Fellow students of the same school

  All the children who passed were sent to a small courtyard in the Medicine Collection Hall. The small courtyard had more than ten large stone houses, which were specially used for the medicine collection children to live in.

  Ye Qin was led to take a bath, threw away the tattered hemp cloth, and changed into a new set of coarse linen clothes for a young medicine boy. He was then arranged to stay in one of the stone houses in the south courtyard. He fell asleep as soon as he lay down and slept for a whole afternoon. In the evening, when it was time for dinner, he woke up with a start, smelling the aroma of food.

  Ye Qin only then discovered that there were four other children in the stone house, two boys and two girls. They were eating rice and laughing happily. They all wore coarse cloth clothes and looked clean, just like Ye Qin, and it was impossible to tell their background or origin.

  On the table inside the stone house, a rice bucket was placed, with several large plates of green vegetables. There were also five sets of bowls and chopsticks. One set was still empty. Ye Qin knew that it was his own bowl and chopsticks, so he immediately got up and ran over to grab his bowl and fight for food. If he had been late, he feared that all the rice and dishes would have been eaten up. After all, after staying here for more than 20 days, almost all the children had learned to scramble for food.

  Ye Qin was the same, just smelling the fragrance of rice could stimulate him to wake up from his dreams.

  A tall, sturdy and robust boy with a tiger-like head and brain saw Ye Qin's anxious appearance, pointing at him and laughing loudly: "Haha, look at this kid being anxious. No need to rush, there is enough food here. No need to eat hard and dry buns and tasteless porridge anymore, now we can eat coarse rice and green vegetables, and it's guaranteed to be full. What kind of status do we have? We are formal disciples of the Medicine Pavilion, and in the future, we will definitely rise to prominence, can we fight over a little food?"

  "Be careful, don't choke."

  Next to him, a thin but clever-looking boy also chimed in. The other two girls, holding their rice bowls, smiled and stared at Ye Qin, almost making Ye Qin want to crawl into the ground with shame.

  However, Ye Qin's face was not good, but his hands did not slow down at all. He peeled the rice and stuffed it into his mouth. He had not eaten anything for a day and was already starving. Even if no one was competing with him, he still wanted to fill his stomach as soon as possible.

  Those two boys were particularly eloquent, one sentence after another, talking non-stop.

  Soon, Ye Qin learned their names from their casual conversation.

  That tall and sturdy boy, named Yang Yicheng, was twelve years old, a native of the county town, born into an ironworker's family. From a young age, he followed his father to work in ironwork, cultivating a robust physique.

  That clever boy, named Feng Xiao, was eleven years old and came from a tenant farmer's family near the county town. The other two girls, one eleven-year-old named Qian Ruoxiu and a ten-year-old named Sun Ying, were also from the county town, with families that did tailoring and weaving.

  Ye Qin was surprised to find that all four of them were ordinary people from within the city walls of Zhugai County and its surrounding areas within a radius of ten miles, not one of them was from the countryside.

  He was the only one from a poor and remote mountain, deep in the mountains. In Ye Qin's subconscious mind, he involuntarily felt a sense of inferiority. Compared to him who came from a poor and remote mountain, the four of them living in the county town were already quite well-off.

  In fact, the recruitment of medicine boys by Zhuge County's Medicine Hall only took place within a few dozen miles around the county town and did not extend to remote rural areas. If Ye Qin had not accidentally heard about it from an official at the post station's awning, he probably would not have come to the county town either.

  "Hey, stupid kid, what's your name? How old are you and where are you from?"

  Yang Yicheng asked with a big smile.

  "Yè Qín, eleven years old, lives nearby."

  Ye Qin listened to them all reporting their names, and he naturally didn't want to hide either. However, he was unwilling to let them know that he came from such a remote mountain valley, for fear of being discriminated against by them, so he deliberately said something ambiguous. This ten miles is considered nearby, hundreds of miles are also considered nearby, all within the range of Zhujici County, and he didn't even count as lying.

  Yang Yicheng didn't bother to ask where Ye Qin came from, and burst out laughing: "Ye Qin? Haha, this name is really weird! What does the 'Qin' character mean? It's not as good-sounding as my own name, Yicheng - one success, haha! My old man was really talented, giving me such a great name, and indeed I succeeded in entering the Medicine Pavilion in just one try."

  Feng Xiaoyi rubbed his nose, but the word "small" didn't have any special meaning. It was just because he was the third child in his family, with Feng Da as the eldest and Feng Zhong as the second, so he happened to get a small character.

  Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying's characters were obtained from the county school.

  Ye Qin explained: "I don't know what Qin means either. However, in my Ye family's ancestral history, ten generations ago, there was a scholar who left behind a book with words that are still placed on the ancestral altar at home. My dad chose this character from the book for me."

  Yang Yicheng, Feng Xiao, Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying suddenly opened their eyes wide.

  The Ye family's ancestors actually produced a scholar with honors? Although it was ten generations ago, it's still impressive, that's a symbol of status and identity, completely different from these people whose ancestors were ordinary civilians for hundreds of generations. They suddenly looked at Ye Qin in a new light, no longer daring to underestimate him in the slightest, even their tone of voice became much more humble. They didn't dare call him "young master" with such disdain anymore.

  Ye Qin couldn't help but secretly smile. His family had produced a scholar in the past, but that was something that happened who-knows-when, and now they were just a poor hunting household in an old mountain valley.

  Yang Yicheng and the others started talking about the trial medicine again, discussing how terrifying it was. Then, they soon discovered that the five people living in this stone house were all from Wang Caishen's test, were Wang Caishen's disciples, and followed Wang Caishen for training later, so they were arranged in a stone house.

  Yang Yicheng was overjoyed.

  "Haha, it turns out that we are fellow disciples taught by the same master! I'm the oldest, so from now on, I'll be your Big Brother. Ah Qin is second, Ah Xiao is third, Ah Xiu is fourth, and Ah Ying is fifth. That's the order, and from now on, we'll address each other as fellow brothers!"

  Feng Xiao was somewhat dissatisfied with this ranking.

  "I was clearly several months older than A Qin, why am I ranked third?"

  "If your ancestors had a scholar, then this second place would be yours!"

  Yang Yicheng glared at him, and Feng Xiao immediately had nothing to say.

  Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying had no objection; they were originally a few years younger anyway.

  In less than half a day, the five of them gradually became familiar with each other and lost their initial sense of strangeness. After nightfall, Yang Yicheng and the others were still excitedly chattering away. They talked about the mighty deeds of the Medicine Collection Hall, and also brought up some trivial matters about Zhujicounty town. As they were all locals from the county town, they knew a great many things. Being young, they spoke without any restraint. Moreover, having become the Medicine Collection Hall's medicine collection boys, they felt that their future prospects were boundless, and were filled with heroic spirit, eager to immediately show off their skills and become someone of importance.

  Ye Qin rarely spoke, in the county town of Zhugui, he was still a stranger, and could only silently listen. In his heart, there were no special thoughts now, just wanting to mix with the crowd at the pharmacy to make a living.

  And he thought in his heart that there were still more big cows, and didn't know where the big cow was now. In the future, when I have time, I must go find the big cow.

  Thinking so, he gradually fell asleep.