Chapter 294 Li Mu's Side Story: The World as a Chessboard (Part 3)
In the study, the flickering candlelight illuminated Li Mu's smiling face.
Li Yi, speechless with shock at his words, finally raised his hand after a long while, pointed at his cheek, and roared, "Nonsense!"
He pointed excitedly at his forehead: "Our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents, look at my good son! Did you feed all that stuff you learned at the Imperial Academy to the dogs?!"
The emperor of Great Wei, unusually furious, berated Li Mu.
"At such a young age, you don't learn anything good. Instead of thinking about how to share the Emperor's burdens, your head is filled with these crooked and evil schemes!" Li Yi's forehead veins throbbed with anger. "Listen to me carefully, the biggest flaw in your supposedly flawless plan is your younger brother, Li Jin!"
He sneered, "You sacrificed yourself for the greater good, but have you thought about what will happen afterward? What do you think Li Jin will have left after this struggle for the throne? Let me tell you! Not only will the Xu family take your mother's life, but they will also leave your brother with nothing!"
Li Yi grabbed a teacup from the side and slammed it at Li Mu's feet: "Get out! Get out of my sight! Kneel before your mother's door! Without my decree, you'll never stand up again in this lifetime!"
He was genuinely angry.
What's infuriating is that the predictions slowly uttered by Li Mu, who was only thirteen years old, were not random plans, but rather highly likely future scenarios.
What's infuriating is that despite possessing such extraordinary talent, he's someone who has no ambition for power and only wants to be a good older brother!
“It’s difficult…” Prince Pingyang, who had listened to the whole thing from behind the screen, shook his head and said, “The most terrifying thing about what he just said is that it is very likely to come true.”
Seeing that Li Yi remained silent, Prince Pingyang, Li Ying, watched his retreating figure and sighed, "He clearly knew how to solve the problem, but he had no intention of doing so. Not only did he have no intention of solving it, he was also determined to die."
He stopped there.
Li Mu's future was already determined when he uttered those words tonight.
Throughout history, none of the princes who were refined and upright, and who placed brotherhood above power, have ever met a good end.
Conversely, if this gentle and humble crown prince were forcibly protected, no one in history would have escaped unscathed.
"What should we do?" Li Yi slowly turned his head and looked at the pensive face of the Prince of Pingyang.
He pondered for a long time, then chuckled softly, "How about... we repeat the past? Let him walk the same path I did?"
Li Ying, the Prince of Pingyang, and Li Yi, the current Emperor of Wei, are two contrasting figures: one has no ambition to rule the world, while the other, despite possessing countless strategies, has always been excluded from the list of heirs because he is not the eldest son of the legitimate wife.
In the previous struggle for the throne, Li Ying openly defied the imperial decree in order to push Li Yi to the position of crown prince, and was exiled to the remote Shu region, where he lived as a poor prince for three years.
It wasn't until Li Yi ascended the throne that he finally had the opportunity to personally invite him back from Shu...
"Our paths may not be viable."
Prince Pingyang, Li Ying, cherished the brotherhood of Li Yi, and Li Yi himself was always a model of loyalty and righteousness.
“There are too many variables.” Li Ying leaned against the screen. “The biggest variable is Li Yao.”
At this point, the study fell into a deathly silence.
Heaven gave the Great Wei an exceptionally intelligent crown prince, but failed to give him the ambition to match his strategic abilities.
Li Yi knew in his heart that sooner or later, his two sons would face a situation where it was either one of them dying or the other living.
No matter what he does or how he tries to pull things out, this is their final outcome.
He was unwilling to accept his fate, but he didn't know how to break free from it.
The royal fate that had once trapped him seemed like a curse, passed down to the next generation.
"If we have the chance, we must break this ancestral rule of primogeniture." Li Yi rubbed his temples. "If we select the virtuous and capable, how many people's bloodshed and sacrifices can be avoided?"
This is something he couldn't do back then.
Gazing at the deep sky, Li Mu hoped this opportunity would arrive soon.
Earlier, he could have devised a way for both of them to survive, except for a life-or-death struggle.
However, things took a turn for the worse than Li Yi had anticipated.
Because the impulsive Consort Shu was severely punished, she was made to guard the imperial mausoleum for half a year.
Since returning to the palace, her spirits have indeed been dampened considerably, but her daily nagging with Li Yao has only intensified.
"If you were a prince! How could your mother have suffered such a fate!"
"It's all because you're so useless! You didn't even try to fight for it! How am I supposed to live from now on!"
"How could I have given birth to a heartless, soft-hearted wretch like you!"
In the end, Li Yao was just a child, and he couldn't stand Consort Shu's constant nagging.
His many merits were rendered worthless in Consort Shu's eyes.
He became taciturn, and as the days and months passed, he seemed to have changed completely, appearing more composed and dignified, yet also exceptionally gloomy.
Even though he was only a teenager, every time he saw Li Mu, he could only hear the words of Consort Shu.
The inferiority complex in Li Yao's heart was like a demonic claw, squeezing his heart and making it hard for him to breathe.
That year, after much deliberation, Li Yi changed Li Yao's name to Jing.
Firstly, he thought that the sound of Jing Jin's voice might bring him, who was starting to become gloomy, closer to the Li Mu brothers.
Secondly, it was also to appease the restless Xu family and give Consort Shu a sweet treat after punishing her.
In this way, perhaps the day when brothers turn against each other can be postponed even further.
But as fate would have it, the Third Prince Li Jin, who had only been in the Imperial Academy for two or three years, stirred up a huge wave like a stone thrown into water, making Consort Shu, who had just felt a little bit of success, feel an unprecedented crisis.
He was eloquent and had a natural talent for martial arts. At a young age, he followed General Xiao, learning martial arts and military strategy at the same time.
He was skilled in both literature and martial arts, and far more talkative than Li Mu, making him extremely popular.
Not long after the previous dynasty began, it was rumored that he was the prince most like Li Yi. It was said that he, too, had the concepts of loyalty and righteousness engraved in his bones.
As a result of Li Mu's concealment of his talents, Li Jing, who had just enjoyed a few years of peace, immediately returned to an even more miserable situation than before.
He studied so diligently, hanging his head from the rafters and pricking his thigh with an awl, that he didn't get a single good night's sleep in a month.
"Mother, this is all for your own good."
"Besides taking the crown prince's position, do you think you have any other way out?"
"I'm doing all this for you. I'm paving the way for you with everything I have. You have to cherish it!"
The heavy workload day after day wore away Li Jing's last bit of hope and extinguished all the "affection" in his blood.
The phrase "It's either you or me" gradually became Li Jing's style of doing things, slowly revealing his decisive and ruthless approach to leaving no room for future troubles.
That year, Li Mu played a game of chess with Li Jin in the courtyard of Yun Ning Palace, feeling quite melancholy.
He looked at Li Jin meaningfully and said, "You can specialize in martial arts, but as for literature, keep some of it to yourself."
Eight-year-old Li Jin had defeated all his peers on the chessboard and had no rivals, but he was beaten to a pulp by his own older brother, who was described as "incredibly mediocre" and "lacking talent".
“I don’t need to be compared to anyone.” Li Jin crossed his arms, staring intently at the chessboard, his fingertips twirling the chess pieces in his hand. “I won’t interfere in your affairs.”
He frowned and placed the chess piece down: "My concern is to gallop across the battlefield and protect everyone in the Great Wei."
"As for how others will judge, it doesn't matter. I just need to guard the border and protect you. The rest will be judged by future generations."
Looking at the magnanimous Li Jin, Li Mu smiled faintly: "My younger brother is so outstanding, he will surely become a war god and be remembered for all time."
Li Jin raised her eyebrows, glanced at his smiling face, and clicked her tongue, saying, "Don't go off on a tangent. Teach me first. How did you end up playing like this? I feel like I can't win no matter what."
He crossed his arms and complained in frustration, "Your chess playing style is just like that guy from the Cen family! I can beat him, so why can't I beat you?"
Li Jin grew increasingly angry, stood up abruptly, and bowed deeply to Li Mu, pleading, "Brother, please teach me how to break this deadlock!"
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