Half the people stared at Li Nannan, and the other half stared at the slip of paper in her hand.
In a few short seconds, Li Nannan's face turned from pale to red and then back to pale, like a changing light.
"Everyone, I'm very sorry," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "The teachers and the committee are temporarily occupied and cannot make it. The meeting has been rescheduled."
Silence fell over the venue, and everyone's expression soured. They had worked hard to travel from various planets, waited here for an hour, only to receive news of a postponement?
"Then, may I ask when the meeting will approximately be held?" a very short man asked.
"We'll give you confirmation within two days. Please return," Li Nannan said.
Everyone sighed and turned to leave, but Jiang Ye remained standing.
"What's going on?" he asked quietly.
"The teacher was suddenly taken away by the Disciplinary Committee for investigation. I'll try to gather information these two days," Li Nannan said with a grim expression. "You should go ahead. Your hotel is booked. Go out, turn right, cross Chenghua Avenue, and then turn onto Erxian Bridge. The most conspicuous ear-shaped hotel across the street is the Ear Room Grand Hotel, room 540. Just go there and stay."
"Alright, call me on video if you get any news," Jiang Ye said.
Li Nannan nodded, turned around, and busied herself with her phone.
Jiang Ye left discreetly, feeling very uneasy.
He didn't know who he had sent the tens of millions to. What if it was this very teacher, and what if the teacher was investigated by the Disciplinary Committee? Wouldn't that money be wasted?
It wouldn't matter if the money was wasted, but the key was whether he, the briber, would be caught. If caught, would he go to jail? And after jail, would he be executed?
He needed to find a way to inquire about the anti-corruption efforts of this era.
If it was the Heshen level, he wouldn't have to worry at all. If it was the Zhu Yuanzhang level, he would have to find a way to escape.
He took the elevator down, went straight to Li Nannan's small spaceship, and tried patting the back of the ship. Sure enough, the trunk popped open.
Jiang Ye took out his suitcase and closed the spaceship's trunk.
Pulling the suitcase handle, he walked forward to the intersection.
On his way here by spaceship, he had already seen the city's appearance through the window.
But now, standing on the street, he felt the city's scenery even more directly.
The first impression was its size!
The buildings on both sides of the street were incredibly tall; as far as the eye could see, none were below fifty stories.
Between the skyscrapers, there were also huge skywalks, woven like a steel and glass spiderweb across the entire vast city.
The streets were at least eight lanes wide, paved with black asphalt, and there were no cars. Only fashionably dressed pedestrians came and went, making the long street appear particularly spacious. There were pedestrians of all skin colors, and occasionally one or two humanoid robots passed by, carrying large metal boxes, likely delivering food or something similar.
The second impression was its brightness! It was heavily light-polluted!
The tall buildings were covered with massive electronic billboards, their brightness terrifying, even a bit dazzling in broad daylight.
When night fell, the entire city would surely be a riot of colors, the night sky itself illuminated, making it impossible to sleep without closing the curtains.
This was why most people on the street wore dark glasses.
Jiang Ye walked slowly with his suitcase, looking around like Liu姥姥 visiting the Grand View Garden.
Although the city was large and bright, its overall style was still quite similar to the past. Especially since the shop signs were all in Chinese, which gave it a sense of familiarity.
There were street signs, and he quickly found Chenghua Avenue.
The entire Chenghua Avenue was two kilometers long, and he walked for over half an hour.
He turned right and went onto Erxian Bridge.
Jiang Ye thought Erxian Bridge was a bridge spanning a river, but it turned out to be just a road, five kilometers long.
Since he couldn't take a taxi spaceship, he had no choice but to walk slowly.
At eleven o'clock in the morning, he finally saw the Ear Room Grand Hotel.
The name "Ear Room" puzzled him; it sounded like some shady hotel or black inn, but in reality, it was quite grand, sixty-six stories tall, with a glass curtain wall that reflected the golden sunlight at the open intersection, shining like a giant torch.
The intersection was bustling with people. Hotels built in prime locations by capitalists were bound to be of good quality.
He entered and went straight to the hotel front desk.
The front desk manager was greasy-faced and plump, his small suit almost bursting, but he smiled very kindly.
"Welcome! How can I help you?" the manager said enthusiastically before Jiang Ye could speak.
"My friend booked room 540 for me. Can I check in now? Are there any procedures I need to complete?" Jiang Ye asked.
"You can check in. The procedures have already been completed. I'll have Xiao Li accompany you to the room," the manager said, calling over a young receptionist standing nearby.
"No, no, I can go up myself," Jiang Ye waved his hand.
After taking two steps, he turned back.
"May I ask why your hotel is called the Ear Room Grand Hotel?" Jiang Ye asked, looking at the manager.
"The rooms in our hotel are arranged in an arc, very much like the shape of an ear, hence the name Ear Room Grand Hotel," the manager explained with a smile, adding with some pride, "It has a history of four hundred years and has been listed as a conscientious hotel enterprise for two hundred consecutive years."
"Oh, thank you." Jiang Ye was slightly disappointed, having expected some interesting anecdote, but it turned out to be just a superficial shape.
He left with his suitcase and headed straight for the elevator.
He went up to the fifth floor and quickly found room 540, checking in with facial recognition.
The room was larger than he expected, at least two hundred square meters, almost a luxurious flat. The decoration was minimalist and lightly luxurious, but everything was brand new. The bathtub and toilet were exaggeratedly gold-plated, and the white wool of the carpet looked as if it had just been plucked from a sheep.
There was a huge floor-to-ceiling window. Pulling back the curtains revealed a bustling street scene, with ant-like crowds moving to and fro on the road.
Jiang Ye was very satisfied. After all, he had spent so much money to grease the wheels, so this treatment was worth it.
He took off his suit and changed into sportswear.
There was a kettle in the room, which looked very similar to the ones from before and was easy to use.
Jiang Ye didn't know about the hygiene standards of hotels in this era. For peace of mind, he followed his childhood habit, boiling the water twice and discarding it, before pouring the third kettle into his cup.
After drinking some water and using the restroom, he took his pistol out of his suitcase, tucked it into his waistband, and left.
He went downstairs, out of the hotel, and headed east on the street.
This street had shops on both sides, selling all sorts of things.
Jiang Ye was clearly on a mission, walking at a brisk pace, his gaze quickly scanning the various shops on both sides. If it wasn't a shop he was looking for, he immediately shifted his gaze away, never lingering.
He walked from the beginning of the street to the middle, but still couldn't find it.
As he walked further, the crowd became sparser.
Ten minutes later, he reached the end of the street.
The area was very deserted. Half the shops were closed, and the other half had only one or two customers inside.
Finally, Jiang Ye's eyes lit up, and he quickened his pace towards a shop.
[Night Dream Bookstore]
As he pushed the door open, a scent of wood filled the air.
The bookstore was large, with wooden floors and wooden walls, row upon row of dark hardwood bookshelves filled with various colorful, hardcover volumes. The lighting was a warm yellow, just right.
The spacious store was empty.
Not only were there no customers, but there were also no staff.
Could it be a self-service bookstore?
Jiang Ye didn't bother with anything else and immediately began searching among the rows of bookshelves.
He was going to fulfill a promise he had made months ago.