Chen Tengfei put down the documents he had been reading and turned to the woman beside him.
"Is there no word from him?" Chen Tengfei asked, his cold eyes gleaming under the light.
The young lady stopped her movements and replied stiffly. "No."
Chen Tengfei's handsome face was wiped away and a frown grew on his face. Irritation and anger welled up inside his heart, but he pushed down his feelings and gave a small scowl instead.
"That useless thing... Tsk! He was just too eager to become successful..." Chen Tengfei muttered under his breath.
The lady pursed her lips and spoke slowly. "It has been more than three months already, and there is no word from 'Feng Yongrui'... I think he's probably dead by now."
Chen Tengfei sighed and massaged his head slowly. "This is why I shouldn't have sent that idiot..." he groaned. "He's weak, stupid, and too obsessed with power. Not to mention his writing skills... Urgh..."
The lady raised an eyebrow. "But didn't you say that his stupidity will be an asset for us?" she asked.
"He's stupid, so he'll be easy to control. That's what I thought at that time. But after reading his daily reports... Even I have my limit, okay?" Chen Tengfei grumbled.
"Well..." the lady sighed. "He hasn't contacted you for over 3 months. He's most likely dead."
"If he's dead, then he's dead. What does he have to do with me?"
Chen Tengfei sneered, "It's not like I have to prepare a funeral for him, right?"
The lady next to him nodded her head and Chen Tengfei sighed. "Well. I never really liked him anyway. If he's dead then it looks like we'll have to find another substitute for him," he said.
Chen Tengfei took a sip of his tea again and looked at the young lady.
"Do you have any candidates in mind?" he asked.
The lady stared back at Chen Tengfei. "Didn't you already choose the candidate?" she asked.
"Previously, you were already worried that Feng Yongrui wouldn't do his job properly, so you sent me to look for a suitable chess piece to put in Xu Chao's mansion. You said that if this chess piece is exposed, then you'll just dispose of Feng Yongrui and keep this chess piece instead," the woman said.
"Ah, I remember now. You're right. What's the name of the chess piece?"
"Jin Ling," the lady said.
Chen Tengfei nodded his head. "Alright. Send him to Xu Chao's mansion."
"Understood."
***
Meanwhile, Feng Yongrui had no idea that his peaceful life was going to be disrupted very soon. At the moment he was eating and chatting happily with Big Brother.
"And you have no idea what happened next," Miktor said, his eyes as wide as saucers.
"What happened?" Feng Yongrui asked, smiling from ear to ear.
"Big Brother said, 'Don't you know who I am?' You know, at that moment, everything was so cool. That scene. That moment... Imagine it, Fool!" Miktor said, slapping his thigh excitedly.
Feng Yongrui gave a low chuckle. At first he found this group of people to be rather intimidating, but it turns out they were like this! Sometimes he felt that they were better than the System.
Big Brother had many connections, which meant that... he had access to lots of gossip.
This servant's sister got married to her neighbor's cousin... but then she found out he was having an affair, so she followed him and found out that his mistress was her best friend's older sister...
Another servant was having trouble in his house. His grandfather, who was already a widower and well past his prime, had remarried his aunt's grandmother, who was even older. Apparently the two were actually childhood sweethearts who were separated... Now, this servant had trouble because there was an inheritance war coming up.
There was yet another servant who said he had connections to the Cloud Realm. He had hinted several times that his aunt's son's best friend was working as a spy in the Cloud Realm. In fact this person was a spy inside Huang Qingsheng's mansion (the third prince).
Now this particular piece of information was something that Feng Yongrui wanted to hear the most. Feng Yongrui had little to no access to information regarding the Cloud Realm, but he needed to know what Chen Tengfei was doing and how things were progressing up there.
Based on the gossip he had heard, Feng Yongrui found out that the third prince was winning against the fifth princess, Huang Lifen. The third prince had managed to gather information regarding her loyal followers.
He had also found out that she had secretly trained a group of elite assassins. This was vital information -- if the Heavenly Immortal found out that his daughter had elite assassins at her disposal, wouldn't he become wary of her and doubt her loyalty?
If news of this got out, the fifth princess would have a hard time. She might lose support from her followers, and she would probably fall out of favor with the Heavenly Immortal.
After Feng Yongrui heard this news, he couldn't stop thinking about it. Feng Yongrui knew that he had no reason to be worried. His task in this world was extremely simple.
If Feng Yongrui decided not to care about other things, then he could pretty much have a carefree life. After all, even though he was a spy, he was pretty useless, right?
But... ever since he sent his daily reports to his Boss, somehow Feng Yongrui always felt ill at ease, as if something bad would happen. It was a strange feeling, an irrational one, but he couldn't get rid of it.
This was the reason Feng Yongrui was so obsessed with hearing any news or information about the Cloud Realm.
Of course, Feng Yongrui did not fully believe the rumors he had heard. The servant who spread this rumor might be lying or exaggerating. Perhaps the servant's information was wrong. But Feng Yongrui still wanted to hear those rumors, even if they were only rumors.
When Feng Yongrui was finished eating, he said his goodbyes to Miktor, Big Brother's people, and Big Brother himself. He went to the stables and began his usual routine, taking care of the Phantom Stallions.
As he worked, Feng Yongrui chatted with the System.
"I've already replied Chen Tengfei's letter, so why hasn't he replied?" Feng Yongrui grumbled.
"Call him Boss," the System interjected. "Have some respect for him~ He is a prince, after all..."
Feng Yongrui rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
"Last time I asked him if the fight between the 3rd prince and 5th princess is his doing, but he didn't reply... Instead, he had me write down a bunch of information... I mean, what kind of 'Boss' is he anyway?" Feng Yongrui scowled.
"Host, do you think the protagonist has as much free time as you?" the System sneered.
Feng Yongrui: "..."
"I am a hardworking person too, you know," Feng Yongrui shrugged his shoulders.
"Sure, sure~" the System grinned.
"Anyway, Host. You should just relax. Maybe your Boss is just busy, so he doesn't have time to reply to you. You'll definitely get your answer soon," the System comforted.
Feng Yongrui took a deep breath. "Well, I surely hope so."
At the end of the day, Feng Yongrui returned to his room, cleaned himself with a simple spell, and laid on the bed. For some reason he was beginning to be bored with this world.
Every day was exhausting. He had to work in the morning and write those terrible reports at night. Well, at least he had friends... But with those people, Feng Yongrui couldn't be himself. He had to lie low and pretend to be a fool.
And his Boss... Well, his Boss never even replied to his letters. It made him feel like he was sending letters to a wall, where no one saw him, no one heard him, and no one would care. For some reason, it was a stifling feeling.
Thinking about his Boss, Feng Yongrui wondered what Chen Tengfei was like. He was the protagonist of this world, but Feng Yongrui had never met him before!
Feng Yongrui couldn't help feeling nostalgic when he looked back at the previous two worlds. In those worlds, he knew what the protagonists were like.
In the first world, there was the cute and gentle Ma Bo. In the second world, the protagonist was his intelligent and overprotective older brother.
In those two worlds, Feng Yongrui could be himself. He developed a good relationship with the protagonists, and his life was pretty good.
Because he got to know and develop a relationship with the protagonists of the previous worlds, Feng Yongrui was able to connect with them, empathize with them, and cheer for them as they lived their lives.
But in this world, things were different.
Feng Yongrui had absolutely no impression of his Boss. What was he like? Was he a good person? Was he overpowered? Was he good looking?
Feng Yongrui had no idea.
***
Note: This chapter has won the award for the longest chapter title so far :)