After gossiping together about the vanity-loving butler, the two finally said goodbye outside the Lin family's underground parking garage and got into cars bound for Floating Mist Temple and the airport respectively.
Qi Gu returned to Floating Mist Temple carrying the assortment of snacks packed for him by the very butler they had been gossiping about. He had barely settled into his seat before Golden Toad eagerly sidled up to flatter him. Seeing Qi Gu's lukewarm response, Golden Toad thought its flattery skills had deteriorated and was utterly heartbroken.
But Qi Gu was simply there in body while his mind wandered to Lin Hanzhi. It suddenly occurred to him that the temperature in Shanyin City was different from here and must have dropped a little. He wondered whether Lin Hanzhi had brought warm clothes. He couldn't stand the cold to begin with and wore long sleeves and long trousers even in summer...
With that on his mind, Golden Toad's flattery naturally went ignored. Qi Gu heard none of it and could only see Golden Toad's mouth opening and closing, smack, smack, smack.
Annoyed for a moment, he simply reached out with two fingers and pinched Golden Toad's mouth shut. "Go outside for now."
Golden Toad: "...Okay."
What was going on?! The boss had always been perfectly receptive to its lavish flattery before!
Could it be that after spending a few days with the Lin family, he had heard sweeter, more pleasing flattery from those rich people's servants?!
A sense of impending replacement filled Golden Toad's heart. It hastily hopped up and darted all over the temple before finally finding Huang Hongyuan to conduct some serious market research. "Brother Huang, do you think there's still room for improvement in my flattery? If so, in what areas specifically? Hmm...could you elaborate on