The Sickly Seedling Dresses Up As An Unfortunate And Muddled Monarch - Chapter 45

(Qiu Jing = Qiu Jinghe)

 

“You—where are you taking Second Brother?!”

 

Qiu Jingyue could not have imagined that, while he was tending to his poisoned and sick second brother, a group of armored guards came in with the chief eunuch, Lai Fu, who was by Qiu Junyao’s side.

 

The guards, who had entered without a word, roughly grabbed the ailing Qiu Jing and pulled him up.

 

Qiu Jingyue was so startled by their actions that he dropped the medicine bowl from his trembling hand, shattering it on the floor. However, his soft whip hit the ground even faster.

 

As the guards tried to move the weak Qiu Jing, Qiu Jingyue instinctively attempted to resist. He had just drawn his whip when several deputy leaders of the guards pressed him down, rendering him immobile.

 

“What are you doing? What do you want?!”

 

At that moment, Qiu Jingyue truly regretted his usual laziness in martial training. He struggled desperately against the ropes binding his wrists and shouted hoarsely:

 

“I am the Fourth Prince, the son of the Emperor! How dare you lay hands on me?!”

 

“My apologies,” the deputy leader of the guards said with a bow, his tone cold and hard.

 

“I am here under the Emperor’s orders to summon the Second Prince, Qiu Jing, to meet the Emperor.”

 

He paused, straightened his back, and continued:

 

“The Emperor has issued an order to summon the Second Prince, Qiu Jing. If there is any resistance, we are to kill without hesitation.”

 

“………” Hearing this, Qiu Jingyue shut his eyes tightly and buried his face in the quilt. From the deputy leader’s perspective, he could even see Qiu Jingyue’s trembling facial muscles as he clenched his teeth.

 

Seeing this, the deputy leader lowered his inscrutable gaze, showing no reaction, and simply released Qiu Jingyue. His voice was low and firm: “……Take him away.”

 

“………”

 

Before leaving the curtain, Qiu Jing glanced back at Qiu Jingyue, who lay motionless on the bed like a corpse. For some reason, he smiled.

 

His smile seemed somewhat strange, mixed with many unknown emotions, causing the deputy leader beside him to glance at Qiu Jing with a slight frown.

 

Qiu Jing, who appeared to be expecting this all along, looked very pale but calm, even though his lips were unnaturally purple. His demeanor was impeccable.

 

He looked the most like Qiu Junyao, yet his personality was the exact opposite of his father. Even while poisoned, he walked steadily, showing no sign of weakness or distress.

 

He was different from Qiu Jingming, who would cry out in pain and regret deeply, for Qiu Jing would never do so.

 

He had made up his mind to follow a single path, knowing full well what he was doing, with no turning back once it was done.

 

With this resolve, Qiu Jing calmly entered the royal tent.

 

Qiu Junyao had been waiting inside. 

 

One sat while the other knelt, and a faint beam of sunlight filtered through the narrow space between them, casting two different scenes.

 

Qiu Junyao was in the light, while Qiu Jing was in the shadow.

 

The interplay of light and darkness on their faces seemed to blend and separate, creating a seamless image of two identical faces.

 

He was his biological son, his flesh and blood, and no one resembled him more.

 

Those identical faces, one dark and the other smiling, seemed eerily aligned. The smiling one even raised his hand to Qiu Junyao, performing a perfectly respectful salute:

 

“Your humble son wishes the Emperor good health.”

 

“………” Qiu Junyao did not respond.

 

He looked down from his elevated position at Qiu Jing, who remained kneeling without being told to rise.

 

Qiu Jing maintained his kneeling position, showing no sign of exhaustion or looking up, though his trembling back revealed his suffering.

 

After a long pause, Qiu Junyao finally spoke:

 

“Jinghe, you are my child.”

 

“Yes,” Qiu Jing replied. “In terms of seniority, I am the third child of the Emperor, after the Grand Princess and the Crown Prince.”

 

“And what about Jingxiu?”

 

Qiu Junyao asked, “How is he related to you?”

 

Qiu Jing’s fingers twitched slightly, and he dug a small hole in the dirt on the ground:

 

“He is my seventh younger brother.”

 

“So you know he is your younger brother.”

 

Qiu Junyao’s face darkened with anger.

 

He knocked the tea cup from the table, spilling hot water onto the floor and almost wetting Qiu Jing’s sleeve:

 

“Jinghe, don’t think I don’t know who gave Jingming the idea.”

 

“You know better than I do how the eldest prince is. Without your suggestions, how would he know to use the poison of the Yew flowers on Jingxiu?!”

 

Qiu Jing’s head, bowed on the floor, trembled slightly.

 

From his position, he could only see the edge of Qiu Junyao’s dark robe, embroidered with a pattern of silver moonflowers. According to his memory, someone had told him that the moonflower pattern was a legend from the story of Wu Fushun, who sought divine medicine on Penglai Island.

 

Since then, the moonflower became a symbol of father-son relations, and now, Qiu Junyao was wearing that robe and judging him.

 

He had no way to argue.

 

He could only say: “Yes.”

 

“I was the one who encouraged my elder brother and found Ning Fan, then gave her the Yew flower poison to help me administer it.”

 

Qiu Jing admitted: “I was responsible for all of this.”

 

“Is that all?”

 

Qiu Junyao asked: “Tell me, did you also summon the wolf pack?”

 

“……..” This time, even though Qiu Junyao had not told Qiu Jing to rise, Qiu Jing stood up straight and looked directly at Qiu Junyao. He was still smiling, but the smile seemed strangely unsettling, carrying an eerie sense of calm after profound realization:

 

“What if I said yes?”

 

“Three times and it’s done.” Qiu Junyao raised his hand, showing three fingers.

 

**”You incited the framing of your elder brother and plotted against your younger brother, which is one crime; you brought in the wolves and attempted to harm Jingxiu, which is another crime; participating in factional disputes and coveting the throne, that’s the third crime.”

 

Qiu Junyao said: “With all these charges combined, which one does not warrant your death?”

 

“Will Father Emperor kill me?”

 

Qiu Jing hesitated, as if seeking a definitive answer, and asked: “Will you?”

 

“You only need to tell me if the wolves were summoned by you.”

 

Qiu Junyao fixed his gaze on Qiu Jing and said slowly:

 

“As long as you say no, I will believe you.”

 

“Really?” Qiu Jing countered, clearly skeptical: “As long as I say no, Father Emperor will not doubt me and will not investigate further, right?”

 

“Yes,” Qiu Junyao gave a response completely contrary to Qiu Jing’s expectation: “As long as you say it was not you, I will not doubt you or investigate you further.”

 

“As long as you say it was not you, I will not allow anyone to investigate you. From the moment you walk out of this tent unharmed, I will trust you one hundred percent.”

 

Qiu Junyao’s eyes were deep, reflecting Qiu Jing’s shocked face. His voice was steady:

 

“If you dare say so, I will dare to believe it.”

 

“Because you are my child.”

 

“……..” Qiu Jing was truly stunned. His fingers uncontrollably clenched, his lips turned even more purple, seemingly struggling to control the boiling blood and the intensity of the poison.

 

He covered his chest, spat out a mouthful of blood, took a deep breath, and then lowered his head more and more until it was almost impossible for Qiu Junyao to see his expression.

 

After a long time, until the blood on the ground had turned purple, Qiu Junyao finally heard Qiu Jing speak slowly:

 

“Father Emperor, it was me.”

 

He repeated: “It was all me, all of it.”

 

“I can train horses, so naturally, I can also train wolves for my use. It was not difficult to have those beasts attack Qiu Jingxiu during the spring hunt. Before doing all this, I even poisoned myself to create an alibi. The facts are as such, and I have no defense.”

 

“……..” Qiu Junyao raised his eyebrows, listening to Qiu Jing’s words, and fell silent for a long time.

 

After almost a quarter of an hour, he finally stood up, walked over to Qiu Jing, and placed his palm on his head.

 

Qiu Jing did not move, and neither did Qiu Junyao.

 

Looking at the glaring light outside the window, Qiu Junyao slowly spoke: “Jinghe, those officials all say that you are the most like me.”

 

He asked: “If you were me, how would you handle the current situation?”

 

Qiu Jing replied without hesitation: “Kill him.”

 

Qiu Jing said: “If I were the Father Emperor, I would kill Qiu Jing.”

 

“As a minister, he is disloyal; as a brother, he is unjust; as a son, he is unfilial.”

 

“A person so disloyal and unfilial, so treacherous and evil, deserves to be killed.”

 

“……….” Qiu Junyao turned around and looked at Qiu Jing, who was facing away from him. After a moment, he spoke:

 

“I will not kill you.”

 

“………”

 

Qiu Jing did not turn around.

 

“From now on, I will remove your name from the royal records, strip you of your yellow belt, and demote you to a commoner. You will have no chance of inheriting the throne.”

 

“…….Jinghe, I will ask you once more: was the killer truly you?”

 

Qiu Jing did not answer this question again. Instead, he turned around, performed another respectful bow, and smiled:

 

“Your humble son, thanks Father Emperor for your leniency.”

 

After saying this, he heavily bowed his head to Qiu Junyao until blood began to flow from his forehead, turning it blood-red. Then, he dragged his sore knees and limped out of the tent, not waiting for Qiu Junyao to say anything further.

 

Qiu Junyao watched his retreating figure and, for some reason, suddenly recalled a dream where Qiu Jingxiu ascended to the throne, with blood flowing beneath his feet and piles of white bones around.

 

Whose blood was it, and whose bones were they?

 

Qiu Junyao’s mind was invaded by that dreamlike image, but before he could ponder further, a commotion suddenly erupted outside the royal tent.

 

…….It seemed that Qiu Jingyue had learned that Qiu Jing was being taken away and was arguing with the officers who were to take Qiu Jing.

 

Worried about his son, Qiu Junyao quickly lifted the curtain and went outside, seeing Qiu Jingyue standing by Qiu Jing, surrounded by a few fallen soldiers. He was like a little wolf cub protecting Qiu Jing, crying and whipping anyone who tried to approach and take Qiu Jing away.

 

“……Jingyue?”

 

Qiu Junyao’s first reaction was not to suspect that Qiu Jingyue was rebelling but to quickly walk over and ask:

 

“Why are you out of bed and not resting?”

 

“…….Father Emperor, Father Emperor!”

 

Seeing Qiu Junyao, the tears Qiu Jingyue had barely held back streamed down his face. He dropped the whip, knelt on the ground, crawled a few steps to Qiu Junyao, grabbed his clothes, and sobbed:

 

“Father Emperor, Father Emperor…… don’t drive Second Brother away. Second Brother is innocent…….”

 

“…….Jingyue, get up and speak.” Qiu Junyao said: “Your second brother…..”

 

“No, no, I won’t get up. Father Emperor, I beg you.” Qiu Jingyue shivered, unable to speak clearly, instinctively shaking his head, clutching Qiu Junyao’s clothes with such force that his fingertips turned white, even showing protruding joints: “Father Emperor, don’t drive Second Brother away, don’t drive him away……..”

 

After saying this, Qiu Jingyue suddenly seemed to remember something. He looked up at Qiu Junyao with tearful almond eyes, which shed tears in an instant, and earnestly said:

 

“It was done by me. It was all me. It has nothing to do with Second Brother. If you want to drive someone away, let it be me, alright! Alright, Father Emperor?”

 

Hearing this, Qiu Junyao glanced at Qiu Jing, who was no longer smiling. He stood there expressionlessly, seemingly observing Qiu Jingyue on the ground, yet also seeming not to.

 

After a long time, Qiu Junyao withdrew his gaze, closed his eyes as if unsurprised, and said softly: “Say it again.”

 

“……..” Qiu Jingyue, unable to hide the truth any longer, lowered his head, knelt on the ground, and clutched Qiu Junyao’s clothes, crying uncontrollably:

 

“It was me…… Father Emperor, it was me…….”

 

Each word he uttered seemed to weigh heavily on Qiu Junyao’s already burdened heart:

 

“I wanted to kill the seventh brother. I poisoned Second Brother….. All of it was done by me, and Second Brother—really, has nothing to do with it!”