Chapter 499 – The Li Palace Unties the Bell (1/2)

Chapter 499 - The Li Palace Unties the Bell

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

That lady was the important maid of the Xu Estate, Shuang'er.

A year and a half had already passed. She seemed much more steady and mature, and her eyes also seemed to have grown somewhat more serene.

Shuang'er gazed past the lantern at the youth…no, he should already be called a young man. For some reason, she felt more and more nervous, her tightly clenched hands becoming sweaty and hot.

She wanted to say something, and she felt that she should say something before her young lady returned to the capital. This was because she had realized that just as her master and the mistress had said, to the young lady, this marriage might really be the best choice. And yet…so many things had happened back then. If it were her, she would definitely still be nursing a grudge.

Just as she grit her teeth and prepared to speak, Chen Changsheng arrived before her. He nodded his head, then continued onwards to the other side of the stone arch.

There was no resentment, no hatred, no head held up in pride nor gnashing of teeth in anger.

It was very calm, like a passerby nodding his head in greeting to some person he had once met at some place and some time.

Shuang'er was stunned.

In this time, Chen Changsheng walked past the stone arch.

Shuang'er turned around, raising her hand as if she wanted to yell at him to stop. In the end, though, she did not.

As she watched his departing figure, she felt a little frustrated.

She found it somewhat puzzling. Why did she feel that not much time had passed, but that youth and this world had changed so much?

Leaving the Divine General of the East's estate, he followed the main road forward until he reached a stone bridge.

It was still that stone bridge. In the scorching summer night, the shores of the river under the bridge were filled with crowds looking to cool off in the shade. There were no fallen leaves in the river water. He stood at the end of the bridge and turned away, looking back at the upturned eaves of the Divine General of the East's estate. He did not speak, not knowing that he and Shuang'er were feeling the same emotion—only a year and a half had passed since he first entered the capital and came here to end the engagement, but why did it seem like a lifetime ago?

Back then, his primary objective for leaving Xining and coming to the capital was to participate in the Grand Examination, obtain first rank of the first banner, enter Lingyan Pavilion, and search for the secrets to defying the heavens and changing fate. Ending the engagement was just something he could do in passing. Of course, it was also something he had to do. Although he still hadn't managed to find a method to defy the heavens and change fate, it was without question that his fate had already gone through a fierce change. But just why had he still not been able to end this engagement?

He shook his head and crossed the stone bridge, determined to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

Whoever hangs the bell on the tiger's neck must untie it, and to remove an engagement followed the same principle. The Grand Minister and his wife had long since departed this mortal coil, and his teacher had brought his senior brother along to vanish like a crane amongst the clouds, so he could only look towards the third party involved in this engagement.

He went to the Li Palace.

Without any need for advance notice, the priests standing guard outside the Li Palace reverentially invited him in. They even accompanied him along the interminable Divine Avenue until they reached the palace hall in the deepest depths of the Li Palace.

The Li Palace at night was exceptionally serene, and the palace that the Pope resided in was even more so. When he gazed at the many stars in the section of sky partitioned off by the four walls of black eaves for too long, it really did seem like the opening to a deep and serene well.

At some point, he had removed that string of stone pearls from his wrist.

From the tranquil palace came the sound of gurgling water. He turned, walked in, and bowed to the Pope, that ordinary old man watering the Green Leaf.

”Martial Uncle, just what is the reason for all this?”

In the past, Chen Changsheng very rarely referred to the Pope as ‘martial uncle’. It wasn't because he had some sort of phobia of the title, but purely because he wasn't very used to it. However, the many events involving the Orthodox Academy and those plain statements Xu Shiji had declared to him at the Divine General of the East's estate made him realize that no matter how he addressed the Pope, the matters involving him and the Pope were already inseparable in the eyes of the masses. Then it would be better to get used to it ahead of time. He was a person that greatly valued his time. Since he had made his decision, he would carry it out.

Just like how this question had lingered over his mind for a very long time, and now that he could see the Pope, he would definitely ask it straight away.

The address of ‘martial uncle’ and the question itself somewhat surprised the Pope, then it caused him to chuckle.

Chen Changsheng had asked about the conflict between the new and conservative factions of the Orthodoxy as well as the Li Palace's silence in the past few months.

”You are all young. Although the matters of young people can't be called trivial, if there is some sort of mistake or some place that is lacking, there will always be some leeway or reason to offset the deficiency.”

The Pope returned the wooden ladle to the pool of water. He took the cloth handed over by Chen Changsheng and gently wiped his hands as he said, ”But we old ones cannot. Young people can be impulsive and hot-blooded, but we must be cool-headed, even apathetic. In the eyes of all, we are all scheming and calculating, or to put it a bit more nicely, far-sighted and deep planners. Then all our actions are by necessity never acts of impulse. Everything we do must have some hidden scheme behind it, so we only need to move, and the matter very easily becomes much more serious, and now there is no more leeway for error.”

These two statements had been rather fragmentary, but Chen Changsheng understood.