Chapter 1469 - Assessment
His eyes were black—a darkness deep and bottomless, like a child's eyes yet utterly devoid of childlike innocence. Cold as black holes. His gaze fixed on Xiao Zishan from head to toe.
Xiao Zishan felt sweat prickling his back. A demon.
"Just mineral water."
Xin Wuzui pulled a bell cord. Somewhere, a bell rang, and then he spoke as if addressing the air: "Please bring a bottle of mineral water."
Moments later, a female secretary appeared with mineral water in a glass bottle.
"Thank you." Xiao Zishan accepted the bottle, his eyes sweeping over the secretary's neck. She was very beautiful—likely Xin Wuzui's domestic secretary. Xin Wuzui had acquired a domestic secretary rather late, but had easily secured both an S-grade and an A-grade maidservant. Xiao Zishan remembered this well; this man's sense of timing was indeed extraordinary.
Surprisingly, no collar. Xiao Zishan thought silently.
"Does Director Xiao think I should have a naked woman crawling here with a collar around her neck and a tail plugged in her anus?"
Xiao Zishan started. "Not at all, not at all."
"You see, when a person becomes an official, their adaptability and shame threshold often increase significantly. You can now lie without thinking and without blushing. If you want to see, I can have her perform..."
Xiao Zishan gave a dry laugh. "It seems you're living quite well here."
"Thank you for your concern. As a transmigrator, I live quite well. Director Xiao, you must like reading Russian literary works."
"It's okay."
"You definitely like reading them. When you feel alienated from someone, you unconsciously switch to using the formal 'you' (您)—this isn't a Chinese speaking habit."
Xiao Zishan didn't reply. He realized the other party possessed formidable observational skills and rhetorical techniques. Facing him—a man who held power—Xin Wuzui had adopted methods designed to undermine his confidence. He decided not to engage in verbal sparring, opting instead to avoid the sharp edge.
"Even this you've seen through." Xiao Zishan raised his hand in concession. "Actually, I don't particularly like it, but I do enjoy that Russian tone. Let's not dwell on this. Are you used to it here?"
"Ever since I suffered your so-called 'just punishment' until now, life has been passable—though I don't much enjoy having people note how many times I urinate or make love to my maidservant. Generally speaking, you've fulfilled your promise. You've given me every life enjoyment a transmigrator should have. Of course, I've actually been sealed into a glass coffin by you all. But I've grown accustomed to it."
Xiao Zishan nodded with a smile, as if he hadn't heard what was said, continuing on his own track: "So you're living not badly."
"Did Li XiaolĂĽ change her perfume recently?"
"Probably." Xiao Zishan struggled to conceal his astonishment. His relationship with Li XiaolĂĽ wasn't exactly airtight, but few knew about it, and those who did mostly believed "silence is gold" and would never spread it casually. Most critically, Xin Wuzui had access to extremely few transmigrators; the possibility of him knowing this was essentially zero. He couldn't help asking, "How did you know?"
"Your clothes carry the scent." Xin Wuzui twitched his nose, taking a deep breath. "It's a locally produced perfume, separated into top, middle, and base notes. More profound and complex than the perfume I've detected on you in the past—that incense-mixing lady's skills have improved."
"I mean, how do you know about Li XiaolĂĽ?"
Xin Wuzui stared at him for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "You love her very much, don't you?"
"Yes."
"The sudden alertness in your expression when I mentioned that name told me this is an important woman in your life." Xin Wuzui picked up a cigar with a smile. The secretary who had brought tea appeared instantly, half-kneeling at his feet to strike a match and light it for him.
"You haven't answered my question."
"Am I obligated to answer your questions?" Xin Wuzui gazed at his cigar with a playful smile. "You see, you have your little secrets, and I have mine."
Xiao Zishan realized he was being blackmailed—but he had no choice. This villain knew his weakness and would exploit it fully.
"Alright. What do you want?"
"Excellent! Since you became Director of the Administrative Office, your political wisdom has grown. But you're still a bit too cautious. What work did you do before D-Day? Though you're adept at administrative logistics now, I sense you must have been a sales representative before."
Xiao Zishan was genuinely shocked this time. He had never told anyone what specific work he'd done before D-Day; only Chief Wen and Wang Luobin knew. Few had seen his personnel file.
"Let me put it this way: you didn't actually enjoy your job at all. Trivial, exhausting, and humiliating—you must have been in FMCG sales. Ah, a truly loathsome job: having to read faces, ingratiate yourself constantly, sometimes swallow insults and compromise for the sake of the big picture. And you weren't satisfied with your income level."
"I'm still ingratiating and satisfying transmigrators' needs now."
"That's the politeness of a superior. I say 'thank you' to any cleaning lady who pours water and 'hard work' to the courier. That doesn't mean I love them, fear them, or respect them."
"Let's return to the topic—"
"No, no, that's wrong. Very stupid. Interrupting suddenly when someone is speaking continuously disrupts the conversation's flow and damages the atmosphere. We can continue talking because of the atmosphere. You have to learn to transition naturally to the topic you want to discuss."
"Alright, please continue. I'm all ears." Xiao Zishan thought, He's trying to manipulate the conversation.
"That's right. You aren't particularly smart, but you have wisdom—much better than those who have cleverness without wisdom." Xin Wuzui nodded. "Tell me about your past job."
"Monotonous, boring work. Meetings every morning, then patrolling stores, discussing promotions, then back to the office to write reports."
"Then why didn't you switch jobs?"
"Changing jobs is difficult, and there wasn't much room for choice."
"Obviously you lacked confidence in your own abilities. In fact, you indeed didn't have the strength to switch jobs, so you made do with what you had—at least it looked somewhat respectable, didn't it?"
"Roughly so." Xiao Zishan didn't evade.
"Not bad. You can face your weaknesses frankly." Xin Wuzui nodded. "Alright, my request is simple: a change of environment."
"Please be more specific."
"I'm tired of being a human computer in this prison. I think you understand what I mean."
Xiao Zishan nodded. "I understand your feelings."
"No, you won't understand, because you haven't felt it." Xin Wuzui looked up at the sky, blowing out a cloud of blue smoke. "For over two years, I've lived a recluse's life—forced, of course."
"There are no orders restricting your movement except prohibiting contact—"
"Don't tell me the two hulking soldiers in the guardroom, equipped with handcuffs and batons, are there to protect my personal safety."
"In a sense, you could think so," Xiao Zishan said. "Salina has a good memory."
Xin Wuzui's face twitched, his lips moving silently. Xiao Zishan didn't know lip-reading, but he still caught the word: "Bitch."
Xin Wuzui continued: "Don't fool me. My request is simple: transfer me to a job where I can frequently see other transmigrators. And stop having someone 'gently watching' me all the time..."
"I can't do that." Xiao Zishan rejected flatly.
"You can, because you're the one concretely executing policy, aren't you? Don't make excuses about the Political Security Bureau; internal security work has always been your responsibility."
"Impossible." Xiao Zishan shook his head. "I can give you some convenience in your activities, but matters of principle are non-negotiable."
"That's too regrettable." Xin Wuzui shook his head, smoking his cigar toward the sky, no longer looking at Xiao Zishan.
"Fine. You're using your reputation and the woman I care about to threaten me into an exchange," Xiao Zishan said. "But the guards you mentioned reminded me: the key to the chain is in my hand. You haven't broken the chain in all these years. As long as I don't unlock it for you, you won't break free in another twenty—and you've reminded me how dangerous you are. Next, I'll keep watching that chain to see if it rusts."
"You have such great confidence that you can stay in high office forever?"
Xiao Zishan finished the water in the bottle. "I've responded to your proposal. Now answer mine. Let's see if there's still a possibility of a deal."
Xin Wuzui didn't reply immediately. After a long pause, he said: "Before I answer the questions you're interested in, please answer one of mine first."
"Okay."
"Why did you suddenly think of coming here to find me?"
"It's my job..."
"You're lying again. In the two-plus years I've been here, except for occasional Finance Sector transmigrators, absolutely no one has ever come to find me. Let's be open: I have no tape recorder, no recording pen, no camera or smartphone here—these things were all 'requisitioned' by you 'in the name of the Senate.'"
"Alright. To be precise, someone suggested letting you do certain work. I felt very uneasy about this and needed to come confirm personally."
"And the result of your confirmation?"
"Obviously, not suitable." Xiao Zishan had already reached an internal decision of rejection—this person was too dangerous.
"You're wrong there." Xin Wuzui sighed. "Let me tell you something: from last week until now, besides you, two other transmigrators have actually come to find me."
(End of Chapter)