Guanliang looked embarrassed.
"Hua, I left the Reignbow Arbiter at the Alchemy Commission."
Hua frowned after hearing this.
She knew nothing about it.
Seeing her reaction, Guanliang explained, "It happened last night."
Hua immediately understood.
At that time, she was busy arguing with her father. How could she spare any attention for the Reignbow Arbiter?
After learning what had happened, Hua fell silent.
It was the fault of the Elation.
After the public noticed Aha, They immediately introduced Lan's true identity to everyone.
The two Aeons should have been sent directly to the Ten-Lords Commission by the Cloud Knights.
Fortunately, Guanliang had prepared in advance. As soon as the Cloud Knights learned about it, they reported it up the chain. That was how the two Aeons avoided prison and were instead sent to the Alchemy Commission.
The corner of Hua's mouth twitched.
"Take people there personally."
She simply could not understand it.
Even if there were reasons behind it... why was her family's Aeon always having its loyalties questioned?
Hua watched Guanliang leave and picked up her jade abacus.
'A voice call? Or a message?'
'Right now... Father should be with Jingliu?'
'Better not disturb them.'
Hua lowered her head and tapped the screen.
[Hua: Do you have time?]
After sending the message, she opened a folder and looked through archives that had been sealed within the Xianzhou for thousands of years.
The documents had been written thousands of years ago. Thanks to repeated restoration efforts by generations of people, they had survived long enough to be placed before Hua.
Based on the dates left by the original author, she learned that the remaining pages in her hands came from the Luofu of several thousand years ago.
Back then, Father was still the General of the Yaoqing.
Hua carefully turned the pages, piecing together the Xianzhou of that era from scattered fragments of text.
The Luofu had repeatedly sent people to the Yaoqing. They never found anything unusual, but before long they would lose contact with the Luofu and disappear without a trace.
The same was true for the other Xianzhou.
Hua paused and slowly closed the folder.
She recalled the contents of The Reignbow's Traces Song.
For example, "The Omniscient One entrusted a dream to Nanke."
And also, "The Reignbow angrily rebuked the nobles."
From Nous revealing the future to Lan, to the conflict between the Aeon and the Xianzhou nobility.
Afterward, Lan, who had not yet become an Aeon, shot an arrow at the Ambrosial Arbor and was forced into slumber.
This was not Lan's fault.
If it had been anyone else, the lightest punishment would have been imprisonment. The worst would have been execution.
Even if it hadn't been Lan, but Father instead...
Had Father arrived at the Luofu, they would still have found fault with him and detained him there.
The Yaoqing had never suffered defeat and had long escaped the Xianzhou's control.
Anyone would feel threatened.
Lan was the most suitable choice.
In the eyes of the Xianzhou nobles, he was the successor personally chosen by the Yaoqing's General. Using him as a target and slapping Father's face could not have been more appropriate.
Unexpectedly, at that banquet, Lan truly committed an unforgivable crime.
Even better, he was highly decorated.
They didn't need to kill him or completely offend the Yaoqing.
Of course, publicly, the Luofu still had to appear extremely angry, angry at Lan's crime, angry at the damage done to the sacred relic.
As for how a human could damage a sacred relic bestowed by an Aeon...
Don't ask. The answer was simply that it caused immeasurable losses.
Any normal person would have sent representatives to negotiate with the Luofu. After several rounds of back-and-forth, the Yaoqing would offer concessions, and the Luofu would reluctantly compromise.
After all, Lan was the hero who had led the Yaoqing to victory.
If Father ignored it, wouldn't that chill the hearts of his other subordinates?
Unfortunately, Father was not a normal person.
Neither were the people under him.
Negotiations? Bargaining?
None of that happened.
They flipped the entire board.
Then what about Lan, who had accidentally entered the game and become a piece on the board? Did he know what awaited him when he arrived at the Luofu?
He definitely did.
Hua's expression instantly changed.
'Reignbow Arbiter... could it be...'
'You're also a Marshal fan?'
'Knowing full well he would never return, yet still obeying Father's order and going to the Luofu?'
Hua pressed a hand against her forehead and let out a long sigh.
No, impossible.
An Aeon couldn't be a Marshal fan.
After all, He was one of the few relatively normal beings in the Xianzhou!
Just as she was thinking about it, her jade abacus began to vibrate.
It was a voice call from her Father.
After answering, her Father asked, "Did you receive the delivery?"
Hua was confused.
"Huh? What delivery?"
She exited the call screen and searched through her group chats.
Skipping past the Interastral Community groups and various Xianzhou groups, Hua searched with difficulty.
After looking for quite a while, she finally found the internal Marshal's Office group chat that she had muted.
Opening it, Hua, "..."
Uncertain, she asked, "...You sent me a money tree?"
Father hummed lightly.
Hua sounded incredulous.
"A three-meter-tall solid gold money tree?"
The iron rooster was actually willing to pluck its own feathers?
Father sounded cheerful.
"Surprised? Unexpected?"
Hua stared at the photo of the tree trunk, thick as a bowl, and remained silent for a long time.
Father suddenly asked, "By the way, how did you take care of your money tree before? What water did you use?"
Hua thought, it's just a potted plant. Was she supposed to spend money buying water for it?
Of course she used water scooped from a pond.
Faced with her father's obsession with wealth, Hua had no choice but to lie.
"...Of course I used the most famous drinking water in the universe."
After hearing this, Father sighed.
"You... forget it. Anyway, you'll finally be able to keep it alive this time."
He skipped the topic and asked, "What did you need?"
Hua replied, "I wanted to ask your opinion."
She switched back to their chat and sent a photo taken when he had just become the General of the Yaoqing.
"Which photo should be used in the textbooks? Should we keep using your real name?"
Across the jade abacus, Father did not answer.
Instead, Jingliu quietly asked, "...Had you turned eighteen back then?"
Hua's mouth twitched. She pretended not to hear.
She lowered her head and looked at Father's photo.
Jingliu was being very tactful.
That face didn't look eighteen at all.
It clearly looked sixteen.
On the other side, Zero said helplessly, "I was definitely an adult."
After saying that, he glanced at the dessert on the table that was already half gone. After muting the microphone, he pinched Jingliu's cheek and teased, "Someone said she couldn't eat any more. Why is it almost gone now?"
Jingliu froze.
The movement of her hand changed direction, and she brought a small piece of cake to Zero's lips.
He quickly bit the fork and swallowed the cake.
"Alright, one bite is enough. You eat it."
On the other side, Hua remained silent for a while before softly saying,
"I think we could make some adjustments to your appearance."
"For example, move this mole somewhere else?"
Father did not care much about how he appeared in textbooks.
More accurately, as long as it didn't affect his normal life, anything was fine.
"Whatever. Up to you."
He casually asked, "By the way, does this mole of mine have some special meaning?"
Hua switched out of the chat again and searched the star network.
After taking a closer look, she blinked in disbelief.
The mole at the corner of Father's eye signified financial loss.
Hua switched back to the photo and checked several times before opening her mouth.
"It's an extremely auspicious sign. Very suitable for an official career."
Father sounded rather helpless.
"...What official career?"
Hua continued, "Excellent official luck. Very suitable for holding power."
Father lost interest in continuing the conversation.
"Just give me a new name."
Hua looked troubled.
"The ones I'm thinking of ...It doesn't match your life experiences at all. Should I reverse-calculate it again? Correct the timing a bit?"
Zero sighed inwardly.
He didn't need praise, nor did he care about criticism.
The only reason he was compromising now was for the sake of his subordinates.
To outsiders, the former Marshal had died long ago. Why go through all this trouble?
Wouldn't any random name do?
Could it be that someone would actually analyze his name and birth chart?
"No need to make it so complicated. Just use the date of Thanksgiving."
———
[At The Alchemy Commission]
The first person Guanliang saw was not Lan.
Instead, it was the Elation, with Their red wavy hair and androgynous appearance.
The moment They saw Guanliang, They slapped Their thigh and exclaimed, "It's you again!"
Grinning, They turned Their head, tugged at Lan's sleeve, and pointed at Guanliang.
"All familiar faces. We're only missing our best friend!"
While laughing, the Aeon suddenly turned Their head and looked back at Guanliang.
Then They asked, "Why aren't you dead yet?"
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