Lu Heng?!
Kujou Otake’s face instantly twisted in extreme fury.
It was this man!
This scoundrel who had swindled him out of four hundred thousand Mora and cost him his iron rice bowl!
Now, because of his incompetence, he had been stripped of his clerical post and banished to this spot to be a low-ranking gatekeeper, exposed to the wind and sun!
Fire blazed in Otake’s eyes.
He was just about to curse at the top of his lungs when his gaze caught the violet-gold medallion hanging at Lu Heng’s waist—the token representing [Tenshukaku Sobayonin].
The sight choked the air right back into his lungs, his face turning blue and red in rapid succession.
“Well, if it isn’t Brother Otake?”
Seeing his old acquaintance, Lu Heng stopped in his tracks with a grin.
Since transmigrating, he hadn’t had many opportunities to gloat like this!
He quickly switched on a warm, “boss inspecting the grassroots” smile.
“It’s been a while. How’ve you been? Working security now, are we? Must be tough standing out here in the wind and sun, brother.”
“My, brother, how is there dust on your uniform? The Tenryou Commission’s public image cannot be neglected.” Lu Heng reached out with a beaming smile, very slowly brushing the dust off Otake’s chest.
With every brush, Otake’s body trembled with humiliation.
“Brother Otake, I believe in you. With your cleverness and wit, you’re bound to shine in this position! Oh, right, why do I feel like something is missing?” He tapped the violet-gold medallion at his waist, then cupped a hand over his ear, leaning in with a puzzled expression.
Kujou Otake gritted his teeth so hard they nearly shattered, his lips trembling violently.
This upstart bastard!
He used to call him “young master,” and now he dared call him “brother”?!
But a higher rank crushed a lower one, not to mention that the other party was now a favorite of the Shogun who could speak directly to her.
Otake’s legs went weak.
Ultimately, he could only lower his head and squeeze out a few words through his teeth in sheer humiliation.
“…Greetings, Lord Lu Heng.” Lu Heng laughed heartily, turning to Kujou Sara.
“Lady Sara, I see that Brother Otake takes his guard duty very seriously. I suggest we put him on full-time night shifts from now on. What do you think?”
“Enough. Stop throwing your weight around and focus on the task at hand,” Kujou Sara said, shooting Lu Heng a glance and cutting short his malicious fun.
“Right away, Assistant Sara,” Lu Heng replied with a grin, leaving behind a thoroughly crushed Kujou Otake, whose dignity lay in tatters as he practically turned black and white.
The two headed straight to the administrative hall, finding the official in charge of supplies and funding.
Kujou Sara went forward to negotiate.
Her words were clear and concise, and she directly slammed down the official document demanding cooperation with the “Eternal Paradise Project.”
The official took one look at Lu Heng’s signature on the document, then glanced at Kujou Sara’s frost-covered face.
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead instantly.
However, this “have a seat”—
—left them cooling their heels for a full half-hour.
Only when their tea had gone completely cold did the official run back, sweating profusely and in a great hurry.
He was followed by two servants, each carrying a stack of thick ledgers half a man high.
With a heavy thud, they piled them onto the table.
“Ah, my apologies for keeping you waiting, Lady Sara!”
The official beamed, but his tone carried a slippery, unyielding slickness.
“I have reviewed your application. It’s just… with the front-line war being so tense, the Treasury’s Mora is strictly allocated. This funding and these supplies are truly difficult to requisition!”
He opened a ledger in his hand, pointing to things with a show of great gravity.
“Look here, according to procedure, I must first write a ‘Special Funds Allocation Application’ for you, and then submit it to the Tenryou Commission cabinet for preliminary review.”
“Once the preliminary review passes, it has to be transferred to the Kanjou Commission for a tax audit. After both sides have stamped it, we have to wait for the next quarter’s budget release… I will do my absolute best to push it for you, but there is simply no skipping a single step of this process!”
“You said next quarter?”
“Y-yes… and even in the next quarter, you’ll still have to wait in line!”
Kujou Sara’s face was frosty as she suppressed her anger.
She could see right through it—he simply didn’t want to deal with it!
“This is a policy personally approved by the Ogosho Almighty! It has the highest priority!” she said, emphasizing every single word.
Although the official was terrified enough to pull out a handkerchief and wipe his cold sweat, bowing his back extremely low, he still maintained his smiling, stubborn stance, refusing to yield an inch.
“General, calm your anger! Please, calm your anger! Even if I had ten times the courage, I would never dare disobey the Shogun’s decree!”
The official wailed, bowing repeatedly while flipping open another ledger.
“However… Article 34 of the ‘Shogunate Wartime Financial Approval Regulations’ is also a rule personally decreed by the Shogun herself back then!”
“If I don’t follow procedure today and hand over the money without the proper stamps, the Kanjou Commission could arrest my entire family tomorrow on charges of ‘dereliction of duty and embezzlement’… General, you must have some sympathy for a miserable worker like me who can only act according to the rules!”
This soft blow hit Kujou Sara right in her weak spot.
The official had invoked “the rules personally decreed by the Shogun,” and as a soldier who viewed rules as absolute laws, she found herself momentarily unable to utter a single word of rebuttal.
Kujou Sara’s chest rose and fell sharply.
In the end, she could only grit her teeth in frustration and sit back down on the cold bench.
“Fine. Then we will follow the procedure! I request an expedited review!”
Beside her, Lu Heng held his tea, sneering inwardly.
Here it was.
The most classic, most unsolvable killer move of any bureaucracy—death by red tape.
It wasn’t that they wouldn’t push it forward, but rather that it had to be pushed forward “according to plan,” in “compliance with rules and regulations.” The steps had to be numerous, the inspections rigorous, and their attitude humble, all while accomplishing absolutely nothing. Read the latest chapters at NovelPing.
Sure enough, over the next two days, Lu Heng and Kujou Sara practically ran themselves ragged, carrying the project proposal from one department to another between the Tenryou and Kanjou Commissions.
The responses they received were uncannily identical.
Everyone showed the utmost respect to General Kujou.
Everyone shouted “For the Shogun’s eternity!”
However, the moment funding, manpower, or clearance was brought up—
“Ah, this requires an additional liability waiver.”
“Apologies, General, but this stamp requires Lord Matsumoto’s signature, and he’s currently on vacation and unreachable.”
“The paperwork is in order, but the warehouse key was locked away during the Tri-Commission joint meeting. Please come back next month.”
After two full days, their progress stood at exactly zero.
Lu Heng’s heart, which had been hanging in suspense, sank completely to the bottom.
He had originally thought that with a divine decree, he could at least get some parts of the plan moving or secure some vouchers.
But the current situation only proved that the old foxes of the various Commissions had already reached a tacit understanding.
They only needed to employ this perfectly compliant, flawless bureaucratic process to drag the so-called “Eternal Paradise Project” out until it became nothing more than waste paper.
Even if they brought the dispute right before the Raiden Shogun, these officials could confidently present a mountain of rules and procedures to prove they had done nothing wrong.
As for the Yashiro Commission?
Kamisato Ayato was a clever man.
Since Lu Heng hadn’t demonstrated any value yet, how could that boba-drinking fox possibly help him?
*If the project remains stalled for too long, there’s no guarantee the Shogun won’t change her mind…* His fingers tapped a steady, rhythmic beat on his knee.
*When that happens, not to mention the others, the Kujou Clan will definitely come after me.
Tsk, things aren’t looking good…*
Compared to Lu Heng’s calculations, Kujou Sara’s state of mind was currently far worse.
She had confidently asserted before that there was no bureaucratic issue within the Shogunate.
Over the past two days, she had gone from anger to disappointment, until finally, only a chilling confusion remained.
At dusk, Kujou Sara stood outside the tightly shut gates of the Kanjou Commission.
She tightly clutched the stack of documents covered in “Pending” and “Rejected” stamps, her knuckles turning white.
“Why…?”
The Tengu’s golden eyes were filled with confusion.
“This is clearly a strategy personally approved by the Shogun! This is clearly for the future of Inazuma! They profess their loyalty with every breath, so why do they place so many obstacles in our path behind our backs?!”
Turning her head to look at the expressionless Lu Heng sitting on the bench beside her, the worldview she had once held absolute faith in cracked yet again.
“Lu Heng… what on earth is going on?”