Ye Yang discovered that Sister Wu had a particular fondness for shiny things, including but not limited to glittering rhinestones on clothing, all kinds of jewelry, and all sorts of beautiful little trinkets.
Her fashion sense was also… unique.
Wearing all black was the norm, but at the same time, she loved colorful gemstones. She often wore seven or eight earrings of different sizes and colors dangling from her ears. When she moved her arms, everything jingled and clattered—both wrists were stacked with numerous bracelets, all made of diamonds or crystals dazzling enough to blind anyone. Not a single finger was left bare, and she wore at least three layered necklaces at once.
Except for the first day they met, when she had just returned from a mission and wasn’t quite this over-the-top, Ye Yang saw this walking jewelry rack every single day at the office.
On top of that, Ye Yang discovered that the four or five workstations he had initially assumed belonged to several different colleagues were actually all Sister Wu’s. They were piled high with shiny or brightly colored items of questionable utility—like a few beautiful little piles of junk.
It was hard to imagine such an flamboyant woman having the name “Shuwan.”
In his second week at work, Ye Yang finally asked, “Sister Wu, you’re a yao, aren’t you?”
“No way! I’m fully human.”
Ye Yang nearly laughed out loud. A real human wouldn’t react that way to his question. Sister Wu was really quite adorable.
“Humans wouldn’t do something like this, would they?” Ye Yang pointed to a few striking blue feathers under Sister Wu’s desk. Weren’t those feathers from the parrot in the company downstairs? And judging by the marks, they had been plucked out by force!
Wu Shuwen: “…” Dammit! What a slip-up. She should have known better than to leave them somewhere so visible just so she could admire them anytime. She should have hidden them properly!
She was about to try and salvage the situation when Ye Yang pointed toward the break room. “Also, yesterday I saw peck marks on the inside of the food cabinet door. What a powerful beak. Sister Wu’s true form must be truly majestic, right?”
Sister Wu: “…Alright, alright, you’re not wrong. I am a yao. No point hiding it—I’m a raven.”
What a coincidence. Little Crow was also a raven.
But Ye Yang finally understood why Sister Wu’s surname was Wu. Turns out it had nothing to do with Wu Peng—it was because of the crow (wu ya).
After Ye Yang left, Director Wu turned around and realized that Brother Xing had been standing behind her for who knows how long.
No need to say it—he had definitely heard everything. Director Wu, embarrassed and annoyed, said, “I didn’t want to admit it that fast, but he called me majestic!”
Sister Wu tried to save face: “It’s fine. Having one or two yao around is perfectly normal. You all just keep doing what you’re doing!”
Brother Xing gave a noncommittal grunt.
…
After exposing Sister Wu’s disguise—which could hardly be called a disguise at all—next up was Brother Xing.
Brother Xing was the action team leader, which technically made him Ye Yang’s superior.
Brother Xing had his own office, though he spent most of his time in the training room.
Actually, aside from Ye Yang and Brother Hui, everyone else had their own private office. The main hall had three rows of workstations, but Ye Yang was the only one sitting there. If you really counted, he actually had the largest personal space.
Since there hadn’t been much work since he joined, Ye Yang also liked to spend his free time in the training room.
To perform better at work, he absolutely couldn’t slack off on his cultivation.
Ye Yang often ran into Brother Xing in the training room. Brother Xing was a man of few words, but he was a good person. After running into each other a few times, Ye Yang suggested they train together, and Brother Xing started adjusting his schedule to match Ye Yang’s, going to the training room with him every day.
Sometimes when Ye Yang sat in meditation, Brother Xing would silently stand guard nearby. Though they didn’t talk much, their relationship grew stronger.
Before long, Ye Yang discovered that Brother Xing really loved desserts, especially all kinds of traditional Chinese pastries.
How did he find out?
Before Ye Yang arrived, the food cabinet and refrigerator in the break room were restocked randomly. What got restocked and when depended largely on when President Long remembered to do it.
After Ye Yang joined, President Long figured that since their company finally had a lower-tier employee, they should become more standardized. He finally started restocking on a regular schedule.
President Long’s tastes were quite traditional. Ye Yang didn’t really like those candied fruit sticks, belly-button cookies, or hawthorn cakes. But Brother Xing? He started frequenting the break room and would always bring some to Ye Yang on his way to the training room.
Even though Ye Yang didn’t particularly enjoy the pastries Brother Xing brought, he was grateful that Brother Xing thought of him and wanted to give him something in return.
He soon found an opportunity.
In the few weeks he’d been working, since he got off work an hour earlier than Shen Ming, Ye Yang always cooked dinner first. He wasn’t sure when it started—probably around the time he began commuting—but they had developed a habit of eating together. Sometimes Ye Yang cooked, sometimes Shen Ming cooked.
Neither of them actually needed to eat—one could go without food entirely, the other could eat once every ten days or half a month—but both of them had developed the habit of cooking and eating together whenever they had time, simply because the other’s cooking was so good.
They cooked and ate together more frequently than many cohabitating couples or even married couples. Both of their apartments were filled with traces of each other’s presence.
One weekend, Shen Ming had some free time and spent quite a while baking some palmier cookies to give to Ye Yang.
Ye Yang tried one and thought it tasted pretty good. His mind immediately went to Brother Xing.
He brought the remaining palmiers to the office first thing Monday morning, planning to leave them on Brother Xing’s desk as a surprise.
But who knew that Brother Xing would be the one to give him a surprise.
Ye Yang arrived at the company half an hour early. The moment he pushed open the door to Brother Xing’s office, he didn’t expect to find Brother Xing already there.
But looking closer, something seemed off.
Brother Xing’s head… where was Brother Xing’s head????
…
“So you are… Xing Tian…”
Xing Tian grunted in affirmation and tried to nod his “head,” but accidentally made a “pop” sound as he pulled off the fake head he had hurriedly put on earlier, not having secured it properly.
“…”
“…”
Even Xing Tian, steady as he was, couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward. Normally, he used magic to maintain a normal appearance when out in public. Lately, at Sister Wu’s request, he had been wearing this fake head, and it was so uncomfortable that he had come to the office early to get some air. He never expected Ye Yang to catch him red-handed.
He had said all along that he should just keep using magic to maintain his appearance. Wasn’t it normal for magical traces to be present in their line of work? But no, they were worried about Ye Yang getting suspicious… Next time he listened to that crow, he’d be a complete fool.
At a loss for words, he simply placed the fake head on his desk. His real eyes and mouth emerged from his clothing, looking exactly like the legend of the man beheaded by the Yellow Emperor, using his nipples as eyes and his navel as a mouth.
He even used that real mouth to start eating the palmier cookies Ye Yang had brought.
For a moment, the only sound in the office was the crunchy rustle of him munching on the palmiers and crumbs falling everywhere.
Ye Yang: “…” So bizarre, so weird, seriously SO weird!
Ye Yang was completely speechless. A few days ago, when Brother Xing had a solo mission, he had actually worried about Brother Xing going alone.
How ridiculous. The guy was Xing Tian—the legendary undying champion!
After a long pause, Ye Yang finally said, “So Brother Xing isn’t human either.”
Xing Tian stuffed the remaining half of the palmier into his mouth and mumbled, “I am human. I’m an ancient remnant.”
Oh, right, Ye Yang realized. Then he added, “Brother Xing’s personality isn’t quite like the legend, though.”
“Yeah. I used to be more impulsive and hot-tempered back in the day. Now I’m older.”
…
After leaving the office, before work hours had started, Ye Yang stood by the window and suddenly noticed two male employees from the company downstairs occasionally glancing his way, continuously murmuring something to each other.
They were wearing suits and work badges, each holding a cup of coffee. They seemed to be from the building’s lower floors.
Ye Yang sent out a thread of spiritual energy, and their voices immediately became clear in his ears.
“I’m telling you, I’ve been watching this company for a long time. There’s no way they’re a legitimate business. They might even be some kind of illegal criminal ring!”
“Why do you say that?”
“What legitimate company doesn’t require clocking in or out? No need to punch in for work or punch out after. I heard their work hours are the same as ours, but I’ve seen people from this company come in late and leave early so many times…”
“You’re just jealous of their workplace freedom, aren’t you?”
“No way! Let me finish. They barely get any clients all year—they can’t even close a few orders. How do they afford the rent and utilities here? And yet, year after year, this place stays open, and their staff barely changes. How could that be a legitimate company? I suspect they’re either money laundering or…”
The other man was noncommittal, then suddenly pointed at Ye Yang. “Hey, do you think that guy can hear us? He keeps staring this way.”
“No way, we’re too far—whoa, GOOSE! Big goose, run!”
Suddenly, an enormous goose burst out of the flowerbed and charged aggressively toward the two men. The employees shrieked and bolted, spilling their coffee in the process.
Ye Yang examined the goose and recognized it as a gray gander.
After chasing the two men away, the goose held its head high, strutted back toward the flowerbed, and took a vicious peck at some plant. The black fleshy knob on its head bobbed with the motion.
That’s strange, Ye Yang thought. This type of goose is especially ferocious. People don’t usually keep them as pets or poultry. What’s it doing here?
Looking closer, Ye Yang noticed that this goose was also unusually large, far exceeding the size of an ordinary gray gander. It was practically a behemoth.
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck him. He cast a detection spell.
Well, well. Of course it’s you, Brother Hui.
Now he understood. No wonder people kept complaining about the downstairs goose, yet the goose always remained, never once getting caught.
The detection spell wasn’t subtle at all. Before long, Brother Hui came upstairs.
Since his identity was exposed and there was no point in pretending anymore, Brother Hui showed up with his unruly, untamed gray hair. “Mm… you already know, so I won’t hide it anymore. I’m a goose yao. My true form is exactly what you saw.”
“Of course, your big bro Hui still has your back. That’s never gonna change!”
Ye Yang forced a strained smile.
His emotions were utterly calm at this point.
Sister Wu is such a con artist. She said the company was full of cultivators—turns out they’re ALL yao?! And Brother Xing, that ‘ancient remnant,’ is no ordinary human either. After all this, President Long is the only normal one!
This is something I really need to discuss with President Long!
He held out until the afternoon. Ye Yang volunteered to deliver a document to President Long on Sister Wu’s behalf.
It was his first time stepping into President Long’s office.
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