The meeting hall soon reached a conclusion.
The senior elders, Sun, Ra, Joshua, Chen, Jingyi, and Long showed full support, nodding with firm conviction.
The younger elders like Fang Mei, Fang Ruì, Fang Bo, and Fang Yang, all looked like confused kittens, blinking at one another before nodding along, clearly following the lead of their elders.
Fang Yuan smiled faintly as he observed their responses. Support was support.
"Very well," he said, rising to his feet. "Since everyone agrees, I'll have to request you elders overwork yourselves… just for one more month."
A round of chuckles followed.
"What's one more month," Elder Chen said with a shake of his head, "when we've been grinding our bones for years?"
Laughter rippled through the hall, warm and familiar.
Then, with a soft creak, the great doors opened.
In waddled a round, chubby man dressed in layers of silken robes that strained slightly at the seams.
