Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 2(56)
“I’ve always been this way, actually,” Xie Lian replied. “You just didn’t know. I remember telling you a long time ago not to venerate me as an incorruptible saintly figure, since I’m not who you think I am in your head. In the end, you’ve only disappointed yourself.”
Xie Lian rose to his feet. “Have a good, long think about it. And next time, don’t fall for your opponent’s tricks.”
Seeing that he was about to walk away, Lang Qianqiu immediately called out, “Stop!”
Xie Lian stopped.
Lang Qianqiu gritted his teeth and finally ground out the words, “You…owe me an explanation.”
“What kind of explanation are you looking for?” Xie Lian asked.
Lang Qianqiu’s voice quivered. “State Preceptor, my royal parents and I, did we not treat the remnants of the Xianle people well?”
“…”
That was indeed the truth.
Even after the Kingdom of Xianle fell, many of the surviving citizens never forgot their roots. After the Kingdom of Yong’an was established and began its rule, those people and their descendants continued to live on as the people of Xianle and often clashed with people of the new kingdom.
The first few generations of the Yong’an monarchy ruled with force and cruelly massacred many Xianle survivors when protests broke out. On the other side, there were underground alliances formed by the Xianle people to plot assassinations of the Yong’an nobility; they even succeeded a few times. This continued on, and the end result was a deep-seated hatred on both sides.
However, during Lang Qianqiu’s generation, the attitude toward these remnants of Xianle was one of gentleness, the complete opposite. Lang Qianqiu’s parents had wanted to unite the country of the old and the new, and against many Yong’an voices of dissent, the king granted a princely title—Prince An Le—to a descendant of Xianle royalty. The king even made him Lang Qianqiu’s playmate to demonstrate their sincerity. Lang Qianqiu himself had viewed Xianle well and never held prejudices from any past hatred.
“You…” Lang Qianqiu said, “After what you did, there were many who said there must’ve been Xianle forces behind the incident. Many advised me to use that as an opportunity to thoroughly wipe out the Xianle people.”
Hatred between Yong’an and Xianle ran too deep. Anything that happened to either side, they would deem the other the mastermind.
Lang Qianqiu continued, “But I overruled them all. Since you never gave any details about your identity, I told them you were definitely not a man of Xianle. That was how so many people of Xianle escaped death and avoided genocide. Because I forbade it.”
Of course, that was a good deed. But thinking back on it now, the good deeds he’d done made him feel all the more aggrieved. It wasn’t that his actions were unjust; the deed itself was correct. He simply felt deeply wronged. He’d acted with such benevolence, but he didn’t receive equivalent kindness in return.
Lang Qianqiu’s tone grew pleading. “State Preceptor, that day was my birthday.”
He struggled against Ruoye’s hold and strained to lift his upper body.
“Are you toying with me? A Xianle man killed my entire family, but I still have to follow his teachings and help all Xianle people? Are you toying with me on purpose?!”
Xie Lian didn’t respond, and Lang Qianqiu continued to shout accusations.
“Was it because your seventeenth was a trial that you had to turn my seventeenth into a trial too?”
Xie Lian still didn’t respond.
Lang Qianqiu’s anger flared, and he yelled, “If that was your intention, then I won’t let you have your way!!”
Xie Lian’s eyes widened at those words.
Lang Qianqiu couldn’t stand, but his eyes flashed bright and his tone turned determined, as though a roaring flame were blazing within. He continued on, as if personally aggrieved, but also as if he was declaring war.
“If you want me to fill my heart with hatred like yours, I surely won’t! If you’re going to force me to abandon myself like you did, I refuse! I will never! No matter what you do to me, I will never become like you!!”
It was a declaration so heroic Xie Lian was stunned just listening to it. A brief moment later, he pfft-ed and burst out laughing, sound returning to him at last.
Lang Qianqiu’s eyes had been flowing with fiery tears, filled with passion, but all that was deflated by Xie Lian’s laugh. Bewilderment and anger filled his chest. Xie Lian clapped as he laughed uproariously.
“Good! Well said!”
Xie Lian couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed so heartily, and it took him some time before he could stop. He rubbed his eyes. “Good. Remember what you said today—that you will never become like me.”
Hua Cheng still had his arms crossed and watched with a cool eye. Just as Xie Lian finished speaking, there was suddenly a blast of red smoke before him!
The explosion caught Xie Lian off guard and he jolted, thinking Lang Qianqiu might’ve used some weird trick. He dodged away rapidly, his senses on alert. However, the blast was disruptive in sound only and didn’t pose any danger. When the smoke cleared, Lang Qianqiu had disappeared from where he lay. What was left was a budaoweng6 doll, swaying left and right.
The budaoweng doll had a very round face and body, like a giant calabash gourd. Its brows were long and its eyes black; the expression on its face was strong and good-natured like that of a tiger, though also brimming with naivete. At present, it was glaring, plump with anger, and it carried a fat sword on its back, mightily gallant in its form. It was exactly like Lang Qianqiu, except as a big, lovable toy.