Chapter 953: Strange Thing

Fu Xuan said without even raising her head.

No one responded.

Fu Xuan's pen hovered in midair.

She lifted her head, her gaze sweeping to the side desk in the hall where someone should have been slacking off.

On the side desk were neatly stacked the filing books that should have been submitted this afternoon; at the table's corner sat an empty teacup, its bottom still bearing dried dark‑brown sugar stains.

Qingque was not there.

The one who was caught slacking at least three times a day, each time grinning and saying "Grand Diviner, you're here, I was just about to start work," a die‑hard Imperial Wall Jade card enthusiast who always acted like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water in front of her, was not there.

Fu Xuan placed the pen she was holding onto the desk.

That guy.

Where the hell did he go?

"Grand Diviner, please don't be angry."

Fu Xuan subconsciously glared toward the side desk, the anger in her pupils genuine and sharp.

"This guy."

Fu Xuan let out a hum.

The scene at Shen Ce Fu that day involuntarily flashed before her eyes.

Qingque swayed as she pushed open the council hall's door, yawned and said, "Good morning, Grand Diviner."

She slammed the table and shouted, Bai Lu tried to smooth things over, and Yan Qing echoed.

That bastard stood firm before her, and in front of everyone grabbed her head in one hand, his mouth pressed directly onto it!

The base of Fu Xuan's ears seemed to burn under the lamp.

She can still recall that sensation with crystal clarity.

Qingque's lips were soft, carrying a faint tea scent, and when they pressed against her there was no hesitation, righteous and assertive, as if performing something absolutely natural.

Then that bastard actually stuck his tongue in!

He licked her tongue tip once, the motion clumsily terrible yet daring beyond measure.

She should have slapped him then.

She did bite.

She bit hard, tasting iron rust on the tip.

Then Qingque let out a muffled groan of pain, released her mouth, stepped back half a step, her eyes shifting from confusion to shock to despair, looking exactly like a foolish cat that, after being caught stealing tribute, suddenly realized the stolen item wasn't a plain bun but a sacrificial offering to the Imperial Bow Director of Destiny himself.

Then the bastard went black‑eyed, collapsed unconscious, leaving the mess for her alone to clean up!

Fu Xuan replayed the incident countless times, each replay reaching the same conclusion: the next time she sees that bastard she must lock him in the confinement chamber and make him copy it a hundred times, not one less!

But when that "next time" will come, her Exhaustive Observation Formation cannot answer.

Fu Xuan closed her eyes, the Divination Eye on her forehead flickered faintly.

The Exhaustive Observation Formation's stellar tracks unfolded deep in her consciousness, countless starlights weaving a net, searching the entire Luofu domain.

But there was no result.

Qingque's fate star seemed simultaneously obscured by several forces of different origins.

Not even the Exhaustive Observation Formation could locate it.

Fu Xuan opened her eyes, the Divination Eye's light dimming.

She stared blankly for a moment, then reached to lift the plate of osmanthus cake on the desk.

When the plate reached her lips she realized it was empty, only a few crumbs clinging to the rim.

She set the plate back and lifted the teacup.

"…There's no syrup left either."

Fu Xuan made a meaningless statement to the empty cup.

Then she placed the cup back on the table, her fingers unconsciously tracing the rim's pattern.

The Despair that flashed in Qingque's eyes just before she fell that day at Shen Ce Fu.

The Despair was so pure, so pure that even now when Fu Xuan recalls it, the corner of her mouth twitches involuntarily.

"Idiot!"

Then Fu Xuan inhaled deeply, adjusted her cuff, and reached for the jade talisman placed at the desk's corner.

She swiped the screen and opened the work group.

Planning to see if there were any new messages needing review.

Then she saw that photo from Xing Fa.

Fu Xuan slightly frowned.

This Pioneer posted some weird thing again.

She had repeatedly said this group was only for official Task notices and intelligence reports, yet every time she opened it she saw some inexplicable content from Xing Fa.

The last time he posted was a "silver rare‑model trash can" photographed at Changletian, the time before that was "a cat suspected of stealing military rations discovered on the dock".

Just like Qingque.

Fu Xuan's irritation rose another notch.

She quickly typed in the chat box, "? Stop posting content unrelated to work," and sent it.

Her finger hovered above the screen, hesitated, but still opened the picture.

The image was a bit blurry.

Moonlight's exposure was uneven, the background a vast blackened street block and ice‑frozen buildings.

In the center of the frame were two silhouettes, facing each other.

The white‑hair‑as‑snow figure on the left, tall and surrounded by visible cold air, made Fu Xuan frown slightly.

And when the gray‑white long‑haired silhouette on the right broke into view, Fu Xuan's breath stopped.

Perspective shift.

Xing squatted at the alley corner, back against the icy stone slab, the cold white glow of her phone screen lighting her face, which was earnest yet a little bewildered.

A row of voice messages popped up in the group‑chat interface, neatly lined on the screen, all sent by Fu Xuan; the avatar's pink‑purple‑haired girl stared at the camera with a pair of commanding orange‑pink eyes, and every time Xing opened the group chat she felt this Grand Diviner was judging her with his gaze.

"Bang bang bang."

Xing mentally added a sound effect to those voice clips.

Even through the screen she could feel the other side's urgency, and Xing even got the illusion that Fu Xuan would crawl out of the screen and grab her collar to question her.

When the fifth message rattled her, Xing finally moved her finger off the screen edge, but she didn't press play; she stared at the row of unread red dots for two seconds, her face showing an expression as if she had grasped some life truth.

She slowly nodded.

"I see."

Xing lowered her voice to mutter to herself, golden eyes flashing with emotion.

Her reasoning went like this: she had just posted a photo in the group, the photo showed a gray‑white‑haired demon‑shadow body and a white‑haired master facing each other, and after Fu Xuan saw the photo he immediately sent seven or eight voice messages.

What does that indicate?

It shows Fu Xuan is worried!

Worried about what?

Xing's brain raced: that gray‑white‑haired demon‑shadow body is clearly a relative of Qingque; Qingque is Fu Xuan's subordinate, and when Fu Xuan saw his subordinate's relative fall into a demon‑shadow body he instantly flooded messages asking about the situation—this is nothing but overt concern for his subordinate.

She held the phone to her chest, looked up at the two people still confronting each other in the street center, then lowered her gaze to the row of voice clips on the screen, the corner of her mouth lifting into a fully understanding, warm smile.

"Looks cold on the surface, but when trouble arises, it's so emotional."

Xing's voice was filled with heartfelt admiration, like a commendation for Xianzhou's Person of the Year, "Someone who usually says only three sentences in meetings, yet sends multiple voice messages for a subordinate's family matter—love the minister as a son, love the minister as a son!"

"So this is Luofu's General spirit? After Jing Yuan fell, Fu Xuan could still reach this level—so moving, I'm in love!"

In her mind she automatically upgraded Fu Xuan's image from "strict Grand Diviner" to "cold‑outside, warm‑inside model superior", even imagining a scene where Fu Xuan secretly adds honey to Qingque's sweetened water, pretending a stern face while his heart blossoms with joy.

This mental picture made Xing's mouth corner lift another half‑inch.

With this deeply moved feeling of being "love the minister as a son", Xing solemnly opened the first voice message, ready to feel the warm care from the Acting General.