"Elder Hai, Ya Fei went in with the chicken soup. Do you think that lord will take a liking to her?"
In a side room, Mittel Tengshan rubbed his hands together and paced back and forth.
"What are you doing? You're not Ya Fei. What are you so anxious about?"
Hai Bodong spoke irritably with his eyes closed.
Mittel Tengshan flushed.
"I... I just want to get ahead too!"
He approached Hai Bodong.
"Elder Hai, you're already a Dou Zong. Me? I'm still struggling along as a Dou Wang."
"All these years you were missing, people were saying you'd died in the desert and Medusa had turned your skull into a wine flask!"
"Bastards! Who's been wagging their tongues about me? I'm not afraid of Medusa now!"
Hai Bodong opened his eyes, looking uncomfortable.
"Elder Hai, the Mittel Family might look glorious, but life hasn't been easy!"
"Nalan Su's daughter became the Misty Cloud Sect's junior sect master, and his father is the empire's Lionheart Grand Marshal. He's got a foot in both camps!"
"The Mu Family already has a military background and the Imperial Family behind it. They're just as unshakable!"
"Only our Mittel Family is a merchant family. All these years, I've been trembling with fear, treading on thin ice..."
With tears and snot streaming down his face, Mittel Tengshan poured out the hardships and heartache he had suffered over the years.
"All right, all right. Speak plainly. Stop putting on a show for me..." Worn down by Mittel Tengshan's antics, Hai Bodong spoke impatiently.
Teng Shan wiped his nose and composed himself.
"Elder Hai, didn't you say you were that first lady's number one lackey?"
"Yes. What about it?" Hai Bodong asked, puzzled.
"Look, you're the number one lackey. Then who's number two? Me, of course!"
Mittel