Chapter 181 – The Academy Gate Repaired

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

By taking first rank of the first banner in the Grand Examination, Chen Changsheng had caused the Divine General of the East's estate to prepare a family feast, yet it had caused the feasts in many homes to disappear, or at the very least become much less impressive, as many people had lost a great deal of money.

According to the statistics collected in the aftermath, the Four Great Markets had opened three-hundred-some betting pools concerning the Grand Examination. The hundred-some betting pools with the greatest value were essentially betting on the rankings for the Grand Examination. Chen Changsheng's appearance, Tianhai Shengxue's withdrawal, and other unexpected incidents, one surprise occurring after the other, made it so that very few people won anything from this year's betting pools.

Logically speaking, if the gamblers lost, the house should have won, yet the Four Great Markets also did not make much money from the Grand Examination this year. This was because in the nights leading up to the Grand Examination, several parties had placed enormous bets on the Orthodox Academy and Chen Changsheng.

The first party was naturally the fellows of the Orthodox Academy. Given that he was treating the Grand Examination as the last fight of his life, Chen Changsheng had bet all he had on himself. Xuanyuan Po didn't have much money, but he had also thrown the seventeen taels of silver that he had saved bit by bit into the pot. The people that had truly caused this sum of money to soar were Tang Thirty-Six and Luoluo. Although they had only used the money they had at hand, their families were rich, so the money that they added was not small, and this bet was made when the payout odds were still extremely long.

The second party to bet on Chen Changsheng was from the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education. The one to make the wager was Priest Xin, but he represented that elderly and fear-inspiring archbishop. He had bet a ma.s.sive amount of money, and apparently many priests of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education had also added quite the significant sum to the pot to express their loyalty.

The third party had bet an even greater amount, a somewhat stunning amount of money. This wager came from Wenshui.

These three wagers on the complete dark horse had made the Four Great Markets suffer most miserable losses. The third wager even put the Heavenly Fragrance Market, the weakest of the Four Great Markets, under ma.s.sive pressure.

Given that they were able to supervise wagers of such a major event, the Four Great Markets naturally had extremely deep backings. Although it was said that the betting business lived on reputation, if it was truly a matter of life or death, there was still a chance that they could renege on the bets or at least delay the payout for some time.

This time, however, they did not dare to try any tricks, or even have the courage to invite someone to plead on their behalf. No matter who their backers were, they did not dare to offend Princess Luoluo's Orthodox Academy, or the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education that stood across from the Pope, and they certainly did not dare to offend the owner of the third wager.

This wager had come from Wenshui, so it was naturally from the Tang clan.

There was only one Tang clan in Wenshui, one Tang clan in the continent, and in this entire world, only that Tang clan had so much money that it could place such a large bet on Chen Changsheng's victory to make its young master happy…

Anything honed to the peak would become extremely frightening, and a clan like the Wenshui Tangs which had far too much money was not just ordinarily frightening, but extremely frightening.

But probably not even the Tang Old Master had expected that the bet he had made purely to increase the reputation of his darling grandson in the capital and roll his eyes at the people of the capital had actually resulted in quite the excellent harvest. It could even be said that the greatest winner in this year's Grand Examination, excluding Chen Changsheng and the Orthodox Academy, was the Tang clan.

It would be the Spring Festival in a few days. The Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education would presumably be giving out quite extravagant holiday gifts, and the banquet tables in the homes of those priests would certainly have more dishes than last year. Those who had money before in the Orthodox Academy would have even more money now, and Xuanyuan Po, the sole impoverished member, would probably not have to worry about money anymore. Meanwhile, the famed Heavenly Fragrance Market would be liquidated in the following period, sold off to a merchant from the south specializing in precious stones.

All of these were effects of the Grand Examination.

Of course, these were only the effects on the surface. The true effects were still hidden underwater, waiting for the moment where they would show their might. Perhaps a few of them would appear on the day that the rankings for the Grand Examination were formally released.

Chen Changsheng did not know of these things, did not know that his money had multiplied and was now enough for him to live comfortably in the capital for ten years. Of course, he first needed to be able to live for ten more years.

Tang Thirty-Six also did not know of these matters, or perhaps he did not care. To others, the amount of money he had bet was enormous, but for him, it was just a few months of pocket money. It was truly difficult for him to constantly keep in mind a wager of this level, and as for what his clan at Wenshui had done, he was completely unaware.

The carriage returned to the Orthodox Academy.

Countless people followed it into Hundred Flowers Lane. It was noisy all the way, with some people occasionally yelling out such phrases as 'Congratulations First Rank Chen', while many people were also chattering to each other in wonder.

This chatter was not directed towards Chen Changsheng, but towards the academy gate of the Orthodox Academy.

Chen Changsheng and the others stepped out of the carriage and looked at the gate, somewhat stupefied. They thought to themselves, what happened?

Last year, in the early morning under the autumn rain, a warhorse of excellent bloodline belonging to the Tianhai clan had collapsed into a puddle, gasping its last breaths and constantly spewing b.l.o.o.d.y foam. This was a result of ramming the Orthodox Academy's gate and thus transforming it into an unbearable ruin.

Starting from that day, the Orthodox Academy's gate had maintained this appearance. It was not repaired or even tidied, and grew increasingly desolate. If it weren't for the fact that Jin Yulu would lie on his bamboo chair with his teapot every day, no one would be able to tell that an academy gate had been there.

This was the battle between the Orthodox Academy valued by the archbishop and the new faction of the Orthodoxy led by the Pope, the battle between those elders still loyal to the Chen Imperial clan and the Tianhai clan. This was a very high-level battle, but when it finally descended to the earth, it appeared much like a childish squabble.

It was probably because the three youths of the Orthodox Academy were all still quite young, and they did not make this matter too complicated. They only knew that it was the Tianhai clan that had ruined this gate, so it should be the Tianhai clan that fixed it.

The Tianhai clan naturally would not repair it, as this would symbolize their concession. The Orthodox Academy also did not repair it, just allowed this ruined gate to sit there for the entire capital to see until this ruined academy gate became a scenic sight of the capital. This was how they argued, and naturally neither side was willing to back away first.

Now, however, ten-some craftsmen wearing the garb of the Imperial Court were standing around the once-ruined gate, and many precious beams made of clearly unusual jade were piled by the sides of the gate. From the circ.u.mstances, it seemed that someone was intent on repairing the academy gate. It was no wonder that the people were so shocked and discussing amongst themselves.

The old steward supervising the repair of the gate did not meet with Chen Changsheng's group. Instead, he complied with his orders and announced in a loud voice to the surrounding populace what he and this group of craftsmen had come to do.

The Tianhai clan was repairing the Orthodox Academy's gate?

And it was even a gate of white jade!

Had the Tianhai clan truly conceded? How could this be possible?

Sent off by the gazes of countless people, Chen Changsheng and the others entered the Orthodox Academy. Jin Yulu acted as usual, entering the gatehouse and lighting a fire to brew some tea. He then carried his bamboo chair in front of the gate and said to those workers hurriedly carrying out measurements that he should not be disturbed, after which he began to enjoy the night.

The gra.s.s beneath the banyan tree by the lake was speckled with green by the early spring. Chen Changsheng, Xuanyuan Po, and Tang Thirty-Six walked towards the library. Xuanyuan Po asked what they wanted to eat for dinner and although cured meat was said to be very tasty, was it perhaps too salty? Tang Thirty-Six replied by asking what sort of day was this that he still cared so much about such things. He also said that the food he had eaten over the past few days had been so tasteless that a bird was on the verge of coming out of his mouth. As he spoke, several birds flew out of the forest and towards the Hundred Herb Garden. (TN: The joke about the bird flying out of Tang Thirty-Six's mouth is a Chinese pun, as the word '淡', which means 'tasteless', shares the same p.r.o.nunciation as '蛋', which means 'egg'.)

The lights of the library were lit. Although somewhat dusky, they were very warm. The Orthodox Academy was just as before, somewhat monotonous and extremely tranquil. Even though the Grand Examination had just concluded and they had encountered so many things, succeeded at so many tasks, both the Orthodox Academy and the three youths remained unchanged.

Chen Changsheng looked to Tang Thirty-Six and said his first words upon returning to the Orthodox Academy, "Where did Zhexiu go? Did you get the Wenshui Sword back?"

"I would have almost forgotten if you didn't ask. Just how were you and Gou Hans.h.i.+ fighting? How did you send my sword flying so far? Can you stop staring at my waist? It's obvious that it's not there… Priest Xin said that it fell in a sealed area and that he would send it back in a couple of days."

After saying this, Tang Thirty-Six creased his brow and continued, "After his injuries improved, Zhexiu got up and, ignoring my and Princess Luoluo's advice, left the Education Palace straight away. I don't know where he went, but…given his personality, he'll definitely come and find us, I just don't know when."

He then looked at Chen Changsheng and asked, "Just how were you and Gou Hans.h.i.+ fighting? Did you really enter Ethereal Opening? Even if you did enter Ethereal Opening, there was still basis for you to win? By the way, did you really enter Ethereal Opening?"

He had twice asked if Chen Changsheng had really broken through into Ethereal Opening.

Tang Thirty-Six stared at Chen Changsheng, his eyes s.h.i.+ning like stars. To him, Ethereal Opening was something even more important than Chen Changsheng's taking first rank of the first banner, even more deserving of his shock and envy.

It was not just him. What every one of the young geniuses on the upper ranks of the Proclamation of Azure Sky wanted to do the most was safely cross that threshold as quickly as possible.

Chen Changsheng was going to say that not even he understood what exactly had happened when he suddenly heard a noise from the academy gate that startled him.

Xuanyuan Po exited the library to see what was going on. After a while, he returned to the library, rubbing his head and appearing somewhat puzzled. "They've started repairing the gate."

"In such a hurry?" Tang Thirty-Six raised his brows. "Just what is that guy from the Tianhai clan up to?"

After being interrupted, Chen Changsheng forgot what he was going to say. He recalled how Tianhai Shengxue had conceded of his own volition to Luoluo and felt that this matter had some reasoning behind it that he was not aware of.

It suddenly began to rain outside.

The cold rain of early spring fell on the window. There was no sound, only moisture.

Chen Changsheng thought of those bouts of rain that had fallen over the Hall of Was.h.i.+ng Away Dust, and became even more taciturn.

Those bouts of autumn rain had been the work of the Pope.

But why would the Pope save him? He was just a minor character, and even if he wasn't, the Pope had personally destroyed the Orthodox Academy all those years ago, so why was he now acting for the Orthodox Academy's sake?

His mood became rather complicated, as he realized that the situation was becoming increasingly complicated.

The Grand Examination had ended late, and they had come back to the Orthodox Academy late, so the dinner Xuanyuan Po made was unavoidably rather simple. It was just three slices of cured meat soaked in sugar. After eating three bowls of rice soaked in tea, Chen Changsheng felt full. He felt exhaustion and drowsiness unrestrainedly sweeping through his body and he found it difficult to stay up.

"Rest a little earlier," he said as he rose.

Tang Thirty-Six was extremely dissatisfied at tonight's meal, constantly grumbling as he ate. Upon seeing Chen Changsheng ready to leave, he became even more unhappy, asking, "That's it?"

Chen Changsheng was rather confused. "What else is there?"

"Please! You got the Grand Examination's first rank of the first banner today! You've given the faces of all those people that looked down on you a good slap. Can you not act so calm?"

Tang Thirty-Six added, "Didn't we already say that we should eat some less nutritious food tonight and then get drunk? If you want dancing girls, I can immediately call over ten companions for you!"

Chen Changsheng was put in a difficult spot. He understood that for this sort of occasion, he should do a few celebratory things, as only this way could he be considered normal. It was just that he had eaten three pieces of salted meat, which for him was already an enormous concession. He truly could not accept something like getting drunk.

He looked out the window and saw the snow gradually melting, the stars beginning to twinkle. It was already late. He turned to Tang Thirty-Six and said, "The day after tomorrow, no, it should be tomorrow, I'll accompany you…and drink two cups?"

That day was the day on which the rankings for the Grand Examination would be formally announced.