Mr. Zhongli, we can't slack off anymore!

"You, come with me!" the traveler said in a low voice, his anger surging in his chest, a barely maintained calm that revealed a hint of sharpness through his clenched teeth.

Without a word, she grabbed Jin Moli's slender wrist, which was covered by a thin red shirt, and turned to walk towards a quieter corner on the outskirts of the construction site.

“Lu Ren, don’t make things too difficult for her. After all, she meant well…” Upon seeing this, Kavi, the well-known “good-natured man” of Sumeru, immediately felt his heart jump into his throat. He reflexively took the blame upon himself, his face filled with unease and guilt, as if he were the one who caused this awkward situation.

"Are you feeling sorry for him?" The traveler stopped and turned back to give him a "mind your own business" look.

"No, no! Absolutely not!" Kavi shook his head vigorously, a hint of panic flashing in his red eyes. He immediately fell silent, not daring to say another word.

“I’m informing you in advance.” The traveler turned back and said to Kavi with a serious expression and a cold, businesslike tone, “Even if we do have the opportunity to open a studio together in the future, personnel appointments and management rights will have nothing to do with you. You have no right to interfere with my handling of my subordinates!”

These words were so powerful that they left Kavi stunned, his lips slightly parted, unable to utter a single word.

The traveler stopped looking at him, grabbed Jin Moli without turning back, and disappeared into a quiet corner piled with building scraps and old templates.

……

Far from the noise of construction and the curious glances of others, only the evening wind whistles softly through the gaps in the building materials.

The traveler released her grip, put her hands on her hips, stared at her bewildered and innocent subordinate, and questioned, "Tell the truth, were you deliberately trying to cause me trouble? Did you find it amusing to watch me rush back in such a hurry?" Her voice was low, but each word was clear, carrying suppressed anger.

"You understand my authority, right? As the deputy head, in emergencies, I have the right to decide the fate of personnel without going through the head. With just one letter sent back to the Liyue Harbor headquarters, you could be immediately recalled and given a major demerit. In severe cases, you could be dismissed and never rehired, with your record kept on file."

"If your actions are deemed as intentional interference with important official business, or even damage to the interests and reputation of the 'Wang Sheng Tang,' you will face more than just losing your job; you may also be sued and held accountable. Do you understand?"

Am I usually too kind and approachable to people?

The traveler was furious that a new employee at the Rebirth Hall, who had just finished his internship, dared to so blatantly play him for a fool.

Jin Moli seemed to be frightened by the traveler's harsh questioning. She stared blankly at the traveler's angry face for a moment.

Immediately, her long eyelashes drooped like startled butterfly wings, obscuring the expression in her eyes. She sniffed softly, her movements slow and pitiful, and pulled a plain white silk handkerchief from her wide sleeve, covering her mouth and nose before turning away.

Her shoulders began to tremble slightly and uncontrollably. At first, it was just a slight tremor, but soon her entire slender back was swaying, as if she were enduring a great injustice and grievance.

Suppressed, intermittent sobs came from behind the handkerchief: "Waaah... I thought... the Vice Hall Master always cherished his friendship with Mr. Kavi... Jasmine dared not neglect it, and when the Vice Hall Master was not around, she constantly reminded herself that she had to take good care of the Vice Hall Master's friend... for fear of the slightest mishap..."

“Today… today an unexpected incident occurred. Although it was only a minor injury, Jasmine is inexperienced and filled with fear. She was worried that she might not be able to provide timely help and that the injury might worsen… She was also afraid that if she reported it too late, the Hall Master would have to worry even in Liyue…”

Her voice choked with sobs, tinged with tears, sounding broken and heartbroken: "I never thought... I never thought that in the end, Jasmine was still so foolish, that her good intentions backfired... that she angered the Vice-Chairman and delayed important matters... It's all Jasmine's fault for meddling and not thinking things through... Waaah..."

She sobbed as she haphazardly wiped her cheeks with a handkerchief, quickly soaking a small patch of the white silk handkerchief.

"Uh..." This heartfelt lament, coupled with her frail and trembling figure, left the traveler completely bewildered.

Her anger seemed to have hit a wad of cotton, finding no foothold.

"I...I didn't say anything particularly harsh, did I? Why did you..." She was at a loss, and her voice unconsciously lowered.

Could it be... an act?

A thought suddenly popped into my head. But this trembling was just too realistic…

I really want to ask her right now if Zhongli sent her here specifically to torment me and test my patience!

"Waaah..." Jin Moli's sobs didn't stop; instead, they grew even more heartbreaking. With her back to the traveler, her shoulders trembled more violently, and her words became increasingly resolute: "Presumably... Moli is clumsy and incompetent; staying by the Vice Hall Master's side would only add to his worries... In that case... Moli should... should resign voluntarily... Never again will she set foot in the Hall of Rebirth... In the future... in the future, her remains will be abandoned in the wilderness, to be accompanied by wild grass and dust..."

As she finished speaking, she was almost sobbing uncontrollably. Her mournful and desperate tone, coupled with the tragic description of "the body abandoned in the wilderness," instantly elevated this minor conflict between subordinate and superior to the ethical issue of "not being able to rest in peace."

What's worse, they were not far from the main road, and Jin Moli's unrestrained crying and attention-grabbing words immediately attracted the attention of two or three Sumeru residents who were passing by.

People slowed their pace out of curiosity, whispering among themselves, their eyes darting back and forth between the traveler standing with his hands on his hips, his face ashen, and the weeping, tearful Jasmine, who looked like a little white flower in the wind. They pointed and whispered among themselves.

"You...you stop crying..." The traveler felt a chill run down his spine, vaguely sensing that things were heading in a very bad direction.

She was clearly the one who started the argument, so how did she end up being seen as the one who was aggressive and bullying kind and weak women in just a few words, her words, and the eyes of the onlookers?

A beautiful woman shedding tears is already pitiful, let alone a classically gentle beauty like Jin Moli, whose tears have a tremendous impact, instantly placing the traveler at the center of a media storm.

The gazes around them, whether overt or covert, seemed to be silently condemning: Look, that well-dressed woman has bullied such a gentle young lady until she cried!

So what if you can cry!

The traveler cried out in his heart, filled with grief and indignation, "If I hadn't used all the tears I shed in the desert today to wash the sand out of my eyes, I could have given you a performance of what it means to be a 'fierce woman shedding tears'!"

Some outrageous scenarios even flashed through her mind uncontrollably: What if at this moment, some "male lead" suddenly appeared, rushed over and hugged Jin Moli in his arms, then looked at her, the "vicious female lead," with a look of heartbroken disappointment, and scolded her for bullying the kind and innocent girl, forcing her to apologize... Wouldn't she become the unlucky female lead in that kind of tragic novel plot in an instant?

She waited nervously for a few seconds, then ten seconds... Fortunately, no "scumbag male lead" with his own background music appeared to stage a scene of fiercely protecting his mistress.

The traveler breathed a slight sigh of relief, but as a mature deputy head of the Hall of Rebirth who needed to maintain her image, she still had to find a way to appease the crowd under the increasing pressure of the onlookers.

"Hey! You vicious woman over there! What's wrong with you? How can you bully a young girl like this in broad daylight?" A slightly slick male voice rang out, carrying a deliberately exaggerated sense of "righteousness".

The traveler quickly glanced at the speaker, a young man who was dressed reasonably well but whose eyes were wandering. He had an indignant look on his face, but his gaze kept glancing at Jin Moli's shoulders and back, which were trembling slightly from crying.

The traveler shook his head inwardly: What a pity, just a typical ordinary face, lacking presence, he can't be the protagonist. It seems those tropes in novels are all lies after all.

Seeing that the traveler only stared at him coldly without rebuttal, the man seemed to see an opportunity. He stepped forward, making a gesture to place his hand on Jin Moli's slightly trembling shoulder, saying, "Young lady, don't be afraid, if you've wronged anything..."

Sigh, he really is a despicable guy who wants to take advantage of others' misfortunes and gain some verbal and physical advantage...

The traveler's eyes turned cold.

"roll."

She uttered only one word, her voice not loud, but carrying a unique, deep, and imposing aura.

The man's outstretched hand froze in mid-air as he felt a chill run down his spine, a bad premonition creeping up.

The next second, with a muffled "poof," a solid rock pillar, at least two meters tall and shimmering with a pale golden rock elemental luster, burst forth from the ground without warning, precisely planting itself between him and Jin Moli, separating him and blocking all his improper gaze and movements. The breeze stirred up by the rock pillar ruffled the hair at Jin Moli's cheek.

The man was so frightened that he took two steps back, his face turned pale, and dared not say another word. He slunk away through the crowd.

The traveler ignored the others and turned to Jin Moli, who was still sobbing. Her tone softened as she helplessly advised, "Can you stop crying? You see, when girls act too weak, it only arouses the desire of some scoundrels to take advantage of them and creates an image of being easy to bully. What if you really encounter someone with ill intentions who takes advantage of your emotional state? Wipe your tears, let's go back first, okay?" She tried to reason with her.

“I’m not leaving… Waaah… I want to go back to Liyue… I’ll resign from the hall right now… Waaah…” Jin Moli covered her face and stubbornly shook her head, her shoulders shaking even more violently than before. The traveler’s persuasion only deepened her “despair.”

"Ha..." The traveler looked up at the sky, which was beginning to darken with twilight, and sighed deeply and helplessly.

Are you even an adult?! You're 28 years old! Stop acting like a spoiled brat!

She was internally ranting and raving, feeling her patience rapidly slipping away.

"Then... how can you stop crying?" The traveler decided to take the most direct approach: "I'll treat you to a big meal, buy you beautiful new clothes and jewelry, okay?" She just wanted to spend a little money as soon as possible to quell this sudden "tearful disaster" and leave this place of trouble.

"Then...then the deputy hall master can't be mean to me anymore." Jin Moli's sobs miraculously subsided a little, and she made her first condition through her fingers as she sobbed.

"Okay, I understand," the traveler replied through gritted teeth, feeling that he had never encountered such a difficult problem of "appeasing subordinates" in his life.

"No matter...no matter what mistakes Jasmine makes in the future...the deputy hall master must first communicate with her patiently...cannot...cannot blame Jasmine all the time, and even less can he say that he wants to expel Jasmine..." she continued to cry as she added, escalating the conditions.

"Okay?" The traveler hesitated before agreeing, thinking that he should just agree for now and deal with any real problems that might arise later.

"Let's put it in writing." The last three words, tinged with a hint of a sob, came through the gaps between her fingers that were covering her face with unwavering determination.