452 The Youth and Time

(TN: The Chinese term for time used here, rather than the typical 时间, is theterm 光阴, which literally translates to ‘light and shadow’. It can also bethought of as the passage of time, day and night.) In the Great Hall of Light, the archbishops were thinking of a massacre in thedarkness—to resolve the conflict triggered by the youths of the OrthodoxAcademy, to give all sides an acceptable resolution, if the Pope no longerprotected Chen Changsheng, then it was certainly acceptable that Zhou Tong bekilled. However, Zhou Tong was no ordinary individual. Just when everyone believedthat the situation in the courtyard of drifting crabapple blossoms had reachedan impasse, he was still not willing to accept a conclusion decided by others.He gave the world a conclusion that no one had expected. The Pope turned his gaze away from the sky and turned to Linghai Zhiwang, thefaintest of smiles on his lips. Linghai Zhiwang's voice suddenly cracked, just like the dark waters of theocean instantly shattering into countless bubbles of white foam. "Just what is he planning on doing?" ------ "Many years ago, my older sister was…raped and murdered by a son of a prince'sfamily. Yes, it was not the heir nor was he a particularly spoiled son. He wasjust a very ordinary son of a concubine. I'm even willing to wager that theprince didn't even know he had such a son, because this prince was just like apig, giving birth to over forty sons and a pile of daughters. Anyway, inbrief…they all had the surname 'Chen'." Zhou Tong looked at Chen Changsheng, his eyes extremely cold, but with astrand of brutal remembrance deep within. "The Imperial Court could notpossibly care about such a small affair, and how could the capital governmentand the military department dare trespass into a prince's mansion to seizesomeone? As a result, this matter was gradually forgotten by others. In theend, only I was left to remember just how hard the rain fell that day, how manywounds the beast had bitten into my sister's body…yes, it was very difficult toforget. If you were me, what would you do?" The crabapple blossoms that had fallen to the ground seemed like a mantle ofsnowflakes on the ground of the small courtyard, but within these snowflakeswas a tinge of blood. Chen Changsheng and the others did not know why he would mention this thing ofthe past, much less how to respond. "Of course, you've got to kill them," Zhou Tong calmly answered. "In order tokill this son of a prince—yes, back then, I wasn't thinking about killing thatprince together with him—I prepared to wait for a very long time, prepared toexchange my life for a brief moment of joy. However, just when I was preparedto plunge into the prince's mansion, I was prevented from doing so by a person.That person was the Empress." He turned his gaze towards the Imperial Palace, his eyes filled with strangeand complex emotions. After a seemingly endless span of silence, he continuedto mumble, "The Empress said to me, the mark of an immature man is that he iswilling to go out in a blaze of glory for some reason, while the mark of amature man is that he is willing to patiently endure for some reason!" Zhou Tong drew back his gaze and turned to Chen Changsheng. Calmly andseriously, he asked, "Do you understand?" Chen Changsheng very earnestly pondered this, then he shook his head andreplied, "I understand, but I cannot do it." Zhou Tong began to chuckle. "Who can do it? I didn't agree at all with theEmpress's argument, so I still took out my blade and rushed off to the prince'smansion. Fortunately, the Empress, using only a fingertip, was able to knock meunconscious." Tang Thirty-Six asked, "And then?" Zhou Tong replied, "And then I naturally understood, thus I began to endure,endure for a very long time." Tang Thirty-Six thought about that bloody affair in the capital that hadshaken the entire continent. He had some suspicions, but he didn't dare toconfirm them. He asked, "Finally?" "Finally, it's only natural that I killed that person, and as for that prince,he naturally…died by a thousand cuts. Of course, I killed everyone from thatprince's family. Those forty-plus sons and that pile of daughters…although theywere born as quickly as pigs, how could I possibly kill them as quickly? TheEmpress had truly spoken correctly. By living a modest and even lowly life fora few more years, I was ultimately able to succeed at my objective." Zhou Tong began to laugh like a child. It was delighted and innocent, and thusfelt extremely cruel. Xuanyuan Po gaped, not knowing what to say. He felt like the small courtyardhad abruptly turned cold. Tang Thirty-Six confirmed that it truly was that incident where the Prince ofQishan's entire family was executed down to the third generation, but he saidnothing. Chen Changsheng suddenly declared, "I think that the you of the past preparingto rush into the prince's mansion with a dagger was better than the you of thefuture." As he said this, he very sincerely looked into Zhou Tong's eyes. Zhou Tong asked, "Even if I was immature, and even somewhat foolish?" Chen Changsheng replied, "There are some things, there are some times, wherebeing immature is actually better." Zhou Tong fell into silence. Only after a good while did he suddenly begin tolaugh. He turned around and began to walk towards the back of the courtyard. Heflicked the two sleeves of his great red official's gown, raising up ared-white petal. The side of the courtyard opened with a creak. Several officials of theDepartment for Purging Officials walked out, carrying with them a stretcher. Zhexiu lay on this stretcher, his face pale and his eyes shut. To take Zhexiu and imprison him in Zhou Prison, keeping him in there for somany days, Zhou Tong had turned a blind eye to the Li Palace and Star SeizerAcademy, no matter how much pressure they had placed upon him. This was becauseZhexiu's imprisonment was the will of the Divine Empress and it increased thepressure on Mount Li. Just like he had said to Chen Changsheng, Zhexiu being imprisoned within ZhouPrison signified that the matter of the Garden of Zhou had not yet come to aclose. The Mount Li Sword Sect, which had just pulled itself away from internalstrife, would inevitably have to pay some sort of price for this matter. To theGreat Zhou, this was naturally a great thing. Of course, his unwillingness to release Zhexiu had a somewhat deeper reasonwhich was impossible to explain to others. It was just like how no one, untilthat moment, had known that he had actually already prepared to release Zhexiu,only… "Your Excellency, why did you agree to release him?" In the deepest andcoldest room of the Department for Purging Officials, Priest Xin asked thisquestion in confusion. Who could have imagined that Priest Xin, Archbishop Mei Lisha's most trustedaide over these past few months, would actually appear in this place? Moreover,it was plain to see that his relationship was Zhou Tong was quite unusual. Itwas a mystery just what sort of person he was. "Why not release him? The pressure placed on Mount Li should already besufficient. I had originally wanted to see what sort of response the Li Palacewould have, but it turns out His Holiness, that Saint, is truly beyond myability to reckon. But at least I was able to see with my own eyes what sort ofperson he is." Zhou Tong closed his eyes, recalling the scene of that clean youth under thecrabapple trees. Priest Xin thought to himself, Your Excellency's piece on the definition ofmaturity and immaturity was extremely reasonable and extremely difficult toanswer. I originally thought that Chen Changsheng's answer touched YourExcellency's soul, causing you to agree to release him… "Moved?" Zhou Tong seemed to have the ability to read minds. He opened hiseyes and said emotionlessly, "This official has never had an older sister, whatcould that answer move? Whose answer could possess the ability to move me?" Priest Xin shook his head, then said, "Before His Eminence passed away, he wasalways reading this book." As he spoke, he extracted a scripture from his bosom and offered it. Zhou Tong received it and realized that this was a famous scripture of theOrthodoxy, the 'Scroll of Time'. As he gazed at this scripture, he thought of that youth under the crabappletree. For what seemed like forever, he said nothing. He had spoken the truth to Priest Xin. He had always been unwilling to release Zhexiu because he wanted to, at thisplace, borrowing those two crabapple trees and the murderous atmosphere of ZhouPrison, carefully, seriously, from head to toe, from inside to outside, examineChen Changsheng. To him, this was a matter of most vital importance, more important than Zhexiuor the cold intention of those two archbishops to extinguish him.