Chapter 484: Bie Yanghong’s Attitude
Tang Thirty-Six was silent for a moment, then asked, “So Bie Yanghong is…?”
Su Moyu said, “My uncle.”
Tang Thirty-Six took a deep breath and asked again, “Wuqiong Bi?”
Su Moyu thought, do I even need to answer that?
“Of course, she’s my aunt.”
An awkward silence fell.
Tang Thirty-Six looked at him and said, “Can you tell us these things earlier in the future?”
Su Moyu replied, “No one ever asked me. I can’t just go up to everyone I meet and say, ‘My uncle is Bie Yanghong.’”
Chen Changsheng nodded. “That makes sense.”
Tang Thirty-Six glanced at him and said, “I haven’t even brought up how you hid your engagement with Xu Yourong from us back then, so don’t rush to find an ally.”
Then he turned back to Su Moyu. “Continue.”
“Back when my aunt was at the Li Palace Affiliated Academy, she and Archbishop Siyuan were as close as siblings, so she naturally took his side. Besides… she’s very protective of her own.” Since he was talking about his elders, Su Moyu’s expression was a bit awkward. “If my cousin really does end up fighting you, no matter who wins or loses, it won’t end well. Worst case, my aunt might even come to the capital.”
Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six exchanged a glance, then said in unison, “No need. You should write to your uncle immediately and tell him everything is fine here.”
Su Moyu said, “No need. My uncle already wrote me a letter.”
“What?”
“Otherwise, how would I have come out of the Mausoleum of Books?”
Thinking about the contents of that letter, Su Moyu felt a bit helpless. He thought, Uncle, you’re afraid of your wife, but do you think I’m not afraid of my aunt?
“My uncle told me to join the National Academy.”
He said, “So here I am.”
At this point, Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six finally understood the whole situation.
Bie Yanghong knew his wife supported the new faction of the state religion. Now, Bie Tianxin, representing the Li Palace Affiliated Academy, was challenging the National Academy. If he won, the Bie family would offend His Holiness the Pope, the Tang clan of Wenshui, and possibly even Su Li and the two saints in White Emperor City. But if he lost, his protective wife might come to the capital and stir up a storm.
He didn’t want that to happen. Perhaps because he supported the old faction of the state religion, or perhaps simply because he didn’t want to get involved in this turmoil. So he wrote a letter to Su Moyu, who was in the Mausoleum of Books, telling his closest nephew to leave early and join the National Academy, doing everything possible to resolve the matter quietly.
It had to be said, Bie Yanghong’s approach was very wise. While his wife stood with the new faction of the state religion, he had Su Moyu represent him in expressing goodwill to the other side—or at least a desire to calm things down. This way, given their status and strength as a couple, the Bie family wouldn’t be affected by the storm. The principle was: stay out of it, and you can stand proudly above the world. But this also made one thing very clear: Wuqiong Bi had obviously not consulted him about this matter beforehand, or at least hadn’t listened to his advice.
The Eight Storms, the loving couple—legend had it they were like a pair of immortals. But it turned out… they each had their own thoughts.
Thinking about this, Chen Changsheng couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional.
Tang Thirty-Six was much more direct. He looked at Su Moyu and asked, “Your uncle and aunt don’t get along very well, do they?”
The atmosphere turned cold again. Su Moyu just stared at him without speaking.
“Forget I said that.” Tang Thirty-Six smiled at him. “So, you’re the Bie family’s young master on the maternal side. No wonder that guy looked at you so strangely earlier. That makes sense—if the young master scolds a servant, would they dare fight back?”
Su Moyu corrected him seriously, “Even if he went all out, I could still beat him.”
Then he looked at Chen Changsheng and said with admiration, “You’re truly remarkable.”
Chen Changsheng felt a bit embarrassed.
Tang Thirty-Six had no such qualms. He threw an arm around Su Moyu’s shoulders and said, “Now it’s clear why your uncle wanted you in the National Academy. We’ve already taught the servant a lesson today. When your cousin comes to cause trouble in a couple of days, don’t you dare hide.”
Su Moyu thought, the words are right, the meaning is right, but why does everything sound so harsh when it comes out of your mouth? He really didn’t know how to respond. Looking at the quiet surroundings of the small building, he said, “This place is quite peaceful.”
“Regular students can’t come here. You saw that low wall earlier. But of course, you’re not a regular student. Xuanyuan Po already prepared your room yesterday. We’ll take you to see it in a bit. How about that? Pretty good treatment, right?”
Tang Thirty-Six thought of a coincidence and laughed. “You’re the Bie family’s young master, and this walled-off garden is called Bie Garden. Isn’t it fate that you had to transfer to our National Academy and live right here?”
Su Moyu hadn’t thought about any of that. He shook his head and said, “We’re all students. Enjoying privileges isn’t right.”
“He’s the dean, I’m the supervisor, Xuanyuan Po is the head of affairs, Zheshe’s position is arranged but the title isn’t decided yet, and Her Highness Luoluo is the lifelong honorary vice-dean. None of us are regular students. You can pick whatever position you want.”
“But I still think, since we’re all young people, why do we need a wall to separate us?”
“Because Chen Changsheng says he likes peace and quiet. I think this guy has too many secrets and is afraid of being found out.”
Hearing this, Chen Changsheng could no longer stay silent. He explained to Su Moyu, “You know, cultivation really does require quiet. If any new students successfully reach the Starfall realm, they can also move to Bie Garden. Also, if anyone makes it into the top three of the Grand Examination, they’ll be eligible to move in too. According to Tang Tang, it’s meant to be motivating.”
Su Moyu thought this sounded reasonable and asked, “How did everyone react?”
Having been used to leading his classmates at the Li Palace Affiliated Academy, he instinctively started thinking about these things on his first day at the National Academy.
Tang Thirty-Six looked toward the young students sitting or lying on the green grass by the lake in the distance and said, “They’re all students from prefectures, counties, or even rural areas, or invisible people who’ve been ignored by the Ivy Academies for too long. Just passing the Grand Examination prep course makes them want to thank the Star Sea and worship the Goddess. They wouldn’t dare dream of making the top three in the Grand Examination. As for breaking through to the Starfall realm… they haven’t even thought about it. So no one really cares what we say. They just think we’re dangling a carrot in front of them. Some even complain.”
Su Moyu thought about how Chen Changsheng had shocked the entire continent by breaking through to the Starfall realm during the Grand Examination finals, and how after that night of starlight at the Mausoleum of Books, reaching Starfall seemed to have become common. He glanced at Chen Changsheng and wondered how many people truly understood what benefits Chen Changsheng had brought to the younger generation of cultivators.
Tang Thirty-Six looked toward the grass and said, “I can understand why they think that way, but I still think they lack ambition. So the day before yesterday, I gathered them all together and gave them a good scolding.”
Chen Changsheng shook his head. He absolutely did not want to relive—or even recall—what happened that night. In his entire life, he had never seen anyone curse like Tang Thirty-Six.
Su Moyu strongly disapproved of this teaching philosophy. He shook his head and said, “Scolding people is wrong.”
“I didn’t use a single curse word. It was just like when you stopped us on the Li Palace Sacred Path back then.”
“The Li Palace Sacred Path, huh.” Su Moyu sighed, glanced at Chen Changsheng with a hint of apology.
“I told them that at this time last year, on the Li Palace Sacred Path, Chen Changsheng announced to the whole world that he would take first place in the Grand Examination. Back then, he hadn’t even succeeded in marrow cleansing. Everyone thought he was crazy. And what happened? He actually achieved what everyone thought was impossible.”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “So in this world, what’s truly impossible? What’s so great about the top three of the Grand Examination or breaking through to Starfall?”
Su Moyu thought for a moment and said, “That makes sense.”
The two of them escorted Su Moyu back to his room, told him to rest well, and then left.
Walking out of the small building, Tang Thirty-Six said very confidently, “There’s definitely something wrong with his uncle and aunt’s relationship.”
……
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(If there’s a problem, solve it. The 25th is getting closer and closer. I hope I can keep up the two-chapter pace for a little longer. I’ll try my best.)
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