Inside Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Seeing that the Imperial Fighting Team had returned more than half a month ahead of schedule, with members missing and Qin Ming nowhere in sight, Meng Shenji sensed that something had gone terribly wrong. He immediately summoned Lei Meng and Dugu Yan to ask what had happened.
The Heaven Dou Imperial Family had placed great hopes in this Imperial Fighting Team. If anything serious went wrong, Meng Shenji and the other two Education Commissioners could hardly escape blame. It might even bring their political careers to a premature end.
All three Education Commissioners were old veterans of the empire. In their younger days, they had fought on the battlefield and expanded its borders, just as Lei Zhen had.
Unfortunately, their backgrounds fell short of Lei Zhen's. With Xue Ye tightening control over the granting of noble titles, none of the three had received one. Now old and frail, their strength no longer what it once was, their standing and influence at court dwindled year after year.
They had pledged themselves to Xue Qinghe early in hopes of earning credit for helping him ascend the throne, securing wealth and glory for generations of their descendants.
Unfortunately, despite being longstanding members of Xue Qinghe's camp, they had never rendered any great service. Otherwise, they would not have agreed so readily to Qin Ming's proposal in the original timeline.
Of course, even without great achievements, they at least had a presence before Xue Qinghe. Once he ascended the throne, their good days would begin.
But if they botched something important, they might never have another chance to turn their fortunes around. No wonder Meng Shenji was so nervous.
Faced with his questions, Dugu Yan and Lei Meng were unusually cold. They merely handed Meng Shenji the joint report