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month record rogue 5 2 2
'Who here plays mahjong?'
Nobody speaks up, for nobody knows why the Grand Tutor himself has called the entirety of the Sui Regulator into the hall in the middle of the night to ask this question.
'Let me rephrase that. Who taught mahjong to that proxy?'
The least senior of the Candleholders present raises a trembling hand.
'It wasn't like I wanted to teach her, she just barged in on a session I was playing at home last month...'
'Then this is your responsibility.'
......
The game begins, and the young Candleholder cannot stop his skin from breaking out into a cold sweat. He looks at his three 'friends' at the table: the Grand Tutor, the High Minister of Works, and that inscrutable proxy. He is unsure just how many horrific sins his ancestors must have committed to leave him playing mahjong with these three in the middle of the night. What's even worse is that the proxy said they'd be playing until she was satisfied. What did she mean by that? Until she gets a big hand? How big is big enough? Heaven forbid she'd only be satisfied with a tianhu! Does she know just how rare it is for the dealer to win on the first draw?! They'd be playing until next year!
He notices the High Minister is dead-set on feeding tiles to Nian, but she doesn't seem particularly interested in them. The Grand Tutor is as stiff as a mountain, but mahjong is not a game you can play on your lonesome...
'Gang. Let's see... Oh, gang shang kai hua. Got my winning tile from the dead wall. Boooooring.' Nian pushes her tiles over.
She gets a gang shang kai hua and she calls it boring? The Candleholder really wants to grab her by the collar and ask her that, but who would dare run their mouth here? All he can do is swallow the bile rising up his throat, and shuffle, stack, and draw his tiles...
Three red dragons, three green dragons, two white dragons.
He wants nothing more than to slam open his hand in protest, but doing so would probably make Nian even more upset. He doesn't want his next year on the job to be a pain in the ass, either. Besides, now that his moment of hesitation was over, for some odd reason, the tiles he needs keep finding their way into his hand, until after only a couple of rounds, he is already in tingpai. Just one tile away from winning.
As for that loathsome proxy, she continues being depressed, carelessly speaking out loud...
'A white.'
An entire night's worth of resentment erupts at this moment. Heedless of the glances of 'Don't' the High Minister shoots him over and over again, heedless of the flash of relief flitting across the Grand Tutor's face, the Candleholder yells in anger: 'I win! DA SAN YUAN! BIG! THREE! DRAGOOOOONS!!!'
Nian stares at him, then breaks out into hearty laughter. 'A crusty old geezer and a rock who sees shit but doesn't say shit are the worst people to play mahjong with. It's the youngster who's got spirit! Alright, pack it up, everyone, we're done here!'
She tosses the white dragon tile onto the Candleholder's lap, turns about and leaves, the High Minister of Works hot on her heels. The Candleholder takes the tile, his mind full of thoughts like 'I'm finished.' Only now does he notice the white dragon tile is suffused with a dazzling light, quite unlike the other tiles on the table.
One month later.
'It appears converting the capital into a nomadic city can be performed ahead of schedule.'
'It shall be as Your Imperial Majesty commands.'
'Only one thing requires further explanation. This block on the front of the model. What is its purpose?'
'It is a special material used to reinforce the city walls. The Ministry of Works has developed the technology to manufacture it. The model only has the one piece, but the real city will boast thousands of them.'
'I see.'
The High Minister of Works lets out an internal sigh of relief, hoping the white tile's abilities will disguise the issue of its appearance, but...
'When the nomadic city is complete, these thousands of blocks, will they also have this rounded rectangle design?'
