Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 53: What Exactly Is the Relationship Between You and Tang Wanzhuang

Zhao Changhe did not know if Cui Yuanyong saying that he belonged to no one was a sincere compliment, or if his interlocutor was hinting at him being unwanted due to his naturally rebellious nature. After listening to the patrons talk about such irrelevant things, Zhao Changhe now felt like anything anyone said harbored some ridicule. It was a real pain in the ass.

What’s an even greater pain is how I’m gonna answer this question. What relationship do I have with First Seat Tang? How the hell am I supposed to know!

“I’m a man she’ll never obtain in her entire life. Does that count?”

Cui Yuanyong was speechless for a moment. “Brother Zhao... I’m not good at making jokes. Can we speak seriously?”

“Well, alright, let’s be serious. I killed the person she was supposed to save right in front of her. After that, she personally ordered my arrest. Everyone knows this. Since she wants to arrest me, can’t I proclaim that she’ll never get me in her entire life? It might be a joke, but there is some truth in it.”

Cui Yuanyong said slowly, “However...does she really wish to capture you?”

Zhao Changhe replied indifferently, “I guess you heard just now that one of the guys here saying that my wanted posters were washed away by the rain and were not replaced. The authorities here are pretty lazy, so that makes sense. They wouldn’t even give a shit if First Seat Tang died.”

“No... The reason a lot of criminals aren’t caught is because we have no idea about their whereabouts. However, she clearly knows you’re at Beimang, and yet she sent my idiot of a little sis—I mean, she sent that little inexperienced girl. I’ve never seen the Demon Suppression Bureau treat an arrest order with such indifference before.”

First Seat Tang was clearly well aware, just like everyone else, that Zhao Changhe was at Beimang. Yet, she had sent the little idiot of the Cui Clan to pursue him.

Since she knows where I am, why didn’t she personally come to capture me or at least send some elite troops? Why did she send a little idiot who’s never seen the jianghu?

Zhao Changhe indeed knew how inexplicable this whole matter was and did not continue joking. “Perhaps she thought that you would make a move?”

“Maybe. But you might not know something... I’m quite indifferent about this mission and didn’t even want my little sister to go, so I’ve been stalling for time and told her to break through to the third layer of the Profound Gate first. I managed to stall for two months and First Seat Tang didn’t say anything about it. Is this the attitude that a government official should show to an arrest order”

“...Why were you stalling for time?”

“I stalled for time because I felt that you were no ordinary bandit; we needed to observe you longer. However, First Seat Tang didn’t have any reaction to this. This made me feel that there really was something strange about the whole thing,” Cui Yuanyong said indifferently. “She shouldn’t be so apathetic to all of this! You are no normal criminal. On the surface, you only killed a little local despot, which is why the bounty on your head is worth only one hundred taels of silver...but we all know Luo Zhenwu was not just a little local despot. The consequences for what you did should be extremely grave.”

Zhao Changhe did not respond.

Cui Yuanyong finally got to the point, “If he really was the crown prince, then Tang Wanzhuang should have immediately come to personally capture you. For her to throw my little sister at this mission and allow me to stall for so long, I can’t help but ask, does she just not care about any of this? At the very least, this means that Luo Zhenwu wasn’t the crown prince. His death is unimportant.”

So First Seat Tang’s name is Tang Wanzhuang... Hmm.

Zhao Changhe sighed. “You’ve already figured out Luo Zhenwu wasn’t the crown prince a long time ago. If not, why would you be observing me? Shouldn’t you have immediately come to capture me? The Cui Clan is an illustrious family in the Great Xia with many clan members occupying positions in the imperial court. Why are you guys treating this as if it only concerns First Seat Tang?”

Cui Yuan Yong grinned and said nothing else. He only looked knowingly at Zhao Changhe.

Zhao Changhe’s whole body felt uncomfortable with his stare. He was a bit speechless. “What’re you look at me like that for? If Luo Zhenwu isn’t the prince, then he isn’t the prince. It means that it’s normal for my arrest order to not be taken so seriously. What’s so strange about it?”

“Well, you see...” Cui Yuanyong leisurely said. “For her to send my little sister to capture you, she’d have to be a complete moron not to figure out that I’d follow her and eventually face you. So the question is, does she really want to capture you? Why does it seem to me like she wants to kill you instead?”

Zhao Changhe’s eyes narrowed.

Indeed...

First Seat Tang could have only found out he was at Beimang after he defeated Vice Branch Master Huang and entered the Tome of Troubled Times. At that time, Wang Dashan intentionally leaked his whereabouts and attracted a group of idiots to come and challenge him for his place on the Ranking of Hidden Dragons. It did not make sense for the authorities not to know of this.

They probably didn’t dare to act alone, so they reported it to the Demon Suppression Bureau right away. Back then, I was only at the first layer of the Profound Gate and the little sister of the Cui Clan was at the second layer of the Profound Gate... Wait, this has nothing to do with strength. It doesn’t matter if First Seat Tang could predict that my strength would develop so fast in this short period of time. That’s not important. What’s important is that First Seat Tang definitely knew how much of an idiot the little sister of the Cui Clan was. Even if she charged into a regular mountain stronghold with no masters, there was a high chance she’d be taken down.

Once Cui Yuanyong saw his little sister in danger, how could he not intervene? It was inevitable that Cui Yuanyong would face off with me. And with how strong he was, how would I be able to resist? Without a doubt, I would be the one to die!

But if First Seat Tang really wanted to kill me, then she could have just sent a trusted person to do the job. Why go through all these twists and turns? Because of the Cui Clan’s status? If the Cui Clan were the ones to kill the prince, did she stand to gain anything? This would only benefit rebels. They’d be laughing their heads off at this. Could First Seat Tang be one such rebel?

Was she certain that Cui Yuanyong would absolutely refrain from casually killing me with my suspicious identity? Did she intend for us to meet with each other in order to confirm something? If so, then why didn’t she come to confirm it herself and instead employed such an unpredictable method?

This doesn’t make sense. Hell, nothing makes sense.

Zhao Changhe scratched his head and said truthfully, “Brother Cui, I’m not playing dumb with you. Right now, I don’t understand the matter either. Could you tell me, from start to finish, how you two came to travel to Beimang? Is your little sister working under the Demon Suppression Bureau? It doesn’t seem like it.”

“No. I was the one that wanted to go to Beimang first,” Cui Yuanyong replied. “I wanted to challenge Yue Hongling, so I had people follow her tracks and found out she was at Beimang. Once my little sister found out I was heading there, she could not stand being at home and kept pestering me to bring her along. I pondered for a bit and thought that at her age, it was time for her to go out and see the world. It would be beneficial for her to travel around, so I brought her along. The rest of the family also agreed with this.”

This was all indeed normal. Zhao Changhe did not interrupt and poured him some wine. He knew Cui Yuanyong had more to say.

“Even though the capital isn’t along the way for us if we travel to Beimang from our home, it’s not that big of a detour, so I naturally brought her to see the capital and also visit First Seat Tang. To be honest, it is our greatest hope that she can imitate First Seat Tang’s graceful bearing.”

Zhao Changhe recalled the woman that night; her sword was like water. Even though her body was sickly, she faced off against a demonic cult by herself. She was beautiful in her silence and radiated a cold grace. Zhao Changhe could imagine her working at her desk while coughing and working her sick body to support this decaying empire... Even though what he imagined was probably not real, that was indeed his first impression of her.

If that little chick could pick up a sliver of First Seat Tang’s demeanor, the entire Cui Clan had good reason to set off firecrackers in celebration.

Zhao Changhe could not help but laugh. “And then?”

“In the end, my little sister does not admire First Seat Tang’s elegance at all. On the other hand, she’s very interested in the Demon Suppression Bureau. She’s enamored with the idea of capturing criminals, wiping out bandits, and upholding justice in the world. Then she suddenly said she wanted to join them.”

Zhao Changhe almost failed to hold back his laughter.

The duties of the Demon Suppression Bureau were a little similar to those of the CIA in the modern world. Of course, the status of the former was considerably higher. Because this was a fantasy world, the “demons” that this organization “suppressed” were typically people on the Rankings of Troubled Times and basically consisted of rebel leaders and heads of different clans. It was First Seat Tang’s responsibility to deal with these sorts of people. As such, she was not simply the leader of a criminal investigation unit or the captain of a special forces division. She was the most important official in the imperial court—a first-rate position in the current dynasty.

For a little girl like her, who was pampered and spoiled since childhood, to want to join the empire’s most skilled, blood-soaked criminal investigation unit...man, even if she did succeed, she would only be able to become a mascot. Did she really think they’d let her subdue demons or whatever?

Looking at Zhao Changhe’s expression, Cui Yuanyong knew what he was thinking and could only sigh. “Everyone knows she’s not reliable. Furthermore, to be honest, our clan does not wish to take up such a government office. It’s not in line with our goals... First Seat Tang also doesn’t wish for someone from the Cui Clan to join the Demon Suppression Bureau. If that actually happened, she’d probably have a huge headache on her hands. That’s why she told my little sister that if she wanted to join, then she would need to complete a trial mission, and that after completing it, First Seat Tang would judge and see if she could join or not.”

Zhao Changhe clicked his tongue. “Heh, so cunning. She didn’t say your little sister could join after completing the mission.”

“Exactly. I also felt that she was being perfunctory after listening to her words. She casually chose a mission that would let her know that capturing criminals and wiping out bandits isn’t easy and tacitly understood that I would not intervene to help her complete the mission.” Cui Yuanyong said, “While picking the mission, we spoke about the things going on around the Cui Clan. When she heard that I was going to Beimang... She was suddenly dumbstruck. She was actually lost in thought for a while.”

“After that, she decided to give your sister the mission to capture me?”

“She said that she had just received some news about a criminal being at Beimang and told my sister to capture him. That’s basically it. Otherwise, how would we have known where you were?”

It looks like First Seat Tang didn’t consider any of this. I don’t know what she thought would happen after hearing that Cui Yuanyong was heading to Beimang, but things have actually turned out to be in her favor after she gave the little chick of the Cui Clan this mission.

Zhao Changhe’s expression slowly turned perplexed. He suddenly had an absurd thought—if First Seat Tang could foresee that Cui Yuanyong would not kill me for no reason, then our meeting here today feels like a prearranged blind date.

No wonder Cui Yuanyong did not ask me about my identity but about my relationship with First Seat Tang!