Chapter 44: Numbers
“You don’t have time,” Huang Niuniu said. She stirred the Deep Sea’s Strength Spite in the pot. “And I don’t have money.”
She ladled a large portion into his bowl, and steam rose alongside a pungent aroma. By now, he was used to it. It smelled appetising, even. Was this what they called an acquired taste? In his previous life, many stinky foods were seen as delicacies in different parts of the world. Some even gained fame as probiotics.
Deep Sea’s Strength Spite was probiotics on steroids.
“That’s bad, isn’t it?” he said after finishing his portion. He rubbed the scar on his nose. “I didn’t get any stipend for the first month.”
From his pouch, he took out two objects. One was a wooden box, the other a vial. The vial was the Pure Qi Assimilating Elixir they’d received from Wen Liujie. Or rather, from the Alchemy Hall for being a Night Soil Collector.
Yu Han opened the box, revealing a greenish-red pill. It had a coarse surface, as if many leaves had been pressed together to form a round shape.
This was the Body Tempering Pill. Each rookie would receive one a month as a stipend. Yu Han didn’t receive any spirit stones this month, but at least the pill and the five contribution points weren’t taken away. Both had other ‘official’ names, given by their inventors and such. But in most places, they were grouped together by their functions. One helped assimilate Pure Qi, the other tempered the body.
Huang Niuniu took hers out too. “I’ve decided. I won’t sell these.”
“Why?”