Lin Fourth, who was planning to end Mo Chenke with a knife, looked at the bloody face of the man in front of him. He looked stunned.
âFather, how did you stop his bleeding like this?â
âHow else? You should study more.â
Lin Shiheng walked over while smiling. He emanated a âkind old fatherly feelingâ, if they ignored the blood-stained blade in his hand.
âEveryone has a lot of blood in their body. He vomited blood, and with the earlier slash, I helped him pour some blood out, so even if he wants to vomit blood again, thereâs no more blood in him to do so.â
After saying this, he asked with a smile, âFourth, do you think father is right?â
Lin Fourth suddenly realized, âWhat Father said makes sense!â
Mo Chenke felt the terrible pain on his face. In front of him was the family he once despised, now majestic and powerful. He spat out another mouthful of blood.
As soon as he spat it out, he heard Lin Shiheng say, âIt looks like I didnât do it properly.â
As the words fell, a blade slashed heavily on his face again, directly crossing with the wound formed just before.
âAh!!!!!!!â
Although he was injured on the battlefield before, at the moment, he couldnât help but howl bitterly from the pain. He just closed his eyes with a full face of blood. Lin Shiheng then slashed again, hitting his right leg with a vicious blow, causing another scream.
Yet, in the end, it didnât kill him.
âLet go of him.â
Lin Shiheng ordered in a soft voice. The soldiers who were holding their swords across Mo Chenkeâs neck immediately withdrew their swords and stood respectfully behind their Lord.
Mo Chenkeâs legs were weak as he fell to the ground. His blood mixed with the soil on the ground, leaving him in a wretched mess.
Lin Shiheng and Lin Fourth were once looked down on by him. Now, Lin Fourth looked down at him condescendingly, while Lin Shiheng looked uncertain and dark.
They havenât killed him yet. This made Mo Chenke see hope.
He must not die!
He must never die!
He hadnât become a Prince yet, and he hadnât become the most powerful person in the world. He was just getting started, so how could he die here?
Mo Chenkeâs eyes were full of hope, thinking of the affection the Lin family once held in their hearts for him. He desperately got up, but couldnât stand up because of his injured leg, so he had to use both hands to crawl to Lin Shihengâs feet.
âFather, Father! I was wrong. Father, I know Iâm wrong, I was unfilial. It was my fault, Father. You cared about me the most. Spare me, this child will always be filial to Father in the future⌠In the beginning, it really wasnât me who wanted to disassociate myself from you, Father. It was my father⌠no! The Third Prince forced me! He is my biological father, and he has power and status, he forced me. How would I dare to reject him? And, at the beginning, I was afraid that you were having a hard time, so I specially sent 1,200 silver. I beg you Father, look at our past affectionâŚâ
He knew that this Father, who wasnât related by blood, loved him the most. As long as he asked, he didnât even have to cry, whatever he wanted would be offered to him with both hands. None of the brothers in the family could match this favor. He could get all the toys and books he wanted with one sentence. At the beginning, even when Lin Shiheng knew that he wasnât his biological son, didnât he still want to maintain this father-son relationship? He knew how much his âfatherâ loved him, so he only asked for it and was sure this would save his life. Maybe, he could still be taken back and become the young master of Zhou City. After all, if he hadnât given it up with his own hands, Lin Shiheng would have given Zhou City to him.
Mo Chenke thought clearly. He had no attachment for his biological father. Compared with the father who didnât hesitate to throw him out in times of crisis, he certainly wanted a powerful and loving father like Lin Shiheng. But he didnât think about the fact that times have changed and the loving father at the beginning was no longer the same person now.
At the moment, Lin Shiheng had an indifferent look, slightly dropping his eyes, looking at the ground. Mo Chenke kowtowed desperately, but Lin Shihengâs expression didnât even fluctuate.
âDo you know why I gave you those three slashes?â
Mo Chenkeâs face was full of tears, but he knew he had to listen to him. After listening to these words, his movements became stiff.
âYes, itâs to punish this child for being disrespectful to FatherâŚâ
âNo.â
The man in the bright red robe crouched down slowly, looking at Mo Chenke, who was struggling to climb up. His eyes were full of cold ridicule. His voice was soft, and it flowed with the wind into Mo Chenkeâs ears.
âOne slash, is for your father. In these 20 years, I owe a lot to my other sons, and I have always held you in my heart. But I never thought that I would raise such a thing as you.â
âOne slash, is for your wife. When you asked to marry her that day, didnât I ask you for your opinion? Were you not allowed to see her in secret? When you saw how young and beautiful she was, you agreed to the marriage. Yet, as soon as the marriage was consummated, you left her and went away. Then, after you didnât see her for several years, you came back and forced her to die.â
âOne slash is for your daughter. Blood kinship, even if you are cold-hearted and ruthless and want to force your wife to die, you have no scruples about treating your own daughter like that. You are unfaithful, unfilial and unjust. What face do you have to live?â
Mo Chenke stared blankly at the person in front of him, only feeling that his whole body seemed to feel cold. âNo ⌠I didnât, I didnât want to force them to die âŚâ
âWhile saying that you are not my own flesh and blood, while dropping a letter of divorce, with how the world was a few years ago, youâre still saying you didnât want them to die?â
Lin Shiheng sneered and got up, looking at him as if he was looking at something dirty.
âNo, no, Father, if I really wanted them to die, I would have killed them with a sword. Why would I go out of my way to give her a letter of divorce? It was to let her take the child and live wellâŚâ
He didnât kill them with a sword, but that was because all his followers at that time were people of the Third Prince. If he really let those people see him kill his wife and child, even if he was the beloved illegitimate child of the Third Prince, he was afraid that there would be scruples.
The simple truth was that Mo Chenke also tried to cover up the past.
âOkay.â
Lin Shiheng nodded and retracted the sword back into its sheath.
âSince you say so, today, I will ruin your face, cut off your legs, and poison your vocal cords. When these are done, I wonât kill you, Iâll let you go. How about it? You can still⌠live well.â
âDonât! Donât!!! Father, Fatherââ
Amidst Mo Chenkeâs desperate cries and pleas, Lin Shiheng took the medicine prepared by his own soldiers long ago and poured it directly into his mouth.
âTake him to the back. When the battle is over, just throw him to some random place.â
In the first month of the year of the new Emperorâs reign, Lin Shiheng ascended the throne.
This was a prime example of grassroots rebellion. In previous years, although they also carried a rebel flag, they never really got involved in the cause of the rebellion until his favorite eldest son was assassinated by the rebel Mo Chenke, Lin Shiheng, who always showed his image as a nice old man, became angry and joined the rebel cause.
His first strike was to directly surround the army of Mo Chenkeâs father, the Third Prince. After some fighting, the Third Prince was defeated and blocked on his way to escape. In order to survive, he had to hand over Mo Chenke, the fifteenth son who caused the disaster. After that, Lin Shiheng kept his word and killed Mo Chenke in public, then withdrew from the army.
The Third Prince escaped with the remnants of his army, thinking to recuperate and take revenge in the future. However, the other two armies killed the old rival, who had been stirring up the storm for many years, in a âtaking advantage of your fallâ attitude.
After that, as the three legs of the tripod, one of them was replaced, from the Third Prince to the Lord of Zhou City, Lin Shiheng.
(TNote: three legs of a tripod = tripartite, each stand on one side, a metaphor for a situation where the three sides are opposed.)
Then, before the three legs became the same as before, the Zhou City army simply swallowed the remaining two legs. A dominant family, going straight to the imperial city.
Before they entered the imperial city, the dumb Emperor who had been hard to kill, died on the belly of a woman. However, he still had many descendants! Yet, before the ministers could decide on which Prince to support for the throne, Lin Shiheng was already at the gates.
His fierce reputation had already spread to the imperial city. Since the death of his eldest son, this nice old man was as cold as winter to the enemy. No one knew if he was stimulated too much or had simply torn off his disguise. As soon as they realized he had arrived at the city gates, they were all terrified and focused on escaping. The loyal old ministers had long been killed by the dim-witted former Emperor, and some of the remaining influential people were either thinking of flattering the new master or continuing their small life by âdonating moneyâ and running away. The imperial sons and princesses in the imperial city were also missing. It was unknown whether they ran away while there was chaos or were escorted and hidden by the people around them.
Lin Shiheng didnât have much interest in killing these bloodlines of the former dynasty. Thanks to the dim-witted Emperorâs ability to kill, there was no loyal person left in the imperial court, and the military were either incapable or displaced. With no one to support them, this bloodline was a joke. After making a show of âlooking for them, but not finding themâ, Lin Shiheng announced his enthronement. This enthronement ceremony wasnât very grand, but it settled the hearts of many people.
In the year of the Emperorâs enthronement, the new Emperor posthumously crowned his eldest son, Lin Guangyao, who had been assassinated in Zhou City, as Prince Duanshun, revealing the expectations he had for his eldest son.
During 15 years of the reign of Emperor Tianqi, he made great efforts to make good use of virtuous people regardless of their origins, so long as they were useful to the country. During the 15 years, the weather was good, the treasury was abundant, and the people were well.
After consciously retiring from old age, he abdicated to his second son, and he became the Emperorâs father. After that, he loved traveling secretly. Until 100 years later, there were still many places where Emperor Tianqi went.
Thousands of years later, these places where the original Emperor Tianqi had traveled became scenic spots. A group of young people, led by tour guides, came to observe the places where the ancient Emperor had been, wondering why he wanted to reveal his true identity on that day and what his intentions were.