Chapter 451 – The Youth and Time (1/2)
Chapter 451 - The Youth and Time
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
(TN: The Chinese term for time used here, rather than the typical 时间, is the term 光阴, which literally translates to ‘light and shadow’. It can also be thought of as the passage of time, day and night.)
In the Great Hall of Light, the archbishops were thinking of a massacre in the darkness—to resolve the conflict triggered by the youths of the Orthodox Academy, to give all sides an acceptable resolution, if the Pope no longer protected Chen Changsheng, then it was certainly acceptable that Zhou Tong be killed.
However, Zhou Tong was no ordinary individual. Just when everyone believed that the situation in the courtyard of drifting crabapple blossoms had reached an impasse, he was still not willing to accept a conclusion decided by others. He gave the world a conclusion that no one had expected.
The Pope turned his gaze away from the sky and turned to Linghai Zhiwang, the faintest of smiles on his lips.
Linghai Zhiwang's voice suddenly cracked, just like the dark waters of the ocean instantly shattering into countless bubbles of white foam.
”Just what is he planning on doing?”
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”Many years ago, my older sister was…raped and murdered by a son of a prince's family. Yes, it was not the heir nor was he a particularly spoiled son. He was just a very ordinary son of a concubine. I'm even willing to wager that the prince didn't even know he had such a son, because this prince was just like a pig, giving birth to over forty sons and a pile of daughters. Anyway, in brief…they all had the surname 'Chen'.”
Zhou Tong looked at Chen Changsheng, his eyes extremely cold, but with a strand of brutal remembrance deep within. ”The Imperial Court could not possibly care about such a small affair, and how could the capital government and the military department dare trespass into a prince's mansion to seize someone? As a result, this matter was gradually forgotten by others. In the end, only I was left to remember just how hard the rain fell that day, how many wounds the beast had bitten into my sister's body…yes, it was very difficult to forget. If you were me, what would you do?”
The crabapple blossoms that had fallen to the ground seemed like a mantle of snowflakes on the ground of the small courtyard, but within these snowflakes was a tinge of blood.
Chen Changsheng and the others did not know why he would mention this thing of the past, much less how to respond.
”Of course, you've got to kill them,” Zhou Tong calmly answered. ”In order to kill this son of a prince—yes, back then, I wasn't thinking about killing that prince together with him—I prepared to wait for a very long time, prepared to exchange my life for a brief moment of joy. However, just when I was prepared to plunge into the prince's mansion, I was prevented from doing so by a person. That person was the Empress.”
He turned his gaze towards the Imperial Palace, his eyes filled with strange and complex emotions. After a seemingly endless span of silence, he continued to mumble, ”The Empress said to me, the mark of an immature man is that he is willing to go out in a blaze of glory for some reason, while the mark of a mature man is that he is willing to patiently endure for some reason!”
Zhou Tong drew back his gaze and turned to Chen Changsheng. Calmly and seriously, he asked, ”Do you understand?”
Chen Changsheng very earnestly pondered this, then he shook his head and replied, ”I understand, but I cannot do it.”
Zhou Tong began to chuckle. ”Who can do it? I didn't agree at all with the Empress's argument, so I still took out my blade and rushed off to the prince's mansion. Fortunately, the Empress, using only a fingertip, was able to knock me unconscious.”
Tang Thirty-Six asked, ”And then?”
Zhou Tong replied, ”And then I naturally understood, thus I began to endure, endure for a very long time.”
Tang Thirty-Six thought about that bloody affair in the capital that had shaken the entire continent. He had some suspicions, but he didn't dare to confirm them. He asked, ”Finally?”
”Finally, it's only natural that I killed that person, and as for that prince, he naturally…died by a thousand cuts. Of course, I killed everyone from that prince's family. Those forty-plus sons and that pile of daughters…although they were born as quickly as pigs, how could I possibly kill them as quickly? The Empress had truly spoken correctly. By living a modest and even lowly life for a few more years, I was ultimately able to succeed at my objective.”
Zhou Tong began to laugh like a child. It was delighted and innocent, and thus felt extremely cruel.
Xuanyuan Po gaped, not knowing what to say. He felt like the small courtyard had abruptly turned cold.
Tang Thirty-Six confirmed that it truly was that incident where the Prince of Qishan's entire family was executed down to the third generation, but he said nothing.