Chapter 82: King Murder and Father Murder
How long has Pei Shilin been detained in the palace?
Did Xie Yushu sign the divorce papers?
Why would His Majesty let Li Huixian in?
Pei Heng had countless questions in his mind, but Li Huixian seemed to be terrified at the moment, crying incessantly and unable to explain anything clearly.
"His Majesty will surely kill Shilin... Xie Yushu told me to come and tell you... Save Shilin!" Li Huixian said between sobs, not a single word forming a coherent sentence.
He could only glean one piece of information from Li Huixian's intermittent sobs: Xie Yushu had sent her to tell him all this.
How could Xie Yushu have such great power? Unless she begged Song Jie or... promised the Emperor something.
"Did Xie Yushu ask Song Jie to let you in?" Pei Heng asked her to confirm.
Li Huixian shook her head and cried again, "Xie Yushu brought me in. She's going to be a Noble Consort..."
Pei Heng's heart sank suddenly. "Has Xie Yushu also entered the palace? She has already agreed to the emperor's request..." to become a concubine?
Before he could finish his question, the figures of the imperial guards outside the palace gates flickered as if they had withdrawn.
The palace doors opened again, but it was Xiao Dao who entered.
Leng Su's face turned even paler. He walked over and whispered to Pei Heng, "Father has summoned you. General Pei, all you need to do is go and obediently admit your mistake, and you can take Pei Shilin and Li Huixian out of the palace and go home."
Using the blood of several princes as a medicinal ingredient, and taking it for forty-nine consecutive days, could completely replace the Emperor's "old blood" and restore his youthful physique.
This prescription was so absurd and contrary to human ethics that he and several ministers protested against it, and the emperor did not implement it.
But at that moment, he suddenly realized, why did the Emperor discover that Xiao Zhen was not his biological son? Why was he so determined to find his own son? Was it really just because of blood ties and not wanting his son to be left to wander outside?
Or was it that His Majesty had long wanted to implement this, but discovered that Xiao Zhen was not his biological son, which is why he was so determined to find Xiao Dao?
His Majesty has already begun the "blood transfusion," hasn't he?
"Did His Majesty suddenly release me because Xie Yushu agreed?" Pei Heng asked, gripping Xiao Dao's arm. "Answer me truthfully."
Xiao Dao looked up at him, made no attempt to hide anything, and said directly, "Yes, for you, for your Pei family, she has already signed the divorce papers and entered the palace."
Pei Heng felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
Xiao Dao said in a resentful low voice, "Pei Shilin took Pei Shibin's head to see her, and your sister-in-law went crazy and knelt in front of the Yong'an Marquis's mansion, begging her to spare her son and you! What do you expect her to do? She clearly hates Pei Shilin and his mother so much, but you are imprisoned in the palace, and she can't bear to harm you!"
Pei Heng met Xiao Dao's bloodshot eyes, and Xiao Dao said to him with such resentment, "You shouldn't have helped the emperor find me in the first place. What good is it if you find me? I'm just a medicinal ingredient."
He had never seen such great pain on Xiao Dao's face. Even when he was seriously wounded on the battlefield, Xiao Dao would only frown and never show any pain.
But now Xiaodao's pain is so obvious and intense because he never wanted to be a prince. He was pushed back to the palace step by step, but what did he get in return?
He gained nothing but lost his freedom and health, and now he has to watch his benefactor and lover, Xie Yushu, enter the palace to serve his father, the emperor.
Even this painful anger could not be vented loudly by Xiao Dao, because the imperial guards were standing guard outside the palace gates, and the emperor was waiting in the adjacent sleeping quarters.
Suppressing his pain, Xiao Dao released Pei Heng. "Go. Yu Shu told me to tell you that you don't need to do anything. Go and thank the Emperor, and take your family back. She won't implicate you."
The pain weighed heavily on Pei Heng's shoulders, and his first thought was: Will Xie Yushu commit suicide again?
"Don't worry, she won't commit suicide until you and your family are safe." Xiao Dao seemed to see through his thoughts and murmured to himself, "I won't let anything happen to her either, not even the King of Heaven can bully her."
As he said this, pain hardened into a sharp sword, and there was no emotion in his eyes.
Pei Heng was all too familiar with that expression; it was the same expression he wore when killing on the battlefield.
So Pei Heng stared into his eyes and asked in a low voice, "What do you plan to do?"
Xiao Dao looked at him, her killing intent as clear as a sword without a sheath: "I swore an oath that I would kill everyone who bullied her."
Pei Heng glanced immediately at the door, confirming that the Imperial Guards had withdrawn, before grabbing Xiao Dao's arm and whispering, "You want..."
He wanted to ask, "Are you going to kill your own father?"
But those words stuck in his throat. Did Xiao Xu deserve to be called Xiao Dao's father? Wan Susu still owed Xiao Dao a debt of gratitude for his life. Xiao Xu neither gave birth to him nor raised him. Now that he had finally found him, he only wanted to use him as a medicinal ingredient.
He doesn't deserve to be a father.
"Have you thought about the consequences?" Pei Heng only asked him, had he thought about the price of killing the emperor? How would he escape the palace after killing the emperor?
But before he could finish asking, Xiao Dao pushed his hand away and said, "I've thought it through. She saved my life. No one in the world has ever cared about my life or death except her. Dying for her is a win for me."
"Xiao Dao!" Pei Heng tried to stop him, but the eunuch had already come in to invite him to see the emperor.
Li Huixian grabbed him again, crying and kneeling down to beg him to save Pei Shilin.
He lifted Li Huixian up and watched Xiaodao's back as he stepped out of the main hall. He remembered Xiaodao sitting alone in the camp, watching the moon. He was not familiar with anyone, he did not like to talk, and he would take care of himself even when he was injured.
That night, Pei Heng walked up to him and spoke to him for the first time. He said, "If I die on the battlefield, could you take a piece of my bone to Xie Yushu? She is the only one in this world who cares about my life or death. Even if I die, I want to return to her side."
Pei Heng's heart felt like it was being fried. He pulled Li Huixian up, looked at her withered face, and asked himself again: Was he supposed to protect Xiao Xu?
#
"Wait for me outside the palace. I will bring Pei Shilin out." Pei Heng left Li Huixian outside the palace and stepped into the sleeping quarters.
The bedchamber, which had been burned, was filled with the smells of blood and medicine.
He saw Pei Shilin kneeling in the hall, his forehead pressed to the ground, trembling like a pig or sheep awaiting slaughter.
He also saw Xie Yushu, who was sitting by the dragon bed with her eyes lowered, not looking at anyone.
The vast hall was so quiet that only Xiao Xu's muffled cough could be heard. He had woken up and was half-lying on the couch, his eyes shifting from Xie Yushu to Pei Heng.
Pei Heng looked at him as he knelt down and bowed, saying, "Your subject Pei Heng greets Your Majesty."
He didn't let Pei Heng get up. But when Song Jie was about to hand over the medicine that Qinghe Daoist had given him, he pointed at Xie Yushu and said, "Give it to her."
Song Jie paused for a moment.
Even Xiao Xu's muffled coughs ceased in the hall, and everyone's attention was focused on Xie Yushu.
Pei Heng was looking at Xiao Xu, and he could clearly see the slight upturn of Xiao Xu's lips, as if a victor was showing off his horse-taming achievements.
Xie Yushu was the horse he tamed.
Xiao Xu looked at her patiently.
Xie Yushu slowly raised his hand to take the bowl of medicine and fed it to Xiao Xu as if it were a stagnant pool of water.
Xiao Xu's smile became even clearer, so clear that it was somewhat distorted.
He drank a spoonful of the medicine with great satisfaction, then turned to look at Pei Heng and asked, "Pei Heng, do you know you were wrong?"
Pei Heng did not answer. He just looked at Xie Yushu's profile. That once vibrant face looked so much like the withered "Wan Susu" at this moment.
She lost her radiance and sat there in humiliation, serving the man she hated most.
The smug Xiao Xu paid no attention to Pei Heng's momentary daze; he even intended to continue taming Pei Heng like a horse.
"Yu Shu," he said gently, "go tell Pei Heng whether you are willing to divorce and enter the palace to serve him."
Xie Yushu lowered the hand holding the medicine and said in a very soft and cold voice, "I don't want to talk about it."
Xiao Xu's smile vanished. He suddenly raised his hand, knocked the medicine bowl from her hand, grabbed her chin, and forced her to look up at him: "Are you defying me?"
"Your Majesty," Pei Heng said, standing up almost in pain as he saw the medicine spilled all over Xie Yushu, "why must you humiliate her like this?"
"Who gave you permission to get up!" Xiao Xu glared angrily at Pei Heng, his chest heaving. "Kneel down, Pei Heng!"
Pei Heng remained standing and stepped forward: "Does Your Majesty still remember how Consort Wan was humiliated by your uncle, the traitor Xiao An? You are exactly the same as him now."
"How dare you!" Xiao Xu sat up straight in anger and shouted, "Are you plotting a rebellion by repeatedly disobeying me?!"
Pei Heng, however, seemed not to hear his rebuke, and instead walked forward to question him: "Why is His Majesty so muddleheaded? He favors treacherous officials and believes in heretical doctrines..."
"Kneel down, Pei Heng! I command you to kneel!"
"They even went so far as to use the blood of several princes as a medicinal ingredient."
"Guards, seize the traitor Pei Heng for me!"
"Now, His Majesty has murdered my family in order to take my wife as his concubine..."
Before Pei Heng could finish his last sentence, the knife had already slit Xiao Xu's throat.
Hot blood sprayed onto Xie Yushu's face, and she let out a soft "Ah," ending all the sounds in the hall.
She looked up at the knife behind Xiao Xu. Most of his face was hidden inside the bed curtains, with only a pair of scarred hands visible. One hand was covering Xiao Xu's mouth, while the other gripped a dagger and slashed into his throat.
Those were spoils of war that Xiaodao brought back from the battlefield.
Pei Heng froze on the spot, hearing the sound of blood gushing out, and saw Xiao Xu struggling to reach out to him with wide eyes, begging for help.
No one in the main hall let out the first scream.
Because Cangshu appeared at some unknown time and swiftly killed the eunuch and palace maid.
Blood gushed onto the paving stones a few steps away from Pei Heng. He stared at Xiao Xu, and finally closed his eyes.
The knife slashed hard into the dagger, almost severing the entire head.
Song Jie stepped forward and raised his sleeve to block the blood splattering towards Xie Yushu.
Xie Yushu remained seated by the couch, looking at Pei Heng. She wiped the blood from her face and revealed a smug smile. She thought to herself: Pei Heng is not going to get off this pirate ship.
Pei Heng was also involved in the regicide, so naturally he had to help clean up this mess.
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Author's Note: Hehe, the old emperor is dead! [heart emoji]
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