Almost Got Trampled to Death

"That's right..." Rina Chu frowned. "But we still have to try! We can't let Grace's first assignment end in disaster, can we?"

"True..." Bobby mustered his courage and shouted, "Everyone!"

All the support staff turned to look at him.

"We're from the Herb Division. We have an urgent task and need your help! Anyone willing to come will get half a jin of Mystic Spirit Jade."

The staff glanced at each other, but nobody moved.

Turns out, no one here is short on money!

Rina Chu frowned and said, "Eight taels!"

Still, no one budged.

"One jin! Only for the first twenty people!"

"You're not just pulling our leg, are you?" One of the staff finally spoke up.

"Take a look at what's inside the sack!" Rina Chu went ahead and opened it.

And then... all forty or fifty people in the square rushed toward her at once—she was nearly trampled to death!

...

With so many people, the sorting became a breeze.

Grace finally delivered the sorted White Shells to Ms. Rachel Zhang before the pill furnace was fired up.

"Why so late?" Ms. Rachel Zhang asked.

Grace explained the situation, and Ms. Rachel Zhang immediately became angry.

The next day, in the Chief's Hall, she first asked the support staff supervisor, "Where did everyone go?"

The supervisor stammered, saying they went out to help.

"Help? Help with what?" Ms. Rachel Zhang's face was full of anger. "Without my permission. Who told you to send people to help?"

"It was... Mason Fu. He told us to go help out."

"Mason Fu, tell me what's going on here?" Ms. Rachel Zhang demanded. "You lent out all the support staff, but made Grace sort all those Black-and-White Shells by herself. And worse, right after she finished, you had them mixed together again! If Grace hadn't been clever in a pinch, I don't know how we would've ended up!"

Mason Fu's face turned sour. "Anyway, I already handed the job over to her. As for the support staff, the Service Division asked for help, and I didn't see anything urgent here, so I let them go."

"Stop making excuses! You clearly made things difficult for Grace." Ms. Rachel Zhang snapped. "From today on, you're no longer my assistant!"

"Chief!" Mason Fu looked utterly shocked. "I've been your assistant for so many years; you can't just throw me out like this!"

"Learn how to be a decent person first!" Ms. Rachel Zhang said coldly.

Mason Fu's face alternated between pale and flushed.

From then on, Grace became Ms. Rachel Zhang's only assistant.

She'd only been here a few days, but her popularity was soaring. Naturally, that brought envy, jealousy, and resentment.

Luckily, she had one big advantage.

She was just a young girl.

But most of the other herbalists in the Herb Division were middle-aged or older men.

The old gentlemen usually wouldn't stoop to bickering with a young girl.

Plus, this young girl was especially sensible and polite—she often brought homemade treats to the two deputy chiefs and a few core members of the Herb Division.

So, she was quickly accepted by everyone.

Many of the elders even grew fond of her, affectionately calling her 'Gracie.'

That probably annoyed Mason Fu to no end.

He spent all day trying to make trouble for Grace.

Like putting pests into the herbs she was responsible for.

Or dousing the herbs she'd carefully dried with water.

He even spread nasty rumors about her and tried to stir up trouble between her and Ms. Rachel Zhang.