"Celestial Jade! Pay up, pay up! Hahahaha!"
Only now did Qingque truly understand the benefits of being a leader.
Before, she had always thought that leaders were people who had to do all sorts of work and consider every little thing.
Now she saw that it wasn't at all like she'd imagined.
Aside from having a bit more responsibility and getting punished a bit more harshly when things went wrong, it was far better than being a mere grunt running errands.
When she first took the position, she was on pins and needles, worried she'd make a mistake. But later, she discovered that all she needed to do was coordinate from the center, watch for problems, and point them out.
Her long career of slacking off had taught Qingque a unique method for judging people.
She could easily tell who on her team was competent and who wasn't, who did good work and who did poor work. Then, she just needed to place these people in the right positions, and the Divination Commission practically ran itself. Qingque didn't need to use her brain at all.
All that was left was to deal with inspections from the higher-ups, take responsibility when necessary, and clean up her subordinates' messes. The rest she could completely ignore.
She could even just clock in for work, spend the day immersed in a jade tile parlor, and then clock out when it was time to go home.
Everything else just needed to be arranged properly, ensuring communication lines were always open.
Elysia found Qingque's situation quite marvelous. In the Academy City Noldrei had created, practically every leader felt like they had an endless amount of work to do.
But the Xianzhou Luofu already had its own established system of operation, and most of the time, there was no need to consider too many changes.
As a result, Qingque—perhaps still holding a bit of a grudge from her last defeat—had simply dragged Elysia and the Herrscher of Sentience out to play Celestial Jade.
"Qingque, didn't they say you were temporarily filling in for your Master Diviner? Is it really okay to be playing around like this right after taking the job?"
Elysia was still worried the General might come looking for Qingque.
But Qingque was completely unconcerned. "Our Master Diviner, she's great at everything, but her work ethic is a bit too high. Who doesn't know she wants to inherit the General's position so she can steer the Xianzhou according to her own ideas?"
"Before, I always thought being a leader was a hassle. Now that I'm covering the Master Diviner's duties, I've found that's not the case at all. The Master Diviner works so hard because she wants a promotion and a raise, but a promotion is completely unnecessary for me. The Divination Commission runs just fine as it is. Why bother with reforms? Is she going to reform it into a place where divination is foolproof?"
"Impossible. The foundation of our divination is so limited, and the Jade Abacus hasn't been updated in how many years? What's the use? It's been hundreds of years, has it ever been changed? Useless! If the tools don't change, no matter how you divine, it's still the same old routine."
"I looked into it for a while and understood. This whole thing is a lost cause! Why else do you think the General is always so perfunctory with my Master Diviner whenever they're together?"
"If you divine, it's auspicious; if you don't, it's still auspicious. If you divine, it's ominous; if you don't, it's still ominous. So why be so smug and think you've seen through destiny?"
"Our Master Diviner is just too stubborn. She takes many things too seriously, thinking she has an unshirkable responsibility to the Xianzhou!"
"I'm different. Once I figured out how things work, I became much more relaxed. My abilities are only so-so, anyway. Unless I have a flash of inspiration and figure out something beyond a normal person, or the Aeon of Erudition beams knowledge directly into my head, what I can't figure out, I still can't figure out."
"My skill level isn't much higher than anyone else's in the Divination Commission. Even if there are some minor errors, we can just do a few more divinations together to patch things up. The work in the Divination Commission has always run like this. I just need to occasionally make sure they aren't slacking off or slacking on the job."
"And what a coincidence, I'm an expert slacker, so I can spot them a mile away! This makes my management efficiency skyrocket, which naturally gives me more time to go out and investigate the public sentiment of the Xianzhou."
Elysia strongly agreed with Qingque's words. It was obvious that Noldrei, as a leader, often operated the same way. As his subordinate, she immediately understood the reason for Qingque's methods.
"I never knew you had such superb management skills, Qingque. No wonder you can dominate the Celestial Jade table."
Speaking of dominating, Qingque got a little depressed. She had been beaten so badly by Noldrei back then that her score had gone into the negatives.
This made Qingque a little curious. "Where is your leader? Where's Noldrei? I feel like I haven't seen him much."
Hearing his name, the Senti got angry. If it wasn't for that guy just running experiments whenever he felt like it, they definitely wouldn't have ended up jumping straight into an unknown universe.
The Herrscher of Sentience said irritably, "He ran off with your leader, didn't you know? The two of them changed their clothes and vanished. I haven't seen them since that night. I'm still running all over the Xianzhou trying to find parts to sell and looking for a worker who can help, and those two leaders just took off!"
"I heard they went to Changle Tian. That place seems to be your Xianzhou's famous spot for eating, drinking, and having fun."
Qingque was amazed. "Wow, I never would have guessed! The Master Diviner is that open-minded? I've never heard of her staying out all night with a man before! Have you not been able to contact him?"
Elysia shook her head helplessly. "No contact. The messages I send get no reply, and all other communications have been temporarily cut. I have no idea what those two are up to."
The thought of Noldrei going off to find a "place of pleasure" sent a shiver down Qingque's spine.
She felt the Master Diviner had most likely been dragged off by Noldrei to have fun as well.
At that thought, Qingque suddenly felt a wave of relief. Her original job was also to keep an eye on Noldrei. If the Master Diviner hadn't taken on that key position, wouldn't she, Qingque, be the one getting dragged off to have fun right now?
"It's good that we can't find them. Otherwise, when the Master Diviner comes back, wouldn't I have to get busy again? I never thought being a leader could be this great. Now that the Master Diviner is gone, shouldn't I take the chance to enjoy myself for a few more days?"
"A day without the boss is a good day! Right? You think so too, right?"
Qingque glanced at the colleague from the Divination Commission she had dragged over to make a fourth for Celestial Jade.
The young woman just nodded with a wry smile.
What could she say?
The current leader was Qingque, and under Qingque's leadership, basically every employee in the Divination Commission was swamped. They had shouldered many of the Master Diviner's original duties, further liberating the productivity of the Divination Commission.