Father did not deceive anyone.
The "Egg Vegetable Toast" recipe was indeed a mysterious one, and Jiuyue felt that she had successfully penetrated into Mr. Mingyuan's heart; she understood the gloom within him. With his monocle on, Mr. Mingyuan resembled a stern class teacher who had discovered that Jiuyue, a student in his class, had scored only a single-digit on a test.
And it was out of 150 points no less.
But looking on the bright side, her Camouflage Technique was second to none; even Universe Company's technology couldn't detect it.
Different from the optimistic and cheery Jiuyue, Duan Mingyuan was heavy-hearted, consumed by a single thought.
Jiuyue's performance was not up to par.
Moreover, she seemed to be one of those classmates who, despite only scoring a single digit on a test, could still flash a smile at you.
The saying "Ignorance is bliss" perhaps best described this situation, where Jiuyue proved through her actions that as long as one remains optimistic at all times, the pressure from the outside world and the judgments of others can't have any effect on her. Even if she failed a test or had to repeat a grade, this little fox could happily face each day.
However, as the class teacher, Duan Mingyuan was under tremendous pressure.
"Jiuyue!"
"Here!"
"Look at your eyes, your ears, your tail, how could you score zero?"
Scoring zero was the standard for ordinary people who couldn't see malevolent spirits, and he couldn't fathom how Jiuyue could possibly perform so poorly.
It was the early stages of starting a business when manpower was needed the most, but looking into Jiuyue's clear, big eyes, could you confidently entrust her with important matters?
"Mr. Mingyuan, don't be too stressed, I'll brew some floral tea for you."
Jiuyue began to console Duan Mingyuan, as if the person sitting across from her was the one who had failed.
Duan Mingyuan massaged his forehead, trying to suppress the throbbing in his head, "What are your thoughts about the content we discussed yesterday?"
He had worked with many fresh interns during his career, but even the most "clueless" among them wasn't as devastating as Jiuyue. He seriously doubted that the main reason for his business potentially collapsing before it even got off the ground was because of the frustration Jiuyue caused him.
And here she is, brewing floral tea after scoring how much?
"Mhm, oh, about yesterday's content, I thought a lot after lying down on my bed."
Jiuyue opened her phone's memo, where she had listed her reflections on the industry:
"1. Establish a team centered around Mr. Mingyuan, closely follow the work guidelines set by Mr. Mingyuan."
"2. Improve one's work Ability and ideological awareness, be brave to struggle, not afraid of hardship, not afraid of difficulties."
"3. Eat a big plate of chicken tomorrow night."
She had indeed contemplated a lot.
Especially how flatbread goes much better with a big plate of chicken than rice does, so she had to make a trip to the supermarket this afternoon to buy some flour to make the dough.
"Mr. Mingyuan, I'm really good at kneading dough."
This wasn't a boast; she truly had insights into handling any food related to chickens.
Duan Mingyuan finally understood the feelings of high school teachers, realizing that having Jiuyue stand up and listen to the lecture wouldn't save her now. That's why teachers often took a "turn a blind eye" approach to such students. As long as they didn't whisper and disturb others, the teachers would just let them be.
Once again, he thought that working in an electronics factory might have been a better decision.
But he was never one to give up easily. He took out the notebook he had kept from his high school days and turned to the page with last night's annotations, which included a clear categorization of titles for malevolent spirits. As a result, they had to establish a corresponding rank and promotion system within their line of work.
"The question is, how do we establish a clear ranking system and a corresponding promotion system?"
Unlike those industries that already had established systems, they had to start from scratch.
Although he posed the question, Duan Mingyuan had already ceased to hold any expectations for Jiuyue, as it was a rhetorical inquiry.
Work began after breakfast, and this question became the work challenge he needed to resolve all morning.
"Why don't you use yourself as a reference, Mr. Mingyuan?"
When Duan Mingyuan no longer held out hope for Jiuyue, she suddenly put the "what to eat for dinner" question aside and started to ponder this issue seriously.
This hierarchical system actually referred to the path of human cultivation, and she had posed this question on her first night at Mr. Mingyuan's house, but at that time he had evaded it, "Surely, nobody knows better how you got here than you do, Mr. Mingyuan?"
For the evil spirits, this was not a difficult problem at all.
All they needed to do was to keep feeding, keep plundering, and they would grow increasingly strong.
To put it simply, their only principle was to practice "eat, eat, eat, eat."
Given his style, it was absolutely impossible for him to mimic the methods of the evil spirits. Instead, he had to carve out a different path for humanity.
And this was Duan Mingyuan's most distinctive feature—possessing a human body, he had obtained strength that even evil spirits couldn't match. However, based on the "course content" from yesterday, this strength was closely linked to his own abilities.
So, the final question was, how did Mr. Mingyuan get through the "eat, eat, eat, eat" process before awakening his abilities?
Jiuyue felt that the answer to this difficult question might have been with Mr. Mingyuan all along.
Watching Duan Mingyuan fall into deep thought, she took the opportunity to ask, "Mr. Mingyuan, you said evil spirits are paper tigers that break upon contact. Was it like this the first time you tried to expel them?"
Duan Mingyuan neither confirmed nor denied.
"Then, before that, did anything out of the ordinary happen?"
"No."
"So maybe the answer to the question lies hidden within the ordinary daily life."
Jiuyue also racked her brains, feeling she was on the verge of comprehending the matter but couldn't express it outright.
After all, in front of Mr. Mingyuan, she was a naive little fox with zero energy, and she only learned about the information on "abilities" while flipping through the notebook yesterday.
"Actually, I've been curious since yesterday. Why is it that by feeding on humans and absorbing energy, entirely different abilities are nurtured? Mr. Mingyuan, it seems you've never encountered evil spirits with exactly the same abilities, right?"
She carefully measured Duan Mingyuan, hoping to offer some assistance.
"Janitor and drummer."
Duan Mingyuan blurted out.
Upon reflection, when he encountered the evil spirit on his way home late at night, it had crawled out of a pile of trash, the area where janitors worked daily.
Hearing this, Jiuyue finally revealed a relief-filled smile.
Just as expected of Mr. Mingyuan!
Resourceful and cunning, it only took some casual conversation to unravel the puzzle.
However, the next moment, she felt a penetrating gaze upon her, and her smile immediately froze on her face.
"What's the matter, Mr. Mingyuan?"
"It seems I must revise my opinion of you."
"...Ah?"
This little fox wasn't really dumb; on the contrary, her intuition was surprisingly sharp.
"You're like those students in class who are actually very bright but never take their studies seriously."