HLnovel Chapter 474 sealed my fate.
Chapter 474 sealed my fate.
...
Zong Que watched Lu Yangyang leave before turning and walking into the cave.
However, after walking for a short while, the road ended.
It seemed to be just an ordinary cave, nothing special.
He looked around, pressed his ear against the stone wall in the cave, tapped it with his cane, then picked up a stone and tossed it between the cave walls a few times. Finally, it landed on a spot, smashing the stone wall and revealing a mechanism inside. He reached out and turned the mechanism, and the previously tightly sealed stone wall slowly rose up.
After passing through this stone gate, there is another long cave passage, which leads to several more passages. Although there are no guards, they are connected by a series of mechanisms.
The traps are riddled with hidden weapons; a moment's carelessness could lead to certain death. The reason this place is unguarded, besides to avoid detection, is probably to prevent unauthorized trespassing; after all, traps are sometimes far more effective than guards.
But such is all there is to mechanical arts; once the rules are grasped, it is not a difficult task for Zong Que to crack them.
He followed the passage down the corridor and finally saw the steps leading down after passing through several long passages.
Before Lu Yangyang reminded him that there was a problem inside the mountain, he really hadn't thought about where that person would be hiding. In recent days, he had sent people to turn the entire Yuzhou upside down.
Unfortunately, there was no clue whatsoever about the person he was looking for.
He even wondered if that person had already escaped overseas by sea, but then he felt something was wrong, which was why he wanted to use a feint to test the waters. He didn't expect to meet Lu Yangyang, who reminded him of the matter in the mountain's interior.
If that's the case, then everything makes sense.
It is a mausoleum.
He wanted to build a mausoleum that belonged to him.
After walking up the long flight of stairs and passing through a series of underground palaces, Zong Que finally saw the person sitting on the dragon throne in the central underground palace.
He wore a dark blue dragon robe from the Great Zhao Dynasty, and his hair, tied up with a golden crown, was already gray. His face was pale, probably because he hadn't seen the sun for too long, but anyone who had seen the emperor on the dragon throne in the capital would recognize his features.
It was a face exactly like that of the current Emperor Zong Lin of the Great Zhao Dynasty.
However, his face was much thinner and paler, and a large area of skin from his left jaw to his neck was covered with scars, like burn marks.
He sat in his wheelchair, gazing absently at Zong Que, who was staring intently at him in the distance, and let out a soft "Ah".
"Ah Que, it's you! You're not dead!" He nodded to himself before Zong Que could speak. "That's right. You've been smart since you were little. If you died so easily, then Heaven would be too blind. He doesn't believe you're dead, does he? He's probably frantically looking for you now. Ah, what do you think he'll do if he finds out you came looking for me?"
Thinking this, he seemed to suddenly become happy, laughed a few times, and then waved to Zong Que with great pleasure: "A Que, why are you standing so far away? Come over, come sit down. It's been a long time since we've had any guests. I've been a bit bored lately. Ke'er came a few days ago, but you know his personality, he's gloomy and I don't like him at all. You're the best. When you were little, they would mistake me for someone else, but you never did."
"Ah Que, do you know how happy I am? Only you know who I am, only you won't mistake me for someone else. It makes me feel like I actually exist. It's so wonderful."
Zong Que just watched him from afar without approaching: "Now that you've come to Yuzhou, no one will make things difficult for you. Later, when the coastal ports opened, if you didn't like it here, you could take a ship overseas. Whether you want to occupy territory and become a king or live a carefree life, you're free."
"You colluded with Zong Ke, brought in a charlatan, and plunged the entire Yuzhou into misery. Is this what you wanted?"
"Uncle Emperor."
As Zong Que finished speaking, the man seemed to be in a daze for a moment, and then began to laugh maniacally.
"Hahahaha! Freedom? You talk about freedom?" His laughter grew louder and louder until tears streamed down his face. "Ah Que, you're talking to me about freedom? Then tell me, in my entire life, has Zong Yujing ever had any freedom?"
"Father named his children with water in their names, but I'm the only one named Yujing. What does Yujing mean, hmm? Shadow, shadow! From the moment I was born, I've been a shadow. As long as I live in this world, I have no value, no meaning, no self. Where does my freedom come from? Tell me, tell me, tell me—"
He glared angrily at Zong Que with bloodshot eyes, then threw his head back and laughed loudly.
"If only one of the twins could survive, and they had already chosen Zong Lin, why didn't they strangle me then! My mother was afraid that the twins would be exposed, so she hid me in the Cold Palace. I was almost burned to death by the candlesticks of those madmen in the Cold Palace before someone discovered me and reported it to my father. But what did my father do after he found out the truth?"
"He merely acquiesced to my mother's actions, sparing my life but treating me only as the child of a palace maid in the Cold Palace. He named me Yujing to remind me that I am just a shadow in this life, living in the name of the Fifth Prince, but unable to appear in public at will. If I do appear in public, I must wear a mask."
"I've been in the capital for so many years, and everyone knows the Fifth Prince. Yet, there are rumors that he was born with a terrible disease and is ugly. There are even rumors that he had smallpox as a child and was therefore unfit to be a son of the emperor. They say all sorts of disgusting things. Guess how old I was when I heard all this? Did anyone in the palace ever speak up for me? Did anyone ever show me even the slightest bit of pity?"
"No."
"I lived in darkness in the Cold Palace, and when I left, I lost my face and could never be seen by anyone again. Even when I walked up to Zong Lin, I had to kneel down and couldn't look up at his face, the face I saw in the mirror every day!"
"Why? Huh? Why? Why is it that we're born of the same mother, yet he's the sun and moon in the sky, while I'm just mud underfoot? Everyone says that Crown Prince Chongwen is some kind of divine being, hahaha, a divine being! He always has a smile on his face when he sees me, telling Fifth Brother not to stay cooped up in his room all the time, to come out and walk around more. But when he accidentally sees my face, doesn't he also choose to remain silent? Do you know why? Because it's Father Emperor's choice. As the Crown Prince, he knows it all too well."
“They all know, but they all pretend not to hear, just because I was never chosen, I will never be chosen. I will forever be a shadow that cannot see the light of day, forever unable to look my face in the sunlight. Tell me, what did my face do wrong?”
"The royal family is forbidden to have twins; that one sentence sealed my fate."