Chapter 1019: Entangled and Complex
With deep unease in his heart, Chen Jianchou met Chen Jianqiu once again.
This uneasiness was not born solely of affection but also out of worry for his own future.
Their meeting place was a bookstore run by Westerners, quiet and unassuming. Few locals came here because it sold only Western books. The store owner was also a Western lady, making conversation difficult for those who did not speak her language.
Chen Jianqiu was of mixed Western descent, so she spoke the language fluently. This bookstore was one of her frequent haunts.
It was a three-story shophouse. The first floor was a spacious hall filled with bookshelves; the second floor held small private rooms for reading or quiet meetings; and the third floor was the owner’s private residence, where guests were usually not allowed.
Chen Jianqiu was waiting in a small sitting room on the third floor.
Chen Jianchou was a remarkably gifted man, fluent in five languages. Besides the official language of the Central Plains Court and the local dialect of Poluo, he also mastered the languages of the Lune Kingdom, the Ibia Kingdom, and Shakya.
Thus, he conversed easily with the beautiful Western proprietress, who was in her fifties. Both of them spoke Lunic with effortless grace. In this regard, Qi Xuansu could not compare to Chen Jianchou.
Language itself held power. To master a tongue was to gain the source of its spells and incantations. Language was also the mirror of a civilization’s beliefs, so if one delved too deeply, one would be shaped by its worldview—a truth both beneficial and perilous.
The Daoist Order encouraged Western studies, believing disciples should understand the West deeply so as to adopt its virtues and discard its flaws. Yet they did not advocate learning Western languages early on due to the mental influence they carried.
The Wanxiang Daoist Palace offered no Western-language courses. Only after one became a high-ranking Daoist—when one’s mind and beliefs were deemed mature—could one study Western tongues for diplomatic or scholarly contact. Even then, it was optional, treated merely as a tool and never an ideology.
This was what cost Chen Jianchou a spot in the Daoist Order. He had learned too much and thought too deeply when he was at a low rank. Since few knew his relationship to Xu Jiaorong, the Daoist examiners viewed him with suspicion and disfavor.