Inside this small courtyard, there were already several hundred children aged seven to twelve, both boys and girls. They were divided into dozens of groups, each gathered together. Judging by their clothing, the children here were from rural wealthy families, commoners from the county town, or poor children from the countryside.

They all looked at Henry Clark strangely. In their eyes, the gatekeeper of the Herbal Hall was already someone of considerable status. What kind of person would need to be carried in by them personally?

Henry Clark had never interacted with so many unfamiliar children before. He shrank back, slowly slipping into a corner, trying his best to avoid drawing the attention of the other children.

Suddenly, a chubby child in the crowd widened his eyes in disbelief, pointed at Henry Clark and shouted in terror, “Aren’t you that kid from the street? How did you get in here? Is this a place for someone like you? Watch me beat you up!” He clenched his fists and charged at Henry Clark.

Chapter 6: Tasting Poisonous Herbs

Henry Clark also saw that chubby kid—it was the same one who had spat at the city gate. He immediately turned and ran, squeezing into the crowd. His body was weak, and he knew he couldn’t take on that chubby kid, so all he could do was run.

The courtyard was small, and the chubby kid was not only fat but also flabby, so he couldn’t catch up to Henry Clark’s small frame. After chasing for a while, he was already out of breath and gave up, but kept cursing loudly, clearly furious that Henry Clark had also entered the Herbal Hall and was in the same courtyard as him.

Fortunately, the other children weren’t troublemakers. Seeing Henry Clark’s tattered hemp clothes, they lost interest. The better-off children wore coarse cloth, and even those from poorer families had clean hemp clothes. It was rare to see someone like Henry Clark, whose clothes were full of holes.

Henry Clark secretly scanned the whole courtyard, found a safe spot, and kept far away from the chubby kid. He truly hated that kid. Spitting was one thing, but now, even though he hadn’t provoked him, the kid still wanted to beat him up. One day, when he was strong enough, he’d definitely give that kid a beating, no matter if he was the son of a country squire.

In the evening, the servants of the Herbal Hall brought over more than a dozen large buckets of porridge and several big trays of steamed buns. A servant smiled and said, “Eat your fill tonight, so you’ll have the strength for the medicine trial in the main hall tomorrow. Otherwise, you’ll have no energy, and you won’t be allowed to eat all day tomorrow!”

The children were already starving and rushed forward, quickly dividing up all the food.

Among the children, Henry Clark was one of the older ones, but his body was weak, so he wasn’t a match for even the younger kids. He gritted his teeth and squeezed forward, finally managing to snatch a bowl of porridge and a steamed bun, which he wolfed down. To him, this porridge and bun were the most delicious food in the world.

For more than half a year, this was the first time Henry Clark had eaten his fill.

But when he thought of Big Ben outside the main hall, Henry Clark felt a surge of grief and anger. How would Big Ben survive alone in the county town? If Big Ben died, he’d be the only one left of the group that had come from the village to scavenge for food.

Although there were a few rooms in the courtyard, they couldn’t accommodate so many children—at most, a few dozen could stay inside.

Even though the children had only just met, they had already started forming cliques, splitting into dozens of groups of various sizes.

Henry Clark observed carefully and noticed differences among these groups.

Of course, the children from wealthy families clustered together, the commoners formed their own groups, and the poor rural kids stuck together.

From their accents and clothing, it was clear who was from the county town, who came from the same nearby village, and who was from the countryside—there were clear divisions, and they never mixed. As for someone like him, who looked like a beggar, there was no one else. He knew well that probably no other child beggar dared to come to the Herbal Hall to apply as a herb-gathering boy. Naturally, no one wanted to be with him.

Among the children, a few were sons of country squires, including the chubby kid. They were the smallest group, but the most domineering and aggressive, directly occupying the best room in the courtyard without regard for anyone else.

The small groups of commoner children from the county town didn’t dare provoke the squire’s kids and took the remaining rooms.

The vast majority of children from the villages looked very frail and didn’t dare make a sound, so they had to sleep directly in the courtyard. Sleeping outdoors at night was a bit chilly, but with so many people squeezed together, it was warm enough.

Henry Clark curled up in a corner of the courtyard and drifted off to sleep. That night, he had a nightmare—it was the gloomy face of Herbalist Foster. He had firmly remembered this “culprit and instigator” who had driven away Big Ben. If anything happened to Big Ben outside, he would hold Herbalist Foster responsible.

The next morning.

On the largest open ground in the main courtyard of the Herbal Hall, a temporary high platform and ten small wooden huts had been set up. On the open ground, several hundred children aged seven to twelve stood around in disarray. They had been woken up early and brought here on empty stomachs to await the medicine trial.

None of them really knew how the trial would be conducted, but they all vaguely sensed that it would be very dangerous.