49: A painting of Husband and Son

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Edited by Relendria

 


Jun Gui was now faced Zhong Xiao Si nervously. He had no other choice but to ask this favor.


"Um..., your Imperial Highness...?" his voice trailed off uncertainly at the end.


Xiao Si looked at him with a cold stare and Jun Gui swallowed hard.


"What?" Xiao Si asked curtly.


"I'd like ask you for a minor favor, please."


Xiao Si just looked at him, waiting for the details.


"I've recently discovered a promising young man who has this amazing skin care product. I'd like to him to sell it to me," Jun Gui began.


Xiao Si looked out the window, clearly already losing interest.


"He agreed but under the condition that I set up a meeting with you," Jun Gui said quickly.


Xiao Si tilted his head, looking at Gui with mild curiosity.


"Someone would actually dares stand up to you and make a such a bold request?" he asked Gui feeling the slightest hint of amusement. Of course, this didn't show on his face at all.


"Well, this fellow is a foreigner and he's a bit - um - s-scare..." Gui stuttered as he tried to explain. He quickly changed his words, "I mean you can put him in his place! I just need you to visit his place, that's all! I promise, after that I won't bother you," Gui finished frantically.


Xiao Si looked at the nervous young man and propped his chin on his fist. He thought for a minute and then asked in an ominous tone, "What is the name of this impudent man?"


Gui was sweating bullets. How should he tell him that's his name is Liang Meng Yao? The key word "Liang", of course. The Prince has always been the most sensitive to that name since he lost his lover, Minister Liang.


"Um... he's called Meng Yao," Jun Gui smiled weakly.


It's best to not let him know his family name until they were actually in the restaurant.


Xiao Si's pupils shrank for a split second before returning to normal.


"Right, now get lost."


"With pleasure!"


Jun Gui immediately left, feeling like he had escaped unspeakable danger. After some time, Xiao Si got up and went to the shelf. After fumbling through everything he finally located a box. Inside it was a white jade with the letters LMY engraved on it. Next to the box was a scroll out that he gently rolled open, revealing a portrait of a handsome man holding a beautiful baby.


"Yaoyao, behave now! Daddy is trying to paint us," a sweet affectionate voice said in Xiao Si's memory.


"A..ba....Dada," the young baby gurgled. He laughed revealing, his four tiny, front teeth.


Xiao Si closed his eyes as the old, bitter pain shot through him again. He covered his mouth to keep from crying but he couldn't stop himself from trembling all over.


The General walked in and saw Xiao Si standing at the shelf trembling. He wondered if something was wrong and quickly went up to Xiao Si, gently resting his hand on the man's shoulder. Xiao Si quickly reacted by slapping away the General's hand.


"Don't touch me!"

The General looked at the scroll in his hand. It was the painting of the baby and the Minister again. Frustration welled up inside of him.


"He's dead," the General snapped. "Whether you like it or not; he's gone and will never return!"


"Shut up!"


"He took his life," the General continued cruelly, "and he took your son along with him. Move on already! You can't have them back - they won't come back."


"If it weren't for you," Xiao Si replied through gritted teeth, "if you hadn't shown up - my son, my husband..." Xiao Si didn't cry. He turned his sorrow into anger and grabbed the General by his collar. "You will never replace my love and he cannot replace my child!"


Xiao Si's hands trembled with the force of his hatred. The General grabbed Xiao Si's hand, easily removing it from his collar. It saddened him to think that this person who was once strong enough to fight him as an equal was now this skinny and weak. He held Xiao Si by the shoulders as he tried once again to defend himself.


"I didn't kill them! He took their lives himself. Don't hate me; hate him! He was the one who jumped off the cliff; I didn't push him!"


The General was there and he saw it with his own eyes. That crazy man had smiled and held his child within in his arms as he jumped off the cliff. He had never intended to kill Minister Liang. They had been good friends so all he had wanted was for the man to disappear. But he had jumped off the cliff with the baby before anyone could even think to stop him.


Xiao Si broke free from his hold and turned away.


"You're despicable!" he said bitterly.


"I'm despicable? What about you when you treat your own son like that?"


"Shut up! I never wanted that child! No child should ever be conceived by force!" Xiao Si spat out with venom in his tone.


He had wanted to kill the baby when he discovered he was pregnant but found that he couldn't bring himself to do so. The last bit of compassion he had in his heart had spared his second child's life. The child had been allowed to live but Xiao Si couldn't bring himself to look at the boy.


Feng Huan who was outside felt a teardrop trickle down his cheek.


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