"Wah wah wah, such a touching story!"
One minute later, Bailu was teary-eyed, "This Yingxing has such a bitter fate, so pitiful wah wah wah—"
Stelle helplessly shook her head, then patted Clara beside her and introduced, "Bailu, Miss Lingsha, this is my boss, her name is Clara. She made a little name for herself on the Luofu before. I wonder if you remember her."
Lingsha carefully sized up Clara, and suddenly her expression changed, as if she had thought of something. She immediately cupped her hands and said, "Could it be that the one from a few days ago who single-handedly captured the fugitive spaceship?"
"This humble one has long heard of Miss Clara's great name. Now that I see her, she truly is a heroine among women. Pleased to meet you, pleased to meet you!"
Clara didn't know how to respond, so she imitated Lingsha's gesture and cupped her hands as well, responding somewhat awkwardly, "P-Pleased to meet you."
"By the way... how did Miss Lingsha and Bailu end up together?" Stelle scratched her head and asked, "Didn't Miss Lingsha just arrive on the Luofu?"
"Of course." Lingsha nodded and said, "This humble one met Miss Bailu while eating. At the time, there were many people and it was chaotic. Miss Bailu unfortunately fell victim to a thief's hand and lost her wallet, leaving her unable to pay."
"This humble one saw that Miss Bailu was not the type to eat without paying like a rogue, and seeing her being repeatedly haggled by the shopkeeper, I couldn't bear it and stepped in to help. That's how this connection was formed."
"So that's how it is. It feels not surprising at all..." Stelle scratched her head and laughed.
"Speaking of which, did the two of you just now also see the rumor about General Huaiyan?" Lingsha asked.
"About General Huaiyan...?" Stelle pointed at the magazine in Bailu's hand, thinking to herself: Isn't this a rumor about Blade?
"Indeed." Lingsha's expression turned serious as she said, "Zhuming is this humble one's second hometown, and General Huaiyan is an exceptionally great general. Seeing him slandered by villains pains this humble one greatly, and I cannot sit idly by."
"Ah?" Bailu's face, which had been moved just moments ago, suddenly froze, then she flew into a rage: "Damn news journalism, fooling my tears again! Good thing I lost my wallet today, or I'd have been scammed out of money again!"
Stelle: "It's not that serious, is it? It's just digging up some entertainment news. And the protagonist of this news isn't even Old Huai..."
"It's not like that."
Lingsha said, "In fact, on the Zhuming Xianzhou, not many people know of someone named Yingxing, and he's rarely mentioned in everyday life. This humble one finds it strange—why is it that as soon as we arrive on the Luofu, such a secret can be dug up."
"General Huaiyan has so many entertainment news-worthy stories that could be exposed, so why is the one that spreads this relatively obscure matter? Therefore, this humble one believes there must be villains at work behind the scenes."
Stelle listened in a daze, "Then, then what does Miss Lingsha plan to do to catch this villain?"
"Simple: dig to the root, find the source of the rumor, and that's it." Lingsha took the magazine from Bailu's hand and pointed to the publisher on it—
Sanyou Bookstore, Editor-in-Chief: You Ci. (The main person responsible for the fictional narrative, that bird)
Stelle: ...Just seeing this name made her suddenly understand.
"If that's the case, Stelle, shall we go take a look too?" Clara thought for a moment and said, "I actually have quite a bit of fate with this General Huaiyan. Wherever I go, I run into things related to him. Just treat it as satisfying my curiosity, is that okay?"
Seeing Clara proactively requesting something, Stelle immediately beamed with joy: "Sure, of course."
After being out for so long, this was the first time Clara had actively asked for something. Of course she wouldn't refuse.
"You two are righteous!" Lingsha's eyes lit up: "With two good heroes helping, I believe the truth will come to light in no time. At that time, this humble one will treat the two of you to a good drink!"
...
Not long after, Sanyou Bookstore.
"Dear guests, after paying, remove the 'bookmark' you're interested in and bring it close to your jade sign, and you can download and read it."
"If you don't have a jade sign, or if you prefer the feel of holding a book, feel free to take any book from the store. We have scroll-style, bamboo-slip-style, and bound-book-style, all available. In short, come find me when you're ready to buy."
The shop assistant's name was Yin Shu, about the same height as Clara, at least a hundred or two hundred years old. Her voice was small, but very enthusiastic.
After all, in this era, most people read books through novel apps on their jade signs, which greatly squeezed the survival space for physical bookstores. On normal days, there was basically no business, so with great difficulty some guests finally came, of course she had to entertain them well.
"Shopkeeper, this humble one isn't here to buy books, but has a few questions I'd like to ask." Lingsha took out the magazine and asked, "May I ask if this magazine is from your store?"
Yin Shu just glanced at the magazine's cover and very affirmatively said, "Mm, yes, this was even personally edited by our store manager. Is there a problem?"
Lingsha explained, "It's like this, shopkeeper. May I ask where the content of this magazine came from? This humble one is acquainted with General Huaiyan, and such old past events should logically be known to few people. How did your store manager...?"
Yin Shu shrugged, then lifted up a cloth-covered cage from under the counter and said, "This I don't know. Why don't you ask it directly?"
"It?"
Lingsha and Clara both had faces full of doubt. What did this mean? Was the store manager in this cage?
Bailu accepted it the fastest and immediately leaned toward the cage, saying, "Store manager, store manager, tell me, where did you learn this story from?"
The cage: ...
There was no response.
Seeing this, Lingsha and Clara couldn't help but both cover their faces. This silly child, how could the store manager be in the cage...
—"Young ones, do you want to hear me tell a story? I have many stories I can tell you."
Suddenly, a voice came from the cage. In the center of the black cloth-covered cage, there was faintly a glow blooming, looking especially "mysterious."
The store manager was really in the cage? Lingsha and Clara were shocked. After two seconds, Lingsha cleared her throat and said, "Shopkeeper, this humble one's name is Lingsha. I want to know the story about General Huaiyan and Yingxing. How did you come to know it?"
"...My name is You Ci. The story you mentioned, is it the content from today's bestseller magazine?"
You Ci was silent for a moment, then said, "It's not impossible to learn the story from me, but you must first agree to help me with something."
Lingsha: "Shopkeeper, speak freely."
You Ci: "I have some very 'stimulating' things here that need you to 'take a look' at for me."
Bailu curiously asked, "Stimulating things? What is it? A new game?"
You Ci: "More stimulating than a game. Want to take a look?"
"This... heroes, what do you think?" Lingsha hesitated for a moment, then turned to ask Stelle and the other two for their opinions. Investigating the rumor was originally her own idea; if it troubled others, it would make her feel uneasy.
"No problem, it's not like there could be any danger anyway." Stelle waved her hand and said.
"Same as Stelle." Clara said without a care.
Bailu's eyes were full of expectation: "Me too, me too. Don't worry, Sister Lingsha. I'm still waiting to eat after finishing this. At that time, I want to eat a whole borisin hehehe..."
After getting the three's definite replies, Lingsha then said to You Ci: "Alright, we agree."
"One, two, three, four... Perfect." You Ci murmured a few words: "Then, come help me complete this 'story' that I haven't finished weaving yet."