Xin Yunmao seemed unaware of the chain reaction his lunch-getting behavior had caused. He appeared quite puzzled by Chu Zhishui's strong reaction.
Fortunately, the Economic Development Department was busy with work lately, so Chu Zhishui didn't have much interaction with other supernatural beings in the bureau. Since everyone had short memories, once the rumors died down, it shouldn't be a big deal.
Thinking of this, Chu Zhishui calmed down and said seriously, "We should avoid appearing at the bureau at the same time for now."
If they were to create another scene like at the full bureau meeting, the gossip-loving crowd would surely never quiet down.
"Why?" As a righteous bamboo spirit, Xin Yunmao asked with an innocent expression, "Do we have anything to hide?"
"..."
Chu Zhishui was rendered speechless by his forthright attitude, unsure whether he was genuinely asking or deliberately testing something. While they were being misunderstood by other supernatural beings, his casual attitude left her completely baffled.
If he were a man, she would suspect he was highly skilled at subtle flirtation, executing an advanced strategy by defining their relationship with just one sentence. Whether she agreed they needed to be secretive or not, neither answer would be right. Yet they couldn't just let things develop unchecked.
But he was just a bamboo spirit - surely his thinking couldn't be that complex?
It was like playing cards - while Chu Zhishui played by normal rules, Xin Yunmao suddenly threw down a pair of jokers. His move stunned her; she couldn't tell if he was a novice playing randomly or if he had everything planned out. Either way, she had no idea how to continue the game.
He had completely disrupted her strategy.
"You're right, the innocent have nothing to hide," Chu Zhishui took a deep breath, trying to relax her mindset and rationalize, "It's normal to be close when working in the same office, right?"
"Yes, we are very close," Xin Yunmao nodded happily, "After all, you're my believer, so it's natural for us to be intimate."
Chu Zhishui: "?"
She found it absurd: "Do you have trouble distinguishing similar-sounding words?"
She had meant "innocent" (qing), but he had understood it as "close" (qin) - what kind of keyword comprehension was this!?
"While others are like grass on the plains, you're like notes off the scale," Chu Zhishui suspected the Kung Pao chicken was too spicy, making her feel hot all over. She quickly grabbed some vegetables to counter the spiciness. "I shouldn't have discussed this with you."
He probably didn't even understand what the other supernatural beings were gossiping about, let alone any sophisticated flirting techniques. She had really overestimated him.
She decided to focus on eating and put the matter out of her mind.
Xin Yunmao leaned against a nearby desk, quietly observing Chu Zhishui as she ate.
She was particularly focused, chewing unhurriedly. Perhaps because the food was slightly spicy, her lips were tinged with a bright red color, making her whole appearance more radiant. She ate like a small animal, in such a serious state as if savoring exquisite delicacies. Even though he didn't need to eat, he was drawn in by her behavior and became curious.
It was always like this - things he wasn't interested in would become interesting once she tried them, making him want to try too.
Chu Zhishui looked up and caught him staring: "What?"
When Xin Yunmao was quiet, he usually maintained an expressionless face. His status as a spirit lord made him dignified, and his powerful abilities made him sharp, so much so that his cold face carried an overwhelming pressure that often terrified Jin Yu. But she never felt he was intimidating. Even when he didn't smile in their group photo at Dan Mountain, his clear gaze was like moonlight, appearing gentle even without a smile.
He watched her impassively, but she never felt afraid, often thinking he seemed rather simple.
To be a bit disrespectful, he was like a big dog observing her. If she reached out her hand, he would shake it.
Xin Yunmao asked: "What dishes are these?"
"Kung Pao chicken, fish-flavored shredded pork, garlic stir-fried bok choy, and tofu with green onions," Chu Zhishui glanced at the small soup container and continued, already feeling slightly full, "And Chinese yam with pork rib soup."
She inwardly marveled at how generous Sister Hong was with portions, always feeling like the food was packed so densely that one person could never finish it.
Xin Yunmao pondered for a few seconds, then pulled out another pair of disposable chopsticks from the bag. After opening them, he casually picked up a piece of tofu with green onions and tasted it methodically. He wanted to know what made it taste so good that she enjoyed it so much.
"What's wrong with you?" Chu Zhishui watched in shock, "Just because you don't have an official position doesn't mean you should always eat leftovers. You can get your own portion."
Xin Yunmao mumbled: "But you can't finish it."
"...So you're supporting the Clean Plate Campaign?"
If she had been mortified and devastated the first time she saw him do this, now she felt numb seeing him do it again. People's bottom lines get eroded step by step like this - nothing he did could surprise her anymore.
Fortunately, he only tried one bite of each of the four dishes, probably just curious about today's flavors. After tasting, he helped her clean up the meal boxes.
In the afternoon, Chu Zhishui had a phone call with Director Qin to discuss the New Perspective Video promotional event. They drafted a list and included local Huaijiang businesses willing to participate, which would be sent to Wang Yiwen's team.
On the day of the New Perspective promotional event, they would launch numerous high-quality videos, offer membership discounts for new users, and release many promotional products to help users adapt to the watch-and-buy model. The event would have a warm-up period, promoting not just New Perspective videos but also giving significant exposure to partner businesses.
New Perspective would also help promote deeply partnered businesses, and Wang Yiwen suggested that Chu Zhishui find some promoters, like KOL bloggers, to ride this wave of traffic for better results.
"It's difficult for our organization to find promoters," Chu Zhishui said worriedly, "We'd have to pay them, and if word got out, it wouldn't look good. We don't even allow bureau staff to appear in livestreams."
Chen Zhuhui had never appeared on camera in livestreams; only the bureau's cats had been shown so far.
While the Observation Bureau Company could engage in sales, they absolutely couldn't be flashy about certain things, like spending heavily on marketing. Having New Perspective Video promote them as part of poverty alleviation policy was different from paying for their own promotion.
"But isn't it wasteful not to let New Perspective promote you?" Wang Yiwen suggested, "I've seen online that your products have good reviews. Have you seen any reliable organic product reviews, like bloggers reviewing your products? We could promote those people too."
"But honestly, it's better to promote our own people. This kind of exposure will help them gain followers too. Giving exposure to strangers is like doing charity. Don't you know anyone who's a blogger?"
Chu Zhishui sighed: "Our resources are about the same, you know all the people I know."
The two had been on the same team at Dragon Knowledge Video, and their networks had long since overlapped. Honestly, there wasn't anything new to discover.
"That's true," Wang Yiwen muttered, "But I don't want to work with them. They're too close to Dragon Knowledge, and the timing isn't right."
Once New Perspective Video developed further, Wang Yiwen could contact old connections, but the situation wasn't stable enough yet to risk alerting their former company.
Chu Zhishui: "I'll look around, but I probably won't find anyone."
"Okay, take a look first. If you can't find new people, I'll go to those people, lucky for them."
Only then did they end the call.
Chu Zhishui thought to herself, how could she find new people when she spent all day dealing with supernatural beings?
Since Wang Yiwen had mentioned organic reviews, Chu Zhishui started searching various platforms to see if any bloggers had reviewed Observation Bureau products. The APP's algorithms were impressive - searching for "Ginger Candy" brought up "Fu Chengzhuo's favorite," leading her to see lots of male celebrity content, and then a familiar beautiful face appeared.
This was a beauty blogger named "Du Ruoxiang's Treasure Box," possibly a reference to "Du Shiniang Angrily Sinks Her Treasure Box." She had an impressive number of followers, who called themselves "Treasure Fragrance."
Chu Zhishui found the face familiar and clicked on a livestream recording, which seemed to be the blogger explaining her recent situation to fans.
In the video, the beauty wearing traditional Han clothing had stunning makeup but spoke rather dejectedly, saying listlessly, "Yes, I'm not following celebrities anymore, it was affecting my life too much. I've deleted all my celebrity-related videos, so sisters who followed me for that content can unfollow."
"I feel focusing on oneself is most important. Looking back at that time, it was like I lost my mind. Whatever people do, they shouldn't lose themselves. At least I've finally realized that."
[Completely agree with Xiang Xiang! I was the same when I was a fan girl!!]
[It's okay to unfollow, I only followed because of Xiang Xiang anyway!]
The beautiful woman seemed to recall something and said melancholically, "Ah, I'm so envious of those who passed the civil service exam. Why can't I pass it?"
[Doesn't Xiang Xiang want to be a full-time content creator? Her beauty content is so good, why suddenly want to take the civil service exam?]
[The ultimate goal is indeed getting a government position.]
After hearing this conversation, Chu Zhishui finally recognized Du Ruoxiang through the beauty filter - wasn't she the flower spirit who used to chase after Fu Chengzhuo?
Du Ruoxiang seemed to be doing makeup transformation during her livestream, looking quite different from her usual appearance and demeanor, which was why it took Chu Zhishui so long to recognize her.
Chu Zhishui casually followed Du Ruoxiang, then suddenly thought of something and asked, "Jin Yu, do spirits also work in human society? Like doing social media or having side businesses?"
"I suppose they do." Jin Yu tilted her head, "I don't know about others, but Brother Niu has a side business. He doesn't want to be a section chief because he's too lazy to report his stocks and funds every year, saying being a leader would restrict him too much."
Chu Zhishui marveled at Niu Shi's wisdom and affirmed, "...Brother Niu is really something."
It seems the Observation Bureau, like human organizations, has strict management over its employees. Come to think of it, spirits outside the bureau can earn money more easily, at least through methods like taking disciples, and they have more freedom of action.
Since she didn't have human connections, she might as well look for spirit connections.
Chu Zhishui wanted to contact Du Ruoxiang, but after the latter stopped being a fan girl, she became reclusive and hadn't updated recently. She wasn't accepting business collaborations, and her private messages seemed to go unanswered for ages. They hadn't exchanged contact information before, so it was difficult to get in touch now.
Chu Zhishui continued asking, "Jin Yu, do spirits have any quick ways to contact each other? Something that doesn't exist in human society?"
"Quick contact?" Jin Yu pondered, "In the bureau, if we need quick contact, we issue an arrest warrant."
Chu Zhishui promptly rejected, "...That won't work."
"Other methods mostly depend on innate abilities. Some spirits' abilities might work, but I don't know who has such powers."
Chu Zhishui was stunned. She didn't know which spirit had such abilities either, but she knew one spirit who had all abilities.
Unfortunately, that spirit was the least likely to agree to this.
Chu Zhishui turned around, looked at Xin Yunmao behind her, and smiled like a spring breeze, saying softly, "Your Highness, excuse my interruption, but could you help me contact a spirit?"
However, Xin Yunmao was unmoved by her smile. His jawline tensed as he glanced at her sideways, asking vigilantly, "Who do you want to find?"
Chu Zhishui's gaze flickered as she vaguely said, "Just some spirits we met before but didn't exchange contacts with. I need them to do something now, like Du..."
Xin Yunmao seemed to catch her slip, saying angrily, "I knew it! You're still thinking about her fragrance pouch. You wanted to bring her back even back then!"
He had sensed something was wrong back then and used spirit fire to drive away the peach blossom spirit.
Chu Zhishui quipped, "No, your memory is really good. I barely mentioned a surname, and you already know who it is?"
"Am I the one with the good memory?" His tone was icy, "You actually still remember her name."
She felt inexplicably guilty and quickly explained, "To be honest, I only remembered after seeing a video just now."
If it weren't for the algorithm, she wouldn't have come across Du Ruoxiang's content.
"No help." Xin Yunmao turned his head away in displeasure, crossing his arms with a firm attitude, "You can make wishes to me, but you can't wish to find her. What is there that I can't do?"
But she couldn't possibly ask him to do scalp nourishment cream reviews - that would be completely out of character for the reserved deity.
Du Ruoxiang was clearly experienced in this field and would handle it skillfully, which would also benefit her account management.
However, if she said this, the bamboo spirit would surely make a fuss, feeling inferior to the flower spirit.
Seeing his offended and awkward demeanor, Chu Zhishui sighed softly and decided to use some verbal artistry for the sake of unity and stability.
"I just didn't want to trouble you with such work," she said earnestly, looking at Xin Yunmao with a gentle expression, "I thought we could just hand it over to her casually, no need to bother you."
Xin Yunmao hadn't expected this response. His expression froze, his pupils trembled, and his sullenness suddenly dissipated, replaced by embarrassment as he mumbled, "...Oh."
"So can Your Highness help me find her?"
"Alright."
