Chapter 83: Night Carriage
In terms of knowledge, no one could surpass Gou Hanshi, and there were very few people he truly admired. Tonight, Chen Changsheng achieved that.
He looked at Gou Hanshi and said, "I don't dare accept that."
"You deserve it." Gou Hanshi gazed at this youth who had initially failed to catch his attention, a trace of emotion in his voice.
He thought of his astonishingly talented senior brother, considered this marriage arrangement, and unexpectedly found that, silently and imperceptibly, his confidence in his senior brother had begun to waver.
"Just now, that final move of Her Highness..." He had a question he wanted to ask Chen Changsheng but wasn't sure if it was appropriate, hesitating before speaking.
"What more is there to ask? Hurry up and leave—do you want to stay here and continue making a spectacle of yourselves?"
Xiaosong Palace Elder's face was ashen as he barked, then shot a venomous glare at Jin Yulu across the way, angrily flicked his sleeve, and turned to leave.
Gou Hanshi's expression turned slightly bitter. He clasped his hands to Chen Changsheng and said, "Farewell."
Chen Changsheng returned the gesture. "Goodbye."
"We will indeed meet again."
Gou Hanshi calmed down, looking at him and saying, "I look forward to seeing your performance, and that of the National Academy, at the Grand Examination. I hope you can continue to bring surprises."
Chen Changsheng understood his meaning and said nothing.
Gou Hanshi turned and, leading his junior brothers from the Lishan Sword Sect, disappeared into the night of the imperial palace.
Silence fell before Weiyang Palace.
Too many things had happened at tonight's Green Vine Banquet, bringing too much shock to the people.
The marriage between Qiushan Jun and Xu Yourong, which the entire continent had been anticipating, had been stopped by a youth named Chen Changsheng wielding a marriage contract.
He was a student of the National Academy.
Her Highness Luoluo had revealed her identity.
She, too, was a student of the National Academy.
The young master of the Wenshui Tang family had withdrawn from the Heavenly Dao Academy.
He had become a new student of the National Academy.
Everything was tied to the name of the National Academy.
Then, the mighty Lishan Sword Sect, following the rules of the Green Vine Banquet, challenged the long-declining National Academy.
In the end, the National Academy had won.
And it was an undisputed victory.
With such a tumultuous process and an unexpected outcome, many people found it hard to believe for a moment.
They looked toward the National Academy's direction. When they realized that the three were still mere youths, they found tonight's events even harder to accept.
Most gazes fell on Chen Changsheng. Though in terms of status and position, he was far inferior to Luoluo, as Xu Yourong's fiancé, as Luoluo's teacher, and as the current representative of the National Academy, he had more than enough reasons to draw people's attention.
Everyone understood that after tonight, the long-decayed National Academy might begin a new rebirth, and this new student of the National Academy would no longer be an unknown ordinary youth. He would become the center of discussion throughout the entire capital, even the entire continent.
People looked at Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng only looked at Xu Shiji.
Xu Shiji knew very well why the youth was staring at him, his face a mask of iron-gray.
The Archbishop smiled beside him and said, "This son-in-law, even if not as good as Qiushan Jun, is actually not bad."
Xu Shiji's expression turned extremely ugly.
The Archbishop chuckled, said nothing more, and left.
The crowd before the hall gradually dispersed.
Dean Mao Qiuyu walked down the stone steps, called Tang Thirty-Six aside, and spoke a few words.
Mo Yu walked up to Chen Changsheng, raised an eyebrow slightly, wanting to ask him how he had managed to get out of the Tong Palace. But seeing Luoluo staring at her like a little tiger, she gave a wry smile and said, "Your Highness, please don't hold a grudge against me for tonight's events. I had no choice either."
Suddenly, a crane's cry rang out in the night sky.
People looked up and saw the white crane gracefully flying away.
It had come to the Great Zhou imperial palace tonight solely to deliver a letter and meet someone.
Having done those things, it naturally had to leave.
Watching the white crane gradually disappear into the night sky, Chen Changsheng felt as if he had forgotten something.
He looked toward the abandoned garden deep within the night palace and nodded in acknowledgment.
A line of carriages was heading toward the departure palace.
It was the southern delegation's convoy.
Compared to the joyful atmosphere when they arrived, the convoy was now silent, the mood oppressive and low.
Occasional coughs broke the silence within the convoy.
Gou Hanshi held a handkerchief to his mouth, frowning, his face slightly pale.
He didn't want his coughing to disturb too many people, especially the Xiaosong Palace Elder in the carriage ahead.
Though he hadn't personally stepped into the arena tonight, the mental duel with Chen Changsheng had drained him of immense energy. Even after taking the elixir gifted by the Archbishop upon boarding the carriage, he still felt unwell.
"Who would have thought that youth named Chen Changsheng was so formidable."
Gou Hanshi reached out and lifted the curtain, looking back at the night palace behind them, and said with emotion, "It's fortunate he can't cultivate, or it would have been a real problem."
Guan Feibai and the other two junior brothers were all in the carriage. Hearing this, their moods turned complicated.
They knew what their second senior brother meant by "problem"—it surely included concern for their senior brother.
Because that youth named Chen Changsheng was the fiancé of their junior sister, Xu Yourong.
"Is junior sister really going to marry him?"
Guan Feibai's expression darkened as he said, "How our senior brother has treated junior sister Xu all these years—the entire south has seen it. What is junior sister thinking? She even specially had the white crane bring that letter here. Has she ever considered how this would make our senior brother feel?"
"How can this be blamed on junior sister Xu?"
Gou Hanshi sighed, but he didn't say who should be blamed. After all, the decisions of their sect's elders were not something they, as disciples, could easily criticize.
The carriage was spacious. Gou Hanshi, Guan Feibai, and Wu Lü sat in one row, while Qi Jian sat alone across from them, the thin youth lowering his head, looking pitiful.
Guan Feibai looked at him, slightly frowning, but his tone softened. "My loss to Her Highness Luoluo was a genuine defeat. Your loss to that Tang Thirty-Six was an accident. Don't be too upset."
Qi Jian lifted his head, his small face full of shame and sorrow.
Gou Hanshi looked at him and said with a smile, "The Grand Examination isn't far off—just a few months. When the time comes, take back everything you lost tonight."
The junior brothers calmly agreed, for it was only natural.
Though the Lishan Sword Sect had ultimately lost to the National Academy at tonight's Green Vine Banquet, not many truly believed the National Academy was stronger than the Lishan Sword Sect.
Setting aside those rules, and ignoring Her Highness Luoluo's unexpectedly formidable strength, on the day of the Grand Examination, the National Academy would have no chance.
Because the rules would be different, because they were the Seven Laws of the Divine Kingdom, because by then, Gou Hanshi himself would step into the arena.
Gou Hanshi looked out at the capital's streets and alleys, coughing again, his brows tightly knit.
This year's Green Vine Banquet was destined to remain etched in many people's memories, impossible to erase. If there was hatred—like that of certain people in the southern delegation, like the head of the Qiushan family who had arrived full of anticipation only to leave disappointed, like Xu Shiji, who had been slapped across the face by Chen Changsheng's marriage contract—then that hatred would be remembered.
Chen Changsheng would not hold a grudge against tonight's events. Though he had truly hated being trapped in the abandoned garden, and at the bottom of the Black Dragon Pool, when he thought he was about to die, he had also hated, so many things had happened afterward. Now, sitting in the carriage heading to the National Academy, it was hard for him to summon any hatred, so naturally, he held no grudge.
This was the carriage of the Hundred Herbs Garden. Jin Yulu refused to sit inside, so the carriage held only three youths. They sat on soft embroidered cushions, looking out at the scattered lights, saying nothing for a long time. The silence stretched on, broken only by the rumbling of wheels over bluestone slabs, occasionally reaching their ears. They must have reached the road along the Luo River.
Chen Changsheng looked out the window and suddenly let out a chuckle.
Tang Thirty-Six was eating a bunch of grapes. Seeing him like this, he nearly spat them out and mocked, "What a fool."
Luoluo felt he was being disrespectful to her teacher and was displeased.
Chen Changsheng ignored him, continuing to gaze at the scenery outside the window, a smile on his face.
Strangely, unlike Gou Hanshi, he wasn't coughing.
Tonight was the Seventh Night of the Seventh Month, the time for lovers to be together. It was already late, and the banks of the Luo River were no longer as lively as before. The willow branches by the riverbank finally had a moment to rest, but the lantern boats floating on the river seemed even brighter, like countless stars. Their light streamed through the carriage window, illuminating the youth's face.
Luoluo propped her chin on her hand, watching Chen Changsheng's profile glow in the light of the lantern boats, thinking that her teacher looked truly handsome tonight.
Tang Thirty-Six finished his grapes, wiped the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, moved closer to him, and looked out the window. He found it uninteresting, far less charming than the Seventh Night scenery of Wenshui.
Seeing Chen Changsheng's intoxicated expression, he asked, "What's it feel like?"
Chen Changsheng looked at the river, silent for a long time, thinking for a long while.
The old temple outside Xining Town, the walls and rooms covered in old books, the old bamboo dragonfly, the old marriage contract, the humiliation at the Divine General's mansion in the capital, the oppression he faced at the Heavenly Dao Academy and the Green Vine Academies, being exiled to the desolate abandoned garden, the forgotten National Academy... Many images flashed before his eyes, then faded away.
Like the trails of light dragged by the lantern boats on the Luo River's surface.
In the end, only one image remained.
It was the ancient gate of the National Academy after the green vines had been cleared, the dark, gleaming floor of the library, the pond, and beneath the banyan tree by the pond, a little girl, and friends.
"Very happy."
Chen Changsheng withdrew his gaze, looked at Tang Thirty-Six and Luoluo, and said, "I'm very happy."
He wasn't exactly poor with words, but he truly didn't talk much, nor did he know how to say nice things.
When he said he was happy, he truly was happy.
Very happy to become a student of the National Academy, very happy that the National Academy had defeated the Lishan Sword Sect, very happy that Xu Yourong wouldn't marry Qiushan Jun.
Yes, the marriage contract wasn't important, but respect was.
Finally, very happy to have met you all.
(Really nervous... Afterword to come, hope there are no mistakes... And, thank you.)