Chapter 356: Chapter 354: Youth Daily Cover
"He’s definitely laughing at me on purpose!"
In the evening, at home in Vermilion Bird Alley, Li Ying sat down angrily, stuffing a mouthful of fried rice into her mouth and muttered unclearly, "Pretending to be a student to chat with me? Is it fun to deceive an innocent, pathetic yet adorable female student? Is it fun!?"
"Honestly, I think it’s quite fun." Lin Xue couldn’t help but laugh, "It’s one thing that you were late, but you didn’t even know where the classroom was. Asking for directions was one thing, but you asked the teacher himself. It’s one thing that you came in with Teacher Chenfeng, but you even told him you were substituting for someone else..."
Since this matter involved Qian Yuya, who usually had no interest in these things, she thought carefully and nodded, "Indeed, it’s quite interesting."
"What’s interesting!" The biggest victim, Kui Nianruo, wanted to slam the table, but since it was full of dishes, she could only slap Li Ying’s thigh beside her. The crisp sound made Li Ying exclaim in pain, and she looked at Kui Nianruo pitifully, full of grievance.
Though Li Ying did cause trouble this time, Kui Nianruo couldn’t really blame her, because she also had a part in calling someone to substitute for her class. And Li Ying did her best; sleeping in was indeed her fault, but who would have thought she would bump into Chenfeng in disguise and late?
It’s like a high school student going to the restroom to poop and smoke, borrowing a lighter from the person next to them, only to discover it’s the principal—absurd.
After hearing the content of the afternoon class, Kui Nianruo realized that Teacher Chen actually intended to be the last one late to test everyone’s reaction using himself as a tool; who knew a fake late would meet a real late?
Chenfeng even let Li Ying go into the classroom first, but she didn’t want to, so she ended up being the last student to arrive.
However, Chenfeng didn’t blame Li Ying. In fact, after that class, most people had forgotten what Li Ying even looked like, completely immersed in Jing Qingfu’s evil yet compelling legendary story.
When they left the academy, they all saw the bulletin board starting discussions about how many ’strange Jing Qingfus’ there were in Yanjing—an overtly evil political satire, this post wouldn’t last till the first ray of sunlight in the morning.
Besides these posts, more were fervently discussing who ’Two Strange Listening to the Ancient’ was. The massive academy bulletin board had practically turned into Chenfeng’s microblog comment section.
Seeing Kui Nianruo not scold her further, Li Ying knew she’d passed the test and quickly went over to knead her shoulders and back, soon laughing and playing together. Lin Xue said, "Eat properly when you’re having a meal; though there aren’t many old-fashioned rules now, as women, cultivating polite and graceful traits isn’t a bad thing."
Li Ying obediently sat down, then suddenly asked, as if recalling something, "Lin Jie, do you think polite and graceful girls are good girls?"
"At least from appearances, yes."
"Then Lin Jie, what’s your ideal type of woman? Or what kind of woman do you wish to become?"
Surprisingly, Li Ying asked such a serious question, so Lin Xue thought for a moment, "My ideal woman should be elegant, polite, dignified, never showing her teeth when she smiles, maintained impeccably, with outstanding ability at work, highly respected by peers. Ideally, she would be a female Martial Artist, a Female General—the Commander of the Ta Bai Army in the Youyun District eighty years ago, Fang Yuan. She was my ideal woman."
"No need to reminisce about eighty years ago; you have someone to admire now!"
Like performing a magic trick, Li Ying pulled out a newspaper from somewhere, "Ta-da! Ta-da! Ta-da! Look at the cover of this issue of ’Youth Daily’!"
Everyone looked over and saw a black-and-white drawing. The beauty in the picture wore a stern, dignified Linhai Army uniform, with flowing hair blowing in the wind. She stood on the towering Taiping Coastal Fortress, leaning on a military knife, overlooking the neatly lined troops below.
There was also a line of text: "General Blue Flame’s Inspection Picture"
The quickest to react was Kui Nianruo, who immediately let out a laugh, "This is too bad, hahaha!"
Lin Xue also understood the meaning of the drawing and shook her head, but couldn’t help laughing, "This is too humiliating, and what’s the point? Seriously, Blue Flame wouldn’t lose a single hair over this; it’s just a self-deceiving victory..."
Only Qian Yuya stared at the picture, frowned slightly, "There’s something wrong with this picture."
"What, Xiaoya, you can see it?" Li Ying said surprised, "I thought only I could spot it."
"What else is wrong?" Lin Xue and Kui Nianruo looked again but couldn’t see any mystery.
Li Ying sighed, "Those of you who haven’t seen the previous cover might not notice, but the last few issues of ’Youth Daily’ had no covers. Suddenly, there’s a cover for this issue, but it’s very different from previous covers."
"How is it different?"
Li Ying pointed at the female General in the drawing, "Look at this face, this outfit, this body, these legs, can’t you tell?"
Kui Nianruo vaguely realized something, but Lin Xue still felt baffled, "What’s wrong?"
"This cover!" Li Ying said, deeply grieved, "It’s not seductive at all!"
"Truth be told," Qian Yuya also chimed in, "According to previous cover styles, that would truly be a humiliation for Blue Flame. At least the body curves would be more aesthetic, clothes would cling to the body outlining the curves, and pants might’ve been replaced with the stockings and high boots seen before."
"If the artist weren’t afraid of being assassinated by Blue Flame, they could’ve drawn several tall and strong soldiers behind her."
Qian Yuya spoke plainly and simply evaluated the picture from an academic perspective. She had previously scoured through past issues of ’Youth Daily’ while investigating Zhengwei, even scrutinizing the covers. She had no aversion to such suggestive pictures, feeling indifferent at their sight, almost thinking, ’Is that all?’
But this time, even Kui Nianruo was puzzled: "Why would drawing a few tall soldiers lead to an assassination?"
Li Ying touched her braided hair and shook her head: "If you don’t understand, don’t try to. For those of us who understand right away, our minds are already tainted."
Lin Xue took the newspaper and examined it carefully, then said, "Give me this cover."
Li Ying teased: "Didn’t you say this was self-deception?"
"But now I can only deceive myself," Lin Xue said calmly. "Besides, I need to constantly remind myself of the vast difference between me and this person."
Li Ying immediately changed the subject: "Ah, I really want to know what expression Lan Yan would have if he saw this cover. Would he develop a new obsession because of it?"
"I think he won’t see this picture," Kui Nianruo said. "If I were his subordinate, I wouldn’t dare show him this newspaper!"
"But Lan Yan doesn’t only have subordinates."
Qian Yuya said lightly: "In the end, he is just a General under Governor Lv Zhong’s command. He has superiors, colleagues, and naturally will have—"
"Political enemies."
...
...
"This is outrageous! Outrageous!"
In the Council Hall of the Governor’s mansion in Star Engraving County, a tall and strong man with a panther-like head, sharp eyes, and tiger-like beard shouted explosively, causing dust to fall throughout the hall.
He kneeled on one knee, clasped his hands and said, "My Lord, grant me five thousand soldiers, and I will march into Dongyang and destroy this accursed Youth Daily to avenge Grand General Lan!"
On the ground before him, a copy of "General Lan Yan’s Review Illustration" was fluttering from his voice. The surrounding officials and generals kept their eyes straight ahead, not even glancing at the picture, and said in unison:
"To insult our General of Chenfeng in such a manner is simply shameless!"
"Grand General Lan is the pride of our Chenfeng. How can he suffer such disgrace? My Lord, I am willing to accompany the General to Dongyang to show them that careless words lead to disaster!"
"Yes, if we swallow this humiliation, won’t we become a laughing stock, implying there are no capable people in Chenfeng? We cannot let it go lightly; we must show the world that Chenfeng has more than just the matchless Lan Yan!"
"My Lord."
The first person on the left stepped forward, appearing young and scholarly. It was Lv Heng, the legitimate son of Lv Zhong. His demeanor was stern as he clasped his hands and spoke: "General Lan is the backbone of Chenfeng and recognized as the top god of war by Yanjing, breaking White Night and destroying Heyang, unrivaled in the world, loyal, and righteous, with his honor evident to the sun and moon."
"Which soldier in the Linhai Army does not regard General Lan as a target? Which officer does not hold General Lan in esteem?"
"The Dongyang tabloid dared to feminize General Lan; their malicious intent goes without saying. If we turn a blind eye, not only do we neglect our god of war, but we also cool the passionate loyalty of the Linhai Army."
He paused and then said: "Now, with the three armies having returned to their posts, the coastal defenses are becoming tense. Having just experienced a great battle, we should not easily engage in warfare. Moreover, Dongyang’s finances are depleted and the rebel White Night occupies it. Even if we capture it, it would be difficult for us to govern it on behalf of the Imperial Court. War is truly the worst option."
"In my humble opinion, why not write a letter to Xuanzhu, condemning the Youth Daily’s misconduct, and if the newspaper doesn’t publicly apologize, increase tax on Dongyang merchants to set an example."
Upon hearing this, everyone agreed: "The young master has considered it thoroughly." "That’s how it should be." "I support it too."
As they spoke, their voices gradually subsided, and everyone’s gaze turned to the two people at the front who had not yet spoken.
One was the middle-aged man sitting at the head, broad and strong, with a long braided beard, the master of Chenfeng, the loyalist to the Linhai Army, the patriarch of the millennium Lv family, nicknamed ’Nine Sea King’ by the people due to his nine-braided hairstyle resembling a sea serpent, though scornfully called ’Nine Snake Traitor’ by White Night, the Governor, Lv Zhong.
The other was the center of the uproar, the protagonist of the cover, recognized as the world’s number one by Yanjing, second to none within the Chenfeng territory, the Zhengwei General, Lan Yan.
Lv Zhong had been toying with a walnut in his hand, looking thoughtful. Lan Yan was gazing down at the cover, seemingly finding it quite intriguing.
After a long period, Lv Zhong coughed heavily and casually asked, "Lan Yan, what do you think?"
"What do I think?"
Lan Yan raised his head and shook it: "I think it’s not good."
"The quality of this issue’s cover is far worse compared to the previous ones."