Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-55

Looking at this young man with a handsome complexion and generous aura, Chen Chang Sheng greeted him calmly, but his mind wasn’t as calm as his expression was.

Prince Chen Liu was of the royal bloodline and his talent was extraordinary. Since he grew up in the royal palace and had a high status, he never participated in the Great Trials and didn’t have any chances to show his strength. The principal of the Heavenly Academy and the guests of the Royal Palace all said that it would be easy for him to enter the Honor Roll of Green Cloud based off his strength when he was young. Now that he’s more than twenty years old, if he was willing, there would be a spot on the Honor Roll of Midas for him as well.

But the reason that he was respected by an important General like Xu Shi Ji wasn’t because of his royal bloodline or his strength, but rather because the Divine Queen treated him differently and allowed him to stay in the capital. This decision led to countless theories – perhaps the Divine Queen was thinking about letting him become the next emperor of the Zhou Dynasty?

Many people believed this theory but these recent years, the Family of Tian Hai has been acting arrogant and prideful. Although Prince Chen Liu belonged to the royal family of Chen, the Divine Queen never expressed her true attitude and no one knew what kind of character he would be in the future of Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, everyone in the capital treated him with a complex attitude; they respected him but isolated him.

Xu Shi Ji was one of the Generals of the Zhou Dynasty and was deeply trusted by the Divine Queen. Because of the old event where he massacred the royal family rebellion, he made a lot of enemies in the government court. For this reason, he exercised even more caution when dealing with Prince Chen Liu. He needed to do something and not trouble the mentioned prince.

He knew Prince Chen Liu was representing the Divine Queen and hosting tonight’s Ivy Festival while greeting the southern ambassadors who traveled far to get here. However, he never knew that he would encounter the prince outside of the palace. In addition, the prince was showing hints of reminders of a certain thing and in the meanwhile, sort of protecting Chen Chang Sheng.

Xu Shi Ji was sure that the marriage vow between Chen Chang Sheng and his daughter was unknown to the world so the purpose of Prince Chen Liu’s sudden appearance and protection of Chen Chang Sheng would be helping the Tradition Academy. This reminded him of certain rumors going around the capital lately which made him feel insecure.

Prince Chen Liu looked at Chen Chang Sheng and smiled, “Can I help you with anything?”

His voice was neither fast nor slow. His expression was friendly and gave off a feeling of the wind of spring. It was warm and relaxing.

At the beginning, Chen Chang Sheng didn’t understand the reason for this prince’s protection but after hearing this sentence, he became relaxed. Now hearing the warm words of the prince, he was thankful and said, “Thank you for worrying about us.”

“No need to thank me. In fact, you were just dragged into unnecessary trouble. We are the ones who should apologize because we are just sitting in the walls of the capital and doing nothing.” Prince Chen Liu smiled while looking at him. His words were causal but his tone was sincere.

When the city gates go down, it will trouble the people inside as well.

If it wasn’t for the two powers of Zhou Dynasty causing trouble from the recruitation of Tradition Academy, Chen Chang Sheng would just be a normal youngster unknown to the world. He wouldn’t be watched by the entire capital and attract so much attention.

Prince Chen Liu didn’t know about the stories between Chen Chang Sheng and Dong Yu General’s Mansion and so, he thought Xu Shi Ji was bothering him on purpose. It was also one of the troubles he talked about earlier. It made logical sense for him to apologize to Chen Chang Sheng because he was a member of the royal family.

Of course, to be able to apologize to an ordinary person as a prince showed that he was truly a friendly person. Plus he didn’t mind covering up the struggles between the old royal family and Divine Queen in front of Xu Shi Ji in the royal palace which showed that he was a carefree person.

“You are too generous.”

Chen Chang Sheng really liked this prince and said, “If I do need to trouble you with any help, I will ask you.”

“Very good, I like your personality. I’m not afraid of troubles.”

Prince Chen Liu smiled and patted his shoulder and then he continued to proceed into the palace with his guards. before leaving, he peeked at Xu Shi Ji for a short moment. His eyes were calm and soft, but it showed warning.

The soft light emitted by the Nightly Pearls pierced through the papers in the window and became unstable.

Xu Shi Ji’s face was brightened by the light, but his expression was changing by the moment.

Prince Chen Liu had left, but his words stayed in the hallway before the entrance to the palace. No matter how hard the night gales blew, they didn’t fly away.

Xu Shi Ji couldn’t bother Chen Chang Sheng any further, but he said coldly, “Your luck is very good.”

Chen Chang Sheng thought for a moment and said, “Perhaps, it’s because of my good heart.”

After saying this, he laughed.

In many people’s eyes, Chen Chang Sheng was way more mature than his actual age because he always acted calm and never had extreme emotions. He never really talked much with strangers and always followed rules and had good manners. He doesn’t smile much either.

But right now he was laughing very happily, because he was in front of Xu Shi Ji.

Xu Shi Ji was laughing too, perhaps he thought the response from a child was funny and naive, but his laughter wasn’t a pretty sight.

Wei Yang Palace wasn’t a main building and it wasn’t a palace where Divine Queen lived in either. There were gardens in ruins a little farther from the palace. Right now, the night was getting darker and from the unmaintained gardens, a black goat slowly walked out. Its eyes were reflecting the starlight and appeared to be gloomy.

Xu Shi Ji looked at this sight in the darkness and raised his eyebrows a little. He didn’t speak any further and entered the palace.

Chen Chang Sheng also saw the black goat.

That black goat quietly looked at him and walked towards another direction away from the palace. During its walk, it stopped and turned its head toward Chen Chang Sheng. It seemed like it wanted him to follow.

Chen Chang Sheng understood the black goat’s intention — it want him to leave the palace.

Although they couldn’t communicate, he could faintly feel and determine that this black goat was friendly towards him. Perhaps this meant that tonight’s troubles haven’t ended yet or possibly that the true tasks and danger has only started.

But he didn’t follow it because he wanted to participate in tonight’s Ivy Festival.

He was yet to decide on what to do when the southern ambassador proposes, but he wanted to see the action with his own eyes.

Perhaps when he saw it, he would know what to do.

————————————————–

The black goat disappeared into the darkness of night.

Chen Chang Sheng stood in the light outside of the palace and thought back to the terrifying aura that Xu Shi Ji gave off earlier. He knew it was very dangerous.

Xu Shi Ji said his luck was good because of Prince Chen Liu’s sudden appearance.

He answered that perhaps it was because he had a good heart.

A good heart means that karma is not harming him in anyway, but rather helping.

A person with good karma will be helped by all sources.

This was a fact that he understood after reading the Three Thousand Scrolls of the Way.

After leaving Xi Ning Village and arrived at the capital, he endured taunts, insults, and suspicion. At the same time, many people helped him such as the bishop of the Department of Education, Officer Xin, Prince Chen Liu, and also the black goat that disappeared into the night.

Why did these people help him? He knew that it wasn’t because of his personality or morals. Some insults and pressure he faced after coming to the capital shouldn’t be endured by him, and this assistance shouldn’t appear either. Many things happened out of misunderstanding.

The marriage vow between him and Xu You Rong was only known by Yu Dong General’s Mansion and the big character in the royal palace; no one else knew. His entering of Tradition Academy and the insults and mocking from Yu Dong General’s Mansion in the previous month led to this misunderstanding.

Tradition Academy was a lake that no one visited. Wild lotuses were growing inside it.

He was just a random bypasser who entered this ruined lake by accident. He wanted to roll his boat across the lake but his action disturbed a group of swain.

Just when he was thinking about this, a loud bird scream was heard far into the distant, and there were water splashing sounds.

It’s hard to know if the bird was hunting or being hunted.

Chen Chang Sheng turned around and glanced toward that darkness of night. Suddenly, an alarm went off in his heart.

Just this moment, a voice was heard.

This voice came from the depths of night but wasn’t spread throughout the night.

This voice came from the depths of royal palace but didn’t fade away into the palace.

This voice was heard directly in his ears and landed on his heart.

This voice was clean and very moving. It was like a popsicle in the winter, but it was colder than winter.

“You, are Chen Chang Sheng?”

The surrounding was silent, the music from the Wei Yang Palace decreased in volume drastically after passing through the window. It was very light. From far away, the leaves were flying with the wind and swirling across the spacious field. They were very light. That voice that appeared in his heart was also very light, but it was as shocking as a lightning.

If an ordinary person heard a voice directly from his heart, they would be terrified. But Chen Chang Sheng wasn’t very responsive. He stared at the palaces resting in the night and tried to locate the position of the speaker.

He read all of the Scrolls of the Way. He knew that some xiuxingists in Starfusion stage can easily pass their voice into the ears of ordinary people.

“You are calmer than I thought, or perhaps you are an idiot?”

The voice appeared again.

“I just hope that you are smarter than I imagine.”

There was a lady in the royal palace. Although she was young, she has already reached the Starfusion stage and didn’t care about the words said by Prince Chen Liu previously. From this, it was clear that her status in the palace was unimaginable and her identity was clear as the daylight. She was the big character that Chen Chang Sheng previously thought about.

He looked into the palaces hidden in the night and greeted calmly, “Greetings, Madam Mo.”

The voice disappeared for a moment. It seemed like she didn’t expect Chen Chang Sheng to immediately know who she was, or perhaps she wasn’t used to been called this way.

The voice belonged to the legendary Lady Mo Yu.

The second most powerful woman in the Zhou Dynasty, or perhaps the second most powerful person. (In terms of political influence, not xiuxingists power)

“You can call me Lady Mo Yu.”

“Yes, Madam Mo.”

For some reason, Chen Chang Sheng was extra stubborn tonight.

Perhaps it was because he knew the reason for the sudden appearance of Mo Yu.

“You surely are a smart youngster.”

“Thank you.”

“Recent days, a storm was approaching the capital and you stayed inside the Tradition Academy and didn’t set a foot outside. That’s why I said you are smart.”

“Thank you.”

“But this smart……seems a little shameless.”

“I await your words.”

“You have guessed the identity of Luo Luo and therefore you are hiding behind her. Isn’t that shameless?”

“You are the one who commanded me to enter the Tradition Academy. You know I only wanted to learn and xiuxing, I never think much about this.”

“But you are still using her.”

“This is her wish.”

“But any person manly enough wouldn’t deceive such an innocent and pure little girl.”

“When did I ever deceive her?”

“If you didn’t cheat, then how would a person of her status become your apprentice?”

Hearing this question, Chen Chang Sheng was silent for a while and then he glanced at the depths of the night and answered, “Perhaps it’s because I have a good heart.”