Perhaps Cen Yu realized the ambiguity in his question, because he quickly added, "Would you be willing to be my secretary?"
When Li Chonghe heard Cen Yu ask him, "Are you willing?", he had already narrowed his eyes.
He did not respond immediately upon hearing the other party's subsequent attempt to make amends.
The moment Li Chonghe saw Cen Yu nimbly jump onto the stage, a multitude of thoughts raced through his mind. He didn't even want to be distracted by what mischief Bai Jinyu had come up with next to him. He simply watched as Cen Yu slowly took the microphone from the vice minister's hand.
He wondered if he needed to tell Cen Shen about this.
He guessed that Cen Shen was probably unhappy.
Cen Yu's remarks were exactly as he expected. In fact, in his countless predictions, Cen Yu was supposed to be this "arrogant." However, when Cen Yu said that he needed a secretary, Li Chonghe was slightly taken aback.
He was trying to guess in his mind who Cen Yu wanted.
Perhaps it was Lan Yao—he knew that this false saint was always inseparable from Cen Yu.
He had thought of many people, even that junior named Jiang Yan, but he never expected Cen Yu to say his name... In that instant, Li Chonghe thought that this was probably Cen Yu's revenge, that the other party wanted to play with him in this way.
He shouldn't have fallen for it.
Li Chonghe told himself that Cen Yu hated betas and never gave him a friendly look; their conversations were always full of hostility.
He knew this perfectly well in his heart, but when Cen Yu asked him, "Are you willing?", he still gave himself a different answer.
Of course, he couldn't possibly say something as cheesy as "I do"... Facing the scrutinizing gazes of the crowd, Li Chonghe guessed what they were thinking. They probably thought Cen Yu wanted to play a trick on him, and he would never agree to it.
They're probably going to be disappointed, Li Chonghe thought, a rare mischievous urge stirring within him.
"It's a pleasure to cooperate." Under everyone's gaze, Li Chonghe nodded to Cen Yu, accepting Cen Yu's invitation.
...
This is insane!
When Cen Yu sat in the minister's office and looked at Li Chonghe standing beside him, meek and submissive, those two words popped into his head.
He sat in the chair, his expression somber.
"What am I supposed to do?" Cen Yu asked, still feeling confused.
Li Chonghe didn't seem surprised by his question.
He pondered for a moment, then explained the responsibilities of the dormitory supervisors—
When Cen Yu heard a certain keyword, he almost thought he had misheard.
"Roll call...?" Cen Yu pointed at himself. "I have to go take roll call?!"
The Imperial Military Academy's system can automatically enter the list of students returning each night, so why would the minister need to take attendance?!
“This is tradition,” Li Chonghe said.
“Every newly appointed minister needs to go to the dormitory to take attendance.”
This is indeed true. After all, the Imperial Military Academy has a long history, and it is an unwritten rule that the head of the dormitory department must take attendance in each dormitory on his first night in office—a rule that everyone follows.
Cen Yu recalled carefully that when Li Chonghe had just become the minister, he had also gone to Cen Yu's dormitory to take attendance.
Cen Yu was too lazy to pay attention to him, and since everyone in the dormitory was still there, Li Chonghe didn't linger and left their dormitory.
"So you only need to do it once?" Cen Yu asked again.
“New students also need it after enrollment,” Li Chonghe explained.
Then, regardless of whether Cen Yu could remember it or not, he continued to talk about many things that the dormitory supervisors usually had to do. In short, the things were complicated and involved all aspects, big and small, which made Cen Yu feel overwhelmed.
He simply lay down on the back and said, "Then you do it."
Li Chonghe's expression remained unchanged. "I'm just a secretary now."
"Can't a secretary do these things?" Cen Yu muttered. "Besides, if we don't say anything, how will we know it was you who did it?"
He pushed back his chair and stood up. "I'm going back now, I'm sleepy."
Li Chonghe instinctively reached out and grabbed Cen Yu, who was about to leave.
Cen Yu looked Li Chonghe up and down, then suddenly laughed. "Second Prince..." He thought for a moment and said, "Since you've become my secretary, it's too troublesome to call you by your full name. How about I give you another name?"
As Cen Yu spoke, he pondered that Li Chonghe would probably begin to "usurp the throne" soon.
He needs to help Li Chonghe speed up the process.
"What's your name?" Li Chonghe asked.
He guessed that Cen Yu probably wanted to give him some nicknames.
“…Xiao He?” Cen Yu originally wanted to say Xiao Li, but then remembered that it was a royal name, so he simply took the last character of Li Chonghe.
But calling him Xiao He was too affectionate, so Cen Yu pondered for a moment and finally came up with a better name.
"Little bird, huh?" He smiled at Li Chonghe, seemingly eager to see Li Chonghe's angry expression change. "How about it, little bird?"
For a moment, Li Chonghe even thought that Cen Yu knew something.
But when you see that almost provocative smile on the other person's face, you know it's a coincidence.
His communication with Cen Shen did not extend to this point, so the other party would never know that Li Chonghe's mother once affectionately called him "Little Bird," perhaps because she felt that the imperial family was not a good place.
His mother always said things like, "The little bird will eventually fly away from here," and "The little bird is not suitable to stay in the palace."
However, after his mother died in an accident many years ago, Li Chonghe had not heard anyone call him that for many years.
He looked at Cen Yu's face, which was completely unaware yet brimming with youthful innocence and defiance, and simply nodded, "Okay, Xiao Yu."
“…” Cen Yu was somewhat at a loss for words.
He originally intended to provoke Li Chonghe, but when the other party called him Xiao Yu, it suddenly felt like two good friends exchanging affectionate nicknames.
"Don't call me Xiao Yu," he said. "Call me Boss."
“Okay, boss.” Li Chonghe nodded.
He raised his wrist to check the time. "Roll call will start tonight."
He expertly pulled out a full list of everyone from the cabinet in the office. "Boss, first familiarize yourself with the appearance and names of everyone in the dormitory."
Upon seeing the roster, Cen Yu felt a headache coming on again.
He knew that Li Chonghe had memorized everyone's names, appearances, ages, and genders in less than half an hour after entering the dormitory... so there was no need to bring a roster when taking attendance. This was also evidence that the Second Prince's supporters were proving that he was very outstanding.
"...Isn't there an electronic version?" Cen Yu asked Li Chonghe.
The Imperial Military Academy always seems to pull off some retro stunts in inappropriate situations!
"No." Li Chonghe probably knew what Cen Yu wanted to complain about.
His mood suddenly improved again. "So I need to trouble the boss to try to remember everyone's appearance, dormitory number, and gender."
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