Xianyu looked up and saw a stranger sitting beside Jing Yuan.
The man was powerfully built, his shoulders as broad as a double-door refrigerator.
On closer inspection, his fierce features, stern expression, and overall bearing made him look every inch a battle-hardened warrior.
One glance was enough to tell that he was no ordinary man.
Xianyu gave him a once-over and decided he was almost certainly a senior officer in the Cloud Knights. Combined with the unfinished form of address Jing Yuan had used earlier...
Was he an officer whose surname happened to be Jiang, or was he Teng Xiao, the Luofu's current general?
Whether he was a senior officer or the general, he was Jing Yuan's superior.
He had probably gone out for a stroll with nothing better to do, happened across his Cloud Lieutenant, and come over to see what was going on.
Xianyu shot Jing Yuan a deeply sympathetic look.
What an unbelievably unlucky guy. Even off the clock, he still ran into his boss.
Suddenly, the double-door-sized brute, whose face practically screamed "don't mess with me," gave Xianyu a contorted smile. His rough voice inexplicably turned shrill.
"Hello there, young fellow-"
An eerie silence fell over Xianyu and Jing Yuan at the same time.
How to put it? With a face that said, "When I wipe out your family, I'll even scramble the yolks in your eggs," his sudden smile had the sort of charm that could make the neighbor's children cry.
Paired with that deliberately affected voice...
He felt like a serial killer with ill intentions, the kind who would lure someone into an alley and finish them off.
When neither of them spoke, the burly man rubbed his hands together somewhat awkwardly. He widened eyes fierce enough to kill with a look and gazed at Xianyu in bewilderment.
Xianyu: ...I feel like I need to throw my eyes away.
With that hardened tough-guy face, like you could kill someone with one punch, could you please not look so helpless?
Xianyu reined in his expression before it could slip, hurriedly ordered egg fried rice from the server, and nodded to the burly man. "Hello."
The man abruptly breathed a sigh of relief, his posture relaxing considerably. He called the server over and ordered a meal.
The burly man asked tentatively, "Young fellow, I'm with the Cloud Knights next door. I heard the Divination Commission's been running some sort of test recently. Would you mind telling me about it?"
Realization dawned on Jing Yuan. As everything gradually clicked into place, he followed up, "What sort of test?"
Xianyu saw no need to keep it confidential. When his colleagues had been angry enough to start swearing, word had probably already spread throughout the Six Commissions and the Cloud Knights.
"It's a psychological test," he said casually.
The burly man continued, "Is it difficult?"
Xianyu thought for a moment. He still could not understand how answering the questions seriously had earned him a result of personality disorder, so he said bluntly:
"The questions aren't difficult. The results just aren't very accurate."
Jing Yuan was more concerned about the number of questions than their difficulty.
No working stiff wanted to waste time on something irrelevant.
"Are there a lot of questions?" Jing Yuan asked.
Xianyu made an estimate. "Four tests, with a little over six hundred questions altogether."
Both men opposite him exclaimed in unison.
Jing Yuan stared, dumbfounded. "What kind of test needs over six hundred questions?"
The burly man was speechless with shock. "How did they come up with that many questions?"
Watching their expressions, Xianyu shrugged.
"You'd have to ask General Teng Xiao and the Alchemy Commission, who wrote the questions."
Jing Yuan's expression froze. He instinctively glanced at the burly man, then quickly forced his gaze away.
Xianyu understood. So it was Teng Xiao.
Apparently, he was concealing his identity to see whether his initiative was working.
Even Teng Xiao himself probably had not expected the Alchemy Commission's staff to produce over six hundred questions...
Teng Xiao opened his mouth. After a long silence, he asked Xianyu, "You just said the results weren't accurate?"
Xianyu raised an eyebrow slightly. Seeing that the man had picked up on his earlier remark, he made no attempt to conceal anything and sighed, shaking his head.
"Yeah. They diagnosed me with a personality disorder."
Teng Xiao: "..."
Xianyu could not understand it. "I answered all the questions myself. How did that turn into a personality disorder? The Alchemy Commission must have written the questions wrong."
Teng Xiao: "..."
Jing Yuan cursed Xianyu inwardly, but with the general beside him, he could only remain silent.
He knew Xianyu far too well. The man had definitely figured out the general's identity, but he did not care! He just had to spout nonsense and ruin his own future!
What kind of lunatic spins the table while the boss is reaching for food?!
Who exposes their own shortcomings and talks about their flaws right in front of their superior? Who could have seen that coming?!
Wasn't this practically firing his ultimate point-blank into the man's face? How was it any different from an outlaw stirring up trouble in front of law enforcement? Was he that eager to hand someone an easy win?
Jing Yuan glared at Xianyu in exasperation. He decided to sacrifice the reputation of the Alchemy Commission, where Dan Feng worked, in an attempt to salvage the general's impression of Xianyu.
"The Alchemy Commission has never put together a psychological test before. Maybe the results will be accurate next time..."
Knowing Xianyu had seen through the general's identity, Jing Yuan stopped pretending and looked directly at Teng Xiao. Yet the general, normally unflappable in a crisis, was now sweating profusely and looking faint.
The general seemed to have ceased being a hardened warrior and transformed in an instant into a delicate young lady who might wilt in a breeze.
Jing Yuan silently handed him a tissue and asked the server to turn down the room temperature.
Teng Xiao accepted the tissue and wiped away his sweat, asking weakly, "Could you be under too much stress?"
Just then, the server wheeled over a cart with their food.
Xianyu took his meal and answered casually, "Not really. The atmosphere at the Divination Commission is pretty good. There isn't much pressure."
Teng Xiao took a deep breath, hastily ate a few spoonfuls, and asked more about Xianyu's life at the Divination Commission.
As the Luofu's administrator, Teng Xiao was well versed in the art of conversation. He carefully selected only inconsequential topics.
Xianyu was very cooperative, and on the surface, the two enjoyed a lively conversation.
As they chatted, Teng Xiao shifted the subject and asked about Xianyu's career plans.
Xianyu's expression did not change. "With work, all you really want is good pay, little to do, and a short commute. Things are pretty good as they are."
Teng Xiao laughed, his tone full of feeling. "Young people tend to be impatient. Someone like you, willing to settle down and focus on improving himself, is getting rarer and rarer these days..."
Xianyu curved his lips in what looked like a cooperative smile but was actually perfunctory.
Low emotional intelligence: lazy and utterly unambitious.
High emotional intelligence: willing to settle down and focus on self-improvement.
No wonder the man was a general. That was an incredible way of putting it.
He was growing more and more curious about Hua's position.
Was Hua a general? Or a trusted lieutenant in the Marshal's office?
As a former Yaoqing General, surely he could not have trained a Xianzhou Marshal?
Xianyu marveled inwardly. Hua seemed cold on the surface but actually looked out for him quite a bit. Hua apparently had enough influence to persuade Teng Xiao to help.
Or was Teng Xiao trying to make Hua owe a favor by helping him?
Debts of gratitude were the hardest to repay. Good thing he had refused.
He would ask Hua what Hua thought when he got back.
Teng Xiao called over the server and paid for Xianyu's and Jing Yuan's meals before either could react.
Still eating, Jing Yuan missed his chance to settle the bill and could only watch as his direct superior treated him to a meal.
Teng Xiao declared that he and Xianyu had hit it off at first sight. The general slowly raised his hand, watching Xianyu's expression intently, then patted his shoulder very gently and flashed a toothy smile.
"Don't worry. I'll get everything sorted out for you-"
Xianyu: ???
Don't worry about what? Get what sorted out? Had he said anything?
Before you continue