Chapter Text
“I suppose it is fate.”
“我想，应该是天意。”
“Do you really believe that?” Yingzi asks, stiff as ever, a trace of incredulity in his voice.
影子僵硬地站着，难以置信地问：“您真的相信天意吗？”
Chen Pingping smiles, amused. “There is certainly no harm in believing, don’t you think?”
陈萍萍笑了，被问题逗了。“信的话也没什么坏处，不是吗？“
The newest recruits have just been sorted into the various departments from the main group, and this year’s imbalance is unexpected.
新兵是刚被调去各个不同的处去，没想到今年数字不平。
Usually, the kind of talent they attract are skewed towards the Fifth and First Divisions’ surveillance and protection, with a few for the Sixth’s assassinations, the Fourth’s external infiltration dotted by those of mixed lineage. The Eighth, by nature is already at saturation with their high survival rate, it’s perfectly okay if they have just one new recruit.
监察院一般吸引的才华比较适合五和一处的观察与保管。六处暗杀几个，四处外国渗透会有混合血统的孩子。八处会员很少死，每年有一个新也没关系。
But for the Third to be completely avoided in this round of selections is odd. Not a single person ranked the Third as their first, or second choice.
但三处没被任何新会员选中会一点怪。平时下毒的三处还蛮热门的，这次却看起来没人兴趣。选择中是可以排一排他们想进入的处，但没有人把三处排成他们的第一或第二个选择。
The Control Bureau is a democracy and meritocracy as far as it goes. Simply put, this means that this year, the only recruit who has put the Third as their Third choice must go there this round, without further delay.
监察院是个民主和英才制。简单的来说，今年把三处排成他第三的选择一定会被调到三处。三处做毒要有能采。
The Eight Division’s business-minded orientation needs specific talent, it would be useless to place someone who did not want to count in with them. And the Fifth’s police go without saying – one cannot make someone a civil servant if they have no heart for service.
八处算钱，不爱数字的做不好工，乱派的话很难教。五处的警官更不用说了-对人民没有关爱的人当不了好官。
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Still, the organisation cannot let this year’s round leave the Third without any new entrants. After all, Fei Jie would definitely complain.
反正监察院今年不能不给三处新兵。费介肯定会投诉的。
“Then you mean to place the boy who uses qi to heal amongst the poisoners?”
“那你想把那用医疗气的男子调去毒蛇中？“
Chen Pingping gestures for Yingzi to push him out to the training courtyard.
陈萍萍手势着，让影子把他推到练习庭院。
“We are not left with much choice. And you know, they wanted him to join since day one. He has a good rapport with the Third members already.”
“我们没什么选择。你也知道，三处早已看上他了。他和师兄关系也挺好的。”
“Will we not be thinking as to why the Third was not ranked among any of the recruits’ choices? Or as to why the boy, despite everything observable, did not place the Third as their first? That boy’s qi can kill, Yuanzhang.”
“那我们不该想三处为何没被另外的新兵选中吗？也不想那男子为什么不把三处排成他的第一？他的气可以杀人的，院长。“
The chief clicks his tongue, “You’re unusually talkative today. It cannot be that you are upset, can it, Yingzi?”
院长啧了他舌头。“你今天还多嘴呢。是不是你不高兴，影子？”
The Sixth Division Head lapses into silence, and that’s it for the day.
六处大人不出声了，一天的字都用完了。
With the appointments handed out, the chief watches as the boy in question looks down at the floor, before looking back up with amusement alight in his eyes.
院长静心看着那孩子。孩子收到职位后就看了看地，抬头时眼睛在笑着。
Nonetheless, those steps, quick and lively, taken towards his seniors are undoubtedly happy – not reluctant at all. Unlike the formal, maybe even strict welcomes the rest of the recruits are getting, the Third is warm like the exothermic reactions brewing back in their home laboratory.
他向前辈的脚步也是快速活泼的 – 一点也不勉强。不像另外新兵的，正式而严格的欢迎，三处小弟的十分热情，像他们实验室里的放热反应。
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The boy is none other than the little saint Fei Jie dropped off at the door in between his last two missions. Once more, the poison master is off gallivanting. If Chen Pingping knew any less, he would not have been able to guess that Fei Jie had already dropped by Danzhou. Not for the Lady’s child, not yet on his orders. Still, a visit.
那孩子就是费介上次任务回来时候留在门外的小仙子，而毒药大师再次出漫游。如果陈萍萍少知了一些儿，他不会想到费介已经去过儋州。不是为了姑娘的孩子，也不是院长交代的，但费介去了一趟。
But they digress, the boy, an orphan named by Fei Jie himself, is called En. Being told this is like being tossed a huge ironic joke, like the iron manacles that keep Chen Pingping to his wheelchair, and Xiao En docile in the basement.
孩子是个孤儿，名字被费介取的，叫恩。当时费介说到的时候，陈萍萍可认为大毒师在说讽刺的笑话；像把他绑着，不让他从轮椅站起的，像让肖恩乖乖的呆在地下室的铁手铐。
“The boy is called En now. I named him myself,” the old master had the nerve to say so. The only thing more ironic is that the boy takes his master’s surname when asked.
“男孩儿现在叫恩。我取的。” 那老头子还蛮骄傲。更讽刺的就只有他的姓名了。
No one can say that Fei En is a bad name in their line of work, but one cannot help but feel the naming scheme is a convoluted pattern meant to trouble people – especially since the boy specialises in healing, true to his given name.
看他们的行业的话，没人说费恩不适合。他名字却让人觉得它可是为了让人头疼似的 – 特别就因为那孩子忠于字词，专攻治愈人。
Chen Pingping has no doubt in his mind that En is still part of that guilt Fei Jie nurses towards him. The entirety of the Control Bureau and all the future tasks that the young boy is going to have to take care of are just trials. Because true to Fei Jie’s work ethic and beliefs, their first discovery of soothing Qi is something to be tested rigorously.
陈萍萍知道那孩子是费介向他内疚感的一部分。整个监察院，未来全部的任务只是男孩的训练。费介个性就是那样的，第一次被发觉到的医疗气一定会被狠狠地测试。
And unsurprisingly, the Third Division’s assistant head Qin is up and about weeks in advance. “Would you have stayed unconscious like that for two weeks, refusing to accept treatment if I didn’t join, Qin-ge?”
毫不奇怪，三处的秦副处长早两个星期就恢复了。“那，如果我没加入三处，秦哥真的会躺着，不让我治疗吗？
Their newest and only junior of the year; stuck in the middle of their group like a precious keystone.
三处今年唯一的学弟；组中最重要的宝石，拱心石。
Qin only laughs. “If not, how would I be able to test my new poison? Now that you’re around, En-di, our newest goal is to create a poison that you cannot save us from. Besides, it wasn’t that terrible, I would have tried another antidote recipe. One failure is no failure – only one way the antidote cannot be made!”
秦只笑着。“那当然啊！不那样做的话，我怎么实验我的新毒品呢？现在有了恩弟，我们的大目标就是创作你不能治疗的毒药。反正这次的也不算那么严重。我只会多试另外的解毒方剂。一次的失败不能算失败啊，只是不能做解毒的一个方剂！”
“Then, has it really been lights out for many of my seniors?”
“这样的话，不是很多师哥们没了灯？”
The child’s needless question causes a laugh to bubble to the lips of his senior. “Of course!” Qin continues the joke in the same poor taste, “In fact, I expected to die a slow and painful death. A poison maker’s death is the completion of our legacy.”
“这你就不用问啦！我也想我死的就一样，慢慢地，痛苦地。一位毒药大师的死亡才是我们完成的遗产。”