501 I Will Gift You the Best There Is

The distance between the Li Palace and the Imperial Palace was not at allgreat. It was just that with Chen Changsheng's current status, to enter the Li Palacewas quite easy while entering the Imperial Palace was rather troublesome. Thiswas especially the case given that he had not sent out advance notice.Ultimately, he still managed to startle Xue Xingchuan. "What business does Principal Chen have in the palace so late at night?" "I want to go and see Luoluo." Xue Xingchuan had asked very casually and Chen Changsheng had responded evenmore casually. Thus, the heavily-guarded Imperial Palace opened its gates. Chen Changsheng followed a eunuch into the depths of the palace. Only aftersome time had passed did he come to his senses and grow puzzled as to why hehad been so easy-going with Xue Xingchuan. He didn't know that it was becauseof that time when Xue Xingchuan had stood on the other side of the secret doorin the walls of the palace waiting for the Divine Empress's return. At thattime, Xue Xingchuan believed that the Divine Empress had gone especially to seethis youth. Similarly, as Xue Xingchuan watched Chen Changsheng's back, he was veryconfused as to why this youth could be so calm and natural in front of him. Hewas a Divine General of the Divine Empress, and his younger brother's left armhad been severed by Chen Changsheng's sword in the wilderness. Yet after ChenChangsheng had returned to the capital, they had met several times, yet ChenChangsheng had never showed any sign of wariness, much less apology. Luoluo's life in the Imperial Palace was rather excellent. Although the wallsof the palace still cut off the hustle and bustle of the secular world, whencompared to the Green Leaf World, at least this place's sky and sun were allreal. She was just rather bored. So when she learned that Chen Changsheng hadcome to see her, she became very happy. In the quiet garden, the teacher andstudent talked for a very long time, speaking of nothing but joyous things. The topics of conversation centered around the great banyan tree and the lake,discussing how the quality of the Orthodox Academy's meals had improved byleaps and bounds, how the amount of food Xuanyuan Po was eating was growingever more absurd, how the dark circles under Tang Thirty-Six's eyes weregetting ever more severe, how unsightly Su Moyu's complexion was upon receivinga letter from his aunt, and how Zhexiu's face was still the same as ever, likethat of a dead person. Chen Changsheng also talked about the ten-odd students amongst the newstudents of the Orthodox Academy whose talent was relatively exceptional. Hetalked about how if their luck was good, they should be able to pass thepreparatory examination, and maybe even get into the lower ranks of the threebanners of the Grand Examination. Luoluo was quite happy listening to all of this, but she spoke much less thanshe had in the past. She spent the majority of the time with her bright eyeswide open, fixed on Chen Changsheng. Thinking of his encounter with Shuang'er back at the Xu Estate, ChenChangsheng believed it to simply be a natural change in girls as they grew up,so he didn't pay it much regard. Time swiftly passed as they talked, so much so that the two failed to realizethat it was already deep into the night. Finally, Guardian Li, who had beenensconced in a thicket the entire time, felt this all to be somewhat improperand coughed twice. Chen Changsheng recalled his primary purpose for coming tovisit Luoluo tonight. Taking her hands, he walked her to the wall and used hisown body to obstruct any prying eyes, then felt for a certain object andstuffed it in Luoluo's hands. Luoluo was rather shocked. Looking at the stone pearl in her palm, she wasquite perplexed as to why her teacher had given her this object. "I'm not certain whether it will be good or bad for your cultivation if I tellyou the truth of the matter, so I won't talk about it for the moment, but inshort…this is a very good item." Chen Changsheng stared at her and said, "You absolutely cannot lose it.Whenever you're not busy, you should hold it in your hands to feel it. It'sbest to not let anyone else see." Luoluo solemnly replied, "I absolutely won't lose a present that Teacher hasgiven me." As Jin Yulu sent Chen Changsheng off, he looked at him as if wanting to saysomething. Chen Changsheng was rather puzzled, asking, "Uncle Jin, what's wrong?" Jin Yulu internally sighed, ultimately deciding to not speak what was on hismind. Instead, he asked, "What were you and Her Highness up to in the corner ofthe wall?" Chen Changsheng replied, "It was nothing. I was gifting her a little toy." In the past, Jin Yulu had firmly refused to take up any official position inWhite Emperor City, electing instead to farm for a living. However, from thepattern of copper coins woven into his silk gown, one could know his nature. Heasked with deep interest, "Is it valuable? Is it something from the Tang clan?" In his view, Chen Changsheng was incredibly poor. In the past, he had reliedcompletely on Princess Luoluo and Tang Thirty-Six for support, so it was simplyimpossible for him get his hands on anything good. Thus, the gift was probablysomething transferred from the Tang clan. Chen Changsheng shook his head, "It's something I picked up in the past. It'snot worth anything." The moment he heard that it was picked up and wasn't even worth anything, JinYulu instantly lost interest, and when he recalled what was going to happen inthe future, he couldn't help but get angry. "Her Highness has given you so many fine things. Have you never thought aboutrepaying?" Chen Changsheng being the sort of person that he was, it was impossible forhim to understand what these words signified. He very earnestly replied, "Thisitem is the best item on my person." …… …… By the time he returned the Orthodox Academy, it was already very late intothe night. Chen Changsheng would usually have long been asleep by this point, but tonighthe was not. He first went to the Hundred Herb Garden, then to the library, then finallyreturned to his room. Standing by the window and gazing at the numerous stars within the lake, herecalled that piece of the night sky partitioned off by four walls of blackeaves in the Li Palace. Going to Lingyan Pavilion had been part of his master's plan, and the box thatWang Zhice had hidden in the wall had also been told to him by his master.However, the mechanism to open the box had never been touched before,indicating that no one else had ever opened it. This signified that his masterprobably did not know of the contents of Wang Zhice's notebook, nor of the namethat Wang Zhice had mentioned within it: Daoist Ji. Through Wang Zhice's notebook, one could see that Daoist Ji was alreadyexceptionally famous in the era of Taizong, able to enter and exit the ImperialPalace and estates of dukes and ministers as he pleased. So just when had hetaken up the office of Principal of the Orthodox Academy, and just how had hebeen so easily able to switch between these two identities? Chen Changsheng's gaze rested upon the book by his hand. This book was arecord of the major events of the Orthodox Academy. Previously, he had beenable to find in this book the date when his master took up the position ofPrincipal of the Orthodox Academy, as well as other major events around thatperiod, yet he still failed to comprehend just how his master had been able tohide his two identities from the world. Crucially, how had he been able to hideit from the Pope? After all, they were fellow disciples. Moreover, it was saidthat in the coup at the Orthodox Academy, his master had died at the hands ofthe Pope…was there some ulterior motive in all this? There were still many things in this entire affair that he found utterlyperplexing. For example, the Pope had turned far too suddenly, such that heeven broke apart from those pupils that he had personally raised, Daoist Siyuanand Linghai Zhiwang. But why? He had once asked the Pope, and the answer he hadobtained was an exceptionally forceful reason. However, it had not been able tocompletely dispel his doubts. Could the livelihood of the common people of the world really affect thechoices of Saints? He thought over this for a long time, but he still could not understand. Inaddition, this matter involved his master and senior brother, so he couldn'tcommunicate his concerns to Tang Thirty-Six and Luoluo. He somewhat helplesslyshook his head, then placed that book in the deepest parts of his bookshelf.Using the starlight spilling down from the night sky, he calmed his heart andsteadied his mind. He closed his eyes and began to meditate. His spiritualsense moved and fell upon the black pillar.