Chapter 2003: Chapter 224: Final Decision

When Zheng Qing was flustered by the sharp words of the mansion’s host, Poseidon finally arrived in the dining room, giving the young wizard a moment to breathe.

The Little Fox trotted into the dining room with elegant fox steps, tail high, but upon seeing Zheng Qing sitting beside Su Shijun, she was so delighted she lost her composure, squealed, and darted into the warlock’s arms, chattering about her tiresome routine of waking up at six every morning and having to sleep by ten.

The warlock felt a sense of empathy but couldn’t promise anything, so he just scratched the Little Fox’s ears to comfort her.

Clink, clink, clink!

The sound of a silver spoon tapping a glass interrupted this brief chaos. Su Shijun glanced at Poseidon but said nothing, only clearing her throat.

The Little Fox still wanted to resist and stay in the warlock’s arms, but a pair of large hands beneath her gently nudged her aside, forcing her to sit down.

The witch looked at the warlock with satisfaction, nodding slightly.

Zheng Qing completely ignored the sorrowful gaze of the Little Fox beside him and gave the witch a big smile, while racking his brains on how to bring up the topic of inviting her to act as Absolution’s mentor.

With the sound of ‘clink clink’ just now, the fox maids filed in, each holding silver trays, serving dishes for the hosts and guests in turn.

Su Man, the head housemaid, bent over and introduced the dishes to Zheng Qing in a low voice.

In front of the young man was Mexican cheese with olive oil, bacon asparagus roll, pepper-flavored lamb chop, paired with room temperature sweet red wine; in front of the witch was goat cheese with bitter green leaves, ginger pumpkin puree, beauty pepper, boiled shrimp, paired with chilled white wine.

In front of the Little Fox was a dish of warm milk, with a few raw eggs cracked into it.

“Such a waste, such a waste.”

The young cost student felt a bit uneasy in his seat, muttering in a low voice, “I just said, anything would be fine…”

“Anything is the most complex dish.”

Su Shijun stirred the pumpkin puree in front of her with a spoon, replying slowly and methodically, “When a guest says ‘anything’, it means the chef has to make a reasonable combination based on the guest’s identity, gender, preferences, and so on. In contrast, something straightforward like boiled cabbage or a French mille-feuille with clear requirements is easier… so sometimes, don’t say anything.”

Zheng Qing’s knife paused for half a second while cutting the lamb chop.

He wasn’t sure if the witch meant more than she said.

Fortunately, there was Poseidon—when adults’ conversations fall into awkward silences, the presence of children is very necessary, acting like a lubricant to smooth the dry atmosphere.

“Isn’t Poseidon eating too little?” The young cost student forked a piece of lamb, stuffed it into his mouth, and while chewing, pointed to the Little Fox sipping milk beside him.

The Little Fox’s originally drooping ears perked up and she looked eagerly towards the witch at the head of the table.

Su Shijun wiped her mouth, picked up her goblet, and said gently, “It’s not too little, girls should eat moderately in the evening… it’s beneficial for maintaining the activity of magic power.”

The Little Fox’s ears drooped again, and she languidly licked the egg liquid on the milk skin.

The topic ended again here.

In raising offspring—especially when the offspring is a fox—the experience of the Qingqiu Su Family is evidently more reliable than that of a warlock who has been in the wizard world for less than two years.

The dining room quieted down again, with only the slight clattering of knives, forks, spoons, and tableware, and no other sounds, including no sound from the Little Fox licking the milk skin.

Zheng Qing forked a bacon asparagus roll, stuffed it into his mouth, and racked his brains thinking of how to tactfully express his intentions.

“The school hunting competition officially starts next week.”

After swallowing the bacon asparagus roll, he finally found the appropriate opening line: “It seems like this year’s hunting competition will be difficult… I just hope the Absolution Hunting Team won’t exit right after entering.”

Su Shijun tilted her head to look at him: “Wow, for a wizard who once critically injured the current Augustus with a single shot and destroyed half of the Black Prison Castle with a spell, you don’t seem very confident.”

This wasn’t the response Zheng Qing had anticipated—he originally expected the witch might inquire about who the guiding teacher for the Absolution was, after which he could extend the invitation in turn.

But now.

The young man silently cut a small piece of lamb chop, popped it into his mouth, then picked up his wine glass and took a small sip. The red wine in the glass was mildly sweet, a taste quite different from Green Bee or Amber Light.

“That kind of thing won’t happen again.” He felt some confidence thinking about the Little Green Snake in his ear.

“Let’s hope so.”

The witch raised her wine glass, clinked it with the young man’s, and elegantly took a small sip: “Confidence is the prerequisite for success, the school’s hunting ground has always lacked confident hunters.”

“But Absolution is encountering a bit of trouble now.” Zheng Qing knew this wasn’t the best time to speak up, but he didn’t want to wait anymore, bravely seizing the opportunity after two sips of wine.

Su Shijun glanced at him with a bit of curiosity in her eyes.

“The school hunting party selection tasks require each hunting team to invite a guiding teacher, and for now, the Absolution Hunting Team can’t find a suitable candidate.” Since he had already started, Zheng Qing simply put down his tableware and detailed the series of unfortunate events in recent days, including each teacher’s reason for turning them down.

The witch listened with relish, and only when the young man’s rant concluded did she laugh and say: “So now you want a professor… or a regular lecturer, to act as Absolution’s guiding teacher?”

Zheng Qing nodded like a pecking chick, looking at her eagerly, just like Poseidon had earlier.

“No problem.”

To the young man’s surprise, Su Shijun agreed very readily: “I have never participated in the school hunting competition as a guide before… It should be an interesting experience.”

Zheng Qing let out a heavy sigh of relief, finally unable to help but ask his previous confusion: “But aren’t you… employed at the research institute? This time, the school hunting competition requires the guiding teacher to be a faculty member…”

“You didn’t know?” The witch looked at him strangely: “I lead researchers at the institute, so I can earn two salaries a month… Did you come to find me without knowing why?”

“It was Brother Huang… the Yellow Flowered Cat from San You Bookstore, who told me to find you.” The young man honestly sold out the Flower Cat.

“That cat.” Su Shijun pinched her fork, thoughtfully poking at the boiled shrimp in front of her.

Beside her, Poseidon let out a big yawn, waking the witch from her contemplation.

She gave Su Man a look, signaling the head maid to take away the well-fed and groggy Little Fox, then winked at Zheng Qing:

“Atlas has a saying, a saint needs eight hours of blessing to get a child to sleep. But in practice, we have a better way… for example, warm milk with three raw eggs.”

“Eating too many eggs before bed isn’t good,”

Having solved the biggest problem, Zheng Qing was also in the mood to chat, actively stating: “I can get you a lavender bubble bath ball, let her soak in it before sleeping, she’ll sleep like the dead.”

“The dead don’t necessarily sleep peacefully.”

The witch corrected his misunderstanding: “As far as I know, Gongsun Bing always had insomnia… and Silent Souls also frequently have nightmares.”

Gongsun Bing and Silent Souls are both members of the Moon Council; however, one is a zombie and the other a ghost, theoretically speaking, both are dead.

Until then, Zheng Qing never knew that zombies could have insomnia, and ghosts could have nightmares.