Chapter 787: Secret!

Sai Fei Er clasped her hands in front of her chest, her cat tail drawing a lazy circle behind her, and said, "The current Acting General Fu Xuan, don't be fooled by her usual seriousness; she actually has a bit of a secret, Secret!"

She bit the word "Secret" especially hard, so hard that even Huo Huo's ears stood up.

"Based on my observations in Luofu over the years,"

Sai Fei Er slowed her speech, "Grand Diviner Fu Xuan and that Qingque, who now runs Tai Bu Si's card games, have an unusual relationship. News comes out from Tai Bu Si every few days: Qingque got caught by Grand Diviner Fu Xuan; Grand Diviner Fu Xuan personally went to a teahouse to haul back a truant; Qingque was punished to copy files, and while copying she fell asleep on the desk, and when Grand Diviner Fu Xuan passed by he draped his own robe over her—"

Sai Fei Er paused here, her cat ears turning forward as if receiving a signal only she could hear.

Then she lowered her voice and added, "Consider this carefully: one Grand Diviner, one Diviner. Superior and subordinate. Going to the teahouse in working hours to catch someone. Also draping a coat. Don't you find this interesting? With so many Diviners in Tai Bu Si, why does Grand Diviner Fu Xuan focus only on Qingque? He ignores others who slack off, yet he catches Qingque every time she slacks. What does that indicate? It shows Grand Diviner Fu Xuan's attention to Qingque far exceeds the normal concern a superior has for a subordinate. Isn't that—"

She swallowed the rest of the sentence, but her ears standing straight up and her tail held high conveyed the meaning perfectly.

"In a sense, this is also part of the two of them's play."

Sai Fei Er gave the two a "only those who get it will understand" look and asked, "You agree, right, Huo Xiaomei?"

Huo Huo froze in place.

Sai Fei Er's sapphire‑blue eyes glittered as she stared at her, her cat tail flicking behind her, exuding an eager vibe of "come be my straight man."

Huo Huo opened her mouth, quickly searching her mind for the amount of information the Ten Kings Office Judge Huo Huo is supposed to have; although Tai Bu Si and Ten Kings Office are both Luofu agencies, they rarely interact, and she considered knowing Qingque's existence already reasonable—any more would seem suspicious.

She carefully organized her words, her voice still timid: "I… I know a little. Miss Qingque is indeed a Diviner of Tai Bu Si, and she often slacks off. When I'm on duty I occasionally see her playing cards at the tea house. Grand Diviner Fu Xuan sometimes comes personally to fetch her, and then Miss Qingque gets hauled back to copy files."

She paused there, then added as if she just remembered, "But Miss Qingque is a nice person; last time she even gave me osmanthus cake."

All of that is true.

She really did see Qingque slacking off at the dock, and Fu Xuan did indeed come to catch someone.

As for the osmanthus cake, that was a small detail she casually pulled from the memory of some unlucky passerby, which fit perfectly here.

Sai Fei Er's eyes lit up, her cat ears snapping up, her tail drawing a huge exclamation mark behind her: "Look, look! Even Huo little sister knows! That shows this matter is no longer a secret throughout Luofu!"

Dan Heng furrowed his brows.

Fu Xuan and Qingque? Grand Diviner and his subordinate?

It sounded like a familiar formula again—superior and subordinate, the blurring of official and personal boundaries—so the content from the recording flashed through his mind, and he shook his head vigorously.

Stop.

Don't think about it anymore.

But Sai Fei Er ignored whatever struggle he was undergoing in his mind and began a new round of narration.

She gestured with both hands, her voice low but each word clear, carrying a storyteller's rhythm: "Actually, Grand Diviner Fu Xuan, who appears cold and proper, is the most prone to emotion in private. Think about it: always wearing a stern face, speaking flawlessly, following procedures, a person stretched like a fully drawn bow. Once such a person has someone they care about, the contrast—tch tch tch."

She clicked her tongue, her cat ears happily twitching twice, "Qingque, on the contrary. Slacking, playing cards, ditching work, being lazy—if she can lie down she will never sit; if she can sit she will never stand. Yet this lazy fellow manages to complete every task Fu Xuan assigns just at the passing line. Not early, not late, just right on the mark, no more, no less. You say, what does that indicate?"

Sai Fei Er stopped and signaled the two with her eyes to answer.

Dan Heng gave no reply. Huo Huo shook her head in agreement.

"It shows Qingque's abilities far exceed what she shows!"

Sai Fei Er slapped her thigh, "If she truly lacked skill, she'd have been dismissed long ago. Yet she uses only seventy percent of her effort to just meet the pass line, spending the remaining thirty percent on slacking and card games. Someone like that has been in Tai Bu Si for years—how could Fu Xuan not notice her? The longer he watches, the harder to avoid developing feelings?"

Dan Heng's lips moved as if to retort—perhaps "monitoring a subordinate's work status is a superior's duty"—but he closed his mouth the moment he opened it.

He felt a strong ominous premonition: whatever he said, Sai Fei Er could twist it into the shape she wanted.

Sai Fei Er continued, her pace quickening, her cat ears trembling with the rhythm: "The most spectacular incident was last year's Qixi. Tai Bu Si was pulling overtime, everyone busy enough to have their feet off the ground. Grand Diviner Fu Xuan spent the whole day before the case reviewing hexagrams, never lifting his head. Qingque, meanwhile, was slacking and playing cards by day, and vanished by evening. Everyone thought she'd ditched work again, and Grand Diviner's face turned so black you could squeeze ink from it. When night fell, Qingque carried two food boxes and pushed open Tai Bu Si's door—one box contained osmanthus cake, the other hot tea, along with a small note that read, 'Grand Diviner, you've worked hard; have something to eat before you get even busier.'"

Sai Fei Er paused there, looking around at their reactions.

Dan Heng's face remained expressionless as he used all his willpower to resist the corrosive force in Sai Fei Er's words.

Huo Huo tilted her head, appearing to listen, but the light in her green eyes flickered a few beats faster than before; she was gauging how much truth and falsehood lay in those words, and just how far this cat's storytelling could go.

"And then?"

Huo Huo asked softly.

She asked not merely to play along, but because she was genuinely curious how far this cat could spin the tale.

"Then Grand Diviner Fu Xuan, in front of everyone, with more than twenty Diviners of Tai Bu Si present—stood up, walked to Qingque, took the food box, and said, 'You also know to return.'"

Sai Fei Er's voice dropped to a near whisper, but every word was crystal clear: "Consider this sentence: 'You also know to return.' Grand Diviner Fu Xuan said 'return,' which is 'know.' She is waiting. She has been waiting for Qingque to come. She started waiting from the daytime."