Bai Yujun could not be bothered to get up. The two sides had no common language anyway—indeed, they did not even speak the same language.
She did not forget to explain a few things to Mu Duo beside her.
"It is the same old routine. They pick at wording to find excuses and gain the upper hand, starting with your poor hospitality and then launching into all sorts of verbal debates. Their wordplay comes in endless varieties—why are you sitting, why has the rain stopped, and so on. Useless, though laziness loves it most."
After saying that, she shifted her stool forward to avoid the water dripping from the eaves.
The paper umbrella leaning by the door floated up, opened, and slowly spun. It had likely sensed a high-energy being approaching and assumed another fight was about to begin.
Bai gave a wave of her hand, and the paper umbrella folded shut and fell back down.
Mu Duo wholeheartedly agreed.
"We had dealings with them before. They wanted to seize mountains in our Jiuli, win over tribal chiefs, and demand great numbers of able-bodied men to carve mountains and chisel stone. It would take at least several centuries to finish, but mortals already lived difficult lives. Several centuries of labor was too burdensome and meaningless. None of the tribes could bear it, so they refused outright. A chief had to consider the welfare of the tribe; otherwise, he was not fit to lead."
Bai Yujun saw the other party land outside the main gate, but she did not rise. She felt that he lacked sincerity.
"Exactly. The great nobles only need to open their mouths, while the poor have no voice. It is exhausting—bitter. In the end, only the names of the great nobles are carved into the stone, and