Chapter 860: Before and After the Sun Sets
Chen Changsheng had no idea why Tang Thirty-Six had come to the old residence, nor why he had played that game of cards with the old master.
It was only later, when Tang Thirty-Six stated his demands, that he finally understood.
Chen Changsheng had brought the Orthodoxy's people, risking danger to come to Wenshui City, and had put on the toughest stance to change Old Master Tang's mind.
Tang Thirty-Six had been released from the ancestral hall, while Second Master Tang had been locked away somewhere unknown.
If it had been an ordinary person, they would probably have felt grateful to Chen Changsheng and those people outside the house, then thought about how to repay them in the future. But Tang Thirty-Six was no ordinary person, and he didn't take the ordinary path. He understood very well that such a debt of gratitude could only be repaid with the Tang clan itself.
The old residence was very quiet.
The snow on the well's rim melted under the sunlight, trickling silently down the well wall.
Old Master Tang said expressionlessly, "If the Orthodoxy ultimately loses this war, no matter how well you understand the Tang clan, with no cards in your hand, how can you threaten me? Since you spent half a year thinking in the ancestral hall, you couldn't have failed to consider this. So, what exactly do you want?"
"I want Second Uncle dead, immediately, before the sun sets today."
Tang Thirty-Six looked Old Master Tang in the eye and said calmly, "And then I want the Tang clan to remain neutral in this war."
Old Master Tang was silent for a long time before saying, "If I say no, will those words in the files become real means in your hands?"
Tang Thirty-Six said, "Exactly."
Old Master Tang looked at the green bamboo tiles on the table, furrowing his brow slightly. "You really played this hand of cards terribly."
Tang Thirty-Six said, "Chen Changsheng and I are both young, and so are those few outside the house. Our card skills are naturally not as seasoned as yours. But we have the courage to flip the table at any time, because we can start a new game. You can't, because you're already old."
Old Master Tang suddenly looked at Tang Thirty-Six and said, "Have you ever considered that perhaps after yesterday, I was already preparing to make you the clan head?"
From a purely family interest perspective, after what happened yesterday, it now seemed that the best heir for the Tang clan was, of course, Tang Thirty-Six.
If Shang Xingzhou and the court won, Old Master Tang would still have enough time to change Tang Thirty-Six's views, or directly change the choice of clan head. If Chen Changsheng and the Orthodoxy won, Old Master Tang only needed to hand the Tang clan over to Tang Thirty-Six, and Wenshui City would remain unaffected.
Chen Changsheng hadn't thought about these matters. They were a bit complicated for him.
He wasn't good at dealing with the tangled affairs of the mortal world; he was only good at reading people.
Those days at the Orthodoxy Academy had made it very clear to him that Tang Thirty-Six didn't want to be clan head.
But Tang Thirty-Six must have thought about these issues. So why was his attitude so fierce today?
"Even if I become clan head, it's years away. What I care about more is the family's stance in the next few years."
Tang Thirty-Six said, "And a one-sided promise is never as solid as an agreement reached under mutual threat."
Old Master Tang said, "You don't trust me?"
Tang Thirty-Six said, "After everything that's happened, doesn't the word 'trust' sound ridiculous to you?"
"From the day you were born, you were my chosen next clan head of the Tang family. Don't forget, it was you, not your father! How much have I done to prepare you to take over? How much has the Tang clan sacrificed? And what's the result? You foolishly, because of so-called loyalty, insist on standing by his side!"
The more Old Master Tang spoke, the angrier he became, his voice rising. With his last sentence, he pointed directly at Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng silently moved aside, dodging that finger.
"Foolish loyalty? Without this loyalty, I'd still be playing dumb in the ancestral hall."
Tang Thirty-Six finally grew angry too, shouting, "If Chen Changsheng weren't my friend, I would have died three years ago!"
Old Master Tang glared at him and snapped, "Do you really think I would have killed you?"
Tang Thirty-Six sneered, "Of course you would have killed me. You'd just wash your hands clean, eat a few vegetarian feasts, and then believe yourself utterly innocent!"
This was the second time the word "vegetarian feast" had appeared in the Tang old residence.
Yesterday, news had come from the ancestral hall that Tang Thirty-Six had sent someone to the Rooster Cry Nunnery to order a vegetarian feast.
But the feast hadn't even been prepared before everything was already over.
Just like yesterday, upon hearing the word "vegetarian feast," Old Master Tang's face turned exceptionally ugly, and his hands trembled slightly.
No one knew how long passed before Old Master Tang finally calmed down and asked, "How did it taste?"
"That vegetarian feast was sent into the ancestral hall at night. It had already gone cold."
Tang Thirty-Six was silent for a moment, then said, "The taste was ordinary. It wasn't real meat, not as good as the old Cheng Lake House, nor as good as the Orthodoxy Academy's cafeteria."
Old Master Tang was silent for a long time before saying, "Is that so? After I die, I wonder if anyone will still be willing to eat it."
"Grandfather, this is our biggest difference."
In this long conversation today, Tang Thirty-Six finally uttered those two words for the first time.
But those two words didn't warm the atmosphere in the room; instead, they made it even colder, like his next words.
"Yes, to groom me as the Tang clan head, you've treated me extremely well these past twenty-odd years, and the family has sacrificed a lot. But have you ever considered… that none of this is what I wanted, nor what everyone in the family was willing to accept? Like the matter of the branches having no heirs!"
Tang Thirty-Six said angrily, "Yes, our Tang clan has innate cultivation talent and long lifespans. In the future, after you've lived a thousand years, when I fully take over the family, the branches can have as many children as they want. Those younger siblings will be much younger than me and can never threaten my position… but have you ever thought how ruthless this is?"
"That year, Fourth Aunt secretly conceived a child. Using her mother's illness as an excuse, she hid at her maternal home for five months, but you still found out. You forced Fourth Uncle to make her abort the child! Have you ever thought about how much pain Fourth Aunt suffered? Compared to that, the hostile looks the main branch receives are nothing!"
"As for the vegetarian feast from Rooster Cry Mountain… don't worry, because I'm not you."
Tang Thirty-Six looked at the old master with some disappointment, stood up, and walked out of the house.
Chen Changsheng also left.
Only Old Master Tang remained in the room.
He sat alone by the table, lost in thought.
Those green bamboo tiles lay quietly on the table, never to be touched again.
…
…
The dark clouds gathered again. The river at night was quiet and gloomy.
In the past, the river surface here would have been reflected with many lights.
Tang Thirty-Six sat by the river, staring at the pitch-black opposite bank, thinking about the days gone by.
Chen Changsheng was also there. Today, he had once again come to the Tang main branch's estate as a guest, not as the Pope, but as a friend.
Not long ago, news had come from the old residence: Old Master Tang had agreed to Tang Thirty-Six's demands. Whether it was because of that game of cards, or the young man's displayed willingness to flip the table, or perhaps just because of the vegetarian feast from Rooster Cry Nunnery.
Tang Thirty-Six suddenly asked, "Want to hear this story?"
Chen Changsheng said, "If you want to tell it."
…
…
(I was too busy this afternoon and forgot to update. Just this chapter today. I'll be heading back to Hubei tomorrow or the day after. There's a lot to do at home, so updates will slow down. Having maintained two chapters a day for a month has really improved my mental state, and I hope you've enjoyed it too. This is truly great. Thank you all. The slowdown is only for a few days. Once the journey ends and I'm home in Yichang, I'll definitely keep working hard.)