Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 920 – Knowing Her Highness Through Watching Her Food

A few patrons who knew of Xuanyuan Po’s experiences in the capital gave a few whispered explanations, upon which the rest of the patrons came to know that Xuanyuan Po’s right arm had been injured once and had seemingly been crippled.

“Do you really believe the boasts of a cripple like this? And an expert of the Tianhai clan… He might as well just say it was Tianhai Shengxue!”

The drunkard, smelling of alcohol, called out, then spat in front of Xuanyuan Po’s feet.

Xuanyuan Po remained silent, not speaking, much less countering. He used his right hand to arduously take the wine pots from his left arm and place them on the tables.

The drunkard was incensed at the fact that he was being ignored. He continued to curse, his words becoming more and more unpleasant.

Several patrons began to follow suit, aiming all sorts of jeers and taunts at Xuanyuan Po.

Xuanyuan Po continued to ignore them. After delivering the wine pots, he turned and prepared to go back.

The drunkard suddenly stood up and called out, “Hey, bear cub, stop right there.”

Xuanyuan Po stopped and looked over.

The drunkard belched and mumbled out, “Did you really go to the capital?”

Xuanyuan Po nodded.

The drunkard asked, “You’re really schoolmates with His Holiness the Pope?”

Xuanyuan Po pondered this question, then corrected, “At the very start, we were both students, but later on, he became principal while I became a supervisor.”

The drunkard roared with laughter, as did many of his fellows. They felt this response to truly be too absurd.

The drunkard pointed at Xuanyuan Po’s right arm and jeered, “Just look at his arm. This is a cripple without a single bit of strength, only good for washing dishes. And he has the nerve to say that he was a supervisor of the Orthodox Academy? That’s the Orthodox Academy we’re talking about here!? If you have that capability, what are you doing washing dishes here?”

The capital of the Great Zhou was simply too far away from the world of the demi-humans, so the specific details of the events taking place there would rarely reach the small taverns of White Emperor City, but any patron of any tavern, no matter how drunk, would know of the Orthodox Academy.

Their most beloved and worshipped princess had once been a student of the Orthodox Academy, and her teacher was the current Pope.

If Xuanyuan Po really had stayed in the Orthodox Academy and had even been a supervisor, how could he be washing dishes in a filthy little tavern like this?

Several patrons seated around a corner table creased their brows and glanced at each other, quite confused. These people were low-level enforcers working for trading companies and had once accompanied a caravan to the capital. They knew that Xuanyuan Po wasn’t lying, but they also didn’t know why he was in his current situation.

“His Holiness the Pope hasn’t appeared once since he’s left the capital. He might not even have time to take care of himself, so how can he worry about this guy?”

“What about Her Highness?”

“It is a matter from quite a few years ago, and how can a noble remember something from so long ago? Besides… I heard that Xuanyuan Po left the capital before the coup of the Mausoleum of Books. Based on the time he left, he probably saw the way the wind was blowing and ran away, so how can he still have the face to see Her Highness?”

……

……

The owner of the tavern saw the crowd getting rowdier and rowdier, so he harshly reproved Xuanyuan Po and sent him back into the kitchen.

Xuanyuan Po didn’t have much of a response. He took another tub of dirty dishes to the back and continued to silently wash them.

In these past three years, he had been jeered at and cursed as a cripple countless times, but he had never once cared. It wasn’t because he had grown numb, nor was it because of his wooden personality. It was because he knew that he wasn’t a cripple, nor did he feel like he had fallen into disgrace.

When his right arm had been crippled by Tianhai Ya’er, he had withdrawn from Star Seizer Academy on his own volition and taken a job in the capital’s night market washing dishes. All he was doing now was taking up his old profession.

He remembered very clearly that Chen Changsheng had said that there was no shame in working to make money, but rather a matter of great honor.

And it wasn’t because he felt too ashamed from leaving the Orthodox Academy before the coup of the Mausoleum of Books that he did not see acquaintances like Princess Luoluo from the Orthodox Academy.

After leaving the Orthodox Academy, he had needed only seventeen days to return to White Emperor City. The eighty-thousand- li journey had consumed his body, his sturdy figure turning into a bamboo pole. He naturally hadn’t been escaping. He knew that Chen Changsheng was on the verge of death, so he wanted to seek aid for him.

To his surprise, even with the seal that Princess Luoluo had left behind, he was still unable to enter the Imperial Palace. In the early morning of the next day, he went to the mountain slope outside White Emperor City to seek Jin Yulu’s help but discovered that this great demi-human general’s estate had been surrounded by guards from the Imperial Palace with many spies hiding in the forest.

There was nothing Xuanyuan Po could do. Fortunately, it was not long after that he heard about what had taken place in the capital.

The Tianhai Divine Empress had died, but Chen Changsheng was not dead. The Orthodox Academy was still there and Chen Changsheng had even become Pope. Afterward, Chen Changsheng left the capital, upon which no more news was heard of him.

Xuanyuan Po had the option of returning to the capital’s Orthodox Academy or to his own tribe, both of them excellent choices.

But he chose to remain in White Emperor City.

Because it was clear that something had happened.

He still had not managed to meet the Princess or Jin Yulu.

Just like this, he quietly lived in White Emperor City for three years, gradually becoming the target of jeering, gradually being forgotten.

But he had not forgotten what he had come to do.

……

……

At midnight, the tavern finally emptied out.

Xuanyuan Po finished his hard labor and used cold water to clean his body. After changing into a clean set of clothes, he walked to an alley at the back of the Imperial Palace. He called out to one of the food attendants that he was familiar with and began his other job: delivering food to the Imperial Palace.

The Imperial Palace was naturally under heavy guard, and he couldn’t enter the palace, only deliver the food up to the perimeter.

Xuanyuan Po had not saved up the vast sum of money needed to bribe the guards, nor was he clever enough to curry favor with a noble, so it was naturally impossible for him to know any accurate news from the palace. However, he could use a rather stupid method to reach his goal, just like he had done for the last two years.

The department for procuring foods would draw up a list of foods they needed each day. Every day, he would seriously review this list three times and then go back to his home and copy it down.

He had a clear understanding of the foods Princess Luoluo loved. Those foods often originated from the distant human world and starkly stood out on the lists of food.

He could remember these foods so clearly because he was the logistics supervisor of the Orthodox Academy. From the very start, he had been the one making the Orthodox Academy’s food.

Through these lists of food, he could tell whether Princess Luoluo was still in the palace or not, how her health was, and what mood she was in.

Yes, this was precisely the reason he had remained in White Emperor City.

……

……

As usual, Xuanyuan Po finished reading the list of foods and how much was being requested. He confirmed that Princess Luoluo was fine, but he still creased his brow.

Potherb mustard were at their crispest in the late winter, and a little less than half a box had been sent into the palace the day before yesterday. It was Princess Luoluo’s favorite food, whether it was stir-fried or boiled in soup. Logically speaking, more should have been delivered today, so why didn’t he see any?

Was Princess Luoluo in a bad mood? Had something happened?

Just when Xuanyuan Po was prepared to make a few risky inquiries, the news was sent out from the Imperial Palace, quickly spreading throughout White Emperor City. Presumably, it would not take long for this news to be known throughout the continent, as it was obvious that some important figure had intentionally released this news.

Princess Luoluo was going to be married off.