Chu Changge and Hua Yeli faced each other, relatively speechless.
After a long time, Hua Yeli spoke first, "My real father is not King Liang."
Chu Changge moved his eyes and muttered to himself, 'What does it matter to me who your real father is?'
Hua Yeli paused for a few seconds before adding, "My biological father was Emperor Tiancheng."
Chu Changge was greatly shocked, and his deep eyes were full of disbelief. How could.......how could......
Hua Yeli hung his head and whispered, "I only found out about it a few days ago. If I had known, if I had known you were my own brother……."
"I'm not!" Chu Changge violently interrupted Hua Yeli, unwilling to listen to him any longer.
On the other side of the wall, Murong Yunshu suddenly realised that it was no wonder that Hua Yeli had no deep feelings with King Liang Sr. It was also no wonder that Liang Wang Fei insisted on Hua Yeli's rebellion!
Hua Yeli closed his eyes and tried in vain to shut the pain in his heart, but he could not hide the intense sadness between his brows.
Mu Fei's words came to his mind again.
"Don't deal with Chu Changge again. He is your brother, half brother. Your biological Fu Wang is not King Liang, but Emperor Tiancheng."
"I have heard that Chu Changge is the son of Emperor Tiancheng and Noble Consort Yue. Noble Consort Yue was a good sister of mine while in the Imperial Palace and the saviour of our mother and son."
"In those days, before Noble Consort eloped with the late Emperor, she once told me that the late Emperor was going to abandon Jiangshan for her. This would be a huge scandal for the royal family. The Dowager Empress and the new Emperor would never allow such a thing to spread. They would definitely declare that the late Emperor died of illness. By then, all the concubines who had been favoured by the late Emperor and had no children in the harem would be buried alive in the Imperial Tomb with him. Your father was interested in me at that time. So Noble Consort Yue asked the late Emperor to write the last Imperial Edict before abdication and bestowed me to King Liang as his Fei."
"I have no feelings for your Fu Wang. After I married into the Liang Wang Residence, I found that I had flesh and blood of the late Emperor in my stomach, so I have been very cold to your Fu Wang all these years."
Why? Why did she have to let him know such a cruel truth after he had driven Chu Changge to his death time and time again.......
God, what had he done wrong to be punished like this?
"Ahhhhhhhh——" Hua Yeli could no longer control himself as he hissed and punched the wall until his fist got bloody.
Chu Changge wanted to laugh very much. But he couldn't. The love rival he wanted to kill the most had turned out to be his half-brother. God really did love to joke with him. But God, this time, your joke is too big. Seriously too big.......
Suddenly, the ground and wall shook as the stone doors slowly opened.
Chu Changge quickly turned back to look, only to see Murong Yunshu holding Little Murong and their eyes met. There was tenderness, heartache, and tens of thousands of words in his eyes.
"Yunshu!" Chu Changge called out in a low voice. He stepped forward quickly to embrace Murong Yunshu, mother and son, into his arms.
Hua Yeli did not want to look at their family reunion, nor did he dare to. "You take her away. Go as far away as you can. I will not hunt you down again. No one will dare to hunt you down again." The voice was full of contradictions and pain.
Chu Changge let go of Murong Yunshu and looked at her, seeking her opinion.
Murong Yunshu also gazed at him and said earnestly, "If you go, I will go. If you stay, I'll stay too."
Chu Changge's heart was touched for a moment. "Okay, let's go." After saying this, he picked up Little Murong, holding the younger one in one hand and the older one in the other, and left the dungeon.
Hua Yeli stood in stunned silence for a long, long time before he turned violently to chase after them as he looked at the family of three who had long since walked away. So far away that their backs were blurred, and he wept.
Farewell tonight, goodbye forever.
Letting Chu Changge and Murong Yunshu go was Hua Yeli's last act of tenderness. From then on, there would be no more emotional Hua Yeli in this world. Only the cold-blooded and heartless King Liang Jr.
Under the moonlight, another person witnessed the transformation of the feudal lord. Looking at Hua Yeli standing tall in the wind, a smile of relief gradually appeared on Xu Hu's face.
Iron bones. Tender feelings.
At this time, Hua Yeli was a true man. After that, he would be a wise Emperor.
*
At the same time, Huberg, who was observing the heavenly bodies at night, suddenly had his eyebrows jumped. He counted his fingers and muttered, "Strange, why has the Monarch's Star shifted?"
Huberg immediately ran back to his tent.
Mister Shi Er, who had been waiting in the tent for a long time, asked curiously, "You're in such a hurry. What's wrong?"
"Something big happened." Huberg simply replied and began divination.
Hexagram
Image Credit | The rightful owner of the picture via Baike Baidu
Image Credit | The rightful owner of the picture via Baike Baidu
"The Monarch's Star has shifted."
"You didn't read it wrong, did you? How can you suddenly say the Monarch's Star has shifted?"
Huberg shook his head. His eyes that revealed nothing stared unblinkingly at the hexagram.
"What does the hexagram say?" Mister Shi Er asked.
After a long time, Huberg finally said, "I can't see it."
Mister Shi Er: "What can't you see?"
Huberg: "I can't see if the person to be the Emperor has changed or if he has changed his position."
"Several feudal lords are stationed here. So it must be that person to be the Emperor has changed......." Suddenly, Mister Shi Er stared at Huberg and accused him, "Huberg, could it be that you've found out Chu Changge can't become the Emperor anymore, so you've changed your story to fool me again, right?"
The corner of Huberg's mouth trembled slightly. "I'm not fooling you. That's what the hexagram showed me."
"Just because I don't know the hexagram, so you're saying whatever you like to me, right?"
"……"
*
On the other side, a family of three strolled hand in hand under the dim light of the night, dyeing the moon with a layer of happiness.
"Do you still hate him?" Murong Yunshu asked softly.
Chu Changge was silent for a short while before answering, "I can tell what is the most important thing for me."
Murong Yunshu's heart warmed at his reply. Then she asked, even though she already knew the answer, "Then what would you say is the most important to you?"
How could Chu Changge not know that she was doing it on purpose, but he was happy to answer it out loud. "You." If thrown on the floor, his neither too fast nor too slow words would surely make a sound.
Being with you is what matters most. If letting go of hatred is what it takes to stay peacefully with, I am willing to tolerate the whole world.
"What about Little Murong then?" Murong Yunshu was all smiles, deliberately making things difficult for him.
Chu Changge raised his eyebrows in thought and said, "He's just a drag."
"……"
A moment later, a mournful cry pierced the sky, followed by an abrupt stop, and after a long time, the cry resumed, followed by another abrupt stop.......and so on.
Looking at the two father and son who were 'in a battle of wit where each stuck to his own stand' beside her, Murong Yunshu just smiled helplessly and blissfully.
*
Four years later, at the back garden of Murong Mansion.
"Mom, it was me who burned Uncle East's eyebrows."
"Mom, I was the one who gave Uncle North the laxative."
"Mom, I was the one who cut Uncle West's eyelashes."
"Mom, the person who changed Uncle North's appearance was me."
"Mom……."
"Enough is enough." Murong Yunshu interrupted Chu Murong, who confessed his crimes, as she started to get a headache. She said helplessly, "Murong, if you did something bad, then that's it. You don't have to go around telling people about it."
Chu Murong blinked. "But Dad said that a real man will dare to take responsibility for his actions."
"......." Murong Yunshu held her forehead. "Your dad's words are not Imperial Edicts. You don't have to listen to him all the time."
Chu Murong looked blank. "Mom, what is an Imperial Edict?"
"The Emperor's decree is the Imperial Edict."
"Oh." Chu Murong had an understanding. "Mom means that only what the Emperor says can be fully listened to?"
"Mhmm." Murong Yunshu didn't care if it made sense or not. She just nodded heavily. As long as she could shake someone's position in Little Murong's heart, she could even say that Yue Lao was the Kitchen God.
In response, Chu Murong thought with a displeased frown and said, "Then let Dad become the Emperor." That tone was as if the King of the Mountain was saying, 'we're going to do a big job tonight.'.
"......." She couldn't teach this child. She really couldn't. Murong Yunshu felt that she was utterly unable to intervene in the matter of educating Little Murong. No, that was not entirely out of the question. Little Murong was still very interested in the topic of making money. As soon as they talked about business matters, the way he looked at Chu Changge turned into a look of abject contempt. As if he was saying, 'Dad, you don't understand about making money'.
What a great pleasure.
At that moment, Chu Changge came over in a fury and complained, "Madam, look what your son has done!"
Murong Yunshu looked over and saw that Chu Changge's increasingly handsome and mature face was densely written with a brush in various combinations of '*one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, nine, nine, nine,' scribbles.
*What Murong Yunshu has taught Chu Murong is how to write numbers in capitals. Yes, they called them the capital numbers. The usual way one writes number in Chinese is 一 (1), 二 (2), 三 (3), 四 (4), 五 (5), 六 (6), 七 (7), 八 (8), 九 (9), 十 (10). But when one writes on cheques or for account purposes, one will write the numbers this way 壹 (1), 貳 (2), 叁 (3), 肆 (4), 伍 (5), 陆 (6), 柒 (7), 扒 (8), 玖 (9), and 拾 (10). This is to avoid the cheque or account from being altered since the numbers have more strokes.
Great, another one of her son gratifying acts.
Murong Yunshu laughed disgracefully and pointed out, "He is your son, too."
"You're the one who taught him to write." Chu Changge said sullenly.
"Then you should break his hand." Murong Yunshu said with great indifference.
In an instant, three black lines emerged on the two faces of Chu's father and son, one large and one small, carved out of the same mould. [+]
Chu Changge: "Madam, you gave birth to him after nearly ten months' pregnancy."
Chu Murong: "Mom, you gave birth to me after nearly ten months' pregnancy."
How terrible, father and son were on a united front again. Murong Yunshu immediately pulled Chu Murong into her arms and asked, "Murong, can I change your surname?"
"Not good."
"......." Such a direct response. Murong Yunshu asked, "Why not? Now that you live in Murong Mansion, if your surname is Murong, you will have a much better position in this family."
"Troublesome."
".......names are for others to call you, and it is supposed to be more troublesome to others."
Chu Murong replied, "But if my surname is Murong, I have to leave two characters after I do something bad. When my surname is Chu, I only need to write one character."
Two characters, one character? Murong Yunshu suddenly remembered someone's habit of arousing the great indignation of both men and gods when he was young and immediately changed her mind. "Then you should continue to have the surname Chu. Just Chu."
Chu Murong tilted his head suspiciously and looked up at his mother, "Mom seems to dislike Murong a lot."
"Nothing of the sort." Murong Yunshu said with unusual calmness.
Chu Murong: "Then why didn't Mom let Murong take Mom's surname?"
"Uh......."
"Your mother is afraid that writing two words will take too much time after you've done something bad and delay your escape." Chu Changge was very helpful to help his wife out.
Murong Yunshu was about to nod her head in agreement when she heard Chu Murong say, "But why do I feel that Mom is afraid that I will ruin Murong Mansion's reputation?"
"……"
"……"
Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge looked up at each other with teary eyes. Our son has a bright future ahead of him!
Such a joyous and harmonious family of three.
At that moment, Lu-er rushed in and said, "Miss, this is bad! I heard that Emperor Tian and Emperor Ye are about to go to war again!"
In an instant, Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge's expressions changed at the same time.
"Dad, who is Emperor Tian and Emperor Ye?" Chu Murong tilted his head and asked Chu Changge.
Before Chu Changge could answer, Lu-er exclaimed, "Gu, Guye, did you disfigure your face?"
The corners of Chu Changge's mouth twitched a few times. "They are Murong's handwriting. Go and fetch me a basin of water."
"Oh." Lu-er immediately rushed off to fetch water.
Chu Changge gave Chu Murong a depressed glare and warned, "Don't scribble on Dad's face in the future, got it?"
"That's not scribbles. That's the account." Chu Murong answered dead earnestly.
"....... it's not like there's no paper at home. Why do you have to write it on Dad's face?"
Chu Murong snorted with his nose to the sky and said, "I just love to do so."
Ha? Chu Changge was flabbergasted for a moment, then laughed heartily. "Good, good, good. Really worthy of being my son! In the future, when you walk in the jianghu, you need to have this kind of courage!"
Murong Yunshu sighed helplessly. If the upper beam were already not right, the lower beam would surely be crooked!
"Dad, you haven't said who Emperor Tian and Emperor Ye are and why they are at war?" Chu Murong asked.
"Oh, the two of them......" Chu Changge searched his mind, trying to find an easy-to-understand word to explain the feud between Hua Yeli and King Sheng to Chu Murong.
"They are two brothers who are not on good terms with each other and are at war over the family fortune." Murong Yunshu responded.
When Chu Changge heard what she said, he cast Murong Yunshu a grateful look.
In response, Murong Yunshu raised her dark eyebrows.
The two of them were 'making goo-goo eyes at each other' when they suddenly heard Chu Murong earnestly requested. "Mom should also give me a younger brother. When I get bored, I can compete with him over the family fortune."
"......" Why did that sound like 'Mom, give me a brother too. When I get bored, I'll beat him up for fun'.
When Murong Yunshu raised her eyes, she suddenly saw Huberg smiling at them. Obviously, he had heard Chu Murong's words. She smiled awkwardly and said, "I am not good at teaching my son that I have made you laugh."
Lu-er, who had fetched water to wash Chu Changge's face, secretly thought, 'Fortunately, she's unable to teach her son well. If she did, it would have been dreadful.'
Huberg went straight to the point. "When you withdrew all Murong Mansion's funds and retired to Jinling, King Sheng, Hua Tiansheng and King Liang, Hua Yeli, were both frustrated by the lack of army provisions. They had to return to Yanzhou and western province. Then they proclaimed themselves as Emperor, respectively. Emperor Shenwu, Hua Lingtian, also ceased fire because of the empty treasury. Since it was not suitable for a long-term war campaign, the country had to divide into Three Kingdoms. For four years, the Three Kingdoms have been saving their energy for a long time. I'm afraid this time, it's going to be a fight to the death. So what are your plans?"
Murong Yunshu didn't immediately answer Huberg's question but told Lu-er to take Chu Murong away instead. Then she inquired, "How is mister's business today?"
Stunned, Huberg answered, "There's not much business."
After the truce between the kings, Huberg came to Jinling, stayed in Murong Mansion and made a living by fortune-telling.
"I guess it's because the people have seen through the changeable affairs of the world and don't believe in your business anymore." Murong Yunshu said meaningfully.
"Does Madam intend to be just as resigned as ordinary people?" Huberg asked, also meaningfully.
Murong Yunshu smiled faintly. "It's better for the mister to worry about the money for this month's room rental first."
Instantly, Huberg's face twitched a few times. This landlady, who had a look where she did not eat the food of ordinary mortals, was actually the type of person who would devour a person without spitting out the bones!
Noob Translator's Musing
At first, I thought Emperor Tian was Hua Lingtian. But then...the author revealed King Sheng's real name as Hua Tiansheng. So, the Tian is taken from his name. Thus, the birth of Emperor Tian. The end. Eh...I nearly proclaimed Hua Lingtian as dead. 😅 Thank God, I notice it. Sorry, Hua Lingtian! 🙇♀️
Tags:
Black Belly Wife