CH 34

Ling Xiao used his free hand to try and get back his dagger, but after trying twice and failing, he looked rather resentfully at Lan Wei, “This has nothing to do with you, right?”

“Actually, Young Master Lan Wei, aren’t you the one that has even less of a reason to be here?” Ling Xiao said in an accusing manner.

Lan Wei’s face went cold at his words and firmly grabbed Ling Xiao’s wrist. Ling Xiao cried out in pain, his brows creasing.

“Can you not see your situation right now? You are in this Young Master’s hands.”

Ling Xiao mockingly smiled, “If I could run away from your hands once, I can do so again. If I could get the Emperor to punish the Prime Minister Household once, I can get the Emperor to do so a second time!”

“You!” Lan Wei’s eyes burned with rage, pressing the dagger against Ling Xiao’s neck.

“…You need to think carefully. I am someone the Emperor cares about, if I were to die, the Emperor would just have to think a bit…” Ling Xiao maintained a strong front of calmness.

Not saying that was better, as when he heard this, Lan Wei’s remembered how the Prime Minister Household was implicated because of him. It was because the man in front of him had revealed it to the Emperor!

Lan Wei glared at Ling Xiao, his eyes showing hatred, but besides that was also a sentiment that Ling Xiao was unable to understand. This was all mixed together within Lan Wei’s eyes, causing them to be pitch-black and dense like ink, making them look much more profound and mysterious.

Ling Xiao thought he saw wrong and blinked his eyes. The simple and arrogant Lan Wei could also have such a complicated expression?

When Ling Xiao wanted to take a closer look, Lan Wei let go of him and turned his head away.

Looking distractedly at him, he heard Lan Wei coldly snort and say to him, “Even you know that move.”

He fiddled with the dagger in his hand, then threw it back to Ling Xiao, “Even if you don’t tell me, this Young Master can still guess it. You came to kill Mo Qi.”

The dagger that glinted with a cold light suddenly flew back to Ling Xiao, caused him to jump twice from fear. After confirming that he wasn’t injured by the sharp dagger, Ling Xiao tightly gripped the dagger handle, scared witless.

Lan Wei sneered at the scene, “You can’t even hold onto a dagger tightly, and you want to kill someone?”

Being mocked, Ling Xiao raised his eyes and glared at Lan Wei, “As long as Young Master Lan Wei does not involved yourself, then I will be able to stab down with this dagger.”

Lan Wei scoffed at him, “This Young Master advises you to think clearly. The Emperor hates people who goes behind his back.”

Ling Xiao’s face turned strange at his words, was Lan Wei trying to persuade him?

Im-impossible!

The hatred between the two was deep, so how could Lan Wei try to persuade him?

Lan Wei’s purpose was just to get him to give up and not injure Mo Qi.

It was already like this, yet Lan Wei was still unwilling to let go of Mo Qi.

He couldn’t bear it and coldly ridiculed him, “Your beloved woman has already hooked up with another person, yet Young Master Lan Wei is still protecting her. Should I say your love is great and selfless, or should I say your heart is really big!”

Lan Wei heard that and glared at Ling Xiao in hate.

Being glared at but not told to shut up, he continued to mock him, “Oh, that’s right, Mo Qi has never taken you seriously since the beginning. Young Master Lan Wei was merely just enduring hardships for her glady. Tsk tsk, the great Prime Minister’s Young Master was being used like this, you really are a natural-born offender!”

“What do you understand!” Lan Wei snarled, taking the sword in his hand and trapping Ling Xiao between him and the wall, “I once believed that she saved me…”

Speaking to that point, Lan Wei suddenly shut his mouth, his complicated gaze landing on Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao looked at the sword point that was almost within reach and rubbed his neck due to lingering fears. He was glad that his neck was far from the sword’s point.

Ling Xiao’s small movement was seen by Lan Wei. Seeing Ling Xiao like this, his anger was cut short and his breathing calmed down. He found it somewhat humorous, was this person really that afraid of death? Then why did he, back then, regardless of life or death…

Lan Wei seemed to have thought of something and he pursed his lips, his mood that had just lightened dropped again, and a single person appeared in his mind. This person helped him learn the truth, but also left injuries all over him…

“Lan Wei, do you know why I was nice to you? It was just because you were the Prime Minister’s son and would be able to help me get into the palace!”

In his memory, Mo Qi’s twisted face magnified. Lan Wei clenched his fist.

Two days ago, Lan Wei had to leave the capital, but he was unable to let Mo Qi go and wished for her to come with him, only to get this kind of reply…

“But what do you have now? You are now a commoner! And you’ve expelled from the capital! With you like this, what kind of ability do you have to take me with you? And why should I even go with you! What can you give me? I want a high position and great wealth! Tens and thousands of people are above you, just what can you give me?!”

Mo Qi’s beautiful appearance had looked extremely ugly in his memory, and Lan Wei did not dare to believe what he heard back then. This was his beloved woman, the woman he risked his life to help to the extent that he couldn’t even bear to let her go when he was leaving…

“Qi Qi, what are you saying?” Lan Wei remembered how his voice was trembling back then, trembling so much he could hardly form words.

“You approached me… because I was the Prime Minister’s son?”

“Im-impossible.” Lan Wei could not believe it, “When we first met each other, you did not know my identity at all, but you still saved me and took care of an injured person like me day and night. Someone like you, this is impossible…”

Mo Qi interrupted him, her tone filled with disdain, “You still believe that it was me!”

“It’s just that the first person you saw when you woke up was me, that’s all. You believed that I was your benefactor, and I felt you were amusing so I said I was. In fact, you forgot, at that time out in the countryside, there wasn’t just you and me… there was also…”

Ling Xiao!

Woken up by Mo Qi, Lan Wei silently took in those words.

But his face was filled with shock.

Back then, he went out to the countryside to play around, but when he wasn’t careful when he was riding his horse and fell off a slope and was seriously injured, being unconscious for many days. He always believed that Mo Qi saved him because the first person he saw was Mo Qi. Yet, he had forgotten that it was Ling Xiao who had brought back some prey to make a fire, taking care of him and Mo Qi.

“It was… Ling Xiao… But he didn’t tell me…” Lan Wei’s lips trembled, his face full of disbelievement.

“He only listens to me, so it was naturally impossible for him to tell you that it was him that saved you!” Mo Qi proudly interrupted Lan Wei.

“Oh, that’s right, I’ll tell you one more thing. After you go back to the Prime Minister’s Household, everything you have seen of me was acted. Ling Xiao said you liked gentle women, so I acted out a gentle character. Since I can act out a gentle appearance, then naturally every sweet and honeyed words I told you were fake. I was merely exploiting you, that’s all.”

Lan Wei couldn’t believe it, the shock he received caused him to retreat two steps. Grief and indignation filled his heart, and he vomited out a mouthful of blood.

“Haha, it really is interesting.” At that time, someone appeared from the dark. That person had a white turban and gold pieces hanging from his clothes, a completely foreign style of dress.

Lan Wei stared at him, stunned, “Fu Yujun, how could you be here?”

“Then how could the Young Master Lan Wei who has been expelled from the capital be here?”

Seeing Lan Wei’s face that looked like his was being choked, Fu Yujun laughed and shook his head, “I really sympathize with your Mu Country’s Emperor, to have such an incompetent Prime Minister and a trouble-causing Prime Minister’s son.”

“You…” Lan Wei wanted to retort, but he found that he wasn’t able to retort. Fu Yujun was right, he could only cause trouble.

Lan Wei tighten his lips in silence and watched Fu Yujun automatically walk to Mo Qi’s side and hold Mo Qi’s waist. Lan Wei finally sensed that something wasn’t right, “You two…”

“Just as you see.” Fu Yujun laughed cruelly, hugging Mo Qi tighter to himself, “Soon, I will ask the Emperor of Mu Country to take this person with me. You best give up on trying to take her with you, just leave.”

“That’s right, that’s right! I am great right now, so quickly leave, quickly leave! You’re annoying.” This was Mo Qi’s final words to him in his memories.

Lan Wei clenched his fist and slightly shook his head to shake off the bad memory. These past two days, he did not leave the palace. He had stayed at the Cold Palace to watch Mo Qi, seeing her every move, he finally saw a lot of things clearly, and also understood them,

The him from before was really too naive.

Lan Wei closed his eyes, then opened them once more. His sight swept by to where Ling Xiao was pressured and frightened by him and nimbly retrieved his sword.

Seeing that sword that was emitting a cold light going far from him, Ling Xiao was astounded.

The Lan Wei who he deliberately infuriated would unexpectedly let him off so easily?

Ling Xiao was sure now. He knew that Lan Wei was tolerating him, but why?

Lan Wei placed the sword back into its scabbard and stood in front of Ling Xiao, his expression lonely. Ling Xiao frowned, he could only feel that the Lan Wei in front of him was very strange.

“Don’t do anything foolish. The Emperor never tolerates any existence that deceives him, even if that existence is very important in his heart. The Prime Minister Household is one of those examples.”

“……” Facing Lan Wei that suddenly turned sincere and earnest, Ling Xiao really didn’t know what to say.

“Within the court, besides the Prime Minister, the High Official of the Ministry of Appointment has the most power. Most of the officials adhere to him, and the Prime Minister Household is used to balance his existence. If the Prime Minister is dead, the High Official of the Ministry of Appointments will easily expand his power…”

Speaking to this point, Lan Wei stopped. Ling Xiao suddenly realized, the Prime Minister that maintained the power balance wasn’t here anymore, so the power in the court will be unbalanced. Revoking the Prime Minister wasn’t something good, the Emperor knew this as well. That’s why Ling Xiao always felt that the Emperor was protecting the Prime Minister Household.

So it was like this… so the Emperor was thinking of that…

However, even if things were like this; in the end, this situation was still caused by Lan Wei’s and the Prime Minister’s consecutive lies…

Lan Wei mockingly laughed at himself, “You have already seen the Prime Minister Household’s ending. If you continue to do this, your end will not be much better than the Prime Minister Household.

Ling Xiao felt strange in his heart. Would the Lan Wei from before say these things? Or rather, would the Lan Wei from before understand so much? The most important one was, would the Lan Wei from before persuade him so patiently?

Ling Xiao was very suspicious, but it didn’t show on his face. Lan Wei tightly gripped his sword, the image of a certain woman appearing in his mind. His voice was dry and hard as he said, “Mo Qi… she will sooner or later reap what she has sown. The Emperor is clear on everything and would naturally make a decision. You don’t need to personally get involved.”

Speaking to that, Lan Wei pointed at Ling Xiao’s dagger, then glanced at the paper that was exposed by his waist. He frowned in doubt, his hand already stretching out.

Ling Xiao only felt that the image before his eyes flashed, and the letter he prepared was taken from his waist.

Startled and flustered, Ling Xiao hurriedly tried to get it back, but Lan Wei evaded him. With one hand, he restricted his hands and pressed him against the wall, his other hand opening the letter.

After he finished reading the letter, Lan Wei’s face was greenish-black.