Ze Tian Ji Chapter 87

Chapter 87 – Destroying the Academy (III)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Someone knocked on the gate of the Orthodox Academy. Xuanyuan Po went to see who it was, returning after a short while. Although this youth’s face was covered in whiskers, they could not completely hide the red flush. This was anxiety and also shyness, because a girl holding an oil paper umbrella was following behind him to the library.

Tang Thirty-Six looked at this elegant and beautiful girl, a little perturbed. “Where did this lilac of a girl come from?”

Xuanyuan Po somewhat nervously wrung his hands, saying, “I also don’t know which family this young lady is from, and she didn’t say anything when I asked her.”

Tang Thirty-Six asked, “And you just let her in? Although the Double Seventh was just last night, there’s no need to go this far.”

Xuanyuan Po immediately explained, “She said that she knew Chen Changsheng.”

Chen Changsheng was reading just then. Upon hearing this, he put down the book and looked out the door, and found that he really did know her. It was not the young lady of some estate, but that important maid Shuang’er from the Divine General of the East’s estate.

He naturally wouldn’t explain to Xuanyuan Po. He walked out of the library and said to Shuang’er, “Long time no see.”

It truly had been a long time. Since the last time Shuang’er had come to the Orthodox Academy to find him, several months had already passed.

Shuang’er put away the umbrella and gestured that he should follow her to a somewhat more remote corner.

“Is there something wrong?” he asked.

Shuang’er looked at him, her expression rather complex as she thought of those rumors from last night’s Ivy Festival. After thinking for a few moments, she said, “I’ve heard of your situation, so I must admit that you truly have surpassed the expectations of many people, and the assessment made by the Madam and me back then was incorrect.”

Chen Changsheng replied, “You have your standpoint, so you don’t need to apologize.”

He spoke with sincerity. He had always spoken with sincerity.

Shuang’er’s delicate brows slightly rose. “Don’t misunderstand. Perhaps my opinion of you was wrong, but that doesn’t mean I support your getting together with my young lady. Even if you possess an outstanding breadth of knowledge, if you can’t cultivate then you’re still just a…”

Although she disliked Chen Changsheng, she meant him no harm, so she took back the words ‘piece of trash’.

But anyone could tell her meaning.

Chen Changsheng answered, “Your support or lack thereof has nothing to do with this marriage.”

Shuang’er was somewhat angry. “I and the young lady are like sisters, and so I care more than anyone else about the young lady’s happiness. You took out the marriage contract during the Ivy Festival with your head held high, but did you ever think, the young lady and Qiushan Jun had originally been such a good match, yet now you’ve broken it. Who could have the heart to do such a thing?”

“So you’ve come to fight for justice in place of Qiushan Jun?”

Chen Changsheng looked at her and said, “You should know that last night during the Ivy Festival, your young lady had the White Crane deliver a letter. In that letter, she admitted to this marriage, and now you seem to have a different view on this marriage and are even fighting for the sake of another man?

“Does your young lady know that you are doing this?”

Shuang’er could not speak, as she did not know why her young lady had done this.

Chen Changsheng asked, “Is there anything else?”

“It truly was not my place to say those words earlier.”

Shuang’er calmed down. She raised an arm to wipe a drop off her forehead, then said, “My young lady asked me to tell you something.”

“What?”

“Don’t misunderstand.”

Chen Changsheng did not give a reply for a very long time. Shuang’er had earlier said something very similar and it had been very hurtful, but just what did Xu Yourong mean?

He asked, “Misunderstand what?”

“I don’t know.” Shuang’er examined his face, then said, “You yourself should understand.”

Last night, the White Crane had crossed tens of thousands of li to return to the capital and deliver a letter. This letter had given Xu Yourong’s stance. Although he was well aware that Xu Yourong would certainly not want to marry him, there was certainly some other meaning concealed in her actions. However, the annoyance he felt against her had lessened greatly.

Now, though, hearing the words Shuang’er had passed on made his mood quite poor.

“Just these things?”

He said to Shuang’er, preparing to send her off.

Shuang’er added, “The young lady also said that if you have anything else you want to say, you can just write her a letter.”

With a cry, the White Crane descended from the sky, flapping its two wings. It landed outside the library, beads of water slowly dripping from its feathers.

Chen Changsheng nodded at the White Crane.

The White Crane walked over to him and lowered its slender neck, knocking against his right arm. It seemed rather friendly.

“Have you been doing well these past few years?” he said to the White Crane.

The White Crane gave two clear cries as if answering.

Shuang’er was astounded at this sight.

Last night when the White Crane flew off, Chen Changsheng had felt that he had forgotten something. At the time, he believed that it was the Black Dragon below the abandoned garden. Now, he realized that he should probably write a letter and then ask the White Crane to deliver it to Xu Yourong. There were many matters that were much better when directly communicated.

Shuang’er had always played the part of middleman between him and Xu Yourong, and he didn’t like that.

After his arrival in the capital, Xu Yourong had only written one letter to him. That letter had only three words, as if words and ink were lacking.

‘Do your best.’

Chen Changsheng raised the brush and thought. Just what concise phrase should he write that was resolute and pitying, and proudly looked down upon the world, in order to recover some face from the other side?

This was also the first letter he had written to her since the age of ten.

Ultimately, however, he wrote a very normal letter, the words very normal and the matters discussed also quite normal.

He didn’t really want to get angry at a younger girl.

Even if she was Xu Yourong, even if it was only by three days, she was still a younger girl.

……

……

Far away, to the south of the capital, was Holy Maiden Peak.

The area below Holy Maiden Peak was forbidden ground. Only three hundred li away would one finally be able to find a village. Only ordinary people lived in this village. There was a blacksmith, a tavern, a butcher, and also a gambling den. The games played in this gambling den were usually Pai Gow or dice, by deep within this gambling den was a very plainly decorated room, and in this room was a table.

At this table, mahjong was played.

(TN: Pai Gow is a game played with dominoes where hands are formed from domino tiles and one tries to get the highest value hand. Mahjong is a rather complex game played with 144 tiles and one attempts to form the best hand against three other players. The four players sit around a table, each representing a direction.)

A beautiful girl sat at the eastern position.

This girl was fourteen or fifteen years old, her appearance like a painting, her pupils two dots of paint. She was so beautiful that she did not seem like a mortal.

The three other people at the table knew that she was assuredly no mortal.

Two years ago, the boss of this gambling den had planned to do harm against this girl who was back then even younger, gentler, and even more liable to incite in humans the desire to commit harm. He had died an extremely miserable death. The dealer had taken up the boss’s position, precisely the middle-aged man sitting at the western position of the table.

From that day onwards, at certain intervals, this girl would come to this small village and play mahjong, not allowing anyone to step away from the table for two days and one night.

The plainly adorned room would open once every several months and those who accompanied her in playing mahjong were always these three people, never once changing. These three people were all ordinary people, truly ordinary people who had never imagined that they would encounter such an unusual matter.

It had taken them a very long time to progress from their initial fear and unease to a state where their hands would not shake when organizing their tiles. Now, they could even very naturally interact with this little fairy, no longer throwing games, but truly winning or losing after playing sincerely. They even dared to make the occasional grumble.

To be able to play mahjong with such a beautiful fairy as this, just how great a blessing was this?

And at times, they even really won money.

The cry of a crane came from outside the window, and then the girl said, “I have a matter tonight, so I can’t play anymore.”

The three were stunned, thinking, just what’s happened? You moved this session so far up in advance and now you’re ending it? Do we still need that rule of two days and one night?

The girl took out a few golden leaves and placed them on the table as compensation, then left.

The three looked at each other in dismay. A middle-aged woman said worriedly, “I don’t know what happened with the little lady, but she didn’t seem very happy.”

……

……

On a cliff outside the small village, Xu Yourong took the letter from the White Crane’s leg and casually tore it open.

Under the sky of starlight, the paper was illuminated clearly. The words of this letter were plain, the writing clean. It was not very long, but she read it for a very long time.

She saw caution in the words and handwriting, but she saw no resentment, or even a speck of negative emotion.

She found it very difficult to imagine how a youth could remain so calm after experiencing such insufferable days in the capital.

She would certainly not have been able to do it.

She recalled that he was only older than her by three days.

She gazed in the direction of the capital and said, “If he’s not a fake, and if he’s not a gentleman, then he must be a true person.”

The White Crane cried, clearly disagreeing with her words. What it disagreed with was the word ‘fake’.

Xu Yourong felt rather helpless. “Just why do you like that guy? I don’t remember what sort of person he was that he was so worthy of your favor.”

The White Crane let out two low cries, reminding her about the words ‘gentleman’ and ‘true person’ she had uttered just a moment ago.

“Whether he’s a gentleman or true person, he’s not a person that one can spend endless years of cultivation with. That’s too dull.”

She looked at the White Crane and said, “I certainly don’t want to live a dull life.”

The White Crane slightly tilted its neck as if somewhat confused. Young Lady, if you don’t want to marry Chen Changsheng, why did you write that letter, admitting to the world that you are engaged to him?

Xu Yourong did not explain. She had her own way of thinking, and nobody—not her parents, her teacher, the Pope, or the Divine Empress—knew of it.

Afterwards, she opened up Shuang’er’s letter and read, finding out what had happened at last night’s Ivy Festival.

She slightly raised her brows in surprise.

Since the marriage contract had already been announced to the world, there could at least be a period of calm, right?

But that guy was truly quite surprising.

She then saw Shuang’er’s description of the conversation she had with Chen Changsheng.

She held her two hands behind her and once more gazed in silence in the direction of the capital.

“I suddenly remember…when I was eleven, I once secretly wrote a letter and had you take it to Xining.”

The White Crane lightly poked her with its slender beak. That had been its final visit to Xining. No one in the Divine General of the East’s estate knew of it.

“In that letter, I seem to recall saying that I wouldn’t marry him.

“He didn’t send back a reply opposing, so why is he being so stubborn now?”

……

……

What Chen Changsheng was stubborn about had never been the marriage. Besides his master and senior brother in Xining Village’s old temple, the Black Dragon below the Imperial Palace was the only one to know of what he was truly stubborn about. Of course, he did not know that the middle-aged woman he had encountered by the pool also knew.

For that matter, he had even abandoned his habit of early sleeping and rising. He spent the entire night in meditation, to draw down starlight for Purification. Although he seemed to make no progress, he would never cease his efforts until the final moment arrived.

Early in the morning, he awoke in the library.

Just like yesterday, he had been roused awake by noise.

A massive boom came from the front of the Orthodox Academy.

He pushed open the door of the library and walked over with Tang Thirty-Six and Xuanyuan Po.

The gate of the Orthodox Academy had been destroyed.

It had been destroyed by people.

The academy gate that had been cleaned just a few months ago had been knocked over by a carriage.

The ground covered in gravel and shards of wood seemed very pitiful.

A horse lay on the wet ground, its spiritless eyes wide open as its four hooves faintly trembled.

The dust gradually dispersed.

Ten-odd cavalry appeared outside the gate.

They had beautiful clothes and vigorous horses.

The horses were of unusual stock.

These horsemen all had cold expressions. It was clear that they were not ordinary people.

A young horseman looked at the shattered gate and expressionlessly asked, “Is there any need to keep this broken-down academy around?”

……

……