Xiao Chen took the tray and came to a window corner in the cafeteria and sat opposite Luo Ling.
It was getting late and there was no electricity in the cafeteria, so they just hung a few red lanterns to celebrate the New Year, giving the place a bit of a bar vibe.
The faint red light illuminated Luo Ling, adding a few bright colors to her forehead, nose tip and lips. Although her eyebrows and features could not be clearly seen, a beautiful outline was outlined.
When Xiao Chen saw her holding her chin and gazing at the starry sky outside the window, all his restlessness from the afternoon disappeared.
"We are late and there is nothing to eat. I grabbed the last two sesame cakes. Eat them with wild vegetable soup." Xiao Chen put down the tray and placed the two sesame cakes and a bowl of vegetable soup in front of Luo Ling, and then he served himself a large bowl of porridge.
Luo Ling picked up a pancake and threw it back into his bowl. "Since you've worked so hard, I'll give you one."
Xiao Chen did not refuse. He picked up the pancake and ate it as a steamed bun.
"It seems that you have been really tired these past few days. In the past, you would have to say 'Thank you for the reward, Madam'."
"Am I that cheap?"
Luo Ling tilted her head and thought for a while, "… It's true!"
Xiao Chen choked on the pancake and pounded his chest hard.
"That was when I first met you and Zhou He, and you acted like a bitch in front of her. It's only been a short time." Luo Ling picked up a pancake and started biting into it.
"I don't know how she is doing. There is no news anywhere."
"She'll be fine."
"Why do you say that?"
"Intuition. Sometimes women have to rely on intuition to survive. When you have nothing to believe in, you can only trust your own feelings." Luo Ling ate very quickly, and half of the pancake was in her stomach in a short while.
"There's no need to be so pessimistic." Xiao Chen said.
"This is not pessimism, it's just a way of survival. Do you think any of the guys sitting in the conference room during the day are really reliable?" Luo Ling asked back.
"If you don't think this is pessimistic, then I am the happy little prince now." Xiao Chen pointed at his nose. "If you don't trust them, then why did you propose a vote? Wouldn't this put the choice in their hands? What if it doesn't pass?"
"It's just an inevitable result. Do you think my uncle can really make the decision arbitrarily? This matter is too big, and no one here can handle it." Luo Ling stuffed the last piece of pancake into her mouth and clapped her hands, "As for the issue of passing, don't we have it?"
"It seems we have the same idea." Xiao Chen nodded and said, "There will be a few key figures in a while, we have to visit them."
"The first one on the list is Chang Lin, right?" Luo Ling tapped the soup bowl lightly with her fingers. "This person is not a simple person."
"You've been watching all day, so you should be able to figure out something. There's a lot of people around this guy."
"Then go after you finish eating. It's better to drink the bitter-tasting medicine in one gulp." Luo Ling put down the bowl of soup, having finished eating.
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"You know, I agree with letting these slaves play a role. However, everything depends on the right time, right place and right people. If the conditions are not ripe, good intentions can lead to mistakes." When Chang Lin said this, he was wearing thick pajamas and holding a cigarette on the rooftop of the dormitory building. "Want to have one? There are not many of these left."
"Thank you. I really don't." Xiao Chen waved his hand and said, "That's right. We just hope to make the conditions mature. After all, smoothly accepting them is the safest way. If so many people get into trouble, the school will have a hard time cleaning up. When we did this, we thought that the school could work together to absorb these people. As long as this is achieved, it will definitely be of great benefit to the school's future survival."
Chang Lin looked at the slave camp dotted with sparks at the foot of the mountain not far away. He took a puff of cigarette, and the bright red cigarette butt flickered in the dark night. "The most important thing for us to hold on until now and continue to hold on is unity. No matter what you plan to do, you should fully consider everyone's opinions. In other words, make most people feel that this matter can benefit them."
"So we feel that we want to fully communicate with everyone before voting."
"It's about communication, Xiao Xiao. I know you will definitely sneer at some people's speeches at the meeting, thinking that these people are too conservative and don't know how to consider the long-term future. But have you ever thought that there are many long-term things that may not be beneficial to solving real problems. In any case, I believe that many of them see more disadvantages than advantages from their own perspective."
Chang Lin suddenly swayed slightly, and the cigarette in his hand fell to the ground. He held his forehead with his hand, shook his head, and said with some regret: "I am old, and sometimes I feel dizzy. It's a pity to waste a good cigarette."
Xiao Chen, who was sitting opposite him, did not answer. He also covered his forehead with his hands, his face a little pale, as if he was speechless because of what the other party said.
Chang Lin noticed Xiao Chen's strange behavior and asked, "What's wrong, Xiao Xiao? Are you dizzy too?"
Xiao Chen waved his hands vigorously to indicate that he was fine, then coughed a few times and squeezed out two sentences: "I have a cold, and I feel sleepy after taking medicine."
"You young people should also take care of your health. Don't work too hard sometimes. Let us old people share some of the burden with you." Chang Lin said as he stretched out his foot to crush the cigarette butt on the ground.
Luo Ling looked at the two of them, feeling strange, but in order to avoid a dull moment, she asked Chang Lin, "Teacher Chang, what is your attitude towards this matter?"
"Me? My attitude is not that important. What's important is how you view and solve the problem from their perspective."
"No, I think everyone's attitude is important, especially yours," Luo Ling insisted.
"Haha, okay. If I have to say, I certainly support the rapid development of the school, but I have some opinions on how to communicate with other groups."
"You say."
"Team Leader Luo, in your plan, how should we receive these slaves? How should we manage them?" Chang Lin asked Luo Ling.
“Establish a reception working group.”
"Principal Guo mentioned to me that he wanted to put this working group under the management of the Foreign Affairs Group?"
"He just thinks that the incident was caused by us, and that we have fewer communication barriers with the locals." Luo Ling paused, and seeing the half-smile on Chang Lin's face, she basically understood what he meant. "But in my opinion, it's better for several groups to take the lead and work together."
"That's right. After all, I am a few years older than you, and I have seen more about human relationships. Let's be honest on this rooftop. Successful cooperation requires equal benefits. Some people don't have a long-term vision, so you should give them something visible and tangible. If we pull everyone into our camp, won't there be no enemies? Besides, after all, there is strength in numbers, and everyone has their own expertise. I think it's a good thing for other groups to join the management." Chang Lin seemed very serious. "The difficulty of this stage of work is to feed these people. The pressure on our agricultural group is not small. The business group and the logistics group are also under great pressure. Just the basic necessities of life are enough to keep them busy. However, I believe that if we can mobilize these new labor forces, add sufficient manpower to the work of our groups, and tighten our belts, various difficulties can still be overcome. Those team leaders can also be persuaded. After all, everyone has a public spirit."
"We have to vote early tomorrow morning. Would it be convenient for Teacher Chang to help us with the work of other groups?" Luo Ling asked, "We will also discuss this plan with other people."
"Convenient," Chang Lin laughed, "What's inconvenient about this? We all live in these buildings and have nothing to do at night. Why don't I go talk to them?"
Before leaving, Chang Lin suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh, by the way. Xiao Xiao, in a few days, the school will make its first attempt to activate the "Shadow Scroll of the Sea of Consciousness", so I'll have to ask you to take care of it."
"Is anyone ready to read it?" Xiao Chen asked in surprise.
"Yes. Among the students, Liu Pengfei has made the fastest progress. He has already reached the bottleneck of concentration."
After saying goodbye to Chang Lin and walking down the rooftop, they didn't walk far when Xiao Chen stopped and leaned against the wall to retch. Luo Ling wanted to help him, but he squatted on the ground and said, "Let me catch my breath, it will be fine in a while."
"What's going on?" Luo Ling asked after a while.
"Magic backlash." Xiao Chen rested for a quarter of an hour before he calmed down, but his face was still a little pale.
"You used magic on Chang Lin?" Luo Ling grabbed Xiao Chen and asked in a low voice.
Xiao Chen raised his head, looked at Luo Ling tiredly, nodded and said, "Yes. I am fed up with the way that guy beats around the bush. It's disgusting. He obviously just wants to get involved in this matter, but he talks so high-soundingly. He has only been here for three months, but he has already started to form cliques and make small calculations. So I used a charm on him. But his mental resistance is very strong, and my magic was rebounded. It was really uncomfortable."
"Could it be that he can also use magic?"
"Not like that!" Xiao Chen shook his head. "If he knew magic, he would definitely be able to sense my attack and wouldn't be so passive."
"It seems that spiritual magic is not very useful for modern people?"
"To put it simply, mental power is a combination of a person's thinking ability, knowledge, and will. Modern people are strong in this aspect. Hey, Chang Lin is a professor at a top university after all, so he is naturally stronger. And he was debating with us at the time, and his attention was very focused, so his mind... how should I put it, formed a shield-like effect, and I was careless, so he bounced back my magic."
"What if he isn't paying attention?"
"It's hard to say, but this is like a fight between two people. A sneak attack is always much easier." Xiao Chen finally stood up by clinging to the wall and shook his head. "Fortunately, it was a relatively mild charm spell. If it was a magic like the Heart of Fear, I would have been hurt more seriously. Haha, maybe I would have wet my pants."
"I advise you not to use magic on your own people. If you do use it, don't let anyone find out. It's a very bad thing." Luo Ling said carefully, "Although magic looks cool and mysterious, it is essentially the same as putting a knife to someone's neck. I don't want you to put a knife to your own neck."
Xiao Chen was stunned for a moment, then grinned and said, "I know, I know. If I were a casual person, I would have used charm on you a long time ago."
Luo Ling was both angry and amused, so she simply hooked her finger at him and said, "Come on, I'll give you a chance to try."
"Oh, I dare not and I can't. I have a feeling that your mental power is much stronger than his. My outcome will be much worse." Xiao Chen closed his eyes and waved his fingers gently, like a conductor. After a while, he opened his eyes, exhaled and said: "I used a detection magic, and the mental power of the people around me can be sensed by me. If his mental power is the moon, then your mental power is like the sun."
"And what about you?"
"Another sun, of course!"