Jun Nee helped chef to cook Wang Lin’s breakfast before she delivered it. It was easier than the planned breakfast that she was trying to deliver a few hours before.

Arriving at the office, Jun Nee entered and placed the breakfast on Jun Nee’s table.

“Oh, thank you Jun Nee.” She said as she began eating. “I’m starved.”

Jun Nee found it strange that Wang Lin was so well mannered while Zen… was not.

“LinLin!” Jao came into the office.

Jun Nee bowed. “Master Jao.”

Jao did not even acknowledge her. “What is it with your son?” the man said. “He just changed the cleaner’s schedule.”

“Hmm?” Lin said, unable to talk with her mouth full. She swallowed. “I don’t know.”

Jao shook his head in disappointment. “Honestly, you should tell him to not mess with the help.”

Jun Nee waited a while before turning to Wang Lin. “What tasks may I help with, Ma’am?”

“ZenZen needs his room tidied.” She said. “Something about him being too busy getting powerful to do it himself.”

She bowed, “I’ll get right on it ma’am.”

When she made it to Zen’s room she gasped. His wardrobes had been empty, and all his clothes were lying on the floor, his bed, not only unmade but the sheets tangled up with his clothes on the ground and there was no sense of which pile was made up of clean clothes and which of dirty clothes.

She groaned at the sight, wondering how long it would take to clean the mess up. “Wang Zen!” she said under her breath as if the name was a swear word.

She was finally able to clean up the whole room. She looked at the desk, seeing a note there, titled:

ATTENTION JUN NEE

UNDER HERE ARE NOTES FOR THE KI TECHNIQUE BURST COUNTER.

I’VE NUMBERED THE NOTES BUT MY HANDWRITING IS ATTROCIOUS.

PLEASE ORGANISE THE NOTES I MADE FOR ME IN NEAT HAND SO THAT I CAN UNDERSTAND IT

EASIER. THANKS.

She groaned and sat down. There was already an ink pot and parchment. She read through Zen’s writing and she agreed, it was awful. It was the worst thing her eyes had had the displeasure of witnessing. Hunkering down, she began to decipher the text. It took her a long time to decipher and organise Zen’s messy and disorganised notes. She stacked the revised notes she made and packed it neatly before returning to the City Lord.

At the City Lord’s office, she took in some more notes from her, before running to the kitchen to help make her lunch before delivering it and dusting the office as quietly as possible.

While returning the dusting equipment back, she met Ding Wu.

“Ah, Jun Nee.” Ding Wu said, waving at her.

“Ding Wu!” she said, bowing at him briefly.

“I have been looking for you.” Ding Wu said. “I have two tasks I need done and Master Wang said you would be perfect for the job.”

“He did, did he?” she said.

“You’re not busy, are you?”

“Not for a request made from Master Zen,” she said in an effort to hide her annoyed tone.

“Good!” he said. “Here’s the first task.” He extended a fist.

Jun Nee stretched her hand out and Ding Wu dropped a few seeds in her palm. She looked at the seeds in confusion, “What are these.”

“Wheat seeds,” Ding Wu said.

“The ones you chew?” she said.

Indeed, Ding Wu was chewing the long piece of wheat as we speak.

“Yep,” he said. “My mom used to work at a wheat farm” he said, taking the wheat out and looking at it fondly. “Since I’ve started working for the City Lord, I have been too busy to go to an actual wheat farm. So, I need you to plant these for me. Let’s see if we can get a garden going.”

Jun Nee nodded, “of course, I’ll do it.”

“Now, for the second task…”

Jun Nee was able to get the City Lord Mansion gardener’s time. They found a patch of dirt, amongst the beautiful flowers that grew all around.

The Gardener and Jun Nee planted the seeds in four neat rows. Placing open hands above the soil, the gardener began applying energy to the soil.

Jun Nee marveled at how Wood Elementalists could grow anything.

“We can’t actually just grow anything we want.” The gardener said. “When I was younger and less experienced, me and a couple of inexperienced Wood Elementalists once grew a row of apple trees for a group of starving people. The apples had little to no nutrition and the trees that they came from withered away after a few weeks. Each thing we want to grow is intricate and complex and needs its own set of techniques to get it to really grow and thrive. And we cannot create something out of nothing… at least, something of true quality, so the nutrients in the soil or whatever medium you are growing plants out of matters.”

“So do you know the techniques needed to make wheat grow?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

The gardener shook his head no. “I’m simply using a Wood Spell that increases the rate at which plants absorb the nutrients they need to grow. This is good soil, so I suspect the seeds will do well. We’ll see after a few days.”

Jun Nee nodded and thanked the gardener before going on to her next task. Feeding Razor Feather.

Jun Nee entered Razor Feather’s pen apprehensively. The Brow Hawk screeched and flapped is winds as Jun Nee slowly and carefully neared.

“Please, Razor Feather, I mean no harm to you or your babies.” She reached into her bag and produced a dead animal. “See, here.” She said, ignoring her disgust at handling the dead animal as she extended it toward Razor Feather.

The hawk grabbed the animal and swallowed it. Jun Nee continued to give it the food until the bag was empty.

Razor Feather seemed to have calmed down now that she had been fed. The hawk suddenly moved off its nest, revealing the white eggs to Jun Nee.

Jun Nee leaned closer to the eggs, as she noticed that they began to tremble. A crack appeared in one. Tiny at first but then it spread across the white surface before a chick burst out. The chick chirped as it continued to break free of the white shell. The other eggs went through the same changes, each breaking to welcome forth new life.

Jun Nee’s eyes widened as he looked at the amazing sight before her as four new chicks rubbed against their new mother.

It was already getting late and Jun Nee came upon Zen, training.

“Oh hey, Jun Nee!” he waved at her.

“Wang Zen,” she bowed. “I…”

“Have you found Shibi?”

“Uh?”

Zen looked at her in confusion. “Didn’t they tell you?”

She shook her head.

“I sent Shibi out today and he came back with fleas.” Zen said, frowning and shaking his head dramatically. “I need him captured and bathed… in tomato water to get rid of the fleas.”

“Why don’t you just do it?” she said, losing any sort of tact at the prospect of another strange task that somehow had Zen involved.

“You kidding?” Zen said. “Shibi will run away from me as soon as he sees me and when it comes to speed and agility, he has me beat. But you with your Fleet Foot…” He nodded suggestively. “And after bathing him, you can even dress him in a fancy collar and cape you made for him.”

“I would love to help, Wang Zen but…”

“Don’t worry,” Zen said, turning his back on her and sitting on the floor. “I’ve already told mommy that you’re doing it for me.”

“Thank you, Master Wang.” She said, half sarcastically before heading for the mansion to hunt down a flea ridden Shibi.

It took her a few hours to find Shibi. He was eating a peach on a bronze statue. His red and orange hair was dishevelled, with patches of dried mud on him too.

“Shibi,” she said.

Shibi waved at her.

“Could you please come here?”

“No,” Shibi said. “Shibi no tomato bath.”

“Come on, Shibi!” she said in annoyance. “It’s for your own good…”

“No!”

“Shibi…!”

“No!”

“Don’t make me catch you!” she warned. “Come here, please…”

“No!”

She sighed… and as quickly as possible she activated Fleet Foot and chased Shibi down.

They both ran around the mansion. It took a few minutes but she was able to finally catch him, getting mud on her dress. She was able to drag the Scorch Ape to a bath tub full of tomato water and bathed Shibi.

She found it strange that she did not see a single flea on Shibi but thought maybe the run through the mansion might have gotten them off. She gave Shibi a another bath to clean off the tomato juice, dried, combed and dressed him.

When she walked back to Zen, Shibi was looking clean and regal, on her shoulder, while she looked the opposite.

Zen was doing his routine and when he saw them he stopped and opened his arms. “Shibi!”

Shibi leapt to his arms.

“Looking good!” he said. Then he frowned. “Wait, this is the collar and cape you wore the last time.”

“Yes,” Jun Nee hissed. “This was the collar you said I should put on him.”

“Meh, it took a lot of work for you to make this collar and it is beautiful.” Zen said.

“Aww, thank you Wang Zen.” She said.

“That’s why, Shibi should not be wearing it!” he said, taking it off. “He should be wearing one for more everyday things.”

“Oh? But he doesn’t have one.”

“Then you should make more for him… ooh, even one for training.”

She drooped. “Sure.”

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to do it today though. Leave it for tomorrow.”

“Oh good!” she bowed. “I’ll do it tomorrow.” She began walking away.

“Wait, where are you going?” Zen said in confusion.

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“You still need to do your task for me before you go?”

“Wh-Which task?”

“Didn’t you see my note in my room? Shock Défense.”

“Oh!” she said, “I’ve already organised your notes on the ki technique.”

“Yeah, I said, help me make sense of it too. So you need to explain it to me.”

“But you made notes on it.”

“If I made good notes, I would not need you to make sense of them for me, now would I?”

She thought for a while and nodded.

And they discussed the technique for hours, until the sun began sinking in the horizon. Zen finally dismissed her to get on with her other tasks.

Jun Nee freshened up quickly before getting back to the City Lord office. She did her work, all the time worrying about how late it was getting. When Wang Lin dismissed her, Zen walked in, said it was ridiculous for her to go home when it was so late and that she should just sleep in the guest rooms. Lin agreed and not wanting to seem rude, Jun Nee accepted their offer.

The next day, Jun Nee was given more strange tasks. She was to deliver Puff Cakes to Jao to celebrate his special day. Apparently, Zen was mistaken and it was actually Jao’s special day. Once again Jun Nee’s task was made difficult by the cleaning maids specifically cleaning in the path between her and Jao’s room. When she was able to deliver it on her fifth try, Jao said he hated Puff Pastries.

She did a few things for Lin. Cleaned up Zen’s room which was as bad as the other day. Fixed his notes when he claimed he had lost the other ones, which forced her to look for the original book he had used with little to no direction from him. Cleaned the stables and made new clothes for Shibi.

The day ended with training with Zen and Shibi, which went on till late and after getting back to the City Lord, did a few more things which had her stay late, upon which Zen suggested she should stay, Lin agreed and she did. This happened for 5 days straight. Her brother even visited her, told her that Zen had ordered Shibi to deliver some money a few days ago and he wanted to just check up on her.

She was beginning to be very suspicious with Zen but Zen denied.

“Oh, then how do you explain the morning tasks I’ve been getting?” she said accusingly.

Zen shrugged. “What do you mean?”

“For the past 5 days I have been doing really meddling tasks, including delivering exotic, fragile deserts to people who do not want them!”

He shrugged. “Its for their special day.”

“What special day is Master Jao having?”

He shrugged again. “This is the fifth day he has not been totally horrible to me.”

She narrowed her eyes at him and he shrugged under her accusatory glare. “Fine.”

“Now, let’s continue.” Zen said. “Which meridians do I need to use for Burst Counter again?”

Jun Nee was writing some dissertations when Zen entered the office with Shibi on his shoulder.

“Mommy! Jun Nee!”

“Master Wang.” Jun Nee said.

“Hey, Kiddo” Lin said. “Any progress with Dash Tackle?”

“Yes, I think I’ve had a lot of progress!”

Jun Nee kept quiet but wondered how he could possibly have any progress on Dash Tackle when he was so inept at the basics of Burst Counter.

“Oh no, Jun Nee, seems its getting late again.” Zen said, looking out at the darkness beyond the window.

Jun Nee sighed as quietly as she could.

“Too late for you to go home. You should stay in the guest bedroom tonight.”

She wanted to shout that he was the reason for why she was here so late with the additional meddling tasks he had her do on a daily.

Lin giggled. “Hey, Jun Nee, maybe you should pack your things and just move in. It would be easier for you.”

She laughed politely at the joke.

“Actually…” Zen began.

The door opened and Jao walked in.

“Grandfather…?” Zen said.

“Bad news, LinLin.” The old man said before handing Lin a scroll.

Lin opened the scroll and read it with a frown. “The Black Mark burned two mansions that belongs to nobles tonight.”