Universe Infinite Canteen-Chapter 691: Diary

Ye Meisheng was startled, "Principal Ma, are you joking?"

"Do you think I look like I'm joking?" Ma Lu grinned, flashing him a grim smile.

Only then did Ye Meisheng remember that this man before him had managed to tame even Luo Xiangshi with a group of formidable talisman masters at his command; he was fully capable of disposing of him without anyone noticing.

With that thought, Ye Meisheng didn't dare to ask Ma Lu for money anymore and could only continue chasing after Luo Xiangshi.

Meanwhile, the biggest supporter of Hero Group, Governor Zheng, had already left his seat early, right after the fourth competition ended.

Li Xuebin hadn't left; he stood there with a smile, waiting for Ma Lu to finish the interview before approaching him.

"Congratulations, Principal Ma, you've won the bet. Starting today, East Mountain Province finally has a Talisman Master School ranked in the top ten by the Ministry of Education."

Since the competition between Hou De and Hero was strictly conducted according to the school sparring procedure and had been recorded with the Ministry of Education, according to the new regulations of the Ministry, the rankings of the two schools were also switched after the contest.

Thus, Hou De leaped from 89th to 4th place, just one step shy of entering the top three.

Right after the Ministry of Education official announced Qiutong as the winner, Ma Lu had received a system alert, saying he had gained another 425,000 education points.

What Ma Lu regretted now was not knowing earlier how strong and capable the students of Hou De were. He should have asked Luo Xiangshi to add another 200,000 from the start and challenge Hero directly.

That way, not only would he have earned an extra 200,000, but Hou De would also have rocketed to number 1 after the fight.

Allowing Hou De to perform a phenomenal turnaround from the bottom of the ranking to the top in just a month and a half.

Chairman Li then praised Ma Lu, not only because Hou De's great victory allowed him to hold his head high in front of an old rival today, but also because raising educational standards was part of the responsibilities of a provincial chairman.

The rapid rise in the ranking of Hou De at the Ministry of Education over the past month was certainly also credited to his political performance.

Thus, Chairman Li found himself more and more pleased with Principal Ma and even had his secretary leave a phone number, stating that in the future, if the school encountered any difficulties, there was no need to approach Yuan Ruonan, they could directly speak to him.

This gave Hou De a solid political backing in East Mountain Province.

And as officials are always sensitive to the way the wind blows, following Chairman Li, Mayor Huang led a group of local officials from Ping City to also come and congratulate Ma Lu.

To make up for the unpleasantness at last week's banquet, they provided funds and manpower, ready to help Hou De renovate the school buildings—an act that incidentally increased Principal Ma's funds.

With the news of Hou De's resounding victory over Hero spreading, local gentry and merchants also flocked to the mountain to meet, hoping to engage in business collaborations with Hou De.

Principal Ma seized the opportunity to increase the sponsorship fees, and the several factories that had contracts with Hou De were overjoyed.

While some rejoiced, naturally, others were heartbroken.

Zhuang Shiqiang, the owner of Junjun Department Store, was deeply pained upon hearing the news.

His department store was also a partner of Hou De, but just before their contract was to be signed, he received news that Heroic Concealment was coming to challenge Hou De.

Worrying that Hou De's commercial value might decline if they lost to Heroic Concealment, Zhuang Shiqiang used the excuse of a business trip to delay signing the contract.

Hou De had unexpectedly defeated Heroic Concealment, and by the time he thought of joining the venture, Ma Lu had raised the sponsorship fee to a ludicrous level.

Zhuang Shiqiang hesitated time and again but eventually gave up on partnering with Hou De. It was a matter of weeks before he heard that Hou De had defeated Hero as well.

Zhuang Shiqiang was now filled with regret, wishing he could slap himself several times. If he hadn't tried to be clever at the outset and had simply signed the contract, he would likely be making a fortune by now.

He heard that Deng's Match Factory had sold out of matches, and the owner of Jinfeng Textile Factory was also looking for land to build a branch factory, while Zhuang Shiqiang hadn't gained anything.

There's nothing more painful in this world than watching others make money, particularly when he should have had a share.

But all that was beside the point now. After entertaining Mayor Huang and others, Ma Lu had gone through another round of interviews and finally sent all the guests down the mountain.

When he returned to the school, he finally had the time to check the contents of the iron box.

Ma Lu, along with the designated next Principal, Cao Youyi, key instructor Li Zhengwei, outstanding student Qiutong, and the excessively curious reporter Lu Yingying, gathered in the Principal's office.

Everyone surrounded Principal Ma as he removed the remaining Secret Charm from the box.

Lu Yingying held her breath. The Hero Group greatly valued the contents of the box, determined to possess it even if it meant resorting to violence or risking lives.

What kind of treasure was worth them going through all this trouble?

As Ma Lu lifted the lid of the iron box, the questions in everyone's minds were finally answered.

Inside lay a notebook and a small metal piece, the material of which was quite unique, resembling both jade and gold.

It felt cool to the touch. Ma Lu played with it for a while but couldn't figure out exactly what it was or its value.

So, he set the metal piece aside and opened the notebook.

It seemed to be Ye Wangshu's diary, noting some of his daily activities.

Initially, it mostly detailed how he exploited his Talisman Master status to flirt around, even developing a strategy for picking up women.

Later, he accidentally impregnated a girl from a noteworthy family and had no choice but to marry her.

After marrying, he restrained himself quite a bit, but relying on his wife's family's wealth became boring after a while. Just then, the Ministry of Education was encouraging the establishment of talisman master schools, which sparked Ye Wangshu's interest.

Being a Talisman Master himself, and having a notable teacher — one of the founders of the Talisman Master Association — along with some siblings who also wanted to establish schools, he went to the Ministry of Education to apply and secured the qualifications to operate a school.

Subsequently, everyone returned to their regions to make preparations. With his father-in-law's financial support, Ye Wangshu got his initial funds. After some additional public donations and strong support from Ping City, they allocated half of Shouyang Mountain to him.

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Ye Wangshu quickly built the school and by then he was already in his forties, having become much more composed.

While running the school, he continued his research.

It couldn't be helped; the profession of Talisman Master had only recently emerged and related theoretical research was still largely unexplored. Everyone was still figuring things out.

However, Ye Wangshu's direction of exploration was a bit different, focusing on material research rather than talisman crafting. He classified his research using Earth's system, but wasn't interested in making talismans.

Ye Wangshu had always been fascinated by the exotic fruits that had appeared alongside the catastrophe belt and wanted to understand why they had suddenly shown up in this world.