Chapter 80

A pin drop could be heard in the Baihua Hall. The silence was like a falling canopy, signaling darkness was about to fall.

Chu Ying Ruo was trembling, staring at Shen Shi Yao in horror and disbelief: "I have treated you like a sister for more than ten years, how could I know that you are like a snake with a scorpion's heart? Slandering us just because you are jealous of Zi Xiao's favor.”

Shen Shi Yao's face was filled with tears. Even though she was obviously the one who stabbed someone at the back, she still looks pitiful: "Ying Ruo, I also treat you as my family. I have watched Xiao Jiu grow up, do you think I bear to do it? However, for the sake of the Zong's foundation, how can I continue to hide this from the emperor? If the divine sword is made, then everything will be irrevocable."

"Shut up, you poisonous woman!" Chu Ying Ruo kneeled down to Zong Ming He's feet and grabbed the corner of his clothes, crying, "Emperor must not listen to slanderous words, this poisonous woman is humiliating us, and is also humiliating the Emperor!"

Zong Ming He looked gloomily at Shen Shi Yao, "Speak, what did you find out?"

Zong Zi Heng fell to his knees, his limbs so weak that he could barely support his body. He could not think of any way to stop this. He did not even dare to look at Zong Zi Xiao's face again.

Shen Shi Yao wiped her tears and trembled, "At that time, in order to investigate the murder of Second Highness, the emperor ordered people to search Bailu Pavilion. Afterwards, it was me who helped Ying Ruo tidy up her boudoir's personal belongings, and as a result, I inadvertently found that she had hidden a silk handkerchief embroidered with three white herons, the white herons, two big and one small."

"White herons?" Zong Ming He narrowed his eyes.

"You're spouting nonsense!" Chu Ying Ruo's eyes were so red that they were going to drip blood, and she shouted like she was mad, "You're spouting nonsense. When did I ever embroider any white heron silk handkerchief? You're spouting nonsense!"

"What's wrong with a white heron?" Zong Ming He barked.

"The emperor does not know, the white heron is the most common bird in the wetlands of the Yanzhou generation, and the Yanzhou Lu Sect, back then, used it as their family crest."

When he heard the words "Yanzhou Lu Sect", Zong Ming He's face turned blue and then red, and a vein appeared on his forehead.

"The Lu Sect is only a small and unknown Sect, and I have only heard of it because I come from Qi Lu. When I heard that Ying Ruo had changed the name of her bedchamber to Bailu Pavilion, I knew that she had always remembered her former fiancé in her heart, and had even seen her call out to him with deep affection when she was drunk. I kept her secret because I didn't want the emperor to get into trouble with her, but she has tainted the royal bloodline, and even the emperor intends to make Zi Xiao the Crown Prince. Even if I were to die, I could not watch the century-old foundation of the Zong family being destroyed!"

Chu Ying Ruo's stunningly beautiful face was distorted to a frightening degree, as if she could not wait to eat Shen Shi Yao. She shouted sharply, "Poisonous woman! You've framed me. How long have you been planning all these years of pretending to be kind and approaching me!"

Zong Zi Xiao watched in bewilderment as the adults staged this ridiculous drama, words raining down like knives, and he looked instinctively for help at his big brother, but he was not looking at him.

Why wasn't his big brother looking at him?

With a click, the armrest of the chair was broken in Zong Ming He's hand, his eyes wide opened as he said sternly, "Go and search! Go and search!"

The two brothers, Huang Hong and Huang Wu, accepted the order and went away.

"Emperor!" Chu Ying Ruo cried, "This poisonous woman is setting me up. I didn't embroider any white heron silk handkerchief. If anything is really found, she is the one who put it in when I was off guard. Believe me ah."

Zong Ming He lowered his head and his gaze was cold: "Was she also the one who framed you for the ‘Bailu Pavilion'?"

Chu Ying Ruo was speechless.

Zong Ming He untied his own sword and threw it in front of Zong Zi Xiao.

There was a bang that echoed throughout the hall, and the echo was long-lasting, like the beating of a drum before a battle, each sound approaching a great battle.

Zong Zi Heng crawled over on his knees and stepped between that sword and Zong Zi Xiao, he pleaded, "Father, not here ..."

Chu Ying Ruo also cried out in pain and begged.

"Take it!" Zong Ming He roared at Zong Zi Xiao.

Zong Zi Xiao’s body was cold. This feeling of watching a piece of heaven crumble before his eyes were unparalleled in this life. The food on the table hasn't become cold, and for such a brief moment his whole life was about to be turned upside down. He heard himself open his mouth and ask, "You knew all along?"

The voice was so soft and small that almost only Zong Zi Heng, who was the closest, could hear it.

Zong Zi Heng looked at the brother he had brought up and almost burst into tears.

Zong Zi Xiao suddenly drew his sword with one hand.

"Xiao Er-----" Chu Ying Ruo yelled.

Spiritual energy was poured into the sword blade, and Zong Zi Xiao's clothes and hair were floating like an immortal without any wind.

A young boy who was not yet an adult could release such a powerful spiritual pressure, could be said to be astonishing, but at this moment, everyone's eyes only fell on that sword.

This sword, handed down from the ancestors of the Zong Clan and can only be used by the Zong Clan bloodline, was in the hands of Zong Zi Xiao, with absolutely no reaction.

If there was a sound of fear, the Baihua Hall should have been deafening, not like this, where no one even dared to breathe.

Zong Ming He took a pair of bloodshot eyes and looked at Zong Zi Xiao. He shouted violently, and the huge spiritual pressure pushed over like a sea wave, making everyone fall to the ground with a sweeping force of a thousand troops.

Only one thought remained in Zong Zi Heng's mind --- how to save Zong Zi Xiao's life.

Zong Ming He grabbed Chu Ying Ruo's neck and lifted her off the ground, saying ruthlessly, "Bitch, you bitch!"

Chu Ying Ruo's face became red from suffocation, her legs kicking and stomping helplessly in the air.

"Mother!" Zong Zi Xiao shouted and was about to pounce on him.

Zong Zi Heng wrapped his arms around his waist and pinned him to the ground with a deadly grip.

"Let go of me!" Like a small beast cornered into a desperate situation, Zong Zi Xiao bared his teeth towards Zong Zi Heng, "You already knew it!"

Zong Zi Heng's heart ached, and for the first time, he saw true hatred in Zong Zi Xiao's eyes. Ruthlessly, he took out a yellow talisman and put it on Zong Zi Xiao's mouth, and sealed his acupuncture points. At this moment, Zong Zi Xiao's life was hanging by a thread and he could not afford to say or do anything wrong. He turned his head to beg Zong Ming He, "Father, the matter has not yet been clarified. I beg you to spare Consort Chu first. All of the concubines and siblings are still here ah."

These words finally brought Zong Ming He back to his senses. He couldn't kill his concubine in front of his children after all. He threw Chu Ying Ruo to the ground and looked at Shen Shi Yao and then Zong Zi Heng like a fierce beast surrounding him, asking sinisterly, "You guys already knew about this?!"

Shen Shi Yao hastily defended, "Emperor, Zi Heng does not know. If he knew, he would not have dared to hide it. It’s me, it’s me who had my suspicions, but I had no evidence, so I dared not speak nonsense, but as the day approaches when Emperor will leave for Kunlun, I can no longer sit idly by and do nothing. If I have misunderstood Consort Chu and Xiao Jiu, I am willing to die to apologize for my mistake. As long as I can protect my Zong clan, I am ready to risk my life and limb to help out ah."

"You ... you ..." Zong Ming He's face turned white and his eyes were filled with a murderous aura.

At this time, Li Xiang Tong arrived at the news, and entered the Baihua Hall with Huang Hong and Huang Wu.

Li Xiang Tong scanned the room with a hint of pleasure between her eyebrows, and as she walked past Zong Zi Heng and Zong Zi Xiao, that condescending glance clearly held a great deal of hatred.

Huang Hong handed the object in his hand to the chamberlain, who in turn presented it to Zong Ming He.

Zong Ming He shook out the fine silk with a soft pearl glow, on which were embroidered three white herons, two large and one small, with delicate and skillful needlework.

Chu Ying Ruo was curled up on the floor, her breath wandering like silk.

Zong Zi Heng closed his eyes.

"Put this bitch ..." Zong Ming He's gaze fell on Zong Zi Xiao, his former loving and doting gaze now reduced to fury and resentment, "and this bastard too, put them all in the dungeon!"

Zong Zi Xiao slumped to the ground, his gaze hollow and desperate.

"Find out who this bastard really belongs to!"

Huang Hong and Huang Wu accepted the order in unison.

"If anyone dares to divulge a single word about today's incident, they will be severely punished!" Zong Ming He threw down these words and left in a huff.

Zong Zi Xiao was taken away, and Zong Zi Heng looked dully at his hand, which still had the remnants of his brother's body heat on it.

In one night, the sky had changed. The thing he feared most, wanted to stop the most, was revealed to the people closest to him in the most embarrassing way when he was most caught off guard. The person he wanted to protect the most, the person who is the most innocent, was caught in the center of the storm and could be torn to pieces at any moment.

For the rest of his life, he could never forget the hateful eyes of Zong Zi Xiao.

----

Edited on 3 Apr. 21 (Emzie)

 

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