LATEST UPDATES

Way of Choices - Chapter 1

Published at 6th of January 2016 01:02:24 PM


Chapter 1

If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again




I changed my mind

 

“What kind of youngster is he?”

“Very firm. He sat for half an hour without changing his pose. He took only one drink at the very beginning likely for the sake of courtesy and hasn’t done so since. On his first drink, he merely touched the cup with his lip. It seems like he is not acting with restraint but rather, he is acting with caution. He shows deep thoughts, an alert mind and even a degree of animosity.”

“He seems to be a smart person, at least not stupid…how old is he?”

“Fourteen.”

“I also remember he should be this old.”

“Yet his maturity makes him seem older than he really is.”

“Just a normal person?”

“Yes…his presence of  Qi is ordinary. He hasn’t even experienced purification. Though we can’t tell his potential, he is already fourteen so even if he starts xiu xing again, it is unlikely that he will have a really bright future ahead of him.”

“Even if he has a bright future, how can he compare to the disciple of Longevity Sect’s head?”

“Miss, is that marriage contract real?”

“The authenticating object is real so the marriage contract is real.”

“How can our elder…..arrange such a marriage for miss?”

“If the elder had not died, maybe you would be able to obtain the answer …. open the door, I am going to see him.”

Along with a sound, the door slowly opened. The sun shined into the room and lit up all the corners, the lady’s pretty face and the half piece of jade pendant in her hand. The nanny who spoke to her before stood in the corner and was entirely hidden by the shade. It took some effort to see her.

With the nanny’s support, the lady walked towards the outside of the room. She walked slowly like a thin willow whisked by the wind. The expensive gold hair clip in her hair and the pendant on her clothes did not make any sound which appeared to be somewhat strange.

The yard was very dark. In the grassland, there was a tree so huge that even ten people couldn’t encircle it. At the two sides of the road, there were no maids or servants. Far away, though faintly, you could see people kneeling down. The atmosphere around was very heavy, like the cold weapons exhibited in the parlor.

The master of this mansion was the great Zhou Dynasty’s well accomplished Yu Dong General Xu Shi Ji. The general managed the mansion like he did his troops. The mansion had always been quiet and serious and because of the event that occurred today, all of the maids and servants were driven out of the building to a side yard. The atmosphere in the mansion was depressing. Even the spring wind blowing from the outside seemed to be frozen.

Mrs.Xu passed through the courtyard and arrived at the side yard. She, with her eyebrows slightly stirred up, stopped to look at the youngster in the room,

That youngster wore a really old Tao robe that had lost its color due to longevity of laundry. He had a soft and immature face, upright eyebrows, and bright eyes, showing an inexpressible temperament, that seemed as if he could see the truths of many things.

The youngster put his luggage aside. The luggage looked really ordinary but at the same time it was well organized. Not even a dirt could be found; even the hat tied on the luggage was very clean.

What made Mrs.Xu cautious and annoyed by was the fact that the tea on the table was now cold, yet the youngster still kept a calm expression. She couldn’t see any irritations on his face, which suggested this youngster possessed patience that people at his age normally didn’t have.

This would be a really hard person to deal with.

Fortunately, usually most people like him are very arrogant.

………

After he entered the general’s mansion and conversed with the nanny for a few minutes, no one bothered him. After sitting in the room for an hour, he was inevitably bored. But Chen Chang Sheng was used to boredom when he was a child, therefore he was able to stand the boredom.

Silently he spent his time memorizing the sixth chapter of Hua Ting Scripture word by word. He was waiting for someone with authority to arrive so he can hand back the marriage vow back to the general’s family. After completing this task, he had a lot of personal matters to attend to.

He took a sip of the tea to rinse his dried lips. He wasn’t careful or suspicious like how nanny thought he was. He just thought it would be impolite to use the bathroom as a guest in others’ house after drinking too much water. In addition, although the cups in the general’s mansion were all luxurious china, he wasn’t used to drinking from other people’s cup.

(TL Note: luxurious china means that the plates and cups were made out of glass and are high priced/quality)

He has a bit of OCD regarding using other people’s things.

He stood up and bowed toward the well dressed lady. He guessed that she was probably Lady Xu of the general’s mansion. He thought he could finally finish this business and move on. Chen Chang Sheng reached into his pocket and was ready to take out the marriage vow but was stopped momentarily.

Lady Xu stopped him in a relaxing and non urgent manner. She sat down on a seat and accepted the tea from a maid. She looked at him and said calmly. “Did you visit the Maosoleum of Knowledge? What about the Nai He Bridge? The sight of ivy at the Royal Palace is also beautiful.”

Chen Shang Sheng thought it was Lady Xu’s polite way of starting the talk, but he didn’t think it was necessary to chat. But because an older person was talking, he couldn’t be disrespectful. He answered in a simple manner, “I haven’t yet. I’ll go see them in the future.”

Lady Xu’s hand that held the tea cup stopped in mid air, “So basically, after arriving to the capital, the first thing you did was coming to the general’s mansion?”

Chen Chang Shang answered truthfully, “I didn’t dare delaying.”

“Is that so.”

The lady raised her head and gave him a cold look. She thought to herself, a poor youngster from the rural wasn’t attracted by the fancy sights of the capital and rushed straight to the general’s mansion to talk about marriage. It’s funny how he was in such a hurry.

Chen Chang Sheng didn’t know why the lady replied “Is that so”. He stood up and reached into his pocket once again and wanted to give back the marriage vow. Since he decided to do so, he didn’t want to waste anymore time.

But his action caused another misunderstanding. The lady looked at him and her eyes turned colder, “I do not accept this marriage, even if you take out the marriage vow, it is of no use.”

Chen Chang Sheng didn’t expect to hear this, he was stunned for a moment.

“The Elder was save by your master and established this marriage…… It seemed like a tale?”

Lady Xu looked at him and continued coldly, “But it is just a tale, a drama. It can’t happen in real life. Who would believe this?”

Chen Chang Sheng wanted to explain that his intention was to forfeit the marriage. But after hearing these insulting words and seeing the disdaining expression on Lady Xu’s face, he couldn’t open his mouth. His hand was still in his pocket still touching the marriage vow written by the Prime Minister. The paper contained the birth date and time of a certain young girl.

“After the Elder passed away four years ago, this marriage doesn’t exist anymore.”

Lady Xu looked at the youngster in front of her and continued, “I know you are a smart person, then we should talk like smart person. The thing you should worry about is not continuing this marriage, but rather how you can obtain enough compensation for giving up the marriage. What do you think of my suggestion?”

Chen Chang Sheng took his hand out of the pocket but the marriage vow wasn’t in his fingers. “Can I ask why?”

“Why? this is not a question a smart person would ask.”

Lady Xu looked at him expressionless and said, “Because although your master’s medical techniques are good, he is still a normal Taoist but we are the family of the general. Because you are just a poor youngster who can only afford wearing an old Tao robe and my daughter is the daughter of the General. Because you are just a ordinary person and General’s Mansion is not a place where ordinary people belong. Is my explanation clear enough?”

Chen Chang Sheng’s hands clutched tightly but his voice didn’t shake. “It’s clear.”

Lady Xu looked at the young face and decided to add a little more pressure. She knew what the smart and prideful youngster couldn’t stand. A little later she expect him to voluntarily give up the marriage.

She placed the tea cup upon the table. She stood up and said. “The tea on your table is the Butterfly Tea, it is worth five silver coins per gram. The teacup is from the royal kilin, it is more expensive than gold. The tea is cold but you didn’t drink it, which means you are not worthy of the tea. You are just grass in rotten mud. You are not a fine china, you are just broken fragments. You want to change your life by marrying into the General’s family? I’m sorry, it may pleasure you but I’m not pleased.”

The voice of the lady was calm. Although she didn’t try to sound mean, she had already pushed him into the ground. She didn’t speak with condescending intentionally, but instead the words felt like someone watching an ant from the sky.

These feelings were all received by Chen Chang Sheng.

Clearly it was all an insult. Especially where she said he was trying to change his life by marrying into the General’s family. It was unacceptable by any prideful youngster. To get back at her, most of the people will choose to argue angrily and take out the marriage vow, ripping it in half and throw it upon the lady’s face and spit on it.

That would be the scene Lady Xu wanted to see – if it wasn’t for the specialty of that marriage vow, she wouldn’t need to think deeply on how to solve this issue.

The room was silent with no noise in sight.

She coldly stared at Chen Chang Sheng and waited for his outburst.

But she didn’t expect the continuation of the story.

Chen Chang Sheng looked at Lady Xu calmly and said, “I believe you are mistaken. My trip to the General’s mansion was to  give back the marriage vow to you. I wanted to forfeit the marriage from the start.”

The room was silent again.

The wind blew into the room and the leaves were swirling in the air.

The lady was surprised, “Say that one more time?”

She didn’t notice that her voice was nervous yet relieved. She didn’t care if the younger was trying to cover up his embarrassment or wanted to forfeit the marriage, she wanted the promise to be nullified.

Chen Chang Sheng looked at her seriously and said, “Actually…..I came to forfeit the marriage.”

At the corner of the room, that nanny’s expression changed.

Lady Xu’s expression didn’t change, but her hand landed on her chest.

The entire General’s mansion seemed to lighten up at this moment.

But Chen Chang Sheng’s expression became serious.

He said, “But now…….I change my decision.”

The wind in the mansion turned cold again. The mood became oppressive.

Lady Xu suddenly felt that she did something wrong.

She forcefully put down the uneasy feeling and tried to sound warm, “Why say this? If you already thought it through, then why not……..”

Before she could finish, she discovered that the youngster had no intention to continue to listen to her words.

Chen Chang Sheng picked up his luggage from the floor and put it on his back. He walked straight out of the room.





Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!