Chapter 698

– The Fall of First Snow
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Everyone knew that Chen Changsheng wanted to kill someone today. People put their focus on many places within the capital. The alley of the Northern Military Department was naturally the most important one, but not even the Imperial Palace was excluded. However, no one had imagined that after he walked out of the Li Palace, he did not go to the alley of the Northern Military Department, nor to the Imperial Palace, but to the Wei Estate.
This caught many people rather unprepared, and then perplexed them with the same questions as Zhou Tong.
What sort of estate was the Wei Estate? Why did Chen Changsheng go there first? Could it be that in his mind, this place was even more important than the Imperial Palace or Zhou Prison?
Soon after, some people recalled that the current Assistant Minister of Rites carried the surname of Wei, and the wife that he had just recently cast off and driven home had the surname Xue, and was the eldest daughter of the Xue Estate.
Was it just because of this reason?
What was Chen Changsheng going to the Wei Estate for? To vent the Xue Estate’s anger? Or was it to persuade Assistant Minister Wei to take back his wife?
The moment Assistant Minister Wei recognized Chen Changsheng, he began to nervously speculate as to the reason for his coming and also obtained a similar conclusion.
Chen Changsheng had assuredly come to vent the Xue Estate’s anger, or he had come to ‘persuade’ him to rejoin with Xue Zhihua.
The word ‘persuade’ naturally meant ‘force’.
Assistant Minister Wei was rather angry, but he did not dare show it.
If he really did take his wife back, the Wei Estate would certainly lose a little face and he would certainly receive no small amount of inconvenience, but…what else could he do?
Chen Changsheng’s authority as the future Pope was far above his own.
He had already made his preparations, already thought of how nervous and angry, yet not too upset, he should be when Chen Changsheng made his demand. Reluctantly, but without losing any of his demeanor, he would accept this demand.
It was just then that Chen Changsheng had spoken of his reason for coming, his eyes bright, his posture upright, his voice sincere:
I’ve come to kill you.

The snowflakes drifted down into the courtyard. All was silent within the world.
Assistant Minister Wei stood in the snow, his face pale, his mouth slightly agape. For a very long time, he found himself unable to speak.
It turned out that he had not come to make a fuss nor force him into marriage. Rather, it was to kill him.
He was the Assistant Minister of Rites. In the eyes of ordinary people, he was a tall and unclimbable mountain. However, to him, it was this youth that was the truly lofty peak.
If the future Pope wanted to kill you, just who would be willing to come to your rescue? No other conclusion awaited you except death.
You should be nervous and angry, but not too upset. Reluctantly, but without losing any demeanor, you should accept his demand…and die.
No one wanted to die.

Though I’ve done many wrong things, none of them are a justification for me to die.

Assistant Minister Wei stared into Chen Changsheng’s eyes, his gaze particularly gloomy, his breathing extremely rough.

Yes, neither the laws of the Great Zhou nor the scriptures of the church say that execution is the punishment for driving a wife from one’s home. In the past, I definitely wouldn’t have killed you, but now my view is somewhat different. Righting a wrong doesn’t require overdoing, but a price must be paid for committing a wrong, and it must be seen. You forgot gratitude and committed injustice, so I want to tell all the people and believers of the world that what you have done is wrong.

Chen Changsheng finally said,
And a repulsive punishment makes for a beautiful eulogy.

As he spoke, his eyes were very bright, his tone extremely serious. He was not speaking falsehoods, was not intentionally ridiculing the minister, did not seek to humiliate him right before his death. He truly thought this way. He had come to the Wei Estate to kill the minister precisely because he hoped that in the future, such incidents would occur a little less in this world.
Two abnormal patches of red appeared on Assistant Minister Wei’s pale face and his body began to tremble.
He did not know what to say.
In the view of a ‘normal person’ like him, the current Chen Changsheng was a madman. Who would pay the price of death for such a matter as casting off one’s wife? Even if he did commit somewhat of an injustice, was inconstant and shallow in his love, with a heart as cold as iron…why did he have to die? If nothing unexpected happened, his wife’s clan, along with his wife, would truly be stifled to death by the Imperial Court, but…what did that have to do with him?
If this was just an excuse to kill him, that would be fine.
But it was not. This was Chen Changsheng’s reason for killing him.
His eyes shone brighter and brighter, his tone growing ever more serious. In the eyes of ‘normal people’, he was getting crazier and crazier.
Assistant Minister Wei gazed at the walls of the courtyard, seeking a chance to live. He realized that it was futile and began to wail in utmost despair.
The snowflakes fell upon a piece of paper. They gave very soft sounds, like the crinkle of some beautiful item being destroyed.
This was a paper as white as the first snow. There were a few holes punched in this paper, making it seem abnormally horrifying.
A voice came from one of these black holes.
Everyone says that I’m the madman…it seems to me that you’re crazier than I am.

……
……
Many people knew that Painted Armor Xiao Zhang had a violent personality, and that there were a few problems with his mind.
However, this year, in the early winter, when he saw Chen Changsheng telling Assistant Minister Wei with a serious tone and bright eyes that he had come to kill him, Xiao Zhang had a very strange feeling.
He felt that Chen Changsheng was a madman, a deadly earnest madman, and this fact greatly shocked him.
When Chen Changsheng saw Xiao Zhang behind the tree, he was also greatly shocked. No one in the capital knew that he would go to the Wei Estate and presumably many people were currently rushing their way here now, so how had Xiao Zhang been waiting for him in advance?

How come you’re here?
he asked, his face brimming with astonishment.
Simultaneously, that incredibly cold and sharp dagger, stainless and frostless, had already stabbed through his sleeves and astonished atmosphere to reach Assistant Minister Wei’s throat.
Xiao Zhang’s face was covered in a white sheet of paper, so he naturally showed no expression, but everyone who saw this white paper would feel that it exuded contempt.
This contempt was naturally aimed at Chen Changsheng’s sword. It was like a strange and noiseless laugh, brimming with derision.
You actually dare to kill someone in front of me?
A spear rose up out of the snow, shaking his clothes and piercing through the chill, striving to cleave through the world.
With a thought, the icy and sharp end of the spear would clash with Chen Changsheng’s dagger.
No matter how talented Chen Changsheng was, even if he had won against Eunuch Lin in the Orthodox Academy, if he were to directly confront this spear with his dagger, how could he possibly defeat Xiao Zhang?
In the next moment, Xiao Zhang’s spear would break past Chen Changsheng’s dagger.
He would stand in front of Assistant Minister Wei.
The first assassination of this day of winter’s first snow in the capital would come to an end.
At this moment, it seemed that this was an inevitable matter.
However, the unexpected would always occur.
Like today.
The white paper on Xiao Zhang’s face flapped and that unspoken derision and contempt disappeared.
The noiseless and strange laugh became a truly strange howl that resonated through the estate and tore through the snowy sky.
The track of the spear shifted by the tiniest amount.
It was unable to clash against the dagger.
The cold dagger pierced through the air, carrying blood with it.
Blood squirted into the falling snow, transforming into a most beautiful sight.
An object flew through the air, fiercely spinning and crazily flying. Finally, it crashed to the ground, throwing up ice and snow.
It was Assistant Minister Wei’s head, its eyes unable to close in time.
Xiao Zhang suddenly raised his head and looked forward. His face suddenly exuded a frosty aura, as if looking into an abyss.
A blue-clothed man had appeared at the gate of the Wei Estate.
This person’s two eyebrows were slightly drooped, utterly distressed and completely unwilling. At his chest, he held a blade that had still not been unsheathed.