Being a sycophant was definitely not an easy job. Your superior had to find you both competent and amusing at the same time, which made the whole endeavor quite difficult. To put it simply, you needed to strike just the right balance between seriousness and liveliness—an exceedingly difficult task. Every time, it felt like dancing on the edge of a knife.
Zheng Fan didn't particularly like this feeling of having to "perform" in front of important figures. But sometimes, when you were under someone else's roof, if you didn't bow your head, you couldn't even find shelter from the rain. So, his only hope was to one day build a house of his own.
Halfway through their journey, Zheng Fan received permission to return to Green Willow Fortress. Lord Jingnan offered no reward, nor any other explanation. However, sometimes, not being punished and being allowed to go home as if nothing had happened was, in itself, a statement.
