69 The White Emperor as Surname I (1/2)
To spend one's entire life hunting geese but then have an eye pecked blind by a goose, or be slapped in the face by a goose—this saying was truthfully not completely appropriate for tonight's situation, but after Xu Yourong's letter and Tang Thirty-Six's two comments, many people really did get this sort of feeling, their faces seeming to be in scorching hot pain.
(TN: The line about hunting geese but being blinded by one is uttered by Sun Wukong in the Chinese novel 'Journey to the West'. It is said when Sun Wukong, who usually swindles things from others, is swindled by the Bull King.)
Xu Shiji had a very nasty expression. Of course, since the opening of tonight's Ivy Festival, the look on his face had seemingly never been very good. Separated by a large distance, he stared at Chen Changsheng, dark flames burning in his eyes. At this moment, for the sake of redeeming the dignity of the Xu Estate, for the sake of regaining the Empress's trust, he was required to do a few things—even if this was the Imperial Palace, he still wanted to kill Chen Changsheng.
Amongst the Imperial Guards surrounding Chen Changsheng and Luoluo was his most loyal subordinate, a so-called suicide soldier. This person tightly held the hilt of his blade, his expression equally frustrated and helpless as the rest of his compatriots, but his gaze was fixated on Chen Changsheng's nape. This person's gaze was not at all cold, so as not to arouse the attention of others, but it was extremely focused.
Xu Shiji only needed to narrow his eyes to send the signal, and Chen Changsheng's neck would be cut by a swift blade—this blade truly was very swift.
But this gory scene had no chance to occur, because just as Xu Shiji was beginning to harbor the notion, two indifferent gazes fell upon his body. One gaze was from the Archbishop of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education. This elder who often had his eyes shut, seemingly greedy for sleep, was still able to open his eyes and say a few words at the most crucial of moments, or even just open his eyes—opening one's eyes was an extremely simple action, faster than waving a hand, swifter than drawing a blade. The other gaze falling on Xu Shiji's body came from a person he absolutely did not expect: Lady Mo Yu. Xu Shiji's expression fluctuated, but he ultimately chose to do nothing. If it were just the archbishop's warning, perhaps he would have strived for a single strike, but Mo Yu's gaze utterly drained him of resolve.
The situation within the hall was extremely tense and also extremely embarrassing, so it also became extremely quiet. When Tang Thirty-Six spoke his two jeering comments, the southerners naturally grew angry, yet they were unable to respond. Just then, a voice suddenly rose up from the scattered seats in the hall.
”A deceased grandfather's order ought to be respected, but…what sort of major event is a marriage alliance between the north and south? In order to oppose the demons, what do a few sacrifices made by one person amount to?”
From the position of the seat, the speaker seemed to be an ordinary student who had passed the pre-examination for the Grand Examination. No one knew exactly why they said these words, but it was probably because they were a youth who had spent their life in study, and the reason they studied and cultivated was naturally for the continued future of humanity, thus causing them to say such words.
After these words were said, the silent hall grew even quieter. Every person was silent, but they were not using the silence to express their disapproval. It was because they clearly knew that though these words were completely unreasonable, they were also the final hope for this marriage to succeed. Thus, the crowd used their silence to remove themselves from the matter and to allow the youth who had spoken these words to take center stage.
Chen Changsheng turned towards the origin of the voice and saw a youth with a slightly frustrated and serious expression. He understood that this person really did think this way, so he wasn't angry, only somewhat sorrowful. Emperor Taizong had clearly led the united army of the humans and demi-humans to drive the demons back to Xuelao City, yet humans were still unable to pull away from the shadow of the past.
”Humans turned out to be truly very shameless.”
Another voice echoed through the quiet palace. This was a seemingly ordinary remark, but in reality, it was an assessment of the entire human world delivered from a very high place or the very cold opposite bank of a river. What made the humans in the hall even angrier was that because of that previous moment of silence, they found themselves incapable of refuting this assessment.
This marriage between the north and south was, at the beginning, a grand occasion for the human world, yet when the southerners came to propose marriage, they concealed the matter from Xu Yourong. If any problems popped up afterward, the southern sects and the Great Zhou Imperial Court would probably have used the 'order of the parents and the words of the matchmaker' argument. But when Chen Changsheng appeared with marriage contract in hand, the crowd finally thought to respect Xu Yourong's opinion. Then, however, the White Crane gracefully landed, bearing Xu Yourong's clear stance, and now someone had actually spoken of needing to put the benefit of humanity above all else…
If one spoke with these people about benefit, they would speak about feelings. If one spoke with them about feelings, they would bring up virtue. If one spoke with them about virtue, they would counter with reason. In brief, if these people could not win the argument, when they were lacking in justification, they would constantly change the subject until matters proceeded according their view, their imagination.
This was truly very shameless.
The person who uncovered the pretense and exposed the shamelessness of everyone present under the light of the Night Pearls was Luoluo.
She made no effort to conceal her anger and contempt, saying to everyone in the hall, ”Do any of you care for your dignity?”
The southerners sitting at the front of the hall found their fury difficult to suppress. Guan Feibai, who had already been restraining himself for a very long time, suddenly stood up and shouted, ”Impudent!”
Luoluo glanced at him, wanting to scold him back a word or two, but was concerned that Chen Changsheng would get angry and so only gave two grunts.
Chen Changsheng rubbed her head and smiled. ”There's no need to engage in a battle of words with these people.”
On the side, Tang Thirty-Six shook his head. ”Since you want to fight, it's vital that you not lose on the cursing aspect.”
Chen Changsheng thought this over, then replied, ”That's reasonable, but I'm really not skilled in that aspect.”
”If you want to learn, I'll teach you.”
Tang Thirty-Six said to him, then he turned to the seating area for the southern diplomatic mission, his gaze falling on Guan Feibai, cursing, ”She's talking about you lot! Even a girl can see how shameless your conduct is; are you saying that none of you can sense it? Impudent? Impudent your mother!”
Guan Feibai flew into a rage, his eyes turning frigidly cold.
Just then, the White Crane lightly prodded Chen Changsheng's palm with its beak.
A little startled, Chen Changsheng glanced at it. Although they had not met for several years, they had still once interacted with each other, so he could vaguely understand its intentions. Of course, it was undoubtedly her intention as well. He pondered: since tonight's goal was achieved, they truly should leave as soon as possible, or else it would…make some people feel very awkward.
”Let's go,” he said to Luoluo and Tang Thirty-Six.
”Go?”
Mount Li Elder Xiao Songgong stared at them, his expression cold. ”You three little things think you can just leave?”
Hearing this, Luoluo slightly perked her slender brows. Chen Changsheng wanted to take her and Tang Thirty-Six and leave so that the southern diplomatic mission would have a way out. However, to outsiders, it looked like they were the ones yielding ground. She was already rather uncomfortable, and seeing that the other side was still not prepared to let the matter drop, she was determined to not show weakness.
”You old thing, you would dare to obstruct us?”