Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 527 – Chatting

Ultimately, evidence fell in favor of the latter.

Xu Yourong raised her head and asked Chen Changsheng, “Why aren’t you eating?”

“Oh, yeah, eating.” In the past two years, under the influence of Tang Thirty-Six, Chen Changsheng was much more talkative, but in front of her, it was almost like he had returned to being the young and obedient Daoist boy from Xining Village. His words were extremely simple, his thoughts exceptionally pure, and it was impossible for him to conceal any sort of emotion.

For example, at this moment, he was rather distracted, so when he took up his chopsticks, his grip was not very firm. He extended his hand like the wind to support the chopsticks in midair, but he also pushed the unfurled Yellow Paper Umbrella to the side. As a result, the argument that still persisted in the kang in front of them became audible once more.

“Last spring, Little Principal Chen entered the capital and received such humiliation in the Divine General’s estate. Afterwards, he was suppressed multiple times in succession. His talent was clearly extraordinary and his entrance exam scores were all excellent, but he was forcefully removed from the accepted applicant list of every school. If His Holiness had not been protecting him in secret, he might not even have been able to enter the already-deteriorated Orthodox Academy. People like you say that his annulling the marriage was a heartless act, but none of you ever thought, if the Xu family had not acted so shamelessly, how could this destined marriage come to this?”

“And what does this have to do with Lady Yourong? During the Ivy Festival, the White Crane returned north. In the letter it carried, she admitted that this engagement existed, or else with only the marriage contract in Chen Changsheng’s hand, how could the diplomatic mission from the south be left powerless to object? Even if Chen Changsheng holds a grudge against the Divine General’s estate, there’s no reason to inflict such humiliation on Lady Yourong!”

“Hmph, at the time, Xu Shiji obstinately refused to recognize this marriage and the people of the Divine General of the East’s Estate acted so snobbishly, but it turns out that now that things are different with Little Principal Chen, they’ve turned around and want to hug his leg now? They truly have no sense of shame! All of you say that Little Principal Chen ending the engagement is a humiliation? In my view, this is the Divine General of the East’s estate humiliating itself!”

“But still, none of this has anything to do with the Holy Maiden. For what reason should she bear such slanderous gossip?”

“One can only say that the Holy Maiden had the misfortune of being born in this sort of house, of having such parents!”

……

……

The kang in the corner was very quiet, the only sound being the gurgling of the meat broth in the pot.

Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong sat across from each other by the kang, the atmosphere once more rather heavy.

It had already been almost two years since he had come to the capital. The matter of the engagement had already spread to the entire continent. The humiliation and suppression the Divine General of the East’s estate had once inflicted upon him, the later change in their attitude, the sudden transformation of the young Daoist boy from the countryside into the successor to the Orthodoxy—all these things had been enthusiastically chatted about by everybody.

Today’s battle on the Bridge of Helplessness seemed almost like the final conclusion to this story, the final decision, yet it couldn’t really put an end to everything. On the contrary, it pushed people’s interest in this story to its peak. It could be believed that just like the gourmets sitting by that table, in the countless mansions and homes, everyone was discussing this matter.

The Divine General’s estate had once humiliated him, and he had never forgotten it. He had also once had many feelings for her who had been in the distant south. However, just as that other customer had said, in this matter, she truthfully had not done anything to harm him, yet now she had to bear the ridicule and censure aimed at the Divine General’s estate.

This was perhaps rather unfair.

Chen Changsheng didn’t know what to say.

“In the end, they’re still my parents.”

Xu Yourong’s expression was very calm as if unaffected by that discussion. However, the following change in topic occurred far too abruptly.

“I want to drink some wine.”

“Okay.”

Chen Changsheng had the owner bring over two small jars of his finest wine. Unsealing one of the jars, he filled her cup to seventy percent full.

Xu Yourong softly said her thanks, then unsealed the other jar and poured wine into his cup until it was full. Finally, she looked to him and said, “Ask away.”

Chen Changsheng still didn’t know what to say. As he thought it over, he saw her beautiful face and asked with some hesitation, “Face?”

“A certain technique from South Stream Temple.””

“Oh.”

After this simple question and answer, the kang once more grew silent.

Xu Yourong brought the wine cup up to her mouth and took a very light sip. It was just a sip, but her face blushed a little.

“Don’t tell other people that we met in the Garden of Zhou.”

“Why?”

When Chen Changsheng heard her request on the Bridge of Helplessness, he could not understand it. Now when he heard confirmation that she really did not wish for others to know of this matter, he was even more puzzled.

Xu Yourong did not directly answer her question, instead softly asking, “Hasn’t the engagement already been annulled?”

This was a piece of information that had circulated in the capital for quite some time, but it had never been admitted by either the Orthodox Academy or the Divine General of the East’s estate. But as one of the parties of the engagement, she naturally knew that the rumors were not rumors, but rather a thing that had really happened.

For a long time, Chen Changsheng said nothing.

On the bridge when the wind brushed away her white gauze and he saw her eyes, that was the happiest moment in his sixteen years of life. Compared to when he was finally able to memorize the last scroll of the Daoist Canon in the old temple, when he found his Fated Star in the Orthodox Academy, when he obtained first rank of the first banner in the Grand Examination, when he found Wang Zhice’s notebook in the Lingyan Pavilion…it was happier than all those moments.

She had been alive all along, she was her, she was his fiancée. Was there any encounter in the world as bizarre as this, any matter as good?

When he was taking a bath in the house back at the Orthodox Academy, he had already planned it all out. He was going to go the Li Palace and ask the Pope to reconstruct the marriage contract. Then, he would take Tang Thirty-Six and the rest to the Imperial Palace to find her. If she agreed, he would propose to her straight away.

He had never gone through a love affair before, but as long as he decided this was something he wanted to do, he would absolutely carry out it with extreme diligence and focus, seizing every minute.

But now she said that he could not tell of this matter to anyone else, so how could he convince the Pope to rescind the decree that annulled the marriage contract?

A month ago, he had worked arduously to finally annul the engagement.

Now, he realized that he really wanted this engagement.

Tang Thirty-Six had spoken very correctly.

“I thought you were dead, and in the Garden of Zhou, I promised you that I would annul the engagement, so…”

He looked at Xu Yourong and said rather helplessly, “Since you knew who I was, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Xu Yourong’s expression seemed to chill somewhat. “In the Garden of Zhou, you deceived me. I had to realize the truth myself, so why would I have to tell you?”

Chen Changsheng believed himself innocent, asking, “When did I deceive you?”

“Could it be that you’re called Xu Sheng?”

“You’re not Lady Chujian.”

“Why did you not want to admit that you were Chen Changsheng?”

“Back then, why didn’t you say that you were Xu Yourong?”

They looked into each other’s eyes, speaking the questions at almost the same time.

Then they both remembered, back in the snowy temple by the White Grass Path, when they introduced themselves for the first time, they had also spoken at the same time, giving out two false names…

They didn’t remember just what they had been thinking back then.

Chen Changsheng recalled his mood from that time. The primary reason he had not wanted her to know of his identity was because he didn’t want her to know that he had a world-famous fiancée. Perhaps Xu Yourong was thinking the same, not wishing for him to know that she had such a well-known fiancé?

“Is having a fiancé like me such a shameful thing?”

He asked Xu Yourong, rather serious, and also rather bitter and sad.