With a more organized yet relaxing schedule, Chen Tu could allocate his time preparing the ingredients before leaving them to mature. Additionally, although his tinkered recipe had a terrible chance of refining a Two-Star Pill, the losses can be compensated by its higher yield and success rate.

The freedom of time he had from the preparation would also give Chen Tu more flexibility in his time to visit the Training Hall. After all, with the ingredient partially handled, the concoction time can be shortened to roughly ten minutes per cauldron.

The remaining time would be divided evenly to his rest, studying, working, and cultivating.

In a blink of an eye, a few days had passed. Over these few days, Chen Tu had a stable income of fifteen to twenty Spiritual Coins from refining the Grain Pellet alone. If the Contribution Token earned from the Spiritual Garden were added, that would be between fifty to seventy coins.

While his choice is slightly less than working in the Spiritual Garden, Chen Tu had more freedom in exchange. His time was divided evenly between Alchemy, the Language Jade, and Cultivation.

But to his surprise, Qin Lei was looking for him after he helped out in the Spiritual Garden.

"You've been busy lately, junior brother!" Qin Lei slapped Chen Tu's back to get his attention. Thinking about this, it had been over five days since he didn't join Qin Lei for dinner. Needless to say, he had his own concern.

It was understandable. After all, Qin Lei wasn't unfamiliar with all these packed schedules of a disciple. And it is comprehensible, from a disciple's point of view, that they wanted to absorb as much knowledge as possible.

But no matter how closely they resemble a sea sponge, there's a limit to it. Even if a sea sponge wished to absorb as much water as possible, it couldn't swallow all the water from the sea. In a human's circumstance, the boundary of a human is time.

"How are you, senior brother?" Chen Tu rubbed his sweat off while replying.

"Listen here. The teacher had ordered us to join the Burial Root harvest tomorrow. So, skip whatever you got and come over here to help, alright?" Qin Lei said and passed a bowl of water to his junior brother.

"Will do. I'll push everything aside and come over." Chen Tu nodded with a smile. Recently, this teacher of theirs wasn't always around, like he had something important to do. But it seems that he had returned for good now.

Also, Tang Yun Long had been absent for a while. The rest of them met occasionally but hardly exchanged anything related to Alchemy due to private matters. After all, only the elder and Tang Yun Long have the key to the workshop. 

Without anything to refer to, it was normal for them to have no reason for a gathering.

"Anyway... What are you doing later?" Qin Lei asked. Judging by his tone, he had something to say during the meal. "Let's go and grab some food upstairs?" he added, suggesting something hard for Chen Tu to say no.

After all, everyone has a weakness. And in Chen Tu's case, it's good food. Having no excuse to make, Chen Tu could only follow his senior brother obediently to the canteen.

The two ordered a few soft and hard dishes for their dinner. Despite their delicious meal, Qin Lei appeared to be bothered by something. Although it wasn't frequent, he seemed to sigh from the conflicting words running through his mind.

"What's wrong, senior brother?" Chen Tu asked as they were about to finish with the food.

"I had some money problem, junior brother." Qin Lei replied.

(No wonder senior brother looks conflicted...)

Chen Tu thought. If it weren't a sensitive matter like this, Qin Lei wouldn't have such a conflicted expression on his face. But what Chen Tu couldn't understand was...

(Why would the senior brother suddenly have a problem with money? I knew that big brother Qin always had good control over his money. Furthermore, he's unlike the others, which can only be seen working three days a week while partying seven days a week)

"How much do you think you need, senior brother?" Chen Tu replied. Regardless of the sensitiveness on this issue, he couldn't simply accept or reject him without listening further. After all, by any means, Qin Lei still helped him a lot during Chen Tu's time here.

Also, what was there to be worried about? It's not like today was the first day or week he knew Qin Lei.

"If possible, this senior brother wished to borrow three thousand Spiritual Coins from you." Qin Lei answered. The amount he needs is close to what Chen Tu has in hand. On and off, from ten to a hundred coins short.

"I don't mind lending the money to you, senior brother. But if you don't mind, I want to know the reason for you to borrow them. It was... Quite a sum, after all..." Chen Tu continued where Qin Lei stopped.

"Of course." Qin Lei smiled. Chen Tu's reply was lengthy, but it can be roughly translated into the meaning of [yes] if he presumed.

"Did you remember back then, when I told you that my father lost both his legs to obtain an entry pass for me to join the Blood Refining Grotto?" Qin Lei asked in case Chen Tu had forgotten.

(Author's Note: Mentioned in chapter 27)

"Yes, senior brother." Chen Tu nodded. He naturally remembered what Qin Lei had told him before.

"Well, my father was a good friend of the sixth elder. After he met with this misfortune, the sixth elder had been looking tirelessly for a prosthetic master to make my father capable of walking again."

"We found one, at last. But the main problem is, while the sixth elder was willing to pay for the fee to craft a set of prosthetic legs for my father, my family was to search for the required materials."

"One of the items the prosthetic master asked for was the Spiritium Velvet Antlers. Currently, it is sold in the Worldly Treasures Pavilion for seven hundred Contribution Tokens." Qin Lei said.

"Would you help me, junior brother? I want my father to be able to walk again." Qin Lei asked. If necessary, he would even kneel before Chen Tu and beg.