Chapter 1146 – Idly Listening to Falling Flowers While Sending a Sword (1/2)
Chapter 1146 – Idly Listening to Falling Flowers While Sending a Sword
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Chen Changsheng had already said his farewells to his senior brother, but before he left, he naturally had to pay Mo Yu a visit as well.
Mo Yu had been a renowned beauty of the capital, and now she was even more gorgeous and moving.
He knew that she was not deliberately tempting him. It was just too hot here. Not even the cooling array in the hall seemed to be of any use.
”This place is too small.”
He looked around and commented.
This place was a specially partitioned room behind the great hall. Compared to the other buildings of the Imperial Palace, it truly was extremely small, and it wasn't well-ventilated either.
”Before the Empress began to rule from behind the curtain, she learned governance from Emperor Xian for twenty-some years. This is the room that she listened from.”
Mo Yu mocked, ”When His Majesty just entered the palace, the venerable Daoist would sit here when court was in session. For me to sit here now, am I in some way unqualified?”
Chen Changsheng bitterly smiled. ”Then I truly have nothing to say.”
Mo Yu arched her brows. ”Perhaps all of you think that I'm very ambitious.”
For a time, Chen Changsheng truly had thought that she was very ambitious. It was not during the period when the Divine Empress was alive, but ten years ago.
She had always kept in touch with him, and when the emperor issued a decree requesting her to return to the capital, the letter she had sent to Chen Changsheng seemed rather hesitant. It was only afterward that Chen Changsheng realized that she had already made up her mind.
But when she insisted on marrying the Prince of Louyang, Chen Changsheng felt his view of her wasn't right.
If she really did have ambition, she should have married a figure with more authority, perhaps even marrying the emperor and becoming a new empress.
”That depends on what you mean by 'ambition',” Chen Changsheng said.
Mo Yu replied, ”If ambition means authority, then I admit that I truly do have strong desires in this aspect, but all I want is to guarantee that I have the authority to involve myself in the affairs of the court.”
These words were a little confusing, and Chen Changsheng needed a little time to sort them out. He curiously asked, ”Why do you like handling government affairs so much?”
”Because I'm a female official taught by the Empress.”
Mo Yu looked at him and continued, ”Yourong and I were taught by the Empress. I like and have the ability to handle government affairs, while she's more skilled in killing in all directions.”
Chen Changsheng thought of many memories from the past few years, and he could only express his silent agreement to this statement.
Mo Yu added, ”Of course, she's even more like the Empress than me, perhaps because she's even more capable of killing people.”
Ten-some years ago, in a nearby palace hall, the Tianhai Divine Empress had told her and Xu Yourong that killing people was the correct path.
Mo Yu knew that she couldn't do this. Perhaps it was because she had seen far too many of her family slaughtered when she was young.
That year, when she took up the sword and gave Zhou Tong death by a thousand cuts, she seemed to have used up all the killing intent in her body.
Chen Changsheng did not want to continue on this topic. Instead, he asked, ”You've been married for so many years. Is he still that afraid of you?”
He was asking about the Prince of Louyang.
Mo Yu's slender brows perked upward. ”That's respect, not fear. Do you think everyone is like you?”
Chen Changsheng hadn't expected to stir trouble, and felt a little awkward.
Mo Yu let him go and said, ”He spends every day cooking at home. He just learned a seventeenth method for steeping radish and is having quite the fun time.”
Seeing how happy she was, Chen Changsheng was also very happy, but he also… felt somewhat more complicated emotions.
He glanced at her hair and then took a sip of his tea as he asked, ”Have you been sleeping well?”
Mo Yu's brows flew upward as she said, ”Very well. Do you know? The bodies of fat men are all cold. It's very comfortable when you hug them.”
……
……
On his journey to the front lines, Chen Changsheng would think of what happened that day in the Imperial Palace and laugh at himself.
This happened so often that An Hua became rather nervous. Fu Xinzhi and Chen Fugui, now teachers at the Orthodox Academy, also became very uneasy.
Chen Changsheng had not brought too many priests of the Li Palace with him. Instead, he had brought students from the Ivy Academies.
He was traveling under the reason of inspection, but the students of the Ivy Academies were traveling to the front lines for the purpose of learning.
Not long after entering Tianliang County but before arriving at Xunyang City, Chen Changsheng and An Hua left the party early.
The records from the various Daoist churches were constantly being delivered to him and he had seen with his own eyes the true circumstances of the people, had seen the injured soldiers. Then he saw the plains.
Before entering the actual battlefield, he once more recalled Mo Yu's last words to him in the Imperial Palace.
”It's been two months since the people of the capital last had any meat, and only three barges of cotton have arrived from Luling this year. If you lose on the front lines, there will be many refugees this winter, and countless people will freeze to death on the road. This is a war between countries and is fought with a strength that could topple a country. It must be won, as a loss will mean the death of the country.”
Yes, this was a war between countries. Both sides were certain to pour in all their strength, paying every price to gain the final victory.