"—Just how many more trivial matters are there? Can't you explain them all at once?"
In the elegant yet somewhat stifling Disciplinary Affairs Room, a man clad in a blue-gray sect Disciplinary Affairs robe stood with his back to the door. Sparse shadows outside the window cut the afternoon light into scattered fragments.
His fingertips had just touched the warm rim of a Ding Kiln white porcelain cup. The tea leaves unfurled within, and wisps of steam curled around his shoulders in a faint mist. His rebuke carried obvious weariness and impatience, sending subtle ripples through the silent air.
"Tsk, Deacon Xie sure has become quite the imposing official these days."
A voice that was three parts teasing and seven parts lazy drifted softly from the doorway like a stone dropped into a still lake.
It was not loud, yet it was like a fine needle tempered in ice, lightly piercing the stagnant atmosphere in the room and striking precisely against the listener's eardrums.
"Clang—"
A crisp sound rang out.
The white porcelain tea cup toppled over, rolling halfway across the sandalwood desk. Dark green tea spilled out like a breached stream, quickly winding across the surface and soaking the open case files, painting a chaotic, dark pattern.
Xie Bao Shan seemed as though he had been struck by invisible lightning. His back stiffened instantly, and then he spun around sharply. His wide sleeves whipped up a gust of wind that swept several talisman papers from the desk onto the floor.
When he saw the figure standing against the light, when that face engraved deep in his memories came clearly into view, his pupils first shrank to pinpoints before rapidly dilating, filled with utterly incredulous shock.
"W-Wang... Senior Brother Wang? Is it really you?! It's really you?!"
He practically staggered