Although the students had spotted the Alchemist Association building from the road, they had no idea how large it actually was until now. They gaze up at the grand stone entryway, adorned with fine carvings of rare herbs, as they marvel at its grandness. Wei leads the way, weaving through the crowd and into the building. As they make their way across the ground floor, Yuyu and Dan couldn't help but swivel their heads back and forth.
"Dan! Dan! Th-th-that! Look at that ginseng! It's huge!" Yuyu exclaims with outstretched hands, as if to try and hug the ginseng larger than her head.
"I wonder how old i-" Dan cuts his sentence short upon scanning the metallic plaque in front of the ginseng. He stretches his arm out, nudging Yuyu a few steps backwards. "Maybe it's best not to touch anything, even the protective displays…"
The sudden overreaction piques Anning and Maoyi's curiosity. They stretch their necks out to get a better view of the plaque. Upon reading it, the two girls turn to look at each other with raised brows.
"Dan, it's just a five hundred year-old ginseng…" Maoyi turns towards Dan with her brow still raised. "We use them all the time in class for rejuvenation pills."
Her comment falls on deaf ears. Dan, still staring at the plaque in front of him, scrunches his brows as he tries to recall how much five hundred year-old ginsengs he had used.
Three hundred fifty golds for one and a half kilos. Twenty-three silvers per gram. Once a week. Eight weeks. Eight sessions. About a hundred grams per session. Eight hundred grams…
Dan's eyes widen as he realizes that, just in his short time at the academy, he had already used over one hundred and eighty-four gold coins worth of ginseng on just rejuvenation pills alone. He turns towards Maoyi, eyes still wide, curious about the other pills that they've been concocting. Just as Dan opens his mouth to ask, he realizes that it would be better if he didn't know.
"Can we move?" Wei asks, directing his gaze at Yuyu and Dan. "We're still in the south wing. If we stop each time something catches her attention, we'll never make it to the other wings, not to mention the second floor."
"Wei, that's so considerate of you!" Chunhua laughs as he throws his arm around Wei's shoulders. "Weiwei's right. We don't have much time. I think it's best that we follow his lead."
The girls stare at Chunhua. They quickly glance at each other again before turning back to stare at the stranger before them.
"Who are you?" Maoyi's round face shrivels up into a raisin as she stares at the stranger in front of her. "What did you do with our Chunchun?"
"Please don't call me that." Chunhua laughs at the absurd nickname. "Let's go. Instructor Sun looks like he might die from bor-"
"Weiwei?!" A voice calls out from the crowd, cutting Chunhua off. As the man approaches the group, his eyes light up. "Young Weiwei! I heard you'd be in Jing City! How was your travels? I'm glad you decided to visit our Alchemist Association! Last I saw you… must be almost ten years now. You were only four!"
Wei lowers his head as the man in green continues speaking without pause. This was the one person Wei did not want to run into. He stares at his feet, praying for the man to stop. If not, Wei prays that the man wouldn't talk about his last visit in too much detail.
"...and then your mom gave me an earful. How was I supposed to know? I mean, you were only this tall!"
The students' cheeks puff up from trying to hold in their laughter as the man in green bends slightly, placing his palm at knee-level. Wei, having tried his best to contain his outburst, finally decides that he can't take it anymore.
"Uncle Ming! These are my- This is Instructor Sun." Wei cuts in, trying to change the subject before his uncle could continue. "And these are my fr- my classmates."
"Oh, I see. It's a pleasure to meet you all." The man bows towards Sun before nodding at the other students. "My name is Zhao Mingcui. Please, feel free to call me Ming. It's nice to see Weiwei have so many friends. His mom tells me that he's been quite a troubl-"
"Uncle Ming! Why don't you tell us about this ginseng!"
"Ginseng?" Ming's eyes grow bright upon hearing his nephew's request. "Weiwei! Did you finally make up your mind to pursue alchemy and herbalism? That's great. Gaha. Oh, or is it? Tsk. Maybe that's not such a great idea, Weiwei. I don't want another earful from your mom."
"Uncle Ming… the ginseng!"
"Oh right! This? It's nothing too special. I found it a while back and thought it would be good for attracting talent to the association. But the lousy old men wouldn't let me put it on the sales floor unless it had a price. Anyways, I just threw out an absurd price just to stick it to those geezers and their rules."
Upon hearing that his calculations were based on an unrealistic price, Dan breathes a sigh of relief. He relaxes the arm separating Yuyu from the ginseng, allowing her to move closer to the ginseng display. She stretches her arms in front of the display with starry eyes as she gazes longingly at the giant ginseng. Despite seeing a five hundred year-old ginseng before in class, Yuyu hasn't had the chance to directly handle the rare material. Instructor Lianyi only allows her to sit in and watch the others due to her age. As she hugs the display, her eyes are drawn to the plaque in front of her face. Yuyu squints as she reads the last line of text on the plaque.
"Uncle Ming? What is the compe- oh! Sorry. Hehe." Yuyu cuts herself off upon realizing that she is being rude by not properly introducing herself. "Hi uncle Ming! My name is Yuyu. Yuyu just wanted to ask about the competition for the ginseng. Can Dan and Yuyu join?"
The question causes Ming to reevaluate his initial judgment of the girl. Based on her size, Ming had guessed her to be about six or seven years old. Having lost a whole year's worth of sleep in preparation for his entrance exam to the Academy, Ming just assumed that there was no possibility that the little girl was a student. In his mind, the best explanation was that the little girl is Instructor Sun's daughter who was tagging along. With her sudden interest in the competition he created to find new talent, Ming realizes that his initial judgment might have been incorrect.
"Weiwei, when you said that these are your classmates… did you also mean…" Ming, seeing Wei's knowing look, realizes that his assumptions were indeed incorrect. He looks back at Yuyu, murmuring to himself for a short moment before continuing. "Yuyu, what a beautiful name you have. You said that you want to join the competition?"
"Yes, uncle Ming." Yuyu replies with vigorous nods. "Dan too!"
"Uncle Ming, this junior, Chunhua, would also like to compete in- uh… whatever the competition is about."
Hearing that Chunhua is interested in this competition, Maoyi and Anning give each other a look before expressing their desire to partake. Xi, caught in the moment with her friends, also expresses her interest.
"Well…" Ming raises his hand to stroke his chin. "It wouldn't be a bad idea to plant the seeds of interest early on. Blossom, Merchants, Qi, Song… Little girl and nameless boy too, I suppose… If there's even a small chance that they choose to pursue this profession… More talent for our association means less for those scam artist craftsmen…"
"His name is Dan." Yuyu politely chimes in to correct Ming's mumbling.
"Hmm?" Ming raises his brow in confusion.
"Uncle Ming…" Wei lowers his head to hide his embarrassment. "We can hear you…"