Lonely Immortal

"You stay here." The young man in green shirt left a message to Zhang Zhiwen, then he came to the purple shirt man and respectfully clasped his fists and said, "Meet the deputy hall master!"

"Well, wait aside." The purple shirt man nodded, then glanced at the young men present and said, "My surname is Hou, you can call me deputy hall master Hou."

He paused, and seeing that the young men were looking at him quietly, he continued, "Today, you are officially worshipped as disciples of our Chamber of Commerce's medicine hall. Our Chamber has always been clear about rewards and punishments. As long as you are loyal to our Chamber, we will not treat you unfairly."

"Okay, let your master explain the rest, then the initiation ceremony officially begins!"

After the voice of Deputy Hall Master Hou fell, one of the middle-aged men in green shirts began to prepare for the initiation ceremony.

The initiation ceremony is very simple, swearing blood oath as an alliance, the old rules of the Jianghu gang, and then swearing an oath, swearing allegiance to the Chamber of Commerce until death and so on.

After the ceremony, Deputy Hall Master Hou left.

"Okay, next, I'll take you to register."

A middle-aged man in green said.

The four rich boys followed quickly, and another middle-aged man in green led seven or eight other gentry boys away. Finally, it was the young man in green. He had a stinky face, but he still led Zhang Zhiwen away.

Not long after, the middle-aged man in green led them to a side yard, and in a registration place, he registered everyone's name and other information one by one.

"Wang Kun, thirteen years old, from Wuping County, rich family, paid a hundred gold leaves to join the association!"

The person in charge of registration shouted.

When the other teenagers heard this, they were a little surprised, because Wang Kun was one of the rich boys, and he actually paid a hundred gold leaves to join the association, which was a big deal.

You should know that ten copper coins are enough for a family of three to spend in one day, one hundred copper coins can be exchanged for one silver leaf, and one hundred silver leaves can only be exchanged for one gold leaf, so these one hundred gold leaves are naturally a huge sum of money.

This person's family is indeed wealthy. In order to let him join the association and become a disciple of the Chamber of Commerce, he actually spent so much money.

At this time, the other three young men from wealthy families immediately became more and more flattering to Wang Kun. In fact, they had known each other for a long time, but now seeing that Wang Kun's family gave a hundred gold leaves at once, of course they worked harder to flatter him.

"Zhao Cheng, 14 years old, from Wuping County, from a wealthy family, pays fifty gold to join the association!"

The person in charge of registration continued to preach.

This Zhao Cheng is naturally the young man standing next to Wang Kun.

"Oh, Brother Zhao's family is also quite generous." Wang Kun glanced at Zhao Cheng. Although it was a compliment, it was actually quite contemptuous.

Zhao Cheng heard this and said modestly: "No, no, I can't compare to Brother Wang, I can't compare to Brother Wang."

Wang Kun and Zhao Cheng, one fat and one thin, are both rich kids, and they paid so much money to join the club!

The remaining two rich kids are not bad either, one paid thirty gold and the other paid twenty gold.

It is obvious that Wang Kun is the richest among the four people, and he is also implicitly the leader.

Afterwards, the registration continued to read out, but the next was the admission of the gentry's children.

The best of these gentry children paid one hundred silver, that is, one hundred silver leaves, which is just one gold leaf, and the gap with the rich children is not a little bit.

The person in charge of the registration was naturally not very interested, but read out as usual.

The gentry disciples also completed the registration quickly, and the money paid for joining the club was as much as one hundred silver leaves, and as little as ten silver leaves.

Finally, it was Zhang Zhiwen's turn.

"Zhang Zhiwen, 12 years old, from Wuping County, no membership fee."

After the person in charge of registration read out the announcement, the other teenagers seemed to have known Zhang Zhiwen's situation for a long time, and they were too lazy to even look at Zhang Zhiwen.

However, the middle-aged man in green said: "This is because the Chamber of Commerce has been more tolerant over the years, otherwise how could it break the rules?"

Another middle-aged man in green nodded and said: "That's right, but if there is no money, what's the point of learning to make medicine? Haha, it's just a waste of time."

The two talked and agreed, and the young man in green listened to it, and his face became more and more ugly.

"Okay, the registration is complete, each of you can take your disciples away."

The person in charge of registration waved his hand and let them leave.

The two middle-aged men in green led their disciples to leave, and the young man in green had to lead Zhang Zhiwen to follow behind.

Along the way, the rich children in front and their master, the middle-aged man in green, were talking and laughing.

Although the ordinary disciples were not so comfortable with their master, it was okay. At least the middle-aged man in green shirts did not have a stern face, and would tell them about the situation in the association from time to time.

Only the young man in green shirts did not say a word along the way, and did not even look at Zhang Zhiwen, his face was very stinky.

But Zhang Zhiwen did not care, he just followed behind everyone and could hear what was said in front.

Through their conversation, Zhang Zhiwen knew something roughly.

The middle-aged man in green shirts in the lead was surnamed Li, and he was an alchemist in the pharmacy of the Chamber of Commerce. Similarly, another middle-aged man in green shirts was surnamed Chen, also an alchemist, and there was also a young man in green shirts, his surname was Lin, also an alchemist.

This alchemist Lin was Zhang Zhiwen's master.

He was born in a common family, originally a son of a gentry, but he was very talented and became a pharmacist at a young age. He thought he could show his talents and make a difference in the pharmacy, but he didn't know that after becoming a pharmacist, the first apprentice he took was Zhang Zhiwen.

Apprentices like Zhang Zhiwen have almost no future, because he is just a wandering beggar, penniless, and only became a pharmacy apprentice by luck, at least that's what Lin the pharmacist thought.

So the pharmacists Li and Chen obviously had a gloating tone in their words, and those rich children and gentry children looked down on poor people like Zhang Zhiwen.

Their words all showed one thing, that is, learning to make medicine costs a lot of money. If you don't have money, you can only complete various tasks in the pharmacy to get money, but the rich children don't have to be so troublesome, and don't have to spend any time to do tasks, just spend money to learn the technology of making medicine.

In this way, the disciples without money naturally can't learn anything. In addition, the gang rules are strict. The disciples' performance will be assessed every month. Those who fail to meet the requirements will be severely punished. Once eliminated, they will naturally be eliminated. The Chamber of Commerce does not want to keep waste, nor will it let waste leak the Chamber of Commerce's affairs.

In addition, if the apprentice has no achievements, the master will also be implicated, and will be punished at the least or demoted at the most.

Now Zhang Zhiwen understands. No wonder the pharmacist Lin beside him has always had a bad face. It turns out that there is such a relationship.

As for other things, Zhang Zhiwen didn't hear much. Those were some words of mutual flattery, saying that Wang Kun was familiar with ancient poems at the age of three, and dabbled in herbs at the age of six, and that Zhao Cheng could prescribe prescriptions at the age of nine, and had a family background.

But in a word, Wang Kun and others are all rich people with very good foundations. In the future, they are likely to become pharmacists or even pharmacists like Deputy Hall Master Hou.

The status of the alchemist in the medicine hall is already good, second only to those gray-clothed men, that is, the Chamber of Commerce guards. They are the core of the Chamber of Commerce's military force and the real trump card of the Chamber of Commerce.

The reason why Wuping Chamber of Commerce can become the third largest gang in Wuping Prefecture is naturally because the Chamber of Commerce has a large number of martial arts masters.

The medicine hall is just a branch of the Chamber of Commerce. It is not good at martial arts, but only good at alchemy.

Only when you reach the level of Deputy Hall Master Hou, your status will exceed that of the gray-clothed man, and you will be on par with the gray-clothed man's manager, that is, the deputy hall master of the martial arts hall.

Therefore, Wang Kun's family will pay a lot of money to let their children enter the Chamber of Commerce to learn alchemy. Once their children become deputy hall masters of the Chamber of Commerce, the whole family will rise with the tide, and the families of those gentry children will also greatly improve their family situation because they are promoted to alchemists. The status of this alchemist is not low, and it is also possible to be promoted to an alchemist.

In this way, the group soon came to the Chamber of Commerce's library.

Since I have become a disciple of the Chamber of Commerce, I must learn some martial arts. In addition, I must learn to make medicine.

Refining medicine is not something that can be learned by talking. It requires in-depth study and the study of various medicine classics.

However, after Lin the pharmacist brought Zhang Zhiwen here, he just took out a booklet from his arms and threw it to Zhang Zhiwen before leaving.

Zhang Zhiwen was a little speechless. Other masters personally led the team and took the disciples to select various books, but his master actually left him alone?

But when he finished reading the booklet that Lin the pharmacist threw to him, he understood why.

This booklet is the rules of the medicine hall, which contains various regulations.

The first thing that caught my eye was the level regulations. When a disciple entered the medicine hall, he first became an apprentice. The apprentice had to accept the monthly assessment of the Chamber of Commerce. Only after passing the assessment could he continue to stay in the medicine hall. This is called the monthly exam.

Then comes the annual examination, which is held once a year. This is the key to promotion. Only when you reach the standard of a pharmacist can you be qualified. The specific standard is not written here. I guess you will know what the regulations are when you take the examination.

The second is the membership fee, which is divided into two parts. The first is that apprentices must pay a full amount of membership fees to the Chamber of Commerce every month. They can pay it with medicinal materials of equal value. The other membership fee is the master fee, which must also be paid every month. If you don’t pay, you will be punished. In serious cases, you will be eliminated.

The total membership fee is 20 silver leaves.

Then there are the tasks of the pharmacy and various miscellaneous matters. The general meaning is that in the medicine hall, if you want to refine medicine, then materials, books, formulas... and so on, all resources require money. The same is true for learning martial arts. If you don't have money, you can complete tasks. The Chamber of Commerce Medicine Hall has tasks issued. At the beginning, the simple tasks are mainly to collect herbs for money, but the Chamber of Commerce will not pay according to the market price, only the reward part, that is, if the price of a herb is ten silver leaves, then only one silver leaf will be rewarded. Of course, if the task is completed, the master will also get a commission. Of course, the most profitable task is still refining medicine, with low cost and high return.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhiwen understood more why Lin the Medicine Master, that is, his master, had a stinky face. What tasks can a little beggar like him complete? It's nothing more than collecting some herbs, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to pay the monthly membership fee. At that time, as a master, he will inevitably be unlucky.

So when Lin the Medicine Master came here, he simply left him alone.

At the end of this booklet, it is particularly emphasized that disciples of the medicine hall cannot trade or sell privately, otherwise they will be killed without mercy.