The meeting lasted three hours, and everyone was close to tears from the scolding.
Bai Cha would only scold them a few times before sorting out the work. She wasn't like Ye Feng, who would quote classics to mock them from their every aspect to their intelligence, from their hearts to their appearances, and even make them take notes.
Moreover, they still had to submit a summary plan to his email for him to review. Failure to submit on time would result in punishment, and it was also stated that the Shadow faction might not support such work in the future.
Not support?! This was a death sentence. With the three factions in a three-way standoff, the absence of any one faction would be fatal. Furthermore, the Shadow faction was gradually aligning itself with the neutral faction.
Currently, Bai Cha's attitude led to Country Z also agreeing to the neutral faction's distribution. The other two factions were relegated to mere departments and branches. If not for some people in the Guangming faction absolutely refusing, the neutral faction would have long consolidated power with Bai Cha.
Now, with the Shadow faction entering the neutral faction, its influence was immense. Offending the Shadow faction was no different from offending the neutral faction, and the neutral faction was the true final arbiter.
Therefore, everyone obediently took a full notebook of notes, including Bai Cha.
When the meeting ended, let alone others, Bai Cha's resentment was heavier than a vengeful spirit. Holding the notebook in her hand, she looked at the young researchers from the Guangming faction with her first-ever gaze of ill will and resentment.
Really, who wasn't a victim?
These people also dejectedly lowered their heads, unable to say a word, and slunk away.
As soon as she returned home, Bai Cha dragged Lucifer into the study. As soon as the door was closed, she handed the notebook to Lucifer.
"This is a summary of the plan's shortcomings. Please help me write it. Please." Bai Cha pressed the notebook against Lucifer's chest with a pleading look. "I've written down everything my father said at the meeting. Please help me with the subsequent summary and personal reflections!"
The fearless, dare-to-do-anything little ancestor Bai Cha actually stooped to writing a post-meeting work summary for her own father. Whether before or after her amnesia, this was the first time Bai Cha had ever asked Lucifer for help, and she did it with such sincere and resentful eyes that Lucifer found it both amusing and exasperating.
"Don't you write work summaries often?" Lucifer asked with some confusion, but he still accepted the notebook obediently.
"Ah! You don't know, my father's scholarly demeanor is completely different from mine!" Bai Cha exclaimed in frustration. Her memory was recovering, not much, just a few years.
But those few years were enough to give Bai Cha a significant psychological shadow regarding her father. From the strictness of her martial arts training to being taken to meetings as a child to accompany a group of old men and uncles in writing work summaries, every memory made Bai Cha want to escape.
Martial arts training was fine; Bai Cha wasn't someone who couldn't endure hardship. But the meeting summaries were truly a nightmare for Bai Cha. Bai Cha's meeting summaries were dry, to-the-point work reports, preferring brevity and hitting the mark.
But Ye Feng was different. As a renowned "scholar" of Jun Yao, Ye Feng's work summaries always required his profound discussion, profound self-criticism, profound apology, and profound reflection on his work.
Why can't we just talk about work? Don't make me reflect!
Thus, young Bai Cha developed the habit of doing everything perfectly, thinking she could thus escape reflection and discussion.
If her tasks were not done perfectly, she would be lectured by her father. If they were done perfectly, she couldn't write the discussions and reflections. Every meeting when Bai Cha was a child, her little face would be long and drawn, and she would agonizingly rack her brains, plucking out empty rhetoric from every corner of her mind.
In the end, she simply passed it on to Bai Ze. Every time they returned from a meeting, she and Bai Ze had reached a tacit understanding: Bai Cha would do the tasks that required manual labor or investigation for Bai Ze, and Bai Ze would write Bai Cha's reports.
"Please, Lucifer, you must help me. I can't write articles. They're all electronic documents, so my dad definitely won't be able to tell you helped me." Bai Cha truly wanted to cry.
As a warrior, she was completely unrelated to scholars. She estimated that when she hadn't lost her memory, it was probably the same, otherwise, her mind wouldn't have gone blank just looking at the notebook.
"Hmm... alright, I'll send it to your email at 8 PM tonight." Lucifer sighed helplessly. It was rare to see Bai Cha looking so crestfallen, and Lucifer actually found it a bit amusing.
"Yay!" Bai Cha immediately became happy, jumped up vigorously, and skipped to the computer to start organizing her tasks.
Lucifer shook his head helplessly. The amnesiac Bai Cha was more like a child. The previous Bai Cha was always calm and composed, but now she was much more reckless in her actions.
Perhaps she was always like this, but her past experiences had worn away all her edges.
Leaving the study, Lucifer had just closed the door when he found Ye Feng smiling at him not far from the door. Lucifer's fingers stiffened slightly, and he involuntarily felt a bit guilty.
He was Bai Cha's butler, so if Bai Cha asked for his help, he would help. Even Ye Feng couldn't directly command him on how to do things.
However, Ye Feng was Bai Cha's father. Lucifer couldn't ignore his small personal feelings. When facing the man he so wished to call father-in-law, Lucifer always felt a bit reserved.
"She asked for your help?" Ye Feng leaned on his wheelchair. He had only recently finished his rehabilitation, and his complexion was a little pale, but his sharp eyebrows and starry eyes, along with his refined demeanor, still couldn't hide his inherent character.
"She's not good at these things, and it's not that necessary for the master," Lucifer chose his words carefully, wanting to put in a good word for Bai Cha. "The master's tasks have always been perfect, and she's already reflected enough. In comparison, the master might need more rest."
He knew Bai Cha disliked verbose and roundabout matters. When Ye Feng was not around, Bai Cha had even gotten angry at people talking too much nonsense during meetings.
If he recalled correctly, the most frequent phrase Bai Cha uttered in meetings was: "Get to the point!"
"Heh heh, Bai Ze also told me the same thing when he was around," Ye Feng raised his hand to interrupt Lucifer, his tone devoid of any dissatisfaction, but rather with a hint of relief. "When she was young, she always pushed Bai Ze forward. Bai Ze was like me, good at dealing with roundabout matters, so Bai Cha always had him help. Now, it's your turn."
Lucifer pursed his lips. He didn't know what Ye Feng meant by his words and feared that he might say something wrong and upset Ye Feng.
In fact, Lucifer had seen Bai Cha sit at her desk staring at the computer many times. Lucifer speculated that Bai Cha's memory might not have recovered to the stage of Bai Ze's death.
But now, Bai Ze was nowhere to be seen. How could the intelligent Bai Cha not guess what had happened?
But she said nothing.
"You don't need to be so cautious. Although my eldest son is my regret, I am not someone who stands still. Rather, Cha Cha is the one who can easily get stuck in one place and not move on," Ye Feng smiled. "I've seen Cha Cha's past actions and demeanor, and I can tell she's been learning from me."
Task recordings were preserved for a long time. Bai Cha always carried such things with her to prevent framing or entrapment. Ye Feng, in order to understand the gaps in Bai Cha's life during his absence, had reviewed many of these.
In the recordings, Bai Cha went from being inexperienced and nervous, staying up all night to calculate, to being organized, cautious, and silent, and then to being indifferent and composed. Perhaps her brain never rested, even when she was just walking on the street.
And every time, Ye Feng saw his own shadow in Bai Cha's handling of matters. Or rather, Bai Cha had been living in the shadow of the past, desperately struggling. Several times, she seemed to have discovered something and tried to break out of this cycle, but all failed.
Only the last time, she mustered all her courage, gave up everything she possessed, and chose what she truly wanted to do. But in the end, she was still trapped in the past.
He was truly an incompetent father, too impulsive. He had made two twelve-year-old children support a family just for the sake of accompanying his wife.
"You are the father the master admires. Family is very important to her," Lucifer knew this. When he first followed Bai Cha, the family disallowed any mention of deceased family members.
Because even a slight trace would throw her into disarray.
"What else?" Ye Feng continued to ask.
Lucifer paused. From Ye Feng's eyes, Lucifer could tell that Ye Feng knew everything, but Ye Feng wanted him to say it. Lucifer hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"You are the master's father. Her admiration and dependence reached their peak after your death. She was overshadowed by you and your wife, following your footsteps further and further, but also becoming stagnant," Lucifer said truthfully. "She suffered and struggled in the shadows, then compromised, until... until Mr. Cang Liu and Miss Freya's deaths awakened her."
"Clap clap clap."
"That's very well said. Why are you always hesitant to speak?" Ye Feng clapped lightly with a smile, his tone encouraging. "Since you are willing to be a civil official behind her, you must have the resolve of a loyal minister offering advice. Companionship is important to her, but it cannot be mere companionship."
Lucifer was stunned, not expecting Ye Feng to say this. He was adept at navigating human relationships but couldn't quite figure out two people: one was Bai Cha, and the other was Ye Feng. With the former, it was unfathomable; with the latter, it was not daring to speculate.
"The person who appears most unrestrained might be the most easily bound. The person who appears most free might be the most easily imprisoned. Although it seems contradictory, I think you understand," Ye Feng smiled and turned his wheelchair in a different direction, slowly moving away. "You did very well before, but I hope you can do even better in the future."
"...I'm sorry, I might not have done well enough before." Lucifer gave a wry smile.
At least in the very beginning, he had genuinely wanted to devour Bai Cha's soul.
Resilient yet suffering, great yet bound, free yet lonely—such a soul would surely be the most delicious nourishment. He just didn't know when he changed his mind. By the time he realized it, he was already deeply in love.
"Heh heh heh, do you really think the bond between you and Cha Cha is a coincidence?" Ye Feng smiled in a good mood. Under Lucifer's confused gaze, he explained further, "When dragons and humans resonate, their hearts connect, even for demon dragons. And demon dragons seek the most attractive souls. Connecting hearts with the soul they cherish most is inherently fatal."
Lucifer's eyes widened, and he suddenly awoke. Perhaps it was true that the onlooker sees more clearly, but he had overlooked such a simple truth.
Perhaps everything was already destined from the moment the demon dragons first chose their masters. Those souls were imprinted in their hearts from the very beginning, becoming either the closest siblings or the most passionate lovers.
To touch the soul they favored most with the sense of connected hearts—there was nothing more alluring in this world.
"My daughter, you must take good care of her..." Ye Feng turned around with a smile, controlling his wheelchair as he moved further away.
Bai Cha was busy until very late today. It was past midnight, and the light in the study was still on. Bai Cha was reviewing tasks with a hint of worry on her brow.
"What's wrong, my master?" Lucifer pushed a dining cart over and placed a cup of hot milk beside Bai Cha. "The meeting report has been sent to your email. Please review it."