Jingliu asked Dan Feng, "What a rare sight. Why have you come to the Cloud Knights' territory?"
Aside from her own disciple Jing Yuan, Jingliu rarely ran into the others during working hours.
Like performing a magic trick, Dan Feng pulled a wooden box out from the sleeve of his newest robe, then tucked it back inside. He said, "General Tengxiao summoned me to discuss an important matter."
The two exchanged a glance and understood immediately.
What "important matter"? Nine times out of ten, some Vidyadhara had offended General Tengxiao, and that's why Dan Feng had to personally make this trip.
He even came prepared with a gift.
Jingliu tried to reassure him, "No need to worry. You and I both know the General's temperament. He has never once accepted gifts from others. If he sees you carrying one, he's bound to get angry."
Dan Feng, "…"
Some things, he really didn't know how to explain to Jingliu. He always felt like he'd end up corrupting this sword fanatic.
Jing Yuan asked, "Was the matter resolved?"
Dan Feng first nodded, then shook his head.
"Half resolved. The Alchemy Commission still has to prepare another psychological test."
Jing Yuan was quite surprised, "Didn't the Alchemy Commission already put out more than a hundred questions last time? Why are they making more?"
Jingliu couldn't make sense of it, "Your idea? What kind of psychological test needs over a hundred questions?"
"According to the Divination Commission, the test had too many questions and the results weren't accurate enough. The General said they need to make a new one."
Dan Feng first answered Jing Yuan's doubt, then turned to explain to Jingliu, "The General is concerned about the state of the commissions and the Cloud Knights."
"He asked the Alchemy Commission to make test questions, but those hundred-plus questions… weren't my idea. My subordinates came up with them."
Jingliu fell silent for a moment, then sharply remarked, "With the time it takes to make a hundred questions, who knows how many abominations could have been slained. No wonder the General got angry."
Dan Feng sighed. Who could've thought that by slacking off for a moment, the General would come knocking on his door?
At that time, he had been sparring with Jingliu, completely uninterested in returning to the Alchemy Commission for shifts, and simply ignored the messages from his subordinates.
It wasn't like it was some tricky illness anyway.
General Tengxiao had never been one to make things hard for his subordinates. This time, when he assigned a task the Alchemy Commission had handled before, he didn't even set a deadline. He clearly just wanted Dan Feng to lead his people to study it slowly and work it out gradually.
It could have easily waited until tomorrow.
After all, watching Jingliu was far more entertaining than going to work. The Dragon Lord had joined in the scheming, and who'd have thought that in just a short while of not paying attention, his subordinates had pulled off something massive.
When Dan Feng received the General's message, he found it utterly baffling.
He couldn't imagine what his subordinates had been thinking. The Alchemy Commission had just finished welcoming the Marshal and were already swamped with work, yet somehow they still had the energy to draft over a hundred questions in such a short time…
The clansmen he had placed such high hopes on had, in the blink of an eye, turned into reckless fools, impatient, shortsighted, desperate to show off.
For this, Dan Feng had no words.
At first, the Dragon Lord thought Tengxiao's backhanded message was mainly to scold those subordinates who acted without reporting to the General, and at the same time praise him for submitting reports on time.
But when he received the General's second directive regarding the psychological test, he realized something was wrong.
Never before had he seen General Tengxiao take such a matter so seriously. The Dragon Lord, knowing he was in the wrong, no longer let his clansmen prepare gifts.
Instead, he personally opened his private vault, painstakingly searched, and finally, with great effort, found the cheapest millennium ginseng to present to the General.
It was his first time preparing a gift, only to be met with the General's blunt words, "Too expensive. Don't bring anything next time. If the previous Marshal were still here, you'd probably end up giving away my entire clan."
Dan Feng was shaken. That had been the cheapest thing in his private vault.
Tengxiao absolutely refused to accept it, insisting that the psychological test was of great importance and had to be taken slowly. He demanded Dan Feng personally oversee it.
As Dan Feng was leaving, the Diviner from the Commission came in, arms full of books.
The Dragon Lord heard the General call out warmly.
The Diviner rattled off words like beans spilling from a bamboo tube, "General, sir, the Craft Commission said making the paper look old will take a week, and by the time the smell fades who knows how many years it'll be! But I found some old books that are just barely in time for printing. They've been sitting around for hundreds of years!"
Immediately after, the General sternly barked the Diviner's name again.
The Diviner gave a dry "Oh."
As Dan Feng walked out, he gradually left the General and the Diviner behind, only faintly hearing the General's firm, undeniable order, "At most one week. I want these books placed in the most prominent spot of the library. Forget it, I'll go myself when the time comes."
Dan Feng had no energy to dwell on the General and Diviner's words. He was drowning in the gloom of his failed gift attempt.
But when he saw Jing Yuan suffering instead, his mood instantly lifted.
The Dragon Lord, in high spirits, said to Jingliu, "Looks like things are progressing well."
Jingliu's tone sounded unmoved, "It was only him returning a gift to me out of courtesy."
Her voice revealed nothing, but if she could've managed not to smile, Dan Feng might have actually believed it.
After chatting for a few moments, the three quickly parted ways to deal with their own matters.
Time passed, and when the workday ended, no matter how unwilling Jing Yuan was, he still had to follow his master to the appointment.
Trailing behind Jingliu, Jing Yuan quietly pulled out his jade messenger.
He had to find someone reliable to help… There was no way he wanted to be his master's third wheel, and even less did he want to face the reality of a friend suddenly becoming his Master-in-law.
First to rule out was Dan Feng, he'd just watch him suffer.
Then Yingxing, he probably wouldn't leave the Craft Commission until the lights went out.
The only one he could rely on was Baiheng.
[Jing Yuan: Baiheng, save me]
[Baiheng: What's wrong, Jing Yuan? I'm helping out at a friend's BBQ place right now~]
Jing Yuan didn't care.
In Luofu, you could throw a brick at random person and hit one of Baiheng's friends.
In order to pay off debt, the fox had become a master of time management, always running around doing odd jobs to earn money whenever he had free time.
[Jing Yuan: Call me in ten minutes, just say something urgent came up!]
[Baiheng: Got it~]
Trusting his friend completely, Baiheng agreed without even thinking.
———
The fox's sharp ears picked up someone approaching the BBQ shop. He quickly set down the jade messenger, beamed, and walked toward the door, "Welcome, Eh? Zero?"
Carrying a paper bag full of drinks in one hand and pushing open the door with the other, Zero fell silent for a moment when he saw Baiheng.
He instantly guessed the truth, it had to be Baiheng again, helping out at yet another friend's shop.
Jingliu had just come by to show support, and dragged him along.
"…This is your friend's shop too?"
The fox nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, it's awesome, right? You bought from this drink shop, huh? Their boss is my friend. Next time, let me know in advance, I can get you buy-one-get-one-free! Anyway, tonight's my treat!"
Zero was speechless with amazement. Every time he saw Baiheng, his understanding of him refreshed all over again.
Probably there wasn't a single person in all of Luofu that Baiheng didn't know.
Aside from his mind-blowing social skills, his disaster-prone nature was also impressive. With debts piled high, his wages from the Six Commissions disappeared without a trace by the very next day.
As for treating people… better not.
He shook his head and politely declined Baiheng's offer.
"It's already the end of the month. You probably don't have much pay left."
Baiheng scratched his head with an awkward laugh, leading Zero inside.
Since the fox was closest to Jingliu, Zero asked, "Where's Jingliu?"
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