Way of Choices: Book II - Youths We Were, Schoolmates, Part 2

by Mao Ni

  Because of the marriage contract, the entire capital had displayed its collective ill will toward the Orthodox Academy and Chen Changsheng.

  Tang Thirty-Six had taken this ill will and depression and used these stones to hurl it all back.

  Chen Changsheng didn't do much other than hand stones up from the base of the wall. Usually, he might think this was messing around, wasting his time and life. Today, however, he was very happy, not even noticing that the plum branches had torn through his clothes.

  Originally, there had been so many ways of living, or playing.

  Perhaps there was no meaning behind it, but it was truly very interesting.

  Moreover, it was truly very easy to cheer up like this.

  Chapter 97 – The Bloody Case of the Bureau and the Academy in the Autumn Rain

  It was at this moment that a figure moved. The young deputy general lunged up to the wall and extended a hand to stop Tang Thirty-Six while whispering, "That's enough! If you really do end up killing someone, it'll be very difficult to wind this matter down. That guy of yours was so big, do you really think no one will remember him?"

  Tang Thirty-Six spread out his hand and dropped the piece of stone back into the plum blossoms growing along the wall. "Thanks."

  Today, if not for this young deputy general and the Imperial Guard, he still would not have allowed the Orthodox Academy and Chen Changsheng to continue enduring such humiliation, but no matter what, he would have never been as happy as he was right now. Moreover, now he didn't need to worry about any problems from the aftermath.

  The young deputy general expressionlessly said, "Your thanks aren't needed, I just hope that you remember what you said."

  Tang Thirty-Six's expression subtly changed. "I said a lot of things today."

  The deputy general patted him on the shoulder and said with heartfelt sincerity, "Those words of yours that mentioned my younger sister and disgraced my family—you have to give an explanation, right?"

  Without hesitation, Tang Thirty-Six declared, "I've devoted my heart to cultivation and breaking through. I've decided that before the age of fifty, I won't think about matters of man and woman."

  The young deputy general's complexion changed and he angrily said, "F**k your grandmother, what about my younger sister then?"

  Tang Thirty-Six smiled apologetically. "Isn't my grandmother also your grandmother? Cousin, that's not appropriate."

  * * *

  Gone were the crowds in front of the Orthodox Academy. Not a single person remained, just a street littered with stone and no small number of bloodstains. There were also a few plum branches, most likely the result of Chen Changsheng handing over stones too quickly and accidentally mixing in a few branches as well.

  Chen Changsheng looked at the Imperial Guards in the center of the lane preparing to move and said, "So that was the case."

  Tang Thirty-Six helplessly sighed, "You have no idea of how frightening that female cousin of mine is."

  At this point, Xue Xingchuan walked out of the restaurant and mounted the Red Cloud Qilin in preparation to leave. From his expression, he was probably somewhat satisfied with the result.

  As the second-ranked Divine General of the continent, Xue Xingchuan had an extremely rigorous management style, and so there was no way he did not know the background of an important subordinate like the young deputy general. He naturally knew that the deputy general was a relative of Tang Thirty-Six, but he still let him manage this matter, so his position was very clear.

  With the people gone and the lane empty, Xuanyuan Po had at some point sneaked his way back. The three youths thanked Jin Yulu and then returned back into the Orthodox Academy.

  Chen Changsheng was somewhat confused. "Why did Divine General Xue want to help the Orthodox Academy?"

  Tang Thirty-Six replied, "For so many people to gather to make trouble in such a short time, even if your ability to attract hatred is too strong, there must have been someone to incite them."

  Chen Changsheng asked, "Who could it be?"

  Tang Thirty-Six replied, "Who else could it be?"

  Even Xuanyuan Po knew that it must have been the Tianhai clan that had attempted unsuccessfully to crush the Orthodox Academy this morning.

  Chen Changsheng grew even more confused. "Divine General Xue must be one of the people the Divine Empress trusts the most, or else he would not be able to control the Imperial Guard."

  "I already told you, the Divine Empress and the Tianhai clan are not the same thing."

  "But why?"

  "To put it more simply, she is a daughter-in-law of the Chen clan. Although she carries the surname of Tianhai, her children carry the surname 'Chen', her grandchildren will carry the surname 'Chen', and all her descendants until the end of time will carry the surname 'Chen'. It was rumored that His Holiness the Pope once said to the Divine Empress that there has never been a nephew who swept and maintained his aunt's grave."

  "But the rumors say that the Divine Empress doesn't have any…"

  "Quiet." Tang Thirty-Six looked straight ahead and said, "There are some matters that can't be said and shouldn't be said."

  Chen Changsheng thought this over, then stopped thinking about this question. "Thank you."

  He was thanking him for the matter from before.

  Tang Thirty-Six replied, "You're welcome."

  * * *

  Besides the few people in the Orthodox Academy and the demi-humans, who felt this way because of Luoluo, the entire continent was unwilling to see Xu Yourong marry Chen Changsheng. Many great ministers had expressed their concern and opposition to this matter, and their views were naturally unaffected by things like envy, jealousy, or hatred. Instead, they stemmed from the resistance against the demons and the confluence of the north and south. From the time of Emperor Taizu to the present reign of the Divine Empress, the confluence of the north and south, the true unification of humanity, had always been the Great Zhou's paramount policy priority.

  In today's gathering of the Imperial Court, an extremely intense quarrel had broken out over Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong's engagement. Although those ministers who were still secretly loyal to the old Imperial clan were delighted at this matter, before these ministers of the new faction who spoke about the greater good of the country, they were forced to retreat, step by step. Ultimately, the Imperial Court reached the opinion that more time was needed to make a decision on this engagement.

  Of course, the opinion of these ministers was not important because the engagement was a private matter between families. No matter how powerful these ministers of the court were, they could not interfere, only express their position. As long as the Pope's seal was still on that marriage contract and the Divine Empress remained silent behind her curtain, no one could reject this marriage.

  Soon after, the news that a bloody incident had occurred in front of the Orthodox Academy very quickly spread throughout the capital. Some professors slapped their tables in anger, unable to endure it all, and some ministers gloomily and sourly criticized Xue Xingchuan for supervising the matter unfairly. Some of the common people even began to demonstrate, gathering in front of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education and demanding that the archbishop expel Chen Changsheng and drive him from the capital.

  For a moment, everyone in the capital turned their gazes to the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education. They all wanted to know how this archbishop who seemed to always be asleep would resolve this intractable problem while also taking into account the unfathomable intentions of the Divine Empress and the Pope.

  To the surprise of all, the archbishop simply did not care for the positions of the Divine Empress and the Pope, did not spend so much time in thought as people imagined. He went straight to the simplest and cruelest of methods: breaking up the crowd in front of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education.

  The archbishop directly ordered the Orthodoxy guards to sally forth with horses. The area in front of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education was covered in dus
t and howls of misery. Bones were shattered and blood flowed as the crowd fled in all directions. It was very much like the scene that had taken place in front of the Orthodox Academy, but bloodier and more frightening.

  Everyone watching the activity in front of the bureau was stunned. Only now did they realize how unyielding of a person the archbishop was. Some people understood even more from this matter—without making a request to the Pope, the archbishop was able to move so many guards of the Orthodoxy, meaning that the archbishop was far more powerful than had been imagined.

  According to the statistics collected in the aftermath, in the two bloody incidents of the Orthodox Academy and the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, three had died and three-hundred-plus had been injured, with seventy-some people having heavy injuries. Compared to the number of casualties, the sight had been much crueler and bloodier, its effects much deeper and more despicable.

  On that day, there had been a bout of autumn rain, so in the later records, this matter became known as the Bloody Case of the Bureau and the Academy in the Autumn Rain.

  Behind this bloody case of bureau and academy, many people could faintly see the shadow of the Tianhai clan.

  In the western part of the capital was a secluded manor, the home of the Tianhai clan.

  A middle-aged man sat in a bamboo chair by the edge of a forest, gazing into the distance at the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education. "You see; those elders were finally unable to hold back."

  Xu Shiji stood at his side and slightly frowned, his mind occupied with unknown thoughts.

  Chapter 98 – Listen to the Empress

  The middle-aged man was called Tianhai Chenwu. At the age of twenty, when his father Tianhai Youguo died suddenly, he became the head of the Tianhai clan. Under his leadership, the Tianhai clan prospered, so much so that there were even times when people forgot that he was the Divine Empress's nephew.

  It must be said that for him to be able to accomplish this in the context of the Divine Empress's reign was truly a feat worthy of extraordinary praise.

  "These elders are all very powerful; not even I will lightly provoke them… Shengxue acted too childishly. As a friend of mine, not only did you not stop him, you let him do as he pleased. Did you want him to see just how much blood would flow in the end?"

  Xu Shiji sat down in the chair placed in front of him. With an indifferent expression, he looked beyond the walls of the courtyard and replied, "With people dead, His Eminence the Archbishop must pay some price."

  Xue Xingchuan commanded the Great Zhou Imperial Guard, and Xu Shiji, as a similarly trusted subordinate of the Divine Empress, after being transferred back from the frontlines, was given the charge of maintaining peace and safety over the districts of the capital. Today, it would have been simply impossible for so many idlers and the like to gather in front of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education without his silent agreement.

  "What price then? Are you saying that he will be driven out of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education? All of you are wrong. The more disastrous his relationship with His Holiness the Pope, the firmer his position. This is because within the Orthodoxy, only he has the seniority to oppose His Holiness, so Aunt… requires him."

  Tianhai Chenwu continued, "Anyone Aunt likes, such as Xu Yourong or Mo Yu, will brilliantly shine. Anyone Aunt thinks highly of, such as you or Xue Xingchuan, has the right to be proud. However, none of this compares to being required… because this signifies a uniqueness, a right to stand on the same level as her.

  "Cease your attempts to provoke that sleeping fox in the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education."

  He stared at Xu Shiji and warned, "I've observed Mei Lisha for several decades and still haven't been able to see through him… how could a youth like Shengxue be his match?"

  Xu Shiji fell silent for a few moments, then said, "It's not like we can just sit around and do nothing."

  Tianhai Chenwu knew what he was concerned about and shot him an indifferent glance. "The marriage contract has already been announced to the world. The more you attempt to sound things out, the less meaning it will have. On the contrary, things will only get more and more troublesome, because the bigger the matter, the harder it is to kill someone."

  Xu Shiji slightly frowned, but said nothing.

  Tianhai Chenwu gazed at him and said, "I still don't understand. That youth has already been in the capital for a few months, so why didn't you kill him at the very beginning? Instead, you waited until the final moment, all the way until he used the marriage contract to flip over the table at the Ivy Festival. This is not your style of doing things." A hint of anger was evident in his words.

  Xu Shiji very rarely saw this sort of emotion on his face, so he knew that he truly must have been rather angry.

  The Tianhai clan had always had good relations with the southerners. On the surface, they were just working with the policy set down by the Great Zhou Dynasty and vigorously pushing the confluence of the north and south. In truth, the discerning person would be able to clearly see what this master of the Tianhai clan valued the most: the disposition of the southerners would be extremely important when he competed for the imperial throne in the future.

  From this perspective, whether it was a matter of state, clan, or the imperial throne, the marriage alliance between the Divine General of the East's estate and the Qiushan clan played a most crucial role. Now, however, it had encountered a rather significant inconvenience, one that should have been long since wiped away by Xu Shiji.

  "Yourong sent a letter that forbids us from touching him," Xu Shiji replied after a pause.

  Tianhai Chenwu angrily slapped the arm of his bamboo chair. Slap! Slap! He shouted, "That's your daughter!"

  With a slightly bitter expression Xu Shiji added, "She also sent a letter to Mo Yu, and I'm not sure if the Empress has seen it."

  This area by the bamboo forest instantly grew quiet.

  After a very long time, Tianhai Chenwu gave a faint sigh. "Everyone believes that my Tianhai clan appearing for that little monster Ya'er is just an excuse. Few people understand that I really do want to knead that fellow Chen Changsheng into tiny pieces.

  "Yes, Ya'er is from the sixth branch, rather distant from the main branch, but that little fellow truly did have a lot of potential… at such a young age, he had already reached the upper level of Meditation. You should know very well what that meant. If he had been ranked in the Proclamation of Azure Sky, he would have easily ranked in the top twenty."

  There had been many theories in the capital as to what Tianhai Ya'er's cultivation level was, but it was only on the first night of the Ivy Festival that some indications could be seen. However, to see it and to hear from the master of the Tianhai clan's mouth were two different things. Xu Shiji's expression grew even more solemn.

  Gloomy flames burned within Tianhai Chenwu's eyes. "In terms of cultivation potential, he's even stronger than Shengxue, and he's many times stronger than Shengxue's three brothers. To reach the upper level of Meditation at such a young age, if things proceeded smoothly, he would assuredly have reached the threshold of Ethereal Opening within five years. If he were fortunate enough to not die when crossing the threshold, then he would have… reached Ethereal Opening at an even younger age than Qiushan Jun. And yet, he was crippled, just like that."

  Xu Shiji seemed rather at a loss. "Just what does Sir want to say?"

  "I want Chen Changsheng to die."

  Tianhai Chenwu gazed at him with a smirk. "Princess Luoluo can't be touched, and it's also not convenient for me to touch Chen Changsheng at this time. But you're different—you're his future father-in-law. You could do things against him much more conveniently than others."

  Xu Shiji's complexion became abnormally unsightly at these words. After the Ivy Festival, he had become the laughingstock of the capital—everyone now knew that he was a snob, and although the truth might have been more complicated, it was roughly the case—and that marriage contract had been slapping him in the face this e
ntire time.

  Each day the Orthodox Academy remained in the capital, each day Chen Changsheng existed in this world, this humiliation would persist for another day. He did not have the slightest positivity toward Chen Changsheng. He could be considered the person that wanted Chen Changsheng dead the most in this world, but he was also simultaneously the person that was least able to touch him.

  Xu Shiji had no idea how many people were watching the Divine General of the East's estate, wanting to see how he would respond, especially those elders in the Orthodoxy. It was likely that when he did respond, if he really did dare to strike at Chen Changsheng, the capital would fall into a massive crisis that might even implicate the Divine Empress.

  Xu Shiji would never take this sort of risk. He stared into Tianhai Chenwu's eyes, wanting to see just what this Tianhai clan head famed for his tyranny and brutality was thinking. "In the past, I would have just killed him, but I can't do it now."

  "Could it be that the Lord Divine General does not want to help the Tianhai clan with its difficulties?" Tianhai Chenwu stood up and said to him, an indifferent expression upon his face.

  Xu Shiji understood his meaning. After a period of silence, he replied, "Sir, I am a Divine General appointed by the Divine Empress."

  After saying this, he began to make his way out of the garden.

  Tianhai Chenwu looked at his back and said, "Is that so? Then what did you chat about in your last meeting with Prince Chen Liu?"

  Xu Shiji did not pause, acting as if he had never heard that question.

  * * *

  In the early morning during an autumn rain, Tianhai Shengxue came riding on a horse with the desire to destroy the gate of the Orthodox Academy and thus crush the academy. He had been halted by Chen Changsheng and the other two students, and then the sudden appearance of Jin Yulu forced him to return without the desired result. Afterward came the common people besieging the Orthodox Academy, warhorses rampaging in front of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, and the wretched sight of bleeding people.