AUBTN -Chapter 288 The Book of Heaven Translation

A confident smile curled at the corners of Su Hewan’s lips.

“Zhou Wenhai really is an old fox.”

“He uses a unique set of symbols to keep accounts. Even if the ledgers are confiscated, neither the Dali Temple nor the Ministry of Justice can understand them—there’s no way to convict him!”

She pointed at those symbols, her voice firm and forceful.

“In modern terms… cough, in military strategy, this is called one-way encryption.”

“But!”

Su Hewan abruptly changed tone, her gaze burning as she looked toward the booklet left behind by Zhou Ruoyun’s mother.

“Zhou Ruoyun’s mother was not some clueless woman confined to the inner courtyard!”

“Back then, since she discovered Zhou Wenhai’s secret—and even ended up being killed because of it…”

“Then the booklet she risked her life to leave for her daughter can absolutely not be some useless collection of strange symbols!”

Su Hewan’s slender finger firmly tapped the junction between the two books.

“What Zhou Wenhai has is a cipher book.”

“And what Zhou Ruoyun’s mother left behind…”

She raised her head and met the shocked gazes of Shen Jue and Lu Yan, word by word.

“…is the mother key dictionary used to decode this ledger!”

Yu Qing’s eyes widened so much they looked like they could fit an egg.

“Damn!”

She couldn’t hold it back and blurted out a curse.

“Are we doing espionage now? Are we seriously even bringing Morse code into this?!”

Even though she was a typical underachiever, she had watched plenty of spy dramas. But this plot was even more intense than anything on screen!

“Zhou Wenhai is really something else—he even uses this kind of anti-counterfeiting system for a corruption ledger. Serves him right that his daughter is coming back tonight to tear his secrets apart!”

Lu Yan frowned.

“Morse code? What’s that supposed to be?”

Shen Jue also looked at Yu Qing.

“It’s just… another kind of cipher!”

Even though they didn’t understand it, they all realized one thing:

There was a way to break this “book of heaven” now!

Everyone’s spirits lifted instantly.

Hope for a breakthrough surged through them.

Su Hewan and Yu Qing wasted no time and immediately rolled up their sleeves, forming the core decoding team.

As a history major top student, Su Hewan had a sharp logical mind. She was responsible for analyzing symbol patterns from the yellowed booklet.

Yu Qing, on the other hand, relied on her sharp eyesight and memory, cross-referencing the thick leather-bound ledger.

“This wavy line plus a dot corresponds to the character ‘warehouse’ on page three!”

“A diagonal slash with a hooked base means ‘silver’!”

“Put it together… ‘Recorded in warehouse: official silver, one hundred thousand taels!’”

As the first complete phrase was decoded, Su Hewan and Yu Qing suddenly became energized.

Their excitement grew, and they worked with increasing momentum.

Meanwhile, Lu Yan and Shen Jue—the two powerful figures who usually ruled over court affairs—had surprisingly retreated into the background, acting as logistical support.

Lu Yan used the tip of his blade to brighten several candle stands in the study.

Shen Jue stood by the desk, calmly grinding ink in the inkstone.

The two arch-rivals who normally fought each other to the death were now eerily quiet and in sync.

Time slowly passed.

The night gradually faded, and a pale strip of dawn appeared on the horizon.

The long night of intense effort drained everyone’s energy.

Su Hewan rubbed her sore wrist; the corners of her eyes were already slightly red from exhaustion.

Yu Qing was yawning repeatedly, tears welling up in her eyes.

“I’m starving… high-speed brain work requires carbs! I want instant noodles, barbecue, chicken drumsticks…”

She muttered softly.

But it still reached Lu Yan, whose hearing was exceptionally sharp.

He glanced at Yu Qing rubbing her eyes, then at Su Hewan forcing herself to stay awake.

“I’ll go out for a while.”

Lu Yan threw down those words and strode out of the study.

Shen Jue looked at Su Hewan’s pale profile, a trace of heartache flashing in his eyes.

Seeing this, he thought that tiny body of hers really couldn’t keep pushing herself like this—she was bound to fall ill sooner or later.

With that in mind, Shen Jue also quietly followed her out.

Inside the small kitchen of the Yu Garden.

The early morning light was faint and hazy.

Lu Yan’s tall, imposing figure stood stiffly in front of the stove, looking completely out of place.

He only knew how to make noodles.

Boil water, cook the noodles, sprinkle a pinch of salt—that was a full meal in his book.

Right now, he was roughly pouring water into the pot, preparing to just throw in some noodles.

“So the Commander Lu is planning to feed horses?”

A cold, soft yet mocking voice came from the kitchen doorway.

Lu Yan turned back with a frosty expression.

Shen Jue stepped over the threshold at an unhurried pace.

With visible disdain, he glanced at the plain boiling water in the pot, then elegantly rolled up his wide sleeves, revealing a pale, slender forearm.

He walked straight to the cupboard and selected the freshest flour and a few eggs.

“My wife has a weak stomach. After staying up all night, eating coarse noodles like that will only cause indigestion.”

His tone was full of disdain.

“Better to make a bowl of fluffy steamed egg custard instead.”

Lu Yan let out a cold snort.

“My wife will eat whatever I make. All this fancy nonsense.”

Though he said it mockingly, his actions betrayed him.

He silently put down the noodles, walked to the chopping board, picked up a kitchen knife, and grabbed a handful of scallions.

The knife flashed across the board—each cut of green onion was fine and even.

Shen Jue cracked eggs with one hand, whisking them quickly and evenly in a white porcelain bowl.

“Commander Lu’s knife skills are wasted just chopping scallions.”

Shen Jue didn’t even lift his eyes, a faint smile curling his lips.

“Such good technique would be far more useful for chopping off corrupt officials’ heads.”

Lu Yan shot back without hesitation.

“Don’t you tell me what to do!”

He glanced at the golden egg mixture, his eyes sharp and suspicious.

“There’s no poison in this steamed egg custard, is there, Lord Shen?”

Shen Jue chuckled softly, placing the strained egg mixture into the steamer.

“To kill you, I wouldn’t even need to waste my poison.”

Two men who commanded fear across the imperial court—two living demons who could shake the capital with a word—were now squeezed into a small kitchen.

Cooking breakfast while bickering like children.

In the study, Yu Qing couldn’t stand the hunger any longer and dragged Su Hewan out for a breath of fresh air.

Just as they reached the kitchen doorway, a rich, mouthwatering aroma hit them.

They peeked inside.

And froze instantly at the sight before them.

The commander of the Imperial Guards, Lu Yan, awkwardly fanning the stove fire.

The East Bureau’s chief eunuch, Shen Jue, lifting the steamer lid, his long fingers gracefully sprinkling chopped green onions and a few drops of fragrant oil.

Steam curled around the two powerful men, filling the kitchen with warmth and the scent of home-cooked food.

In the pale morning light, the scene was strangely warm—yet absurdly funny.

Yu Qing grabbed her best friend and squealed in a low voice.

“Oh my god, I can’t handle this! This is too much for me!”

“Who would believe it? The big shots of the East Bureau and the Imperial Guards are cooking breakfast for us in a kitchen? If this got out, the entire court would drop their jaws!”

Su Hewan wasn’t as dramatic, but her heartbeat still skipped.

She hadn’t expected Shen Jue to know how to cook—this was the first time she had ever seen him like this.

Noticing the people at the door, both men paused at the same time.

A hint of amusement flashed in Shen Jue’s eyes as he picked up the finished steamed egg custard and walked out.

“Hungry? Come eat first.”