"Master Zhao, since you already know that you were wrong, I hope you can tell me the truth of the matter, so that I won't make random guesses, which would be bad for everyone."
Pei Che's words made Zhao Wei speechless. His eyes stayed somewhere in the void, and different emotions appeared on his face from time to time. I wonder if he was recalling what happened in the past.
Pei Che did not ask him any further questions. What happened back then was confusing and could not be easily explained. He had to think it through.
Sure enough, after a while, Zhao Wei seemed to wake up from his memories. He sighed and said, "The story starts from that year..."
That year, the late emperor had been working day and night to deal with the flood in the south. He was already extremely exhausted. One night, a late spring cold snap occurred. He was unable to buy new clothes in time and caught a cold.
This was originally a minor illness, but the fatigue of the past few days was exposed by a cold, and the minor illness turned into a serious illness. The doctors of the Imperial Hospital opened pulse cases one after another, and changed the prescriptions again and again. In the end, they still believed that the effect of medicine alone was not enough to cure the late emperor. He must put aside the important affairs of the court and take good care of his body, so that he could make up for the lost health.
In peaceful times, the late emperor could have done this, but now the flood in the south had not been properly controlled, and the flood was raging for thousands of miles. How could he be at ease? The depression in his heart made it more difficult to cure the disease in his body. As time went by, the late emperor became so thin that he was no longer human.
In an ordinary family, when the old father is seriously ill, the sons will naturally work together to overcome the difficulties, but in the royal family, it is like a huge wealth in front of the princes. Whoever can please the late emperor will be the master of this beautiful land.
In this filial piety competition, the third prince joined his mother to control the harem and won the opportunity to serve the late emperor day and night as a filial son and grandson. The late emperor was also grateful for his son's filial piety, and his attitude towards the third prince became closer and more trusting day by day.
Just when the Third Prince thought he could take over the world, a piece of news came that the flood in the south had receded. The person who promptly proposed to dig a river in front to divert the flood so that it would no longer wreak havoc was Pei Shijie of the Duke of Zhongguo's Mansion. In addition, he and his wife stayed in the flood-ravaged area to help the people solve their problems. Because Pei Shijie was on good terms with the Fourth Prince, the Fourth Prince also sent people to participate in some things, and the people in the court credited the Fourth Prince for his achievements. For a time, the court's wind direction turned from the Third Prince to the Fourth Prince.
When the late emperor heard the news, he was in high spirits, as if his illness had been cured and he could handle government affairs again. His heart, which had been slightly inclined towards the third prince, shifted to the fourth prince. The third prince gnashed his teeth in hatred, and in his heart he had already torn Pei Shijie, who had disrupted all the arrangements, into pieces a hundred times.
It is no exaggeration to describe the Third Prince's residence as gloomy and sad during that period. Both the men and women looked depressed as if the situation was hopeless.
But not long after, news came that Master Pei's wife had given birth to a son again after many years, which made everyone even more depressed.
When the late emperor heard the news, he praised Pei Shijie and his wife for their contributions to the court in the court. Not only did he reward them generously, he also said that Feng Anxue was carrying a fairy child in her belly who would bring good luck and would definitely achieve great things in the future.
As soon as these words came out, the status of the Duke Zhongguo Mansion rose again. The emperor's words not only promised status and power to this generation, but also to the next generation. The emperor said that he would have great potential in the future, so who would dare to stand in his way
As the birth was imminent, the couple stayed at home and seldom went out. They regarded the ups and downs in the outside world as rumors that would soon dissipate. But when Feng Anxue gave birth to Pei Mu, they found that the people who came to congratulate them almost broke down the threshold of the Duke Zhongguo's mansion. Pei Shijie and his wife noticed something was wrong. They had no intention of taking sides. They helped dredge the river and solve the flood because they couldn't bear to see the people suffer.
In order to prevent the Duke Zhongguo's Mansion from getting involved in the mess of the struggle for the throne, Pei Shijie discussed with his parents and decided to take Pei Che and Pei Mu with him when the children were older, leave the capital, and travel around, and come back after the overall situation was settled. In this way, the Duke Zhongguo's Mansion would not be involved. After all, once they left, the old men in the mansion would no longer attend the court, and the young illegitimate sons were not qualified. After fading from sight for a while, no one would pay attention to this matter anymore.
A few days before their accident, Pei Shijie discussed with his parents and decided to take the opportunity to fulfill his vow and take his family out. The old lady was naturally reluctant, but she also knew the seriousness of the matter and did not stop them.
But before they set out, Pei Che suddenly caught a cold and lay in bed dizzy and unable to get up. As such, the old lady naturally didn't want Pei Che to go with them, so she just told them to return and wait until Pei Che was better before setting off again.
It didn't matter if it was early or late. The couple thought that after they left, the old lady wouldn't be able to see her grandson for a long time, so they decided to let Pei Che stay at home for a few more days.
"You know a lot about my family."
Zhao Wei smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, you don't know that when the flood hit, I was also doing business there. After the flood, I helped your father to provide relief to the victims, and part of the food was obtained by exchanging my goods. Therefore, your parents thought that I cared about the people and was a righteous businessman, so it was inevitable that we would get close to each other in our conversation. Later, they learned about my relationship with your second aunt, and they treated me as a relative and confided in me."
"It's a pity that they have chosen the wrong person." Pei Che glared at him. This Zhao Wei had betrayed his parents' trust!
"Yes, they got the wrong person." Zhao Wei's expression was extremely painful. Just because of a momentary lapse of judgment back then, he had been suffering from inner condemnation all the time over the years.
Pei Che said that he had not married and had children until now because he still missed the relationship he had with his cousin. Only he knew that a treacherous person like him did not deserve to have descendants.
Seeing him like this, Pei Che was silent for a while and said, "Go on."
"After your parents set out to fulfill their vow, one day my uncle sent someone to invite me into his mansion for a chat..."
Zhao Wei's relationship with his uncle was not very good because of the broken engagement, but the friendship between the two families was still maintained, so when he heard about this, he immediately prepared gifts and visited him.
After arriving at the Li Mansion, the person he met was not his uncle, but his cousin, Li Huanyan, the concubine of the Third Prince.
Zhao Wei was very surprised to see his cousin. This was the first time they met after they separated when they were young. Even if she could not be his wife, she was still his cousin. But Zhao Wei also knew that if there was no major event, his cousin would not return to her parents' home, let alone invite him to her home in the name of her father.
Sure enough, after a brief chat, Li Huanyan revealed her true intention. She said that she already knew that Zhao Wei and Pei Shijie and his wife were on good terms, and hoped that he could persuade Pei Shijie to serve the third prince.
Zhao Wei refused without even thinking about it. How could a mere businessman like him influence the affairs of the government? Who Brother Pei wanted to work for was not within his jurisdiction.
Upon hearing this, Li Huanyan's eyes immediately turned red, tears were about to fall, and she looked very lovable. She gently stroked her belly and pleaded softly, "Cousin, Yan'er doesn't ask you to convince Master Pei, but I ask you to give it a try. Whether Master Pei agrees or not, I will accept it. Please agree to me for the sake of the baby in my belly."
Seeing that Zhao Wei seemed touched, she immediately said: "The Third Prince has already found out the relationship between you and me, and knows what you and Prince Pei did in the south, so he blamed me for being incompetent and asked why I didn't introduce you to him earlier... Cousin, I just beg you to help me this time."
Zhao Wei couldn't bear it after all. Hearing that she was blamed by her husband, he felt a little guilty, so he said, "This is just this time, it won't happen again."
Li Huanyan finally smiled, looking like a pear blossom in the rain, so beautiful that Zhao Wei felt sad again.
"So, you failed to recruit my father for the Third Prince, so you killed them, right?" Pei Che's eyes were cold. The fight for the throne had always been accompanied by bloodshed and sacrifice. But his parents had clearly intended to withdraw, but they still suffered such a brutal attack. It was really unfair!
(End of this chapter)