Chapter 613: Chapter 212 - Using Me_3
What exactly happened?
He sat on the chair, his brows furrowed tightly, lost in thought, when Chi Jian walked in from outside.
"My lord," Chi Jian said, "someone from Zhao Ning Manor has come."
"They say the ancestral hall caught fire and that the tablet of the lady of the house has been damaged. They ask that you return immediately to deal with the matter."
Before the words were finished, Pei Yunmeng suddenly looked up, "What?"
...
In the ancestral hall of Zhao Ning Manor, the somber ranks of memorial tablets were chilling.
A man in brocade stood before the tablets, holding incense sticks, paying respects one by one.
A "bang" resounded as the door was pushed open, and someone walked in from outside.
The moment Pei Yunmeng entered the ancestral hall, he immediately looked towards a certain direction. Upon seeing that the rows of memorial tablets and the intact wooden beams, his expression instantly darkened.
"You lied to me?"
"If I hadn’t said that, how would you have come back?"
The speaker placed the last stick of incense and turned around, revealing a face that bore a six-to-seven points resemblance to the younger man.
It was Lord Zhao Ning, Pei Di.
"Since the New Year, you haven’t returned home for over half a year," Pei Di looked at the person before him.
Pei Yunmeng snickered, "It seems Lord Pei has forgotten that this place is not my home."
He had rushed back hastily, his clothing wet from the rain and the ends of his hair damp, clearly having come immediately upon receiving the news.
Pei Di lowered his eyelids.
His son had always been like this, finding nothing in the Pei Family worth reminiscing about, except his mother.
Even though his mother was no longer alive.
Pei Yunmeng gave him a look and mocked with a crooked smile, "If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving." With that, he turned and made to leave.
"Wait."
The young man’s smile grew as he turned to face him, "If Lord Pei has something to say, please be straightforward. Let’s not waste each other’s time."
Pei Di looked at him.
The young man’s eyes were smiling, but it couldn’t hide the defiance and coldness within them.
He was utterly different from his mother and unlike anyone else from Zhao Ning Manor.
At times affectionate, at times heartless.
After a long while, Pei Di finally said, "The Crown Prince has been placed under house arrest."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Are you going to work for the Third Prince?"
"What does that have to do with you?"
His son’s unruliness somewhat angered Pei Di, and his tone grew heavier.
"The Emperor is behind this; His Majesty intends to change the Crown Prince. But you should know the Pei Family already stands with the Crown Prince."
Upon hearing this, Pei Yunmeng began to laugh.
It was as if he heard something extremely ludicrous, shaking with laughter, unable to stop, until finally, he spoke coldly.
"The Emperor fears the Crown Prince might harm the Third Prince, so he strikes first by confining the Crown Prince – that’s the first step. But why does he restrain the Crown Prince? Is it because he fears a repeat of past events?"
"Because he ascended to the throne by killing his own brother, does he worry the Crown Prince might kill his more beloved third son and repeat history?"
Pei Di’s pupils contracted, "How do you know..."
Pei Yunmeng sneered, becoming increasingly aggressive, "How did the former Crown Prince die in that autumn flood? How soon after did the former Emperor fall seriously ill and die? Is Lord Zhao Ning not clearer than anyone about this?"
"You killed your father and brother, having no regard for kinship. And you, to curry favor with him, to preserve your wealth and status, presented your own wife as a token of surrender, did nothing to save her, and watched her die amidst the Rebel Army!"
The ancestral hall fell deathly silent.
Pei Yunmeng looked at the man before him, his eyes filled with loathing and hatred.
Back then, he only knew a fraction of the story, not understanding why his father had failed to save his coerced mother, disappointed by the other’s cowardice. He had a massive argument with his father in the ancestral hall and then stormed out of the house, swearing to seek justice for his mother.
Until later, when he learned everything.
The truth was more disgusting than what the world perceived.
And his father was nothing but a contemptible man who had climbed to power over the blood and tears of the one beside him in bed.
"Yun Ying."
Pei Di looked at him, his brief shock swiftly replaced by calm, and he spoke in a still gentle tone, as if a father patiently explaining to an unreasonable child.
"It was the will of the times. The former Crown Prince is dead, and only His Majesty was fit for the great responsibility. The Emperor is suspicious; your maternal family had close ties with the former Crown Prince. Without doing that, how could the Pei Family be preserved, how could you be preserved?"
"Even if your mother were alive, she would want me to do this."
"Shut up!"
Pei Yunmeng shouted angrily, "Don’t bring up my mother."
He stepped back, his gaze sweeping over the neatly arranged memorial tablets in the room, and spoke with irony.
"Lord Pei, you’ve placed my mother’s tablet in the ancestral hall and worship it regularly. Have you never felt the slightest bit guilty?"
"I forgot," he laughed, "you don’t have a heart at all."
Pei Di paused, "No matter what you think, I have always done this for the Pei Family."
"Over the years, I know you resent me, hate me, but you always carry the Pei Family’s blood. If the Third Prince ascends the throne, he will not tolerate the Pei Family, and he might not tolerate you either. Have you never heard of the imperial practice of killing the donkey once the grinding is done?"