528 Chatting

Ultimately, evidence fell in favor of the latter. Xu Yourong raised her head and asked Chen Changsheng, "Why aren't you eating?" "Oh, yeah, eating." In the past two years, under the influence of TangThirty-Six, Chen Changsheng was much more talkative, but in front of her, itwas almost like he had returned to being the young and obedient Daoist boy fromXining Village. His words were extremely simple, his thoughts exceptionallypure, and it was impossible for him to conceal any sort of emotion. For example, at this moment, he was rather distracted, so when he took up hischopsticks, his grip was not very firm. He extended his hand like the wind tosupport the chopsticks in midair, but he also pushed the unfurled Yellow PaperUmbrella to the side. As a result, the argument that still persisted in thekang in front of them became audible once more. "Last spring, Little Principal Chen entered the capital and received suchhumiliation in the Divine General's estate. Afterwards, he was suppressedmultiple times in succession. His talent was clearly extraordinary and hisentrance exam scores were all excellent, but he was forcefully removed from theaccepted applicant list of every school. If His Holiness had not beenprotecting him in secret, he might not even have been able to enter thealready-deteriorated Orthodox Academy. People like you say that his annullingthe marriage was a heartless act, but none of you ever thought, if the Xufamily had not acted so shamelessly, how could this destined marriage come tothis?" "And what does this have to do with Lady Yourong? During the Ivy Festival, theWhite Crane returned north. In the letter it carried, she admitted that thisengagement existed, or else with only the marriage contract in ChenChangsheng's hand, how could the diplomatic mission from the south be leftpowerless to object? Even if Chen Changsheng holds a grudge against the DivineGeneral's estate, there's no reason to inflict such humiliation on LadyYourong!" "Hmph, at the time, Xu Shiji obstinately refused to recognize this marriageand the people of the Divine General of the East's Estate acted so snobbishly,but it turns out that now that things are different with Little Principal Chen,they've turned around and want to hug his leg now? They truly have no sense ofshame! All of you say that Little Principal Chen ending the engagement is ahumiliation? In my view, this is the Divine General of the East's estatehumiliating itself!" "But still, none of this has anything to do with the Holy Maiden. For whatreason should she bear such slanderous gossip?" "One can only say that the Holy Maiden had the misfortune of being born inthis sort of house, of having such parents!" …… …… The kang in the corner was very quiet, the only sound being the gurgling ofthe meat broth in the pot. Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong sat across from each other by the kang, theatmosphere once more rather heavy. It had already been almost two years since he had come to the capital. Thematter of the engagement had already spread to the entire continent. Thehumiliation and suppression the Divine General of the East's estate had onceinflicted upon him, the later change in their attitude, the suddentransformation of the young Daoist boy from the countryside into the successorto the Orthodoxy—all these things had been enthusiastically chatted about byeverybody. Today's battle on the Bridge of Helplessness seemed almost like the finalconclusion to this story, the final decision, yet it couldn't really put an endto everything. On the contrary, it pushed people's interest in this story toits peak. It could be believed that just like the gourmets sitting by thattable, in the countless mansions and homes, everyone was discussing this matter. The Divine General's estate had once humiliated him, and he had neverforgotten it. He had also once had many feelings for her who had been in thedistant south. However, just as that other customer had said, in this matter,she truthfully had not done anything to harm him, yet now she had to bear theridicule and censure aimed at the Divine General's estate. This was perhaps rather unfair. Chen Changsheng didn't know what to say. "In the end, they're still my parents." Xu Yourong's expression was very calm as if unaffected by that discussion.However, the following change in topic occurred far too abruptly. "I want to drink some wine." "Okay." Chen Changsheng had the owner bring over two small jars of his finest wine.Unsealing one of the jars, he filled her cup to seventy percent full. Xu Yourong softly said her thanks, then unsealed the other jar and poured wineinto his cup until it was full. Finally, she looked to him and said, "Ask away." Chen Changsheng still didn't know what to say. As he thought it over, he sawher beautiful face and asked with some hesitation, "Face?" "A certain technique from South Stream Temple."” "Oh." After this simple question and answer, the kang once more grew silent. Xu Yourong brought the wine cup up to her mouth and took a very light sip. Itwas just a sip, but her face blushed a little. "Don't tell other people that we met in the Garden of Zhou." "Why?" When Chen Changsheng heard her request on the Bridge of Helplessness, he couldnot understand it. Now when he heard confirmation that she really did not wishfor others to know of this matter, he was even more puzzled. Xu Yourong did not directly answer her question, instead softly asking,"Hasn't the engagement already been annulled?" This was a piece of information that had circulated in the capital for quitesome time, but it had never been admitted by either the Orthodox Academy or theDivine General of the East's estate. But as one of the parties of theengagement, she naturally knew that the rumors were not rumors, but rather athing that had really happened. For a long time, Chen Changsheng said nothing. On the bridge when the wind brushed away her white gauze and he saw her eyes,that was the happiest moment in his sixteen years of life. Compared to when hewas finally able to memorize the last scroll of the Daoist Canon in the oldtemple, when he found his Fated Star in the Orthodox Academy, when he obtainedfirst rank of the first banner in the Grand Examination, when he found WangZhice's notebook in the Lingyan Pavilion…it was happier than all those moments. She had been alive all along, she was her, she was his fiancée. Was there anyencounter in the world as bizarre as this, any matter as good? When he was taking a bath in the house back at the Orthodox Academy, he hadalready planned it all out. He was going to go the Li Palace and ask the Popeto reconstruct the marriage contract. Then, he would take Tang Thirty-Six andthe rest to the Imperial Palace to find her. If she agreed, he would propose toher straight away. He had never gone through a love affair before, but as long as he decided thiswas something he wanted to do, he would absolutely carry out it with extremediligence and focus, seizing every minute. But now she said that he could not tell of this matter to anyone else, so howcould he convince the Pope to rescind the decree that annulled the marriagecontract? A month ago, he had worked arduously to finally annul the engagement. Now, he realized that he really wanted this engagement. Tang Thirty-Six had spoken very correctly. "I thought you were dead, and in the Garden of Zhou, I promised you that Iwould annul the engagement, so…" He looked at Xu Yourong and said rather helplessly, "Since you knew who I was,why didn't you tell me sooner?" Xu Yourong's expression seemed to chill somewhat. "In the Garden of Zhou, youdeceived me. I had to realize the truth myself, so why would I have to tellyou?" Chen Changsheng believed himself innocent, asking, "When did I deceive you?" "Could it be that you're called Xu Sheng?" "You're not Lady Chujian." "Why did you not want to admit that you were Chen Changsheng?" "Back then, why didn't you say that you were Xu Yourong?" They looked into each other's eyes, speaking the questions at almost the sametime. Then they both remembered, back in the snowy temple by the White Grass Path,when they introduced themselves for the first time, they had also spoken at thesame time, giving out two false names… They didn't remember just what they had been thinking back then. Chen Changsheng recalled his mood from that time. The primary reason he hadnot wanted her to know of his identity was because he didn't want her to knowthat he had a world-famous fiancée. Perhaps Xu Yourong was thinking the same,not wishing for him to know that she had such a well-known fiancé? "Is having a fiancé like me such a shameful thing?" He asked Xu Yourong, rather serious, and also rather bitter and sad. ……