524 A Date After Dusk

Zhexiu, supported by his walking stick, walked out of the house. Looking atthe other three people, he said, "If you want to know, just ask him." Tang Thirty-Six shook his head, "I asked before, but he didn't say. Inaddition, given his response at the time, he probably wouldn't say it even ifyou beat him to death." Xuanyuan Po felt his head ache. He asked, "In your view, just what do youthink is most likely to have happened?" Tang Thirty-Six speculated, "I wonder if he was prepared to let Xu Yourong winat the beginning and so made me bet on him losing. In the end though, he wasn'tcareful for a few moments and won, which is why he's acting so weird now…" Su Moyu shook his head, "Even if this matter deviated from his calculations,it's not enough to reach this state." Tang Thirty-Six replied, "You don't understand, my meaning is that it's verylikely he took all his wealth and bet…on his own loss." They were all silent. After a while, Xuanyuan Po finally understood and suckedin a cold breath before asking, "Then wasn't Chen Changsheng faking the fight?" Zhexiu, seeing that their conversation was getting increasingly nonsensical,shook his head and departed, no longer paying any mind to this matter. Su Moyu helplessly said, "In my view, Chen Changsheng is just someone whowishes to cultivate the Dao and is able to keep something like winning orlosing from resting on his mind. You're all overthinking it." Xuanyuan Po thought it over, then shook his head, "That's completely at oddswith his appearance in the carriage, sometimes giggling to himself andsometimes creasing his brow." Tang Thirty-Six sneered, "If even a black bear can see it, then he really musthave a problem." Suddenly, a shout came out of the third-floor window. He hadn't encountered some enemy, nor was it a cockroach. Rather, he wasgiving vent to his feelings. "See…if it wasn't because he lost so much money, how could he be in such pain?Have you ever seen his emotions fluctuate like this before?" Gazing at the third-floor window, Tang Thirty-Six sighed. But in the next moment, the yells coming from the room transformed into thehums of a song. One could faintly make out that this was a rather obscure andrustic song. Su Moyu looked at Tang Thirty-Six and asked, "Do you still think his mood isbad?" Tang Thirty-Six replied, "I didn't say that this was a problem of whether hismood is good or bad, but that his mood is fluctuating." Su Moyu contemplated and realized that Tang Thirty-Six's words were reasonable. Amongst the people of the Orthodox Academy, in terms of controlling emotion,it was naturally Wofu Zhexiu that was strongest, and the second strongest wasChen Changsheng. Whether it was in his normal everyday life or when cultivatingand fighting, Chen Changsheng had never showed any sign of losing control overhis emotions. He was calm and unflustered far beyond his age, even giving offthe feeling that he had already experienced all sorts of things. However, today's Chen Changsheng was clearly different. "Have you guys heard the story of Peddler Jin passing the provincial exam?"Tang Thirty-Six looked up at the window and narrowed his eyes. "If my previousconjecture is wrong, then it's highly likely that he got too excessively happyfrom winning against Xu Yourong and went insane." Right then, the third-floor window was suddenly pushed open and ChenChangsheng peeked his head out and looked down. Tang Thirty-Six and the rest were all quite startled and hurriedly loweredtheir heads. They began to randomly mumble things at each other, pretending tochat so as to avoid Chen Changsheng noticing anything strange. Chen Changsheng had no clue that his fellows of the Orthodox Academy wereworrying about his mental state. He yelled, "Tang Tang, come upstairs and helpme with something." …… …… "What do you need?" "Help me see what clothes would be more appropriate." Chen Changsheng pointedat the wardrobe at those clean and tidy shirts that still looked brand-newafter a year. He added, "Mm…it's also not too formal an occasion, I just don'twant to seem lacking in manners." Tang Thirty-Six looked at the ten-odd plain sets of clothing in the wardrobeand said rather helplessly, "Just who do you think can tell the differencebetween these clothes?" Just as Xu Yourong had felt when she visited the Orthodox Academy in thenight, Chen Changsheng's clothes were always of this type, always this plain.Besides being clean, there was nothing special about them. Chen Changsheng saw that this was true. After considering his options for amoment, he asked, "What if you let me borrow some of your clothes?" "Has the Moon of the demons really run over to the capital?" Tang Thirty-Six looked like he had just heard something inconceivable. Hestared into Chen Changsheng's eyes for a very long time. Finally, in a voicefilled with disbelief, he said, "To a normal person, a celebratory feast at theLi Palace is naturally important, but you can enter the Li Palace whenever youwant. Is there any need to place such importance on it?" Chen Changsheng stared blankly at him. It was only at this point that heremembered that there was a feast being held at the Li Palace tonight…thebattle on the Bridge of Helplessness had received the attention of the world.As the Principal of the Orthodox Academy and also tacitly recognized as thesuccessor to the Orthodoxy, since he had obtained victory over Xu Yourong, whorepresented the Tianhai Divine Empress and the southern sects, his attendanceat this feast was naturally unavoidable. "In a little while, I have to go out to do something…you and Su Moyu go in myplace to the Li Palace. I might have to trouble you to explain to His Holiness." Tang Thirty-Six was incredibly shocked, thinking, just what's more importantthan tonight? His Holiness is extremely likely to use this feast to announce afew things. "What are you going to do?" "I really can't tell you." Tang Thirty-Six no longer pursued the topic. Walking to the window, he heldhis hands behind his back and looked out at the ice-covered lake. Verycasually, he asked, "Where should the academy's carriage go to pick you up?" These two were far too familiar with each other. Chen Changsheng knew verywell what Tang Thirty-Six was up to, but he knew that if he asked, TangThirty-Six would just reply that cold nights and icy roads aren't good to walkon. "I'm not going to tell you the location, and don't you think about followingme either." He looked at Tang Thirty-Six's back and said, "This is my matter, let mehandle it." Without turning around, Tang Thirty-Six asked, "And you're sure you can handleit properly?" Chen Changsheng answered, "I'm not sure, but I hope I can." Saying this, he changed into a plain long gown that he wore the most often,glanced at the bamboo dragonfly on the bookshelf, and exited the room. Standing by the window, Tang Thirty-Six watched as Chen Changsheng walked outof the house and walked into the wintry forest by the lake. After a while, hesaw him jump over the wall and then vanish from sight. He couldn't help butcrease his brow, thinking,acting with such prudence and keeping your tracks sohidden, just what are you going to do? Walking through the cold and snowy forest then jumping over the wall, he puton a bamboo hat and merged with the crowd. He began walking in the direction ofthe gloomy sun in the snowy clouds. He didn't need to walk too long beforearriving at a very ordinary alley in the west of the city. The alley was veryshort but its location was excellent. Nearby was the Li Palace, so this alleycontained many restaurants and taverns. This was the Fortune Peace Road that was written on the slip of paper. Chen Changsheng stood at the entrance to the alley. He lowered his head totake a look at himself. After confirming that everything was very proper, herelaxed a little. He wore a very ordinary set of clothes, but they were washed very clean. Backat the Orthodox Academy, he had also washed himself very clean. On the Bridge of Helplessness, her finger had left a drop of blood on hisforehead, but just like he had confirmed after leaving the Garden of Zhou, hisblood currently had no scent. After bathing himself three times in succession,there was even less scent left behind. Only the fresh, clean, and faint scentof soap could be smelled on his body. His black hair was bound very tightly. It was somewhat damp and not completelydry. In the cold wind emerging from the alley, the surface of his hair had beencovered by a thin layer of frost. This was just like his current mood. ……