"Five hundred taels of gold... could get the Pill Department's old consecrated master... to teach me alchemy?" Zhang Xiaohua's mouth fell open. He simply could not believe it.
Zou Shuming said with a smile, "Exactly. As long as you hand over all five hundred taels' worth of gold leaves, your wish will naturally be fulfilled."
"But..." Zhang Xiaohua hesitated, then said, "Doesn't the Pill-Refining Hall have rules that Grass Department disciples cannot come into contact with the pill rooms? How could anyone possibly teach me alchemy?"
Zou Shuming snorted disdainfully. "Rules are made by people. Since ancient times, there has been the saying that punishment does not rise to the ranks of high officials. Those rules may bind you and me, but they cannot bind others."
"Others?" Zhang Xiaohua asked curiously. "Who are these others? Wu Dalang?"
Knowing he had let something slip, Zou Shuming hurriedly said, "Don't ask who it is. Just tell me—do you agree or not?"
Zhang Xiaohua rubbed his chin. "But... how did you know I wanted to refine pills? And that I wanted to learn alchemy from the old consecrated master?"
Zou Shuming said irritably, "Didn't I already tell you? This was merely Wu Dalang's instruction. I... ah, I'll tell you the truth. Your Grass Department's Great Leader Chen has been on Tianmu Peak for decades, yet he has never asked Wu Dalang to borrow a pill room. He has always simply taken pills. But the moment you arrived, he kept coming to Wu Dalang, asking to borrow a pill room and probing indirectly about the old consecrated master's alchemy. And you have received quite a few herbs as well. How could our Dalang not know that you wanted to study alchemy?"
Zhang Xiaohua nodded. "Great Leader Chen was indeed a little too anxious. I