Emperor Xing Wu knew very well that this kind of problem was very common in big, established families. The official wife and heir were the center of the family, concubines and their sons were only subordinates, but the mother of Ning Fei did not even have a status, that meant that the two of them were no better than servants. “How do you want to help him?” The emperor asked Luo Wei.
Luo Wei answered, “I want to bring his mother, his little sister and brother out of the villa. I could find a way of giving them a comfortable life on the outside. Only…” Luo Wei stopped himself.
Emperor Xing Wu asked, “Only you don’t know how to take them out of the villa?”
Luo Wei nodded quickly, “Exactly. Your Imperial Majesty, this is a matter within the Ming Jian Villa’s family, it’s a little hard for me to get my hands in there.”
Emperor Xing Wu then asked, “This Ning Fei you speak of, is he a good friend of yours?”
“No,” Luo Wei lowered his eyes and smiled, looking embarra.s.sed, “He’s just an average friend.”
Emperor Xing Wu asked, “Then why do you want to help him?”
Luo Wei answered, “I just can’t stand the way he’s being forced to live right now. His own father, his half brothers and sisters, not a single one of them can look at him with a straight eye. Ning Fei is a good person, how could they treat him like a servant? Especially his father. He’s Ning Fei’s dad, how could he not claim his son as his own?!”
Luo Wei didn’t make anything up in regards to Ning Fei’s situation. Ming Jian Villa’s sixth young master, Ning Fei, was really the son of a dancer. If it wasn’t for Long Xuan, he might have lived an ignominious life. Luo Wei guessed that this might be one of the core reasons that Ning Fei fell in love with Long Xuan in the past life.
The emperor, however, was feeling hurt by Luo Wei’s words. Was he not a father who also failed to claim his own son? “Wei Er,” Emperor Xing Wu pulled Luo Wei closer to him, “I’m shocked that I hadn’t noticed this before… how much you’re willing to defend others against injustice!”
“Your Imperial Majesty?”
“Your friend’s problem isn’t going to be an issue for me,” Emperor Xing Wu said the words that Luo Wei had been waiting to hear.
Luo Wei perked up in a second, asking, “What could Your Imperial Majesty do?”
Emperor Xing Wu answered him, “I could send down an edict and strike his mother’s previous employment from the records. You could then go and take her out of the villa, Ming Jian had no right in that case to stop you.”
Luo Wei asked, “It’s that easy?”
Emperor Xing Wu smiled, “It’s that easy.”
Luo Wei’s face bloomed with a smile, and quickly knelt to thank the emperor for his generosity.
Emperor Xing Wu helped him up and chuckled, “I can’t believe a kid like you was wracking yourself with worry about this. Even your father could help you with this. What, were you too afraid to ask him?”
Luo Wei stuck his tongue out, “He’d lecture me about how I’m getting into other people’s business!”
Emperor Xing Wu smiled as he shook his head. He knew that Luo Zhi Qiu had been extremely kind to Luo Wei, “And you were so sure that I wouldn’t lecture you about it?” He tapped Luo Wei’s nose with a finger.
Luo Wei blushed, and looked back at the emperor with a shy smile.
Emperor Xing Wu was a man of his word, and as Luo Wei willed, sent down an edict.
Not long after, Zhao Fu was invited to meet Luo Wei in his bedroom at the Hall of Eternal Light, “Young master?” He waited on Luo Wei for a while, watching as the youth looked out at the little garden on the other side of the moon window, thinking with his hands folded behind him. It didn’t seem as if he was going to talk, so the eunuch called out to him quietly.
Luo Wei finally turned, “Mister Zhao,” He addressed the eunuch.
“Young master, do you have any instructions for your humble servant?” Even though Luo Wei addressed him, it didn’t seem as if he had anything else to say, so Zhao Fu instead put the question to him instead.
What Zhao Fu didn’t know was that in this brief moment, Luo Wei’s mind had already turned thousands of times. Zhao Fu was Long Xuan’s confidant. If Luo Wei had made sure that Long Xuan knew of this edict from the emperor, he’d think that Ning Fei had betrayed him. According to his usual habits, Ning Fei’s mother and siblings would have no way of getting to the capital safely. With his family’s death on Long Xuan’s hands, there wouldn’t be a shred of a chance that Ning Fei would fall in love with Long Xuan in this lifetime. That way, he’d be perfectly willing to become a weapon under Luo Wei’s control. Luo Wei wanted to do this, but did Ning Fei’s family deserve to die? Luo Wei hesitated.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES:
TRIPLE UPDATE TODAY!!! Since these chapters are relatively short, I thought I might get through them. : ) Sorry for keeping you guys waiting, and hope this makes up for it!