“Ugh, don’t even mention it. I was on a business trip the past few days and just got home today. My dad was making braised pork, and he wouldn’t even let me have a sip of water—just made me rush over to bring you the freshest batch.”
As he spoke, he pulled out an insulated bag. “Here, try it. The pig was just slaughtered in the countryside and delivered this morning. Two-tone black pig, premium pork belly!”
Ye Yang took the still-warm braised pork with heartfelt appreciation. “Your uncle thinks of me too much.”
With the pork belly in hand, Ye Yang decided to invite Li Chanyi to stay for dinner.
After the meal, Ye Yang remembered that Teacher Shen next door had probably just gotten home from work, so he thought he’d bring him some fruit first.
When he returned from Shen Ming’s place and opened his own door, his heart nearly stopped.
There was Li Chanyi, who had somehow retrieved the cup Ye Yang had hidden and put it back on the dining table. He was staring at it with a serious, intense expression.
Ye Yang hurried over. Fortunately—thankfully—his illusion was still holding.
“Um, Ye Ye, why is your mint growing in milk?”
Ye Yang looked closely and felt his vision go dark. The water in the cup had somehow turned into milk. And judging by the smell, it was the buffalo milk he had just bought!
Under Li Chanyi’s strange gaze, Ye Yang steeled himself and said, “It’s… it’s more nutritious this way…”
“Really? Is that true…”
Li Chanyi stared suspiciously at the mint sprig. He stared for a long time. Just as Ye Yang was frantically brainstorming excuses, Li Chanyi suddenly slapped his thigh. “Hey, you know what? It actually works!”
This mint plant was clearly the same variety as the one on the balcony, but this one was noticeably sturdier, its leaves glossier and more vibrant. If you stared long enough, you could almost see a colorful shimmer on the leaves—but when you looked more closely, it disappeared.
“Oh my god, Ye Ye, you must have a wood spiritual root. You’re a genius! I’m going to try this when I get home!”
Li Chanyi was so fascinated that he kept Ye Yang around for a long time, asking in detail about the method behind this kind of cultivation.
Ye Yang racked his brains and spun stories for quite a while.
After finally managing to send Li Chanyi off, Ye Yang closed the front door and let out a long sigh.
He turned around—and saw that the Resurrection Herb had already changed back to its original form. And the milk in his cup was nearly gone.
“…”
This was a very delicious brand of buffalo milk, but it was more expensive than other brands. Ye Yang usually couldn’t bring himself to buy it. He had only splurged on a whole case because there was a promotion. He hadn’t even had any himself yet, and this Resurrection Herb was already helping itself!
He hadn’t noticed this little thing being so brazen before. Did it think he was easy to push around? It sure knew how to size people up—behaving perfectly at Shen Ming’s place and acting like this at his own home!
Ye Yang suddenly felt a surge of anger rise in his heart. He grabbed a spoon and started tapping the Resurrection Herb on its head—the top leaf, which presumably counted as its head…
As he tapped, he muttered under his breath: “Not allowed! (tap) In MY! (tap) Cup! (harder tap) Drinking MY! (heavy hit) Buffalo milk!!!”
Little Crow had been watching the drama unfold for a while. He now came over and took a bite right out of the Resurrection Herb’s leaf.
The Resurrection Herb: “!!!”
Panicking, it scrambled messily out of the cup, slid down the table leg, and scurried into a crack in the corner of the wall.
Ye Yang looked at the drips and drops of milk staining the floor. He closed his eyes. He regretted this. Could he get a refund?!
—
The next day, at the company.
Chi Lian shuffled over, hesitating. “Teacher Ye… is he doing okay at your place? Is he safe?”
Ye Yang: “…Doing alright.”
He had already moved the herb to Teacher Shen’s place next door. Little Crow shouldn’t be able to reach it now, right?
Teacher Shen was extremely efficient. He sent over the mission report the same day. After Ye Yang submitted it, they received several new missions today.
Sister Wu was reluctantly busy. “Wow, wow, wow—so many missions all at once!”
These missions included not only recent cases but also quite a few old, unsolved ones—over a dozen in total.
The company, for the first time in a long while, was filled with an energetic atmosphere.
“Why so many all of a sudden…” Ye Yang flipped through the missions Sister Wu had assigned to his group, puzzled.
Sister Wu proudly patted Ye Yang on the shoulder. “It’s because your two mission reports were so well-written. The Operations Headquarters has completely changed its view of our company.”
Ye Yang’s hand paused mid-page-turn. A sense of foreboding suddenly rose in his heart. “…Is that so?”
“Yep! So from now on, mission reports will be, hehe.”
Ye Yang looked reluctant. No one liked writing reports.
But Sister Wu added, “More work, more pay. I already asked President Long. For every additional mission report you write, you’ll get one-fifth of the mission’s compensation. How about that?”
The little sea hare’s two small antennae shot straight up with a boing~ “Really?!”
“Of course. Would Sister Wu ever steer you wrong?”
Ye Yang immediately stood up and rushed into Brother Xing’s office. “Brother Xing! Brother Xing!”
Brother Xing had just returned from a mission with Chi Lian and was in the process of removing his fake head when Ye Yang burst in shouting, “Brother Xing, can I write your mission report?”
Brother Xing: …Was there such a good thing?
For the next several days, Ye Yang did nothing but sit at his desk and write reports.
But he could only handle the simpler missions. For complex cases, there was no way he could write a report without having been on the mission himself. Still, he helped with revisions and additions where he could.
He had no choice—if he didn’t review the mission reports others wrote, they were simply unreadable. Especially the reports from Brother Grey’s missions… Let’s just not go there.
Everyone was more than willing to give Ye Yang a cut of their compensation to write the reports for them.
As long as they didn’t have to use their brains, they’d happily give half their pay to Ye Yang.
Truth be told, no one at the company was short on money. President Long went without saying—how could a dragon’s son not have some ancestral inheritance? Brother Xing had lived for millennia, had few expenses, and had naturally amassed a fortune. He even had many antiques at home.
Sister Wu had many expenses, but they were negligible compared to her savings. Back when she ruled her own territory, she had received plenty of tributes from her underlings. Brother Grey was the same.
Even Chi Lian, whom everyone had assumed was penniless, had produced a collection of raw jade and gemstones, plus large gold nuggets, from his lair deep in the mountains and waters.
Sister Wu tried to comfort Ye Yang: “Look on the bright side. Even if someone were truly broke, they’d still be better off than a little guy in debt like you.”
Ye Yang: “…” That just made him feel worse.
At first, Ye Yang was quite happy. Between mission rewards and the fees from writing reports, his income suddenly soared.
But as the missions piled up, he started feeling overwhelmed. He had his own missions to go on—how could he stay at the company writing reports all day?
Unexpectedly, Chi Lian turned out to be quite good at writing. Although he had only recently started learning modern Chinese, his logic was clear and his thinking rigorous. He never had issues with non-sequiturs or messed-up timelines.
Ye Yang spent some extra time teaching Chi Lian. After a few more days, they finally cleared the backlog of completed missions, freeing Ye Yang up to go on missions again.
This next mission, Sister Wu insisted that Ye Yang do with her.
It was a rather unusual mission. The intelligence hadn’t come from the Operations Headquarters—Sister Wu had sent it to Ye Yang herself.
“This is a big deal,” she said. “Your sister is going to show you the world.”
Ye Yang was skeptical. “A big deal? Isn’t it a mission?”
“That’s right. This is our company’s own mission.”
Their own mission? In the few months Ye Yang had been here, this was the first time he’d heard of such a thing.
Sister Wu looked at him as if he were hopelessly naive. “What were you thinking? Surely you didn’t believe that before you came, we were all just sitting around collecting a paycheck?”
That was exactly what Ye Yang had thought… Who wouldn’t?!
Come on—before he started actively seeking out missions, the company did nothing but odd jobs every day. There was no real work at all!
Sister Wu threw an arm around Ye Yang. “Alright, come with your sister.”
On the way, Sister Wu gave Ye Yang a brief explanation. This time, some painters were coming to buy pigments.
Ye Yang was completely lost. Sure, the company was an Operations branch, but the sign outside said “Advertising Company.” What did buying pigments have to do with anything?
Sister Wu waved her hand matter-of-factly. “Our company’s business is very broad. You’ll find out in time. Advertising is our most insignificant little sideline.”
Ye Yang’s face darkened. What sideline? They had no business at all. “Insignificant” was right.
Following Sister Wu, they went downstairs and entered a café not far from the company.
At this hour, the café was mostly empty. Only a table in the corner, half-hidden by greenery, was occupied by two men.
One was older, one younger. Their outfits were simple but not monotonous—quite tasteful. Ye Yang knew immediately: these were the clients.
Sure enough, Sister Wu walked straight over. “Here already, great painters? So early, haha.”
The older painter stood up to greet her. “Director Wu, long time no see. You look even younger! Please, sit, sit.” His fawning demeanor was hardly befitting a great artist.
The younger one was also very polite. “What would you like to drink? I’ll order.”
After brief introductions, the two painters and Sister Wu began exchanging pleasantries. The sweet talk flowed like it cost nothing—endless compliments.
The earrings Sister Wu wore today were very flashy and very ugly. Ye Yang watched as the young painter tried hard to hide his distaste while racking his brain for compliments his companion hadn’t already used. Ye Yang actually felt sorry for him.
Finally, they got down to business.
“So you want three boxes of each color? That’s a large quantity. It might take a while.” Sister Wu stroked her chin thoughtfully. “You’re old customers, so you know—the yield is very low. It takes a long time to mine enough for just one box.”
The older painter showed no dissatisfaction at all. “Yes, yes, we understand. However long it takes is fine.”
After finalizing the deal, the two painters left behind many gifts before departing.
The pigments they needed were a special red and a special white.
Sister Wu explained to Ye Yang that these pigments were made from ore from Mount Chouyang. Mount Chouyang was covered in red and white ores that shimmered with golden light. Consequently, pigments made from these ores had a very special luster—an effect no other pigment in the world could achieve. As soon as they appeared, they became wildly sought after in the art world.
The younger of the two painters had skyrocketed to fame and doubled his net worth thanks to these very pigments.
Unfortunately, Mount Chouyang was located in the demon realm, a place humans couldn’t reach. Their only way to purchase the pigments was through Sister Wu.
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