The street below the inn fell silent for a moment. The pedestrians and peddlers raised their heads, looking in astonishment at the place where the shout had come from. They saw Chen Changsheng, and then they heard his next words.
"I am Chen Changsheng. Su Li is in the room behind me. Whether you want to kill him or save him, those who want to come, hurry up and come. "
Just like the previous words, these words similarly drifted through the bright and beautiful spring sunshine of Xunyang City, drifting extremely quickly and extremely far. Presumably, they would very quickly leave the city and travel to various parts of the continent. Countless gazes fell on the window of the inn, fell on Chen Changsheng's face. The streets of Xunyang City continued to be quiet for a while, and then they were broken by a cacophony of noise, ushering in a flurry of soldiers and horses!
There was the sound of porcelain bowls shattering into eighteen pieces on the ground, the sound of windows being roughly slammed shut, the sound of sobbing shouts, the confused and childish questions of a child, the sound of parents scolding and beating, the sound of horses galloping into the distance, and even the faint rumble of the heavy city gate closing could be heard in the distance!
In just a few moments, the pedestrians and peddlers on the streets of Xunyang City had all disappeared. The long street became empty, leaving only the waste paper used to wrap oil cakes floating on the street, as well as a few wisps of dust drifting over from the distant city gate. Xunyang City seemed to instantly become an empty city — not every empty city was a trap. Sometimes, an empty city meant that it was a dead city, or perhaps it would soon become a dead city.
Chen Changsheng stood by the window, gazing at the quiet and deserted street, listening to the sounds of people gradually fading away, looking at those timidly peeping eyes through the cracks in the tightly closed doors. He was stunned speechless. He could not understand. He had only shouted that Su Li was here, so why had it caused such a large disturbance? Vaguely, he felt that he had done something wrong, or perhaps he had still underestimated this matter.
In the deep spring of Xunyang City, the wind passing through the streets and alleys should have been slightly warm, but at this moment, the furnaces on the side of the street had already been extinguished and there was no sign of human habitation, so this wind became a little chilly. Chen Changsheng subconsciously closed the window again and turned his head to look. He saw Su Li sitting on a chair, somewhat helplessly and somewhat tauntingly asking, "Scared?"
Chen Chang Sheng's voice was a bit nervous, "It's just a gamble."
At some point, Su Li's left hand had grasped the Yellow Paper Umbrella. His right hand lightly tapped on the armrest of the chair. Looking into his eyes, he said, "Then I can tell you right now, you … have lost the bet."
…
…
Su Li was here. These four words spread with unimaginable speed throughout Xunyang City. Not even the fastest Red Falcons or Red Geese of the Great Zhou Army were able to intercept this news. Xunyang City was deathly still, but behind this deathly silence was true chaos. The bowls and plates of countless ordinary people had suffered a calamity, countless people had sprained their feet.
The place with the most tense atmosphere was naturally the inn that Su Li and Chen Changsheng were in. At the same time, this inn was also the source of this chaos. The guests eating had fled as fast as they could, and many of the guests staying in the inn had disappeared along with the stream of people without even bothering to take their luggage. Even the owner of the inn and the waiters had already stealthily slipped away.
At this moment, the inn was completely silent. There were overturned tables and chairs everywhere. It was a scene of complete disorder. Only at the counter against the wall stood an accountant. That accountant's eyebrows were hung upside down, making him seem rather wretched. The long gown he wore had been washed extremely clean, but it made him seem even more wretched. Perhaps it was because he was too wretched, but he was reluctant to part with this job. Even now, he had not left the inn. He still stood behind the counter, fiddling with the abacus and calculating the accounts.
The news had already spread, so people naturally began to arrive one after another. What made Chen Changsheng somewhat happy was that the first to arrive were people from the Orthodoxy.
The bishop of Xunyang City was the northernmost bishop of the Orthodoxy in the continent. He had an extremely high status and an extremely heavy authority. The current bishop of Xunyang City was called Hua Jiefu, and he was the Pope's trusted aide. As a result, his status in Xunyang City, and even in the entire Tianliang County, was extremely revered. Whether it was the Lord of Xunyang City or that princely estate, he very rarely had to personally pay a visit. However, today, he had to personally come to this inn, and the attitude he displayed made the entire Xunyang City somewhat uncomfortable.
Hua Jiefu did not allow the several dozen accompanying priests to enter the inn. He stood in front of the stone steps, tidied up his red clothes, and then walked in alone. He appeared very low-key, even faintly humble. If Su Li were not heavily injured and did not have long to live, this respect would naturally have been given to him. However, right now, this respect was given to Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng was currently the Principal of the Orthodox Academy. Using Archbishop Mei Lisha's words, within the Orthodoxy, besides the Pope, he did not need to bow to anyone. On the contrary, others should bow to him. It was just that a cardinal of noble status respectfully bowing to him still made him feel very uncomfortable, and he subconsciously leaned his body to the side.
Hua Jiefu straightened his body, not even glancing at the tightly shut door to his side. He said to Chen Changsheng, "We just received the news that Sir was still alive, but we were unable to confirm it. Seeing Sir today is truly a joyous matter. I believe that once this news reaches the capital, His Holiness will also be very happy. Countless people in the capital will raise their heads in anticipation of Sir's return."
He did not finish speaking, but his words were already straightforward enough. The archbishop got straight to the point and invited Chen Changsheng to leave Xunyang City. If Chen Changsheng agreed, the Church of Xunyang City would undoubtedly dispatch a powerful escort, and even Hua Jiefu would personally escort him.
Chen Changsheng gazed at the tightly shut door. After a moment of silence, he said, "You know, right now, I am in a bit of trouble."
"I admit that this gentleman is truly an enormous trouble, perhaps even the greatest trouble in the last several hundred years." Hua Jiefu glanced at the door and said, "But this is not Sir's trouble, nor is it the Orthodoxy's trouble. If Sir insists on staying in this inn, this trouble will only get bigger and bigger, until it gets so big that even I have no way of resolving it."
Chen Changsheng asked, "Then … when will this trouble appear?"
Hua Jiefu replied, "Very soon. Moreover, news has come from the capital that someone from Scholartree Manor might have come to the north. For the time being, we cannot confirm his identity, but we can confirm that he is a great trouble."
Chen Changsheng fell silent for a while, then asked, "Can I not bring Sir Su with me to the capital?"
Hua Jiefu did not need to think. He straightforwardly said, "The Li Palace has not said anything."
Chen Changsheng fell silent once more, understanding what he meant. From the time he had encountered those two assassins and Xue He until now, a period of time had already passed. The Li Palace had assuredly known about him and Su Li, but they had only requested the subordinate Church to escort Chen Changsheng back to the capital. They had not mentioned a single word about Su Li. This already represented the Li Palace's stance.
"I might have to wait in the inn for a while longer."
"We will definitely protect Sir's safety, but we cannot protect this mister just because Sir wants to protect this mister in the room. Sir should understand that this is not a fair matter."
"Yes."
Chen Changsheng looked at Hua Jiefu and said, "So you can pretend that you don't know that I am in Xunyang City."
Hua Jiefu replied, "But Sir is in Xunyang City, and how long does Sir want to stay? In the end, every person's troubles have to be resolved by themselves, not to mention that mister himself is a problem. "
Chen Changsheng thought it over, then said, "I want to wait for someone from the Mount Li Sword Sect to come, or … someone he trusts who has the ability to protect him."
Hua Jiefu sighed, "Everyone knows that Su Li has never trusted anyone … he has no friends, not a single one. If Sir wants to wait for such a person to appear, how long will you wait?"
"Perhaps … but I always feel that there should be someone willing to help him."
Saying this, Chen Changsheng turned around and walked back into the room.
Hua Jiefu suddenly said from behind him, "Sir probably does not know … something has happened outside the Garden of Zhou. Sir really needs to return to the capital as quickly as possible to resolve it."
Chen Changsheng stopped and asked, "What is it?"
Hua Jiefu replied, "Liang Xiaoxiao is dead."
Chen Changsheng had not expected to hear this sort of news. After staring blankly for a while, he asked, "He was a spy of the demons. Who killed him?"
Hua Jiefu's expression was rather complicated. "He said that he was killed by Sir."
Chen Changsheng was very shocked. "He said that? I killed him? "
"Yes. Although he did not say anything before he died, everyone knew what he meant." Hua Jiefu looked into his eyes and said, "He died under the last move of the Mount Li Sword Style. In the Garden of Zhou, only Qi Jian and Sir know this sword style."
Chen Changsheng was stunned, unable to understand what was going on.
Hua Jiefu finally said, "Liang Xiaoxiao said that Sir and Zhexiu were spies of the demons. Zhexiu … has already been sent to Zhou Prison."
Hearing this, Chen Changsheng fell silent for a very long time. He knew that he had to return to the capital as quickly as possible, but how could he leave now? He gazed at the tightly shut door and felt that it was very troublesome.
… …
… …
(The Spring Festival has not yet passed, so the holiday has ended. I wish everyone a happy new year. I have just begun to resume my work, so I need to slowly find my state. The number of updates won't be too many. Last month, I am still quite a ways off from the promised eighty thousand characters. This month, I will make up for it. The new year will bring a new atmosphere. Although … I can't do it, I still need to work harder. I once again wish everyone a happy new year.)
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