Messages kept pouring in from Jing Yuan on his Jade Abacus as he tried to help Xianyu figure out who had sent it.
[Jing Yuan: They actually brought an Abomination of Abundance back to the Luofu... and openly mailed it to the Divination Commission, too...] [No Replies Outside Work Hours: Wait, how did you know it was sent to the Divination Commission?] [Jing Yuan: ?] [Jing Yuan: You think I don't know you? Back in school, you deliberately kept your grades down and barely scraped through exams. Even if your house collapsed, as long as you were lucky enough to survive, you'd probably just roll over and go back to sleep.] [Jing Yuan: If it hadn't been sent to your workplace and given you an excuse to slack off, you probably wouldn't even have asked.]
Xianyu thought of the dozens of unopened delivery boxes piled up in his home and felt a profound respect for Jing Yuan.
[No Replies Outside Work Hours: ...Damn. No wonder you're famous among the Cloud Knights for your tactical genius.]
Jing Yuan sent back a meme.
[Jing Yuan: The Path of Erudition. Pretty amazing, huh.jpg]
It was one of the Path memes that had been circulating throughout the universe for ages. The image was practically pixelated beyond recognition, and no one knew how many Amber Eras it had been passed around for.
The two loved trading memes. Jing Yuan had made a name for himself among the Cloud Knights through his strategic mind, and his superiors often praised his intelligence. So, besides his usual Kitty memes, he also used memes about the Path of Erudition.
[Jing Yuan: This person you've offended probably isn't someone ordinary... Think back. Any suspects?]
Xianyu thought, No need to suspect anyone. It's your master... How am I supposed to tell you that?
All Xianyu could do was resort to a tried-and-true line from the Art of Blustering and try to change the subject.
[Jing Yuan: ...You're really something. Someone's threatening you, and you're not even worried.] [Jing Yuan: Fine, fine. Clearly I can't talk you into anything. If you think of any suspects, tell me right away.]
Xianyu felt touched.
Anyone else would probably have wanted nothing to do with this mess, but Jing Yuan was willing to help him sort it out.
Before he could bask in that feeling for long, Jing Yuan sent another message.
[Jing Yuan: Don't worry. I'll ask my master to help when the time comes.]
Xianyu thought, ...Buddy, your heart's in the right place, but let's leave it there.
He went numb.
What expression would Jingliu make if Jing Yuan indignantly reported this to her?
How was that any different from talking behind someone's back, only to get caught red-handed by the person in question?
Even the most shameless person would cringe hard enough to carve out an entire Xianzhou Luofu with their toes, wouldn't they?
And Jingliu?
The corners of her mouth would turn down by two pixels, wouldn't they?
Wouldn't his good friend Jing Yuan get a shortcut past centuries of cultivation, with Jingliu drilling him straight into becoming mara-struck?
Out of humanitarian concern, Xianyu began trying to stop Jing Yuan.
[No Replies Outside Work Hours: Jing Yuan, you're still young. You're out of your depth here...]
[Jing Yuan: ?]
[Jing Yuan: Stop talking like General Teng Xiao.]
[Jing Yuan: You little rascal.jpg]
Terrified that Jing Yuan might fall into a training hell, Xianyu typed faster and spun a lie.
[No Replies Outside Work Hours: Don't worry, it's no big deal. I just performed a divination. They mean no harm, and it'll be resolved soon.]
[Jing Yuan: You little rascal.jpg] [Jing Yuan: That had better be true.] [Jing Yuan: Break's over. Master's calling me to practice swordsmanship.]
The two exchanged farewell memes.
Just as Xianyu was about to put down his phone and do some actual work, another message arrived.
[Bai Zhu: Xianyu, could you come to Sea Fishing tonight~?]
It was followed immediately by a photo of Bai Zhu poking her head out from behind a wall, captioned "Fox peeking out."
This person... or, strictly speaking, this fox.
The woman named Bai Zhu was a Foxian with fox ears on top of her head and countless admirers.
Her coloring was much like Baiheng's. Both had big, fluffy, snow-white tails that would send any fluff enthusiast into ecstasy.
But Xianyu preferred spending time with Baiheng rather than Bai Zhu.
For no other reason than that the scent on Bai Zhu... was too strong.
Maybe it was the oil she used to care for her fur?
Every time he saw Bai Zhu, he smelled something cloyingly sweet, inexplicably reminding him of the sticky feeling left after eating cotton candy.
But everyone had different tastes, and Xianyu wasn't in a position to judge. So whenever Bai Zhu invited him somewhere, he turned her down whenever he could.
Before he could type out a refusal, Bai Zhu sent another message.
[Bai Zhu: You've already turned me down twice. You have to come this time~]
With that, Bai Zhu also sent a short video.
She twitched her snow-white fox ears, swished the big tail behind her, winked at the camera, and said something very quietly.
Xianyu thought, Old man squinting at phone on subway.jpg
He couldn't make out a word she was saying...
Aside from his slacking off, Xianyu considered himself a perfectly competent employee. He couldn't bring himself to play a video aloud in the office.
He didn't investigate what she'd said in the video any further and could only accept Bai Zhu's invitation.
If it had been anyone else, Xianyu would have kept dodging them to the bitter end.
He couldn't help sighing. Nothing in the adult world really was easy.
Who could have imagined that, at the start, all he'd wanted was to indulge his craving for hot pot?
Unfortunately, Bai Zhu was a business partner who paid him a share of the profits, so he couldn't simply avoid her.
Her family had been in business for generations. As their only daughter, Bai Zhu had inherited her parents' talent, investing in shops across the various Xianzhou ships and bringing in more money every day than anyone could count.
Among those investments was a hot pot restaurant.
The service was also very attentive, much like a certain hot pot chain from his previous life. Even the name was remarkably similar: Sea Fishing.
From the soup bases down to the dipping sauces, the restaurant used nothing but quality ingredients.
The owner was an honest man who worried his diners wouldn't get enough to eat. He constantly rounded down bills and gave away snacks, making people worry about the restaurant's profits and fear it might go under.
Every time Xianyu ate there, he treated it as his "last meal."
Until one day, Bai Zhu, a shareholder in the hot pot restaurant, finally remembered that this business existed among her holdings.
When she checked its earnings, she discovered they were far below those of other shops in the same area. She considered switching it to another line of business and approached the owner to discuss it.
As a businesswoman, Bai Zhu always left herself some room to maneuver when dealing with people and never spoke in absolutes. She merely asked about his business model and said nothing more.
But the owner had been in business for decades and naturally understood what the shareholder was implying. Yet he truly had no idea how to make more money, and he spent several days looking miserable.
The diners were stunned when they saw him. Was this hidden gem of a hot pot restaurant going to be forced to close?
They began visiting more frequently and spreading the word of their own accord.
Faced with this terrible news, even a shut-in like Xianyu couldn't sit still. For once, he began eating out often enough that the owner came to recognize him.
Perhaps they simply hit it off, but the owner began pouring out his troubles to Xianyu.
The burly, middle-aged man drank away his sorrows and nearly shed tears when his story reached the emotional parts.
Xianyu felt genuinely awful.
He tried to dig useful information out of his fragmented memories of his previous life.
Things like listing both the ingredient costs and the selling prices on the menu...
After all, for an owner who had stuck to his principles for decades, abruptly raising prices was out of the question. They could only find another approach.
Or perhaps introduce soup bases with entirely new flavors...
They could only try anything they could think of as a last resort.
The owner nodded excitedly and slapped him hard on the shoulder, his eyes practically glowing green. He looked ready to engrave every word Xianyu said into his very bones.
The next day, the owner replaced the menus with ones that listed ingredient costs.
Xianyu hadn't expected the owner to actually believe his suggestions. He began seeking out his few friends and recommending the restaurant to them.
In the end, thanks to its plain, unpretentious, barely profitable approach and its one-of-a-kind fermented mung bean juice soup base, the restaurant shot to fame as the Luofu's newest viral dining spot, with an endless stream of customers taking queue numbers every day.
The owner grinned so widely his face looked ready to split.
Xianyu thought, A fermented mung bean juice soup base was not something I saw coming...
After hearing that the hot pot restaurant was packed with customers, Bai Zhu visited it again.
The owner had no intention of taking the credit. He sang Xianyu's praises to his financial backer, attributing all their success to him.
Intrigued by this Xianyu who, according to the owner, had effortlessly turned the situation around and brought in profits, Bai Zhu asked the owner to arrange a meal with him.
When Xianyu arrived, he stared at the unfamiliar Foxian in utter confusion. Before he really understood what was happening, he and the owner had become shareholders in Sea Fishing, entitled to substantial dividends every year.
With a windfall landing in his lap, Xianyu felt he hadn't earned it.
Whenever he had some free time, he would think up new ideas for the hot pot restaurant.
By now, Bai Zhu had opened hot pot restaurants modeled on Sea Fishing's operations in places such as the Yaoqing, Zhuming, and Yunque, making a fortune.
Even after being turned down several times, she refused to give up and kept inviting him again and again.
Xianyu could only marvel. Is this what someone with maxed-out social skills looks like? I can't begrudge her a single bit of the money she makes.
She even took the initiative to keep in touch with an utterly ordinary person like him.
Xianyu thought, A shut-in could never manage that in this lifetime... If I had to socialize with people I barely knew, I'd defect to Abundance on the spot...
He put away his Jade Abacus, alternated between slacking off and doing a little work, and expertly timed his tasks to finish right before the end of his shift.
The moment it was time, Xianyu stood up and left the Divination Commission with the package Jingliu had sent.
When he reached a deserted corner, Xianyu willed the package into his system inventory.
The system displayed a note.
"What inexplicable impulse made her bring this back to the Luofu? What feelings did she hold in her heart as she wrapped this gift?" "No one knew that this gift, regarded warily by all, concealed the love of an aloof beauty who had yet to recognize her own feelings."
Xianyu raised an eyebrow and continued scrolling.
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