Chapter 12 The Blue Bird Missed Appointment _1

Feng Huai County is tucked away in the Xincang Mountain Range, almost completely cut off from the world, the most effective means of learning about important global events is to rely on the circulating gazettes.

Normally, there would be two editions, one issued by the local prefecture, called the "Prefecture Gazette", published every half month, which can be used to learn about local news. The other one is issued by the National University, referred to as the "National Gazette", supplied monthly, and compiled with important global events.

Previously, gazettes were only circulated among various levels of government offices, until the previous Emperor changed the regulations, ordering to massively publish for the civilians, and consequently made substantial modifications to the content of the gazette.

From then on, slightly confidential messages were no longer printed, replaced by universally accessible political messages, simple-to-understand interpretations of government decrees, exquisite works of court officials, and other contents. Additionally, the guarantee of the gazette's circulation - global news, significant events of the martial arts world, and serialized legendary stories printed on the last two pages.

Theoretically, the gazette is not a scarce thing, but there is a saying, since Feng Huai is extraordinarily remote and the indigence distinguished, although the two newspapers arrived, Feng Huai does not have a workshop capable of reproducing them, and in fact, in the whole county, the number of literate people may be less than a hundred, leaving no room for the circulation of the gazettes.

So, these gazettes build up in the County Office, and Master Huang got his stories by recording from them, and then vividly telling them to the children.

So, many times it was not that he intentionally kept the children in suspense and didn't continue the story, but that the story written by the author of "Mirror's Blue Phoenix" had ended there, and the next issue had not yet arrived.

Through the access provided by Lin Lin, Pei Ye frequently entered the public rooms, and only then became aware of such "treasures".

After this revelation, the boys are all eager to try it out. Pei Ye said in a low voice, "The gazettes for the current month of August should have just arrived, you guys definitely haven't heard it yet, wait for me to fetch them for you."

A soft cheer filled the room.

Pei Ye carried a candle to the public room, pushed the door open, and was greeted by the smell of ink.

The recently arrived gazettes are generally first circulated among the civil officials and secretaries. As expected, with just a glance at the table, Pei Ye saw the slim booklet.

Pei Ye walked over, looking at the [Tang National Gazette] four characters on the cover, drawn in a neat and atmospheric script, he couldn't help but space out for a moment.

This familiar cover stirred up a sense of longing and excitement that had long been buried, as if it was still attached to those simple and joyous days, both of which Pei Ye had not experienced for a long time.

Gently turning the page, it was a muscle memory, before Pei Ye could react, his hand had already skipped over the dull political news at the front, directly arriving at the last few pages.

Pei Ye smiled knowingly, looking down.

This page featured global news and the happenings of the martial arts world, the most prominent news was about the envoy from the Southern states arriving at Shengjing last month, paying tribute to the Saint, and the brilliant young men they brought along had a friendly exchange with the young people of the Tang Dynasty in both literature and martial arts.

Glancing over, seeing several familiar names made him pause slightly. Now was not the time to read in detail, so he flipped to the next page.

The next page was the ink of "Mirror's Blue Phoenix", the currently serialized story was titled "Hero's Broken Bone", completely unrelated to the one Pei Ye had read two years ago. One glance at the recap noted that it was on its 20th installment, titled "A Withered Ghost for Eighteen Years, When Will They Ascend the First Floor of Feixian". Generally, the stories this person writes all conclude on the 20th installment, this one should not be an exception.

Pei Ye closed the booklet and tucked it under his arm. There was actually another July issue of the National Gazette on the table. Picking it up to check, he noticed the last few pages had been cut off. Someone must have taken them to entertain the children, leaving behind only the serious matters at the front that no one cares for. He threw it back onto the table and picked up the much thinner Prefecture Gazette from beside it.

The Prefecture Gazette also follows the same format, but the political section is much more succinct, and the stories at the back are of lower quality, as the state does not have dedicated authors to write them, but rather directly prints the booklets of the storytellers as filler. The martial arts world news column mentioned that a man in white had recently entered the state to ask for a challenge with the sword, possibly a registered swordsman of the Crane Catalog. Pei Ye snorted, this style was consistently speculative.

Pei Ye also tucked it under his arm and proceeded to the deeper part of the public room with the candle.

Apart from fetching the gazettes, Pei Ye's main purpose was to see if he could find the book that made him familiar with the character "quail" in his memories.

At the deepest part of the house stood two rows of bookshelves, not overcrowded, but well-organized. Pei Ye often sat on the floor a few years ago, leaning against the bookshelf and reading for an entire afternoon.

At this moment, he held a lamp and browsed through the bookshelves one by one, directly sliding past history books and classics - things he had never touched before. He didn't have to look up at the top shelf since he was short back then and couldn't reach it. His main focus was on the interesting notes and unofficial histories at the bottom. He indeed found some fascinating books that he had enjoyed reading in the past, but their content was irrelevant.

He meticulously searched through each book, and any that were even slightly familiar, Pei Ye would pull out and flip through. However, after going through the entire bookshelf like this, he couldn't find the familiarity he was searching for.

But if it wasn't here, where else could it be?

After coming here, the familiarity became clearer. He could almost recall the scene: leaning on the window, holding the book toward the setting sun, flipping through it in the last traces of light, and suddenly a character he didn't recognize, caught his eye. He stared for a moment, memorized it, and later asked a clerk about it.

But where had that book gone now?

Pei Ye furrowed his brows, going over the entire bookshelf again and searching under and over the tables throughout the room.

The night was growing darker, the rain drizzling again. Almost an hour had passed since Chang Zhiyuan had left, and if the "Divine Blessing" were to arrive that night, there wasn't much time left.

Pei Ye stood straight, reluctantly accepting the reality that he had failed to activate the so-called "Quail Head".

Perhaps the book had been lost or taken away by someone, and there was absolutely nothing he could do now.

If it was not in the "karma", then there was no explanation.

Pei Ye left the office, carrying two copies of reports. As he crossed the yard, he glanced at the hall and noticed the bulky figure in armor still sitting without moving.

Chang Zhiyuan seemed to feel his gaze, waved his hand, and called him in.

Entering the main hall, he could feel a suffocating oppression in the atmosphere, a stark contrast to the lively atmosphere in the children's room.

Having known the situation, Pei Ye could entirely empathize with the adults' anxieties and torment.

They, in fact, were unable to do anything and could only wait passively. However, they had to appear dependable, like an ant mound at the entrance of an anthill, facing an upcoming storm. The only thing it did was give the ants inside an illusion of safety.

The outcome they were waiting for had only two extremes - either Officer Jing would arrive and sweep away all threats or this small county office would be overrun by criminals first.

Pei Ye asked in a low voice as he walked in, "Any news?"

Chang Zhiyuan shook his head, then asked, "What are you carrying?"

"Two reports. The children like the stories."

"..." Chang Zhiyuan's face showed a mix of emotions, a painful reluctance as if he were delivering news of a child's death. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them to regain his calm and reliable demeanor. "Um... actually, I was planning to come find you. There are thirty-seven armed officers in total in the county. They are all positioned at various streets to help you block the pursuers. In the backyard, there are seven horses. You can distribute them, have those who can ride take those who can't, and scatter in different directions..."

Pei Ye was surprised for a moment, then realized that Chang was referring to the children in the room. He moistened his dry lips and said hesitatingly, "Is... has something happened?"

Shen Yanping came over and said quietly, "The Soul Bird has not returned."