Translated by gingercat
Edited by gingercat
He saw An Wang’s unease, Hui Wang’s anger, Dai Wang’s silence, Yong Wang’s attitude of waiting for an opportunity, and Lu Wang’s schadenfreude…
With an air of superiority and loftiness, he seed to have returned to the cold and ruthless emperor again, no longer the anxious father who worried for his children and descendants.
Jin Wang walked in. His clothes were neat, without a single trace of ssiness. His pace was steady, not hurried, but the soles of his boots were covered with a layer of dust.
“Where have you been? Zhen asked you to enter the palace. Your brothers are here, but you’re the slowest.”
“Erchen had sothing to do.” As he spoke, Jin Wang offered his greetings, then he stood still without saying a word as if he had no intention of explaining why he was late.
Emperor Hongjing was very angry with him. Only this fifth son of his never cared about what he thought and whether his words would offend him. He pursed his lips and was about to say sothing when Jin Wang continued, “Erchen has sothing to report.”
“What is it?” asked Emperor Hongjing automatically.
Jin Wang stopped talking again. He appeared to dislike the number of people around him and didn’t want to speak in front of them.
Emperor Hongjing angrily stood to his feet and wavered a little, but he imdiately grabbed onto Li Dequan’s elbow.
“Follow Zhen.”
They went to Xinuan Pavilion and Emperor Hongjing sat down on the bright yellow mattress on the Kang under the south window. He beckoned towards Jin Wang, “If you have sothing to say, just say it.”
Jin Wang did not answer him directly. “Erchen wonders how Father Emperor plans to deal with second brother and seventh brother?”
This sentence stunned Emperor Hongjing. “How Zhen plans to deal with them, does Zhen need to tell you?”
“Erchen found soone. This person is…”
Then Jin Wang roughly explained the situation with Side Consort Han.
After hearing this, Emperor Hongjing sneered instead of getting angry. “For a woman to make such a ss of him, he really is my good son.”
The tone he used doesn’t sound like what one would use when talking about their own son, but an outsider. Emperor Hongjing had always held a faint sense of disgust towards Qing Wang. Most people didn’t understand why, only Jin Wang had a sense of so of the reasons.
Jin Wang was calm. He said without a change in his expression, “Erchen hopes that Father Emperor will show rcy to seventh brother and give him a chance to reflect on his wrongdoings.”
“You pleading for him like this makes it seem like Zhen is an executioner. Isn’t he Zhen’s son?”
Jin Wang looked up at him. Although he didn’t say anything, his clear eyes seed to have seen through everything.
Indeed, everyone knew that Qing Wang was frad.
It had all happened two days ago, yet Emperor Hongjing had suppressed the matter. It wasn’t until today that he ordered soone to bring Qing Wang into the palace and the reason went without saying.
Emperor Hongjing was a father, but he was also an emperor.
What was the emperor most afraid of? Besides death, it was probably the loss of the throne.
The father was weak and the son was strong. Especially with so many ambitious sons, almost any emperor would be afraid. Emperor Hongjing baited his sons to abandon their vassal states, made them remain in the capital and conferred them official positions. On the outside, it seed like he wanted to evaluate which son had the most potential to be the crown prince, but it was more an act out of desperation.
People like this, Jin Wang understood their ntality too well. He was certain that Emperor Hongjing still had sothing up his sleeve.
And this sothing was to kill the chicken to warn the monkeys, warning the princes not to act rashly. It was a show of power.
Given Jin Wang’s character, even if he understood all this, he wouldn’t do or say anything. But this ti, Qing Wang was involved. Although Qing Wang was confused and incompetent, he was still the younger brother he had protected for many years.
Jin Wang’s clear but bottomless eyes reminded Emperor Hongjing of a person.
A person who he dread of in the middle of the night and every now and then.
“…Shen Luan, don’t forget how she got pregnant with the dragon’s seed. You thought she was simple and weak, but in reality…”
She didn’t say anything and only gave him a look.
Under her gaze, he couldn’t help feeling ashad of himself and had a sudden flash of insight- she knew everything.
She knew she was scheming, and she even knew why she was scheming. She was very clear about the bad habits ingrained in his bones. She knew everything, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care about anything, not even death. The only thing she probably cared about was the Shen Family and him…
The two pairs of eyes overlapped, and Emperor Hongjing’s eyes trembled.
“Zhen won’t do anything to him.” At first, his voice was the sa as usual, but then it beca a little weak as he said, “Zhen’s only assigning him to guard the imperial mausoleum.”
Jin Wang nodded, and said, “If old seventh wishes to divorce his wife, erchen hopes Father Emperor won’t stop him.”
“Divorce his wife? Divorce what wife?” Emperor Hongjing quickly ca to a realization, and said unpleasantly, “You really like to ddle in other people’s business.”
“The woman from erchen’s family is worried.”
Emperor Hongjing was angry again. “You’re really promising! You don’t even try to hide it at all! You’re a dignified qinwang yet you let a woman ride over your head.”
Jin Wang ignored him. “If there’s nothing else, erchen will withdraw.”
“Get out, get out now!”
So Jin Wang left.
However, Jin Wang did not leave the palace imdiately but went to the place where Qing Wang was imprisoned.
When Jin Wang arrived, there was no sound coming from inside. Qing Wang was curled up in a corner of the room, and the man hugged his knees with his head buried like a child.
“Have you seen her?”
“Fifth brother, I’m sorry…”
“Fifth brother, I’m sorry, I let you down.” Qing Wang held his head and cried bitterly, “I’m a bastard, I’m a fool, I’m a white-eyed wolf… I’ve been imrsed in self-pity all day long. I feel that everyone in the world owes sothing, and it’s only right for everyone to treat well… I hate myself for being so weak. I always think to myself: one day when I’m strong, I’ll be able to put all this aside. But I can’t. I’m strong on the outside, but on the inside, I’m still the sa who could only cover my head and hide in the corner and cry…”
Back then, when Jin Wang reunited with Qing Wang at the Ganxi Institute, he found him just as he said, covering his head and hiding in the corner crying. He didn’t even dare to cry loudly.
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