Hearing Emperor Xing Wu’s question, Luo Wei put up pretenses of confusion and asked, “But who would tell him?”
Emperor Xing Wu shook his head. Luo Wei was gifted, no doubt, but it looks like he still had moments of innocence, “Wei Er, the Zheng family have allies. Can you be sure that none of them escaped this time?”
Luo Wei seemed to be struck quiet with the thought, “Then… Your Imperial Majesty is saying that we can’t keep this child?”
Emperor Xing Wu clapped a hand over Luo Wei’s shoulder, “Leave him to me.”
“Your Imperial Majesty,” Luo Wei said, “I’ve promised Zheng Jing Feng that I’d keep his son alive.”
“I understand,” Emperor Xing Wu felt comforted by Luo Wei’s concern. He might have thought that Luo Wei was maybe a little too cold-hearted if the youth didn’t even care about the life of a little baby like this.
“Your Imperial Majesty!” Luo Wei fixed Emperor Xing Wu with an imploring look.
“I’ll take care of him,” The emperor answered, “I won’t force you to break a promise, but I won’t let this boy be a threat to you.”
Luo Wei left the Hall of Eternal Light. He did care about the fate of the child, but it wasn’t as dearly as he made it seem in front of the emperor. This time around, other than family, there weren’t many others that Luo Wei could honestly care about. A few steps out of the hall, Luo Wei chanced upon Long Xuan and the junior chancellor.
“The third young master has returned,” Junior Chancellor Liu Shuang Shi greeted Luo Wei with a smile.
“Your Imperial Highness, Chancellor,” At the sight of the two of them, Luo Wei quickly bowed to pay his respects.
Long Xuan didn’t look very happy but the junior chancellor seemed just as usual. This man was sly as a fox, Luo Wei didn’t dare let his guard down even for a second around him.
“Did the young master just come back from the stone exhibit?” Liu Shuang Shi asked.
Luo Wei answered despondently, “I wish you hadn’t brought it up, Chancellor Liu. His Imperial Majesty was just giving me a harsh talking to about how I spent too many days having fun in Ping Nan. I don’t think I’ll dare to go back.”
Liu Shuang Shi regarded Luo Wei. Even now, he couldn’t be sure if Luo Wei had something to do with what happened in Yu Zhou. His spy in the Luo Estate, Luo Zhong, had sent word that Luo Wei did indeed go to Ping Nan for the show, but Liu Shuang Shi could feel that something was wrong.
Long Xuan opened his mouth and asked, “Did you get anything good this time?”
Luo Wei answered him, “I got my hands on a few rocks, but none of them were high-grade.”
In the years past, whenever Luo Wei got his hands on something precious, he’d always gift it to Long Xuan, but this time Long Xuan was without. Luo Wei made some more useless small talk with him and the junior chancellor, then excused himself. As he watched Luo Wei walk off without looking back, Long Xuan’s expression became even worse. They were really strangers now.
“Your Imperial Highness,” Liu Shuang Shi whispered aside, “This Luo Wei character should be treated with caution, the less you interact with him the better. I worry that he’s going to be a threat to you.”
“Do you still think he has something to do with what happened in Yu Zhou?” Long Xuan asked.
“It’s difficult to say.” Liu Shuang Shi replied, “I don’t believe he’s capable of it, but I also feel like he’s cast his shadow over the matter.”
Long Xuan nodded, “He was my study companion, that much is true, but he doesn’t know anything.”
Liu Shuang Shi advised, “Still, Your Imperial Highness would do well to avoid contact with him.”
Long Xuan headed towards the Hall of Eternal Light. He felt a suffocating pressure every time he entered these halls, but he couldn’t act any less of an obedient son within them. He didn’t now exactly how much Emperor Xing Wu really knew about Yu Zhou. That day, when the emperor was bursting with rage, Long Xuan had truly been afraid that the emperor would point a finger at him and say to the imperial soldiers, “Take him outside, and execute him.”
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES:
Thanks for everyone who’s visited the new site and commented as well! And much love to the anon who bought me a coffee. : ) I’ve been working on and off trying to make this page a little easier to navigate and better. WordPress’ email subscriber system seems to work pretty well, but the plugin I installed feels a little more manageable.
Even though the last couple of days have been very hectic (retyping a few chapters + retranslating a chapter + getting the site up + got rejected by adsense), I’m very glad to have my readers here with me. I really hope to turn you all into fellow die hard fans of this novel!! : D