# Chapter 6: In a Very, Very Deep Place
“What?”
“I want to hold you while I sleep.”
“Huh?”
“Mm.”
Mo Yu said it with complete confidence.
Chen Changsheng heard it like thunder in his ears.
He waved his hands repeatedly and said, “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Mo Yu asked, “Then why did you come?”
Chen Changsheng said, “I came to see you, to try to persuade you again, and also to thank you.”
Mo Yu had indeed done many things, well worth his making a special trip to say thank you.
Mo Yu said, “If you want to thank me, then sleep with me.”
Chen Changsheng was very helpless and said, “You’re getting married in a few days.”
“Back then, I didn’t ask you to sleep with me.”
Mo Yu looked at him and said, “It’s precisely because I’m getting married that I want to sleep with you.”
She said this with the same confidence and openness, but hidden within it were many meanings, very obvious meanings.
Chen Changsheng didn’t know how to respond.
Mo Yu stared into his eyes and said, “If you don’t dare come over, it means you have feelings for me.”
Chen Changsheng hesitated for a moment, then walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.
Mo Yu wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face against his back.
Chen Changsheng suddenly thought of something.
“Didn’t you take a set of my bedding and pillow from the National Teaching Academy back then?”
Mo Yu was leaning against his back now, not needing to worry about him seeing her, so she relaxed a lot.
After hearing this, the two blushes on her face quickly faded. She thought to herself how absurd that was back then, yet completely forgot that this situation was actually quite absurd too.
“After a long time, the scent on the bedding and pillow has long faded.”
“Mm… then have you been having insomnia lately?”
“Strangely enough, after Her Majesty left, I never had insomnia again. That day at Zhou Tong’s residence, I even took a nap.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll just sit here like this. You sleep for a while.”
“Mm, just a little while. A little while is fine.”
The room became quiet.
Chen Changsheng sat by the bed, not daring to move at all.
Mo Yu held his waist, not moving either.
Logically speaking, this position was very uncomfortable, but she fell asleep quickly, sleeping very soundly, even letting out slight snores.
Time passed slowly, like the snow outside the window, gradually accumulating.
Just as Chen Changsheng thought he might have to sit here all night, and was wondering how to explain things to Xu Yourong tomorrow, Mo Yu woke up.
Half an hour of sleep had made her radiant, showing just how high the quality of her sleep was.
A maidservant brought a bowl of crystal bird’s nest soup. She took two bites, then suddenly looked up at Chen Changsheng and asked, “Why haven’t you left yet?”
Chen Changsheng was somewhat helpless and said, “I thought you wrote to me asking me to come because you wanted to discuss something.”
—So you didn’t want anything at all, you just wanted to hold me and sleep.
Mo Yu said, “There’s nothing to discuss. The situation in the capital is very calm, no different from before.”
Over these three years, they had maintained correspondence, so he was not unfamiliar with the current court situation from Mo Yu’s letters.
In the current court, the faction led by the ten-plus royal princes like Prince Xiang and Prince Zhongshan, along with the Tianhai family and several divine generals trained by Chen Guansong, formed one faction. The surviving civil officials from the previous dynasty and Old Eunuch Lin in the palace formed the other faction.
Simply put, the difference between these two factions was their attitude toward His Majesty the Emperor.
“If your master was willing to handle these matters, naturally these problems wouldn’t arise, but it’s obvious he doesn’t want to get involved.”
Mo Yu said, “Maybe he wants to see how His Majesty handles government affairs, or maybe he just wants to train His Majesty.”
“Senior Brother can handle these problems.”
Chen Changsheng remembered a long time ago in Xining Town, how he had personally caught the scaleless fish in the stream outside the temple, and then Senior Brother had personally cooked them.
Senior Brother was best at cooking fish, because his heart was very calm, very patient, and his hands were very steady.
“So the biggest problem in the court is still outside the court, to be precise, it’s the relationship with the State Religion.”
Mo Yu said, “Many people want to know how the Daoist Lord will handle your return to the capital.”
Chen Changsheng said, “I’m waiting to meet him.”
He had left the capital on a snowy, windy night, and since then, master and disciple had not seen each other.
Now that he had returned to the capital, they would inevitably meet.
He believed that this time when they met, Shang Xingzhou would have to look him in the eyes and could no longer treat him like a stranger.
Mo Yu asked, “Is it possible to let bygones be bygones with a smile?”
Chen Changsheng was silent. He knew what the biggest problem between him and his master was.
It was the hardest knot in the world to untie, and in the end, there seemed to be no good way except to cut it with a sword.
Mo Yu didn’t mind his attitude and said, “Although no one, including me, understands why you and your master turned against each other, I think you should be prepared for the Daoist Lord’s attitude to change. When he shows signs of wanting reconciliation, you need to respond quickly.”
Chen Changsheng asked, “Do you really think his attitude will change?”
“Who knows? With the White Emperor City matter, both he and the court owe you a favor, and maybe he’ll suddenly have a change of heart.”
Mo Yu said, “For the great matter of eliminating the demon race, he would be willing to do anything, nothing surprising.”
Chen Changsheng knew this possibility wasn’t very likely, but as Mo Yu said, anything was possible.
Thinking that this possibility might actually come true, he suddenly felt some hope.
“If it could be like that, that would be best.”
“But if it’s only like that, it’s still far from solving the problems between you.”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Do you think that if the Daoist Lord changes his attitude, this story will have a happy ending?”
Mo Yu looked at him and said, “On the contrary, if that really happens, it means a tragedy is about to unfold.”
Chen Changsheng asked, “What exactly are you trying to say?”
Mo Yu countered, “Will you avenge Her Majesty the Holy Empress?”
Chen Changsheng shook his head. Not to mention that this might cause a split in the human race and lead to civil war, even revenge itself was meaningless.
Her Majesty the Holy Empress had saved his life, but he still wasn’t qualified to raise that banner.
The person most qualified to avenge Her Majesty the Holy Empress was Senior Brother, who was now the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the most beloved and trusted disciple of their master.
Even Senior Brother couldn’t do anything about those events back then, let alone him.
“Including those princes, many people are watching me, wary of me, because they’re all very afraid that I will avenge Her Majesty.”
Mo Yu looked into his eyes and said, “But you’ve all forgotten that the person who most wants to avenge Her Majesty isn’t you, or His Majesty, or me.”
Chen Changsheng suddenly felt uneasy.
He had indeed forgotten.
All the civil and military officials had forgotten.
The entire continent had forgotten.
The person who most wanted to avenge Her Majesty the Holy Empress, and was also most qualified to avenge Her Majesty the Holy Empress.
Was Xu Yourong.
She had grown up under Her Majesty the Holy Empress’s watch.
Compared to the previous generation’s Holy Maiden, Her Majesty the Holy Empress was her first teacher (qimeng laoshi).
Compared to Xu Shiji and his wife, Her Majesty the Holy Empress was her true mother.
Her Majesty the Holy Empress was a phoenix, and Xu Yourong was also a phoenix.
Compared to Princess Pingguo, she was Her Majesty the Holy Empress’s true daughter.
Compared to Yu Ren, she was Her Majesty the Holy Empress’s true successor.
Mo Yu asked, “Do you think she won’t avenge Her Majesty?”
Chen Changsheng was silent for a long time, then said, “She has never mentioned these matters.”
“Given her relationship with Her Majesty, not mentioning it even once in three years—don’t you find that unusual?”
Mo Yu looked into his eyes and said, “I watched her grow up. I know how terrifying her willpower and execution ability (zhixing li) are.”
To not mention it for three years, not even to think about it—what kind of willpower did that require?
If she had equally strong execution ability (zhixing li), then how far had she already gone by now?
...
...
The cold snow drifted lightly, the winter wind like a knife. Chen Changsheng picked up Xu Yourong and went to the Hundred Herbs Garden.
They held yellow paper umbrellas and walked to the deepest part of the garden.
There was a very ordinary forest there. In the forest, there had once been a stone table and stone chairs, but now only an empty space remained.
Xu Yourong looked at that spot without speaking.
Her Majesty the Holy Empress was buried there.
In a very, very deep place. (To be continued.)