Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

After a moment of silence, Tang Thirty-Six asked, "And Bie Yanghong is your…?"

Su Moyu replied, "My uncle."

(TN: 舅舅 = Mother's brother.)

Tang Thirty-Six took a deep breath, then asked, "Wuqiong Bi?"

Su Moyu wondered to himself, you still need to ask?

"Naturally, she's my aunt."

There was a rather awkward silence.

Tang Thirty-Six looked at him and said, "In the future, can you mention this a little sooner?"

Su Moyu replied, "No one has ever asked me, and I can't just meet someone and tell them, 'My uncle is Bie Yanghong'."

Chen Changsheng nodded. "That's reasonable."

Tang Thirty-Six glanced at him and said, "I still haven't talked about how you hid that engagement of yours with Xu Yourong from us. Don't be in such a rush to form an alliance."

He then turned back to Su Moyu and said, "Continue."

“When my aunt studied at the Li Palace Academy, she and Archbishop Siyuan were like sister and brother, so she would naturally stand on his side. In addition…she tends to cover for the mistakes of others." As he was speaking of his elders, Su Moyu had a rather unnatural expression. "If Cousin really did fight with you, no matter who won or lost, I'm afraid it wouldn’t be that easy to end the matter. It might result in my aunt coming to the capital."

Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six looked each other in the eyes, then said with one voice, "It's not necessary! Quickly write to your uncle saying that everything here is all right."

Su Moyu replied, "No need, my uncle already wrote me a letter."

"What?"

"What other reason would I have come out of the Mausoleum of Books for?"

When Su Moyu thought of the contents of that letter, he felt rather helpless. Uncle, even if you're a henpecked husband, does that mean that I'm not afraid of Auntie?

"Uncle wanted me to enter the Orthodox Academy."

"So here I am," he finished.

It was only now that Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six finally understood the entire situation.

Bie Yanghong knew that his own wife supported the Orthodoxy's new faction. At the moment, Bie Tianxin was representing the Li Palace Academy in challenging the Orthodox Academy. If he won, then the Bie family would naturally have offended the Pope, the Wenshui clan, and even Su Li and those two Saints in White Emperor City. But if he lost, that wife of his who loved to cover for the mistakes of others might come to the capital to stir up a storm.

He didn't want such a thing to occur. Perhaps it was because he supported the Orthodoxy's conservative faction, or perhaps it was for the very simple reason that he didn't want to participate in this storm. Consequently, he wrote a letter to Su Moyu in the Mausoleum of Books, asking his most favored nephew to leave the Mausoleum of Books ahead of time, enter the Orthodox Academy, and do his utmost to make this entire matter disappear!

It must be said that Bie Yanghong's way of doing things was very intelligent. When his wife was standing with the new faction of the Orthodoxy, he had Su Moyu represent him in displaying his goodwill, or at least his desire to calm the situation, to the other side. In this way, and with the status and power the two held as a couple, the Bie family would probably be able to avoid any consequences from this storm. This was what was meant by the saying, 'Only by not getting involved can one proudly stride upon the earth'. However, this way of doing things made one fact very obvious: in this matter, Wuqiong Bi had clearly not solicited the opinion of her husband or had not followed his advice.

The loving couple of the Eight Storms, the legendary companions that truly seemed like immortals, also turned out to have their own disagreements.

Thinking of this, Chen Changsheng couldn't help but sigh.

On the other hand, Tang Thirty-Six was much more straightforward. He asking Su Moyu, "Is the relationship between your uncle and aunt not good?"

Su Moyu looked at him but did not respond, resulting in another awkward silence.

"Just act like I never said that." Tang Thirty-Six chuckled and said, "In this case, you're basically the associate young master of the Bie family. No wonder that guy looked at you with such a strange expression. And if the associate young master wants to discipline a servant, would he dare to hit back?"

Su Moyu very seriously corrected him, "Even if he used his full strength, I would still be able to beat him."

He then turned to Chen Changsheng and sighed, "You truly are extraordinary."

Chen Changsheng felt somewhat embarrassed.

Tang Thirty-Six wasn't embarrassed at all. Draping his arms over Chen Changsheng's shoulders, he said, "The reason your uncle had you enter the Orthodox Academy is now very clear. Today, you've already disciplined your servant. In another few days, if your cousin similarly comes to make trouble, don't you try and avoid it."

Su Moyu thought, the words are the same and the meaning is the same, but why is it that when they come out of your mouth, they're always so grating? He really didn't know how to respond, so he looked around at the serene environment around the house and noted, "This side is actually rather quiet."

"Ordinary students aren't allowed to come over to this side. You also just saw that short wall. Of course, you're definitely no ordinary student. Xuanyuan Po has already readied your room. We'll take you to see it in a moment. So? Our treatment of you isn't bad, right?"

Tang Thirty-Six thought of a coincidence. Laughing, he said, "You're the associate young master of the Bie family and this garden partitioned off by the wall is called the Separate (Bie) Garden. This is destiny, don't you think? That you were meant to transfer to the Orthodox Academy and you were meant to live here?"

Su Moyu wasn't thinking about these things at all. Shaking his head, he replied, "We're all students; to enjoy such privilege is inappropriate."

"He's the principal, I'm the superintendent, Xuanyuan Po is the head of housekeeping, and Zhexiu's position has already been arranged, although we don't know what to call it yet. Princess Luoluo is the lifetime honorary vice principal. In short, none of us is an ordinary student. If you want a position, just mention it."

"But I just feel that we're all youths—why do we need a wall to separate us?"

"Because Chen Changsheng said he likes quiet. In my view, he has too many secrets and is afraid of other people finding them out."

At this, Chen Changsheng could no longer bear to maintain his silence. He explained to Su Moyu, "You know that cultivation really does require quiet. If any of the new students succeed in breaking into Ethereal Opening, they can also move into the Separate Garden. In addition, if any of them can get into the three banners of the Grand Examination, they also have the qualifications to move in. Using Tang Tang's words, it also provides some motivation."

Su Moyu thought that this explanation was rather reasonable. He asked, "How did they all respond?"

In the Li Palace Academy, he had grown accustomed to leading his schoolmates. Today on his first arrival at the Orthodox Academy, he subconsciously began to consider these things.

Tang Thirty-Six turned his gaze to the distant lakeshore, where those young students sat or lay on the grass. "They're all either students from the counties and the countryside or invisible students of the Ivy Academies that were ignored. If they were to pass the preparatory examination for the Grand Examination, they would offer a sacrifice to the sea of stars and worship the Empress. They wouldn't even dare to have such extravagant hopes as entering the three banners of the Grand Examination. As for breaking into Ethereal Opening…it's something that's even more beyond their imagination. As a result, not a single one them paid attention to what we said. They just think that we drew a picture of a flatcake for them to look at. There have even been some complaints."

Su Moyu thought of how Chen Changsheng had broken into Ethereal Opening in the middle of the last match of the Grand Examination and shocked the continent, and then he recalled how after that night bathed in starlight in the Mausoleum of Books, breaking into Ethereal Opening seemingly became much more commonplace. He couldn't help inadvertently shooting him a glance and thinking, just how many people actually know the benefits Chen Changsheng has brought to this generation of youth?

Tang Thirty-Six continued to gaze in that direction as he spoke, "In fact, I can understand why they think this way, but I still feel that they aren't very mature. So, a few days ago, I gathered them together and gave them a good scolding."

Chen Changsheng shook his head. He absolutely didn't want to re-experience what happened on that night a few days ago, even if it was only a recollection. He had never in his life seen Tang Thirty-Six curse people like that.

Su Moyu deeply disapproved of this style of teaching. Shaking his head, he chided, "Cursing others is not right."

"Not a single swear came from my mouth. It was just like when you obstructed us on the Divine Avenue of the Li Palace."

"Ah, the Divine Avenue of the Li Palace," Su Moyu somewhat remorsefully sighed, flashing an apologetic look at Chen Changsheng.

"I told them, last year at this time, on the Divine Avenue of the Li Palace, Chen Changsheng told the entire world that he was going to get first rank on the first banner in the Grand Examination. Moreover, at that time, he hadn't even succeeded at Purification. Everyone thought he was crazy. In the end? In the end, he really did what no one thought was possible."

Tang Thirty-Six finished, "Then how can anything in this world truly be impossible? What do the three banners of the Grand Examination or breaking into Ethereal Opening amount to?"

Su Moyu thought it over, then responded, "It makes sense."

The two brought Su Moyu to his room to let him rest well, then took their leave.

Walking out of the house, Tang Thirty-Six said with almost complete certainty, "His uncle and aunt definitely have problems in their relationship."