28: Professor Jian Shen truly embodies the spirit of our times!

Two days later.

Jiang City, East District.

An old residential building built in the nineties.

The light in the stairwell was dim.

Small advertisements for locksmiths and drain unclogging were haphazardly plastered on the walls.

Xu Lan followed behind two plainclothes police officers and a middle-aged female official from the Women's Federation, her heart pounding wildly.

She gripped her phone tightly in her hand.

The screen still displayed the message sent by Editor-in-Chief Wang De'an two hours ago:

[Xiao Xu, stay safe. Remember, you don't represent yourself; you represent New Tide and Teacher Jian Shen.]

The energy of Xinchao Magazine Agency was astonishing.

After Wang De'an utilized legal resources and personally called the relevant departments,

in just a day and a half, they used the blurred postmark on the envelope and the purchase records of the stationery

to lock down the approximate location of the girl asking for help, "Xiao Duo."

Then, through a door-to-door investigation by Community Grid Members,

a man named Zhang Qiang, who had a history of alcoholism and violent tendencies, came into their sight.

"Knock, knock, knock."

The plainclothes officer leading the way knocked on the mottled iron door.

"Who is it?!"

An extremely impatient male voice came from inside.

"The drain in the upstairs toilet is broken. We're here to check if there's any leakage in your home."

The officer's voice was calm and steady.

A series of cursing footsteps came from inside, and the door creaked open a crack.

A man wearing a filthy tank top, with a fleshy face and smelling of alcohol, poked his head out.

"What drain..."

"Who are you?!"

Seeing the group of people standing at the door, the man's eyes instantly became wary and fierce.

Before he could react, the officer had already pushed the door open with his shoulder and slipped inside.

"Police! Don't move!"

"F*ck your mother!"

The man flew into a rage instantly. Instead of surrendering,

he turned and grabbed an empty beer bottle from the shoe cabinet, smashing it toward the officer with a hideous expression!

The sharp crack of the bottle shattering exploded in the narrow hallway, and Xu Lan's scream was caught in her throat.

glass shards reflected the cold light, splashing near her feet.

What she saw was not a movie fight,

but raw, filthy violence capable of instant mutilation.

At this moment, the Editor-in-Chief's instructions and Teacher Jian Shen's gentleness

all became distant slogans, leaving only primitive fear.

Then, an older officer moved first.

With a sidestep and a kick, he precisely struck the man's wrist.

Following that, with a clean and swift grapple,

he pinned the man's arms behind his back and pressed him firmly against the wall,

his face pressed right onto a shard of glass.

"Let me go! You b*tch, you actually dared to call the police?! See if I don't break your legs!"

The man struggled frantically, roaring filth from his mouth.

Bloodstains were sliced into his cheek by the glass, making him look even more manic.

It wasn't until the Women's Federation official pushed open the inner door that Xu Lan snapped back to her senses and followed her in.

A faint scent of blood mixed with a sour stench was the first thing to hit her.

Then, she saw a scene she would never forget for the rest of her life.

A mother and daughter huddled in the corner of the bed,

the woman's face covered in obvious bruises, and the little girl's eyes numb and hollow.

All of this made the "warmth" in Teacher Jian Shen's writing seem so feeble.

Xu Lan's eyes instantly turned red,

not out of sympathy, but from a sense of powerlessness,

a doubt regarding the power of words.

The Women's Federation official stepped forward and spoke in her gentlest voice:

"Don't be afraid, we're here to help you."

The woman's lips trembled, unable to utter a single word.

Until the girl named Xiao Duo looked past all the adults in uniform,

gazed at her timidly, and asked in a voice that was almost a whisper:

"Was it... Grandpa Namiya who sent you?"

Boom!

Xu Lan was struck hard by these words.

All fear, doubt, and powerlessness were shattered at this moment.

She finally understood why the Editor-in-Chief said she represented New Tide and Teacher Jian Shen.

Words themselves may be powerless, but they can ignite a spark.

And they were the ones passing that spark along.

She quickly wiped away her tears and forced an encouraging smile for the girl.

She nodded heavily.

...

The next day.

A piece of news, like a bombshell, ignited the public opinion of all Jiang City.

The front page of the Jiang City Evening News used bolded characters for a shocking headline:

[A Letter to "The Miracles of the Namiya General Store," a Pen That Pierces the Darkness! Xinchao Magazine Agency Takes Swift Action, Working with Police to Successfully Rescue a Mother and Daughter from Domestic Violence!]

The news reported the entire sequence of events in detail.

From a nine-year-old girl's letter for help to the high priority given by the New Tide editorial department,

down to Editor-in-Chief Wang De'an making the final call to coordinate with the police and the Women's Federation to rescue the victims from the abyss.

At the end of the report, Jian Shen's warm reply letter was attached, along with that finishing-touch message:

[The true magic of the general store may not lie in the letters themselves, but in the hands that pass them along.]

A stone ripples across a thousand layers of water!

The internet instantly boiled over!

[Holy sh*t! Holy sh*t! This is a real event?! I thought The Miracles of the Namiya General Store was just a story, I didn't expect it could actually save people!]

[He really is... I'm crying! I'm really crying! Teacher Jian Shen is too gentle! Xinchao Magazine Agency is so cool! This is what true media responsibility looks like!]

[Cheering wildly for Teacher Jian Shen! This is the true character our era needs!]

The direction of public opinion underwent a miraculous shift.

The original debate between firefly and the human world is like a prison was completely suppressed by this real-life event.

The name "Jian Shen" was spontaneously placed on a pedestal by countless people.

He was no longer just a storyteller,

but had become a symbol of compassion and wisdom who could truly "relieve worries."

...

Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, Chinese Teaching and Research Group.

Shen Qingqiu looked at the news on her phone, unable to pull herself away for a long time.

Her fingertips brushed over the name "Jian Shen" on the screen, and a surge of indescribable shock and... admiration rose in her heart.

This was true power.

Not the sharp questioning of firefly, nor the cold dissection of the human world is like a prison.

But a gentle, silent power that could change reality.

She suddenly remembered what Lin Que had said to her in the office a few days ago.

"I've realized that true depth is knowing how to stitch up scars."

Could it be that he had really been moved by Teacher Jian Shen?

This thought caused an unprecedented expectation to rise in Shen Qingqiu's heart.

She even felt a strong impulse

to seek out the true identity of this Teacher Jian Shen.

She wanted to see for herself exactly what kind of elder, who had seen the world's many storms,

could possess such a clear-sighted and compassionate heart.

...

In the studio.

Lin Que calmly looked at the news on the computer screen.

In the video was a street interview from the local television station.

In the frame, a familiar figure was surrounded by reporters.

It was the Chairman of the Writers Association, Wang Shouyi.

A reporter held a microphone to his mouth and asked excitedly:

"Chairman Wang, regarding this righteous act by New Tide and Teacher Jian Shen,

as a leading figure in the Jiang City literary world, what are your thoughts?"

Wang Shouyi's expression was somewhat stiff; he had clearly been caught off guard.

He cleared his throat, faced the camera, and forced a righteous expression onto his face.

"Literature should have compassion! The actions of Teacher Jian Shen and Xinchao Magazine Agency have set a glorious example for all of us in the arts!"

He spoke to the camera with passion, his voice booming.

"This is the true integrity of our era!"

"I call upon the entire Jiang City literary circle to learn from Teacher Jian Shen!"

Lin Que's fingertip tapped lightly on the screen,

freezing Wang Shouyi's face, which was flushed with excitement.

"True integrity..."

He silently chewed on those words, a smile reaching his eyes.

How ironic.

The person he saved using Jian Shen's pen had become the weapon Wang Shouyi used to attack Hell Dream Weaver.

Wang Shouyi thought he was defending the dignity of literature,

Shen Qingqiu thought she had guided a lost lamb,

Li Yuanchao thought he had protected the spark of a genius...

They all thought they saw the chessboard clearly.

But they didn't know they were also pawns.

And he was the only one moving the pieces.

"Learn from me, praise me..."

He whispered softly, his gaze slowly moving away from Wang Shouyi's face

and turning toward the dashboard of the Hongguo Novel Website.

"And then... continue to fear me."

He created a new document.

The cursor blinked quietly in the title bar.

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