Selling Pills, Part I

The three followed Zhou Lihua’s master as he walked to the entrance. The guards recognized his robes and bowed to him, but he ignored them as he strode through the door. Like her master, Zhou Lihua was wearing her apprentice alchemist robes, which were red instead of silver.

If the exterior was bustling, then the interior was chaos incarnate. There were so many people walking through that Wu Jian couldn’t go a single step without bumping shoulders with someone. Hou Jingshu and Zhou Lihua were in the same boat. He grabbed both of their hands so they wouldn’t get lost in the crowd and pulled them along behind him.

Wong Jiu was already near a reception desk. He leaned over the table and spoke to a man with a goatee and long black hair.

“I would like to procure a spot on the fourth floor for my apprentice to sell her alchemy pills,” he was saying.