Chapter 503: Dawn Hall
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Chu Youwei had seen this burly man once at a banquet. His name was Zhi Mang.
"Lady Mengdie is resting. General, if you have business, feel free to speak with me."
General Zhimang eyed Chu Youwei suspiciously, sizing her up from head to toe. He naturally recognized her, having seen her at the banquet.
"Either is fine. Just sign the one on your left."
Chu Youwei slowly appraised the general before her, easily detecting the general's mental awareness casually sweeping over him—after all, the man made no effort to conceal it.
But before Chu Youwei could pick up the documents, the general spoke again, his expression still skeptical.
"Are you… authorized to make this decision?"
Chu Youwei merely glanced at the general and replied calmly, "My name is Chu Youwei. If it's reasonable, I can make the decision."
Chu Youwei…
Who was she?
Frankly, he'd only seen her once during a banquet in the Council Hall. General Zhimang didn't recognize Chu Youwei personally, only having heard she was a woman brought back from another realm by Su Cheng.
With that, his divine sense activated once more, scrutinizing her carefully…
"This is… the Supreme's engraved mark…"
Chu Youwei ignored Zhimang, casually flipping open the documents and examining them closely.
After a long while, having scrutinized every detail, Chu Youwei stated plainly.
"For this seal, you'll need to go to Xiao Ai. This concerns military affairs, doesn't it?"
"Stamping it with the Dawn Hall's seal won't work. Military funding approvals only recognize seals from the Burning Heart Hall and the Mount Fu Hall. Didn't you know that?"
Zhimang instinctively wanted to say something, but the words died on his lips.
Chu Youwei was no ordinary person—she was from Su City. The seal engraved on her back couldn't be fake.
"But that Xiao Ai told me to ask Fuyue Hall first, saying she doesn't have the money!"
That Xiao Ai is famously loaded. Her Qingyue Heavy Armor unit is essentially Su City's elite guard regiment, equipped with the latest and best weapons and gear!
But that Xiao Ai was also famously stingy!
She only took from others—trying to squeeze money out of her? Forget about it!
Chu Youwei had spotted the discrepancy, though she couldn't pinpoint exactly where it lay. This payment was definitely fishy!
"General, you know that even if Lady Mengdie were awake, she would never approve this kind of document."
"The Honorable One often says that all generals have led lives of military service and hardship. Youwei understands that you have your own unspoken struggles."
"But might you also show some understanding toward Xiao Ai and Lord Mengdie? Running this household is no easy task either."
Hearing this, General Zhimang felt a surge of irritation. Who the hell was this brat lecturing him?
But just as he was about to retort, Chu Youwei’s eyes flashed.
"If you trust me, General, I can help you."
General Zhimang froze at her words. Could this Chu Youwei really be saying such things?
"Speak. This general is listening."
Chu Youwei remained impassive, merely picking up a pen to make a few marks on the document before closing it.
Having remained seated at Mengdie's place, Chu Youwei picked up the document, rose slowly, and walked to General Zhimang's side.
"I understand the General has his own reasons, but in my humble opinion, I fear the contents of this document may not be what the General actually witnessed."
"Moreover, General, your timing is truly unfortunate. Lord Mengdie is indeed unable to receive guests."
With that, Chu Youwei handed the document to the burly man, gesturing for him to open it. She then glanced briefly toward Mengdie, signaling discretion, before continuing.
"General, why not take the document back first? I'll discuss this matter with Xiao Ai and see if she can help you find a way to gather some funds. If that truly proves impossible, I myself am willing to offer whatever modest assistance I can."
Of course, this was pure fabrication. Where would Chu Youwei have such influence?
Forget Chu Youwei—even Su Cheng found it difficult to squeeze money out of Xiao Ai!
Beyond essential military expenses, Xiao Ai strictly controlled all other expenditures. Even so, the finances remained perpetually in the red.
Xiao Ai could only occasionally raid the rich to replenish her coffers.
However, Chu Youwei had just used her pen to cross out numerous unreasonable items in the document one by one. She believed the general wasn't a fool either.
At this point, Chu Youwei quickly realized the truth: Xiao Ai and Mengdie were simply passing the buck.
Xiao Ai was no fool—she’d likely spot the discrepancies at a glance.
But Xiao Ai couldn't afford to alienate her subordinate—after all, Su City still depended on her. Yet if she discovered problems with these funds and failed to address them, her future troubles would only multiply!
Xiao Ai wouldn't risk alienating someone over this. Instead, she simply transferred the document to the Fuyue Hall and informed Zhimang that she had no funds, instructing him to seek payment from Mengdie.
Chu Youwei suspected that if she hadn't come, the two would have played good cop, bad cop.
That way, Xiao Ai could avoid a significant portion of the expenses and have Zhimang grateful to her. After all, with such an incident occurring in the Fuyue Hall, wouldn't the military department have to send someone to intercede?
Truthfully, it was a minor matter. If Xiao Ai were in a good mood or had spare funds, approving it outright wouldn't have been an issue.
But right now, Xiao Ai truly had no money. In the vast inner city, every living soul was demanding money from her. Where could she possibly find it?
As for Mengdie, perhaps she'd simply stumbled upon this little fool and decided to test her?
Just as Chu Youwei had anticipated, the general seemed somewhat annoyed at first after flipping through the documents. He intended to see what kind of scheme Chu Youwei was up to.
But upon seeing the items she had outlined, he quickly grasped the issue at hand.
As the commander overseeing repairs for the Leviathan-class air fortress named [Overload], he certainly wouldn't personally calculate the costs. Even if the figures were slightly inflated or deflated, Xiao Ai wouldn't usually nitpick.
But this time, it was clearly excessive. Even a complete layperson like Chu Youwei, who knew nothing about the so-called [Overload], could see that these numerous items were unreasonable.
As Chu Youwei had said, this kind of thing was impossible for Xiao Ai to approve—and certainly not for Mengdie either!
As for Chu Youwei herself, she dared not approve it either!
The general paused only briefly before quickly regaining his composure.
He laughed, "Well, if Miss Youwei would kindly mention it to Xiao Ai, that would be most helpful."
"I still have other fortresses floating in the sky, so the overload isn't urgent right now. I'll report the repairs later."
With that, the general made no further delay. Clutching his documents, he strode away with great force.
"Goodbye, General."
Chu Youwei could imagine the general would likely fly into a rage upon returning. Fortunately, it was merely a loss of face. If things had truly escalated, the Supreme Leader was still seated within the inner city.
Making a move at such a time could spell trouble—who knew how he'd be dealt with!
At the very least, he'd owe her a major favor!
No sooner had she dismissed this one than the next arrived. Chu Youwei gave the documents a cursory glance and followed the same procedure, swiftly sending the second one on his way as well.
This wasn't difficult to handle. With the experience of the first one, she could easily guess the second one would also have a problem!
After all, black-bound documents appearing in the Dawn Hall were almost always urgent matters!
Assigning them to her meant they were unlikely to cause much trouble.
Mengdie didn't wake up until nightfall. Upon waking, she rinsed her mouth with a bottle of liquor.
"Let's go. I'll introduce you to Su Cheng."
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