Chapter 837: Old Mansion, Ancient Well, Pickled Vegetables and Thin Porridge
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Facing him was a very simple wooden door.
But the stone eaves above the door were crafted with great care and extravagance, even more exaggerated than the door itself, lined with countless plaques from top to bottom.
Chen Changsheng looked up and vaguely recognized many familiar inscriptions.
Those inscriptions belonged to emperors of past dynasties and popes of past generations.
There were emperors of the Zhou Dynasty, emperors of the previous dynasty, and even more ancient ones—names of emperors he had only read about in books.
He was even more familiar with the names of those popes, and he noticed that the pope at the very bottom was none other than his own grandmaster.
The emperor ranked at the bottom was Emperor Taizong.
Neither the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress nor the previous pope was present.
Clearly, before the old man in the Tang family’s old mansion had passed away, the previous pope, who was of the same generation, and the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress, whom he disliked, had not yet earned the right to leave their marks.
The old Tang family elder stood to the side, his expression unchanged, showing no sign of urging him on.
For these old members of the Tang family, such a scene had played out countless times over the past countless years.
This was the true foundation of the Tang family—because all of this was visible history, incredibly real, even feeling somewhat tangible.
Suddenly, snow began to fall from the sky. The snowfall was not heavy, drifting around the old mansion.
Chen Changsheng pulled out an old umbrella from somewhere, opened it, and walked toward the courtyard.
Seeing that old umbrella, the old Tang family elder’s expression finally shifted slightly. His eyes narrowed, but it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
The main gate of the old mansion was simple, and the main courtyard was the same. Smooth bluestone paved the ground, washed by countless years of wind and rain, trodden by countless feet, polished like a mirror. When you walked on it, it was hard not to imagine that Emperor Taizong had once walked the same path, that the bluestone you were stepping on might have been stepped on by Zhou Dufu, that the old well you saw might have had its water drunk by Wang Zhice, and when Su Li walked into that small courtyard back then, did he bring an umbrella?
The old Tang family elder stopped at the courtyard gate.
Chen Changsheng, holding the old umbrella, stepped onto the stone steps, arrived at the front of the house, and looked inside.
Inside and outside the house were separated by a high threshold.
He stood outside the threshold.
The old man was inside the threshold.
In truth, the man’s hair was completely white, but he didn’t actually look old.
It was just that his gaze was like the ancient well in the courtyard—as if nothing in the world could stir a ripple in it.
Was this the Tang Old Master?
……
……
For a thousand years, the most mysterious figure on the entire continent was, of course, the demon army’s strategist, Black Robe.
To many people, the Tang Old Master of Wenshui City was equally mysterious.
The world only knew that the Tang Old Master was the richest man on the continent, far surpassing even the Heavenly Mechanism Elder during his lifetime.
The world also knew that the Tang Old Master was one of the most powerful men on the continent, so much so that even the Heavenly Sea Holy Empress could do nothing about him.
The world also knew that the Tang Old Master was the longest-lived man on the continent, with people having seen him as far back as the reign of Emperor Taizu.
But no one knew exactly how much money the Tang Old Master had, what terrifying power he wielded, or how old he truly was.
And even to this day, no one knew the true level of the Tang Old Master’s cultivation.
The Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion had failed to uncover it back then, and even if they had, they wouldn’t have dared to speak of it.
After becoming the family head, the Tang Old Master had never fought anyone again, and it had been several hundred years since then.
Some analyzed that the Tang Old Master must have long since stepped into the sacred domain, but simply didn’t care about or need worldly fame, so the world remained ignorant. Otherwise, how could he have held up the sky over Wenshui City, how could he have stood as an equal to the sages, and why would most of the Eight Directions Winds bow to him as a junior?
Of course, many opposed this view, believing that the Tang family’s transcendent status on the continent came from their unimaginable wealth and deeply rooted power, and that the Tang Old Master was merely skilled at managing the family, not as powerful as people imagined.
Whichever conjecture it was, it remained just that—a conjecture—and it seemed it would never be proven.
Still, no one knew what kind of person the Tang Old Master truly was.
Except for some old folks in Wenshui City and a few descendants in the Tang family’s old mansion, no one even knew what the Tang Old Master looked like.
Back at the National Academy in the capital, Chen Changsheng had heard Tang Thirty-Six talk about the Tang Old Master many times. In Tang Thirty-Six’s accounts, his grandfather was a kind, amusing old man who liked to hold his only grandson on his knee and tell him stories of the past.
The demon moon traveled through cotton-like clouds, and the wind blew the sails, making them look at night like stars strung together on a rope.
Scenery changed constantly, and people naturally had many facets, and they changed too.
The grandfather in Tang Thirty-Six’s eyes could not possibly be the real Tang Old Master, or at least not the complete Tang Old Master.
Moreover, now the Tang Old Master had another grandson.
……
……
A few years ago, when Chen Changsheng went to Hanqiu City, he had passed through Wenshui. The Tang Old Master had sent him a gift but had not seen him.
Today was his first time seeing the Tang Old Master, and even he couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous.
But he didn’t show it.
He calmly shook the snow off the old umbrella, put it away, and leaned it against the wall, then stepped over the threshold and entered the house.
Whether in his movements or his expression, he was very natural, as if he were coming home.
The Tang Old Master was even more natural, because this was, after all, his home.
The Tang Old Master was eating thin porridge, savoring it with audible sounds.
On the table, besides the pot of porridge, there were several small dishes of pickled vegetables, all looking very ordinary.
Before long, the Tang Old Master finished the porridge in his bowl, picked up a towel to wipe his mouth, and said to him, “There’s a saying: ‘When the old master drinks thin porridge, it’s shameless and low-class.’ I’ve been paying more attention to my health lately, just to avoid living up to that saying.”
Chen Changsheng was stunned for a moment before he understood the meaning of those words.
He glanced at the remaining white porridge in the pot, thought for a moment, and said, “If you want to strengthen your teeth, you can’t eat too hard food, but eating porridge for every meal isn’t right either.”
The Tang Old Master put the towel back on the table and said, “Who wants to live forever? Why would I drink thin porridge every day? This is just breakfast.”
Chen Changsheng didn’t follow that line of conversation and said, “For health, it’s excellent to cook millet or oatmeal porridge for breakfast; rice porridge can actually be hard on the stomach.”
The Tang Old Master looked at him twice and asked, “Are you very skilled in these matters?”
Chen Changsheng replied calmly, “My medical skills might not be as good as my master’s, but in health preservation, he is inferior to me.”
The Tang Old Master looked at him and said, “Since you admit your medical skills are not as good as your master’s, why did you come to see me and offer to treat my cold?”
Chen Changsheng said, equally calmly, “Healing the sick and saving lives is what a physician should do, and as the Pope, I should do it even more.”
The Tang Old Master’s expression remained unchanged and said, “Do you think your master isn’t qualified to heal the sick and save lives?”
Chen Changsheng’s expression also remained unchanged and said, “Without the right name, words lack authority; without authority, deeds are hard to accomplish.”
This sentence was very interesting. If Prince Xiang and the others had heard it, they would have spent a long time savoring it, trying to extract more meaning from it.
[It’s almost 515, and I hope to continue making a push for the 515 Red Envelope List. By May 15th, the red envelope rain will give back to readers and promote the work. Even a single coin is love, and I will definitely keep updating well!]