Chapter 568: with translation of chapter title

What do you mean? Lu Ping'an was stunned.

Thus we need to identify all named entities in lines and produce glossary entries with English forms: For those in provided glossary, use given English forms. For others, we need to decide appropriate English form: either translate meaning if it's a meaningful term, or romanize if it's a personal name or place name that is a proper noun.

We must list every named entity / coined term in these lines: characters (incl. protagonist & minor ones), places, sects/clans/factions/peoples, official & sect ranks/titles, techniques, cultivation realms/pills/treasures, named beasts/items, fan-fiction names.

Exclude common words/objects, generic forms of address (not ranks), real-world brands/apps/celebrities, internet slang, and bare generic genre words.

Thus we need to go through each line and extract named entities.

Let's list lines with potential named entities:

Lu Ping'an

Chen Li. Their true objective is to secure one prefecture.

"Just relying on one or two of them?" Lu Ping'an asked, incredulous.

Two women: Qiu Yu, and a woman whose beauty is not inferior to Qiu Yu's.

no.

Negotiation Colonel, Prefect.

His roundabout explanation left Lu Ping'an thinking for a while before he caught on.

"This happened two years ago?" Lu Ping'an asked, clutching the hair on top of his head.

This extreme conspiracy seems to be a bit too much for his brain to handle.

The Commander raises troops; Qiu Yu; the Daughter Army; their merit cannot be denied.

Lu Ping'an instantly felt terrible, "I finally understand what you meant earlier by 'yes and no'—it turns out from the start, the prefects and negotiation colonels of these places were never my people… Saying that, I suddenly feel a lot more at ease."

Chen Wuji

no.

no.

"Just two women, and yet…… they both succeeded? Did they both succeed?" Lu Ping'an was completely perplexed, his face full of disbelief, unable to make sense of it.

Dingzhou, the Prefect of Dingzhou, and a woman.

Chen Wuji smiled, "Looks like my luck both times wasn't bad—I actually managed to pry open their mouths smoothly."

no.

Qiu Yu and She Zhang Weng

Prefect or Negotiation Colonel

"What a nasty mind." Lu Ping'an spat angrily.

Nan Jun, eleven prefectures

Chen Wuji stretched his neck, which had stiffened from hunching over his desk for a long time, and asked, "Did Qiuyu explain what the Snake Staff's purpose is in doing this?"

"He said it, but Qiuyu said she suspects that purpose is completely fake." Chen Li said.

The Court, His Majesty the Emperor, the Imperial City Department

"Huh?" That answer even surprised Chen Wuji a bit.

no.

no.

The current Emperor, Zhang Xiuer

"Why does she think the Snake Staff is lying?" Chen Wuji's expression grew more solemn.

This matter really needs careful consideration.

Chen Li said, "Qiuyu thinks the court couldn't possibly do something so cruel; in that mountain, the Snake Staff didn't treat their lives as lives, and didn't even treat the captured people as people."

no.

no.

Chen Wuji took a sip of the hot tea Lu Ping'an had just poured, then paced two steps.

How could the court possibly not do something like this?

In such times, human life is as worthless as grass to those people!

No, even if it weren't such a famine year, human life would still be worthless in the eyes of those high-and-mighty officials!

no.

Relying solely on this for Qiuyu's inference might be overly simplistic.

Confession

General Chen

Chen Wuji actually wanted to say he minded, but having more people around affected his thinking.

But seeing how cooperative Lu Ping'an was, forget it—give him some face.

Two big men hunched over the desk, examining Qiuyu's statement word for word.

Lu Jinglve

Lu Ping'an pressed the swollen, bruised lump on his face and said, "I have no lofty opinions; I only want to thank General Chen for sparing my life, and also thank him for these two beatings—I don't deserve to be a hero in chaotic times."

no.

no.

no.

"That Snake Staff is probably playing a big game." Chen Wuji rubbed his temples, headachy.

Qiu Yu, Chen Ruoshui, and She Zhang Weng

Although Qiuyu and Chen Ruoshui are both agents under the Snake Staff, they are completely separate lines, and the two sides had never even met before.

If there are two, it's very likely there are three, four, or even more.

Chen Wuji has reason to suspect that the Snake Staff's influence may already have reached the entire Nan Jun, and even farther.

Secondly, it's the Snake Staff's purpose.

Based on this statement alone, Chen Wuji can draw only limited conclusions about that.

For now, either the Snake Staff himself is extremely ambitious, or he is an emissary of the Emperor, or a representative of some faction.

"Put this statement away." Chen Wuji handed the statement to Chen Li.

Chen Li acknowledged, then immediately asked, "What should we do with Qiuyu?"

Detain them temporarily.

Here!

Chen Wuji vigorously moved his hands, laughing and sighing: "On the battlefield, clashing blades is already hard enough; still having to match wits and courage with an old fogey like Lao Zamao wielding the Snake Staff—it's truly not easy to get anything done. Lu Jinglve, are you hungry? Let me show you a hand of grilled meat, how about that?"

Lu Ping'an glanced at the dark sky outside, "Is it appropriate to eat at this hour...?"

"What's inappropriate about it? Eating is just eat when you want, no need to look at the time." Chen Wuji laughed heartily: "Come on, come on, I've drunk a bellyful of water and am full; let's eat some grilled meat to press it down."

Under Lu Ping'an's diligent and earnest tea-making, he for the first time grew weary of drinking tea.