Tan Hua - Chapter 43
Song Liqing turned his head, although he couldn’t see it, his eyes were directed towards Jun Qiyu, his expression devoid of any fluctuations, still maintaining a sense of aloof detachment.
Jun Qiyu exhaled heavily.
“Why are you silent like this? Just tell me what I can do to make it up to you. You can tell me directly.”
Song Liqing spoke slowly, “I don’t want your compensation, Your Highness… If you really feel bad, buy me a box of osmanthus cakes.”
“Osmanthus cakes?”
Jun Qiyu smiled.
Osmanthus cakes were Song Liqing’s favorite sweets, a shared memory between them.
This indicated that in Song Liqing’s heart, there was still some affection towards him.
“Okay, as long as you’re happy. Not just one box, I’ll buy a hundred boxes or a thousand if you want. I’ll send someone to buy them right now!”
“I want to eat the ones you buy personally, not handled by others. Is that too much to ask?”
Song Liqing said so, and Jun Qiyu was only too happy.
“Not too much… Is that all?”
Just buying a box of osmanthus cakes was too simple!
So Jun Qiyu happily ran out, but halfway through, he turned back.
“From Lianxiang Building, right?”
“Yes.”
“Wait for me!”
After Jun Qiyu left, Song Liqing remained seated, motionless, just leaning on the table to rest.
His body deteriorated too quickly; even casual conversation left him feeling exhausted.
“Xiao Di,” Song Liqing called out, “could you fetch me a charcoal basin? It’s a bit chilly.”
“Oh!”
Xiao Di readily agreed. Half an hour later, she brought over a copper basin for warmth, with a fire burning brightly inside.
Song Liqing leaned against the basin, feeling a bit warmer.
“Young Master, I also brought you a hot soup dumpling to keep on your knee.”
Xiao Di handed him a warm soup dumpling, which Song Liqing held in his hand, feeling much warmer.
“You’re so thoughtful, Xiao Di.”
“Because I like Young Master,” Xiao Di said naively, “When you like someone, you’re attentive. I wouldn’t be so good if I served a master I didn’t like.”
Song Liqing chuckled at her words, his lips curling slightly.
Yes, when you like someone, you’re attentive. That’s why he never felt Jun Qiyu’s affection.
It was a pity.
In the end, he couldn’t make Jun Qiyu like him.
“You should smile more, Young Master. When you don’t smile, you seem unapproachable, but when you do, you look particularly handsome.”
“Alright,” Song Liqing said lightly.
Xiao Di saw him calm and peaceful, looking as if he hadn’t just been released from severe punishment and prison.
“Young Master, have you really forgiven His Highness?” Xiao Di couldn’t help but ask curiously, mumbling, “Just asking for a box of osmanthus cakes seems too cheap for him…”
Song Liqing shook his head gently.
“When I no longer hold any concern for someone in my heart, whether he’s angry or happy has nothing to do with me… So what is there to forgive?”
Xiao Di couldn’t understand and asked, “Don’t you resent His Highness? He hurt you so deeply.”
“I don’t have the strength to resent him. What good would resentment do? Should I be entangled with him until death? So I might as well let myself go. You know, I grew up in the capital, but I don’t even know my way out of the mansion. For the sake of gaining recognition and Jun Qiyu’s favor, I missed half of life’s scenery. Even if I were blind or crippled, in my remaining years, I should relax a bit and not torment myself. Now I think, rather than caring about Jun Qiyu, I’d rather care about the seasons and the beauty of nature.”
Song Liqing had never had many friends in his life. He was grateful to have met Xiao Di, who was kind-hearted and sincere, someone he could confide in.
He didn’t want to easily forgive Jun Qiyu. If he had more time to hate someone, wouldn’t that be better? Unfortunately, he didn’t.
The so-called neither sad nor happy was only a last resort when death approached.
Suddenly Xiao Di seemed to understand and exclaimed, “So when you said you wanted to eat osmanthus cakes, you just wanted to send His Highness away?”
“Yes.” Song Liqing admitted frankly, “I just didn’t want him to stay by my side.”
Xiao Di giggled twice.
“Young Master, if only you had thought this way earlier… When you didn’t love His Highness, you were like the dashing and handsome scholar from before!”
Song Liqing smiled, but as he took a breath, he began to cough.
Xiao Di quickly crouched down and moved the charcoal basin forward.
“Young Master, it’s only early autumn, and you’re already feeling so cold. How will you survive the winter?”
Survive the winter…
Song Liqing didn’t expect to survive the winter himself; he had prepared himself to not see the warm spring of the coming year.
But there was still one thing he hadn’t completed.
If there was anything he couldn’t let go of, it was only this.
So Song Liqing pushed himself and arranged for a carriage to come. Hu Nu’er was confined in the Ministry of Punishments’ prison.
Once he presented Jun Qiyu’s token, the Ministry of Punishments allowed him to pass without hindrance.
There were more prisoners here than in the heavenly prison, all sorts of people, guilty of various crimes. Hu Nu’er was locked in a beast cage, still wearing noble clothing that was tattered and dirty.
This was a particular punishment, being confined in a cramped beast cage where a person could not extend their limbs, which could be more oppressive than being chained.
However, Hu Nu’er was in good spirits and did not seem depressed at all. When he saw Song Liqing coming, he showed disdain and disappointment, turning his head away.
“Do you think it’s His Highness Jun Qiyu?” Song Liqing asked him.
Hu Nu’er said in a tender voice, “His Highness is really heartless and doesn’t even come to see me.”
“You poisoned his father, the emperor, and with his brutal nature, it wouldn’t necessarily be beneficial for you if he came. He would make it even more difficult for you.” Song Liqing said.
“Is this the experience of the Crown Prince Consort?”
Hu Nu’er looked at Song Liqing, who was skeletal and had a face full of disease, and sneered.
Song Liqing did not feel ashamed.
He was not the one who was wrong.
He just loved the wrong person.
“Yeah, so do you expect that His Highness Jun Qiyu still loves you?”
“Loving? Hahaha…”
Hu Nu’er laughed wildly, even showing some sickening madness.
“I’m not like you, Crown Prince Consort. You have expectations of His Highness, but I never had any expectations. I didn’t even know His Highness? He is callous and cruel. I, Hu Nu’er, knew from the beginning. He has such a cold heart that he will never warm up to me. So I’m willing to be his plaything, as long as I can please him and follow his will, he will listen to me… As for love and affection, I never expected anything from him!”
Song Liqing suddenly understood Hu Nu’er’s purpose.
“You don’t care about dignity, you’re just trying to elevate him, make him arrogant and self-indulgent, arrogant, and unwilling to listen to anyone’s advice… You’ve been harming him.”
“I’m just waiting for the day he falls from grace!… But unfortunately, I may not live to see that day.”
Hu Nu’er finally showed some sorrow.
Song Liqing looked towards Hu Nu’er with a hint of pity. This was his national hatred and family hatred. He was once a noble prince of a country, but now he had fallen into a state of ruin and had to resort to such calculations.
“Crown Prince Consort, you don’t have to show pity for me.” Hu Nu’er said proudly, “You’re not any better than me.”
“You’re right, we’re in the same boat.” Song Liqing nodded, “Can you tell me one truth?”
With Hu Nu’er’s cleverness, he immediately guessed.
“Oh? Are you asking about your origins?”
Song Liqing nodded. When he was questioned by Jun Qiyu, he heard him curse “bastard of the former dynasty”. Jun Qiyu must have known something, and Jun Qiyu suddenly burst into the prison, where he was severely tortured, probably because he heard something and was provoked. Besides Hu Nu’er, know?
“I don’t mind telling you, so you can fully hate His Highness the Crown Prince and ideally seek revenge, which I couldn’t achieve…” Hu Nu’er chuckled, “I told His Highness the Crown Prince about this matter, and everything I said was true, not a word of falsehood… Crown Prince Consort, your surname isn’t Song; you should have been surnamed Xiao.”
Even though Song Liqing was mentally prepared, his heart sank upon hearing “Xiao,” the imperial surname of the former dynasty.
“Yes, you are a descendant of the former emperor. Your mother was a concubine of Emperor Xiao, that unfortunate woman. She was exiled to the Western Regions, captured by the Illyrian country, and offered to their king. No one knows how many abuses she suffered on the battlefield, finally dying in the ice of Sili Lake… The root cause of all this is Jun Qiyu and his father! If not for them, you would have been the most honored prince in the world. Instead, you were born without parents, wandering and drifting. If your foster father knew you were a bastard of Emperor Xiao, would he still treat you with such affection? No, he would only show loyalty to the Jun surname, and he would be the first to kill you…”
Song Liqing pinched his palm to endure hearing all of this.
Hu Nu’er continued, “Do you hate him? If you do, that’s right, Song Liqing… But you must never forget the blood debt owed to you by the Jun family! Your mother died so tragically! You must seek revenge and repay your hatred…”
Song Liqing’s heart throbbed painfully, but he didn’t harbor hatred. He shook his head as he looked at the frenzied Hu Nu’er, refusing to let these undeserved grievances blind him and turn him into someone like Hu Nu’er.
“I only blame myself for being born under the wrong circumstances, blaming fate for its cruelty.”
“So he was destined to be lonely from birth, destined never to be with Jun Qiyu!
Everything was a series of arranged coincidences.
“You…” Hu Nu’er grasped the cage and shouted, “Don’t think you’re so kind! You’re just weak and incompetent!”
Song Liqing let him rant. He took out a document from his sleeve and handed it to Hu Nu’er.
Hu Nu’er looked at it suspiciously. “What is this…?”
“Before you poisoned the Emperor, I arranged for the Ministry of Household Affairs to free you from slavery. I thought Jun Qiyu truly cared for you, so I let go and allowed you to become his companion.”
Hu Nu’er was stunned. “Wh… what? You… you would willingly give him to me? I don’t believe it… Haha! I… I had a chance… Hahaha!”
Hu Nu’er laughed loudly, tears streaming down his face.
“You see, one shouldn’t live in hatred,” sighed Song Liqing. “Can you tell me your name now?”
Hu Nu’er became numb. “Why does the Crown Prince Consort ask this again?”
“After you’re gone, no one in this world will know your name,” Song Liqing said.
Hu Nu’er raised his blue eyes, tears streaming down.
“My name… I almost forgot,” he murmured blankly. “My name is Wu Yiguer… In Central Plains language, it means noble moon.”
This was the expectation his father once had for him.
Author’s Note:
Ah…