Chapter 206: Your Humble Subject Thinks There’s A High Chance He’s Still Alive
Mo Zichen shrank under the quilt, trembling. This time’s pain was truly too unbearable. He never wanted to try it again, but from what that person just said, it seemed like seven days later he would have to go through it once more. Mo Zichen felt like the sky was falling on him.
He curled up his body, biting the corner of the quilt, and couldn’t help but think: “Living like this seems not even as good as being killed in the horse carriage back then! At least it hurt once and was over, not like now!”
As he thought about it, exhaustion took over his consciousness. His head tilted and he fell asleep, then sank into a beautiful dream.
In the dream, Mo Qilan had not discovered his mother’s affair, nor did he know that he and his sister were not his children. He still cherished the siblings like treasures in the palm of his hand.
Then Mo Ziyuan went to the border region and died in battle on the battlefield three years later.
He became the sole heir of the Dingguo Duke’s Mansion, undisputedly becoming the Heir of Dingguo Duke. After Mo Qilan stepped down, he became the Dingguo Duke, married Princess Yun Luo, the Emperor’s full-blooded sister, and lived a life of happiness and fulfillment.
Mo Zichen woke up with a smile on his lips. After seeing the surroundings clearly and feeling the iron chain on his ankle, his heart, originally filled with happiness, cracked open with a “bang.” He couldn’t accept the huge gap between the dream and reality at all. He covered his head with the quilt and burst into loud sobs, mumbling unclear words that no one could make out while crying.
At this moment, he still didn’t know that in the Emperor’s Imperial Study, New Emperor Chu Qingye, his father Mo Qilan, and Mo Ziyuan were fiercely discussing whose corpse was missing from the horse carriage.
Time rewound to half a shichen earlier.
“Zi Yuan, tell me the truth. This matter really wasn’t done by you?” Chu Qingye had the same thought as Mo Qilan; both felt this matter was inseparable from him.
“It really wasn’t me.” Mo Ziyuan was so angry he laughed. From the moment he entered, these two had been looking at him with eyes that said “we see through it but won’t say it,” and even tried to persuade him patiently to admit he was the murderer.
“Your Majesty, Duke, this humble subject hasn’t left the large camp in the outskirts of the capital since yesterday. All the soldiers can testify for me!” Mo Ziyuan helplessly repeated this sentence he’d said no less than ten times.
What drove him even crazier was that neither of them believed him, even if he had witnesses. They even told him that even if it was him, it didn’t matter; they would help make it so it wasn’t him.
“If I wanted to kill them, why didn’t I act earlier? Why wait until they were on the road to the manor? Wouldn’t that clearly tell everyone it was me? Am I that stupid!”
Before coming, Mo Ziyuan had actually harbored one or two points of doubt about Lin Xin’s words. After all, one was the Emperor and one was the victim; no one should cover for him. But now, he felt his face really hurt!
“If it really wasn’t you, then I’ll have the Jingzhao Yin investigate.” Chu Qingye said.
“Investigate! Must investigate thoroughly!” Mo Ziyuan said hatefully: “If it really turns out to be related to me, then it must be someone framing me. Or Your Majesty can check with the Western Rong people. After all, my relationship with Your Majesty is known to all, and there are countless people who want to sow estrangement between us.”
“Mm, that’s indeed possible. I will have the Jingzhao Yin investigate thoroughly, and absolutely won’t give the murderer any chance to frame someone.” Chu Qingye said decisively.
“This humble subject will also contribute!” Mo Qilan had automatically become background since his own son entered. Now he spoke up unwilling to show weakness.
“Alright, you investigate yours, but do it quietly, don’t alert anyone. On the Jingzhao Yin side, I will have them investigate openly and grandly. You one overt and one covert must cooperate well, don’t let me down!”
“Your Majesty, rest assured. This humble subject understands.” Mo Qilan said with a solemn salute.
“Dingguo Duke, go do your business first! Zi Yuan, stay. I have words for you.”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
After Mo Qilan left, Chu Qingye leaned back in the chair in a very undignified posture, lazily waving his hand and asking: “How’s your mood now? Very happy, right?”
“Replying to Your Majesty, this humble subject is not very happy.”
“How could that be? Those mother and children schemed against you for over a dozen years. Now they’ve finally died. Don’t you feel happy?” Chu Qingye raised his brows and asked.
“If it was before meeting Xin’er, this humble subject probably would have been very happy. But since meeting Xin’er, this humble subject realized the previous years were wasted. They weren’t worth my extra attention.”
Chu Qingye: “······” He never expected that his teasing of this childhood reading companion would backfire, stuffing him with a big mouthful of dog food instead—the kind with lactic acid bacteria. It was really choking!
“Do you have any thoughts on this matter? What was their purpose in doing this? To frame you?” Chu Qingye straightforwardly got to serious matters.
Mo Ziyuan shook his head. “Let’s set aside the purpose of whoever did this for now. What I care more about is the missing corpse. Your Majesty, why not guess if that person is dead or alive?”
“Continue!”
“That night, I and Xin’er went to the Dingguo Duke’s Mansion and personally heard Qi Shi say that Mo Zichen and Mo Lanzhi are not the Duke’s children. They were born from her affair with the steward of the Qi mansion. This humble subject feels that steward’s identity is very suspicious. Your Majesty investigating along this line will likely yield great results!” Mo Ziyuan had no pressure in revealing that Mo Qilan had been cuckolded.
“Hiss~” Even though Chu Qingye had seen much filth, he couldn’t help but be shocked. “Is this true?”
“Guaranteed authentic!”
“In that case, that steward does need investigating.” Chu Qingye’s narrowed eyes suddenly opened. “You suspect the missing person from the horse carriage is Mo Zichen?”
Mo Ziyuan nodded without hesitation. “This humble subject feels he has a high chance of still being alive! Moreover, this humble subject has an intuition that a great conspiracy seems to be slowly unfolding.”
“You mean?”
Mo Ziyuan looked straight into Chu Qingye’s eyes and slowly nodded.
“I understand!” Chu Qingye’s face turned somewhat ugly, and he was also very angry and frustrated.
“This humble subject takes his leave!” Mo Ziyuan seized the chance to request departure.
Chu Qingye waved his hand at him.
After leaving the Imperial Palace, Mo Ziyuan was pondering what things he needed to bring to the Western Frontier when he suddenly bumped into someone head-on, startling him. Looking closely, it turned out to be his biological father with a vast grassland on his head. He irritably asked: “Duke, what are you doing?”
Choked by the sarcastic tone, Mo Qilan nearly forgot why he was waiting here. He straightened his body, dry-coughed, and asked: “You’re going to war? How come no one told me? You didn’t even tell me?”
“Tch!” Mo Ziyuan scoffed. “This isn’t my first time going to war. I didn’t tell you before either! Besides, does it make a difference if I say it or not?”
Being questioned in such a mocking tone by his only biological son, for a moment Mo Qilan wanted to get angry. But seeing Mo Ziyuan’s indifferent gaze, his anger fizzled out. It was all his own doing. What could he do? Take it slow!
Thanks to caroletu, Free as the Wind, Frost-Defying Snow-aB, Pisces.DC for the votes, thanks to caroletu for the reward. Thank you everyone for your support, thank you!
Tomorrow we start a new arc! Please look forward to it!
