I Am Your Natural Enemy

Chapter 940 - 343: Gift and Return, Born at the Wrong Time

"Haven’t they not been eating properly?"

Wen Yan guessed that this little guy, after tasting the flavor, wasn’t willing to eat the tasteless meals properly anymore.

"Not at all, he eats quite a lot, has a good appetite."

"..."

Hearing this, Wen Yan immediately felt more assertive. Since he’s still eating well, absolutely no spoiling him, as he carried his silly son towards Pei Tugou’s home.

The silly son, seeing that he couldn’t get anything to eat, started crying loudly, and Wen Yan patted his little bottom.

"So young yet greedier than a sparrow cat, what will become of you in the future? If you cry again, you won’t be allowed to eat in the future. Stop crying, and I’ll let you taste it again next time."

Whether he understood or felt crying was useless, the silly son instantly changed his expression. After wailing for a while with a tearless face, he instantly returned to his silly, innocent look, smacking his lips.

After sending the silly son back, Wen Yan immediately placed an order for a crib with heightened railings.

After doing everything, he called Feng Yao. The line was busy, but Feng Yao called back after three minutes.

"Are you on a mission again?"

"No mission for me. In the Eastern Xiao Xiang County, demons appeared, more than expected, and new things have been discovered. I sent the Sage Diagram over, maybe it will be useful."

"Oh, do you need help?"

"No need for that, the Sect Master of Wudang is personally dealing with it, no problem at all. Just make sure you get some good rest."

"Alright then, I’ve got something over here. I received a book today and wanted to see if it could be reprinted."

"What book? Is it sensitive?"

"I think it has extremely high value, so I wanted you to take a look to see if it’s suitable for reprinting. The book was printed over thirty years ago but likely had a low print run and hasn’t been reprinted since."

Wen Yan started a video call to show it to Feng Yao.

Feng Yao couldn’t understand it either or discern its value.

"Isn’t it just an ordinary medical book? Is it really that valuable?"

"So far, among the similar books I’ve found in the Scorching Sun Department’s database, this is the most valuable, especially the diagrams, which are at least three levels above similar books."

"Such high praise!" Feng Yao took a deep breath, considering that the Scorching Sun Department’s database practically includes all existing valuable books.

With such high praise, logically, it shouldn’t be missing from the database of the Scorching Sun Department.

Feng Yao also keenly noticed this.

He quickly opened his computer and asked Wen Yan to look at the publication information page.

He soon found related records, appearing in photocopied form, as the original records had long since disappeared.

"This book was published over thirty years ago, and the record says less than a thousand copies were printed. It was an unauthorized publication.

Let me see, the author was a person named Wei Cheng, who has already passed away.

Also, before this book was even released that year, there was a commotion at the printing factory, and a fire broke out..."

"What happened?"

"Um, hold on, let me check, these written records might not be very accurate."

Feng Yao started continuously researching information. Many related things may appear unconnected on the surface, making it not particularly suitable to use AI, especially since the written records themselves might not be very accurate.

After more than ten minutes, Feng Yao finally raised his head.

"I can only say that this book wasn’t published at a good time."

"What do you mean?"

"At that time, the Spiritual Qi Resurgence had already started for twenty or thirty years, a whole generation’s youth had passed.

But back then, the progress of the Spiritual Qi Resurgence was very slow. Based on the pace at that time, a lifetime might pass, and one would see no results.

It was also when there were most severe ideological conflicts within the Scorching Sun Department.

Some people believed preparations should start early, laying groundwork for ten, fifty, or even a hundred years into the future.

They believed it was necessary to begin national preparations at that time, such as laying the foundation for martial training and cultivating martial path awareness.

You should have heard about the Qigong craze back then, right?"

"Oh, I’ve indeed heard about it. By the time I started to remember things, the craze had long cooled off." Wen Yan had a bit of an impression of this; he only heard about such things after growing up, so he just had this vague impression and didn’t know specifics.

"It was around that time, within the Scorching Sun Department, some people believed national popularization should happen immediately to prepare for things decades into the future.

Many people, whose names you might have heard of, were all supporters of this initiative.

However, another group thought that too big a step would lead to problems, especially as the craze gradually became irrational and absurd; that group grew larger, thinking the others were too extreme and hadn’t learned from history.

Taking such big steps, problems would arise even before fifty or a hundred years later.

It was at that chaotic time that the book you mentioned got published.

Based on the situation then, marking it as unauthorized might have been normal.

Moreover, the incident at the printing factory at that time involved many people and other events the Scorching Sun Department needed to handle.

Back then, everything was on paper, and many records vanished in the fire.

To piece together the truth, one might need to ask people from that time.

The more valuable your book is, the more likely it was affected.

You must know, it was the hottest period then, with countless similar books.

Most general people couldn’t differentiate between real and fake, nor identify their value."

Hearing this, Wen Yan understood why it was said to be "born at the wrong time."

Even real gold got buried with piles of crap and regarded as crap together, especially since ordinary people couldn’t discern this gold, coinciding with the most intense period of ideological conflict.

"Then report it up, see if it’s suitable for reprinting, how to reprint it, and how to operate it more appropriately."