Other chiefs may treasure such an important personal prerogative, but it wasn’t so for Lin Jin. He was mainly focused on the study of pet beasts so he didn’t care for matters unrelated to his interest. It went without saying that something as superficial as ‘authority’ could never distract someone like Lin Jin.
Looking at it another way, this delegation of powers indicated Lin Jin’s faith in Jia Qian. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have passed on such an important duty to her.
Jia Qian bowed and said, “Master Lin, I’m afraid I may not be able to handle this well.”
Lin Jin chuckled instead. “Just do it. Or perhaps you would like me to let Xiaoyun do it instead?”
Jia Qian was stunned.
At the thought of Lu Xiaoyun’s fiery temper, if she was in charge, who knows what other mess would she bring back?
Jia Qian immediately stifled a chuckle.
“I understand. I will do it well and get to the bottom of this, Master Lin.” Having said that, Jia Qian bowed and retreated.
She was now incredibly respectful and loyal to Lin Jin, he could tell.
After Jia Qian left, Lin Jin continued arranging evaluation reports. When he was almost done, he called for Zhao Ying to archive them. Next, Lin Jin took a look at the box Dong He delivered. There were quite a few intermediate-grade spirit stones. His salary was also in there, a total of fifty silvers.
As chief, Lin Jin’s ‘remuneration’ should be the highest within the association.
In addition, the box contained many pills and medicinal ingredients. They were all divided and arranged neatly with at least twenty to thirty types in there. Most of them were for daily use but there were also a handful of rare ingredients.
After skimming through the items, Lin Jin realized how there wasn’t anything extra in the box; no doubt, the person who prepared it was meticulous at their job.
This might be Dong He’s doing.
Because they were all items Lin Jin currently needed. He even found a set of ‘tomb moss’, and such herbs were rare to come across.
It came as a pleasant surprise that the tomb moss was of great quality.
These herbs were regularly used to treat pet beasts with shadow attributes. It just so happened that Lin Jin was helping Zombie Ctuhlhu recuperate so this couldn’t have come at a better time.
Dong He was one lucky man.
“This ‘tomb moss’ isn’t usually displayed for sale. Even in medicine halls, they’re considered premium goods. I wonder how Dong He got his hands on them. This isn’t his private stash, is it?” Lin Jin mumbled to himself.
He was actually right.
Somewhere inside the association, Dong He muttered to himself with a pained expression, “I put one of my prized premium herbs inside, Chief Lin should be able to tell, right?”
Dong He looked conflicted.
He knew full well that the pack of ‘tomb moss’ was a premium item that couldn’t be bought just anywhere. They weren’t even for sale in medicine halls and were mainly kept in treasure safes.
If it had to be sold, they would be worth at least twenty times the market value of average tomb mosses.
It might go up to a hundred silvers.
However, some things didn’t work that way. Some things weren’t for sale, even if you could afford them. The premium tomb moss was one such item. Countless beast appraisers would rack their brains in the process of obtaining one, particularly those who owned pet beasts of the shadow attribute.
Having managed the logistics department for so many years, although Dong He managed to reap some benefits, he had never really embezzled funds due to his cowardly nature. Still, he managed to get his hands on some good stuff and the premium tomb moss was one of them. Even among his collection, it was considered a pretty significant item.
Dong He had to go through lots of mental anguish and preparation just to put the item in Lin Jin’s box. After all, he knew it was impossible to make Lin Jin change his opinion of him without paying a hefty price for what he had done previously.
But that was okay. After his sister and brother-in-law were transferred to the royal capital, he received a letter from them.
Its content was clear.
He had to befriend Lin Jin.
It didn’t matter what method he would resort to, even if it meant prostrating before Lin Jin every day, he had to gain the man’s favor. At the very least, Lin Jin had to stop disliking him.
That was the conclusion Dong He came to. He didn’t know why his sister and brother-in-law wrote him such a letter, but it was clear that Lin Jin was no longer a person he would want to risk crossing.
After all, the man was no longer who he used to be. Even more so after he became chief of their association.
Despite his limited intelligence, Dong He understood that constant effort would bring success.
The premium tomb moss was only his first step. He had several other good stuff in his arsenal and Dong He had thought it through. If he wanted to blend in well here, he had to befriend Lin Jin. Hence, even if it meant sacrificing his treasures, he would do it.
As he was deep in thought, someone slapped Dong He on the head.
“Sh*tty pig, have you no eyes?” someone barked. Dong He looked up and his heart jumped. Speak of the devil. He had been walking mindlessly and ended up running into Zhang Youdu.
This was crazy.
Zhang Youdu would usually prank him without reason and now that a convenient one had arisen, the man probably wouldn’t let Dong He off the hook that easy.
Fortunately, Dong He had enough experience and suffered all kinds of humiliation before so he only had to humble himself now.
He immediately bowed and apologized.
“Manager Zhang, it’s my fault, my fault. I was blind and didn’t watch where I was going that I knocked into you. Please forgive me and don’t bother yourself with someone as lowly as me.”
Surely, he had been humble enough.
Dong He figured the man might just let him off with this. And yet, a hard slap abruptly swept across his face.
It was so heavy that Dong He could feel his face sting with pain. His pet beast following behind him growled immediately but Dong He restrained it.
Standing across him, Zhang Youdu looked ominous with his two-piece mustache.
“Dong He, who do you think you are? Do you seriously think that things will be alright with just a simple apology after knocking into me?” Zhang Youdo flicked his hand. “This slap is to educate you. Once a manager, you are now nothing but pure disappointment. You’ev strayed from the path of righteousness. Even our current chief is giving you trouble so how can you still hope to live well inside the association? I’m telling you, it’s better for you to leave quickly and find something else to do with your petty cockroach life.”
Having said that, he laughed coldly before flinging his sleeve and walking away.
The people following behind Zhang Youdu looked just as cheeky. Among these followers included some who used to follow Dong He around and addressed him respectfully as ‘Brother Dong’.
At that moment, together with the stinging pain on his face, Dong He came to an utter realization.
“This was me in the past? Bullying the weak with authority and flaunting my status. How unsightly.” Dong He rubbed his face. He didn’t show any dissatisfaction nor felt shame because he had probably gotten used to it.
If he had to be honest, being slapped in public was a severe blow to his ego.
“I deserved it!” Dong He muttered to himself.
Then, he glanced at the back profiles of Zhang Youdu and his group leaving before hurrying toward the logistics department.
“Zhang Youdu, you’re worse than I was. I’ve received my punishment, what about you? Karma may be late but it’s never absent. Let’s just see when yours will arrive.”