Busy Upon Busy

Because he had made such thorough preparations beforehand, Liu Yunan was able to discuss all the details with Qin Jianghe and the others right away.

After taking the various prices they had gathered and the estimated total expenses they had calculated, then subtracting the amount of funding the government could provide, they settled on the loan amount and the subsidy from the Lingxian Sect. The two sides would cover roughly half each.

In the end, they agreed on the loan’s interest rate, and Village Chief Du solemnly wrote out the promissory note in triplicate.

For the time being, the Lingxian Sect was only acting as a source of funding. Once the terms had been settled, there was nothing left for them to do.

After bidding farewell to Village Chief Du, Liu Yunan returned to the mountain. After discussing the matter with Qin Jianghe, they decided to post a notice in the sect to give everyone a general explanation.

A copy was posted over at Qingyun Peak as well.

After all, if the village ran into any difficulties later on, they would most likely need to post a mission within the sect and send disciples down to help. It was better to inform everyone now so they would have some idea of the situation.

Without bothering to find another place, Liu Yunan simply began writing the notice on Qin Jianghe’s desk in the Finance Hall.

As he prepared the notice, he suddenly remembered something Lin Xiao had mentioned to him before.

“Hey, Jianghe, do you remember that thing Brother Xiao mentioned before? What was it called again… the sect monthly report?”

At one of the small meetings before Lin Xiao went into seclusion, he had mentioned that the sect could produce a monthly report in the future. That way, everyone in the sect could keep up with news from the outside world during their spare time and gain a better understanding of the sect’s development.

After all, it would be rather embarrassing for members of the Lingxian Sect to know nothing about their own sect’s progress.

Upon hearing Liu Yunan bring it up, Qin Jianghe, who was sorting through that month’s transaction records, looked up and thought for a moment before nodding.

“There was something like that. What’s the matter? Do you want to start working on it now?”

Liu Yunan pulled a small notebook from his storage ring.

“Exactly. Didn’t Brother Xiao say before that we could decide when to start the sect monthly report based on the circumstances? Well, now that the sect has new disciples and all sorts of matters are cropping up, wouldn’t this be the perfect time to begin? If we had to inform everyone of every single thing one by one, it would be too troublesome.”

Qin Jianghe thought it over and agreed.

“That would indeed be quite suitable. However, although the monthly report is only for internal reading, we’ll still need someone specifically responsible for compiling and producing it. That means we’ll have to establish a monthly-report department. It doesn’t need to be large, and it won’t require many people, but from then on, it will become the sect’s center for gathering information. The department can collect information from every part of the sect, sort through it, screen it, and then compile the report.”

After hearing this, Liu Yunan considered it for a moment.

“That way, all the information collected from the capital will have a fixed place to go as well. We won’t have to squeeze everything into that little bit of time during dinner every evening.”

Qin Jianghe shrugged. He stacked the account books he had finished organizing and set them aside before reminding him, “There is one troublesome matter, though—the person in charge of the monthly-report department.”

“Finding someone to handle the writing should be easy enough. But whoever manages the collection and screening of information will need to be careful and understand what carries weight. They’ll have to know which news is suitable for announcing throughout the sect and which isn’t. Otherwise, once the sect has more people, spreading every piece of information indiscriminately could easily lead to trouble.”

“That’s true. Although everyone in our sect has passed the Heart-Questioning Path, conflicts can still arise once there are more people.” Liu Yunan nodded. “But that shouldn’t be too difficult. We have plenty of careful people who understand the importance of discretion.”

Qin Jianghe glanced at him. Feeling that he was being overly optimistic, he decided to pour a bucket of cold water over him.

“That may be so, but being careful and knowing what matters isn’t enough. They also need to be capable of handling affairs. If we establish a monthly-report department, someone will have to manage it properly—and you’re planning to start immediately, aren’t you?”

He paused, then added, “By the way, let me remind you that Brother Xiao seems to have assigned a task recently. Yuanjiao, Yigao, your mother, and Senior Liao have all been very busy. They haven’t even had time to come for dinner lately.”

The implication was clear: there was no chance of getting them to spare time to help.

“What are they busy with?” Liu Yunan wasn’t discouraged. Instead, he became curious about the task Lin Xiao had assigned.

“Your mother didn’t tell you?”

“I haven’t seen her in over half a month.”

Both mother and son were extremely busy people. Although going more than half a month without seeing each other was longer than usual, it could still be considered normal.

Lin Xiao had mentioned this matter to Qin Jianghe earlier while they were on Lin Lei’s wedding boat. Later, when Sun Yigao came to the Finance Hall to request materials for the alchemy room, he had also said a few words about it. As a result, Qin Jianghe knew something of the situation.

He explained it to Liu Yunan.

“It seems Brother Xiao had them study some kind of cultivation technique. I heard there are a great many of them—hundreds, perhaps even over a thousand books.”

“Hundreds or even over a thousand?!” Liu Yunan was utterly astonished.

Up until now, he had only managed to learn the first level of the sect’s Cloud-Surging Sword Art.

And he still hadn’t finished mastering it.

Seeing Liu Yunan display exactly the same shock he himself had shown when he first heard the news, Qin Jianghe nodded.

“That’s right. And there’s a deadline, too—two months. So don’t even think about finding time for them to help you with the sect monthly report.”

Liu Yunan: …

He sighed, picked up the two completed notices, and rose to his feet.

“Looks like I’ll have to start on it by myself, then. I’ll see whether there are any suitable disciples over at Qingyun Peak whom I can bring over to help…”

In truth, he was busy himself.

As the head of the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall, Liu Yunan already had a great many responsibilities on his shoulders.

But…

He looked at the notices in his hands and gritted his teeth. It was better to get the sect monthly report started sooner rather than later.

Forget it. Someone would have to do it sooner or later. He might as well work a little harder now and establish a proper framework for the monthly report!

That way, it would be easier to hand the work over once someone else took charge.

The reason he was so eager to start the sect monthly report was that he wanted the disciples at Qingyun Peak to learn more about the sect’s various affairs, large and small.

He wanted them to feel more involved and develop a stronger sense of belonging.

After all, there was a difference between the Qingyun Peak disciples and the old members of the sect when it came to familiarity.

Having interacted with the new disciples more often, Liu Yunan could sense that there was always a faint barrier between them.

Most of the new disciples naturally held a certain degree of awe toward the elders and the sect, along with a sense of distance.

Although taking positions in the various departments and participating in sect missions could gradually lessen that distance, it was an extremely slow process.

Moreover, not every new disciple participated in the sect’s work or accepted missions to earn spirit stones.

The sect monthly report was undoubtedly an excellent way to bridge that gap.

With this thought in mind, Liu Yunan turned around, went back into the Finance Hall, snatched the account book Qin Jianghe hadn’t finished reading out of his hands, and shoved a fresh notebook in front of him.

“Come on, Jianghe. Put that aside for now and make some time to help me plan this out!”