Chapter 862 – A Prince Appears from the Rivers and Hills of the Generation (1/2)

Chapter 862 – A Prince Appears from the Rivers and Hills of the Generation1

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

For an expert like Xiao Zhang to have his situation described with the word 'miserable' meant that he truly must be in the direst of straits.

Tang Thirty-Six asked, ”Because he saved Wang Po that time?”

Hu Thirty-Two replied, ”Correct. In the capital, he ruined the venerable Daoist's plan, infuriating all levels of the government. Right now, the Imperial Court cannot lightly touch Wang Po, but it certainly wouldn't let Xiao Zhang go. In order to establish its might and gain back some of its dignity, it's been constantly pursuing him these past years as a wanted criminal. He's been chased around like a stray dog. It truly is quite miserable.”

For Painted Armor Xiao Zhang, an expert of the Proclamation of Liberation, to be placed on the wanted list by the Imperial Court and be hunted down seemed somewhat unbelievable.

But it could not be forgotten that the Imperial Court had countless experts. They could take shifts to rest, but Xiao Zhang was alone, with no relatives or friends. No matter where he went, he had to be vigilant, careful, and concealed, or else when he went out to eat some noodles, he might run into the most sinister assassin from the Department for Purging Officials or the most seasoned bailiff of the Ministry of Justice. And this was not limited to just one day, but every moment of his life.

Tang Thirty-Six glanced at Chen Changsheng.

Chen Changsheng knew what he meant and shook his head. ”I had the Li Palace send someone with a message, but he wasn't even willing to meet them.”

Tang Thirty-Six asked, ”Wang Po then? He should be doing something.”

Chen Changsheng replied, ”Two years ago, when I last received news from this area, Xiao Zhang had announced in advance that if Wang Po attempted to help him, he would commit suicide on the spot.”

Tang Thirty-Six could not help but conclude that this was truly in alignment with Xiao Zhang's personality. Shaking his head, he said, ”He truly can't bear the shame of taking that person's help.”

Hu Thirty-Two said, ”Because Xiao Zhang was responsible for making Fengyang City's winter wild tea famous in the continent, every year, Fengyang City will always set aside a box of the best tea leaves for him. If not for the fact that the Imperial Court was chasing him too closely, we might have been able to see Xiao Zhang in the next few days.”

Both shores of the river here were lined with tea trees. After the leaves were plucked from the trees, they were dried in the sun, piled in mountains of tea within the city. The batches of winter wild tea were then graded and divided into batches that were arrayed along the stone steps of Seven Treasures Stronghold. The higher one went, the fewer leaves there were, and their value naturally increased as well. Based on this ordering, the two most valuable baskets of tea leaves were placed at the very top.

Hu Thirty-Two now pointed at this place and explained, ”The tea leaves in those two baskets far outvalue the same amount of gold, and if even you did put a price on it, no merchant would buy it, no place would sell it.”

Chen Changsheng asked, ”Where are those two boxes of tea going to?”

Hu Thirty-Two answered, ”Both of them are tribute. One basket will enter the palace.”

Chen Changsheng asked, ”And the other basket?”

Hearing this question, Tang Thirty-Six looked at him like he was an idiot. Hu Thirty-Two also had a rather strange expression as he explained, ”It's naturally for Your Holiness.”

Chen Changsheng finally understood that since these precious tea leaves were tribute, since one was being sent to the Imperial Palace, the other one would naturally be sent to the Li Palace.

No matter what the relationship between the Imperial Court and the Orthodoxy was, a small place like Fengyang City had to pay the greatest respect to both sides.

”Were the tea leaves left for Xiao Zhang also of this sort?” Tang Thirty-Six asked.

Hu Thirty-Two shook his head and pointed at the treasure pavilion at the very top of Seven Treasures Stronghold. ”The wild tea given to Xiao Zhang is special and is placed in there.”

Tang Thirty-Six said, ”Given Xiao Zhang's personality, even if the Imperial Court might choose this place to surround and kill him, he still might end up coming.”