Ze Tian Ji

Shuang Er came back from her thoughts after a while.

She could tell that the young Taoist priest was not trying to sneer at her intentionally. Instead, he really didn’t take her words into consideration. Looking at his serious and calm expression, she felt her anger rising up within her.

She said angrily, “You will die.”

Chen Chang Sheng opened his eyes and said, “Everyone will die.”

Shuang Er said “You know that I didn’t mean it that way.”

Chen Chang Sheng said seriously, “Thank you for information me about the situation.”

Shuang Er’s face turned angrier by the second and said, “Lady wanted to annul the engagement, there definitely will be payback. Why do you have to get in a rage and tell her that you are coming to cancel the engagement? Did you do it so you can get your pride back? If you really decide based on your pride, it’s still fine but why did you change your mind at the last moment? Such att.i.tude is surely not pretty.”

“Actually….I am really coming to cancel the engagement, whether you believe or not. However, now I don’t want to cancel it anymore.”

“Why?”

Chen Chang Sheng tilted his head and pondered seriously. A smile gradually appeared on his immature face because he ascertained that he found a reason that could convince him and said, “Because….you guys never asked my name.”

“Why?”

Shuang Er did not understand.

“From entering the mansion to now, no matter the lady or you, never asked for my name.”

Chen Chang Sheng looked at her and said seriously “My name is Chen Chang Sheng. I know this name is really crude, but my master wished me to live a long life. (Chang Sheng means longevity in Chinese) The intention is really nice so I keep this name.”

After saying these words, his eyes became bright and his att.i.tude became decorous.

Shuang Er suddenly thought the ordinary young Taoist priest revealed some sort of l.u.s.ter. It was probably due to that serious temperament. After understanding his reasons, she no longer felt confsued or bewildered.

Ever since he entered the General’s Mansion, no one asked for his name. Although he was treated this way, he did not show any anger or humiliation. When he was talking to the lady or Shuang Er, he behaved politely all the time without lacking any courtesy. Even though he appeared slightly inflexible and old-fashioned, strangely the people who made him unhappy were the ones who were eventually worse off than him.

It’s not that he was good at making people unhappy, but he was seriously when doing the things he thought he should do. His decision to cancel the engagement felt right to him in that others can’t deny his choices that he makes. Because he people who made him unhappy weren’t able to ignore his decisions, they were left feeling worse than him.

Shuang Er lived in general’s mansion since she was a child. Because of her master, she had a high status. Even the general and Lady wouldn’t criticize her. Moreover, she never encountered the people like Chen Chang Sheng. Chen Chang Sheng made her feel insecure and she wasn’t used to it.Not sure if she wanted to convince Chen Chang Sheng or herself, she emphasized her tone and said,

“In the entire continent, only my Miss possessed blood of phoenix. She is unique!”

“My senior had a quote in his notes. I always thought it’s very rational, now I give it to you, hopefully you can understand it later on. He said: everyone in the world is unique.”

Chen Chang Sheng gave her a serious look.

…….

On the end of the long street there was a shabby stone arch bridge. Under the bridge was not Luo River, but instead was a small unnoticeable river. Chen Chang Sheng walked on the bridge and turned back to looked at the general’s mansion. He felt that the region was quite prosperous. Among the countless big houses, Xu mansion was the most outstanding one. He involuntarily shook his head.

After he went into the capital, he didn’t go visiting famous landscapes. He also didn’t have any urge to go see the Mausoleum of Knowledge. Instead, he simply cleaned up a bit on the side of the Luo River and walked directly to the general mansion. He wanted to cancel the engagement. He was really urgent. If he married the general mansion’s miss and he couldn’t cure his disease, he would be wasting her life. Why would he implicate her? Even if it was curable, it probably would still take many years.

He did not want to waste other’s youth out of goodwill, but he didn’t expect that he would face people’s supercilious looks, contempts, and laughs in the Xu mansion. Now he recalled that after he was ten, the temple had not receive her gifts anymore. The two sides stopped the interaction, which meant the opposite side had already had the intention of breaking the engagement. Today he came to the capital to actively cancel the engagement. This was originally a simple thing, a thing that both sides wanted but he didn’t expect to encounter such outcomes. Therefore he changed his mind on the spot.

He did not xiu xing and he was not a Taoist priest, but he read the scrolls of the way since childhood so he is deeply influenced by them. His destiny was gloomy from the start, therefore during his journey he chose to follow the will — The so called follow the will was basically to feel at ease. Traveling for so long to the capital to cancel the engagement was following the will. Not canceling the engagement was also following the will — The general’s mansion was impolite so he didn’t want them to feel at ease because then he wouldn’t feel at ease.

Of course, Chen Chang Sheng only wanted the general’s lady, who hide coldness behind her kind face, and the maid, whose eyes only looked at the sky, to feel urgent for a while. After a few days, he would still return the marriage contract. Life and death matters more than grudge, Miss Xu’s lifelong happiness was obviously more important than cold reception and supercilious looks he received. He still thought that way.

However, it was still not a happy event. Sometimes, Chen Chang Sheng himself would even forget that he was only a 14 year old boy but after all he was still a boy. He had his own pride so he would feel unhappy after being humiliated.

He walked down the stone bridge and bought two sesame seed cakes from a street shop. He squatted on the stones near the river and eat the cake while looking at the distant general’s mansion. He felt slightly sour. He knew where the feeling originated from, but he also knew that if he let such feeling overflow it would hurt his own health and would not help in solving the problem.

On the Luo River, the boats were like clouds. On the long street, opposite side of the river, there were wolf rides from the west. Even from a really far distance, people can still smell the rancid scent from the huge wolves’ mouths. There was a shadow flowing by the river surface. Looking up, he saw a horse with two white wings dragging a gorgeous wagon to the North. In the distant arrow tower, red eagles kept arriving and departing to transfer military info. In the farther green sky, there were more flying rides from the military, like the annoying dragonflies outside the temple…

This is the capital of the Zhou Dynasty. There were countless scenes that country people couldn’t imagine. Chen Chang Sheng was biting his sesame seed cake. Opening up his eyes, enjoying these pictures, and comparing them to what he read in the scroll of ways, he thought that maybe he could see the legendary creatures such as the turtle who carried stone pillars over 3000 years in the Li palace. He was not sure if there was still dragons in the imperial palace. He heard that the most n.o.ble and rare Golden Dragon had not show up in the secular world for several tens of thousands years. Would he get to see it in the future? Oh, there was also the phoenix….. Thoughts like these ran through his head while he ate.

Sesame seed cake smelled very good but very hard as well. It took some effort to eat it. Chen Chang Sheng originally thought that he had already forgotten about what he experienced in the general’s mansion and successfully got rid of the sour feelings, but after thinking about the word “phoenix,” he automatically recalled the phoenix blood that he heard today. He recalled the Xu mansion’s miss who own the phoenix blood, and recalled the gifts he received from many years ago….

He looked at the last piece of sesame seed cake in his hand. Dazed for a while, he put it into his mouth carefully chewed thirty two times. Swallowing it into his stomach, he took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and cleaned up the cake slags. He stood up and packed up before disappearing in the crowd.

He did not notice that in the corner not far away, there was an unimpressive wagon. At an unimpressive place on the wheel, there was a b.l.o.o.d.y phoenix symbol. Of course, even if he saw it he wouldn’t know that this label represented the Dong Yu general mansion — After Ms.Xu was born, the divine queen presented the b.l.o.o.d.y phoenix to the general mansion as a new symbol. This was high pride and some sort of declaration.

The warhorse, looking at the area under the bridge, that appeared cold in front of  the wagon had unicorn’s bloodline. Inside the wagon, the old lady’s eyes were also very cold, but there were also surprise, caution, and worry in her eyes.

After Chen Chang Sheng left the general mansion, she followed him. She didn’t know that after the youngster saw the Zhou capital he would appeared to be that calm. He didn’t look like an uneducated country child at all . That was because she didn’t know the youngster already  read countless books since he was very young. In the books he already saw countless landscapes and traveled countless miles.

………….

Xu Shi Ji sat in his book room. His enormously built body spread a slight scent of blood. Ten yards away from the window, the birds were hiding their heads beneath their wings and dared not to make any noise. The strong b.l.o.o.d.y presence proved the horrific power of this Great Zhou General but it also showed that he wasn’t in a good mood.

The reason for his irritated mood was the jade pendant on his table.

“When my father was still the prime minister, he was deeply trusted by the Divine Queen. He was sent by her to Mount. Tai to perform a ceremony for the dynasty. The demon race tried to sabotage the event by sending out Gong Yang Chun to a.s.sa.s.sinate my father and he was severely wounded. It was so bad that even the Pope couldn’t heal his wound. Only until a traveling Taoist traveled past Tai Shan City and healed his wound did he live. Therefore this marriage vow was made.

Lady Xu whispered, “Then that Taoist must have had some extraordinary skills.”

Xu Shi Ji raised his head and looked at the bright sky out of the window, “We live in a world with unlimited possibilities and countless heroes. That Taoist was regarded as a saint in the field of medication and healing. Of course he was extraordinary. Why else would father vow to marry Rong Er to his descendant?”

Lady Xu was nervous, “Right now the most important thing is that marriage vow…..If that Taoist has no background and isn’t some important figure, then this situation can be handled much smoother without many interruptions.”

Xu Shi Ji answered expressionlessly, “Teach the young Taoist a lesson.”

Lady Xu lowered her voice so low that if one didn’t listen carefully it couldn’t even be heard, “The young Taoist didn’t seem like a character to be fooled around. What if he stays on his ground? The Mausoleum of Knowledge is going to open next year and the Southern Saints are definitely going to send people here. I’m afraid that they are going to propose to the government. We can’t mess up during a time like this.”

Xu Shi Ji closed his eyes slightly like a tiger going to sleep, “Then just burn him into ashes and throw them into the river.”

The raining season was arriving soon and the water level of River Luo was about to rise. Ashes or bones, once they sunk into the river, they will all disappear in an instant.