Chronology of a Hundred Herbs

CHAPTER 13: Sixth Sense I

Even though the Doors of Six was an organisation deeply seeped in the jianghu culture, it was still a subsidiary organisation under the imperial court.

While the majority of the jianghu people having to hear their name would not be particularly happy, the most common authority the roamers of jianghu would encounter were still the Doors of Six.

Even though this organisation was something similar to the imperial guard of the court, there were still some notable differences. The members within the wing of imperial guards were legitimate and proper officals, some were even shadow guards that had been trained since young — they were the frontlines when dealing with matters related to the court. On the other hand, Doors of Six would definitely contain that certain group of people that had came from the jianghu who had converted to work for the court.

After all, given their experience in the jianghu, no matter how long they’ve served in Doors of Six, their way of dealings emitted quite a strong jianghu culture. Also because of this, Doors of Six became the organisation that was most in touch with the wulin people. Naturally, they also became the most suitable department to handle matters related to the jianghu.

Doors of Six (DO6) had a complicated mix of people, who knows, a low-ranked captain from Do6 could have been a respected elder some from some sect previously, a female constable could have been a saintess and things like that.

DO6 seemed to have a they-don’t-question-your-background culture, there were ex-assassins, ex-thieves, ex-beggars, ex-prostitutes; you could find all sorts of people in this organisation. You could also understand DO6 as an asylum where the hidden giants slept.

Hua Rong Yue had seen a lot of information related to DO6 from Yi Ling Long’s memories. These memories was also what changed her vague impression of this organisation.

To a modern person, DO6 was probably an organisation that would only exist in a TV drama series or fiction novel, but having gone through so much content, even Hua Rong Yue had seen and heard enough that she could roughly explain a thing or two on her own too now.

Despite all this, Hua Rong Yue was actually a little speechless about Yan Sheng’s reaction. Because this time, before Yan Sheng left, he seemed to have hinted about DO6, even though it was very subtle.

—He seemed to be trying to figure out if Hua Rong Yue was interested in joining DO6.

At hearing Yan Sheng’s words, Hua Rong Yue didn’t know where to laugh or cry. ♢ CHRONOLOGY OF A HUNDRED HERBS, CHAPTER 13 is hosted at ZHANLANN.COM ♢

Basically, Yan Sheng was implying that DO6 was looking to recruit a new batch of members, Yan Sheng was among those that know of this upcoming recruitment, and he had some say in this, so he could make the decision on who was able or unable to join. 

Based on her understanding of Yan Sheng, as well as her foresight on his future accomplishments, Hua Rong Yue was very dubious about his “some say” — that some was probably referring to the fact that his decisions could shake half the jianghu.

Not only so, DO6’s recruitment during this period especially was breeding suspicions and thoughts in Hua Rong Yue’s head. For some reason, she felt that DO6 seemed to be succumbing to some kind of pressure, that’s why they were on the lookout for new blood. 

It’s been two months since the fire broke out at Heaven’s Will Tower, but the consequences that followed were not as simple as it seemed. Hua Rong Yue couldn’t even sleep properly at night these days, she had to bear with all sorts of commotions at night outside. She’d stayed at Heaven’s Will Tower for over half a year, so she had become very sensitive to anything that happened around her, it’s not something she could help.

Even the civilians had noticed that something was off, DO6 must be crazy busy trying to put a a lid on the pot of boiling water.

Speaking of which, to the civilians, the reason for the ruckus in the jianghu was because of Heaven’s Will Tower, of which, Yi Ling Long was the iconic figurehead. 

You could say that civilians really wasn’t very familiar with the rest of the people that roam the jianghu, but they were crystral clear about one thing, and that was Yi Ling Long and her leaving Heaven’s Will Tower. They would even be able to ramble on about the the entire process; in fact they were even more familiar than Hua Rong Yue herself.

This was probably the most notable incident that happened in the recent few months that spread out of the jianghu. But Hua Rong Yue was very clear — this had nothing to do with whether Yi Ling Long was powerful or not.

No matter how powerful Yi Ling Long was, what did that have anything to do with Hua Rong Yue?

After all, the people was just trying to push the blame onto Yi Ling Long, whether they knew her or not; Yi Ling Long was just a scapegoat in this situation. The masses wanted to continue going on and about their lives in the jianghu, butYi Ling Long was the only one that disappeared suddenly without a single sound, of course this MIA “colleague” would be the ultimate blametaker.

All Hua Rong Yue did was sit at home and went about her daily routine, but the blame that landed on her lap still dropped suddenly from the sky. She had shouldered a lot of random fignerpointings in the past two months. The attitude towards Yi Ling Long also transformed — it started from Yi Ling Long being able to obtain the Tower’s forgiveness if she were to show her sincerity in turning over a new leaf, and then transforming into: the moment Yi Ling Long made an appearance, she would be killed on the spot. Hua Rong Yue must say that the the wulin people of the Jiangnan region must have contributed largely to this outcome. Hence, Yan Sheng’s invite really did throw her off. 

“Me?” Hua Rong Yue pretended not to understand Yan Sheng’s hint. At seeing Hua Rong Yue’s firm stance, Yan Sheng decided to reveal some exclusive information, “a constable at DO6 earns minimum two taels of silver.”

Hundred Herb Apothecary provided a roof over her head and food every day, but there was no salary given.

Hua Rong Yue pretended that she didn’t hear him, and instead sent Yan Sheng on his way out. By the time Yan Sheng was gone, silence returned to Hundred Herbs Apothecary. The moment she closed the door and turned around, she found Physician Qi and Wan Fu Lian standing but a hair’s breathe away from her.

“Rong Yue, you’re joining DO6 too! They actually pay two taels of silver! You’d be rich.” Wan Fu Lian exclaimed happily.

“I might not go.” Hua Rong Yue lightly shook her head.

“Yan Sheng to invite you to join DO6, how rare.” Physician Qi had also walked over to insert his comment.

“Physician Qi, both you and Xiao Lian knew that Yan Sheng is from DO6?” Hua Rong Yue asked, slightly shocked.

“Of course I know, I encountered an incident a few years back, and DO6 handled the situation, Yan Sheng was the one that had came down to settle it back then. You can say we go back a long way.”

Ah, was that so. Hua Rong Yue looked at Physician Xiao Qi in dubion. 

The reason Physician Qi was able to bring it up lightly was because he was not from the jianghu, so he had no idea what DO6 this three words meant, neither did he understand what power the position of the future head of DO6 would entail. 

Based on past experience, for Physician Xiao Qi to get involved in a situation that would require someone like the future head of DO6 to make an appearance, it must be his special nature working its magic again?