Chapter 248: The Husk Cherry Cake
Cillin didn’t respond to Gen Xingchen. No affirmation, no denial, just plain silence.
In fact no one could affirm anything about this matter right now. If what Gen Xingchen was true, this matter had to be traced all the way back to his grandfather’s generation. Gen Xingchen could only figure out the truth if he sought out his grandfather a.k.a. The previous King Fuji. However, his grandfather hadn’t dabbled in politics for many years already, and he showed up only once or twice in a while during a gathering to inquire about his grandchildren’s wellbeing per year.
As the next successor of the throne, Gen Xingchen was the grandchild whom his grandfather interacted with “the most”, but even then he never spoke more than ten lines of dialogue. That was why Gen Xingchen was unfamiliar with that generation as well.
After Gen Xingyao and Gen Xingming had told Gen Xingchen about Cillin, the young man had decided to meet Cillin personally without alerting his father or other family members.
Although Gen Xingchen didn’t manage to pry much useful information from Cillin’s mouth until now, he still treated Cillin with some courtesy. His attitude would have been different if the Fuji symbol on Cillin’s finger didn’t belong to his grandfather’s generation though. Worse, if Cillin’s symbol was the same kind as his, he might have acted a little more forceful and coerced Cillin into revealing in depth information, even if the young man was Guan Feng’s student right now.
At the same time, at Guan Feng’s house.
Right now Guan Feng was sitting on a sofa in the living room with an extremely pissed off look on his face. The expression was on an entirely different spectrum compared to the smiling, cultured gentleman of the norm. He was very similar to Pistura in this regard.
Three people were sitting on the opposite side of the living room, and one of them had a literal bullet hole in their collar. They were exchanging glances and trying to decide who would be the first person to speak with Guan Feng, because they had woken up the latter from his afternoon nap and put him in an extremely bad mood.
“Ahem!” The leftmost guy and probably the one with the highest position of the trio was the one who spoke up. “Guan Feng, we know how you operate. We wouldn’t have disturbed you at such a time if at all possible.”
Guan Feng continued to glare at him icily. “Talk now or fuck off!”
If a student was listening in right now their jaw would’ve hit the floor already. Who knew that Guan Feng was capable of expletives?
“You’re done throwing your tantrum, right? Look, you nearly cut off my neck!” The guy at the center said.
Guan Feng raised his eyebrows in response. “I knew it was you. Or did you think there’s another reason your neck is perfectly intact?”
Noticing Guan Feng’s obvious impatience and his colleagues urging him to get to the point with their eyes, the leftmost guy finally said why they came today.
“You’re aware of sea blue gold, right?” The man asked.
Sea blue gold was a kind of alloy and the most important building material when it came to building deep sea probes and submarines. However, no specific ratios or ultrafine elements had been decided for the sea blue gold yet. The related researchers were still researching for a way to upgrade the sea blue gold’s formula.
“I’m not going to waste my breath,” Guan Feng said expressionlessly. He wasn’t a researcher in that specific department, but he still knew a lot of things.
“Alright,” The man passed over an electronic document to Guan Feng before explaining, “This is the image and analysis data sheet we received earlier. The sea blue gold mentioned here is better than the standard sea blue gold everyone is using right now. This means that sea blue gold formula used in the process of making the probe in the data sheet is more advanced than everything we have right now.”
Guan Feng looked at the illustration in the document before saying disdainfully, “So, you’re saying that none of the academicians of the Royal Academy of Sciences are able to come up with a better formula?”
“No, we couldn’t.”
All three of them felt embarrassed when they admitted this. It was true that there weren’t many people who were researching the sea blue gold right now, but it was also true that they couldn’t come up with more effective formula than this. Still, the existence of this formula gave them the drive to do better.
“I’m sure you’re aware Project “Abyss” has reached a critical stage. If we can acquire this upgraded version of the sea blue gold, we’ll be able to solve the problems that plagued us while we’re tackling the project very quickly.”
Guan Feng tossed the document back to the leftmost guy and tapped his forehead with his hand. He was aware of Project “Abyss”; it was one of the top ten research projects being tackled by the Royal Academy of Sciences right now. Some time ago, “Abyss” had run into a difficult obstacle they couldn’t solve until this showed up, so he could understand why they had come to him so urgently even when he was enjoying his afternoon nap. Still…
“What does this have to do with me? I’m not a member of Project “Abyss”,” Guan Feng crossed his legs and lay against his sofa.
The man rubbed his hands together before answering, “The man with the upgraded version of sea blue gold is at the nineteenth imperial star region. We’d contacted him by long range communication, and we learned that his situation is rather complicated. That’s why we want to send someone to talk to him in person. We can skip the honorary scholar title and promote him into an academician in the Royal Academy of Sciences directly, but we still need to send someone to negotiate with him, and that someone needs an escort…”
Guan Feng interrupted him before he could finish. “Get out of here, my students are way better than bodyguards, and they have neither the time nor the leisure to play bodyguard for your men!”
“Haah, it’s not really a bodyguard job. The military will be escorting us, but we will feel more secure if we can bring someone from within the Royal Academy of Sciences with us. We’ve already summoned a couple of students from AF1 and AF2, and we especially value whoever you can afford us during this trip. Everyone’s hoping that you can spare us one of your students., you know.”
The leftmost guy was the associate dean of the Royal Academy of Sciences, but he had to swallow his indignation despite being told to get out by Guan Feng because he already made a promise to grab one of Guan Feng’s students as a bodyguard. Guan Feng was as popular as he was famous, so who wouldn’t want to get his students’ aid? Pistura, Fu Qingqing and Goryeo were all booked by all three forces of the empire even before they graduated. It showed just how much in demand they were.
This also meant that this request was made by someone in Project “Abyss”, but the senior administration of the Royal Academy of Sciences were the ones who butted into this business in an attempt to cultivate relationships between their school and the students of the famous teachers. The reason they did this was to ensure that the students would maintain a level of relationship with the Royal Academy of Sciences that was beyond education even after they left their affiliated schools and joined other forces.
Although the members of the Royal Academy of Sciences normally held themselves to higher moral standards, they knew that they couldn’t survive if they practiced a holier-than-thou approach. This was something the three important men sitting in Guan Feng’s living hall were well aware of.
Guan Feng was without a doubt a husk cherry cake* in everyone’s eyes. He was the teacher of kings and future kings, the leader of munitions and firearms projects, and every student he taught turned out to be famous. Pistura, Fu Qingqing and Goryeo might still be greenhorns, but it was only a matter of a few years before everyone in the empire would know about them.
*in English there is an idiom called ‘sell like hotcakes’, right? “Husk cherry cake” basically has the same connotation. It means that Guan Feng is in high demand.
Guan Feng waved his hands. “They’re all busy with their own work!”
“You just recruited a new student, haven’t you? A new student wouldn’t be bogged down by missions, not to mention that the new courses haven’t even started yet.”
A lot of people such as them knew that Guan Feng had recently taken in a new disciple. They had been been planning for this since.
“No way! I haven’t even had the chance to use him myself! There’s no way I’m lending him to you easily?!”
The trio’s eyes lit up when they heard this. It wasn’t outright rejection, so it meant that there was still room for negotiation.
Cillin had no idea what his new teacher was talking about with the strangers. His own conversation wasn’t exactly progressing well since neither parties revealed too much due to their own reservations.
Gen Xingchen’s finger curled as he looked at Cillin. “When do you think the Fuji symbol on your finger will react?”
“I’m not sure myself. I thought it would react when I met you guys, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.” The lack of reaction was exactly why Cillin had decided to reveal it openly before them.
“In that case, I suppose I have to ask my grandfather himself. But,” Gen Xingchen stared straight into Cillin’s eyes and said seriously, “Please keep this a secret until we have an answer!”
“Of course. I’m not ignorant.”
Gen Xingchen looked at the time and stood up. Then, he said, “Since we’ve met, why don’t we have a meal together.”
Cillin had no good excuse to turn down the future King Fuji, so he was about to say yes when his communicator suddenly came to life. After checking the name on the display, Cillin excused himself and went into the study to answer it.
“What happened, weren’t you taking your afternoon nap?” Cillin asked after Guan Feng’s image popped into view.
“I was disturbed.” Guan Feng was no longer wearing the stern expression he had when facing the trio. “I have a mission for you, so pack your stuff and get ready. I’ll inform the school about your absence and arrange your courses for some other time. Come here right away after you’re done. You have two hours.”
“Okay.”
Once the call was done, Cillin walked out of the study and apologized to Gen Xingchen. “Sorry, I don’t think I’ll be eating with you. Guan Feng just called me for a mission.”
“In that case, I shan’t impose on you. Work hard.” Gen Xingchen didn’t mind the change of plans. It meant that he could use the time to ask his grandfather if he had any siblings in the past.
Gen Xingming and Gen Xingyao failed to pry anything useful out of the gray cat’s mouth despite working together. That was why they were full of doubt when Gen Xingchen finally gave them the okay to come out. But before they could get their answers from Gen Xingchen, the future king had already left while dragging them with him.
“You’re going to Old Fox Guan’s place again?” The gray cat swayed its tail. “Are you sure he isn’t looking to take revenge for his fishes?”
“You thought too much.”
Cillin grabbed the gray cat by the scruff of its neck and walked outside. He didn’t have a flying car yet, so he could only get on a train on AF1’s railway line to Guan Feng’s house.
When Cillin reached Guan Feng’s house, he noticed that his teacher was bending his waist and pruning the plants in his courtyard. He looked like he was in a very good mood.
“You’re here.” Guan Feng said while holding his scissors, “There’s a document on the table of the living hall. Give it a look.”
Cillin read through the document at the living room and roughly understood the goal of his mission.
“Are you done reading?” Guan Feng walked in and tossed another electronic document into Cillin’s hands. “This is the best sea blue gold formula the the Royal Academy of Sciences’ internal divisions are using right now. Memorize it, and remember to confirm its authenticity after you went there. If there is no mistake, help them acquire the new formula.”
Cillin nodded before asking, “How do we benefit from this mission?”
Guan Feng was important enough that he could turn down this mission if he wanted to, but he chose to accept it instead.
Guan Feng stretched out two fingers. “Funds and sea blue gold. With both, I’ll be able to develop PTS S.”
“PTS S?!”
“Yeah. In the past, I can only imagine it in my mind, but now I can actually make it for real.” Guan Feng tossed an imperial debit card into Cillin’s hands. “Here’s half of your payment in advance. The other half will be given together with the bonus for this mission.”
Cillin’s swiped the card on a card reader that was built next to a communicator and checked the number. The gray cat on shoulder couldn’t stop staring at it.
Goryeo was right, Guan Feng didn’t skimp when it came to his students.
Cillin put the card away safely before catching a box from Guan Feng. This box contained some emergency medical supplies and food rations that couldn’t be bought outside. Some of them were products circulated within the Royal Academy of Sciences, and some of them were made by Guan Feng himself. Cillin was certain that these items would be worth a large sum of money if he were to sell them.
After explaining to Cillin what the medicines and food were, Guan Feng added, “The Royal Academy of Sciences have their own private network. You should be able to contact me anytime as long as you aren’t in a heavily jammed area or quarantine zone.”
“Understood.”
“Mm. If there’s nothing else then go outside and wait at the courtyard. A flying car will come and fetch you later. Oh right, I don’t normally restrict my students, but there is one thing that I must remind you of.”
“I’m all ears.”
“You will encounter different students during each mission, and it’s only natural for some to not see eye-to-eye with one another sometimes. But whatever you do, you’re not allowed to embarrass me, you hear!”
“Yes sir.”
Cillin understood what Guan Feng meant. To put it simply, he wasn’t allowed to lose if he got into a fight.
After he was done speaking, Guan Feng closed the door and left Cillin waiting outside the courtyard.
As expected, a car flew over to fetch Cillin not long after. It ran on autopilot, and it had brought Cillin to a port.