Ling Qi restrained herself from matching his grimace with her own. "You never struck me as the type, Baron Ji," she said dryly, eyeing the titles of the books he held. Treatises on leadership, logistics, and yes, administration filled out most of the stack.
"What's it to you," he replied, meeting her eyes defiantly. "You think I'm too stupid to learn anything but punching or something?"
Ling Qi debated just leaving, but curiosity drove her to ask. "...Why though. Did my phantoms jar something loose when they were spinning you around?"
He looked like he wanted to spit blood at the reminder of his loss. She found it funnier than she probably should have. "Dunno, why do you care about the past all of a sudden?" He spat in return.
Ling Qi glanced down at the book in her hands that she had been casually perusing. "...Even if it doesn't matter, seeing the patterns is important I think," she replied, thinking back to her encounter in the dream and Senior Brother Liao's own words on the futility of it. "I'll leave you to your study," Ling Qi said, closing her book and standing. There wasn't much point in antagonizing him, aside from petty satisfaction.
...And she had already indulged in that, doing more would just be gluttonous.
As she moved to pass him by though, he spoke. "They aren't any different," he said. "But that doesn't change the fact that I've been a shit Boss."
Ling Qi paused, eyeing the scarred boy without turning her head. "Are you making the comparison that I think you're making?" She asked, vaguely incredulous.
He let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, Guess I am, Gang Boss, Baron, Duke, Emperor. It's all a matter of scale, innit." He shook his head. "I'm never gonna be leading packs in a fight like that Cai or or pet giant, but if a Boss is what I am, I'm not gonna be a shit one."
"That's not the kind of thing you should say Sect Brother," Ling Qi replied dryly. "Please consider your words more before you tarnish the Sect's reputation."
"Whatever," he snorted. "I'm outta here in a couple years anyway. Not gonna run off and leave her alone like the rest of those parasites," he turned away from her then, resuming his path toward the reading desk in the far corner.
Ling Qi shook her head as she began to move toward the archives exit. She supposed that at least answered clearly what was going on between Sun Liling and Ji Rong.