The dim yellow light shone on the wooden bench. Wisps of heat seed to rise from beneath it, where two tall figures sat side by side.
Brother Nan was enjoying her food while Zhou Li simply watched.
A breeze passed, bringing with it a damp chill and lifting the unswept leaves from the ground. In a fleeting mont, it felt as if the wind whispered that sumr had ended. Yet, Zhou Li felt almost nothing of this sumr. Only when he was with Zheng Zhilan, through his labor, did he experience the oppressive heat of midsumr. Other than that, his mories of sumr were hazy: a few rainfalls, a major flood, and the morning alarm clock that rang and rang, until one day it simply ended.
"Why don’t you take it back to the dorm to eat?" Zhou Li spoke in a low voice.
"Too many people in the dorm; they might snatch it all from ," Brother Nan mumbled, shaking her head as she spoke, seemingly reluctant to accept such an outco. But this very gesture made her look adorable.
"Why are you being so stingy..."
"Where am I being stingy?"
"Aren’t you usually generous?"
"This is different!" Brother Nan shook her head again, seemingly not wanting to explain further. "If I can’t finish it later, I’ll save so for them."
"Oh."
Then they probably won’t get any.
Zhou Li pursed his lips but asked no more. He rely looked at the leaves on the ground and said, "In the blink of an eye, it’s autumn already..."
"What’s wrong?"
Brother Nan turned her head to glance at him. "Aren’t the nights in Chunming always this chilly?"
"The leaves have turned yellow."
"Oh..."
Brother Nan glanced at him again. "In another blink, it’ll be New Year!"
Hmm... It seems that way.
Zhou Li felt that ti truly flew by. Subjectively, it felt even faster when there were significant changes in oneself and the surrounding world during such a short span.
On reflection, the changes between last year and this year felt imnse.
Last year, he knew nothing about Demons, even feeling as if no one else in the world knew of their existence except himself. Yet this year, he was about to witness the establishnt of the Heavenly Master Departnt. Although he hadn’t been involved in the process, he certainly felt like a witness. anwhile, many unimaginable major events had also occurred in the mundane world. When he recalled all that had happened, it felt surreal.
While Brother Nan focused on her al, Zhou Li reflected silently.
Until Brother Nan slapped him back to his senses, "What are you thinking about? I’ve finished eating, let’s go!"
"I was thinking... wondering what the future will be like."
"The future? Just take it slow, why the rush?" Brother Nan always had a good attitude. "We only live for a few decades anyway. Just watch it unfold slowly, then one day you kick the bucket and ascend to heaven!"
"You’re right."
"Don’t worry, Brother Nan will keep watching with you! I’ve always got your back!" Brother Nan heartily patted his shoulder, but then imdiately lowered her head to look at the soup in the dish, saying regretfully, "You should have brought so bread; it’s a sha about this soup."
"Thanks for having my back, Brother Nan."
"Of course, of course..."
His conversations with Brother Nan always felt sowhat formal.
After they stood up, they parted ways.
But before parting, as a thank you, Brother Nan left a bit of grease on Zhou Li’s face.
「Monday morning.」
Zhou Li had a full schedule. He stayed at ho, waiting for a distinguished guest.
This was a rare instance of him not skipping class with Brother Nan. Today’s guest was rather extraordinary – Yin Le had already notified him in advance that the one coming with him today was the future minister of the Celestial Master Departnt. Their personal visit spoke volus of their respect for Zhou Li and their sincerity. So, despite the visitor’s amiable offer to wait until he was free from classes, Zhou Li had chosen to skip them.
It was about mutual respect, after all.
Around nine o’clock, the doorbell rang.
Tuanzi heard it first and imdiately rushed to the door, shouting as she ran, "Soone is here! Lord Dumpling will open the door!"
CLICK.
The door opened.
Tuanzi dropped from the doorknob, crouched by the door, and stared unblinkingly at the three people in the doorway.
Zhou Li hurriedly followed behind her, sowhat helplessly.
He had long told Tuanzi not to casually open the door upon hearing noises outside, to avoid being kidnapped by bad people and turned into cat stew. But Tuanzi, as always, would nod and agree readily at the ti, only to forget everything the mont she turned around. If he tried to scold her, she would just claim to be a formidable Great Demon, unafraid of bad people.
Now wasn’t the ti to scold her. Zhou Li could only gently nudge her with his foot, motioning for her to move aside, before welcoming the visitors inside.
"Hello, hello... please co in."
"Have I disturbed you?"
"Not at all."
Zhou Li quietly sized up the three visitors.
Yin Le, surprisingly, wore a suit. It was well-fitted, the material looked excellent, and it was clearly custom-made for a considerable sum. It even looked new. It made him look quite dapper and presentable—a stark contrast to his usual ripped jeans.
A middle-aged man, also in a suit, had a sowhat stern facial appearance, but he was smiling warmly.
A slightly younger man followed him, resembling a secretary.
Yin Le introduced the two, "This is our future minister, surnad Zhang, and this is the minister’s secretary, surnad Luo... This is Zhou Li."
"Hello, Minister Zhang, Secretary Luo."
"Oh, no need to be so formal. We mainly ca to chat with you. I really enjoy talking with young people," Minister Zhang said with a hearty laugh, his face softening a bit. His Mandarin, spoken with a slight accent, made him seem even more approachable. "When I chat with the young folks at my unit, they all say I’m like one of their peers."
"Okay."
Zhou Li suspected all leaders spoke this way. Old Zhou’s business associates also liked to talk like that, pretending they were still young... even though their status and positions weren’t on the sa level.
Then Minister Zhang continued, "Besides, my position as minister is only temporary. I don’t understand much about these things; I’m just leading the way for now. Later, it will all be handed over to you young people... By the way, Zhou Li, have you joined the Party?"
"No."
"Then just call Minister Zhang for now... Don’t worry too much about these formalities."
"Oh, please, have a seat here."
"Alright, alright... Your ho is kept quite clean, cleaner than mine even." Minister Zhang surveyed Zhou Li’s living room. "Did you do all these decorations yourself?"
"Yes."
"Beautiful! Young people these days have good taste! And you’re diligent too!"
"The robotic vacuum cleaner does all the sweeping."
"Technology has advanced a lot."
"Yes."
Since there weren’t enough seats on the sofa, Yin Le had fetched a stool and sat beside them. He looked sowhat anxious—he felt as if Zhou Li were charging by the word.
To Yin Le’s slight relief, Minister Zhang didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he was examining a few ceramic pieces on the TV cabinet.
"These ceramic pieces are quite well-made, similar in style to artifacts excavated from the Han Dynasty." Minister Zhang seed to have so knowledge of this. "Did you make these too?"
"A friend made them."
"Oh, he likes Han Dynasty history!"
"He’s from the Han Dynasty."
"..."
This paradigm-shifting revelation almost choked Minister Zhang, who was quite knowledgeable about history. But he quickly recovered. "Ancient history has many gaps. In the past, these might have remained unresolvable mysteries. Things are better now. I must find so ti to discuss these things with him."
Zhou Li glanced sideways—
Huai Xu was standing at the entrance to Zhou Li’s guest bedroom, leaning against the doorfra and watching them. He hadn’t manifested his form, wanting to save energy for going out with them later, so only Yin Le could see him.
So Zhou Li responded vaguely, "He probably doesn’t know much about it either."
Minister Zhang waved his hand. "No matter, just chatting casually is also good. The main issue is that for those ancient eras, we can only learn from limited written records. We have to deduce aning from classical Chinese texts, which are so concise they demand a lot of imagination. Different people can even interpret the sa text differently. That’s why a work like the ’Along the River During the Qingming Festival’ scroll is so precious, and why ’Dream of the Red Chamber’ warrants so much study by so many. If soone from that actual ti could narrate their experiences, it would surely be different."
"Yes."
Zhou Li was a bit puzzled. What exactly was this visit about? He was starting to feel anxious.
Just then, the future minister noticed a ’bowl’ on the coffee table. It was identifiable as a bowl because it contained several pieces of satay beef.
Given his earlier acknowledgent of people from the Han Dynasty, the minister was now sowhat unsure. He hesitated before saying, "This utensil is rather unique..."
"My cat sculpted this when I wasn’t ho."
"..."
Minister Zhang laughed heartily before getting back to business. "You’ve probably heard from Comrade Yin Le. I’ve co this ti because we’ve only recently learned about this situation. Our departnt has just been established, and we’re very short on talent..."
Zhou Li lowered his head slightly. "My ambitions don’t lie there."
In front of everyone, Tuanzi suddenly leaped onto the coffee table and strolled across it as if no one else were there. She walked from the edge to the center, then buried her head in the uniquely shaped utensil and began eating the satay beef pieces, even turning to ask if the others wanted any.
Zhou Li subtly waved a hand at her, indicating they didn’t need any.
Tuanzi then looked away and continued to eat by herself.
Minister Zhang nodded and let out a long "Ohh," his gaze also turning toward Tuanzi. "I also have a cat at ho. These little things are very endearing. When my daughter first brought her ho, I said I didn’t like cats. But later, I grew even closer to the cat than my daughter did; my daughter even got jealous..."
"OW!"
"Hmm."
Zhou Li didn’t respond to Tuanzi. He was afraid that if he told the minister this cat was a Demon, the minister might start suspecting his own cat and then begin to question his entire life, especially when he walked down the street and saw all the cats and dogs.
A glance revealed Yin Le was also debating whether to say sothing.
Then the minister steered the conversation back. "Actually, we very much hope you will participate in the developnt of the Celestial Master Departnt. Our departnt is just starting out, the responsibilities are heavy, and we recognize your abilities. The nation truly needs you. Or, as Comrade Yin Le and several other young comrades have ntioned, all of humanity truly needs you to maintain this balance."
"If they start a war, I’ll step forward," Zhou Li said honestly. "But I’m a really lazy person. My ambitions lie completely elsewhere, and my plans for the future are entirely unrelated to these matters."
"I’ve understood all that too..."
Yin Le, listening from the side, finally let out a sigh of relief. Zhou Li had finally spoken more than a few words at a ti.
He had been genuinely afraid Zhou Li would leave an arrogant impression on the minister.
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