Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

The middle aged man’s name is Tian Hai Cheng Wu. He became the head of the Tian Hai Family twenty years ago after his father, Tian Hai You Guo, passed away. Under his lead, the Family of Tian Hai grew prosperous and powerful. Sometimes people would even forget that he was the nephew of the Divine Queen.

It’s high praise for him to achieve such a thing under the ruling of the Divine Queen.

“The old generation is powerful. Even I dare not disturb them…….Sheng Xue’s actions were too naive. You are his uncle but you didn’t do anything to stop him. Did you want to see how much blood would bleed out of the capital?”

Xu Shi Ji walked towards the chair in front of him and sat down. He glanced over of the wall expressionlessly and said, “The Bishop will compensate for these lives.”

Xue Xing Chuan controls the Forbidden Army of Zhou Dynasty. As a trusted subordinate of Divine Queen, he became responsible for the safety of the capital after he was switched in from the frontline. It would be impossible to gather so much people in front of the Department of Education without his consent.

“What compensation? Are you saying that he will be kicked out of the Department of Education? You all are fools. If the relationship between the Bishop and the Pope worsen, the Bishop position will become stronger. Why? Because only the Bishop can compete with the Pope in terms of history. Therefore my aunt…..needs him.”

Tian Hai Cheng Wu said, “Whoever my aunt favors, he or she will be famous such as Xu You Rong and Mo Yu. Whoever my aunt trusts, they will be prosperous like you and Xue Xing Chuan. But none of them compare to need……because needing is unique; it represents a mutual relationship.”

“Don’t ever try to aggravate that sleeping fox in the Department of Education again.”

He stared at Xu Shi Ji and said, “I watched Mei Li Sha for several dozen years, and I still can’t figure him out…….How could a young man like Sheng Xue be his opponent?”

Xu Shi Ji was silent for a moment. Then he said, “So we shouldn’t do anything?”

Tian Hai Cheng Wu knew what Xu Shi Ji was worrying about. He glanced at Xu Shi Ji and said, “The marriage vow is already known to the world. These little tricks will be useless after you use them too frequently. Furthermore, they will only make matters worse because if the situation gets messy, it will be hard to clean up afterwards.”

Xu Shi Ji wrinkled his eyebrow slightly and remained silent.

“I still don’t understand, it’s been months since that youngster arrived at the capital. Why didn’t you kill him from the beginning? Why did you wait until the Ivy Festival where he took out the marriage vow? This isn’t your style of doing business.”

Tian Hai Cheng Wu looked at him and said irritatedly.

Xu Shi Ji hardly ever saw such emotion from Tian Hai Cheng Wu’s face. He knew that he was angry.

The Tian Hai Family always had a good relationship with the southerners. It may seem as if the family was trying to follow Zhou Dynasty’s policy of bounding the north and south, but any wise person knew what the head of Tian Hai Family really wanted – the support of the southerners. This would be a key factor to when he tries to ascend the throne for emperor in the future.

From this point of view, regardless of the business of the dynasty, the family, or the throne, the marriage between Dong Yu General’s Mansion and Qiu Shan Family would be an important component. But now, the component is in a mess and that mess was supposed to be cleaned up by Xu Shi Ji long ago.

“You Rong sent a letter that said that she didn’t want to harm him.” Xu Shi Ji said after a moment of silence.

Tian Hai Cheng Wu slapped the handle of the bamboo chair and said irritatedly, “She’s your daughter.”

Xu Shi Ji’s expression was bitter, “She also sent a letter to Mo Yu. I’m not exactly sure if the Queen read it or not.”

The bamboo forest was quiet.

After a long time, Tian Hai Cheng Wu sighed deeply, “Everyone thinks the Tian Hai Family was just using Ya Er as an excuse, but not many realize that I actually wanted to rip Chen Chang Sheng into pieces.”

“True, Ya Er is of the outer six sects. He’s pretty far from the Elder sect but that kid really has some potential…….he entered the upper stage of Meditation at such a young age. You should understand what this means. If he was ranked in the Honor Roll of Green Cloud, he could easily rank in the top twenty.”

The capital never knew the true strength of Tian Hai Ya Er. Only until the first night of Ivy Festival did the public see his power. But seeing is different from the admittance of the head of Tian Hai Family. Xu Shi Ji’s expression turned serious.

A gloomy flame was burning in Tian Hai Cheng Wu’s eyes, “In terms of xiuxing potential, he’s better than Sheng Xue. Heck, he’s much better than the three siblings of Sheng Xue. He entered the upper stage of Meditation at such a young age and if everything goes smoothly, he can reach the door knob of Heartseek. If he enters the Heartseek stage successfully, then he will be……younger than Qiu Shan Jun when he entered Heartseek. But now he’s handicapped.”

Xu Shi Ji’s expression was solemn, “What are you trying to say?”

“I want Chen Chang Sheng dead.”

Tian Hai Cheng Wu looked at him with a faint smile, “No one can touch Princess Luo Luo, and it will be difficult to harm Chen Chang Sheng at the moment. But you are different, you are his future father-in-law. You have more access in terms of doing things to him.”

Hearing this, Xu Shi Ji’s expression turned ugly. After the Ivy Festival, he became a joke of the capital – everyone thought he liked the rich and despised the poor. Although the truth may not be this simple, it’s similar to the fact that the marriage was a slap to the face.

As long as the Tradition Academy exists in the capital and Chen Chang Sheng lives in this world, this shame will follow him everyday. He has no good feelings about Chen Chang Sheng, or in fact he’s the person who wants Chen Chang Sheng dead the most. However, at the same time, he’s also the person who can’t do anything about it.

Countless people are watching Dong Yu General’s Mansion and they want to see how he will react. The elders in the Tradition are especially waiting for him to make a move. If he actually dares to touch Chen Chang Sheng, another big storm will arise and this storm can even drag the Divine Queen in.

Xu Shi Ji would never put himself in such a situation. He stared into the eyes of Tian Hai Cheng Wu and wanted to see what the bold and powerful head of Tian Hai Family really thought, “In the past, it would be easy to kill him. But now? Not anymore.”

“Does the General not want to help the Family of Tian Hai?” Tian Hai Cheng Wu stood up and looked at him expressionlessly.

Xu Shi Ji knew what he meant. He was silent for a moment and replied, “Sir, I’m the General of the Divine Queen.”

After finishing his sentence, he turned around and walked out of the garden.

Tian Hai Cheng Wu looked at his back and said, “Is that right? Then what did you talk about when you met Prince Chen Liu last time?”

Xu Shi Ji didn’t stop for a moment as if he didn’t hear the words.

——————————

Following the morning rain, Tian Hai Sheng Xue arrived at the entrance of Tradition Academy and broke through the door. Chen Chang Sheng and his crew stopped him and Jin Yu Lu stepped into the situation. They forced Tian Hai Sheng Xue to leave without victory. Then the public rioted against the Tradition Academy. Now, battle horses are screaming in front of the Department of Education while the citizens are bleeding.

In such a short period of time, the old and new forces of Zhou Dynasty are colliding with each other because of Tradition Academy and Chen Chang Sheng. Although the collision isn’t necessarily brutal and devastating, the momentum is forceful and sharp. The atmosphere of the capital tightened and many people are starting to recall the events that happened dozens of years ago.

Luckily the impact and level of collision are under strict control. The new and old forces are still calm because the Divine Queen and Pope have yet to say anything. The entire capital is under pressure while the Tradition Academy’s involvement in the matter grows.

The fate of the Academy and Chen Chang Sheng and whether or not the marriage vow will be nullified by the powerful figures depend on the Divine Queen and the Pope’s decisions toward the entire situation.

“The former Emperor was in power for four hundred years. He was constantly sick and enjoyed pursuing his hobbies rather than tackling governmental issues. That was why the queen started helping the emperor with the dynasty’s business. If we count precisely, she has already been in control for two hundred years. The entire court is under her control and many officials and Generals are under her ruling. Or else how would she have became the Divine Queen after the former emperor passed away?

Regardless of the rage and opposition of the emperor’s family and government officials, they still obeyed her after the massacre.” Tang Thirty Six said to Chen Chang Shang.

“The Divine Queen is outstanding. How outstanding? I don’t know. The only thing I know is that a wild and rebellious man like my grandfather stayed in Wen Shui for so many years and insulted the people of Tian Hai Family as if they were dog shit.

However, whether he was in the public or private, living room or hidden space, he dare not speak a word against the Divine Queen.” he added.

He continued, “The entirety of Zhou Dynasty will follow the attitude of Divine Queen. Although she’s still in her prime now, she needs to think about the future. Who will become the next emperor of Zhou Dynasty? The Queen can oppress the court officials with her boundless reputation and even the Pope is keeping his silence. But if the throne isn’t returned to the hands of the Royal Chen Family, then even the best of the Tian Hai Family, Tian Hai Cheng Wu or the most experienced, Tian Hai Cheng Wen, doesn’t have the ability to oppress their opposition. But if she does return the throne back to Royal Chen Family, after she dies, the Family of Tian Hai will be cleaned up. At last, her last name is Tian Hai, how would she want to see such a thing happen? Therefore the Queen is also hesitating now. The clashes between the new and old forces are due to the hesitation of the Queen. They saw their chance but they also saw the danger that came along with it. Unfortunately, we, the Tradition Academy became a symbol for the collisions. The Pope brought Luo Luo back to Academy of Li Palace which means he is showing hints of his attitude. Now, if Divine Queen also holds the same attitude, then the Tradition Academy is in great danger. Forget Princess Luo Luo, if the Divine Queen really wants to kill someone, even the White Emperor can’t do anything.”

Tang Thirty Six looked at Chen Chang Sheng and finished, “If I were you, the first thing I do now is to find ways to locate the Divine Queen. Then I would kneel before her, wrap my arms around her legs and cry. Finally, I will request her to judge this situation fairly.”

Chen Chang Sheng thought about it for a long time and then he said, “So, how can I find her?”

Tang Thirty Six was quiet for a while, then he yelled irritatingly out of the window, “Is dinner still not done?”