"Yes!"
After registering his name like everyone else, Zhou Xun waited in the square.
Less than two hours later, Lin Zhishan returned to the raised platform.
Lin Zhishan first bowed to the crowd, then spoke:
"Thank you all for your favor toward Danbao Pavilion. For this apprentice recruitment, there were no fewer than eighty-three applicants, while the laborer recruitment drew as many as three hundred and twenty-seven!"
"After discussing the matter with my Revered Teacher, we have decided to expand the number of recruits."
"As for apprentice positions, we have decided to increase the number to thirty. After half a year of training and assessment, we will select the best among them, increasing the final admissions to fifteen!"
"Of course, those who fail the assessment may remain at Danbao Pavilion if they are willing!"
"As for Spirit Contract Laborers, we have decided to increase the number to fifty!"
"The specific list will be announced here shortly!"
"Thank you, everyone!"
Having said that, Lin Zhishan bowed to the surroundings once more.
Hearing this, the crowd below was overjoyed.
The expanded recruitment meant their chances of being selected had greatly increased.
Zhou Xun felt the same.
"With that steward's assurance, along with this expanded recruitment, I will certainly be selected!"
The three Wei brothers felt the same way.
"Big Brother, such joyous news has arrived at our door today. Why don't we go to Yuexiang Restaurant and reserve a table for a spirit banquet, first to properly celebrate Third Brother?" Wei Shangren said happily.
"Sounds good! Big Brother will treat today!" Wei Shangli was also in quite a fine mood.
With his third brother successfully joining Danbao Pavilion and becoming a Pill Refinement Master in the future, his plans to restore the Lineage had moved several steps forward.
"Remember to invite Warden Lin. We have him to thank for today!" Wei Shangren continued.
Warden Lin had cast Zhou Xun aside, making Wei Shangren feel full of goodwill toward this "relative."
Seeing the delight on his second brother's face, Wei Shangli was so angry that smoke nearly rose from his seven orifices. He fiercely knocked him on the head several times.
"Cause me less trouble from now on, and focus on honing your talisman-making skills!"
"And about Warden Lin today, you must keep your mouth shut!"
"Of course, of course!" Wei Shangren agreed, rubbing his head.
He knew that because of his affairs, his eldest brother had paid a hefty price.
As they spoke, the crowd suddenly surged.
A middle-aged man dressed as a steward stepped onto the raised platform, holding a scroll of names in his hand. He was Wei Shangli's wife's elder brother, Danbao Pavilion's chief steward.
"It's about to be announced!"
Someone shouted loudly.
The cultivators all squeezed forward.
The middle-aged steward swept his gaze over those below the platform and said:
"I am Lin Ruochang, chief steward of Danbao Pavilion. I will announce the results of this recruitment assembly!" After saying so, he paused, unfolded the register in his hand, and began to read.
"Those selected for the Pill Refinement Apprentice trials are as follows:"
"First, Fellow Daoist Wei Yanzhi, of Brocade Cloud Alley, Red Leaf Square."
"Second, Gou Houqing."
"...Wang Erniu."
"I was selected! I was selected!"
The moment the middle-aged steward finished speaking, an honest-looking youth dressed like a farmer became so overjoyed that he could barely speak coherently, shouting wildly.
No one around him mocked him in the slightest. Instead, they all revealed envious expressions.
They knew that once selected as a Pill Refinement Apprentice of Danbao Pavilion, even if they still had to undergo assessment half a year later, they could remain at the pavilion at worst.
Besides, Grandmaster Yun Ku's reputation for treating those under him well was known throughout all of Red Leaf Square.
Zhou Xun also looked at the youth with kindness, celebrating for him inwardly.
Judging by his attire, his life had likely not been easy. To be selected now was no different from a fish leaping over the dragon gate.
The Wei brothers stood not far from Zhou Xun, listening as Warden Lin called out names from the platform.
Very soon, the sixth name read was "Wei Shangyi."
"Haha, Third Brother, you really were selected! From now on, we'll have to call you Pill Master Wei!" Wei Shangren said loudly, unable to conceal the excitement in his eyes.
Hearing words like "selected" and "Pill Master," how could the people around them not know that he had been selected as a Pill Refinement Apprentice? They immediately began offering congratulations.
Wei Shangren laughed heartily, as though he himself had been selected.
Suddenly, his sharp eyes swept across the crowd and spotted a familiar figure—Zhou Xun.
He hurriedly pushed through the crowd and walked over.
"Brother Zhou is still here? Then you must have been selected as well, hahaha!" Wei Shangren knew full well that with Lin Ruochang, Danbao Pavilion's chief steward, handling matters, Zhou Xun could not possibly have been selected.
Hearing this, Zhou Xun's heart remained utterly calm.
He had already recognized the man on the platform as the middle-aged steward from earlier that day when they registered.
"With Danbao Pavilion's chief steward personally giving his word, I should already have been selected this time," Zhou Xun thought.
He glanced at Wei Shangren and said blandly:
"If I gain it, it is my fortune; if I lose it, it is my fate!"
Seeing Zhou Xun's calm, unruffled expression, anger surged into Wei Shangren's heart. No longer caring about his elder brother's warning, he leaned closer and sneered softly:
"Brother Zhou, you don't know yet, do you? That chief steward of Danbao Pavilion on the stage is my eldest brother's wife's elder brother. He personally promised me that he would cast you aside!"
Zhou Xun's brows furrowed slightly at those words.
This truly lay beyond his expectations.
He had never imagined that the kind-faced middle-aged steward would be the elder brother of the Wei family's eldest brother's wife.
What a coincidence!
Catching Zhou Xun's frown, Wei Shangren burst into laughter.
"If I gain it, it is my fortune; if I lose it, it is my fate! Hahaha! Go against me, and I'll make sure you can never rise above the rest. That is your fate!"
"Brother Wei certainly has fine methods."
With matters having reached this point, there seemed to be no way to reverse them. Zhou Xun immediately began considering his next path.
"With the Wei Brothers here, Red Leaf Square is no longer a good place for me. Perhaps it is time to consider leaving!"
Just as he was thinking this, a voice that left Zhou Xun stunned rang out.
"Twenty-ninth, Zhou Xun, of Green Willow Alley, Red Leaf Square!"
Wei Shangren's smile slowly froze, and he stood there muttering, unable to find any words.
Zhou Xun, meanwhile, revealed a surprised expression. He had already prepared himself to flee, only for the road to twist and the light to appear beyond the willows and flowers.
He then looked at Wei Shangren with a faintly amused smile and said:
"Brother Wei truly does love joking as always. I nearly believed you just now!"
Wei Shangren immediately forced out an ugly smile and nodded stiffly.
"Yes, yes. I was just making a little joke with Brother Zhou, haha."
After saying that, he hurriedly squeezed through the crowd and fled in embarrassment.
He needed to go back and ask his elder brother why that middle-aged steward had taken the gift yet failed to do the job. Wasn't he his sister-in-law's own elder brother?
He could not understand it!
Neither could Zhou Xun.
He would not truly believe that Wei Shangren had merely been joking with him.
That middle-aged steward had to be his elder brother's wife's elder brother, and the matter of casting him aside must also have happened.
It was only that some unforeseen accident had occurred in between, leading to the present result.
That middle-aged man was Danbao Pavilion's chief steward.
For someone's scheme to make such a man fail, it likely involved Danbao Pavilion's upper ranks. If that was the case, he needed to carefully consider whether joining Danbao Pavilion was truly necessary.
When Wei Shangli heard Zhou Xun's name, he too wore a look of utter astonishment.
He blankly glanced at his third brother, Wei Shangyi.
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