When the three little mice saw the Mouse Clone, they really did not take an aggressive stance as they had before.
Instead, they all brought over the wild grass held in their mouths and placed it before the Mouse Clone.
The Mouse Clone looked at the three little mice in bewilderment.
They really were looking for me!
The question is, what do these three want?
Are three blades of wild grass supposed to repay me?
For saving their lives?
The Mouse Clone grumbled inwardly. They must have lumps in their heads.
What would I want wild grass for?
Could wild grass possibly taste better than bread and cookies?
Climbing onto the table, the Mouse Clone bit off the little bit of cookie that remained and patted it with a paw.
Although it now had a mouse's body, it really had no idea how to communicate with mice.
Would they understand this gesture?
It had heard that mice were very clever, and some were as intelligent as seven- or eight-year-old children.
The little mouse missing a section of its tail stared blankly at the cookie, then looked at the wild grass for a while.
It seemed to have genuinely understood what the Mouse Clone meant!
It crawled over to a blade of wild grass, patted it with its right forepaw, then bit off a piece and began chewing.
As it chewed, it shuddered.
Judging by its expression, the wild grass seemed to taste terrible.
Yet it kept chewing.
The Mouse Clone lowered its head and looked at the other two blades of wild grass before it.
Does this mean the wild grass is better than cookies?
Even if it tastes awful, it's still better than cookies?
Could there be something special about this wild grass?
The other two little mice exchanged a glance, their four eyes darting about.
Before long, one mouse raced behind the little mouse with the broken tail and sniffed the break. Then it ran over to a blade of wild grass, took a bite, let go, and sniffed the broken tail again.
Now the Mouse Clone understood.
Are these two mice saying this wild grass can heal the wound on its tail?
Sure enough, a little while later, the mouse with the broken tail let go of the grass and ran up to the Mouse Clone, endlessly wagging its half-severed tail.
A scab had actually formed over the wound!
Does this wild grass really have such miraculous healing effects?
Wen Xiancheng climbed out of bed and turned on the light.
The three little mice were immediately frightened into scurrying under the bed again, disappearing from sight.
Wen Xiancheng picked up the three blades of wild grass from the floor, took a photo with his phone, logged onto his computer, and used the browser's image recognition feature to identify them.
He soon had an answer.
It turned out that this wild grass was called blood-stanching grass, a valuable medicinal herb.
His memories contained almost no knowledge of medicinal herbs.
Wen Xiancheng searched for blood-stanching grass in the browser again.
The next moment, his breathing grew slightly faster.
The browser displayed: Blood-stanching grass, a grade-two medicinal herb, the primary ingredient used to refine the grade-two Foundation-Consolidating Essence-Nourishing Pill.
At last, Wen Xiancheng found some knowledge in his memories relating to the grade-two Foundation-Consolidating Essence-Nourishing Pill.
In this world, medicine was divided into two types: Western medicine and medicinal pills.
Western medicine was not divided into grades.
Medicinal pills, on the other hand, were graded according to quality.
By quality, medicinal pills were divided into grades one through nine.
Grade one was the lowest quality, and grade nine was the highest.
Their prices, of course, differed enormously as well.
Moreover, even pills of the same grade had different prices and effects.
Still, grade-two Foundation-Consolidating Essence-Nourishing Pills were not cheap. Each one cost around twenty low-grade spirit stones.
Foundation-Consolidating Essence-Nourishing Pills were mainly used to consolidate one's foundation and nourish one's vital essence. They were generally taken by people who were injured or suffering from depleted blood and vitality, and were very effective.
Wen Xiancheng then searched online for the price of blood-stanching grass.
He soon found an answer.
Blood-stanching grass was priced by the gram on the market.
Ten grams of fresh blood-stanching grass cost around one low-grade spirit stone.
Dried blood-stanching grass cost dozens of times more.
Wen Xiancheng's face lit up with wild joy.
Ten grams of fresh blood-stanching grass were actually worth one low-grade spirit stone.
However, when he searched for foundation-consolidating and essence-nourishing medicine, he discovered that twenty grams of blood-stanching grass could actually be refined into one grade-two Foundation-Consolidating Essence-Nourishing Pill!
Wen Xiancheng hesitated for a moment, then searched for the recipe for the grade-two Foundation-Consolidating Essence-Nourishing Pill.
Although a grade-two Foundation-Consolidating Essence-Nourishing Pill required many ingredients, someone online had calculated that each pill cost no more than five low-grade spirit stones to make.
Turning a cost of five low-grade spirit stones into a selling price of twenty was comparable to his own business of treating children's books with illusions.
Wen Xiancheng immediately lost interest.
Selling blood-stanching grass on its own was not worthwhile.
But refining it into grade-two Foundation-Consolidating Essence-Nourishing Pills to sell would yield an even lower profit margin than treating children's books with illusions!
However, Wen Xiancheng thought of another possibility.
Foundation-consolidating and essence-nourishing pills were mostly refined and sold in batches by pharmacies and alchemists.
Then why did he have to work alone when treating children's books with illusions to sell?
Thinking of Cui Qianqian, Wen Xiancheng narrowed his eyes slightly.
Why not find a partner?
Besides, this chubby girl's skill in illusions far surpassed his own.
If I could win her over, or even win over all of Liu Lanzhi's students-
The more Wen Xiancheng thought about it, the more excited he became!
Then he would strike it rich.
No!
Wen Xiancheng stood up. He had to settle this as soon as possible!
And he would settle it tomorrow!
Having made his decision, Wen Xiancheng forced himself to sleep.
At the same time, he sent the Mouse Clone out again, into the Royal Academy and on to Cui Qianqian's dorm room.
He needed to pin down Cui Qianqian's whereabouts so he could approach her tomorrow as soon as she had time!
The next morning, Wen Xiancheng went out as soon as he got up and bought a clean, neat suit.
Cui Qianqian's family was not poor; the fact that she could attend Liu Lanzhi's advanced illusion course made that clear.
Therefore, if he did not present himself properly, she would very likely think he was joking.
Next, Wen Xiancheng went to a barbershop for a neat crew cut to make himself look more energetic.
Finally, he bought a pair of leather shoes.
The entire outfit cost fifty low-grade spirit stones.
Wen Xiancheng felt a pang.
I haven't earned as much as I've spent!
By the time he had everything in order, it was already noon.
The Mouse Clone had followed Cui Qianqian the whole way, and she was now about to head to the cafeteria for lunch.
Wen Xiancheng hurried to the Royal Academy, registered with his ID card, then entered the academy and went straight to the cafeteria.
At that moment, Cui Qianqian had just arrived and was about to go inside.
Wen Xiancheng stepped in front of her and held out his hand. "Hello, Cui Qianqian. My name is Wen Xiancheng. There's something I'd like to discuss with you. Lunch is on me."
Cui Qianqian shook her head. "Sorry, I don't know you."
Lowering her head, Cui Qianqian moved to go inside.
Remembering the first time he had seen Cui Qianqian, when those three pretty girls had given her a hard time-especially that older sister's cutting remarks-Wen Xiancheng smiled faintly. "I know you. Don't worry, I mean you absolutely no harm. I can help you fulfill your wish of becoming a second Professor Liu Lanzhi!"
Only then did Cui Qianqian raise her head. "A second Professor Liu? You must be joking! In the hundreds of years of our Yue Kingdom's history, there's only ever been one Professor Liu! If you're really that amazing, why don't you help yourself become a second Professor Liu first?"
(End of chapter)
Before you continue