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Chapter 115: Leaving the Capital
At the moment of action, the nearest guard reacted and raised his sword to attack with great force.
Li Zhongqian did not panic, pushing Li De to forge ahead. His body received several stabs, and his skin immediately split open as blood gushed out.
He seemed to feel no pain at all. Facing the shower of swords and knives, covered in blood, both his hands continued to choke Li De’s throat.
The nearby guard did not dare to kill. In a panic, the sword in his hand narrowly missed piercing Li De’s arm. After a moment of fear, and seeing Li Zhongqian’s look, his heart was horrified and his attack lost all its strength. All the others guard stopped their attacks.
The inner and outer halls were silent.
The crowd stood frozen on the spot, chills creeping all over their bodies.
No one expected Li Zhongqian came by himself to Linde Hall, his sole purpose was to assassinate!
Although he was passed to the Xie family, he was still Li De’s own son ah! Did he want to kill his father?
The Jin Wu Wei with outstanding martial arts were in the inner hall, and there was layer upon layer of guards in the outer hall. He was alone, with no way to escape. How did he dare commit the greatest sins in the world: patricide and regicide?!
Everyone was completely shocked.
Layers of Jin Wu Wei were stacked in the inner and outer halls. Li Zhongqian’s fingers closed in, and Li De appeared to be in extreme pain.
Li Zhongqian looked at the approaching Jin Wu Wei, his eyes so red that they looked like they could drip blood: “What, do you want to see His Majesty’s blood splattered on the spot?”
The crowd had never seen Li Zhongqian look so crazed. Their scalps tingled, and no one dared to move a single inch.
“Zhongqian!”
“Grand Duke Wei!”
“Qin Wang!”
“Erlang!”
The ministers who were about to exit the inner hall were terrified and frightened. Darting into the hall, they shouted hysterically, “Don’t be impulsive! Let His Majesty go! That’s your own father!”
Li Zhongqian sneered, “My own father? He’s not worthy!”
The crowd was anxious and looked at Crown Prince Li Xuanzhen.
Li Xuanzhen stood to the side with neither anger nor panic on his face, only indifference.
The people were so hard-pressed that they turned their heads to glower at Li Zhongqian. Some of them straightforwardly cursed him out, and some of them painstakingly tried to persuade him.
Li Zhongqian seemed as if he hadn’t heard.
“Grand Duke Wei!” A youthful voice yelled out. Zheng Jing ran hastily into the inner hall, “Grand Duke Wei, think about Empress Xie! Her Majesty the Empress has only you, her son, to lean on! Do you want to make Princess Wenzhao uneasy in the Nine Springs1?”
Li Zhongqian laughed coldly: “There are no eggs left intact when the nest is overturned. Instead of living muddleheadedly, it is better to die with understanding.”
The blood drained out of Zheng Jing’s face.
The sound of numerous footsteps sounded, and soldiers wielding blades poured into the inner hall from all sides. Filling every nook and cranny, they aimed countless arrows pointing straight at Li Zhongqian.
Li Zhongqian forcefully strangled Li De’s throat: “Uncle taught me to treat you as an emperor to swear loyalty and dedication to, to not ignore the bigger picture, to not be too concerned about personal gains and losses, that prosperity for the world must be sought… I tried so hard to do so. I did not compete, I went to war to kill the enemy, I opened up territory for Great Wei. I merely wanted to take good care of my mother and sister, but you indulged in Li Xuanzhen’s hostility against me.”
Li Zhongqian’s pupils dilated and shrank, “Father and son, ruler and minister. Flesh and blood were given by you. You wanted to kill me, then kill. I have long ceased wanting to live… but why do you all want to touch Mingyue Nu? Why? What did she do wrong?! She was only fourteen years old when she was sent away!
“Fourteen years old! She couldn’t be weaned off medicine since she was a child, and I couldn’t bear to let her suffer even a bit. I just wanted her to marry a good husband, to cut off her ties with me in the future and not be dragged down by me again… I just wanted her to be safe and happy… You didn’t even spare her! Even she was not spared!”
No one answered.
Zheng Jing looked at Li Zhongqian’s bloodshot eyes, and a cold chill ran up from the bottom of his feet. He fell to the ground, dumbfounded: “You are crazy! You’re crazy! Li Zhongqian, you’re crazy!”
When he saw Li Zhongqian stepping off the carriage, he suspected that the other party was deliberately showing weakness as a way to bide his time. He did not expose him and added oil and vinegar2 to exaggerate Li Zhongqian’s condition when he reported to his superior officer, but he never thought that Li Zhongqian’s purpose was not to lay low; he only wanted to struggle to the death. He had completely lost his mind without concern about anything!
“Erlang, you’ve truly gone crazy!”
Li Zhongqian’s lips quirked up, phoenix eyes raised like a vengeful demon: “Yes, I’m crazy.”
From the moment the Xie family was wiped out, he should have gone crazy. His father only had one son in his heart, Li Xuanzhen, his uncle died, and his mother went crazy and couldn’t recognize him. He lost everything overnight. Kneeling in front of the mourning hall, he didn’t eat or drink.
His uncle was a hero, but heroes were always let down and forgotten. He was confused and did not know where the road ahead was.
Three-year-old Yaoying pestered him all day long, accompanying him to keep vigil for Xie Wuliang. At that time, she could not walk yet, and she was by his side every day, asking him to hug her. A small, chubby ball, nestled in his arms, pulled out a hubing and fed it to his lips: “Elder brother, eat.”
Li Zhongqian looked down at his sister lying on his chest and the cake she was holding, and tears fell from his eyes as he finished eating the cake with moisture in his eyes.
Yaoying helped him regain his sanity, giving him a reason to live. He and she depended on each other, which was why he did not become a madman.
Now, his Little Seventh is gone.
She defused the crisis and to save him, she made a deal with Li Xuanzhen who she was at odds with.
Little Seventh was very timid, lazy, and delicate, and liked to act coquettishly with him. When he was in a coma, she took on the burden all alone. She went to the Yelu tribe, married a sixty-year-old tribal chief, and died at the hands of the Northern Rong…
When the Chief Historian cried and told him the truth, it was like taking a rusty knife and gouging out his flesh little by little.
Li Zhongqian was in pain.
His heart and liver were gouged out. His whole body, from his skin and flesh to his organs, his four limbs, and white bones, everything was in pain.
Was Yaoying afraid? She was so delicate; away from the Central Plains… he simply did not have the courage to imagine how much she had suffered!
Li Zhongqian once thought that, if he died, Aniang and Yaoying would be safe.
But he was with Little Seventh, and could bear to die!
He wanted to take good care of her, watch her grow up, and see her off to be married. His Little Seventh deserved the best in this world.
Little Seventh was gone.
No one could stop him from going crazy anymore.
Li Zhongqian’s eyes grew redder and redder.
Zheng Jing sucked in a breath and shouted: “Grand Duke Wei! You have inherited the Xie family name! If you truly go through with this today, it will surely become an eternal regret! The Xie family’s hundred-year reputation will be destroyed by your hands today! Where are you putting Great Wei! Where are you putting the people of the world?”
Li Zhongqian laughed mockingly.
“The people? The rivers and mountains? What does it matter to me?”
He stood in the midst of the impermeable encirclement, his face expressionless.
“With my Little Seventh gone, I don’t care about anything anymore.”
He was not his uncle, nor was he Yaoying. He did not want to care about the life and death of others; he only wanted to take good care of his sister.
Li Zhongqian sneered, his hands applying more force.
“Even if we have to use the entire Great Wei to bury Mingyue Nu, so what?”
Hearing this sentence, Prime Minister Zheng knew that Li Zhongqian had gone completely crazy. He made a gesture toward the Jin Wu Wei, and slowly closed his eyes with anguish.