That Was Then

Before Huo Ziyan arrived, Xu Guan had already been mining for more than half an hour.

Zheng Xun was ridiculously picky. Nothing was good enough for him. Whenever Xu Guan dug up a piece of ore and handed it over, he would complain that it was too small or of poor quality. Most absurdly, he even complained that it was ugly.

Xu Guan held a piece of ore in his hand. It was dull gray, with a sandy crust around it. Without peeling the crust away, there was no way to see the ore inside.

"You can tell the good ones from the bad just by looking at the outside?"

Xu Guan asked Zheng Xun, but his tone made it clear he knew Zheng Xun was making things difficult for him.

"I've got sharp eyes." Zheng Xun raised his eyebrows. "Hurry up and dig. You're not going home until you've dug up enough."

Huo Ziyan stood awkwardly beside them, glancing from one to the other. One was his friend, and the other was his boss.

He stepped forward. "Captain, how about... I help you?"

He thought Xu Guan had already worked hard in a dungeon today, so he could take care of this little task for him. He had plenty of stamina anyway, and he had experience.

But Xu Guan shook his head.

"It's fine. Do your own work."

With a clang, Zheng Xun struck the cut surface of a rock with his iron pickaxe.

"No whispering! You too, Little Huo. Get to work."

Zheng the Skinflint was downright inhuman when it came to ordering people around.

"O-okay!"

The three bent over and focused on mining.

Xu Guan had never mined before, but now he discovered it was really a great way to relieve stress. He was tied up with work and kept to a strict schedule. For once, he was rebelling, coming to this dusty mining area behind everyone's backs to do the most basic work while listening to someone beside him pick and complain and mutter away.

"Have you considered my offer?"

Xu Guan asked suddenly.

Zheng Xun's stream of nonsense stopped, and he pulled his scarf up toward his nose.

"My asking price is high. Your Azure Mist can't afford me."

"Songbird offered you a silver+ contract. We can offer you silver. But you know Azure Mist and Songbird aren't in the same league financially. The terms we offer will definitely exceed anything you can imagine."

"Oh, come on. Azure Mist's fans and even the people on your team would love to kick me to the ground and stomp on me a couple more times. If I joined your guild, wouldn't they ostracize me to death?"

"The team has its rules. As long as you're strong enough, gaining prestige is only a matter of time."

Zheng Xun smiled at that, as Xu Guan could tell from the curve of his eyes above the scarf.

He turned to look at Xu Guan.

"Captain Xu, let me ask you something. If I broke the team's rules, what would you do?"

Xu Guan answered without any hesitation.

"Of course, I'd handle it according to the rules."

"There you have it." Zheng Xun turned back and struck again and again with his iron pickaxe. "I want the rules beneath me. Everything has to revolve around me and be based on my needs. None of the existing guilds can do that, and I'm not going to force them."

"So you're starting your own?" Xu Guan seemed to understand a little. "You're not starting a guild to make money, just so nobody can control you?"

"That's putting it too absolutely. Who would turn down money? But I hate being controlled even more."

"No wonder..."

If Xu Guan had thought of it, that shrewd Xiao Jun certainly had too. Songbird must have tried every possible way to keep Zheng Xun back then, but had no choice except to sign a loan contract with him.

Zheng Xun needed money, so they could hire him on loan to run dungeons, but no guild could hope to keep him forever.

"You have a loan arrangement with the Singing Sparrow Guild. I hope Azure Mist can secure the same right."

Xu Guan began planning for Azure Mist's future. Zheng Xun would be a great help. If he couldn't make him part of Azure Mist, he could at least cooperate with Azure Mist.

But Zheng Xun flatly refused.

"No way. If only I'd recorded you back then, I'd be playing 'I won't loan out Huo Ziyan' on repeat in your ear right now."

Xu Guan was thick-skinned too. He couldn't give ground in business negotiations.

"That was then, but you've run a dungeon with us since, and we've come to know each other a little. Besides, you poached one of Azure Mist's marked dungeons, and we suffered heavy losses. If you want to hire Huo Ziyan on loan, I can agree to that."

"Hey, why do you sound so high and mighty? Starting now, you're not allowed to say another word about guild business! Dig, dig. You've ruined my perfectly good mood."

Xu Guan shut his mouth and really did start digging without another word.

A little while later, he spoke again.

"Huo Ziyan is older than you. It's not appropriate to call him Little Huo."

"..." Zheng Xun was about to explode. "I like it, Little Xu. What's it to you?"

"Just a friendly reminder. You don't have to take it."

"..."

Hearing his name, Huo Ziyan took the opportunity to sidle quietly over to Zheng Xun.

"God Zheng, I... If it's difficult, you don't have to hire me on loan."

Zheng Xun's temper flared and faded quickly. He didn't like taking his feelings out on innocent people.

"It's fine, Little Huo. This has nothing to do with you. Besides, Little Xu has the same idea now. He just won't admit it."

Xu Guan said nothing, but he didn't contradict him either.

"Well..."

Huo Ziyan looked from one to the other, still unable to figure out what Captain Xu meant, so he quietly asked Zheng Xun again.

"Have you two discussed something?"

"Yeah. This was originally an internal Azure Mist matter, but everyone from Azure Mist's higher-ups to its team is a bunch of idiots, so they have to rely on a clever outsider like me to give them a push."

Idiot number one, Captain Xu, still said nothing.

Huo Ziyan was utterly confused, but he understood that he shouldn't ask any more questions about it for now.

"I'll listen to you and the captain. There isn't much I can do, but if you need me, I definitely won't hold anything back."

Huo Ziyan's earnest promise moved Zheng Xun, who deliberately wiped away nonexistent snot and tears.

"Little Huo, you're the best after all. When you make it big, don't forget your old buddy here. Don't be like certain people, ungrateful and heartless."

Captain Xu, the ingrate, wasn't annoyed at all and still said nothing.

Zheng Xun didn't have much energy today, and his mining was noticeably slow. On any other day, he was a merciless hole-digging machine, an ore killer.

Huo Ziyan happened to notice him close his eyes several times.

"Zheng Xun, God Zheng?"

He gave Zheng Xun, who had fallen asleep standing up, a couple of gentle nudges. Zheng Xun held his eyelids open with two fingers.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you, I heard you."

"If you're tired, why don't you go back and rest?"

"Mm..." Zheng Xun let out a huge yawn. "Okay, I'm going back."

Sleepy as he was, he didn't forget to make off with the ore Huo Ziyan and Xu Guan had mined.

The three huge sacks of rock on his back made Zheng Xun's figure look a size smaller. He took a portal out of the Cloud Space in his wristband, and a chimney stood upright on the sand.

He practically squeezed himself and the three sacks through the portal.

After Zheng Xun left, Xu Guan casually tossed his iron pickaxe into the Cloud Space and said to Huo Ziyan, "Come to the equipment room later. I have something to give you."

"Ah, okay..."

In the Singing Sparrow Guild's teleportation room, Zheng Xun had fallen asleep again after leaving the dungeon, passing out almost instantly. Cheng Jie, having found him absent from his dorm room, came here to try his luck and hadn't expected to actually find him.

"Zheng Xun, Zheng Xun?"

Zheng Xun's brow was tightly furrowed. He couldn't relax even in his sleep.

Cheng Jie thought he was too tired to walk, so he planned to fetch some bedding and make him a bed on the floor. The teleportation room was warm anyway.

Before he went out, he heard Zheng Xun mumble something in his sleep.

"Seventh Hospital..."