Durin's Diary

Chapter 946 Mirror Condensation

"Yan Zhenqing, you seem to be in a good mood today. What brings you here to see me?" Prime Minister Lin looked at Yan Zhenqing standing outside the door and couldn't help but feel curious.

"I came to see you because I have something I want to talk to, but there are very few people I can talk to about this, so after thinking it over, I decided to come to you first." As Mr. Yan, the upright official, spoke, he followed him into the Lin residence.

"I feel ashamed to accept such words. Why don't you go and find this old man?"

"That old man is straightforward. If he finds out what I'm about to say, I'm afraid things will become even more unmanageable."

The little candle dragon followed Prime Minister Lin to sit in the pavilion in the garden, and asked his steward to prepare refreshments and tea. Prime Minister Lin looked at this person and said, "Speaking of which, you have only come to the Lin residence three times in all these years. The first time was when you killed my ancestor's younger brother."

"He forcibly abducted women, colluded with unscrupulous merchants, and harmed wounded veterans. Do you think he deserves to die?" Yan Qingchen asked without changing his expression.

“Damn it, so my ancestor made you personally kill his younger brother and then see you off.” Lin Xiangguo said, first pouring a bowl of tea for the old Zhulong in front of him: “The second time, you came to see my great-grandfather.”

“When your great-grandfather was in logistics, his subordinates colluded with merchants to sell military supplies. It was later confirmed that he was indeed unaware of this, so I had tea with your great-grandfather’s father and eventually left the Lin family.”

"So, why did you come this time?" Prime Minister Lin asked with a smile.

"I didn't mean anything by it, I just wanted you to take charge of the so-called 'pure stream' articles in those newspapers in Beijing," Mr. Yan replied earnestly.

"Only you would dare say such a thing to my face. What, who have the 'pure stream' criticized this time?" Prime Minister Lin was genuinely curious this time.

"Didn't you attend today's court assembly?"

“I didn’t go today. I’ve been coordinating naval matters for the past few days. With the deadline fast approaching, I spent the whole day allocating fuel. The logistics officers from the two neighboring provinces treat me like I’m some kind of living devil.” Lin Xiangguo said with a helpless expression, “But what can I do?”

He paused for a moment, then asked, "What do you mean? What happened at today's court assembly?"

"The attack plan was just cancelled at today's court assembly." Seeing the puzzled look on the old human's face, Yan Zhenqing relaxed his brow: "The day before yesterday, Dulin went to the four islands alone and killed Lady Nogel."

Why didn't anyone tell me?

“The news hasn’t spread yet; only those who can attend court know. You said you didn’t go, so it’s understandable that you don’t know.” Yan Zhenqing sighed as he said this: “That’s why I’m here today not to beg you, but because I sincerely hope you can take care of those newspapers and so-called mouthpieces under your control. Dulin can kill one alien god; he might be able to kill a second and a third, or even kill them all.”

"You're not lying to me, are you?" Lin Xiangguo frowned.

"Do I need to lie to you? I have time to lie to you. Wouldn't it be simpler to just kill them all in the middle of the night? I, Yan Qingchen, have killed so many corrupt officials. If I kill a few upright officials, the uninformed people will all say that I did a good job. I'm not trying to protect my reputation, but I don't want those young people who are under your control to be killed by me and then suffer injustice."

Lin Xiangguo smiled, but before this mortal sword immortal could turn his back on him and kill him, he spoke up: "No problem. From today onwards, as long as it is a newspaper under my control, there will be no more Qingliu talking about the distinction between Chinese and barbarians or the debate over races."

At this point, Prime Minister Lin sighed, "I really didn't expect that this child could actually do this. Although I don't know how he did it, you're right. What's a joke in the old era can sometimes be a heinous crime that leads to the destruction of entire families in the new era. I will restrain the newspapers under my name, but elsewhere..." "Others will warn others about that. I'm here because everyone understands that even if I kill someone, I can walk out unscathed, and afterwards, the people of the capital will write letters to me." As Yan Zhenqing said this, he placed the sword and its scabbard he had been holding on the table.

“Mr. Yan, Changtang is not the same Changtang as before.”

"But we old fogies are not all dead yet. I am here today to tell you that whether it is you, your children, or your descendants, as long as anyone commits a major taboo, they deserve to die. Changtang will not stop operating without anyone. Even if I die of old age, there will still be young people in the Changtang Sword Alliance who will stand up and kill all evil."

After saying this, Yan Zhenqing stood up and walked towards the gate.

Sitting in the pavilion, Prime Minister Lin watched him walk out the gate and finally sighed.

"Father, should we go to the Golden Palace to file a complaint?" His second son stood silently behind him.

"What are you accusing? This villain was a setup orchestrated by His Majesty and me. He played the good cop, and I played the bad cop. I just didn't expect those old fogies in the Sword Alliance to actually believe that this old man is a bad guy. Go tell all the editors right now to immediately stop arguing in the newspapers. If I really get my head chopped off by Yan Zhenqing one day, I'll have to trouble the people of the capital to write a petition to Yan Zhenqing!"

After driving away his second son, Prime Minister Lin sat in the pavilion for a while to catch his breath, and then laughed again.

As he laughed, a look of sorrow crossed his face again—why couldn't Dulin have come sooner? If he had come twenty years earlier, his eldest, third, and fourth sons wouldn't have died in the Three Passes and Four Seas.

But he understood even more clearly that the appearance of the child Dulin meant that a new era was very likely about to begin.

Everything from the old era may not be of much use in the new era. For example, his methods of playing the villain are now something that the people of Changtang find amusing in their leisure time, because even the most foolish person knows that Changtang's greatest enemy lies beyond the Three Passes and Four Seas.

To them, these newspaper debates seemed more like the nonsense spouted by bookworms. They could look at it all with a critical eye and then laugh it off as fodder for casual conversation.

But what if one day, the enemies beyond the three passes and four seas are replaced by something else, or even disappear altogether?

Would people at that time really believe that all of this was just nonsense spouted by bookworms?
Although Yan Zhenqing's words were rough, his reasoning was sound. A new era is probably really coming soon.

It's true that people become more hesitant and indecisive as they get older, which is both funny and unfunny.

In any case, I should resign in the Golden Hall tomorrow.

Thinking of this, he glanced at the sword on the stone table.

The meaning is quite clear: if one day Yan Zhenqing truly felt that the entire Lin family deserved to die, his intention in leaving the sword here would be self-evident.

Lin Chaofeng, you old dog, you'd better save your head first.

(End of this chapter)