The 58th

  As soon as he finished speaking, the other two young men of lower status immediately spoke up: "Xu Zile and Xu Zigui are willing to go serve the noble people in the eastern courtyard, please trouble the manager to arrange it."

  The young man with a yellow face secretly sighed in his heart, but his mouth replied: "It doesn't matter, I have a drawing lots here, which is written with the names of all the sons and younger brothers who need to be servants. You can draw it yourself."

  Those two young men were overjoyed and hastily took a wooden tube handed to them by the yellow-faced youth, and went aside to carefully select their lots.

  The young man with a yellow face looked at Xu Ziqing again: "This son didn't speak just now, I think he has other choices."

  Xu Ziqing lowered his head and said with a sincere and fearful tone: "Xu Ziqing is incompetent, willing to do some miscellaneous tasks to share the worries of the clan..."

  Alas, this is even more lacking in initiative. The young man with a yellow face could only hand over a yellow leather book and said: "What's recorded inside is exactly where my family needs someone to do chores, you can choose one yourself."

  Xu Ziqing thanked him and took it to carefully examine it.

  Why is Huang Lian's young face so regretful? It's really because the clan leader gave the three choices to the inferior and untalented young masters, all of which are well-considered.

  One aspect is that the inner courtyard needs to be managed by reliable family members, and on the other hand, it's also about whether these people with lower qualifications can make up for their deficiencies from other aspects.

  The first option is the most challenging, where one takes on tasks independently. Although it seems difficult, each task actually polishes and refines a person from many aspects. Once they persevere through this period with their own efforts, even if their innate talent is lacking, many people can still break through to the third layer of Qi Refining before the age of 50 due to their unyielding determination. At that time, they will be directly sent to Fei Xue Mountain, where they will receive guidance from the elders and spiritual cleansing with sacred medicine. Afterwards, their path to immortality will likely become smooth and unobstructed.

  The second is to serve people, but serving people's livelihoods is not easy. What if it falls into the hands of someone with a bad temper... The days will be even harder to pass. The children who choose this task are half ambitious and half greedy. If it's the former, they can endure humiliation and hardship until later, and those who can't bear it will be eliminated. The patriarchal family will not seek justice for the sake of a small difference in talent. The latter mostly live well, but these people put their minds on how to please others, so how can they cultivate themselves seriously?

  Moreover, those who have succeeded in enduring humiliation and hardship cannot help but harbor resentment when thinking of the past, and their loyalty to their clan is also low. Those who are greedy for profit are themselves wallheads, and will not be liked by others.

  Those who made this second choice are actually the people that Zhong family dislikes the most.

  The third type is the miscellaneous, those who choose it are mostly timid, content with their current situation and lack ambition. Although people of this kind have very limited achievements, they are often the most reliable in their clan because they dare not deviate from the status quo and are honest, able to make more contributions to the clan. Therefore, although the head of the clan regrets that they wasted the already meager opportunity for immortality, he cannot do without the existence of these people.

  The young man with a yellow face didn't think for long, and the two people who were chosen first had already made their choice. The young man with a yellow face asked them about the person they chose, then told the two of them the route to the specific address where those sons lived. The two thanked him and left this place on foot.

  On the other side, Xu Ziqing flipped through the yellow booklet, selecting very carefully.

  Indeed, Xu Ziqing was a carefree person, but not a timid and weak one. He simply had no intention of getting involved in the affairs of the immortal realm from the start, and after arriving at the sect, he found it to be full of intrigue and complexity, so with his temperament, he naturally did not want to get entangled in this muddy water.

  When Xu Ziqing entered the inner hall, he had already seen that there were good fields and gardens with fruit trees, flowers, and medicinal herbs, and the scenery was very beautiful. If he chose a miscellaneous task, he would probably have something related to it, so he chose one of them and went far away to spend his days, which should not be much different from when he was in Xujiacun.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, after flipping through the yellow booklet, Xu Ziqing found what he was thinking of. There were three things that roughly met his expectations.

  One of them is to take care of the fruit trees in the orchard, which requires watering and fertilizing every day, weeding and pest control, pruning and cutting branches... However, there are dozens of people doing the same thing, all managed by a single person named Hong.

  Secondly, in the spiritual field, we need to plow the land, sow seeds, transplant seedlings, and manage them. It's not much different from what Xu Ziqing saw in the countryside when he was young. There are also many people working together under the management of a person named Zhao.

  The third is to work in the Hundred Grass Garden, where flowers and grass need to be tended with care, meticulously managed, and thoroughly taken care of. Moreover, there is only one person doing miscellaneous tasks, under the management of a single steward named He.

  Xu Ziqing carefully compared the three miscellaneous tasks and finally chose the third one. In his previous life, he was confined to his house, except for relatives taking turns to accompany him, there were only some flowers and grasses that he could take care of from time to time. Now thinking about it, it feels quite intimate, and the location of Bai Cao Yuan is remote, which is really suitable.

  He then turned the booklet to page eighty-seven and handed it to the yellow-faced young man, saying: "Xu Ziqing is willing to go to Bai Cao Garden to do miscellaneous tasks."

  The young man with a yellow face also didn't say much, and directly told him the location of Bai Cao Garden. After Xu Zi Qing thanked him and left, his face finally showed some complex emotions.

  This Hundred Herb Garden seems like a good place, but it's actually Old Man He's territory. That old man has an extremely eccentric personality, and previously many young men had chosen this seemingly decent job, only to be driven out by the old man one after another. It's unknown how long this one will last either.

  The young man with a yellow face didn't look good, and Xu Ziqing knew nothing about it. He just followed the youth's directions and walked for half an hour before finally arriving at the gate of a garden.

  The door wasn't locked, but as Xu Ziqing walked forward, he was blocked by an invisible barrier outside. Then a person came out from inside, shouting and scolding, "Which idiot is moving my seal here? Can't you use a spirit tablet?"

  Xu Ziqing was taken aback, realizing that he was the one who was wrong. He had grown accustomed to living in the mundane world and hadn't yet developed the self-awareness of being a cultivator, so he had forgotten that this seemingly unlocked gate was actually guarded with extreme vigilance.

  He then took out the wooden sign that the yellow-faced youth had given him earlier and carefully sent it forward into the empty space in front of him. A white light flashed by, and he tried to walk forward again, without any obstruction.

  He had only taken three or five steps when he saw an old man coming towards him. The old man was puffing on a dry tobacco pipe, wearing grass shoes on his feet, and the clothes on his body were also very tattered. Since Xu Ziqing entered the Zong family, he had never seen such a disheveled person. Was this He Guan Shi?

  The old man saw Xu Ziqing, "puff puff" took a drag on his cigarette and spat it out: "Newly arrived odd jobber?"

  He is a newcomer, doing miscellaneous chores, and it's not wrong to call him that. Xu Ziqing saw He Lao's age was advanced, so he was even more respectful and courteous, slightly bowing his head in greeting, saying: "Xu Ziqing has seen the manager."

  Old He's eyes flashed with a hint of unusual color, and he scanned Xu Ziqing from head to toe before saying: "It's not easy working for me, if you can't take the hardship, don't blame me for kicking you out."

  He didn't deny the title, and it seemed that he was indeed the one in charge. Xu Ziqing followed closely behind him, and since he wanted to work here, he should do his best. Moreover, if he could be accompanied by flowers and grass, even if it was hard work, it would still be a sweet experience.

  The further he walked into the garden, the more he could feel the air becoming extremely clear. Xuzi Qing couldn't help but take a deep breath, and suddenly felt a fragrance hitting his nose, and his entire lungs became comfortable.

  He could not have known that in this world where he was reborn, the space between heaven and earth was filled with a thing called "spirit energy" which was even lighter than the oxygen he used to breathe and could even cleanse his body and mind. The reason cultivators were able to cultivate was entirely because of it.

  This Hundred Herb Garden is actually a medicine garden, specially for cultivating spiritual herbs for the Xu family. Therefore, the spiritual energy inside is exceptionally abundant. He suddenly came in from outside and was enjoying himself immensely.

  The layout in the garden is not as grand and delicate as the outside, but rather very natural. Every flower, every blade of grass, every piece of soil and every stone, all without any signs of being carved or cut.

  As I walked along the dirt road, I saw a clear stream flowing far into the distance. On both sides of the stream were low stone railings surrounding small plots of land that looked like flower beds, each with vague green shadows and lush grasses swaying in the breeze.

  Walking along this road, you can see a row of thatched cottages. The front few rooms either hang with farm goods, or display tools, or have medicine racks with large bamboo sieves for drying medicines, all showing signs of being inhabited. Only one smaller room on the outermost side has nothing outside it.

  As he walked up to that row of huts, Old He raised his pipe and pointed at the smallest one, saying: "You'll be staying in there, bedding's all provided."

  Xu Ziqing nodded: "Yes."

  He Lao saw that he was obedient, turned around and said: "The spiritual grass grown here is not something that a kid like you can move at will." He said, swaying back to the house, and when he came out, his hands were already holding several thick books, which he threw at Xu Ziqing who was waiting honestly, "Take them down and memorize them first."

  Xu Ziqing took it with some effort, his body was much better than in his previous life and he had a good amount of strength, but when he took these books, he found that they were unexpectedly heavy. He still nodded: "I know, He Guanshi."

  He slightly lowered his head to take a look at the page, and saw that the top one was "Spirit Grass Identification", it must be a TXT download for teaching him how to identify spirit grass. In this Hundred Herb Garden, he really couldn't do without it. Although Old Man He's requirements were strict, in the end, it was all for his own good, so Xu Ziqing naturally felt grateful.

  Seeing him so obedient, Old He nodded his head in approval of Xu Zi Qing. Although he was known to be a bit eccentric, he wasn't an unreasonable person. The young masters who came before him were also arrogant and looked down on him because of his shabby clothes. This already showed their poor character. Later, when they were told to memorize the types of spiritual grass, they were all unwilling and only wanted him to teach them the incantation first. Such lazy and unprincipled people, how could he not be angry!

  This new kid looks thin and weak, can't even hold a few medical books steadily, but he's not arrogant or impatient, and is willing to work seriously. In Old He's eyes, that's basically qualified. If in the future he observes him doing things with a true heart, he will naturally pass on the skills, and at that time, the new kid can truly become Baicao Garden's long-term "杂役".

  As soon as he finished speaking, the other two young men of lower status immediately spoke up: "Xu Zile and Xu Zigui are willing to go serve the noble people in the eastern courtyard, please trouble the manager to arrange it."

  The young man with a yellow face secretly sighed in his heart, but his mouth replied: "It doesn't matter, I have a slip of paper here with the names of all the sons who need servants. You can draw lots yourself."

  Those two young men were overjoyed and hastily took a wooden tube handed to them by the yellow-faced youth, and went aside to carefully select their lots.

  The young man with a yellow face looked at Xu Ziqing again: "This son didn't speak just now, I think he has other choices."

  Xu Ziqing lowered his head and said with a sincere and fearful tone: "Xu Ziqing is incompetent, willing to do some miscellaneous tasks to share the worries of the clan..."

  Alas, this is even more lacking in initiative. The young man with a yellow face could only hand over a yellow leather book and said: "What's recorded inside is exactly where my family needs someone to do chores, you can choose one yourself."

  Xu Ziqing thanked him and took it to carefully examine it.

  Why is Huang Lian's young face so regretful? It's actually because the clan leader gave the three inferior sons of the direct descendants three choices, all of which are well-considered.

  One aspect is that the inner courtyard needs to be managed by reliable family members, and on the other hand, it's also about whether these people with lower qualifications can make up for their deficiencies from other aspects.

  The first option is the most challenging, where one has to take the initiative to receive tasks. Although it seems difficult at first glance, each task actually polishes and refines a person in many ways.

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