41: When the gods return to their places, evil spirits will be unleashed.

The editorial office of New Tide had almost become an ocean of celebration at this moment.

Wang De'an held the receiver, leaned back in his chair, and let out a long breath.

This breath exhaled the pent-up frustration, anger, and unwillingness of the past few days.

Looking out the window, he felt that the sky over Nanjing was a few shades bluer than in previous days.

"Old Zhang, I won't say much more, thanks."

"What are you thanking me for? I should be thanking you, and thanking Teacher Jian Shen!"

Zhang Ce laughed heartily on the other end.

"Let me tell you, this matter has spread all over the circle!"

"Everyone says Teacher Jian Shen is the epitome of subduing the enemy without fighting, not making a move until necessary, but stirring up a storm across the city the moment he acts!"

"That Editor-in-Chief Fang has really lost all face this time!"

After hanging up the phone, before Wang De'an even had time to take a sip of water, Xu Lan rushed in with a stack of files, her face unable to suppress her joy.

"Editor-in-Chief! The pre-sale channels have all been connected!"

"Bailu Publishing House said that they have prepared production lines from three printing plants, standing by twenty-four hours a day! They are just waiting for our final manuscript!"

Wang De'an nodded, the huge boulder in his heart finally dropping into place.

He glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the computer; it was approaching midnight.

Would Teacher Jian Shen see this news? What would he think?

As he was pondering, the email notification chimed crisply.

A new email quietly lay there.

Sender: Jian Shen.

Title: Final Chapter.

Wang De'an's heart suddenly jumped to his throat.

He motioned for Xu Lan not to leave, and the two of them huddled in front of the screen together.

He clicked on the attachment, and a document appeared before their eyes.

The title of the document had only four characters.

"Blank Map".

This was the final chapter of The Miracles of the Namiya General Store.

There were no convoluted stories, no new characters, only a letter—a farewell letter from Namiya General Store written to everyone.

[To everyone who has ever sent a letter to Namiya General Store:]

[Hello.]

[When you read this letter, the consultation window of the general store has already closed forever.]

[Please do not feel regretful for this. The curtain call of one story is to open up more stories.]

[The closing of one door is to allow you to push open the door that belongs to you.]

[These days, I have received many letters. Some are about dreams, some about family, some about love, and some about the future.]

[You entrusted the most important dilemmas of your lives to this small mailbox.]

[Yet you may not have realized that the moment you mustered the courage to write down your troubles, the outline of the answer had actually already appeared in your hearts.]

[Just like recently, I heard that a book encountered a little twist and turn on its way into this world.]

[Some say its existence will bring unknown risks; some say its story does not conform to a certain established standard.]

[But I want to say that the true life of a story never lies in whether it is printed, but in whether it is read.]

[It does not lie in whether it is permitted, but in whether it is needed.]

[As long as there is still one reader who can find a shred of comfort from the story, then it possesses the entire meaning of its existence.]

[High walls can block paper, but they cannot imprison thought.]

[Therefore, please do not be troubled by those pebbles along the road.]

[The greatness of a stream does not lie in its smoothness, but in its determination to bypass all obstacles and rush toward the sea.]

[Now, the general store is about to return to its original appearance, becoming an ordinary, dusty old house on the street corner.]

[Yet its mission has not ended.]

[I am delighted to see that Jiangcheng is searching for "worry solvers around us".]

[Those hands that were once helped are now trying to help more people. This is the true continuation of Namiya General Store.]

[The magic of the general store has never been the reply letter from the future, but the kind impulse in each of your hearts to want to do something for others.]

[All of your maps are still a blank sheet of paper.]

[There are no so-called standard answers, nor is there a preset endpoint. The future has infinite possibilities.]

[Please believe in yourself, please hold tightly the pen in your hand, and draw a unique map that belongs only to you.]

[Goodbye.]

[Respectfully yours, the owner of Namiya General Store]

...

The letter had been read.

Inside the office, there was dead silence.

Xu Lan covered her mouth, her shoulders trembling slightly, tears silently sliding down.

Wang De'an leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes, yet there were moist traces at the corners of his eyes.

"High walls can block paper, but they cannot imprison thought..."

He repeatedly chewed on this sentence, an indescribable surge of agitation rising in his chest.

Perspective.

This was perspective!

Facing the blatant suppression of power,

Jian Shen had no anger, no complaints, not even half a sentence of accusation.

He simply used the gentlest tone, defining all of this,

offhandedly, as a "pebble along the road".

It was as if he stood in the clouds, overlooking the storm he had stirred up with his own hands,

telling everyone that the things they fought over until their heads were bleeding,

to him, were nothing more than scenery along the way.

What he truly cared about was that sprouting public welfare activity, and those people willing to extend a helping hand.

Wang De'an finally understood how petty all his previous worries and anger appeared.

He wanted to elevate Jian Shen onto a divine altar, but the other party was already in the heavens to begin with.

"Editor-in-Chief..."

Xu Lan choked out.

"Teacher Jian Shen, he is too... too gentle."

"No."

Wang De'an stared at the text on the screen, his fingers gently tapping on the desk.

"Xiao Xu, do you think this is gentleness?"

He paused, his voice low:

"This is a kind of arrogance that simply disdains entangling itself with mud.

Standing at the top of the mountain, watching the people below fight until their heads were bleeding over a few shattered stones, he would only find it laughable."

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the brilliant lights of the city.

"Xiao Xu, use this letter as the final preface of the standalone edition of The Miracles of the Namiya General Store, and place it on the very last page of the book."

"Use this to draw a perfect full stop for the worry solver."

At the same time,

Jiangcheng No. 1 High School, faculty apartment.

Shen Qingqiu also received the final chapter sent by Xu Lan through private connections at the very first moment.

Through the last letter, she and Xu Lan, who was also a literature lover, had become good friends.

She sat in front of her desk, reading that letter over and over again.

"Your life map is a blank sheet of paper..."

This sentence, like a ray of light, shone into the deepest corner of her heart.

Shen Qingqiu's finger brushed over the four characters "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" on her lesson plan book, her fingertips feeling somewhat burning.

She had once thought she was a gardener holding shears, with the responsibility of pruning away those stray branches.

But now looking at this letter, she suddenly realized,

perhaps those branches she regarded as "redundant"

were actually the sharp edge with which this tree pierced the firmament.

She was just a passerby.

What she could do was perhaps just set up a sign by the tree,

telling him that there might be wind and rain ahead, and the roots needed to be planted deeper.

Shen Qingqiu turned off her phone and pulled open the curtains.

Outside the window, the moonlight was like water.

She urgently wanted to meet that Teacher Jian Shen.

Not to verify anything, but just to say thank you to him in person.

She took a deep breath, turned on her phone,

searched through her contacts, and finally,

her gaze lingered on Professor Li Yuanchao's name.

Perhaps this literary titan who also appreciated Jian Shen

could help her build a bridge leading to those mountains, rivers, and lakes.

...

SOHO Future City.

Lin Que closed Jian Shen's email.

To him, the story of The Miracles of the Namiya General Store had ended.

This was a perfect full stop,

which not only completely bound the spirit of the general store with real-world public welfare activities, but also casually responded to the storm.

As for that Editor-in-Chief Fang of October?

Lin Que's lips unconsciously curled into an arc.

Of course he knew,

how a dog whose spine had been broken in public would hide in the dark and stare at him with venom.

Fang Zhenyun would definitely not let the matter rest.

But, so what?

Crushing an opponent to death all at once

was far less interesting than watching him exhaust all his methods, only to walk step by step into a deeper despair within the chess game he had laid out.

The light of Jian Shen was too dazzling, which could just become the soil to nurture an even deeper darkness.

He closed the email.

The halo of the gods was already dazzling enough,

it was time... to make the world remember once again

the fear of being dominated by the evil ghosts of hell.

He opened the author backend of Hongguo Novel Website,

and the cursor flickered quietly on the title bar of the newly created chapter.

Before that,

Editor-in-Chief Fang, I hope you like the "gift" I have prepared for you.

...