In the end, the reason was the latter.
Xu You Rong raised her head to look at Chen Changsheng and asked, "Why aren't you eating?"
"Oh, I'm eating." Because of Tang Thirty-Six's influence in the past two years, Chen Changsheng had become much more talkative, but in front of her, he seemed to have returned to that honest young Daoist from Xi Ning Village. His words were extremely simple, his thoughts exceptionally pure, unable to conceal any of his emotions.
For example, he was somewhat confused right now, so when he picked up the chopsticks, he almost lost his grip. He stretched out his hand like the wind and caught the chopsticks in midair, but he pushed the Yellow Paper Umbrella to the side. Thus, the quarrel that was still going on at the kang table in front of them once again reached their ears.
"Last spring, when Little Principal Chen first entered the capital, he suffered such humiliation in the Divine General's estate. Afterwards, he was repeatedly suppressed. He was clearly extremely talented, his grades excellent, but he was forcibly removed from the enrollment list of all the schools. If not for His Holiness's secret protection, he probably wouldn't even have been able to enter the Orthodox Academy that had long since declined. All of you say that breaking off the engagement was a heartless act, but have you ever thought that if the Xu family had not been so shameless, how could this marriage have become like this? "
"What does this have to do with Miss You Rong? At the Ivy Festival, the White Crane returned north. In that letter, she had already acknowledged this engagement. Otherwise, how could just Chen Changsheng holding the marriage contract make the southern diplomatic mission speechless? Even if Chen Changsheng holds a grudge against the Divine General's estate, he has no reason to let Miss You Rong suffer such humiliation! "
"Hmph, Xu Shi Ji had always been unwilling to acknowledge this marriage. The people of the Divine General of the East's estate despise the poor and favor the rich. But now, Little Principal Chen is completely different, turning around and wanting to hug his thigh? Truly shameless to the extreme! All of you say that Little Principal Chen breaking off the engagement is a humiliation? In my view, this is just the Divine General of the East's estate humiliating itself! "
"But in the end, this matter has nothing to do with the Holy Maiden. Why should she have to bear all these rumors?"
"It can only be said that the Holy Maiden is unfortunate to be born in this sort of estate and to have such parents!"
… …
… …
The kang table in the corner became very quiet. The meat juice in the iron pot gurgled.
Chen Chang Sheng and Xu You Rong sat on either side of the kang. The atmosphere became heavy again.
It had been almost two years since he came to the capital. That engagement had long since spread throughout the continent. The humiliation and suppression that the Divine General of the East's estate had once given him, the change in attitude, and how he had transformed from a young Daoist priest from the countryside to the successor of the Orthodoxy were topics that everyone took delight in discussing.
The battle on the Bridge of Helplessness this morning seemed to be the final conclusion of this story, or perhaps the conclusion. However, it was not truly able to end everything. On the contrary, it pushed people's interest in this story to a peak. Presumably, just like the diners at that table, at this moment, in the countless family banquets in the capital, everyone was presumably discussing this matter.
He had never forgotten the humiliation he had received from the Divine General's Estate. He had also felt many emotions towards her when she was far away in the south. However, just as the guest had said, she had never truly harmed him in this matter. Yet, she now had to bear the ridicule and blame from the Divine General's Estate.
This might be a little unfair.
Chen Chang Sheng didn't know what to say.
"After all, they are my parents."
Xu Yourong's expression was very calm, as though she was not affected by those discussions. Her following words, however, took a sudden turn.
"I want to drink some wine."
"Okay."
Chen Chang Sheng had the innkeeper bring out two small jars of the best wine. He opened the clay seal on one of the jars and filled her bowl to seventy percent.
Xu Yourong softly expressed her thanks and opened the other jar of wine. She filled his bowl to the brim and then looked at him. "Tell me."
Chen Chang Sheng still didn't know what to say. After thinking it over, he looked at her beautiful face and hesitantly asked, "Face?"
"Some sort of technique from South Stream Temple."
"Oh."
After these two simple sentences, the kang once more fell silent.
Xu Yourong raised her bowl of wine and took a small sip. It was only a small sip, but her face slightly reddened.
"Don't tell anyone that we met in the Garden of Zhou."
"Why?"
When Chen Chang Sheng had heard her request on the Bridge of Helplessness, he had not understood. Now that he had confirmed that she really did not want anyone else to know about this matter, he became even more confused.
Xu Yourong did not directly answer his question. She softly said, "Hasn't the engagement already been annulled?"
This was a rumor that had been circulating in the capital for a very long time. It had never been acknowledged by the Tradition Academy or the Divine General of the East's estate. But as one of the parties involved in the engagement, she naturally knew that the rumor was not a rumor. It was something that had already happened.
Chen Chang Sheng did not speak for a very long time.
When the snowy wind on the bridge blew away the white gauze and he saw her eyes, that was the happiest moment of his sixteen years. Compared to when he memorized the last Daoist scripture in the old temple, found the Fated Star in the Tradition Academy, obtained first place on the first banner in the Grand Examination, and found Wang Zhi Ce's notebook in the Pavilion of Ascending Mist … … he was happier.
So she was still alive. She was her. She was his fiancée. Was there anything more bizarre than this in the world? Was there anything better than this?
When he was bathing in the small building of the Tradition Academy, he had already thought it over. He would go to the Li Palace and ask the Pope to repair the marriage contract. Then, he would bring Tang Thirty-Six and the others directly to the Imperial Palace to find her. If she agreed, he would directly propose to her.
He had never experienced love, but as long as he was sure that something was what he wanted to do, he would definitely do it with extreme seriousness and focus, seizing every minute.
But now, she was saying that this matter could not be told to anyone. Then how could he convince the Pope to rescind the decree annulling the engagement?
A month ago, he had worked extremely hard to finally annul this engagement.
Now, he realized that he very much needed this engagement.
Tang Thirty-Six was very right.
"I thought you were dead. Back then in the Garden of Zhou, I promised you that I would annul this engagement, so …"
He looked at Xu Yourong and said somewhat helplessly, "Since you knew it was me, why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Xu Yourong's expression was slightly cold. "In the Garden of Zhou, you lied to me. I was the one who discovered the truth, so why did I tell you?"
Chen Chang Sheng felt very innocent and asked, "When did I lie to you?"
"Don't tell me you're called Xu Sheng?"
"You are also not Lady Chujian."
"Why didn't you admit that you were Chen Chang Sheng?"
"Back then, why didn't you say that you were Xu Yourong?"
They looked into each other's eyes and practically asked this question at the same time.
Then they remembered that back then, in the snowy temple by the White Grass Path, when they announced their names for the first time, they also said two fake names at the same time … …
It was unknown what they were thinking at the time.
Chen Chang Sheng recalled his mood at the time. The main reason he didn't want her to know his identity was because he didn't want her to know that he had a world-famous fiancée. Perhaps Xu Yourong also thought this way at the time and didn't want him to know that she had a world-famous fiancée?
"Is it very embarrassing to have a fiancée like me?"
He looked at Xu Yourong and asked. He was somewhat serious, but also somewhat bitter and sad.
… …
… …
(After lying in bed for an entire day, the sky was dark … … I said that I wouldn't say the reason for taking a day off. Today, I didn't, so I said that my cold is a bit heavy. I wish everyone a happy holiday and good health.)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
