the onlookers could barely keep up.
Chapter 168