Chapter 146
Fusheng hadn’t seen his two disciples, Yuan Qiuzi and Xuan Lingzi, for several days.
Since he only had thirteen disciples in total, missing two was quite noticeable.
After asking his eldest disciple, he learned the two had gone down the mountain half a month ago to clear out their stock of pills. That puzzled Fusheng.
Because in the past, such trips to clear inventory usually only took four or five days. If they hadn’t returned after half a month, it probably meant something had happened.
Though, it was also possible they were just delayed.
Fusheng wasn’t sure.
He decided to wait a little longer.
But after waiting another four or five days, there was still no sign of them.
Worried, and realizing he hadn’t gone down the mountain himself in a long time, Fusheng decided to make the trip down personally.
He was accompanied by his eldest disciple. When disciples went out, they would leave signs along the way to guide anyone who might come looking for them later.
Fusheng followed these signs and eventually arrived at Ziyang County.
But the moment he entered the city, he was shocked by the vibrant scene before him.
It was early morning, the city gates had just opened, and Fusheng saw the streets packed with people—absolutely bustling.
There were many street vendors, most selling food, and the pedestrians appeared to be mostly laborers.
The strong men stood around in groups of three or five, occasionally shouting in the streets:
“Anyone want to work at the glass factory? Five-man team needs one more—hurry!”
“Roadwork outside the city—anyone interested? Two spots left, come quickly…”
“Digging ditches here! Ten-man team needs three more! Come, come…”
Among the laborers shouting for workers, there were even elderly people, women, and children.
It was so lively—it felt like a festival.
But even during a festival, it shouldn’t be this lively in a place like Ji Prefecture, right? Wasn’t this region plagued by bandits?
Fusheng was dazzled by the scene, not knowing where to look.
He hadn’t been down the mountain in ages, spending his days immersed in researching various “immortal techniques,” and had no idea about the recent changes in Ji Prefecture.
The same was true for his eldest disciple, Xi Liuzi.
The two of them, both well over a hundred combined in age, stood there with wooden boxes strapped to their backs, dumbfounded in a corner by the city gate, glancing here and there, unsure whether they should be looking for someone or asking for help.
Two old men in plain robes, with long eyebrows and white beards, stood out no matter where they went.
They hadn’t been standing long before a city guard approached.
The officer asked, “Are you two having any trouble?”
Fusheng was again taken aback by the guard’s friendliness.
After all, in his memory, officials in Ji Prefecture—regardless of rank—were never easy to deal with.
Not understanding the situation and afraid to say much, Fusheng was about to say they weren’t in trouble, but the officer seemed to guess his thoughts. Instead of making things difficult, he even smiled.
“You’re from out of town, aren’t you? Everyone new to Ziyang is like this—don’t worry about not knowing your way around. If you want to know what’s going on, you can check the bulletin board over there.”
And with that, the officer returned to his post before Fusheng even had time to thank him.
But—a bulletin board?
Fusheng turned thoughtfully to his eldest disciple. “Come, let’s go take a look.”
After asking someone where it was, they followed the directions to the spot.
There was quite a crowd gathered around the board, and from a distance, the two old men couldn’t see what was written on it.
With no other option, Fusheng led his disciple to squeeze in from a corner.
Fortunately, the people were in good spirits and didn’t complain about the two old men pushing through.
Finally managing to get closer, Fusheng looked up and noticed an officer standing nearby.
The officer glanced at him, his eyes seemingly asking what they wanted.
Guards really were everywhere.
Fusheng and his disciple shifted slightly to the side and began reading the various notices.
There were quite a few of them—spanning roughly two zhang (about 6.5 meters) in length.
Fusheng read them one by one.
The first notice was from the government, recruiting workers to dig ditches. Work hours were from early morning to evening, one meal a day provided, fifty wen in wages, ages eighteen to forty, open to men and women…
Stroking his beard, Fusheng silently nodded. Hmm, not bad. The terms were reasonable—surprisingly, they weren’t forcing civilians to provide labor.
He looked at the next one.
Also government recruitment—this one for roadwork outside the city. Conditions were about the same.
Then the next one.
Oh, still recruitment—for building a… glass factory?
What was a glass factory? What even was glass??
Fusheng frowned in confusion, silently pulling on his beard.
Why had he never heard the word “glass” before? Was it something introduced from elsewhere?
Unable to figure it out, he put the thought aside and kept reading.
And here we go again—another recruitment notice, this time for building a sugar refinery?!
His hand trembled, and he accidentally pulled out a beard hair, gasping from the pain.
His eldest disciple was still reading the notice about the glass factory. When he heard the gasp, he thought the master had noticed his ignorance and felt deeply ashamed.
The disciple said with guilt, “Master, I am shallow in learning. I’ve never heard of this ‘glass’ before, and don’t know what it is. Do you know?”
Fusheng admitted he didn’t know either.
This disciple was the most like Fusheng—both preferred staying on the mountain, both liked diving into research. The only difference was that, being a disciple, Xi Liuzi occasionally had to deal with affairs involving their junior brothers.
But in one thing, the two were alike—they were both quite cut off from the outside world.
“There are many things in this world people don’t know. You don’t need to get hung up on one, and certainly don’t feel ashamed for your ignorance. What must be learned, what can be learned, what will be learned—you’ll learn it eventually.”
Fusheng didn’t answer the question directly, thinking he had upheld his masterly dignity.
Having calmed his disciple, Fusheng turned back to the notices.
He glanced at the one about the sugar refinery and sighed softly.
A sugar refinery, stamped by the government—tsk tsk. Just the name alone told you everything. It looked like the government was planning to take sugar production into its own hands.
After this sigh, he reminded himself it had nothing to do with him and kept reading.
The rest of the notices were all about recruitment—nothing new, though one stood out to Fusheng.
[Sincerely seeking alchemists willing to study the Dao of chemistry. Interested parties, please knock at the County Magistrate’s Office.]
A very plain and simple notice.
But Fusheng and his disciple, upon seeing it, both seemed to understand where their two precious disciples/junior brothers had gone.
Could it be… they responded to this notice and went to the County Magistrate’s Office?!