Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

This was an answer that could easily render others speechless.

Precisely as Tang Thirty-Six had said, Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong really were two people that made others speechless.

Perhaps it was for precisely this reason that when Xu Yourong heard Chen Changsheng's answer, she showed no surprise, much less anger. On the contrary, she was very satisfied.

He only remembered that after dusk, he should come to Fortune Peace Road to eat Tofu and Fish, even though they ultimately ended up eating beef ribs. He only remembered the conversation they had in the Mausoleum of Zhou, so he split up the gold and treasures into two piles and used the majority of his part to buy a plain by the lower reaches of the Red River, even though she had nothing to do with the elves. He only remembered promising her that he would end the engagement, so he, regardless of the criticisms of the common people, requested the Pope to forcefully annul the engagement, even though this matter now looked very silly and he was now even trying to get back the marriage contract…

To make a mistake on a few things was not important. To forget a few things was even less important. As long as one remembered a few things, it was just fine.

Chen Changsheng's answer and the fragrant beef ribs in the pot allowed Xu Yourong to not have the slightest regret about passing him that slip of paper on the Bridge of Helplessness.

She softly spoke, "I ate very well, thank you."

Saying this, she stood up, put away that deed to the plain, took the Yellow Paper Umbrella up from the floor, and began to walk out of the restaurant.

The noisy clamor instantly surged back in and Chen Changsheng was a little taken aback. As he watched her raise the curtain and walk out, he suddenly remembered something, that he still had one very important thing to give to her. He quickly went after her, but in the face of the cold and the snowflakes drifting down the dark street, how could he possibly catch sight of her figure?

He gazed at the string of ten stone pearls on his wrist and thought, such an important object, I absolutely cannot forget next time.

From the side came the restaurant owner's voice, "Dear guest, there's still some beef ribs left. Is Sir prepared to take it away or eat a little longer?"

Chen Changsheng turned and saw the owner's face was rather uneasy. After vacantly staring at him for a moment, he realized that the owner was worried that he was going to skip on the bill.

The owner rubbed his hand, looking at him rather nervously.

……

……

Carrying the wrapped leftovers of the beef ribs, Chen Changsheng returned to the Orthodox Academy.

In the darkness, the winter forest by the lake seemed somewhat sinister. Thankfully, the snow weighing down the tree branches somewhat mollified this feeling. Deep within the forest, thundering booms could be faintly heard, occasionally accompanied by the appearance of extremely thin rays of light, like lightning bolts. This was Xuanyuan Po practicing.

Su Moyu was in the library, instructing the new students. Zhexiu, who was gradually recovering, had buried himself under some pile of snow to hone his spirit and will. Only Tang Thirty-Six had not gone out, nor was he in his own room. Instead, he was in Chen Changsheng's, waiting for him.

It wasn't merely because he was curious about where Chen Changsheng had gone off to, nor was it because investigating this guy's secrets had truly made him almost as wrathful as a god. Rather, it was because the item in his hand was such an object that he absolutely had to deliver it into Chen Changsheng's hands personally before he could be at ease.

Even the wealthiest man in the world would find himself powerless to compensate for the loss of this item.

Because this was the Divine Staff that represented the power of the Orthodoxy. Even with money, one would not be able to buy it.

Tang Thirty-Six had already sat in this room for a very long time. When he thought of that embarrassing scene in the Li Palace, thought of those gazes that were like swords such that even now his back still felt a little sore, and then he thought about how Chen Changsheng was having the time of his life at some random place, his mood continued to get worse.

So when Chen Changsheng returned to his room, it was only right that he saw a very nasty face.

For some reason, perhaps because he had been concealing the truth, when he saw Tang Thirty-Six's complexion, Chen Changsheng felt uneasy. He placed the food box on the table and pretended not to see that Tang Thirty-Six was sitting on his bed, pretended that he wasn't a clean freak. He carefully said, "Fortune Peace Road's beef ribs taste rather good."

"The taste of His Holiness's Divine Staff is even better."

The unsightly expression on Tang Thirty-Six's face had vanished to some place, but the deliberate indifference that represented his rage was very easy to see.

Chen Changsheng took the Divine Staff in a state of shock. Although Tang Thirty-Six had anticipated this and mentioned the matter to him, Chen Changsheng had still been caught by surprise.

Tang Thirty-Six said in a chilly voice, "You're not going give an explanation?"

Chen Changsheng glanced at him and replied, "I just arranged to eat a meal with someone, not anything big."

"But it's still something you can't tell me?"

"Mm."

”"Then who did you eat with?"

"I also can't say…"

Chen Changsheng was rather tense, but when he thought back to the scene of Xu Yourong sitting across from, drinking wine, he couldn't help but turn his lips up in a smile.

Seeing this, Tang Thirty-Six sucked in a cold breath and asked, "A woman?"

Chen Changsheng asked in disbelief, "How did you tell?"

Tang Thirty-Six sneered, "Seeing your beaming face with all your emotions as open as a book, only Xuanyuan Po wouldn't be able to tell."

Chen Changsheng was a little distressed and was clueless as to how to respond.

"Three days, at most three days." Tang Thirty-Six grit his teeth and declared, "I will definitely find out the truth of this matter. You just met Xu Yourong, but instead of being charmed, you went off with some other girl. I'm really curious as to just what this girl looks like."

Chen Changsheng was rather confused and also faintly dissatisfied. He asked, "Why can't I go and meet with Xu Yourong?"

Tang Thirty-Six expressionlessly said to him, "Xu Yourong will meet with you in private? You might as well say that you're Su Li's illegitimate son."

Chen Changsheng thought it over, then said, "If that were the case, wouldn't Zhexiu have to call me ‘brother-in-law’?"

Tang Thirty-Six roared in laughter, but then he thought of something and his smile vanished.

He looked at Chen Changsheng and said, "You've actually figured out how to tell a joke, and it was actually really funny…you're definitely finished."

Puzzled, Chen Changsheng asked, "What?"

Tang Thirty-Six said to him with a sympathetic gaze, "It looks to me that you really love this girl, or why else would your personality have changed so much? In the future, what's going to happen to you?"

……

……

Chen Changsheng lay on his bed, tossing and turning until it was late in the night, still unable to sleep.

After the age of ten, besides that period in the capital where he attracted starlight but failed to succeed in Purification, this was the first time that he suffered from insomnia.

Tang Thirty-Six's final words had seemingly ripped open the curtains of the window and caused the starlight to fall upon the snowy plain in his body, revealing with startling clarity every one of his emotions.

In this half-year after his departure from the Garden of Zhou, he would often think of her, whether he was sitting on the great banyan tree by the lake or amongst the massive stones of the Mausoleum of Zhou. However, what he did not understand was…that sort of longing had been a longing for what was missing, until today on the Bridge of Helplessness when he saw the white gauze fall and saw her eyes. Especially before in the restaurant, the image of her wrapped in a big cotton jacket, her small mouth sipping on wine and gnawing on ribs, was different from the Garden of Zhou, different from the stories. Yet it was incomparably true, truly good to see that appearance that made him want to get even closer to her.

Thus, this longing had fallen into reality and gained a real weight.

A longing that was true and had weight was called a yearning, and once one began yearning, it was difficult to sleep.

Chen Changsheng was a person slow to speak, but quick to act. In any case, since he wanted to see her and he couldn't sleep, he would just go see her.

Xu Yourong had told him to not let anyone know that they knew each other, so he could not take the normal way to see her, but instead had to sneak in to see her.

He got out of bed, put on his clothes, and flew through the window. He passed through the winter forest and used the key to open the secret door in the palace walls that had been concealed exceedingly well by ivy, and walked on in.

He opened the heavy door a crack. Looking into the palace grounds that were shrouded in darkness, he was rather nervous, so much so that even the whistles from his mouth were rather hoarse.

He was a youth that lived a very orderly life and rarely did this sort of thing. Although he had sneaked into the Imperial Palace several times, the circumstances now were rather different from those of the past. The Pope had just formally announced tonight that he was the successor to the Orthodoxy, and now he was infiltrating the Imperial Palace in the middle of the night. If he were discovered by anybody, it would definitely be a major event.

As the snowflakes slowly drifted down, the red walls and yellow eaves of the Imperial Palace were all draped in white.

The Divine Empress looked out the window at the snow, her lips turning into a mocking smile. She asked, "Do you know when people are the most courageous?"

The confluence of north and south was imminent and the matters that required handling for each side had suddenly increased. Mo Yu had accompanied the Empress late into the night taking care of these matters and was rather exhausted. Upon hearing this sudden question, she gazed off vacantly for a moment before responding in a soft voice, "When confronting death?"

"It's not wrong, but there is another situation…because of love."

The Divine Empress looked out the window at the dark palace and continued, "In other words, when driven by passion."

The sky danced with snow and the light of lanterns was profuse. It seemed like daytime, not late night, in the Imperial Palace, causing black objects to appear all the more conspicuous.

When Chen Changsheng saw the Black Goat slowly amble out of the plaza covered in snow, he was filled with gratitude.

He told the Black Goat his reason for coming.

The Black Goat glanced at him twice and then turned and walked off. After quite some time, it pointed its horns at a certain palace hall and then turned around and vanished into the snowy night.

This palace hall's location was superb. It was not too remote, but it was very peaceful. Moreover, deep in the winter, this palace was still surrounded by green trees, which was highly unusual.

She was here? Based on the rumors, the Divine Empress doted on her, even more than she doted on the Princess of Ping.

Then if the Orthodoxy and the Imperial Court were to split and his martial uncle, the Pope, began to fight with the Divine Empress, she would definitely assist the Empress. What would he do then? Suddenly, he recalled those words of hers in the restaurant and realized that this really was a problem. He could forget it for a moment, but he couldn't leave it unconsidered forever.

The combination of snow and wind in front of this palace hall was quite cold. At the very beginning, his face had actually been quite hot, but now it was gradually beginning to cool. It wasn't because his passion had cooled, but he needed to be cool-headed.

He had come to see her, but he didn't move for a very long time. He had no intention of sneaking into this palace, only standing there.

He stood there for quite a while, unaware of the passing of time, until finally, a voice fell in his ear. It was her voice.

"You…what are you standing here for?"

He turned to the voice and saw that a window on the eastern wing of the palace was still bright. He walked over and saw her silhouette in the light.

She was sitting by a table next to the window, her hands holding a book.

It was late, but for some reason, she was not asleep, perhaps for the same reason he could not sleep.

"I…wanted to see you," he said to her from the window.

On the other side, Xu Yourong's gentle voice asked, "Didn't we just see each other?"

After hesitating for a few moments, Chen Changsheng replied, "But…I can't sleep."

Xu Yourong turned to the window, somewhat concerned. She thought, just what happened to make him unable to sleep?

It must be known that back in the Garden of Zhou, even when countless terrifying monsters were lurking in the sea of grass around him, he would very calmly fall asleep.

"What's happened?"

"It's nothing…it's just that I can't sleep when I'm thinking about you."