193 Darkness and Unfairness
“Royal Father, I have an indispensable matter to discuss with you,” Lóng Wei said. His tone suddenly turned serious.
“What do you want to discuss?” Qiu Zedong was curious to know. It was interesting that his son, for the first time, wanted to speak about a matter with him.
“Royal Father, it is about Li Hua,” Lóng Wei stated. Qiu Zedong got confused when he heard him and asked him to continue.
“Before I tell my Father, I would like to get a promise from him that no matter what he will believe me,” Lóng Wei stated. Qiu Zedong hummed and promised him.
“Li Hua doesn’t belong to the lower class. She is the daughter of Xu Guang Li, a third-rank official from Xinshui town,” Lóng Wei said.
Qiu Zedong was dumbfounded to learn about it. He immediately recalled that the entire Xu Family had died. “Will the Prince clarify everything?” He asked Lóng Wei to continue.
Lóng Wei narrated the entire truth to his father. However, he didn’t tell Qiu Zedong why Li Hua entered the palace. Instead, he modified that part. “Li Hua had to make ends meet, so she decided to work in the palace. She thought that if she stayed in Xinshui, someone would kill her.”
“All this time, Li Hua lied to us,” Qiu Zedong drew his brows close, and it annoyed him.
“I knew about her, Royal Father. I was the one who told her not to reveal the truth,” Lóng Wei took the blame on him. He didn’t want Li Hua to undergo the wrath of his father. Lóng Wei knew his father couldn’t be mad at him for more than a day.
.....
“I saw her in Xinshui Town five months ago. She saved me from drowning,” Lóng Wei said.
Yes, that day, Lóng Wei wanted to experience death. He wanted to feel why people were afraid of it. He also had no hope of living. The hatred he received from the people around him made things tough for him. The darkest truth of his life, which everyone was unaware of! All he had seen was darkness and unfairness in people’s hearts.
However, that day, when Li Hua jumped into the water, he found the light in her. He wanted to pursue her until the end.
Lóng Wei didn’t tell Li Hua about this because she would have cried, and he could not bear to see her tears.
Qiu Zedong was unable to comprehend this situation. “You know how to swim, then how come you were drowning?” Qiu Zedong asked him.
“I wanted to feel death,” Lóng Wei said. Qiu Zedong widened his eyes and blinked several times.
“What do you mean?”
“I wanted to know why people fear death,” Lóng Wei answered. “Li Hua pulled me out of the water. She saved me. That was the time when I decided to marry her. But since I was banished from the imperial palace for a few months, I could not tell my father. When my punishment was over, I found out she was here. And, without wasting any more time, I decided to marry her. I hid her truth from the royal father and everyone because I thought she would get punished.”
Such terrible thoughts were in his son’s mind, and Qiu Zedong never knew about them. He felt terrible as a father.
“So, this trip was to find out who was behind all this, right?” Qiu Zedong inquired.
“Yes, Royal Father.”
“The Shui Family cannot do it without any outside support,” Qiu Zedong concluded. “Two months ago, I made Shui Xiaoqing governor because of a minister’s request. You can look into that and find out what happened. Also, I would like to meet Li Hua and her brother, Xu Zifan.”
“Sure, Royal Father.”
“Xu Guang Li was one of the most honest officials in the Kingdom. He had been to Qinping several times. However, I didn’t know that someone could become his enemy,” Qiu Zedong said with a perplexed expression.
“Yes, Royal Father. I want to know when Yuze will return,” Lóng Wei suddenly changed the topic.
“Monk Yuze will return, probably by the end of this month. Why? Is there something you want to discuss with Monk Yuze instead of your father?” Qiu Zedong asked.
Lóng Wei wondered if he should tell his father about the prophecy that Yuze made for Li Hua. Since Yuze hid it from everyone, he decided to keep it hidden from his father too.
“Were you always upset that I punished you?” Qiu Zedong asked. “This throne doesn’t permit me to do that. I couldn’t debar you from punishment even if you held the title of a Prince,” he clarified to Lóng Wei.
“I was angry that the Royal Father never saw through me. The ministers around you aren’t what you think. They all have hidden motives. I didn’t beat Kang Huijuan because I am notorious, but because he left a woman pregnant and later tried to kill him. The Royal Father, Kang Xi is not your close friend. He may backstab you someday.” Lóng Wei finally revealed the truth to his father.
“What? Why did you not tell me this earlier?” Qiu Zedong inquired.
“Because my father hadn’t believed me. I will bring evidence soon to him. However, I am glad that I got punished. At least, I found Li Hua. If I had not been Xinshui at that time, then today, I would not have been at peace,” Lóng Wei pronounced with a smile.
Qiu Zedong was totally stunned to hear the thoughts of his sons. Indeed, the marriage with Li Hua turned him into a better person. He could not express his happiness. Lóng Wei talked with him for years and told him what he felt deep inside his heart.
“Lóng Wei, you are my youngest child. That’s why you are dear to me. Every difficulty you face hurts your father as well. I didn’t know that you had such thoughts in your mind. It seems my child’s acts were not troublesome, but he found his own way to bring justice to people around him,” Qiu Zedong stated and patted his shoulder with pride.
He recalled that even Xiaoming had told him not to trust Kang Xi too much.
“When will Prince Lóng Wei share with me why he killed his mother?” Qiu Zedong’s came out of the blue. “I do think that he did it for a reason,” he stated.
Qiu Zedong recalled the day when Lóng Wei came in the middle of the night to his manor. It was raining heavily. When Eunuch Gao Bing informed him that Lóng Wei was standing in the middle of the courtyard, waiting for his father to see him, it troubled him.
**Flashback starts**
“Lóng Wei is here at this hour?” Qiu Zedong chuckled when he heard the sound of thunder. He quickly got out of bed. Eunuch Gao Bing put a robe around him, and the two left to see Lóng Wei.
Qiu Zedong’s feet were glued to the ground when his eyes fell on Lóng Wei. He had held a sword in his hand. The sword was covered in blood. The hands, the face, and the robes of Lóng Wei had blood on them.
Qiu Zedong widened his eyes upon seeing the terrible sight of Lóng Wei. Lightning struck in the dark cloudy sky. The pattering of rain on the ground intensified. Without wasting a second, Qiu Zedong ran to his son.
He held Lóng Wei’s arms and they looked into each other’s eyes.
“Your Majesty!” Gao Bing ran after the King, holding the umbrella in his hand.
Qiu Zedong’s robes were half-drenched in that heavy rain when Gao Bing brought the umbrella over Qiu Zedong’s head.
“What is this, son?” Qiu Zedong, with a terrified expression, asked.
“I killed her,” Lóng Wei replied. His voice was emotionless. He didn’t sound regretful. His facial expressions were blank.
“Killed whom?” Qiu Zedong questioned him and scrunched his brows in dismay.
“The one who hated me,” Lóng Wei answered.
Qiu Zedong stopped blinking and asked Lóng Wei to explain the situation to him.
“I killed your concubine, Royal Father,” Lóng Wei stated. This time it was loud enough, with a stern tone. A stroke of thunder reverberated in the dark sky. Qiu Zedong took a step back, unable to comprehend what Lóng Wei had just told him.
Lóng Wei threw the sword on the ground, which terrified the few servants present, including Gao Bing.
“The Prince has gone mad, Your Majesty. Should I ask the soldiers to take him away?” Eunuch Gao Bing asked.
“Shut up!” Qiu Zedong shouted at Gao Bing, who tightly pursed his lips together.
Qiu Zedong asked Lóng Wei again. He wasn’t ready to believe that his son could commit such a sin.
“Yes, Royal Father. I killed her,” Lóng Wei again admitted. Another bolt of lightning travelled into the dark clouds before striking somewhere on the ground.
**Flashback ends**
“Lóng Wei, answer your father. Why did you kill your mother?” Qiu Zedong asked again in the humblest possible way.
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