The street bustled with people as laughter and determination filled the air.
At the very end of Meng Xiang Road stood two bickering people.
"What do you mean, 'pass these on'?! You 'pass these on,' your damn self!"
Wei sighed before breaking it down to Churan.
"Churan, I finally got a break day from that hag; can't you just pass it on to Boss?"
He slightly tilted the box of macarons towards Churan, but as childhood friends, Churan wasn't going to back down so easily.
"No, my meeting with Boss is over! O.V.E.R. And I'm on the way to a new mission too!"
"New mission?"
"Heh, top secret, not even you get to know about it! So piss off!"
"It must not be very important if you're the only person handling it."
"... What the hell did you just say? Say it to my face!"
"I said-"
"Ugh! No! You know exactly what I meant!... Tsk, I hate it when you're in a good mood, cuz then you start pulling stuff like this!"
"Good mood? Me?"
"You met with Xi Xi and Ruo Lan again, haven't you? They always rub off on you, and you end up acting so annoying!"
"... Hm, guess you're more perceptive than I counted you for."
"... I'm leaving. I think I might actually pop a blood vessel if I talk to you for any longer."
Despite Churan trying to force a calm demeanor in her last sentence, the action of storming off afterwards completely broke that immersion.
Wei couldn't help but let out a smirk before walking in the opposite direction.
Weaving his way through the crowd, he finally reached an old, decrepit house.
It looked like all the other houses around it, built with rotting wood and instability.
Of course, though, this house would soon be torn down into a new one, with all the construction going on.
Lifting his hand to the door, Wei carefully knocked twice before announcing himself.
The hinges on the door creaked viciously as the entire house shook at Wei's light knocking.
"Boss, it's Wei reporting."
"..."
Despite the silence, Wei opened the door and walked inside.
In the small room sat a man, sitting cross-legged, inspecting the house's interior in great detail.
"Boss."
Wei called out to the man again, this time finally catching the man's attention.
"Ah, Wei! You haven't been around for a while, huh? What'cha got there?"
The man's eyes were directed to the box of macarons in Wei's hands.
"Just take it."
"Oh, I get it, this must be tribute for missing all those meetings! Well, they're working alright."
Smoothly, the man grabbed the box from Wei's hands.
His eyes glittered as he opened the box to reveal sets of pink macarons, and without a second thought, he popped one into his mouth.
"... So childish..."
"Huh? Did you say something, Wei?"
"Nothing."
"Well, either way, these macarons are delicious!"
Without a care in the world, the man munched on his gift.
"... Boss, what's with Churan and this 'secret mission' you put her on?"
At these words, the man looked up from his food, staring at Wei.
"Hm... secret mission, you say..."
Wei let out an exasperated sigh.
"Boss, you know exactly what I'm talking about."
"Alright, alright, I was going to get into that after I finished your gift, but if you insist..."
The munching on the food stopped.
"I sent Danta and Yuebing on-"
"Boss, can't you just say their real names?"
"Okay, I sent Churan and Yin Ai on a mission together."
He spoke once again, but this time, his tone was different.
It wasn't hostile, but it carried a different weight than before.
"What mission? And why Yin Ai? Are you still testing her?"
"I suppose you can say that. Either way, testing her or not, this is still an important mission."
"And why are you telling me this?"
"I need you as backup."
Wei's eyebrows furrowed.
"... You're acting like I haven't done this before."
"Well, this is your first time with Yin Ai, isn't it?"
"..."
"I'll send you the location, and of course, that tracker you put on them still works, right?"
"Of course."
"Perfect."
For a moment, Wei hesitated before resuming what he wanted to say.
"... Boss, what mission is this?"
"Ah... well... a super, duper, wupper important one, of course!"
"..."
The man seemed to have swung back into the macaron-munching mood as he popped three more macarons into his mouth at the same time.
"Oh, right! Wei, I got something for you before you leave. I gotta stay here, but just head to my office; it's a small little box on my desk."
"Got it."
"And hey, just cause you gave some tribute doesn't mean you get to skip the next meeting! Geez, you act like a troubled teen sometimes; I thought you would grow out of it by now."
"... Right."
The man happily waved goodbye to Wei through the front door, with Wei not even slightly interested in looking behind him.
The man's silver hair rustled in the wind as he grinned from ear to ear.
***
From talking to the new renovators to directing subordinates, by the time Wei left the office, it was night.
He sighed before opening the door to Grandma Guanhuai's house.
Today was supposed to be a "rest day," yet he got roped into a million things, and now he needed to come up with an excuse to an old hag as to why he'd be missing for the next couple of days.
Before the door was even fully opened, something else grabbed the door from the inside, swinging it open without Wei's help.
"Wei! Oh, thank the lords you're back! I thought I was gonna die; you have to save me!"
"... What?"
Before him stood a panting young man, arched over.
Sweat beaded on his face, with the moisture making his jet-black hair stick to his forehead.
His ruby eyes, something that Wei always found quite irritating, looked back at him with a sense of relief.
... Although to Wei, the man's relief wasn't a good sign.
"GET YER ASS BACK HERE, BOY!"
"AhhHhHhH, Wei!"
As Wei had expected, Hanzhi had likely exerted himself when they split up this morning, and he was now paying the price for it.
But there was something else Wei could see in Hanzhi's eyes, and it was a sense of mischief.
... It was best to get out of this situation as carefully as possible.
Grandma Guanhuai wobbled over and effortlessly ripped Hanzhi off the door.
"Nooo, I really can't drink any more!"
"YER GONNA KEEP DRINKING."
"You made it taste bad on purpose!"
Grandma Guanhuai seemed to be forcing something down Hanzhi's throat, some sort of disgusting brown concoction...
This action sent some shivers down Wei's spine, remembering the stripping of his dignity when he first came here, yet when it wasn't himself in the scenario, it was actually quite funny.
Soon enough, the concoction was fully taken in, and Hanzhi was fully passed out on the sofa, limbs sprawled out and everything.
Grandma Guanhuai plopped down into the dinner chair before stuffing a potato in her mouth, muttering about "kids these days".
"Hey, I'm going to be out for the next couple of days. Something came up."
"Don't ya dare think I forgot about ya... yer late and ya missed dinner, and now yer yappin about skipping work?"
"... I've been working for the last week straight."
"...Tch."
She seemed to contemplate for a bit, seeing Wei's seriousness.
"Is it really that important?"
"Yes."
"... Fine, it ain't like you'll do anything."
"..."
"But that ain't mean yer excused from yer tardiness!"
Just then, Wei smirked to himself before delivering the line he knew would get him out of all trouble.
It took him quite a while to find some kind of pass; he was quite lucky at how easily it was handed to him.
"You're not yelling because Han's sleeping, right? Despite what you do, you really do seem to care."
"...Hah, you really are a bright one, eh? Don't let me catch ya doing no bull, got it?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I was gonna close the store off for a while anyways; guess you and that brat will have a nice long break, eh? That brat will be crying with joy when he hears this news."
Guanhuai grabbed a potato and chucked it at Wei, signaling him to eat.
"Get yer ass ta sleep soon, got it? I ain't trying to babysit two grown people!"