Chapter 764: Irreconcilable Enemies (Part 1) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
The young scholar's impression of Zhai Le was that of a decisive and fearless military general, young but composed, and occasionally somewhat reliant on his elder brother. However, when Zhai Huan learned of his impression of Zhai Le, he added with a smile: "Composed...sigh, that's just for outsiders. That child, A-Le, is soft-hearted and prone to tears."
The young scholar asked in surprise: "You cry? How do you cry?"
That scoundrel Zhai Huan encouraged him to make a passing child cry. The child, helpless and subjected to the incessant nagging, watched as the scoundrel, hands tucked into his sleeves, gestured with his lip: "Cry like that."
Young scholar: [...]
He pulled himself out of his distant memories, looking at Zhai Le kneeling before Zhai Huan's bed, sobbing uncontrollably, and at Zhai Huan with her eyes closed. He thought to himself that what Zhai Huan said wasn't entirely correct. Zhai Le had improved; her crying wasn't as bothersome as a child's.
The palace maids and eunuchs knelt on the ground, sobbing softly.
Zhai Huan's confidants also wiped away tears.
Zhai Le didn't care what others thought of him at all, and cried until he hiccuped and his throat spasmed before he could finally stop. Seeing that his emotions had stabilized a little, the young scholar took a great merit and draped it over Zhai Le's shoulders, saying softly, "Please take care of yourself and accept my grief, my lord."
Zhai Le looked down at the mourning clothes on his shoulders.
He said in a hoarse voice, "Brother has been preparing for this for a long time..."
The young scholar said, "We've been preparing for a while now."
This was so that when he passed away, Zhai Le wouldn't be caught off guard, something Zhai Le had no idea about beforehand.
Zhai Le took off his mourning clothes and said, "Bring me the scythe."
Both "Zhan Cui" and "Da Gong" are mourning garments. The latter is for mourning one's cousin, while the former is the heaviest form of mourning among the five degrees of mourning.
The young scholar said, "Good."
"Tell me, what were you feeling when you prepared these things for your funeral, brother?" Tears welled up again, threatening to spill over.
The key to a young scholar's success is sincerity.
"The late lord was quite happy."
Anyone who didn't know better would think Zhai Huan was preparing for his enemy's funeral. No young scholar had ever seen someone so indifferent to life and death.
Upon hearing this, Zhai Le gripped the hem of his mourning clothes tightly. He looked at his elder brother, who seemed to have just fallen asleep, with a smile and a hint of satisfaction on his lips, and said softly, "At this moment, brother should be reunited with sister-in-law... which can be considered to have fulfilled his regret."
The elder brother's greatest regret was the death of his wife.
The young scholar's lips twitched slightly.
He never expected that Zhai Huan, that scoundrel, would have such an emotional side. However, living life as one pleases and acting spontaneously makes life worthwhile. Zhai Le said to the eunuch, "Go and fetch a comb."
He wanted to personally help his brother prepare his remains.
As the eunuch left, Zhai Le, supporting himself on the edge of the bed, stood up with some difficulty. The emotional outburst and the prolonged kneeling had left his legs weak. The young scholar reached out to help him, and Zhai Le circulated his internal energy, quickly recovering. He raised his hand, and martial energy surged from his palm, transforming into a three-foot-long green sword, its tip pressed against Zhai Huan's younger brother.
The latter was still immersed in the grief of Zhai Huan's death when Zhai Le made a move, bringing him back to his senses. He then saw the sharp sword pressed against his brow. His face was so gloomy it could drip water. Judging others by his own standards, he didn't think he would survive, so he spoke in a sarcastic tone, wanting to vent even if he had to die: "Zhai Xiaofang, when Zhai Yuewen was alive, you sang and acted, constantly saying you couldn't bring yourself to do it. What, now that he's dead, you can't wait to kill us all to prevent future trouble?"
The other half-brothers thought they had escaped a calamity, but seeing Zhai Le's posture, the boulder that had just landed on their hands suddenly rose to their throats.
Zhai Le's eyes were cold and gloomy, no longer as clear as before.
"If it weren't for tonight, my brother wouldn't have died..."
Zhai Huan's younger brother sneered, "If there hadn't been a coup, he wouldn't have died, but it would have been a difference of dying two days sooner or two days later. Zhai Xiaofang, you're the big winner now, speaking frankly! There's no need to pretend anymore, is there? After all, Zhai Yuewen isn't going to suddenly come back to life and see your despicable and hypocritical side. After years of groveling and subservience, you've finally reaped the rewards!"
Zhai Le ignored his sarcastic remarks, her eyes red and tears welling up, her right hand holding the sword turning white from the force of her grip: "If you weren't all here tonight, I would never have let you leave alive. If even one of you were missing..."
Zhai Huan's younger brother asked, "What do you mean?"
Zhai Le muttered under his breath, expressionless: "At least one of you has to survive to continue the eldest son's lineage. After Uncle passes away, there will be a filial son to break the basin... You should be grateful for that!"
Zhai Huan's younger brother gritted his teeth, not knowing which of Zhai Le's words had crossed his line. Suddenly, disregarding the threat he was receiving between his eyebrows, he recklessly crawled forward on his knees to approach Zhai Huan's corpse. He roared, "Zhai Yuewen! Bah!"
The scene was chaotic, and several people couldn't stop him from going berserk.
"I'm your own brother, born of the same mother! You son of a bitch... All these years, with so many brothers, you've only ever seen Zhai Xiaofang. Even on your deathbed, you're still scheming for him, plotting against me... If you're so capable, let Zhai Xiaofang kill me!"
He knew very well that Zhai Yuewen had murderous intent.
If Zhai Le had simply said "kill," Zhai Yuewen would have truly killed all of them, except for Zhai Xiaofang! Yet, because Zhai Le pleaded for them, they were spared. How could he not know Zhai Huan's intentions, his own brother from the same mother?
If we kill them, we will eliminate any future troubles.
If you don't kill him, keep him alive so Zhai Le can show him mercy.
Tonight, these guys joined forces to force him to abdicate and attempted to kill their own brother. If any one of these incidents gets out, it'll be enough to kill him a thousand times over! With such leverage in Zhai Le's hands, and having been spared because of him, won't they be willing to serve Zhai Le like slaves for the rest of their lives?
Zhai Huan had painstakingly planned this for Zhai Le.
That little beast Zhai Le was even more infuriating. His words practically told them that whoever survived would be used as a stud to ensure the continuation of the main family line. How could he, with his strong sense of pride, tolerate this? His own brother—why should he be given to Zhai Le?
"Zhai Yuewen, get up right now!" He was so angry that he kicked his shoe off, wishing it would fly towards Zhai Huan's face.
at last--
The farce only ended when he was kicked in the stomach by Zhai Le. "Put on your mourning clothes and kneel before your brother's memorial hall to repent!"
Zhai Huan's younger brother said, "No way!"
Zhai Le glanced at the young scholar, not wanting his brother's mourning hall to be disturbed. The young scholar understood and raised his hand to cast a [Silence] spell, instantly silencing the world.
Zhai Lezai carefully tidied Zhai Huan's remains, holding the other's completely cold hand. After a long while, he stood up and said to the young scholar, "I'll trouble you to keep an eye on them here. I'm going to... see my uncle and tell him about my brother..."
When his elder brother murdered the ruler and established a new state, his uncle went into seclusion.
He was not happy that his brother did this.
Looking at the current situation, with frequent changes of state power, once a usurper establishes a country, they rise from ordinary aristocratic families to royalty. No one knows how long the Kingdom of Qu will last, but he knows that the day the Kingdom of Qu is destroyed will be the day the Zhai clan is purged by the new royal family.
Zhai Huan's actions have put the Zhai family in the spotlight.
Unfortunately, his sons didn't understand. They only saw power and profit, and they saw that Zhai Huan was childless and would die young. They thought that if he were to pass the throne to someone, he would either adopt one of their children or pass the throne to one of them. He couldn't persuade them, so he could only turn a blind eye.
That night, the candles in the room burned until dawn.
Just as dawn was breaking, a familiar presence appeared outside his door, along with the sound of something landing.
He looked down at the chessboard, which was in disarray.
He sighed deeply and threw the chess piece aside.
He covered his face with his hands, trying to hide his emotions. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. An hour later, the door creaked open, but it wasn't Uncle Zhai Le who emerged. Dressed in mourning clothes, Zhai Le looked up, shocked, and exclaimed, "Father..."
Was my biological father here all night?
The latter explained gently, "It was the Father who came."
He volunteered to be a hostage to his brother.
He understood Zhai Huan's schemes, and he was also aware of the resentment in the hearts of his nephews and nieces; conflict was bound to erupt sooner or later. Some things were beyond his control, but he had been brothers with his elder brother for decades, and if… there were certain things he had to give them an explanation for.
Upon hearing this, Zhai Le's face turned deathly pale.
His dry, tired eyes welled up with tears again.
"If anything had happened to my cousins last night..."
Zhai Le's father patted his son on the shoulder: "My brother won't do anything to me, but I can't pretend that nothing happened."
Just as he finished speaking, a sound came from inside the room.
"Ah Le, come in."
Zhai Le hesitated, not daring to move or look at the other person. It wasn't until his father tapped him with his toe and gestured towards the house behind them with his chin that he said, "Go inside. Your uncle won't eat you."
It was already bright outside, but the room was still dark. By the dim candlelight, I could see a man sitting in the corner.
This person was the previous clan head of the Zhai clan, and Zhai Huan's father.
"uncle--"
Zhai Le knelt down straight, pretending to beg for forgiveness.
"A man's knees are worth gold; what kind of behavior is it to kneel like that?" The man lowered his hands, his face revealing unconcealed exhaustion. He asked in a hoarse voice, "How are your cousins?"
Zhai Le said softly, "Kneel down and keep vigil for my brother."
The man paused for a moment upon hearing this, and after a long while, he murmured with a mixture of sadness and complexity, "...a white-haired person burying a black-haired person."
Zhai Huan is his proudest child.
He experienced the joy of fatherhood for the first time through this child, watching Zhai Huan grow from a tiny little thing to who he is today.
Zhai Le said, "Uncle, please accept my condolences."
The man shook his head and said, "No one knows a son better than his father. How could a father not know what kind of temperament his son has? I was already mentally prepared. But you... were you hurt? Those scoundrels of yours have probably caused you a lot of trouble."
Zhai Le hesitated, then said, "My brother, before he died..."
The man said, "I have passed the throne to you. Your uncle knows."
Zhai Le said in a trembling voice, "This shouldn't be mine."
"But you are your father's only bloodline."
Zhai Le looked at him in confusion, not understanding the reason behind it.
“Didn’t I just say that no one knows a son better than his father? I know Yuewen, and I also know the other bastards. If you hadn’t won last night, you would have had no way out. If any of them had persecuted you, your uncle would have to give your father an explanation, even at the cost of his life. Only if this hot potato is in your hands will they have a way out. You can tolerate them, but they can’t tolerate you.”
Upon hearing this, Zhai Le felt even more ashamed and embarrassed, and whispered, "When they were roaring in the mourning hall, I really did have murderous intent..."
The man gently stroked his head: "It's human nature to judge by actions, not intentions. Ah Le, you're a good boy. Everyone says your brother is steady, but your uncle doesn't see it that way. You're much better than your brother, unlike him who's so willful and reckless..."
Zhai Le sniffed: "Brother is the best."
“Your cousins are short-sighted; they only see the power in front of them and don’t realize it’s a hot potato… You forgive them and take on this responsibility; you’ll have a tough time in the future.”
His eyes held both affection and guilt as he looked at Zhai Le.
After Zhai Le returned, news of Zhai Huan's death reached the outside world. A group of court officials came to mourn. Looking at the Zhai Huan brothers kneeling on the ground, they were a little puzzled. Ever since Zhai Huan fell critically ill and began looking for a successor, these men had the idea of becoming "Prince Brothers" and were secretly trying to win over the court officials. They were practically wearing their ambition on their sleeves. Why would they obediently keep vigil?
Then, thinking of the bloodstains on the stone path that hadn't been completely washed away...
Last night was probably not peaceful.
Regardless, the transfer of power proceeded smoothly.
In the last six months of his life, Zhai Huan sent troops to warn all the neighbors with ulterior motives. For the time being, there were no external threats, and the new ruler was the decorated military leader Zhai Le, who was enough to keep them in check. As long as there was no domestic unrest, things could remain stable for another two years.
Zhai Le knelt before the spirit tablet during the day and handled government affairs at night.
At first, he was a little clumsy, but with the help of the team left behind by Zhai Huan, he gradually got the hang of it. Although he slept less than half an hour a day, his strong physique as a martial artist was enough to keep him going and stabilize his position.
The young scholar looked at the much more taciturn Zhai Le and sighed, "Our lord is indeed much more reliable than the late lord..."
Zhai Huan, that scoundrel, doesn't like handling official documents.
Zhai Le remained silent on the matter.
After the mourning period ended and Zhai Huan's coffin was sealed, Zhai Le sent all his cousins home to reflect on their actions, forbidding them from leaving without imperial permission. Of course, the official explanation was that they missed their deceased brother so much that they voluntarily requested permission to stay home and copy scriptures to accumulate merit for Zhai Huan.
The young scholar clicked his tongue: "No wonder we're brothers."
They are equally willful.
Zhai Huan hoped that Zhai Le would show favor to these cousins, since he had leverage over them and could exploit them as much as possible. But Zhai Le clearly had his own ideas. He imprisoned them all and promoted several other members of the Zhai clan to quell the dissent within the clan.
Zhai Le suppressed his lip: "Anyway, nobody cares about me."
My uncle's family lives next door to my parents. The two elders have completely retired from public life and no longer concern themselves with anything. Zhai Le is now the head of the Zhai family.
Zhai Le officially removed his mourning clothes only after two years of mourning.
But that's a story for another time.
Around the time of Zhai Huan's death, in the northwest corner of the same continent, the original members of the Dragon Slaying Bureau were also fighting to the bitter end. The region, which had always been arid and had little rain, was now experiencing continuous rain, with occasional torrential downpours.
Wu Xian sat in the simple temporary tent, glanced around, and saw that Zhao Feng's seat was empty: "Where is Da Yi?"
Qin Li sighed: "He wasn't feeling well and took leave."
At this moment, someone sneered: "Is Military Advisor Qin sure he took leave because he was feeling unwell, or is he unwilling to come because he harbors resentment?"
(ω)
At this critical juncture, it's safer to avoid appearing in public.
(End of this chapter)
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