With that, Herta hung up the phone, not giving Fu Xuan a chance to explain. Fu Xuan could only sigh. Madam Herta's personality is still so absurd.
And that Lingsha—she had agreed to everything days ago. Now, she had called in alchemists from the Alchemy Commission and a host of dream mazulu to stand against the cat-cakes. Lingsha was one of her Six Edict colleagues, while Herta was the key to her recommendation to Marshal Hua. Help one, offend the other. Help the other, lose the recommendation. Either way, she was caught in the middle.
Qingque sat nearby, yawning lazily. Fu Xuan turned and glared at her. Before their wedding, Qingque had made all kinds of vows and promises to help her inherit the Lightning Lord and the General's position. And now? All she did was slack off, play jade tiles, or sleep.
The more Fu Xuan thought about it, the angrier she became. She strode over and flipped the table.
Bam.
Qingque jolted awake, looking around in a panic. "An earthquake? Fu Xuan? No, the Xianzhou can't have earthquakes—did we hit an asteroid?!"
Fu Xuan suppressed her rage and said coldly, "Qingque! What are you talking about? The Luofu's navigation routes have always been carefully calculated by me. There has never been any mistake. Understand?"
She grabbed Qingque by the ear. "I have warned you repeatedly: during work hours, address me as Grand Diviner. And if you dare slack off on the job again, you'll be kneeling on a washboard."
Qingque froze. Before marriage, she said I could slack off as I pleased, that she would work and earn money to support us. How has everything changed?
"Grand Diviner, who made you so angry?"
Fu Xuan explained the situation with Herta, Lingsha, the estate, and the recommendation.
Qingque scratched her head and smiled wryly. "Grand Diviner, if you help Herta, you offend Lingsha, and word will spread that you're favoring outsiders over your own Xianzhou kin. If you help Lingsha, you lose Madam Herta's recommendation, and your path to promotion becomes uncertain. Either way, you're in a lose-lose situation."
Fu Xuan glared at her. "You think I don't know that? I understand everything. I just don't know what to do."
Qingque thought for a moment, then lay back down, closing her eyes lazily. "If you ask me, Grand Diviner, stay neutral. Offend no one. If they question you later, just say you were busy calculating the Luofu's navigation routes and had no time."
Fu Xuan frowned, but after some thought, she could only agree. Help neither. Offend neither.
---
Elsewhere, Herta Ninety-Nine directed the cat-cakes in a final confrontation with the dream mazulu at the north gate of Lingsha's estate. At the south gate, the Alchemy Commission alchemists faced off against the Herta puppets.
One alchemist watched the endless stream of puppets emerging from the portal and sighed. "Lingsha has been quiet for only half a month, and now she's locking horns with Madam Herta again? There must be tens of thousands of these puppets. One hammer strike and I'm done."
"Keep your voice down. If Lingsha hears you, she'll say you're undermining morale."
"Undermining morale? We're medics, not soldiers. The Cloud Knights are smart—they're not getting involved."
The other alchemists also felt a retreat was in order. They were healers. This was not their fight.