Fu Xuan left in a huff.
The very thing she had been worrying about for so long had already been discussed and settled by others.
Noldrei didn't care at all about merging the Alchemy and Divination Commissions.
That man believed that even if she, the Master Diviner, didn't participate, events would still proceed according to the people's own needs. The path wouldn't be altered by the presence of one or two individuals, unless a more brilliant mind could devise a more perfect theory than his own.
And Noldrei didn't think coming up with a new theory was a simple matter, just as he knew the Xianzhou had struggled for years to resolve its conflicts of faith.
Therefore, once an opportunity to mend this rift in belief presented itself, whether it was the Divination Commission or the General of the Divine Foresight, they would all try to push it forward.
But the Master Diviner was furious. She felt like a clown.
Was such a major event not worth discussing with her?
Why was it so easily shared with some netizen online?
Without even the slightest intention of hiding himself? Was he worried he wouldn't be discovered quickly enough?
Fu Xuan didn't understand. Noldrei's actions didn't look like infiltration at all!
What Fu Xuan didn't know was that Noldrei had never intended to infiltrate from the start. As long as he didn't die at the hands of the Alchemy Commission, then the Commission would inevitably fear him publicizing their deeds.
It was the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus within the Alchemy Commission who feared the Cloud Knights finding leverage against them.
To prevent Noldrei from handing that leverage to the Cloud Knights, the Disciples would make a major concession and compromise with him.
In this delicate dance of conflict, Noldrei was ironically the safest one at the center of it all.
Fu Xuan took a moment to return to the Divination Commission.
The atmosphere inside was a little different. She felt that the work in the Commission had become a bit... a bit 'lax'?
No, 'lax' wasn't the right word. Rather, it was much more calm and stable than when she was around.
"Strange? Where's Qingque?"
Fu Xuan looked around but couldn't find Qingque. She worried that Qingque might have snuck off to some Celestial Jade hall to play mahjong again.
The Master Diviner's first priority was, of course, the repair of the Matrix of Prescience. The operation of the jade abacus was her greatest concern.
"Wait... is that Qingque?!"
Fu Xuan rubbed her eyes. She never would have expected Qingque to be obediently stationed in front of the Matrix of Prescience, constantly running experiments and making adjustments.
Qingque was staring intently at the Matrix's status, tweaking each component one by one.
She looked every bit the model employee.
This version of Qingque absolutely stunned the Master Diviner.
Could it be that Qingque didn't just enjoy slacking off, but that she simply looked down on the menial work, thinking the position she was given was too low?
It wasn't an impossible scenario. There had been cases in the Xianzhou's history of talented individuals who refused low-ranking positions, looking down on them as mere labor, only for a General to quickly engage with them and offer them a high office.
Fu Xuan didn't believe Qingque was that kind of person. She had never seen any such proud and aloof tendencies in her.
"Yo? Lady Diviner! What brings you back? Are you here to inspect the results?"
As if just noticing Fu Xuan, Qingque immediately scurried over like a sycophant.
Fu Xuan glanced around, thinking back to the work ethic she'd seen from the other Divination Commission members on her way to the Matrix.
She asked, "Why is everyone else so lax in their work? I don't see any sense of urgency in them."
Qingque's heart tightened. She quickly explained, "Lady Diviner, this isn't a matter of urgency. It's because I did my homework and arranged everyone's work schedule properly. We must always keep a certain number of people free so they can remain in a state of readiness to jump into work in case of an emergency."
"These people are deliberately kept free to handle emergencies. Otherwise, if the Matrix were to be attacked again, we wouldn't have enough manpower or time for repairs."
"Besides, their workload is already heavy. I just changed the work hours from an inefficient eight hours to a highly efficient six. This way, the Divination Commission can run itself."
Qingque was worried the Lady Diviner would think her colleagues still had more to give and could be squeezed further. In reality, the productivity of those six hours already matched, or even surpassed, that of the original eight.
It was precisely because Qingque had promised this extra two hours of rest that everyone's efficiency had skyrocketed. This, in turn, gave Qingque more opportunities to delegate her own work and slack off.
Fu Xuan couldn't help but frown. "What do you mean by that? Are you saying they were slacking off for eight hours a day under my watch?"
Qingque was instantly horrified. "No, that's not it, that's not it at all! It's just that you have to ensure employees have enough enjoyable work time and clear, goal-oriented tasks to achieve this kind of six-hour efficiency."
"The so-called normal eight-hour workday doesn't mean working without any breaks; it just fragments the rest time. But that way, you can't rest well, and you can't work smoothly. So, I consolidated the rest periods. It makes more people feel like their workload has actually decreased."
"Lady Diviner! You can't keep piling more work on us!"
Qingque just wanted to slack off; she never intended for her colleagues to bear the brunt of the Lady Diviner's pressure.
She had her own selfish reasons for increasing efficiency, but that didn't mean she wanted to sell out her colleagues just to provide the Lady Diviner with better divination services.
Fu Xuan felt there was something strange about this.
She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Are you saying that six hours is enough to get all the normal work done? And there's even spare time to have a portion of the staff keep an eye on urgent matters?"
For some reason, Fu Xuan just couldn't believe it.
Wasn't Qingque's behavior basically telling her that she, the Master Diviner, had no management skills and was possibly even forcing everyone to do useless work?
But Fu Xuan herself was buried under a mountain of work every day. How could she possibly believe that Qingque could handle all the other tasks while also overseeing the repairs on the Matrix of Prescience?
"Please, have a look!"
Qingque immediately took the Master Diviner to see the work she had completed.
She said she had handled it, but in reality, Qingque had just done a final check and written a summary. That was it.
Even so, the documents were handled perfectly.
The Master Diviner could tell with a single glance that Qingque's work was flawless.
'Could it be that I... really am... unskilled...?'
'But this...'
Fu Xuan asked with a complicated expression, "Qingque, why did you never work this hard when you were under my command?"
Qingque never expected her boss to suddenly ask such a question.
All she could do was stammer, "Well, it's mainly that... working under you... isn't easy. The day's work feels endless. Even when I finish one task, you always just throw another one at me."
"I just tell everyone what needs to be done for the day, which parts I'll handle, and then the rest of the time is their own. Their efficiency just goes up on its own. They even start proactively finding ways to change inefficient work methods."
"Your management style... isn't very effective..."
Hearing Qingque's answer, Fu Xuan felt a surge of grievance. She didn't even know who to talk to about it. This was the second time she had been hit with a blow by one of her own people.