Knowing that it was impossible to persuade the old man in front of him, Le Yu stood up. He glanced at the desk and suddenly noticed something: "What newspaper is this?"

"Hmm?" Zhu Yan glanced: "A war report, issued by the Statistical Department... don't you usually read newspapers?"

I usually only read the 'Humor Moment' section... Le Yu picked it up and glanced at it, finding it was all about the movements of various district armies, and realized why he hadn't read this newspaper—too boring.

This thing is akin to the sidebar info in a Romance of the Three Kingdoms game, but without even a map, how are you supposed to read it, by sheer imagination?

"The war report can be collected from White Box, it's basically not for sale outside, the Statistical Department only sends it to specific institutions." Zhu Yan said: "If you want to read it, you can take it, just remember to return it to White Box."

"No, I'll pass after a glance."

Le Yu first looked at Dongyang's information, and his eyes were practically blinded.

The war report was divided into two parts: one was the report from local intelligence personnel, who reported brief information every five days, all of which made up the monthly report, and these intelligence personnel were mostly local powerful figures; the other part was a summary by the Statistical Department.

And thus appeared this segment:

On November 6th, a weak and ignorant rabble was obstructed in Cigu Village.

On November 11th, violent mobs advanced to Di Ping Pass.

On November 16th, the rebels surrounded Shengxia County.

On November 22nd, Huyan Siluo's army occupied Tian's Gate.

On November 29th, the elite army of Palace Wang Hai captured Jindie County.

"Statistical Department's evaluation: They offered almost no resistance and surrendered directly."

Since the brief information cannot be changed after being reported, there were many such grand embarrassing moments in the war report, which made Le Yu click his tongue in wonder.

In this way, White Night should have already recaptured the entire Dongyang. Previously, Qing Lan said she planned to come to Yanjing as long as the road was safe, so now there's no reason to refuse her...

After reading Dongyang, Le Yu turned to the page on Chenfeng. He didn't really want to focus on Blue Flame, just wanted to find an excuse to set off fireworks, for instance, Blue Flame being attacked by White Night assassins while...well, you get the idea.

"Blue Flame leads the Linhai Army into the Canglan District for a joint military exercise with the Blood Source Army."

"Statistical Department's evaluation: There must be something fishy about this."

Joint military exercise? A very familiar excuse.

As Le Yu put down the war report and was about to leave, Zhu Yan suddenly remembered something: "Oh right, about that matter you entrusted me to investigate."

Le Yu was taken aback, then reacted: "The Holy Sword's Radiance? Have you found any results?"

"No."

"Then why bring it up?"

"Since I promised, I should report back to you." Zhu Yan said: "In fact, over the past two months, I have searched through all the classics, records, and historical texts. Even if I'm given more time, I won't have any more results."

"The matter of 'Canceling the Suspended Holy Sword' you mentioned has never occurred in history." The old man sighed: "I don't know how Qin Xiao investigated it back then... asking me to investigate this information is like trying to extract water from air, it's unrealistic."

"You've worked hard."

"Don't rush to thank me." Zhu Yan took out a book from the drawer: "Since the requirement is unrealistic, I can only investigate through unrealistic means—a method to cancel the Suspended Holy Sword, I could only find some clues in this book."

Seeing this familiar book, Le Yu fell silent instantly.

It was indeed "The Annals of the Grand Ancestor" by Long Aotian—

He sighed and said, "Honestly, I've read 'The Annals of the Grand Ancestor' dozens of times. I don't recall any similar content recorded in it."

"There is," Zhu Yan flipped to a page: "Look at this section I marked."

"... I held fast to righteousness and practiced diligently, then communicated with the divine through dreams, the radiance of the Holy Sword being merely adornment, only the people's will and the Saint's honor mattered..."

Le Yu blinked at Zhu Yan, and Zhu Yan looked at him blankly.

"Sorry, I read the modern youth version, I can't understand this classical text."

Zhu Yan paused in silence: "You should attend Teacher Wei's classical text classes."

"The general translation of this passage is, 'Because I uphold justice and practice diligently, I understand everything in my dreams, the Holy Sword's radiance is merely ornamental, the direction of the people's hearts and the Saint's pursuit is my effort's direction.' The version you saw should have been similarly translated."

"But '之' is seldom used to refer to 'I', more often it refers to 'he'. And this passage is the Grand Ancestor describing the Holy Sword's Radiance, so if '之' refers to 'he', it becomes 'The radiance is merely ornamental to the Holy Sword, the people's hearts and the Saint is the essence of the Holy Sword'."

Le Yu: "I still don't understand, why not just say the conclusion directly."

"The method to cancel the Suspended Holy Sword might be the people's hearts and the Saint." Zhu Yan: "This is the only information I found during these days."

Le Yu was speechless: The people's hearts? Does he need to collect people's hearts to increase national satisfaction? Then he needs to add a Civilization series system or a Stellaris series could work.

The Saint? Where to find a Saint to sacrifice? Besides, isn't Saint an honorary title, can it actually change roles?

"In any case, thank you for your hard work, Master Zhu."

Le Yu respectfully thanked and left, closing the door behind him.

Zhu Yan went over to lock the door, took a cigarette from the cigarette box and put it in his mouth, striking a flint to light it, but choked and coughed repeatedly after inhaling one puff.

"I still don't understand, what does this mean..." He shook his head, flicking away ash, and then took it to the balcony and threw the cigarette into the brazier.

"Happy birthday."

...

...

Arriving at the sunny Wanxiang Forest, Le Yu saw only Shi Wen practicing boxing today, and couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Where's Laiya?"

Shi Wen honestly said, "She seems to have finally figured out how to make the dessert the curator wants to eat, she's been tinkering all noon, and now she's gone to deliver the dessert to the curator."

"And you," Le Yu sat down and asked: "The curator takes such good care of you two, don't you have anything to show for it?"

During this time spent together, Le Yu also found that the White Box Library curator took good care of these two with disabilities, Shi Wen aside, he directly got a well-paid, low-stress job; Laiya, though helping in the canteen, was often requested by name to make desserts by the curator, implicitly indicating that Laiya had his backing, so the kitchen staff naturally wouldn't give Laiya a hard time.

After all, the curator's surname is Cha.

"Hmph, anyone who bullies him, I'll help him fight back!" Shi Wen said arrogantly.

"And what if nobody bullies him?"

"That would mean that everyone respects him because they fear me."

"Very good, Shi Wen!" Le Yu praised: "You've truly learned the master's teachings!"

"Really!?" Shi Wen, a teenager, immediately became excited by the compliment.

"Really!" Le Yu pulled out a belt: "You're already shameless beyond me! Seeing you so shameless, it's making my hands itch, and since Laiya's not here, let's try something new today..."

...

...

White Box, curator's office.

"Curator, how about it!?" Laiya asked confidently.

Only to see Cha Shiyin holding a small dish, atop which was a pagoda-shaped yellow dessert, Cha Shiyin dug a spoon in, and the pagoda 'DuangDuang' shook. He closed his eyes and took a bite, then put the plate down.

Hearing the sound, Laiya was a bit disappointed: "Is it still not right? I thought I'd already gotten it right..."

"It's perfect!" Laiya exclaimed excitedly. "Curator, can I make this dessert in the canteen? It's so delicious, everyone should try it out."

"Of course you can," Cha Shiyin said with a smile. "In fact, you should put it on the menu with your name so everyone knows it was created by our brilliant chef, Laiya."

"Oh, that's amazing!" Laiya cheered. "I want everyone to enjoy it!"

"The world should know," added Tea Shiyin with a smile. "And by the way, don't you have class this afternoon?"

"Ah! I better get going then," Laiya said, suddenly remembering.

Tea Shiyan smiled, slowly savoring and finishing the dessert. As he kept his eyes closed, he savored the sweetness and creamy flavor on his tongue, letting out a long breath.

"Happy birthday to me."

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