Chapter 40 - Seems Fishy

Leng Jin Yu tried to calm down his heart and nodded as a greeting, as if it was nothing strange, to stand in front of the mighty god of war and answer his questions. "Indeed."

Qiang Yan didn't look at him and was instead still focused on the place, where Shun Tao had disappeared. He couldn't really believe, what he had seen just now. "Was he with a woman just now?"

"Her name is Hong Bao."

"Hong Bao?" Qiang Yan repeated the name quietly. "What kind of goddess is she?" He turned around and found a young man in front of him. He needed a moment, but then remembered, that he had seen him in the courtyard, the fate's scribe had spied on some days ago when he came by with His Majesty. Qiang Yan looked at the gate next to him and recognized it as the entrance to exactly that courtyard. A coincidence?

"She is only a servant girl. She helps the fate's scribe with an assignment at the moment."

Assignment? "He seemed, like he was running away from something."

"It seems, he doesn't want anyone to know. He probably didn't want people to see him with Hong Bao."

"Then how do you know about it?" Qiang Yan examined him. As the god of war, he had naturally paid most attention to the gods training their sword skills when he came by. He had an impression of the man in front of him, but he hadn't looked properly at him the last time. Now, he began to feel like he should do so.

His skills with the sword seemed good enough and he had a calm attitude, that would benefit him, when doing tasks. Furthermore, he had a good overview over the situation.

Mn. That's someone talented right here. Maybe I should benefit from whatever Shun Tao is doing here?

"Hong Bao asked me about some things, so she told me the general gist of what's going on."

"So it's like that." Qiang Yan looked at the courtyard again. Shun Tao had seemed quite casual about it the last time. It was astonishing, he had really found someone to help him and this fast, too. "What did she ask about?"

"The identity of some of the gods, their activities and details regarding the people they observed. Well, Hong Bao said, he didn't need to know the exact identities, but some general information on them, like gender and age, so details might not be the right way to put it."

"The people they observe?" Qiang Yan furrowed his brow. He didn't know much about the job of the fate's scribe and normally he didn't really care either, but what Leng Jin Yu had said, brought him a strange gut feeling.

Something is fishy here …

"That seems interesting. How about following me to the god of war's palace and telling me more?"

Leng Jin Yu thought about it. This was a great opportunity, to get to know the god of war Qiang Yan and maybe leave him with a good impression, but it could also be a problem in the future. "Will that be alright? Hong Bao asked me for help, but the fate's scribe probably doesn't want anyone to know."

"Hogwash!" Qiang Yan clasped his shoulder and pulled him along, just like Shun Tao had done with Hong Bao. "That fate's scribe is only afraid those young gods might know about it and try to deceive him. I already knew he wanted to find someone for the scribe's palace. I'd even ask him about the details, but he's busy with another important task."

"Important task?", Leng Jin Yu couldn't help but mumble.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. It's just that Hong Bao mentioned, that he sometimes seemed to be somewhere else with his thoughts, when she spoke to him."

"Really? And here I thought, that Shun Tao was so popular with the womenfolk." Qiang Yan laughed. He didn't really care for such things, but he had heard some of the younger gods in his palace discuss such a thing.

"He is, as far as I know."

"Mn." Qiang Yan didn't care about that one bit. He was more interested in finding out, what exactly was going on with that observation Shun Tao was doing. He led Leng Jin Yu to his palace and into his study.

He didn't bother with pleasantries and just outright poured a cup of tea for each of them, while waving at the stool on the other side of the table at the same time.

"So, what exactly did he want to know?"

"As far as I know, there were mainly three gods, he was concerned about", Leng Jin Yu started to explain. Since Qiang Yan had already said, that he knew about the assignment, and considering, that he was a god with an official status, too, he didn't hold back and described everything he and Hong Bao had found out in detail.

Qiang Yan's eyebrows drew further and further together. He didn't know, what exactly the problem was, but his gut told him, that something was terribly wrong. Why did Shun Tao care so much about this assignment? Why was he so nervous all the time and let his thoughts wander? Why was he interested in these gods especially? And why was he interested in the type of people, they observed?

He couldn't find an answer at the moment, but he didn't intend to give up so easily. He would find out, what exactly was going on with the fate's scribe.