Li Xueyin had known for a long time that Shen Ning did not care for culture classes. Or rather, aside from Xu Chuyao, almost no one in the School of Excellence was good at them.
However, she had always believed that studying with everyone in a classroom was different from one-on-one tutoring by a famous teacher. Surely, the latter could at least improve learning efficiency.
She was wrong.
When Li Xueyin took out the textbook, explained the essence of Glowstone to Shen Ning, and used jadeite as an example—
“You must be familiar with jadeite. It is a very beautiful gemstone that people often give as gifts to express their feelings. Different styles and qualities of jadeite represent different intentions, whether given to elders, juniors, or lovers…”
Then, the girl began to drift off.
‘Chuyao hasn’t given me any yet, so maybe I should send her some first. What would be good?’
‘Emperor green? What is that?’
‘A gift for a girl should definitely have a name like “Emperor.” No problem, even if it sounds a bit expensive.’
She sat there, lost in some unknown fantasy, her thoughts wandering to who knows where.
Li Xueyin couldn’t take it anymore.
She bit her lip slightly, pulling the girl’s thoughts back. “Shen Ning, Xu Chuyao specifically mentioned that there are many things to discuss. She hopes that before she finds time to return, you can learn all these basic knowledge points.”
Invoking Chuyao’s name was indeed effective. The girl immediately shut her mouth and even waved her hand in the air, as if trying to brush away the fantasies in her mind.
If nothing else, she certainly looked more focused.
Li Xueyin nodded in satisfaction and began her lecture again. “I mentioned those things to explain the various meanings of jadeite jewelry. Because it has thousands of years of human history, it can be considered the philosophical nature bestowed upon stone…”
***
“Why isn’t she here yet?”
At the headquarters of the Council of Pacifiers, within the Heaven-Reaching Lost Domain, a group of people sat in a large tea room on the west side.
They seemed to be waiting for something. Judging by the half-cold tea on the table, the result of their waiting was not ideal.
Wen Shengqing sat in the main seat with his eyes closed, resting. His secretary stood by his side, while the remaining few were councilors.
The councilor sitting closest was named Gong De. He was a man with a name that sounded full of integrity, but he was currently only in his late forties, making him part of the “new generation” among the group of elderly councilors. To squeeze into this circle, besides having some of his own strength, the most important thing was his obedience.
At least, he appeared very obedient. Earlier in the hall, he was the one who had argued with Zhou Tian until his face was red and his neck was thick, neither side backing down.
Now, he once again acted as the primary vanguard under Wen Shengqing, criticizing the Thunder Beauty who seemed to be acting spoiled due to the favor she received.
“At such a young age, her temper isn’t small. She’s been here for half a day and hasn’t reported to the Marshal. It’s truly rebellious. Does she really think we can’t do without her?”
This group had been waiting here for so long just for Xu Chuyao to come and pay her respects. As it turned out, Chuyao really hadn’t come. Seeing everyone grow impatient, Gong De stood up and vented his frustrations at the empty air.
The others instinctively nodded. Suddenly, they saw the secretary let out a light cough and pat his head. Seeing the Marshal’s displeased expression, they quickly suppressed their movements and remained silent.
If they thought about it carefully, it seemed they really couldn’t do without her — she had arrived with three experts of the Four Defenses level, all of whom were skilled in life-or-death combat. They had already slain several Phantasms earlier.
In other words, if Chuyao didn’t come, they would have to be the ones going up to risk their lives.
Once they realized this, the mindsets of several people shifted instantly.
“Miss Xu is young and promising. It’s not surprising she’s a bit spirited. Since it’s her first time here, she might just be having too much fun,” another councilor said. “She hasn’t come to see the Marshal for so long, so she might be lost. How about I go out and find her to bring her back?”
“Right, right, she probably got lost.”
“I’ll go too. I’m familiar with the terrain here.”
Gong De realized that instead of joining him in blaming the girl, the others were all making excuses for her. He was momentarily stunned.
“You all…”
*Knock, knock.*
Someone knocked on the door from outside and said, “Councilors, there is an emergency meeting in a moment. Elder Ye asked me to notify you.”
Elder Ye was the Old Speaker. They all knew this, but they were unaware of any emergency meeting.
After the person outside left, the group in the room looked at each other.
“What do we do?” Gong De asked instinctively.
Wen Shengqing opened his squinted eyes, glanced at him with displeasure, and stood up. He let his secretary straighten his collar before walking toward the door.
What else could they do? Could they really choose not to go?
A meeting was a meeting. This place was the headquarters of the Council of Pacifiers; it was built for meetings.
At dusk, as the sky began to grow dark, the Council Hall was once again brightly lit. Contrary to his usual behavior, the Old Speaker was the first to arrive, shocking several councilors who were usually quite diligent.
As the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm. In recent years, Elder Ye either came late or didn’t come at all, reflecting his increasingly hands-off attitude. Conversely, arriving so early today suggested he was going to take back the reins of power.
Everyone was filled with suspicion, but there was a logical explanation. After all, Wen Shengqing and Pei Yun were currently competing. If he didn’t show up, there would be no one to act as the referee.
That was likely the reason.
A few minutes later, all the councilors of the Council of Pacifiers arrived. Including the newly arrived Pei Yun and Long Jun, there were fifteen people seated in the Council Hall, with dozens more standing on the outskirts to observe.
Xu Chuyao and Yu Jing also stood on the outskirts in an inconspicuous corner, observing the scene.
She had already seen the Old Speaker and Wen Shengqing. On the seats, there was a person whose head did not reach the back of the chair. From the side, there were quite a few wrinkles on his face; that should be Pei Yun.
“Is everyone here?” Gong De said tentatively from below. “Elder Ye, please give us your instructions.”
The Old Speaker had called this emergency meeting, but no one else had any idea what was to be discussed.
“Is everyone really here?”
The people in the hall were stunned. Some specifically looked around, counting the council seats one by one.
One, two, three… fourteen, fifteen. That was right; they were all there.
After the Old Speaker finished speaking, he closed his eyes to rest. Whether everyone was there or not, and specifically who might be missing, he didn’t say. He just left them with that one sentence, looking as if he expected them to figure it out themselves.
At that moment, Xu Chuyao felt a sensation in her heart. She patted the back of Yu Jing’s hand, meaning, ‘I’m taking action now, don’t be surprised.’ Then, under the bewildered gazes of Yu Jing… and everyone else, she walked out and sat down in a council seat.
“What are you doing?” Gong De couldn’t help but ask.
Before she could answer, the Old Speaker suddenly cleared his throat and said loudly, “Since everyone is here, let us begin. I called this emergency meeting today mainly to provide some supplementary explanations regarding the last matter…”
Xu Chuyao fumbled around her person and pulled out a small notepad and a small ballpoint pen from her pocket. She listened while nodding and scribbling notes.
“Little Wen and Little Pei are fighting for power, but after all, it’s a family matter. You must still focus on friendship and try to keep things within reasonable bounds.”
*Scribble, scribble.* She wrote down the word “friendship.”
“If there’s a disagreement, the methods must be upright. You cannot engage in underhanded political struggles.”
*Scribble, scribble.* She wrote down the word “integrity.”
“Furthermore, the world is not yet completely peaceful. There are movements both internal and external. While you two tigers fight, you must never allow external threats to enter our doors.”
‘Mm-hmm.’ She wrote down the four words: “Unity against external threats.”
In the Council Hall, the Old Speaker spoke alone from above, while Xu Chuyao took notes alone below. Everyone else had complex expressions.
Except for Long Jun, everyone present was a veteran councilor. They had held countless meetings in this center of power and had heard it all. They knew which words carried weight and which were just empty platitudes.
Right now, these were platitudes — the kind used to ease the atmosphere, without a shred of practical use.
So everyone was puzzled. Why had the Old Speaker called an emergency meeting just to give a speech full of nonsense?
‘I see, I see.’
Their gazes turned toward the Thunder Beauty who was focused on taking notes.
If these people could figure it out, Wen Shengqing and Pei Yun naturally understood it as well. It was just that their minds were more composed, and they didn’t show anything on their faces.
After a while, Wen Shengqing finally couldn’t hold it in any longer. After all, Xu Chuyao was the person he had called over, but now that she appeared in this position, he felt things were spinning out of control.
Taking advantage of a moment when he turned his head, he gave Gong De a look.
As for this new generation councilor, he did have some ability. Though he was occasionally a bit slow, if Wen Shengqing personally gave him a signal, he could catch it immediately.
Thus, after a moment of hesitation, he spoke up during a break while the Old Speaker was resting his voice.
“Elder Ye, I wonder why this Miss Xu is sitting in a councilor’s seat? Do you have some new arrangement?”
“Nonsense. What are you saying? Can’t she sit there without an arrangement? It’s just a seat,” the Old Speaker replied without thinking. It was almost an instant response. “Miss Xu is young and studious. Coming here to sit and listen will always allow her to learn something.”
The answer was so swift that it was clearly a pre-prepared reason. Once these words were out, everyone else immediately understood.
As expected, this emergency meeting was held specifically for the purpose of getting this girl into that seat.
“Yes, I can learn things,” Xu Chuyao said, pushing forward the notepad filled with words. “I’ve learned so much!”
Things like friendship, integrity, unity against external threats, and so on.
Putting down the notepad, she looked around casually and saw that Wen Shengqing’s expression had finally turned a bit gloomy.
How could it not be gloomy? By sitting here today, coupled with the Old Speaker’s blatant protection, Chuyao was no longer a subordinate that one side could easily command. Instead, she stood on equal footing with them.
Wen Shengqing wanted her to deal with the remnants of the Supreme Society? That wasn’t impossible, but he would have to ask nicely and treat her as an ally. Even if Chuyao agreed, she would handle the specifics herself, no longer needing to follow anyone else’s arrangements.
It could only be said that Chuyao had played her cards right. The Old Speaker really intended to skip over the middle generation!
Thinking this, Xu Chuyao turned back and winked at the worried Yu Jing.
It was hard to explain what had happened in the office earlier, so Chuyao had used an old saying — ‘Old dogs still have a few teeth.’
After saying it, she felt it wasn’t quite right since he was being so kind to her. So she changed it, saying, ‘Old dragons still have a few roars.’ Since the Old Speaker thought she could take over within ten years, she would make good use of this stage while his strength and influence remained.
Besides Yu Jing, Xu Chuyao also saw Long Jun, who was sitting at the end of the seats, casting an incredulous and admiring gaze toward her.
She mouthed a few words to tell him that was how it was. As for whether he could understand, she didn’t care.
“Alright, that’s all I wanted to say.” The Old Speaker concluded the meeting with satisfaction. “It’s getting late. Everyone, go back and rest.”
Everyone left their seats one by one. Xu Chuyao tucked her pen away and closed her notepad with a lingering sense of interest, as if she really had learned a lot.
“Miss Xu,” Wen Shengqing walked over and said. “If Elder Ye has time tomorrow, I would like to discuss the matter of dealing with the remnants of the Supreme Society with you.”
Although he was unhappy, he was very good at adjusting his attitude. Originally, such things would have been said by his subordinates, but now that Chuyao’s status was different, he came forward personally.
“Tomorrow? We’ll see how things go,” Xu Chuyao said leisurely. “I’ll come find you whenever I have some free time.”
The remnants of the Supreme Society could be fought, but Chuyao had to be the one in charge!