Lucy Brooks awkwardly touched his nose. The character “小” in his name didn’t have any special meaning at all. It was simply because he was the third child in his family: the eldest was David Brooks, the second was John Brooks, and as the third, it was just his turn to get the character “小”.

Yvonne Reed and Emily Harris, on the other hand, had their names chosen from characters requested at the county yamen’s academy.

Henry Clark explained timidly, “I don’t know what ‘秦’ means either. But ten generations ago, my family had a scholar who left behind a book with characters in it, which is still placed on the ancestral altar in my home. My father picked a character for me from that book, and that’s how I got ‘秦’.”

Charles Baker, Lucy Brooks, Yvonne Reed, Emily Harris, and the others immediately widened their eyes.

So the Ye family actually had a scholar in their ancestry? Even though it was ten generations ago, that was still remarkable—a symbol of status and identity, completely different from people like them whose ancestors had been commoners for hundreds of generations. Instantly, they looked at Henry Clark with newfound respect, not daring to underestimate him anymore. Even their tone became much more humble, no longer casually calling him “kid” or “boy”.

Henry Clark couldn’t help but secretly find it amusing. His family did have a scholar in the past, but that was so long ago that no one even knew when it was. Now, they were just a poor hunter’s family in the remote mountains.

Charles Baker and the others started talking about the medicine testing again, discussing how terrifying it was. Soon, they realized that all five people living in this stone house had passed the test from Herbalist Foster and were his disciples, which was why they were assigned to the same room for training.

Charles Baker was overjoyed.

“Ha! That means we’re all fellow disciples under the same master! I’m the oldest, so I’ll be your senior brother from now on. Little Henry is second, Little Lucy third, Little Yvonne fourth, and Little Emily fifth. That’s the order, and from now on, we’ll address each other as senior and junior brothers and sisters!”

Lucy Brooks was a bit dissatisfied with this ranking.

“I’m clearly a few months older than Little Henry, so why am I third?”

“If your family had a scholar, then you could be second!”

Charles Baker glared at him, and Lucy Brooks immediately fell silent.

Yvonne Reed and Emily Harris had no objections; they were younger anyway.

In less than half a day, the five of them gradually became familiar with each other, and the initial awkwardness disappeared. After nightfall, Charles Baker and the others were still excitedly chatting away. They talked about the prestige of the Herbal Hall, and then about various trivial matters in Zhuqi County. Since they were all locals, they knew a lot. Being young, they spoke without any reservations. Now that they had become apprentice herbal gatherers in the Herbal Hall, they felt their futures were limitless, and were filled with ambition, eager to make their mark and rise above others.

Henry Clark rarely joined in. In Zhuqi County, he was still a stranger and could only listen quietly. He didn’t have any special ambitions at the moment—he just wanted to get by and have enough to eat at the Herbal Hall.

But what he thought about most was Daniu. He didn’t know where Daniu was now. When he had the chance, he was determined to go look for him.

With these thoughts, he gradually fell asleep.

Chapter 10: Herbal Gathering Skills

Before dawn, the apprentice herbal gatherers in the small courtyard were woken up by several well-dressed youths and gathered in a large courtyard to participate in the initiation ceremony for joining the Herbal Hall.

There were more than forty apprentice herbal gatherers in coarse blue cloth from the outer hall, and five apprentice medicine makers in white cloth from the inner hall. The children lined up in several rows on the open ground, all very nervous.

Henry Clark was no exception, feeling a bit uneasy inside.

He noticed that there were two important figures from the Herbal Hall standing in the courtyard.

One was short and very fat, looking exactly like a wealthy merchant, standing with his hands behind his back and smiling at the children. The other was a thin, middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, wearing a blue robe, also with his hands behind his back, his expression cold and his gaze sharp as lightning—no one in the crowd dared to meet his eyes.

Mr. Bolton the Steward, along with dozens of herbalists and medicine makers from both the inner and outer halls, including Herbalist Foster, were all very reserved in front of these two important figures, not daring to speak much.

Mr. Bolton the Steward introduced the important figures to the children. The fat, merchant-like man was the inner hall’s Deputy Hall Master Miller, the second-in-command of the Herbal Hall. The thin man was the outer hall’s Deputy Hall Master Green, the third-in-command of the Herbal Hall.

The legendary head of the Herbal Hall, Mr. Thompson the Good, did not appear at the ceremony.

Mr. Bolton the Steward was also a high-level manager, but he only handled various chores within the hall. Many of the hall’s miscellaneous affairs were managed by him.

The dozens of herbalists and medicine makers were responsible for taking on apprentices and training herbal gatherers and medicine makers.

After introducing the important figures, Mr. Bolton the Steward began the initiation ceremony.

All the apprentice herbal gatherers stepped forward one by one to drip blood into a large basin at the front, then half-knelt beneath a banner of the Medicine King Gang to take the most common blood oath of the martial world, swearing never to betray the Medicine King Gang or the Herbal Hall, and signing a lifelong contract to serve the Medicine King Gang for life.

This blood-dripping ceremony made the children extremely excited, and for the first time, they felt like they had truly become people of the martial world.