526 Sharing the Umbrella Like Old Friends, No?

…… …… Tang Thirty-Six's raised hand was very low, as was his head, and his voice wastruthfully also very low. Although his face was not visible, it could be imagined just how embarrassedhe was. The crowd parted like a tide. No matter how embarrassed he was, given that hewas widely regarded as Chen Changsheng's good friend and also the fact that hewas the superintendent of the Orthodox Academy, and then adding on the factthat Su Moyu and Xuanyuan Po persistently turned their heads away, TangThirty-Six could only walk forward, all the way until he reached the Pope. Mao Qiuyu had a rather unsightly expression. Only through sheer will did heresist the urge to discipline him with a word or two. On the other hand, the Pope had a very calm expression as he passed the DivineStaff into Tang Thirty-Six's hands. The Divine Staff was not as heavy as imagined, but Tang Thirty-Six felt it wasas heavy as a mountain, so heavy that he almost couldn't bear it. Getting onhis knees, he bowed in Chen Changsheng's place. His head was lowered, but he could still sense the gazes being focused on himfrom all around. Some of these gazes were stunned, some disdainful, othersgratified, but even more were surprisingly hostile, sharp like swords. He felt himself incredibly unfortunate and thus incredibly angry. Under MaoQiuyu's direction, he said a few words of gratitude, but his heart was filledwith nothing but incessant curses. These curses were naturally aimed at the person who had left him with thistask and then run off to parts unknown, Chen Changsheng. …… …… The snow was falling harder and harder, and the streets had long since becomedevoid of pedestrians. Within the alley, lanterns were continuously being lit. Chen Changsheng had already stood for a very long time in front of FortunePeace Road, gazing at the sky while sighing in his heart. The snow clouds obscured the sun and the capital was somewhat gloomy. Onecould barely tell from the intensity of the light that the sun was currentlymoving west, on the verge of sinking below the horizon. The time on the slip of paper had said dusk, but the world in dusk had alwaysbeen somewhat fuzzy. The idea of dusk itself was rather fuzzy. It would alwaystake at least an hour from the moment the sun began to sink below the mountainsuntil the moment it completely sank below the horizon, so then was it stilldusk right now? Did he perhaps come a little too early? Or would she really not come? He thought, if the sky has gone completely dark and she still hasn't come, Iguess I'll leave. Suddenly, a loud sound came from the distance, from the direction of the LiPalace. He simply had no idea what had occurred, much less that the matter hadto do with him. In the snowstorm, he rubbed his hands, at times looking in thedirection of the Imperial Palace, at times looking in the direction of theDivine General of the East's estate. There was a problem with his meridians and their output of true essence wasinsufficient, but his body was truthfully brimming with true essence, so he hadno need to fear the cold. The reason he was rubbing his hands and occasionallystamping his feet was purely a problem with his mood. The sky gradually darkened and would soon turn completely black. He had alsoabandoned all hope. From a distance, a voice rang out from behind him. "Why are you standing here?" Upon hearing this voice, his body slightly stiffened. Turning his body, he sawa person holding an umbrella slowly walking out of the alley behind him. The umbrella was somewhat old and seemingly rather strange. The space underthe umbrella seemed to be cut off from the dusky light and was very difficultto make out clearly, even impossible for the average person to see. But Chen Changsheng could, because he was very familiar with this umbrella.This umbrella was originally his. Of course, this umbrella was the Yellow PaperUmbrella. Just like a snowflake drifting down from the sky, the Yellow Paper Umbrellaslowly made its way over to him, then tilted back, revealing Xu Yourong's face. It was an appearance very difficult to describe with words. One could onlyrely on the cliché of describing it as perfect. Seeing this sublimely beautiful face that truly was unfamiliar to him, ChenChangsheng was rather nervous, rather absent-minded. Only after gazing into her eyes and finding that familiar sense of tranquilindifference was he able to gradually relax. He was familiar with her voice and also familiar with her eyes. The momenttheir gazes met, all unfamiliarity melted away and it seemed as if the two hadreturned to the Garden of Zhou. Journeying together in life and death, accompanying each other morning andnight, sitting to discuss the Dao, rising to confront the enemy, meeting eachother for the first time like old friends, white-headed and growing old. (TN: This seems to be a play on the Chinese idiom "白头如新，倾盖如故", which carriesthe meaning of "some people can know each other until they grow old and stilltreat each other as strangers, while some people can stop their carriages andmeet each other for the first time yet chat like they were old friends." 白头means white-haired. 倾盖 means the overlapping canopies of carriages. In thiscase though, the idiom is changed to "倾盖如故，白首到老", which we can take to meanmeeting like old friends and then growing old together.) Sharing the umbrella just like they were old friends. But what reason was there to say they were white-headed? Chen Changsheng realized that he had suddenly thought of this term and grewrather embarrassed. At the moment, he did not know there was someone in the Li Palace that waseven more embarrassed than he was. "Why are you standing here? Didn't we already agree to go eat Tofu and Fish?" Xu Yourong’s demeanor was quite unlike Chen Changsheng's current nervousstate, as she had known who he was for quite some time and several dozen dayshad been enough for her to calm down. Moreover, they had touched far too manytimes in the Garden of Zhou. When she saw him, it was really impossible for herto feel an unfamiliarity, much less display any feeling of distance. "…I already went into the alley and looked over it twice, but I couldn't findthis ‘Fish with Tofu’ that you spoke of," Chen Changsheng replied. Xu Yourong was stumped for words. Turning to the alley, she said with regret,"I don't come back for three years and it just goes away like that. Thatplace's fish really was quite good." "How did you…come from that direction?" Chen Changsheng asked, pointing at thealley from which she had emerged. That alley was not coming from the Imperial Palace, nor was it from thedirection of the Divine General of the East's estate, so he had not noticed hercoming. "I went to the Little Orange Garden and waited for a while. Mo Yu…did not comeback, then I decided to head over and arrived a little late." As she spoke, Xu Yourong's two eyelashes fluttered, her eyes turned down, andher cheeks blushed. As she had been making her way to the appointed place, she suddenly recalledthat this was the first time she and Chen Changsheng would…privately meet. Thetime in the Garden of Zhou naturally could not be counted, and she suddenlyfelt somewhat shy. She then recalled that it was she who on the Bridge ofHelplessness had set this appointment and, not wanting to give off a badimpression, came up with the idea on the spot to bring Mo Yu along. Who could have known that Mo Yu was not home? She didn't know if she should regret this or celebrate it. In short, to her, these matters were even more complex than comprehending theHeavenly Tome Monoliths. The light was too gloomy so Chen Changsheng could not see her expression. Hewas also rather slow in this aspect, so he naturally did not know why she wouldgo to the Little Orange Garden to find Mo Yu. He could only think about how theobject of today's date was to eat a meal, so he asked uncertainly, "We might aswell eat something else in this alley, or…go to some other place?" "Let's just eat here." Xu Yourong offered him the umbrella. Chen Changsheng very naturally received the umbrella. No words were required, not even a glance. Offering and receiving the umbrellawere both very natural actions, as if performed countless times. This was because, in the Garden of Zhou, they really had done these actionscountless times—in the Plains of the Unsetting Sun, when they were encounteringmonsters and needed to hurry away, in the majority of cases, she was on hisback with the umbrella in her hands. Whenever she was tired, she would hand theumbrella over to him. With Chen Changsheng holding the umbrella, they walked side by side into thesmall alley. The speed at which time changed the things of the world was perhaps not asfast as flowing water, but to change the restaurants in one alley wasexceptionally easy. The most famous dish of Fortune Peace Road had long since ceased to be Fishwith Tofu, and was now Pot-Simmered Ribs. In this short alley, there were five restaurants serving pot-simmered ribs,and every one of their signs claimed that their ribs were authentic Qi CityRibs, but it was impossible to know which one was true. The steam rising from the iron pots seeped out of those restaurants, mixedwith the heavy aroma of meat. In the cold weather, it was incomparably enticing. Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong did not fear the cold, but they still foundthemselves somewhat yearning for this taste. Finding a restaurant that wasrelatively clean, they walked in. The pots used for pot-simmered ribs were all set on kangs. After opening upthe thick curtain hanging over the door, they were confronted by a wave of heat. Today, the business was rather poor. This store that would normally bebustling with business today had only one kang table with customers. To becustomers in this sort of circumstance naturally meant that these were truegourmets. Their attention was completely focused on the fragrant ribs and wine,not even noticing the young couple that had just walked in. Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong walked to the innermost part of the restaurant.Before they could even sit down, they suddenly heard the sound of intenseargument erupting from behind them. One gourmet slammed his cup of wine down on the table and angrily roared,"Lady Yourong beat Chen Changsheng like he was a dog! How could she have lost?" The other gourmet sneered, "Then why did Lady Yourong concede?" The first gourmet was holding back so much his face was completely red. Hechoked out, "…That's because she couldn't forget the old times. Thinking of howChen Changsheng was once her fiancé, she went easy on him."