Chapter 435: The Sun in the Spring Rain
Gradually, people began to emerge from the Mausoleum of Books with the morning light. Most of them were the top three scholars from this year's early spring Grand Court Exam. Those people naturally recognized Chen Changsheng, looked at him with slight surprise, then bowed in succession. That night, starlight fell, countless stele viewers broke through their realms, and dozens of fireworks bloomed in the Mausoleum of Books. Regardless of their personal feelings toward Chen Changsheng, everyone had to acknowledge his contribution and express their gratitude.
Chen Changsheng returned their bows, then looked back into the Mausoleum of Books.
After an unknown amount of time, Tang Thirty-Six finally came out. He had disheveled hair, his whole body reeked, his expensive clothes were covered in stains, and on his shoulder he carried a bedroll and a fur coat whose original color was no longer discernible. He no longer looked like the elegant young noble favored by countless maidens, but rather like a beggar who had just stolen some useless household items from some dilapidated mansion.
But the biggest change wasn't these things—it was his eyes.
His eyes were very bright.
His eyes had been bright before, but that was a clear, limpid brightness. Now, the brightness in his eyes, besides clarity, also held a sharp edge that even his filthy hair couldn't conceal.
"I almost didn't recognize you," Chen Changsheng said, looking at him.
"More handsome?" Tang Thirty-Six raised an eyebrow, his expression unspeakably frivolous.
Chen Changsheng thought, *Sure enough, this version of you is easier to identify.* He shook his head and said, "Dirty."
As he spoke, he very subtly and naturally took a step back, putting some distance between himself and Tang Thirty-Six.
Tang Thirty-Six tossed the bedroll and fur coat to Xuan Yuan Po, then laughed loudly and stepped forward to embrace him.
Xuan Yuan Po looked at the stinking bedroll and fur coat in his hands, his face full of helplessness.
There was no helplessness on Chen Changsheng's face, because he was covering his face with his hand, avoiding smelling or touching anything dirty.
Tang Thirty-Six released him and asked smugly, "See any change in me?"
Chen Changsheng looked him over very seriously from head to toe and asked, "Did your family in Wenshui cut off your money? Are you starting to learn to be self-reliant?"
Tang Thirty-Six said, "What kind of talk is that?"
Chen Changsheng pointed at the bedroll in Xuan Yuan Po's arms and said, "If this were the old Tang Tang, how could he have carried out the bedroll that Mr. Xun used for decades?"
"You don't know shit. This is a commemorative item."
Chen Changsheng thought, *What is there to commemorate?*
"Commemorating our time watching steles and comprehending the Dao in the Mausoleum of Books."
Tang Thirty-Six turned to look at that green mountain tomb, saying with emotion, "You guys who coveted the treasures of the Zhou Garden and couldn't complete your own stele-viewing time—how could you possibly understand this?"
Chen Changsheng didn't know how to respond, so he said, "Looks like you had a good time in the Mausoleum of Books."
"Pretty good. A few days ago, I barely managed to enter the upper level of Tongyou."
When he said the words "upper level of Tongyou," he deliberately kept his expression plain and his tone flat, but both Chen Changsheng and Xuan Yuan Po could hear his smugness and pride.
Chen Changsheng remembered that when he left the Mausoleum of Books, Tang Thirty-Six had just broken through to Tongyou not long ago. Now, in just a few months, he had crossed two thresholds and cultivated to the upper level of Tongyou. He certainly had the right to be smug and proud. But he thought that given this guy's personality, he definitely wouldn't be able to keep up this understated act. Sure enough, the next moment, Tang Thirty-Six broke character, turned to him, and said with animated excitement, "Fuck, you have no idea. I can now school Guan Feibai anytime I want!"
Breaking through cultivation realms was extremely difficult. To break through three realms in such a short time was even more unimaginable. Tang Thirty-Six's excitement was understandable, but Chen Changsheng found it hard to share his enthusiasm. Looking at Chen Changsheng's calm face, Tang Thirty-Six remembered that he and everyone else who had gained opportunities from watching steles in the Mausoleum of Books owed it all to the starlight Chen Changsheng had brought that night. He couldn't help feeling a bit embarrassed and said, "Of course, I have to thank you for that. But in the end, it's still because my talent is high enough."
Chen Changsheng gave a relatively objective conclusion: "Mainly because you stopped slacking off after joining the National Academy."
This was also what the wise old man of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion had said in his review on the Azure Cloud Ranking.
Tang Thirty-Six had nothing to say to that, so he just said, "Aren't you going to congratulate me?"
"Congratulations," Chen Changsheng said without any sincerity, then looked into the Mausoleum of Books and asked with confusion, "What about Gou Hanshi and the others? Why haven't they come out yet?"
Liang Xiaoxiao and Qi Jian had left the Mausoleum of Books early to enter the Zhou Garden. Among the Li Mountain disciples, Gou Hanshi, Liang Banhu, and Guan Feibai, like Tang Thirty-Six, had stayed in the Mausoleum of Books to continue watching steles and comprehending the Dao. Although the state religion didn't require stele viewers to leave at any specific time, Chen Changsheng thought that since so many people had finished, they should have come out too. But he had been watching for a long time and still hadn't seen those three figures.
Tang Thirty-Six said, "We originally agreed to leave the Mausoleum of Books together, but I don't know what urgent matter came up at Li Mountain. They left early last night."
Chen Changsheng thought, *So that's how it is.*
Seeing his expression, Tang Thirty-Six asked with slight surprise, "Do you know what happened at Li Mountain?"
Chen Changsheng hummed in acknowledgment. Of course, he knew that something major had happened at Li Mountain.
If it weren't truly a major event, no one would usually disturb the stele viewers in the Mausoleum of Books. Tang Thirty-Six was somewhat shocked and asked, "What happened?"
Chen Changsheng signaled Xuan Yuan Po to throw the sour, stinking bedroll and fur coat onto the cart and said to Tang Thirty-Six, "Let's talk about it when we get back."
Tang Thirty-Six suddenly remembered something. He reached into the bedroll, fumbled around for a while, and pulled out a letter and a notebook. He handed them to Chen Changsheng and said, "Gou Hanshi asked me to give these to you."
Chen Changsheng recognized Xun Mei's notes. They had helped him avoid many detours during his stele-viewing and Dao-comprehending process and had also helped the young men who had once lived under the same roof.
The letter was from Gou Hanshi. Its content was ordinary, saying that he had to leave the capital early and couldn't meet in person, so he was sending his regards through this letter. He said that the mountains were high and the rivers long, and surely they would meet again someday.
Tang Thirty-Six looked at the letter paper and said mockingly, "Looks like our friends from Li Mountain still aren't convinced."
Chen Changsheng said, "Why can't you think well of people? Gou Hanshi didn't mean what you're implying."
Tang Thirty-Six suddenly said, "I heard... you're now the dean of the National Academy?"
Chen Changsheng hesitated for a moment, then said, "It seems... yes."
The rumor was confirmed. Tang Thirty-Six was silent for a while, then looked at Chen Changsheng and said earnestly, "Your status and position are different now. You can't be as naive and childish as before."
As he spoke, he reached out and patted Chen Changsheng's shoulder.
Chen Changsheng glanced at the dirty hand on his shoulder and couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. He didn't argue with him.
As the saying goes, after seeing the vast sea and the towering mountains, all else seems insignificant. Even Su Li had lost to him in this matter, so beating this guy was hardly worth boasting about.
Back at Hundred Flowers Lane, the carriage stopped. Tang Thirty-Six, feeling a bit uncomfortable seeing the priests of the Orthodoxy bowing to Chen Changsheng, jumped off the carriage and went into the small shop outside the lane entrance.
Xuan Yuan Po took the carriage, carrying Tang Thirty-Six's tattered belongings, and returned to the National Academy first.
Chen Changsheng followed Tang Thirty-Six, watching him buy two fried dough sticks and a bowl of soy milk, eating and drinking as he walked into the lane.
Even though it was the simplest and most common food, Tang Thirty-Six ate with great relish, shaking his head and looking utterly delighted.
"Is it really that good?" Chen Changsheng was genuinely curious.
Tang Thirty-Six said, "You don't know. In the Mausoleum of Books, other things were fine, but the food was terrible. Especially after you and Qi Jian left... Fuck, does that idiot Guan Feibai even know how to cook? I actually started missing Xuan Yuan Po's cooking. I even thought the food at the National Academy was better than the full banquet at Chenghu Tower. How tragic is that?"
Chen Changsheng thought, *That really is tragic.* He imagined the cold, violent Guan Feibai cutting cured meat and stir-frying green peppers in that small courtyard and couldn't help shaking his head, finding it hard to imagine.
Tang Thirty-Six dunked the remaining half of his fried dough stick into the pale yellow soy milk and asked, "Want a bite?"
Chen Changsheng looked at his fingers dipping into the soy milk, remembered the dirt under his fingernails from earlier, and quickly waved his hand, saying, "No thanks."
Tang Thirty-Six was quite disdainful and said, "Fuck, do you even know how to live?"
Chen Changsheng said helplessly, "I know you were holding back all those years pretending to be a refined young master, and this is your true nature now. But... can you curse a little less? It's really grating to hear."
Tang Thirty-Six readily accepted the advice. He raised the bowl of soy milk as if offering it to the heavens, faced the sun that was gradually being covered by clouds, and said, "Sun."
Amidst their joking, cursing, and eating, the two entered Hundred Flowers Lane. They immediately saw Zhou Ziheng standing there, holding a paper umbrella.
Suddenly, the sun in the sky was completely blocked by dark clouds, and raindrops began to fall, landing on the paper umbrella that seemed too fragile to withstand the wind.
This scene was very subtle, and there was an indescribable mystery to it.
Zhou Ziheng seemed to have anticipated the arrival of the raindrops, which represented a certain level of attainment, showing that he had begun to glimpse the Dao of heaven and earth.
But looking at this scene, Chen Changsheng first thought, *Why didn't you hold an umbrella when it rained the day before yesterday?* Then he remembered the challenge letter—this man wanted to challenge the National Academy on behalf of the Ancestral Temple.
Tang Thirty-Six, however, was completely indifferent to the scene. He didn't know who this tall, thin man was. He was a bit annoyed by the sudden disappearance of the sun, but remembering Chen Changsheng's words, he didn't say anything except, "Excuse me, could you move aside?"
With that, he walked forward.
Zhou Ziheng didn't move aside. He didn't even look at him.
In his eyes, this stinking, ragged young man simply didn't exist.
He looked at Chen Changsheng and said, "Have you made your decision?"
Chen Changsheng said, "I've decided. I'll give you my answer."
Zhou Ziheng smiled and said, "Are you going to keep deliberating forever?"
That smile was infuriating, carrying a faint hint of sarcasm and mockery.
Tang Thirty-Six was stunned. He never imagined that in the Great Zhou Dynasty, there would still be someone who dared to speak to him and Chen Changsheng like this at the gate of the National Academy.
"Who's this guy?" he asked Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng said, "Zhou Ziheng."
Tang Thirty-Six had never heard the name. "Zhou Ziheng? Who's that?"
Zhou Ziheng was slightly angered, thinking that Chen Changsheng and this beggar-like fellow were deliberately using this conversation to humiliate him.
Tang Thirty-Six turned around, looked at Zhou Ziheng, and asked, "I said, who the hell are you?"
Zhou Ziheng said expressionlessly, "Zhou Ziheng of the Zhechong Hall."
Tang Thirty-Six looked at him and asked, "Are you famous?"
Zhou Ziheng didn't know how to answer that question.
"Ridiculous."
Tang Thirty-Six looked at him like he was an idiot, then turned to Chen Changsheng and said, "You need to understand your current status. Someone I've never even heard of—why bother with him? Does he even deserve it?"
With that, he walked past Zhou Ziheng with his soy milk and fried dough sticks, heading deeper into the lane.
Zhou Ziheng lowered his head and took a deep breath.
Tang Thirty-Six stopped.
The rain suddenly became chaotic, then fell again like willow leaves.
Zhou Ziheng appeared in front of Tang Thirty-Six, blocking his path.
Hundred Flowers Lane fell silent.
Tang Thirty-Six looked at him and calmly said four words.
"Idiot, move aside."
At this moment, Tang Thirty-Six was covered in filth, stinking to high heaven, his clothes in tatters. He really looked like a beggar. But his aura was like that of a prince.
Because he wasn't a beggar at all. He was the richest prince in this world.
He was richer than Princess Pingguo, Luoluo, and Nanke—all the real princesses combined.
So when he said those four words, his arrogance reached an unimaginable level.
Arrogance could be unimaginable? Yes, because this wasn't the arrogance of bluster, but the confidence of substance.
It was a confidence that couldn't be cultivated without a thousand years of foundation.
Zhou Ziheng narrowed his eyes, looking at Tang Thirty-Six, killing intent gradually rising.
But in the end, he didn't make a move.
Because Chen Changsheng was watching him.
Many Orthodoxy priests were also watching him.
And most alarmingly and confusingly, from the Imperial Guard, who should have been on his side, a violent, undisguised killing intent suddenly arose.
He knew very well that if he really made a move, that killing intent would tear him to pieces in the next moment.
He didn't understand why. His hands began to tremble slightly.
Tang Thirty-Six walked past him again, holding a bowl of soy milk in his left hand and a fried dough stick in his right, still not looking at him even once.
The curtain of rain slowly fell, landing on the paper umbrella, silent and soft.
From deep within Hundred Flowers Lane came the sound of Tianhai Yaren's cursing.
Hearing those filthy words, Tang Thirty-Six's expression turned somewhat unpleasant.
When he reached the gate of the National Academy, he saw Tianhai Yaren sitting in a wheelchair, cursing nonstop at the gate.
"Chen Changsheng, you..."
"If you've got the guts, come hit me!"
Tang Thirty-Six walked behind Tianhai Yaren. He didn't stop him but listened carefully.
Many Orthodoxy priests, Imperial Guards, and Kyoto citizens who had heard the news were watching this scene.
In Hundred Flowers Lane, the rain was like mist.
Chen Changsheng asked, "What are you doing?"
Tang Thirty-Six said, "Recalling my life."
Tianhai Yaren heard the voice, turned his head, and his expression changed slightly.
Chen Changsheng asked with confusion, "What kind of life?"
"I seriously recalled my life," Tang Thirty-Six said with emotion. "...Fuck, I've really never heard such a cheap request before."
...
...
(I've said I like him. He's my good friend.)