Chapter 196 Your Thoughts
"Shu'er, don't be so presumptuous!"
Madam Wei scolded him in a deep voice, then looked at Lu Yan, stepped forward and knelt politely. She had a few white silk flowers in her hair, and when she lowered her eyes, she looked much older than she remembered. "Anyone who comes is a guest. Please come in, Your Majesty."
Lu Yan moved aside and said, "Madam, you are too polite."
The tablets of Duke Zhenguo and his eldest son Wei Xuan were placed in the mourning hall. The second son Wei Hong disappeared while receiving food and fodder, and his whereabouts are still unknown. Everyone said he was dead, but the Wei family may still have a glimmer of hope and did not place his tablet there.
Lu Yan walked into the mourning hall and respectfully offered two sticks of incense. Huo Lang followed suit and offered two sticks of incense. The two of them had special identities and were now outside the palace, which was not as private as the Shenkang Palace. Therefore, they tacitly agreed not to speak or even exchange glances.
After Lu Yan finished offering incense, he turned and looked at Madam Wei: "The court is in a turbulent time right now. I wonder what plans Madam has for the future?"
In his previous life, Wei Tan was promoted to a nobleman. He submitted a petition requesting to escort the coffins of his father and brother back to his hometown and move his family to his fiefdom. He probably wanted to stay away from the court, but unfortunately he died on the way due to the worsening of his wounds.
The Wei family neither wanted to be an overreaching official like Huo Lang, nor did they want to get involved in the struggles between those parties. Retreating from the current situation was their only choice now.
Madam Wei said coldly, "I beg your Majesty to grant us permission to return to our fiefdom with our family."
Lu Yan nodded imperceptibly: "Beijing is a place of controversy, and the Wei family really doesn't need to get stuck in the mud. I have a few words to say to the Third Young Master in private, I wonder if you can make it easier for me?"
They were close friends, and everyone knew it, but they only came to meet each other now because things had gotten to this point. It made people feel that they were just pretending. If they really wanted to help, they would not have let the Wei family wait outside the palace all night.
Before Madam Wei could say anything, Wei Tan said in a hoarse voice, "Your Majesty, please follow me."
He was too deeply poisoned to speak, and for a moment it was hard to tell what emotions he was feeling. The new eunuch was named Wumu, and he was much more honest than Wumei. Upon hearing what was said, he stopped in his tracks and waited obediently outside the door.
Lu Yan closed the door behind him, and the first thing he said when he entered the room was -
"Brother Wei, do you hate me?"
The Wei family died a tragic death. In addition to Zhao Qin, the "emperor" was also the main culprit. The people even cursed them in private, let alone the people of the Wei family.
Upon hearing this, Wei Tan coughed heartbreakingly again. He really had no strength left, so he could only sit on the corner of the table. The first two sons of the Wei family were both martial artists, but Wei Tan was the only one who liked to read. Lu Yan had thought countless times about how the years of hardships at the border would change him. Now, it seemed that he was still the bright and handsome son of the noble family:
"Your Majesty, since you have said this, do you feel that you have done something wrong?"
Lu Yan closed his eyes and said nothing.
It seemed as if even his birth was a mistake. Starting from this face, every step was wrong.
Wei Tan looked at him quietly, his eyes reflecting the sparse sunlight outside the window, and there was only clarity: "Your Majesty, the hatred of a minister cannot change anything. The dead can never be resurrected. If I say I don't hate you, you may feel more guilty. If I say I hate you, you will feel even more guilty. Since this is a troublesome question, it is better not to answer it."
Wei Tan is a meticulous person who never makes mistakes in his actions. When Lu Yan first met him, he felt that his eyes seemed to see through something, but he never said it.
Lu Yan didn't respond and changed the subject: "Can the poison of the golden hook in your body be cured?"
Wei Tan exhaled slowly, with nothing else to say except relief about life and death: "This poison may not be a bad thing. I just hope to survive for a few more days and send the coffins of my father and brother and my mother and sister back to their fiefdom safely."
The power of the Wei family made the royal family jealous. If they were still alive, there would be a danger of a comeback. Wei Tan was the only male in the family. If he died halfway, the rest of the family would naturally not regard the remaining women and children in the Wei family as a threat, so what he said might not be a bad thing.
Lu Yan then realized that Wei Tan had already made up his mind to die. He took out an exquisitely carved wooden box from his sleeve, placed it on the table and slowly pushed it over. In addition to the antidote for the golden hook poison, there was also a prescription hidden inside: "Jackals, tigers and leopards will not let go of the remaining weak prey just because you die. Take the antidote, live well, and don't let the military power of the Wei family fall into the hands of others. Maybe one day when the sky is clear and the water is clear... you will come back again."
Wei Tan frowned in confusion: "Come back?"
Lu Yan lowered his eyes and was silent for a moment: "...When all the people who should die in this world are dead, those who should come back will naturally come back."
He came here today just to deliver medicine, and did not want to stay any longer to arouse suspicion. He turned around and was about to leave, but suddenly Wei Tansha's hoarse voice rang out from behind him: "Your Majesty, the capital is originally a pool of turbulent water. Your hands can make it more turbid, or you can remove the dirty gravel. It all depends on how you choose, just like the difference between good and evil in a single thought."
"The word hatred is like the smoke of war in troubled times. In the end, it hurts both you and others. There is no winner. I have not experienced the same pain as you, so I cannot advise you not to use these two words. I just hope you don't hurt innocent people. Otherwise, it will just be a repeat of the past and dirty your innocent hands."
Wei Tan's family tradition is upright. He has never had to worry about food and clothing since he was young. His parents are loving and his brothers and sisters are harmonious. He learns poetry, books, etiquette and morality, listens to the sound of cicadas in the wind and looks at the bright moon and mountains and rivers. What he says is always so reasonable. Even when his family encountered great changes, he did not change his gentlemanly character.
Lu Yan had been immersed in hatred for too long in his previous life, and he was in a daze, and unknowingly went astray. Otherwise, how could he have caused Huo Lang's death and ended up with a miserable end?
He was not sure if he still had any kindness in his heart, but the words of his old friend Wei Tan finally cleared the fog in front of his eyes and brought a ray of light, allowing the emotions that had been suppressed for many years to get a respite.
Lu Yan paused but did not look back: "I will try my best. The road ahead is long and I don't know when we will meet again. Please take care."
After he finished speaking, he gathered up a little strength and pushed open the door in front of him. He said goodbye to Mrs. Wei and the others with cold faces and left. However, when he glanced around, he found a familiar figure standing and wandering in the corridor outside the courtyard, as if waiting for someone.
Because the eunuchs were following him, Lu Yan did not say anything. He just looked at Huo Lang from a distance a few steps away. In his memory, he seemed to always be like this, standing silently in the distance, not attracting anyone's attention. Only when the court was dismissed would he occasionally catch his gaze.
Huo Lang soon spotted Lu Yan. He paused, slowly grabbed the cloak that had slipped off his shoulders, and said calmly, "Your Majesty, since you have already burned incense and met old friends, it is better to return to the palace as soon as possible. There are all kinds of people out there. If something goes wrong, no one will be able to take responsibility."
He actually just wanted to persuade Lu Yan to return to the palace as soon as possible because it was not safe outside, but for some reason, it sounded like sarcasm.
Huo Lang would never be able to say what Wei Tan said.
When he was young, he followed his mother, a singer, in the fireworks area and suffered all kinds of insults, abuses and beatings. Later, he was taken back to the Marquis' Mansion, but he was the least favored son in the family and suffered endless coldness and indifference. Years of killing had wrapped his heart with a thick layer of armor, which made it even colder and more twisted.
If Huo Lang knew the truth, he would just curl his lips and sneer, and then ask Lu Yan who he wanted to kill. If Lu Yan was not satisfied after killing one person, then he would kill a hundred or a thousand people until he was satisfied.
People who were raised with love are like Wei Tan, and people who were raised with hatred are like Huo Lang.
If one day Lu Yan stood on the edge of a cliff, Wei Tan would be the one holding his hand, and Huo Lang would be the one jumping down with him.
The snow in the courtyard melted, dripping down the eaves, but it was still chilly. Lu Yan thought that he must not drag this person down with him in his lifetime, and he must pull him to shore. His voice was low and gentle, but with a complexity that Huo Lang could not understand: "I know, it's cold today, the Regent should go back home earlier."
After he finished speaking, he left the Wei Mansion with a group of servants, while Huo Lang still stood there without moving. He saw Lu Yan's back disappearing in front of him. He didn't explain anything, but just urged himself to go back to the mansion. He reached out to touch the half-melted snow on the railing, and squeezed it hard in his hand. In an instant, it lost its shape, and the dripping snow water slid down his fingertips, chilling him to the bone.
Huo Lang closed his eyes and whispered to himself, "What else are you hiding from me?"
He could not guess that the time he and Lu Yan actually spent together was actually very short, and they did not talk much. In the past, they had different social statuses and at most only saw each other from a distance when attending court. Later, because of the other party's oath, he willingly went to the border to guard for several years. He was far from understanding Lu Yan's feelings as well as Wei Tan, a young man from a noble family who was meticulous and well-read in poetry.
Now that he holds great power and Lu Yan has also ascended to the throne, he originally thought that the relationship between the two would be closer, but it seems that it still cannot compare to the friendship between him and Wei Tan.
Between them, Huo Lang always showed more affection.
Huo Lang's eyes darkened, and his heart suddenly turned cold, as if a biting cold wind had blown straight into his lungs through his clothes. He said to his servant in an emotionless voice, "Go back home."
He did not ride in a sedan chair today, but came on horseback with a few personal guards. When he went out, he happened to see Lu Yan's carriage slowly heading towards the palace gate. The sun was about to set in the sky, and the dusk was gradually swallowing up the remaining light.
Huo Lang rode on the horse and took a deep look before looking away. He pulled the reins tightly and was about to turn around and leave, but at this moment, several figures suddenly flew across the stone walls on both sides of the road, as fast as a gust of wind, and their target was Lu Yan's carriage.
Huo Lang's eyes froze when he saw this, and he immediately drew his bow and shot at those figures. The swift arrow just killed one of them, alarming the entire team.
"Oh no! There's an assassin! Quickly protect the car--!!!"
The originally quiet street was instantly thrown into chaos by the appearance of those assassins. The palace masters who followed Lu Yan out of the palace immediately started fighting with the other side. Even the guards who were ambushing in the dark rushed forward, but they never expected that this group of people had extremely high kung fu skills and their moves were mysterious. Several poisonous smoke bombs were thrown to the ground, and black mist rushed into the sky, making people cry and unable to open their eyes.
"Dog Emperor! Give me your life!"
The leading assassin jumped onto the carriage, his sword wielding as fast as a rainbow, and was about to stab the emperor inside. However, he saw a flash of cold light in front of his eyes, and the force from the dark knocked his sword down. Then his whole body became paralyzed, and he knelt on the ground uncontrollably.
Lu Yan quickly grabbed the man's throat, with a deadly poison needle on his fingertips. He warned him calmly, "If you don't want to die from the poison, be quiet!"
The man in black looked horrified, obviously he had not expected that the emperor was actually so good at martial arts. This was completely different from what he knew. The next second, his mask was swiftly pulled off, and his face was completely exposed to the air.
Lu Yan looked at that face and was stunned for a moment: "It's you?!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com