The three officials continued to flip through the script, trembling. They were terrified that the First Emperor of Qin would execute them to keep his secrets, yet they were equally bewildered by the bizarre contents of the "Heavenly Book."
It was a cycle of being deceived, only to find themselves on the path to being deceived again. Although they always ended up with tangible benefits, for an emperor, this sort of trickery was truly an act of profound disrespect!
Li Si’s sharp eyes caught a distinct crease on the corner of one page. A quick comparison with other pages, and he suddenly understood.
By the time they reached the final page of the "Heavenly Book," the bamboo slips beside Feng Jie had piled up like a small mountain. He set down his stylus and gently rubbed his wrists under the table. These two men were merely his colleagues; he dared not make any overt movements, so he simply stretched slightly before reaching for another slip. His eyes drifted involuntarily toward the "Heavenly Book," and a flicker of anticipation stirred within him.
He wondered when that papermaking technique would finally be theirs. He hoped His Majesty would put in some real effort.
He dared only think this; the Skyscreen had already made it clear that as long as the Emperor worked hard to earn money, he could exchange it for technology.
Alas, he could not share the burden for His Majesty.
"Minister Li, how do you think we should draft this memorial?" Wang Wan spoke up suddenly. Today was the final deadline set by the Emperor. Time was short, and the three of them had decided to pull another all-nighter.
They hadn't slept for the past two days. If they relaxed now, they might never wake up, so they might as well push through and finish the task.
Hearing the Chancellor speak, Feng Jie looked over as well.
Li Si paused, surprised by Wang Wan’s initiative, but under the other man’s gaze, he quickly composed himself and replied, his head slightly bowed: "Since the fairy has asked His Majesty to play the role of the First Emperor, he must surely memorize the lines provided."
"Furthermore, while the information on technologies like papermaking and gunpowder is incomplete, we should pay close attention to them."
"And those young men and women from later ages—though they act with brazen disregard for propriety, the civil service examination system they mentioned is excellent. We should also take note of the curved-shaft plow."
Li Si stopped there; one must know when to stop.
Naturally, their memorials could not be identical, or the Emperor would think they weren't working diligently. Everything Li Si mentioned was merely scratching the surface of the "Heavenly Book." Since Wang Wan and Feng Jie were both clever old foxes, it was impossible for them not to have noticed the same things. In a sense, Li Si had spoken nothing but empty words.
"It seems my views align with Minister Li’s," Wang Wan said with a smile. "And you, Lord Feng?"
Feng Jie, who held the rank of Censor-in-Chief and was a sly old fox himself, began to speak: "I am ashamed to say that my insights are not as profound as Lord Li’s. I merely find the methods of official performance assessment mentioned in the 'Heavenly Book' to be quite interesting."
Very well. The official performance assessment was also mentioned directly in the "Heavenly Book," though the details provided were incredibly sparse.
Wang Wan then shared some of his own thoughts, focusing on the "dai tian" (alternate field) farming method and the stirrup—both directly stated in the "Heavenly Book"—while keeping his true thoughts entirely to himself.
All three wore polite smiles as they looked at one another, though in their hearts, they were already busy mocking each other. They were all veteran schemers; who didn't know exactly what the others were thinking?
After an sleepless night, the three finished their memorial. At dawn on the fourth day, they submitted it to the First Emperor via the palace attendants and then, escorted by the Emperor's servants, boarded carriages to return home.
In those three full days, the total amount of sleep the three had managed combined likely didn't even add up to two hours. As soon as they reached home, they collapsed into bed.
Ying Zheng reviewed the memorial first. All three were men of immense talent, and the essays they had produced were magnificent, covering every facet of Great Qin’s potential transformation—naturally, omitting the part where he had been tricked by theatrical illusions.
Li Si had even meticulously detailed the plot development of the script, so even if Ying Zheng hadn't read the script itself, he could grasp the essence of the story.
With these three memorials, and having endured his disgust to read the full script Feng Jie had recorded, Ying Zheng now had a concept of the "First Emperor" in the play.
It was him, yet it was not him.
During the seven days Ying Zheng spent studying the script, Zhu Yu was not idle.
The information she released had stunned the netizens, who exclaimed that the gossip was juicy indeed. The couple once thought to be a golden pair turned out to be a cheating man and his mistress.
Many of the original "ship" fans of the two were the most fanatical, stitching together unrelated videos and photos to claim these were Yuan Boshi’s true romantic experiences, insisting that Zhu Yu’s claims were slander. Some fans tried to muddy the waters by claiming Yuan Boshi had been spotted with a secret girlfriend two years prior, but the blurry photo they posted—though low-resolution—showed a woman who was neither Zhu Yu nor Jiang Xue.
Such news, however, was quickly suppressed.
The gossips were ecstatic.
As for Yuan Boshi, he offered no response after the news broke.
Eventually, Zhu Yu met with him.
"When you renewed your contract, my father said in advance that even if you left early, you wouldn't need to pay damages," she said, her expression blank.
This time, she brought a lawyer, primarily to handle the termination of his contract with Xingmang.
Yuan Boshi looked ashamed. "Xiao Yu, don't blame me. Love is something one cannot control." He continued, "Besides, I’ve earned a lot of money for the company over the years. We can consider ourselves even. Can we still be friends in the future?"
Both their lawyers were highly professional and maintained expressionless faces as they handled the matters, despite the shamelessness of his words. Zhu Yu herself was stunned by the sheer audacity of his remarks.
"We cannot be friends, Mr. Yuan," Zhu Yu said calmly. "However, we are not exactly cutting all ties. The relationship of plaintiff and defendant will suffice."
Yuan Boshi’s relieved expression froze. "Xiao Yu, what are you saying? I don't understand."
Plaintiff and defendant?
Zhu Yu continued, "You don't have to pay a termination fee, but I discovered that some of the company’s investments from the past few years were embezzled. I have already instructed my lawyer to sue you for fraud."
"I believe you will receive the notice tomorrow."
"Xiao Yu, you're joking, right? How could I be a fraud?" Yuan Boshi could no longer maintain his soulful, devoted expression; he completely fell apart. "Xiao Yu, stop this. I know you're unhappy about Xue and me, but no one can control their feelings. How could you splash dirty water on us like this?"
"You can't just frame us because your investment project failed!"
"You’ve gone too far!"
Zhu Yu sneered.
Her lawyer spoke up, "Mr. Yuan, if you believe my client is slandering you, please provide evidence. If you cannot, I will represent my client in a lawsuit against you for defamation."
Such a scumbag, and yet he loved to perform.
Yuan Boshi’s face darkened, and he finally stopped spouting his nauseating, cloying words.
After the contract was formally terminated under the witness of the lawyers, Zhu Yu walked away without looking back. She could no longer bear the sight of his disgusting face.
[Host, why didn't you use those photos to demand money?]
The data the system had collected included the fact that Yuan Boshi was secretly seeing three other women. If that news got out, the scene would be even more explosive. It even had evidence that one of them had suffered a miscarriage.
Zhu Yu took a few deep breaths. Once she had regained her composure, she said, "I didn't say I wouldn't take the money, but it can't come from me."
[Why?]
"Because if it were me," Zhu Yu replied, "Yuan Boshi might just slander me back, claiming I fabricated everything. It would become a mess, and those girls might get hurt. He wouldn't pay a high price to buy my silence, and that doesn't align with my goals."
[But the evidence is right there. How could it be slander?]
"As long as there is money, anything can be called slander." A cold light flashed in Zhu Yu's eyes. Not to mention her current status; she could easily be bitten back.
When it came to matters of the heart, who would have thought Yuan Boshi was cheating on his partner of five years with other women? If one of his infatuated fans decided to defend him, she had to be absolutely certain of success.
She had to ensure there was no room for error. Therefore, she planned to hire an intermediary to demand the money.
Using an intermediary would cost a portion of the funds, and Zhu Yu was truly broke, so she simply nagged the system into acting as a proxy.
Yuan Boshi was surprisingly decisive, paying ten million to buy her silence—given his celebrity status, he was worth that much. However, Zhu Yu couldn't help but feel it was because of the miscarriage incident.
Once the contract with Yuan Boshi was formally terminated, Zhu Yu went to the production crew to inform them. Upon learning that every other investor had pulled out, she gritted her teeth and invested the entire sum of Yuan Boshi’s hush money back into the project.
Fortunately, Xingmang had been the primary investor, and there were no high-salaried celebrities in the cast. Their withdrawal didn't mean the production had to collapse immediately.
Seven days passed in a blink. When the Skyscreen began its countdown, Ying Zheng was already dressed in his most magnificent court robes, holding the script, his dictionary, and his own reflections, waiting quietly to be summoned by the fairy.
The moment Ying Zheng’s figure vanished, the long-absent Skyscreen began to light up once more.
At this moment, people across all dynasties could not help but look up at the sky.
Had the First Emperor been invited to the fairy palace once again?