High School of Demon Hunting

36: Chapter 36: Farewell Hui Zi Ji_1

36 -36: Farewell Hui Zi Ji_1

Deng Xiaoxian is twenty-seven this year, with a long face, thin eyebrows and thin lips.

His complexion is wax-coloured, and he always wears a grey long suit with no collar on the left and a white robe outside.

A lock of hair from his forehead dangles over his left eye.

Zheng Qing still remembers the first time he saw Deng Xiaoxian, it was in early autumn five years ago.

Old Manager Deng grabbed that lock of hair on his forehead and dragged him to his Spring Reviving Hall, his bellowing echoed down the whole street:

“A bottle not full, is just a shaking half bottle!”

“Who do you think you are?

What kind of skills do you have?

Do you know the fifteen uses of Mausu Neijin?

You dare to prescribe medicines without even remembering their properties!

And you dare to venture into the new world!!”

“If you run into trouble it’s just my bad luck!

A childless end for the Deng family!

What if you put the other members of the hunting team in trouble?

Who are they going to complain to?”

“Thought graduating as a registered wizard could change the world!

What a ridiculous bluff!

Do you think the big monsters outside are just paper-made?”

Zheng Qing hovered at the door, watching the normally kindly-faced old doctor roaring with rage, tears pouring down his face.

Pan Lv Er simply hung his head, knelt in front of the shrine in the Spring Reviving Hall, and said nothing.

From then on, the manager of the Spring Reviving Hall was replaced by this young man with a lock of hair hanging over his forehead.

The merchants of Hui Zi Ji strictly adhered to the national regulations.

They open at nine in the morning and close sharp at five in the afternoon.

Only Pan Lv Er showed disdain, generally opening his shop lazily as late as four.

By two or three in the afternoon, his door was already half closed.

From the day when Old Manager Deng handed over the keys to the shop to Pan Lv Er, he was seldom seen, perhaps once in three or five years.

He never hired any helpers, using his own hands to dispense medicine and see patients.

On usual days, Pan Lv Er used to concentrate on making remedies, refining pills and powders.

Occasionally when a customer came, he would either claim the manager was not in or fob off the customers with those concoctions, never really caring about the shop.

His only focus was on memorising books.

Old Manager Deng once said, if Pan Lv Er wanted to leave, he must be able to proficiently prepare the family’s three hundred traditional remedies and fifty types of dissolution medicines.

He should also be able to recite the tens of thousands of medicine methods from the three books “Jin Kui Ji Shi”, “Hold the Bottle”, and “Han Mei Dao Chang Shuo”.

Young Manager Deng, in order to leave the Spring Reviving Hall as soon as possible, began to madly memorise books.

Zheng Qing chose a character from each of the three books Xiaoxian was memorising and gave him a name, “The Golden Lotus”.

Every time he saw him memorising, he used the nickname to tease him.

Pan Lv Er would often puff up his nose and blow his lock of hair to float in the air, pretending to be angry.

…

After placing the three packages wrapped in parchment on the counter of the Spring Reviving Hall, Zheng Qing rushed out and asked Pan Lv Er for advice on education, asking him if he had any good suggestions.

“What kind of advice do you want to hear?” Deng Xiaoxian put down the book in his hand and sat upright.

Zheng Qing was speechless.

“I know more than two hundred hidden passages between the four academies; I also know about the secret camps left by my predecessors in the Silent Forest; I even know which courses to choose in the second half of the term to get more credits easily.”

“But I can’t tell you.”

“Every student, before leaving school, will sign a ‘Silence Contract’ with the school, to keep everything about the school confidential.

This contract, drawn up by the Joint Committee of Professors from the First University, was approved by the Wizard Council and had a remarkably striking effect.”

Seeing that Zheng Qing seemed disappointed, Young Manager Deng rolled up the ‘Golden Lotus’ in his hand and admonished, “The First University is a hallowed ground.

It can help you grow and mature rapidly.

The joy of life resides behind growth.

It’s like playing a game, if you use cheats to pass the levels, where’s the fun in that?”

“I only have one piece of advice for you, make more friends and participate in more social activities.” Deng Xiaoxian held up two fingers and ended his piece of advice.

“That’s two,” Zheng Qing corrected.

A customer came to Spring Reviving Hall to collect their medicine, Pan Lv Er glanced at Zheng Qing, blew his lock of hair over his forehead again, and led the customer into the shop.

Zheng Qing sighed a breath of relief.

No one could guess why, but he felt much lighter.

…

Hui Zi Ji is a very small market.

It’s so small that trading goods for goods, the primitive way of trading, is still being used in this market.

The whole market only has about twenty shops.

The streets are old and the shops are simple, many of them just straight written their names on the shop signs, with no additional fancy magic effects.

This gave Zheng Qing, who was baptised to the splendid magic at Four Seasons Pavilion, a sense of contrast.

He felt he had a duty to help his hometown to change this backward image.

“Xiaoqing, is your last batch of talisman paper used up?

How are your preparations for going to university?” Granny Cai from Bai Cao Tang called out to Zheng Qing with a smile.

Bai Cao Tang is a shop in Hui Zi Ji that specialises in talisman paper, cinnabar, brush and ink, etc.

For a while, Granny Cai agreed to exchange Zheng Qing’s completed talisman scrolls for brand new empty scrolls, which touched Zheng Qing.

“I still have some of the last batch of talisman paper.

But since I’m going to university, I’ll probably not come back for a while, so I’m planning to take some more,” Zheng Qing answered respectfully.

A couple of days ago when he came back from Four Seasons Pavilion, he rushed directly to Hui Zi Ji to ask these old shopkeepers about the First University.

Unexpectedly, the shopkeepers on the market hadn’t been to university, they just heard that the university is excellent.

They didn’t know anything else more than Zheng Qing.

The only one among them who had studied, Pan Lv Er was nowhere to be found.

He even didn’t open his shop for a few days.

Incredibly frustrating.

However, the shop owners in the market are old and experienced, they threw in their seasoned advices.

Granny Cai suggested Zheng Qing leave a letter stating his circumstances.

She could help forward it to Mr.Wu; Boss Huang from ‘Da Dai Li Ji’ suggested Zheng Qing bring some jade tags and pendants, as they made excellent gifts for classmates; Dr.

Li from Ben Cao Ju strongly advised Zheng Qing to carry with him a few medical patches.

“Be prepared for everything.

The food and drink served outside always need to be wary of.

If anything happens like a fall or injury, the school doctor will surely not be by your side all there time.

Keep several common-use patches in your bag, I think you would find it assuring.”

At the time, Zheng Qing gratefully accepted these gifts.

After he got home, the more he thought about it, the more he felt awkward.

He kept racking his brains for a few days, and finally he had a good idea.

He planned to help the old shops in the Hui Zi Ji to set up more modern and dazzling sign boards.

Just like the shops in the Four Seasons Pavilion, they look really up-end and lavish.

So today, he came to the market, intending to do some preparatory work.

“Xiaoqing, did you forget something?”

“Did you remember not having taken along the granddaughter of Boss Huang!

You’re late!

She’s been sent up to the mountains by Boss”>

“With a university education, you surely have many ideas.

You’re measuring things here, are you planning to take over all our old shops?”

In a small market, Zheng Qing’s measuring caused a crowd of shop owners to gather, making fun of him.

He made excuses everywhere in embarrassment, did a quick measurement of the shops’ frontage, and then ran away in a hurry.

Next time when he comes back, he will surely show these old-fashioned store owners the brilliance of modern magic.

Zheng Qing had a menacing thought at the bottom of his heart.