Boom, boom, boom.
The door of the conference room was gently pushed open.
Everyone looked up at the same time.
Two figures stood at the door.
The silver-haired boy held the red-haired girl's hand and stood side by side.
Long Jinyu's eyes swept over everyone in the conference room, and finally landed on Yu, with the corners of his lips raised slightly.
And beside him--
Ma Xiaotao stood quietly, with red hair hanging down, and his fingertips gently holding his sleeves.
The sunlight poured in from the corridor behind them, coating the two figures with a light golden edge.
"Sister Yu, fellow veterans and colleagues--"
"What are we discussing? Take me with you?"
There was a brief silence in the conference room, and everyone stood up and saluted.
"Young Master--!"
"Dean!"
Long Jinyu smiled and waved his hand, motioning for everyone to sit down.
He led Ma Xiaotao and walked in calmly. The girl was stared at by so many eyes, and her ears felt slightly hot, but she did not flinch. She just lowered her head and followed him obediently, like a child who was finally allowed to enter the adult world.
Long Jinyu walked to the main seat, but did not sit down immediately.
He turned around, tilted his head slightly, and whispered in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "Sit next to me."
Ma Xiaotao was stunned for a moment, his ears turned redder, but he did not refuse.
Luo Yun had already quickly added a chair next to the main seat.
The moment she sat down, her eyes unconsciously scanned the people present - some of these faces she knew, some she didn't. But without exception, the eyes that looked at her were filled with a kind of gentle kindness.
Long Jinyu Seeing that she was doing well, she sat down at the main seat.
His eyes swept across everyone again, and then fell on Tuoba Xi.
"Elder Tuoba."
Tuoba Xi straightened up. "Here!"
"I remember that I talked to you alone before about some thoughts about Shrek. You should still remember those words, right?"
Tuoba Xi was startled, then nodded. "Ah, of course... of course I remember!"
Long Jinyu smiled slightly, "Well, that's right, then I guess you should have explained the 'borrowing a chicken to lay an egg' argument to everyone, right?"
Tuoba Xi: "...?!"
Everyone looked at each other.
Elder Tuoba... what did he say?
What chicken?
What eggs?
Long Jinyu saw everyone's expressions and asked doubtfully, "What? Didn't Elder Tuoba express his opinion?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Published, published."
"Elder Tuoba is the first to speak."
"Elder Tuoba's point of view is very clear."
Long Jinyu breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "That's good. His point of view is my point of view."
The words just fell--
"Crack!"
Huang Yue stood up suddenly and slapped her hands on the table, causing the chair to fall backwards due to her sudden movement.
"Dean! Are you really planning to declare war on Shrek?!"
Her voice was full of shock, and her eyes were slightly red:
"Have you thought clearly? That is Shrek! It is the first college in the mainland that has been inherited for thousands of years! It is your teacher's disciple! It is also the disciple of girl Xiaotao! You really want to-"
"...?"
"... What???"
Long Jinyu's smile froze on his face.
Ma Xiaotao is even more confused.
Declare war?
What declaration of war?
He slowly turned his head and looked at Tuoba Xi.
Those gold and silver eyes were filled with confusion, shock, and a hint of danger--
'Elder Tuoba, what on earth did you say?!'
Tuoba Xi met that gaze, looked away guiltily, turned around silently, and looked out the window.
The sun was shining brightly outside the window, and a few birds were flying across the sky.
He coughed lightly and defended in a low voice. "Young Master, I... I was just... excited... and I said it too harshly..."
Long Jinyu: "..."
He rubbed his brows and smiled helplessly.
Huang Yue was still standing, with the shock on his face not gone. Seeing Long Jinyu's reaction, he suddenly realized that something was not right. Yan Rong held up the chair and forced her to sit down.
Long Jinyu put down his hand and spoke as calmly as possible:
"Elder Tuoba."
Tuoba Xi's back froze slightly.
"Did you bring that notebook?"
Tuoba Xi turned around and subconsciously reached into his arms with his hand. "I've brought it with me. The young master has told me to carry the notes with me in case of emergencies. I will always remember them."
Long Jinyu nodded:
"Then please, turn to the fourth page and read what is written on it."
Tuoba Xi's hand paused.
He lowered his head, took out the leather notebook that had been with him for months, opened it, turned the page, and then turned the page--
Page 4.
It was filled with densely written words, and it turned out to be the words Long Jinyu had said to him alone before. He had written them down verbatim on the paper at that time.
At the top of the page, there is a line of small words:
Young Master·On Shrek
His pupils dilated slightly and he looked sharply at Long Jinyu.
The young man was holding his chin and looking at him with a half-smile.
Tuoba Xi's Adam's apple rolled.
Young Master... actually remembers it more clearly than he does? He has only read it once, but he can even remember which page it is on?
He cleared his throat, and in the midst of everyone's doubtful eyes, he began to read:
"'Although Shrek has many shortcomings, its reputation, resources and talent pool accumulated over thousands of years are still among the top in mainland China.'"
"'Instead of starting a new one outside and colliding with it head-on, it is better to borrow a chicken to lay an egg and gradually transform it from the inside.'"
"'Take its essence and discard its dross. In the end, let it become an important part of our future power, not the enemy.'"
Tuoba Xi After reading, he closed his note, looked at everyone's dull eyes, and said sarcastically, "... That's it."
Long Jinyu put down the hand holding his chin and added leisurely:
"That's what you said when I talked to you alone when you first came to the Medical Pavilion. I still remember that you nodded repeatedly and said, 'Young Master is wise.'"
Then, all kinds of eyes began to converge on Long Jinyu--
Ma Xiaotao lowered his eyes, his long eyelashes trembling slightly.
Yan Rong's eyes were filled with surprise and a hint of re-evaluation.
"S-So... it's not a declaration of war?"
Huang Yue took a while to come back to his senses and glared at Tuoba Xi:
"Elder Tuoba, that's not what you just said!"
Tuoba Xi fiddled with the notebook guiltily. "Ahem, I... I was excited and skipped the key points..."
Qin Qi's mouth twitched. "What the hell is this called skipping the point? This is completely the opposite!"
Jin Xiu covered his face and couldn't bear to look directly.
Luo Yun and Jiang Wantang looked at each other, suppressing their smiles and lowering their heads.
Liu Tao silently picked up the tea cup and pretended that nothing happened.
The more he sat aside, covering his mouth, the smile on his lips became deeper and deeper.
Long Jinyu looked at this scene and finally couldn't help laughing.
"Okay, okay."
He raised his hand and pressed it, signaling for everyone to be quiet.
"Elder Tuoba didn't mean it, he just... well, he got emotional and forgot the most important part."
Tuoba Xi lowered his head, a rare blush on his face.
"Elder Tuoba, next time you get excited, remember to look through your notes first."
Tuoba Xi nodded vigorously. "Young Master has taught you a lesson!"
Yan Rong couldn't help but interrupt, "So, Dean, you never thought about falling out with Shrek from the beginning?"
Long Jinyu smiled and said, "Why are you falling out? Do Shrek and I have any deep hatred?"
Everyone looked at each other with different expressions.
Some are relieved, some are confused, and some are still digesting.
Long Jinyu stood up, walked to the window, and looked in the direction of Shrek City in the distance.
"I know what you are thinking."
"Do you think the dean has been carried away by his emotions? Is it because that girl is a disciple of Shrek, so he is soft-hearted?"
After the words fell, everyone present subconsciously looked at the fire phoenix girl in the side seat.
Ma Xiaotao's face turned red, burning from the roots of her ears to her neck. She subconsciously raised her hands to cover her face, and she wanted to shrink back into the chair, as if smoke was coming out of her head.
Long Jinyu looked back at her with a smile, and then looked at everyone.
Everyone looked away in tacit agreement, and then--
Nodding wildly.
Long Jinyu: "..."
He laughed and shook his head.
"Ahem, no."
His tone became serious.
"Shrek is wrong. The fault lies in arrogance, the fault lies in dereliction of duty, and the fault lies in habitually treating people as 'resources'."
"This is not a problem of one or two people, but a problem accumulated by an organization for thousands of years."
"Mu En has the heart to protect his disciples, but not the power to protect them; Dean Yan has the intention to make arrangements, but has no respect; Xuan Zi has the responsibility to protect the disciples, but has no ability to do so in a timely manner."
"Each of them has their own limitations. The combination of these limitations led to last night's tragedy."
"So, if we want to be held accountable, the entire Sea God Pavilion is to blame."
"But if you want to talk about guilt--"
He shook his head slightly:
"Each of them can't be considered as 'unpardonable', only 'mistakes'."
Yan Rong touched his chin thoughtfully, Huang Yue nodded slightly, and Qin Qi's brows relaxed a little.
Long Jinyu continued:
"Yes, it can be held accountable, and it can also be forgiven."
"The key is-"
He turned around, his eyes touched Yue lightly, and then moved to the crowd:
"What kind of results do we want?"
"Are you trying to gain momentum and completely push Shrek into the opposite direction?"
"Still-"
He raised the corners of his lips slightly:
"Turn it into an ally that we can influence and transform?"
He walked back to the main seat, but did not sit down. He just put his hands on the edge of the table:
"I choose the latter."
"And--"
He glanced at Ma Xiaotao, who was still covering his face, and smiled more gently:
"I have never been a person who only holds grudges. I will never let people who have been waiting for me all night worry about me for a second time."
"Everyone must not forget that it was never Shrek who really forced me into a dead end and set up a dead end."
"I took the initiative to step into the Mingdou Mountain Range. It was not Supervision Group's mission, nor was it forced by anyone."
"I went to eradicate the cancer that hides in the shadows, feeds on living creatures, and plagues the entire continent."
His eyes darkened and his words were clear:
"Our real enemy has only one from beginning to end - Holy Spirit Cult!"
Ma Xiaotao glanced at him quietly from between her fingers, her heart trembling slightly, but she said nothing.
She suddenly realized that she didn't seem to understand the young man next to her at all.
She is familiar with his gentleness, but does not understand his palace;
I know his protection, but I don't know his layout.
Sister Yu and all the elders stood beside him, observing the overall situation with him.
Only she seems to be still in a small world that only belongs to the two of them.
I can't keep up with the distance in his eyes.
There was silence in the conference room for a moment.
After a long time, Yan Rong was the first to speak, with a hint of surprise in his voice:
"... Dean, are you saying that everything you did was not forced by Shrek Supervision Group?"
Long Jinyu looked at him with a smile, "What do you think?"
Yan Rong scratched his head. "I'm not impulsive... I misunderstood, we all thought you..."
"You guy, you didn't even pay attention to the meeting! Yu, Immortal Highness just explained it."
Huang Yue glared at him, then turned to Long Jinyu and bowed solemnly, "The dean is very thoughtful and foresighted. I am the one who got impatient."
Qin Qi also bowed slightly. "I have learned a lesson."
Jin Xiu said with emotion, "It is Shrek's blessing that the dean can think like this."
Luo Yun and Jiang Wantang looked at each other with admiration in their eyes.
Liu Tao holds the report in his hand, not knowing what he is thinking.
Tuoba Xi stood up and bowed deeply to Long Jinyu:
"Young Master is wise! His subordinates... almost ruined Young Master's important event."
Long Jinyu sat down slowly.
"Okay, no gifts."
"Next, I will officially participate in the discussion of the Sea God Pavilion as the holder of 'Sea God Pavilion Master Token'."
"They have their rules, and we have our trump cards. Cooperation is okay, but from now on, the initiative must be in our hands."
Finally, his eyes gently fell towards Yu.
"Let us work together to give Shrek a...'big gift'."