407 Come back for your son
Zhu Liling paced in her chamber. It was almost evening, and there was no information about her brother. Where was Ye Yujin? Her heart was thumping wildly against her chest.
“Your Majesty!” Suddenly, a maidservant walked in with her head down. She looked terrified and was unable to form the words.
“Why are you standing quiet? Speak!” Mi Yao scolded the maidservant.
“Y-Your Majesty, Lord Ye’s is no more. His corpse is in the palace ground,” the maidservant replied and started crying. She got on her knees, apologising for giving such bad news to the Queen.
Zhu Liling got numb for a second. She could not believe that her brother was dead. She had seen him the day before. No, that could not happen. She ran out of her chamber to look at her brother.
Her feet halted to see Ye Yujin’s corpse, covered in a white cloth. His face was coveted with that cloth, and blood was spattered on it. She saw the King and the others, who were around Ye Yujin’s dead body.
With gradual steps, Zhu Liling stepped forward. Tears had formed in her eyes, and her body was getting colder. This could not happen. How could her brother be dead?
Hei Chengxi saw the Queen and stepped back as he lowered his head.
Qiu Zedong tilted his head and saw the Queen. Zhu Liling asked the soldier to remove the cloth from his face. The soldier obeyed the command and did so. She brought her hand to her lips. Tears poured down her cheeks, and she fainted within a few seconds after seeing Ye Yujin.
.....
Fortunately, Qiu Zedong caught her at the right time and asked Mi Yao to take the Queen to her chamber. The servants acted quickly on the King’s command.
The soldier covered his face when the King ordered them to send the corpse to the mortuary. He announced that he would give a formal burial ceremony to Ye Yujin. He asked Hei Chengxi and other top officials to follow him to the private chamber.
Qiu Zedong looked at the message that they recovered from the top of Ye Yujin’s body. It was in Ye Yujin’s writing. It mentioned that he was searching for Qizhen, and just before his death, he was forced to write it by Qizhen.
“How could Qizhen be in the capital? Your Majesty, he was dead long ago,” Kang Xi said, and looked at Hei Chengxi. “You are the only one, who was loyal to Qizhen. You should not lie anymore and confess before the King that you did this.”
Kang Xi didn’t leave any grounds to accuse Hei Chengxi.
“I have been in the palace since the morning. The Prime Minister is accusing me for no reason. I was always loyal to His Majesty,” Hei Chengxi stated, looking at the King. He stood up and unsheathed his sword, perplexing all of them.
“If His Majesty has any doubt on me, then he can kill me,” Hei Chengxi said, and he placed the sword on his both palms as he extended them out.
“Hei Chengxi, I have no suspicion about your loyalty. Put the sword back into the scabbard and take your seat,” Qiu Zedong said and glanced at Kang Xi. “It is not the time to fight amongst each other. I do not want Prime Minister Kang Xi to accuse my most loyal general,” He affirmed.
Kang Xi acknowledged the order of the King and apologized to him. He glanced at Hei Chengxi and clenched his jaw.
“Check every residence, houses and huts in the capital. I want a proper investigation on this matter. Check every single person’s identity, and if you find anyone suspicious, then bring him to General Hei. Hei Chengxi will inform me about them,” Qiu Zedong ordered his ministers from Law, Governance and Head official of the Royal Inspectors.
Qiu Zedong looked at the message again. Qizhen could not be alive. He killed him with his own hands. He fell from the cliff and died. Was someone messing up with him? But, who? There was no one except his loyalists who knew about the past.
The King looked at Hei Chengxi and wondered if he had fooled him. However, he was indeed present around him all the time. Also, all these years, Hei Chengxi never showed any sign of rebellion. Other than that, Hei Chengxi was the one who helped him by telling him about Qizhen’s location. Even Hei Chengxi’s sons were loyal to him. One of them was in Qijiang.
If Qizhen had returned, then it was not good. He killed Ye Yujin brutally and sent such a threatening message to him.
“Your Majesty, there is a possibility that Qizhen didn’t die that day,” Li Zixuan said when the King asked him to explain.
“That day, His Majesty threw Qizhen off that cliff. Below it, a huge river was flowing. Though we had searched that region well, but we didn’t find him around. We thought that he died from drowning,” Li Zixuan explained to the King.
Hei Chengxi was stunned to find that Qizhen fell from the cliff. That was why his body could not be found.
“However, if the cliff is high, then there is no chance that Qizhen be alive,” Hei Chengxi opined and glanced at the King.
“It was a high cliff,” Qiu Zedong stated, thus ending another suspect that Qizhen was alive. Hei Chengxi realized that Monk Yuze’s idea worked well. However, a storm was waiting for all of them.
Yuze knew that Qizhen was not dead, but what about the others? The suspicions had grown in the King’s mind, and one who would be directly affected by this was Lóng Wei.
Hei Chengxi knew that the King didn’t know about Lóng Wei’s truth, but now he might again start the search for the past. The truth that was buried for so many years, would come out soon, and indeed, the consequences would be dangerous.
‘Qizhen, you have to come back for your son,’ Hei Chengxi told himself in his mind.
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