Chapter 556: Chapter 556 : (Extras) The Mausoleum (2)
Zhang Fengxi’s heart pounded like a beast against his ribcage as he climbed the stone staircase heading toward the mausoleum, taking two steps at once.
The barrier he installed around the mausoleum kept it off-limits to everyone, except for him and his children, of course. He had never once thought that the boys would crawl up as soon as they learned how to walk.
His heart almost stopped when he saw the mausoleum’s door stand ajar, allowing the outsiders barely a glimpse into the interior. It was so heavy, but the two boys managed to push it open.
Zhang Fengxi staggered toward the door and pushed it slightly wider, enough for him to enter.
The twin babies were indeed inside.
They managed not only to enter the mausoleum but also to climb onto the bed. When Zhang Fengxi arrived, they were napping peacefully against their mother’s chest.
Anger and grief intertwined, coalescing into a clandestine fire that soared within his chest.
Before he knew it, Zhang Fengxi already had both hands at the babies’ collars, yanking them off their mother unceremoniously.
Zhang Mingrui and Xie Junjie, who were torn off their sleep so suddenly, immediately began to bawl their eyes out. Their pitiful cries did little to appease their father. If anything, the high-pitched noises made him even angrier.
Outside the mausoleum, the three beta dragons shivered as they listened to the babies’ cries and Zhang Fengxi’s thunderous shout.
"Don’t cry!" he hollered at the innocent babies. "Don’t you know what you have done???"
But of course, they didn’t know. They were too young to understand anything. Hiccuping and wailing pitifully, they wriggled in their father’s iron grip. Even then, they kept extending their tiny arms to their sleeping mother, yearning for some comfort.
Zhang Fengxi’s heart broke into pieces.
He slid down a wall and hugged his crying sons to his chest. His tears ran down his face as he himself sobbed like a lost boy.
"Jianbao," he called out to the wife who could no longer respond to him. "Jianbao, please come back..."
"I need you, Jianbao... Our sons need you... Please, please come back to us..."
The three beta dragons outside heard everything, but they did not dare to make even a sound.
Mingyu and Qingyun cried silently. Even Head Servant Zhou held his chin high and blinked away the tears that gathered in his eyes, refusing to yield to a torrent of sadness that engulfed Fuxi Palace for many, many months now.
It took some time before Zhang Fengxi composed himself and stepped out of the mausoleum. By then, the twin babies had already cried their little eyes out until they fell asleep.
"Don’t let them out of your eyes again," he sternly told the three beta dragons. "I don’t want them anywhere near the mausoleum."
The three beta dragons bowed their heads and said, "Yes, Your Highness."
This incident was kept under wraps for a long time, but the story eventually leaked out, and Xie Jianshen found out about it.
That day, he came by unannounced, almost frightening the maids and servants to death. Head Servant Zhou notified Zhang Fengxi in a hurry, who then rushed back home to see what was going on.
Xie Jianshen, the Heavenly Emperor of the Heavenly Empire, the busiest person in the entire heavenly realm, actually took some time out of his busy schedule to come to Fuxi Palace just to lie down next to his little nephews on the bed and play with them.
"They have grown," he remarked when Zhang Fengxi entered the room. "They look more and more similar to Little Yu with every passing day."
"Yes," Zhang Fengxi agreed.
That was probably Zhang Fengxi’s only source of consolation in this difficult time. The big Jianyu was sleeping in the mausoleum, but the little Jianyus were alive and kicking, surrounded by the people who loved them deeply.
Xie Jianshen patted the babies’ soft bottoms gently as they drifted to sleep, tired after chasing each other across the room.
"I would like to see Little Yu," he declared. "Will you open up the barrier for me?"
"Of course, Your Majesty."
Xie Jianshen carefully pushed himself off the ground, careful not to wake up the little ones.
As he followed Zhang Fengxi up the stone staircase, he couldn’t help but reminisce about the past. Fuxi Palace was his childhood home, the place where he spent the happiest years of his life, unburdened by the looming pressure of differentiating into an Alpha.
But now, Fuxi Palace had also become the place where he lost his younger brother, and where his younger brother’s body was entombed.
"We are here."
Zhang Fengxi opened up the barrier, and Xie Jianshen walked through the door.
Sleeping atop a bed of red orchids was the person he loved the most. His beloved younger brother. The most beautiful omega that the heavenly realm had ever seen. And at the same time, the most tragic omega whose life was extinguished too soon.
Looking at Xie Jianyu’s sleeping face again, Xie Jianshen felt empty inside. Not a single tear came to his eyes.
Apparently, he had exhausted his tears for the next decade or so. Nothing stirred a deeper sorrow in his heart than Xie Jianyu’s premature death.
He reached out to touch Xie Jianyu, but Zhang Fengxi stepped forward in a flash and grabbed Xie Jianshen’s wrists.
"Your Majesty, please."
Xie Jianshen turned his head and gave Zhang Fengxi a solemn look.
"Don’t touch him. His body is maintained by an array of spiritual stones. If you disrupt the balance, he might..."
Zhang Fengxi’s anguish bobbed up and down in his throat.
If Xie Jianyu’s body fell apart, he would not have a body to return to. Then he would be really gone. His wife would be dead for good.
"Ah."
Xie Jianshen straightened his posture and stared at Xie Jianyu’s sleeping form.
"Is that why you have been keeping my nephews away from their mother?"
Zhang Fengxi’s grip around Xie Jianshen’s wrists went slack in response.
