Chen Dongpeng didn't get scared at his words. If anything, he grew more excited.
Rubbing his hands together, he said, "We agreed that you're the ones kicking me out. It's not that I, an old man, am breaking my word. I'm not giving back the things that kid Zhang Yu gave me."
Zhang Heng froze, then looked even more disdainful.
What decent things could Zhang Yu have given this old servant? Nothing but worthless trinkets. The old fool was treating them like treasures.
He snorted. "Who wants your junk? Get out of here."
"Right away!"
Chen Dongpeng answered happily, as if he'd just received an official pardon. He slapped his backside and started off; he looked less like he'd been fired than like he'd finally been given a vacation.
But after taking just two steps, he seemed to remember something.
He rummaged around in his robes for a while, pulled out a crumpled piece of sheepskin, and casually tossed it to Zhang Heng.
"Here. This is for you."
Chen Dongpeng burped, pointed at the paper, and said,
"On Zhang Yu's instructions, I've upgraded the Earth Fire Formation in Dingsheng Workshop's Alchemy Zone, as well as the runes carved on those alchemy furnaces that help gather the fire, control the temperature, and stabilize the medicinal properties. This is the Formation Master Diagram.
"The array nodes, rune connections, and the flow of the earth fire are all recorded on it.
"Remember to find a reliable Array Master to maintain it regularly according to the notes on this diagram, and be careful with the controls.
"Otherwise... heh heh. Don't say the old man didn't warn you."
He seemed to feel some attachment to the formation he'd upgraded with his own hands, and before leaving, he even "kindly" offered Zhang Heng a few words of advice.
Without waiting to see Zhang Heng's reaction, he picked up his wine gourd and wandered off, humming an even more off-key tune.
"Upgraded?
"What upgrade?
"What Formation Master Diagram?"
Zhang Heng held the dirty, crumpled piece of sheepskin, his brows knitted tight.
He wasn't the sort of wastrel who did nothing but eat and wait to die. As a Fifth-rank martial artist, he had a rudimentary understanding of formations and runes.
When he heard that the "Earth Fire Formation" and the "Alchemy Furnace Inscriptions" had been "upgraded," his heart gave a thud, and a vague sense of unease welled up inside him.
Instinct told him that things might not be as simple as he'd imagined.
He hurriedly unfolded the sheepskin.
The page was covered in densely packed, crooked lines, mixed with many symbols and scribbled notes he couldn't understand. The ink varied in age, clearly not the work of a single sitting.
Though the paper was filthy, a closer look revealed that the lines did indeed outline the general layout of Dingsheng Workshop's Alchemy Zone, along with the distribution of the earth-fire pipes and array nodes.
In many places, more complicated patterns had been added and altered in a different-colored ink.
Zhang Heng's scalp prickled as he studied it.
"Shopkeeper Qian!"
Zhang Heng abruptly looked up at Shopkeeper Qian, who seemed just as bewildered and uneasy, and asked urgently, "What else does Chen Dongpeng do besides tending the fire and repairing furnaces? Does he understand formations?"
Shopkeeper Qian wiped his sweat and stammered,
"Y-yes, Fifth Young Master. Old Chen... he usually likes to wander around the array nodes and the alchemy furnaces.
"Sometimes he takes a charcoal pencil and scribbles things down... We thought he was just bored, or keeping track of what needed repairing... As for whether he understands formations... well, I really don't know.
"He's never said anything, and I've never seen him formally work on a formation... Though when the earth fire occasionally got unstable, or an alchemy furnace had a minor problem, he'd fiddle with it a bit and usually get it working again...
"Everyone just thought it was because he was experienced and skilled..."
Experienced?
Skilled?
Zhang Heng's heart sank little by little.
Looking at the complicated "upgrade diagram" that made his eyes swim, and thinking of Shopkeeper Qian's words, a terrible thought took shape in his mind.
The man he'd made an example of might actually be a hidden master of formations.
And all these years, under Zhang Yu's direction, he'd quietly upgraded and modified the Earth Fire Formation and the furnace runes throughout Dingsheng Workshop's Alchemy Zone.
The workshop's high alchemy output, the consistent quality of its pills, and the remarkably stable earth fire... Could they all have been thanks to the old man secretly upgrading and maintaining everything?
And on his very first day in charge, Zhang Heng had driven away a formation master who might have been Dingsheng Workshop's hidden bedrock?
A chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and cold sweat broke out on Zhang Heng's forehead.
He suddenly remembered how excited Chen Dongpeng had looked before leaving, and how he'd said Zhang Yu had given him something.
Zhang Yu must have known what the old man could do. The things he'd given him were probably meant to keep him around.
And Zhang Heng had just dismantled Zhang Yu's "backup plan" with his own hands?
"Quick, go bring Chen Dongpeng back.
"Tell him... tell him I was just speaking in anger. I misunderstood him.
"Ask him to stay, and double his wages."
Zhang Heng shouted urgently at a nearby attendant.
"Yes, Young Master." The attendant also realized something was wrong and hurried after Chen Dongpeng.
But a moment later, the attendant came running back, panting, his face pale.
"You-Young Master, he's... he's gone. Old Chen left through the gate, turned into the nearby alley, and vanished. I asked around on the nearby streets, but no one saw him."
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