Ethan Brooks looked despondent. Seeing Sam so agitated, he found it a bit strange: “But Sam, why are you reacting so strongly? You’re even more anxious than I am!”

Sam’s eyes were red, his expression indescribably sorrowful. With his head lowered, he said, “You know, I’m an orphan. I never had parents to care for me, only knew my surname was Fei... But actually, I have an older sister. When I was little, she was the one who raised me. One winter, I got a bad cough and we had no money for treatment. I was on the verge of not making it, so to raise money for my medicine, she had no choice but to sell herself as a maid to a wealthy family in the county. Who would have thought that after just half a month, the lady of that house accused her of seducing the master and sold her off to a brothel in the city. All these years, I’ve been working as a helper at the inn, working myself to the bone to earn money, just hoping that one day I could buy my sister’s freedom from the brothel... But~ I’m just too useless, I can’t even earn a few copper coins in a whole year!”

Ethan Brooks fell silent, not knowing how to comfort Sam.

Even without asking about the ransom, he knew that buying someone’s freedom from a brothel was an unimaginably huge sum—at least a dozen taels, maybe even several dozen taels of silver.

That was many times harder than what his family had to pay each year in boat taxes to the county office or extortion from the Giant Whale Gang.

It wasn’t that Sam was useless; it was simply impossible for an eleven- or twelve-year-old errand boy at an inn to earn that kind of money.

After a long while, Sam managed to pull himself together from his grief. These were things he couldn’t solve, and being sad was pointless. He then asked curiously, “By the way, Brother Chen, what’s this about your Bluestone Tears illness? I’ve never heard you mention it before.”

“My illness is strange. Every time I cry, blue tears fall from my eyes and quickly turn into little pieces of bluestone. Look, these are the little bluestones in this pouch. Then I’ll fall seriously ill, almost losing half my life. I have to eat a ten-year-old wild ginseng root just to recover my strength.”

As Ethan Brooks spoke, he took out a small cloth pouch from his chest and poured out more than a dozen little bluestones from it.

These were what he had accumulated since childhood, always kept close to him with great care.

Each one was as round as a teardrop, faintly emitting a soft blue glow, quite mysterious.

But whenever Ethan Brooks thought about these bluestones dripping from his eyes, nearly costing him half his life, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy about them.

“Such beautiful little bluestones—these are your tears turned to stone?”

Sam looked at them curiously, picked up one and bit down hard, nearly breaking his teeth. “So hard, I can’t even bite through it!”

He examined them closely but couldn’t figure out what they were, only thinking the bluestones were very pretty, like little pearls or jade.

“Some doctors in the county have seen them. They say these are ‘illness stones’ and don’t even dare touch them! But I’ve always carried them with me since I was little, and they’re just like ordinary pebbles—never noticed anything special. I share a bed with my younger siblings, and none of them have this illness.”

Ethan Brooks said this with a light sigh.

This Bluestone Tears illness had been a shadow over him since childhood, and he never spoke of it lightly, which was why Sam hadn’t known before.

Sam didn’t seem to care much about the strange illness, but was very intrigued by the shiny bluestones, laughing as he said, “My sister always says, ‘Great misfortune brings great fortune!’ You’ve survived all these years without crying yourself to death, so you’re sure to have good luck in the future. Brother Chen, do you think these bluestones are so pretty, could they be valuable gems? I’ve seen a jewelry shop in the county that sells all sorts of strange little red and green stones to rich young ladies—they’re worth a fortune! If these bluestones could be sold, you’d be rich.”

Ethan Brooks curled his lips, shook his head with a bitter smile, and said, “They’re definitely not gemstones, otherwise the doctors at the pharmacy would have recognized them. My father once took them to ask the abbot at Hanshan Daoist Temple, who’s supposed to be very knowledgeable, but even he couldn’t figure them out. If they were really valuable, the abbot would have known at a glance. Then my family wouldn’t have to worry about money for ginseng medicine anymore—a single ginseng root costs a tael of silver, and my family is nearly worried sick.”

Sam scratched his head, thinking that made sense, and felt troubled for Ethan Brooks’s strange illness. “I work as a helper at the inn, earning just three copper coins a day, barely making a tael of silver in a year. After a year of hard work, it’s just enough to eat. Trying to help you earn money for ginseng medicine is just too hard. Brother Chen, now that you’ve run away from home, what kind of job are you hoping to find in the county?”

“I originally came to the county hoping to find a job as a helper. But this afternoon, when I saw you being bullied by the head manager outside the inn, I realized being a helper isn’t a long-term solution. I need to find something with a future.”

Ethan Brooks said seriously, “When I was at the West Gate dock, I overheard a wealthy merchant say that the Medicine King Sect will be recruiting a batch of disciples and apprentices in the twelfth lunar month. I thought about it for a long time this afternoon and decided to try applying to the Medicine King Sect tomorrow. If I’m lucky enough to become an apprentice there, they have plenty of medicinal herbs, so maybe I won’t have to spend silver on ginseng anymore. I might even have the chance to learn medicine and become a respected physician.”

“You want to join the Medicine King Sect?”

Sam was startled, “That’s a big martial sect! Are you planning to roam the jianghu? Life in the jianghu means your head’s always on the line—you could lose it at any moment! If you get killed, the authorities won’t care.”