Chapter 98 – Listen to the Empress

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The middle-aged man was called Tianhai Chenwu. At the age of twenty, when his father Tianhai Youguo died suddenly, he became the head of the Tianhai clan. Under his leaders.h.i.+p, the Tianhai clan prospered, so much so that there were even times when people forgot that he was the Divine Empress's nephew.

It must be said that for him to be able to accomplish this in the context of the Divine Empress's reign was truly a feat worthy of extraordinary praise.

"These elders are all very powerful; not even I will lightly provoke them…Shengxue acted too childishly. As a friend of mine, not only did you not stop him, you let him do as he pleased. Did you want him to see just how much blood would flow in the end?"

Xu s.h.i.+ji sat down in the chair placed in front of him. With an indifferent expression, he looked beyond the walls of the courtyard and replied, "With people dead, His Eminence the Archbishop must pay some price."

Xue Xingchuan commanded the Great Zhou Imperial Guard, and Xu s.h.i.+ji, as a similarly trusted subordinate of the Divine Empress, after being transferred back from the frontlines, was given the charge of maintaining peace and safety over the districts of the capital. Today, it would have been simply impossible for so many idlers and the like to gather in front of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education without his silent agreement.

"What price then? Are you saying that he will be driven out of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education? All of you are wrong. The more disastrous his relations.h.i.+p with His Holiness the Pope, the firmer his position. This is because within the Orthodoxy, only he has the seniority to oppose His Holiness, so Grandaunt…requires him."

Tianhai Chenwu continued, "Anyone Grandaunt likes, such as Xu Yourong or Mo Yu, will brilliantly s.h.i.+ne. Anyone Grandaunt thinks highly of, such as you or Xue Xingchuan, has the right to be proud. However, none of this compares to being required…because this signifies a uniqueness, a right to stand on the same level as her.

"Cease your attempts to provoke that sleeping fox in the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education."

He stared at Xu s.h.i.+ji and warned, "I've observed Mei Lisha for several decades and still haven't been able to see through him…how could a youth like Shengxue be his match?"

Xu s.h.i.+ji fell silent for a few moments, then said, "It's not like we can just sit around and do nothing."

Tianhai Chenwu knew what he was concerned about and shot him an indifferent glance. "The marriage contract has already been announced to the world. The more you attempt to sound things out, the less meaning it will have. On the contrary, things will only get more and more troublesome, because the bigger the matter, the harder it is to kill someone."

Xu s.h.i.+ji slightly frowned, but said nothing.

"I still don't understand. That youth has already been in the capital for a few months, so why didn't you kill him at the very beginning? Instead, you waited until the final moment, all the way until he used the marriage contract to flip over the table at the Ivy Festival. This is not your style of doing things."

Tianhai Chenwu gazed at him and said, a hint of anger evident in his words.

Xu s.h.i.+ji very rarely saw this sort of emotion on his face, so he knew that he truly must have been rather angry.

The Tianhai clan had always had good relations with the southerners. On the surface, they were just working with the policy set down by the Great Zhou Dynasty and vigorously pus.h.i.+ng the confluence of the north and south. In truth, the discerning person would be able to clearly see what this master of the Tianhai clan valued the most: the disposition of the southerners would be extremely important when he competed for the imperial throne in the future.

From this perspective, whether it was a matter of state, clan, or the imperial throne, the marriage alliance between the Divine General of the East's estate and the Qiushan clan played a most crucial role. Now, however, it had encountered a rather significant inconvenience, one that should have been long since wiped away by Xu s.h.i.+ji.

"Yourong sent a letter that forbid us from touching him," Xu s.h.i.+ji replied after a pause.

Tianhai Chenwu angrily slapped the arm of his bamboo chair. Slap! Slap! He shouted, "That's your daughter!"

With a slightly bitter expression Xu s.h.i.+ji added, "She also sent a letter to Mo Yu, and I'm not sure if the Empress has seen it."

This area by the bamboo forest instantly grew quiet.

After a very long time, Tianhai Chenwu gave a faint sigh. "Everyone believes that my Tianhai clan appearing for that little monster Ya'er is just an excuse. Few people understand that I really do want to knead that fellow Chen Changsheng into tiny pieces.

"Correct, Ya'er is from the sixth branch, rather distant from the main branch, but that little fellow truly did have a lot of potential…at such a young age, he had already reached the upper level of Meditation. You should know very well what that meant. If he had been ranked in the Proclamation of Azure Sky, he would have easily ranked in the top twenty."

There had been many theories in the capital as to what Tianhai Ya'er's cultivation level was, but it was only on the first night of the Ivy Festival that some indications could be seen. However, to see it and to hear from the master of the Tianhai clan's mouth were two different things. Xu s.h.i.+ji's expression grew even more solemn.

Gloomy flames burned within Tianhai Chenwu's eyes. "In terms of cultivation potential, he's even stronger than Shengxue, and he's many times stronger than Shengxue's three brothers. To reach the upper level of Meditation at such a young age, if things proceeded smoothly, he would a.s.suredly have reached the threshold of Ethereal Opening within five years. If he were fortunate enough to not die when crossing the threshold, then he would have…reached Ethereal Opening at an even younger age than Qiushan Jun. And yet, he was crippled, just like that."

Xu s.h.i.+ji seemed rather at a loss. "Just what does Sir want to say?"

"I want Chen Changsheng to die."

Tianhai Chenwu gazed at him with a smirk. "Princess Luoluo can't be touched, and it's also not convenient for me to touch Chen Changsheng at this time. But you're different—you're his future father-in-law. You could do things against him much more conveniently than others."

Xu s.h.i.+ji's complexion became abnormally unsightly at these words. After the Ivy Festival, he had become the laughingstock of the capital—everyone now knew that he was a sn.o.b, and although the truth might have been more complicated, it was roughly the case—and that marriage contract had been slapping him in the face this entire time.

Each day the Orthodox Academy remained in the capital, each day Chen Changsheng existed in this world, this humiliation would persist for another day. He did not have the slightest positivity towards Chen Changsheng. He could be considered the person that wanted Chen Changsheng dead the most in this world, but he was also simultaneously the person that was least able to touch him.

Xu s.h.i.+ji had no idea how many people were watching the Divine General of the East's estate, wanting to see how he would respond, especially those elders in the Orthodoxy. It was likely that when he did respond, if he really did dare to strike at Chen Changsheng, the capital would fall into a ma.s.sive crisis that might even implicate the Divine Empress.

Xu s.h.i.+ji would never take this sort of risk. He stared into Tianhai Chenwu's eyes, wanting to see just what this Tianhai clan head famed for his tyranny and brutality was thinking. "In the past, I would have just killed him, but I can't do it now."

"Could it be that the Lord Divine General does not want to help the Tianhai clan with its difficulties?" Tianhai Chenwu stood up and said to him, an indifferent expression upon his face.

Xu s.h.i.+ji understood his meaning. After a period of silence, he replied, "Sir, I am a Divine General appointed by the Divine Empress."

After saying this, he began to make his way out of the garden.

Tianhai Chenwu looked at his back and said, "Is that so? Then what did you chat about in your last meeting with Prince Chen Liu?"

Xu s.h.i.+ji did not pause, acting as if he had never heard that question.

In the early morning during an autumn rain, Tianhai Shengxue came riding on a horse with the desire to destroy the gate of the Orthodox Academy and thus crush the academy. He had been halted by Chen Changsheng and the other two students, and then the sudden appearance of Jin Yulu forced him to return without the desired result. Afterwards came the common people besieging the Orthodox Academy, warhorses rampaging in front of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, and the wretched sight of the bleeding people.

In the short span of a day, several conflicts centering on the Orthodox Academy and Chen Changsheng between the new and conservative powers of the Great Zhou occurred. Although it could not be considered a bloodbath, it had been an eye for an eye. For a moment, the atmosphere in the capital became extremely tense, and many people recalled the days from ten-some years ago.

Fortunately, the scope and level of the conflicts had been strictly controlled. Both the new and conservative factions had been rather cool-headed or wise, as the Divine Empress and the Pope had not once made their positions clear. The entire capital entered a faint standoff. As the cause of this matter, the Orthodox Academy took on an even greater symbolic meaning.

Could this academy continue to stay open? In which direction would Chen Changsheng's fate proceed? Would the marriage contract be torn apart by powerful personages using the excuse of popular will? In the end, these questions could only await the judgment of the Divine Empress and the Pope.

"Emperor Xian ascended to the throne four hundred years ago. His body was wracked with illness and he was fond of the four arts of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. He had no patience for the complexities of ruling the government, so the Empress began to act on memorials in her husband's place, taking care of matters of state. Based on this, she had already reigned for two-hundred-some years. The politics of the court were completely in her grasp, and she appointed most of the Divine Generals and ministers. If not for this, how could the Empress have ascended to the throne as Divine Empress after the death of Emperor Xian? The Imperial clansmen could be as infuriated as they wished, the ministers could find it impossible to accept, but after a ma.s.sacre, they would all be as docile as sheep. 

(TN: A memorial, in this case, refers to memorials to the throne, the formal means of communicating a message to the emperor, usually in the form of an essay.)

"The Divine Empress is naturally very outstanding, but as for how she's outstanding, I really don't know. I only know that even someone as arrogant and impudent as my grandfather has spent these past few years secluding himself in Wenshui. He curses the Tianhai clan as dogs.h.i.+t, but whether in public or private, in the hall or in his room, he doesn't dare to speak ill of the Divine Empress.

"As for the Great Zhou as a whole, it ultimately depends on the Divine Empress's att.i.tude and the health of her esteemed body. In the end, though, what happens afterwards must be considered, so just who should the imperial throne of the Great Zhou Dynasty be pa.s.sed on to? The Empress can rely on her supreme prestige to awe the ministers of the court, and even His Holiness has to keep his silence, but if the imperial throne is not returned to the Chen Imperial clan at the end? Then not even the most outstanding Tianhai Chenwu or the shrewdest Tianhai Chenwen would have the ability to suppress the opposition. But if the imperial throne is returned to the Chen Imperial clan, after the Divine Empress departs, the Tianhai clan will a.s.suredly be purged. In the end, she still carries the surname of Tianhai, so how could she bear seeing such a sight?

"Thus, the Empress must also be very hesitant. The conflict between the new and conservative factions is precisely because both sides see a chance in the Empress's hesitation, and they also see danger. Very unfortunately, our Orthodox Academy has become a symbol of their confrontation. His Holiness, by bringing Luoluo to the Li Palace Academy, is already expressing a sort of position. If the Divine Empress holds the same position, then the Orthodox Academy will be in danger. Let alone Princess Luoluo, if the Divine Empress truly wants to kill someone, not even the White Emperor can protect them."

Finally, Tang Thirty-Six said to Chen Changsheng, "If I were you, the first thing I would do is to think of a way of finding the Divine Empress and then prostrate myself before her, cling to her leg, bitterly account about how I was wronged, and then request her esteemed self to carry out justice."

Chen Changsheng thought over these words for a very long time, then asked, "So, just how would I be able to find her esteemed self?"

Tang Thirty-Six fell silent, then he suddenly cried angrily out the window, "Is the food still not done yet?"