Chapter 193

193 DIDN’T HE HATE ME?

It was still like a dream even after Bai Renshu’s funeral the day after the man died. It might be more accurately called a nightmare, but Bai Chen tried to look at the situation from a positive perspective.

‘Bai Renshu is no longer in the world, so I have no rival for the throne from the Emperor, and that should be a good thing for me, right?’ Bai Chen tried to think positively after the funeral was over.

Everyone in the Imperial Palace wore white clothes without a pattern during the funeral, and those clothes looked duller than the white clothes that people in the palace usually wore.

Bai Chen also had to wear those clothes, and the Emperor even announced that the people in the Imperial Palace would have to mourn for Bai Renshu for three days before they could put on their normal clothes.

It also meant that the people in the Imperial Palace were unable to carry out their usual activities for three days, and they were also unable to leave the palace during that period.

The brown-haired Prince was still in front of the offerings hall where ceremonies to honor the dead were performed. Normally, funerals in Dong Lang were held to bury the dead. The dead person would be washed and dressed, and the bodily orifices were covered with jade, considered incorruptible. Ensuing from this, the body was placed in a coffin fashioned from a tree trunk, preferably an old one, and the coffin would be buried in the tomb.

However, Bai Renshu’s body was not buried, but it was cremated. Bai Chen didn’t understand the reason behind the different traditions, but he heard some people whisper that the Emperor also cremated the Empress many years ago, and that was why he assumed that Bai Guowei probably only wanted to hold the same funeral for his son.

Bai Renshu had just been cremated. Several important people from outside the empire also came to pay their respects, and Wu Shun was no exception as that man had not returned to the Wu Li Empire since the Beast Hunting Event had to be suddenly canceled due to an unexpected incident in the Forbidden Forest.

Usually, people in Doing Lang didn’t immediately hold funerals just one day after the person died. Normally, it took three to seven days for the living people to prepare a funeral, but Bai Guowei looked like was in a hurry when he wanted to immediately cremate his son.

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That was why Bai Renshu was cremated today even if he just died yesterday, and Bai Chen could see how Emperor Bai Guowei was hugging the jar containing the Crown Prince’s ashes.

The people attending the funeral had left the area one by one, and Bai Chen was actually going too. However, he was forced to put his plans on hold when he heard someone suddenly call out to him.

“I have something I want to talk to you about. Don’t go.”

Bai Chen could recognize the voice, and that was why he looked surprised when he saw how Bai Guowei was walking toward him with a jar of Bai Renshu’s ashes in his arm.

When Bai Chen glanced at his surroundings, he realized that there were only him and Bai Guowei in the area in front of the offerings hall, and that was why Bai Chen was a little nervous right now.

He also came alone to the Imperial Palace because the servants were not allowed to attend Bai Renshu’s funeral. Since Ma Qiao and Zhu Ge only had the status of ordinary servants in his palace, the two of them couldn’t come with him to the Imperial Palace today, and that was why he felt lonely despite his ‘father’ being with him in the palace.

Bai Guowei had just stopped walking in front of Bai Chen, and the older man was fixated on his pair of blue eyes in Bai Chen which were of the same color.

This was the first time the two of them had looked each other in the eye so deeply, and it was also the first time Bai Chen had not felt any hostility in Bai Guowei’s eyes.

‘Perhaps Bai Guowei was too sad because his beloved son just died, and that’s why he even forgot how to give me a killing glare today,’ Bai Chen thought to himself.

Of course, the Prince still remembered how the Emperor even blamed him for Bai Renshu’s death yesterday. Bai Chen was indeed the last person Bai Renshu saw before the man hanged himself from the ceiling of the Zuigao Hall, but Bai Chen didn’t even say anything to the man, and that was why he was annoyed with how the Emperor could blame him blindly.

Now that the Emperor was standing right in front of him with no sign of hostility in his eyes, Bai Chen had no idea what the Emperor would say to him, and he was surprised when the Emperor suddenly pushed the jar containing Bai Renshu’s ashes into his hands.

Bai Chen widened his blue eyes in surprise when the Emperor suddenly did such a thing, but since the Emperor immediately let go of the jar, Bai Chen had no other choice but to hold the porcelain jar so that it wouldn’t fall to the ground.

He didn’t know anything, but he tried to secure the jar in his hands, knowing that the Emperor would definitely be angrier at him if he accidentally dropped the jar on the ground.

“Why did you suddenly give Crown Prince Bai Renshu’s ashes to me, Your Majesty?” Bai Chen couldn’t hide his confused expression, and he immediately questioned the older man.

Suddenly, Bai Guowei looked gloomy, but the pair of blue eyes continued to look into his son’s eyes as he said, “Maybe you are curious about why I chose to cremate Bai Renshu instead of burying him, but that’s what his mother said to me when we just got married. She told me that I needed to cremate her if she died, and if she had a child from our marriage, I also needed to cremate our child if they died.”

That was not an answer coming from Bai Guowei, but Bai Chen listened to it carefully.

“And she also told me that I should be the one to scatter her ashes into the river closest to the palace if she died before me, and that’s what I did many years ago,” the Emperor spoke again. “And when my son died, I thought I also should be the one to scatter his ashes, but I don’t think I have the right to do that.”

Bai Chen could understand most of Bai Guowei’s explanation, but he couldn’t understand the last sentence he said. “What do you mean, Your Majesty? Why did you say you don’t have the right to do that?” He finally asked.

Two pairs of blue eyes still staring at each other, and Bai Guowei answered, “Bai Renshu wanted you to be the one to scatter his ashes into the river, so you have to do it in three days when you finally can leave the palace and go to the nearest river.”

It was an unexpected answer that came from the Emperor, and even Bai Chen gasped in surprise, and his hand that was holding the porcelain jar slightly trembled. ‘Bai Renshu wanted me to scatter his ashes into the river? But why? Didn’t he hate me when he was alive?’