NOVEL WEB Chapter 112 Hong Siyu's Work Report
The three juniors returned during the time Emerald Sparrow and Hong Siyu were on the phone; by then, it had been two hours since Emerald Sparrow said goodbye to Mo He.
Although she, the director, had temporarily left Fangting City, the work at Fangting City's Abnormal Strategy Bureau couldn't possibly come to a halt. As the official secretary of the director, Hong Siyu naturally took over some of the director's duties. Emerald Sparrow didn't want to be a hands-off manager and dump all the responsibilities on Hong Siyu, so the two needed to have a dedicated conversation to communicate about the work of the Abnormal Strategy Bureau.
The call was scheduled for once a week, during which Hong Siyu had to report on the recent progress of various departments within the Abnormal Strategy Bureau, financial expenditures, meetings and seminars with other government departments, directives and documents from the higher authorities, and the handling of civilian reports, as well as the overall safety situation of Fangting City... Emerald Sparrow needed to provide feedback on each topic, relaying her remote endorsements of various applications today, communication with other leaders of the municipal government departments, and her personal communications back to Hong Siyu, so that she would know what work to carry out next.
Such an abundance of topics naturally couldn't be exhausted in two hours, so until the juniors returned, Emerald Sparrow was still discussing heatedly with Hong Siyu:
"Let me summarize for you, around the middle of last year, the municipal government and the Abnormal Strategy Bureau at the time applied as a matter of routine to host this year's Donghua Region-wide Exchange Seminar. Such applications never had much certainty in the past, but subsequently, because Fangting thwarted the schemes of the criminal organizations Black Ash Dawn and Claw Mark for three consecutive months, and within four months the Abnormal Strategy Bureau also accomplished the astonishing feat of rebuilding perfectly from utter destruction. So this time, Tiandu City really chose Fangting City as the venue... are you sure?"
Emerald Sparrow was repeating what Hong Siyu had said earlier, her fingers lightly tapping on the side of her phone: "It sounds like a poor joke concocted in my absence."
"Haha... I also wish it were a joke."
On the phone, Hong Siyu's voice also carried a hint of helplessness: "The junior department head who came to deliver the documents from the municipal government didn't have a clue, so I called to confirm with their leaders again, and indeed it was approved by Tiandu City."
"Is there an electronic version?" Emerald Sparrow continued to inquire.
"Yes, there is." Saying so, Hong Siyu sent a file package to Emerald Sparrow through a chat application.
Emerald Sparrow opened the file and silently clicked through several marked documents, verifying the written content, official seals, and the validity of signatures before slightly frowning and speaking:
"The conference date?"
"May, we have roughly three months to prepare," Hong Siyu replied promptly.
"The time is a bit too tight; why was it only approved now?"
"Because it should have been decided back in August last year, and at the time it was set to be Lin Yang City."
"Lin Yang City..." Emerald Sparrow then understood.
This was another unfortunate city that was attacked by Black Ash Dawn at the end of last year.
In the entire year of 1999 of the Queen's Calendar, besides the small city cluster including Fangting and Bai An, three other larger cities around the world became targets of Black Ash Dawn. These three cities were Lin Yang, Taiyu, and New York in Xiluo State. Compared to Fangting City where Emerald Sparrow was posted, none of these three cities had any top-tier Magical Girl defenders, resulting in severe losses.
Among them, two districts of Lin Yang City had their buildings erased, with casualties numbering in the tens or even hundreds of thousands, and even part of the city's protective network's activation devices were destroyed, so much so that repairs were still ongoing. With such severe damage, their Abnormal Strategy Bureau was naturally no better off. If Fangting City's Abnormal Strategy Bureau was reduced to ruins during the Full Moon Festival, then Lin Yang City's Abnormal Strategy Bureau was leveled to the ground.
With things turning out this way, Lin Yang City was naturally incapable of hosting any seminar. This hosting right circulated among the leaders in Tiandu City, finally falling into Fangting's lap as the "beneficiary."
"Does the municipal government have any candidate venues?" Understanding this layer of information, Emerald Sparrow knew that this was a troublesome matter that could not be shunned. But such is work; it will never stay away from you just because you don't want to do it: "Representatives of the Abnormal Strategy Bureaus from all over Donghua State, even if each city only sends three to five people, the number convening in Fangting will be huge. An ordinary venue can't accommodate them."
"They want to set the location at Green Tower..."
"Green Tower?" This was Emerald Sparrow's mutter after getting an answer.
——"What Green Tower?"
This was another voice that suddenly popped up from behind Emerald Sparrow without her knowing when.
Emerald Sparrow turned her head and saw that it was Lin Xiaolu, who was lying on the back of the sofa behind her, full of curiosity: "Is that Hong Siyu on the other end? What are you guys talking about?"
"...Interrupting someone's phone call isn't exactly polite, Bai Mei."
Believing that the topic at hand wasn't sensitive, Emerald Sparrow responded calmly: "And I've told you many times, call by code names."
"...Haha, it's no big deal."
Hong Siyu on the phone obviously didn't care about being called by her real name by Lin Xiaolu: "Are you still in the hotel on your side? Others probably can't hear."
"If you don't develop good habits normally, you'll mess up when you actually need them."
Emerald Sparrow clearly wasn't as lenient as Hong Siyu and stretched out her hand to pat Lin Xiaolu's arm which somehow wrapped around her neck: "So don't think you can get away with acting cute, behave yourself."
"Hehe, sorry about that."
But Lin Xiaolu obviously was in a good mood and had no intention to back down after just a few words from Emerald Sparrow. She continued to wrap her arms around Emerald Sparrow from behind the sofa, her tone quite sweet: "Forgive me, Emerald Sparrow."
"...What on earth did you three go out to do?" Irritated by Lin Xiaolu's coquettish tone, Emerald Sparrow finally turned her attention away from the phone call, staring somewhat dumbfoundedly at the other two.
"Ahaha, well, that's..." Xia Liang scratched her face and looked away.
"Went out to have fun!" Bai Jingxuan, on the other hand, gestured exaggeratedly with motions that made no clear sense.
With such a commotion, Emerald Sparrow and Hong Siyu's phone conversation naturally couldn't continue, so they could only arrange a time for their next call, after which Emerald Sparrow went to ask about the cause and consequence of the matter.
From Xia Liang's responses, which clearly concealed something, and Bai Jingxuan's fragmented summaries as usual, Emerald Sparrow more or less understood why Lin Xiaolu was clinging to her like an octopus:
They participated in a confectionery tasting at the commercial street, and while tasting chocolates, they encountered one filled with alcoholic syrup. Since the taste was really good, everyone tried it. However, it was only Lin Xiaolu who had already gobbled up several before knowing the chocolates were alcohol-filled...
"So that's why she's like this now?" Emerald Sparrow pushed Lin Xiaolu's cheek, which was nearly sticking to her own, with some helplessness.
While Xia Liang did nothing but offer an awkward smile, Bai Jingxuan seemed to watch Lin Xiaolu with slight envy, yet unexpectedly didn't make a move. These abnormal reactions further convinced Emerald Sparrow of her judgment:
——This bunch of girls are definitely, absolutely, hiding something from her.