question to novel readers

Chapter 575 (Ye Ling’er, second prince's wife)

Entering the room, he saw only Ye Ling’er sitting silently by the table with a distressed look on her face. There were still tear tracks at the corner of her eyes. Her usually bright jade eyes had unexplainable and indescribable tiredness and grievance. Most of it was hidden but unexpressed anger.

This wangfei was like an old tiger who could leap forward at any moment and bite someone to death. Putting aside being used by her husband, she had been lied to by her father and thrown out by her clan. How was she to endure this?

(…)

These few years, his attacks against the Second Prince had hidden an unconscious thought of his, which was to use the Overwatch Council and the Emperor’s favor to cripple the Second Prince’s strength, cutting off his thoughts for the crown. Unexpectedly, the Second Prince’s desire for power was powerful. In addition to the Eldest Princess’s clever manipulation, this plan was completely ineffective.

Ye Ling’er laughed sorrowfully at herself and said quietly, “Teacher, naturally, I don’t blame you for this matter. To end up in such a situation, it is all down to him. During these years, even you couldn’t beat back his desire. How could I, a mere woman, convince him?”

“You don’t need to persuade me to leave the manor. He was involved in a rebellion, who would give him a lifeline?” Ye Ling’er’s expression gradually calmed. “Regardless of what kind of person he is, in the end, we are husband and wife. Since father and the people in my clan have never viewed me as a person, then I may as well go with him and be a couple under the Yellow Springs. Presumably, he would not be able to continue his dreams of being an Emperor in that desolate place.”

(…)

Everyone says that he is outwardly warm, but inside he is indifferent and heartless. Actually, these words are not wrong. Even his mother in the Palace is respectful toward him. In his life, when had he felt true warmth? Not only is he heartless toward others, but he is also very cold and severe to himself.”

“I am his wife. I have to know him a bit better than you outsiders. You have no idea how proud a person he is in his heart and how he holds himself responsible. The complete and utter failure this time is a great blow against him. Even if father leaves him a lifeline, what face would he have to keep living?”

She raised her head and looked at Fan Xian with a helpless and broken-hearted expression. “After returning to the manor, he will not say a single word. I know he is already thinking about death. If, at this time, even I left, then everyone in the world will have abandoned him. He will go very simply.”

Chapter 575 (third prince)

This was a problem in pedagogy. Other than Fan Xian, no one else understood in this world. To train a nine-year-old, who dared to operate a brothel and kill people, into becoming a kind-hearted ruler, simple virtue and preaching would not be enough to complete the job. He had to make the Third Prince understand that with many things in the world, the goal could also be reached through relatively just and honorable ways.

The Third Prince needed a role model. That was why, starting from the trip to Jiangnan, Fan Xian had set himself up as a role model in his heart. He was an immortal poet, a strong warrior, and a powerful official. He was the Third Prince’s savior. In the hearts of most of the common people in the Qing Kingdom, he was a good person.

Fan Xian hoped that the future Emperor of the Qing Kingdom was also a good person, just like the Crown Prince?

Does Lin Ruo Fu show up again in the novel after returning to his hometown? 

I am re-reading the last 250 pages. Those snippets I am sharing resume so well who is who.  Below is the last and only genuine conversation the emperor had with the crown prince… An Zhi is Fan Xian. 

**

Li Chengqian glanced at his father. The corner of his lips revealed the trace of a self-mocking smile. Only now did he understand that his father had already been planning for things decades in the future over 10 years ago. He had the confidence to unify the world, but he had to consider how this kingdom would continue for hundreds of years.

“So, I brought Chengze out to fight against you,” the Emperor closed his eyes and said slowly. “Thinking of it now, at that time, you were both still young. It seemed that I had been overly anxious.”

Li Chengqian still did not open his mouth to comment.

“I wanted to see if Chengze would be any good. In less than a year, I could see that his thoughts were overly fake. As a monarch, one must have an air of righteousness. He didn’t have that.” The Emperor continued to keep his eyes closed like he was narrating some distant story. “I became confirmed in my decision to give the kingdom to you. In those years, your behavior truly disappointed me. You loitered in brothels and indulged in music and song every night. You made yourself an embarrassment.”

Li Chengqian smiled self-mockingly and finally opened his mouth slowly, “Father, at that time, I was only 14 or 15, just getting to know about the ways of the world. I thought you were going to depose me. I lived every night in fear. I could only bury myself in women to find some feeling.”

Strangely, the Emperor did not become angry listening to these words. On the contrary, he smiled slightly. “Chengze was too discontented with life, but he was clever. He finally saw what I was thinking. But, he had already come out, so he could only continue on. From that angle, your second brother truly understood my heart.”

“Perhaps a knife would be broken through honing. If it is not honed, it will never become sharp.” The Emperor opened his eyes and looked calmly at his son. “The Second Prince did not sharpen you. On the contrary, he made you blunt. Coincidentally, An Zhi entered Jingdou...”

Li Chengqian laughed, thinking of the first time he saw Fan Xian outside the courtyard. At that time, as the Crown Prince, he didn’t even think about that son of a vice minister. He never would have thought that he would, in the end, be his brother and become the hardest whetstone in the honing of the inheritor of imperial power.

“In these two years, you’ve improved a lot,” the Emperor sighed and slowly said. “I don’t know if it’s because you have matured or because Li Yunrui has taught you many things, but the court has recognized your status as Crown Prince. I am pleased with your behavior.”

Hearing his aunt’s name, Li Chengqian’s lips twitched involuntarily. Shortly after, he opened up his mind and smiled with great courage. “You asked me to learn about political affairs from aunt, naturally, it was effective.”

The Emperor did not become angry. He only lightly said, “When it comes to so-called political matters, the scholars Shu and Hu would have taught you better. As you know, what I wanted you to learn from Yunrui were tactics and trickery. In the world, you would not be able to find a better teacher than Yunrui.”

“If things continued like this, how good it would have been,” the Emperor said quietly. “There are many things that cannot be learned. Once I was old, you should have been able to see many things and been proficient in the last schemes of a monarch. At that time, only then would I have handed over this kingdom to you with an easy heart.”

Li Chengqian’s mood was strange. Although he had been Crown Prince since a young age, his father had always been overly strict and lacked warmth. This was what cultivated his timid personality. Although his personality had changed a great deal during these two years, this seemed to be the first time he had sat side by side like this with his father actively talking to each other.

“An Zhi told me all about the situation in Jingdou,” the Emperor said warmly. “You behaved well. Your behavior during the rebellion was appropriate to the occasion. There are only a few problems.”

Li Chengqian knelt for the last time as the Crown Prince by his father’s side and bent his body to ask for instruction.

“In the fight for power, there is no need for any warmth or fear. When He Zongwei led the Imperial Censor against you in court, you should have killed him right there.”

The Emperor’s gaze was incomparably grave and stern. “An Zhi convinced the civil officials in court to stand against you during your ascension ceremony. You should have acted and killed them.”

He looked at his son like he was teaching him for the last time. “As long as someone stands in front of you, kill them. In this, you are not as good as An Zhi.”

The Emperor continued. “You didn’t kill the two scholars of the Hall of Governmental Affairs and those civil officials, you only locked them up. What good would that do? That was your biggest mistake. If Yunrui had handled this herself, and it was not you and mother discussing it, perhaps Jingdou would have stabilized long ago. The court would have been purged clean, and Fan Xian would not have been able to stall until time to act.”

Li Chengqian smiled bitterly and sighed. Looking at his father, he quietly said, “Father, do you know why I couldn’t kill those officials?”

Without waiting for the Emperor to speak, Li Chengqian faintly said, “Perhaps you have forgotten, when you first intended to depose of the heir, it was these old officials that bravely stood out and opposed your edict. They stood behind me and supported me. Perhaps I am not a strong person, but I am someone who remembers gratitude and tries to repay it. Although the scholars Hu and Shu may have supported me for the sake of the country, I truly could not bear to kill them.”

The Emperor was silent, thinking about something. A moment later, he suddenly said, “When I decided to depose you, there was someone else fighting for you.”

An image rose in Li Chengqian’s mind of the green banner that secretly followed the diplomatic group on the way to Nanzhao. Surprised, he asked, “Fan Xian?”

He knew Thirteenth Wang was Fan Xian’s man, but he never knew why Fan Xian had done what he did until the Emperor now made it clear. Endless complicated feelings surged into his heart. He did not know that the private matter between himself and the Eldest Princess had been single-handedly exposed by Fan Xian. In his heart, he pondered this and thought of Fan Xian preparing to help him escape the Royal Palace when the rebellion first failed. For a moment, he was dazed.

The Emperor narrowed his eyes slightly and said, “An Zhi is a true person. Like you, he occasionally has true feelings.”

“I am not as good as him.” After a moment, the Crown Prince sighed. He then stood up and kowtowed sincerely toward the Emperor. Solemnly, he said, “Father, I have always felt resentment toward you. Being able to hear your teachings today, I feel much better. However, before I go, I have one thing to say. Enough people have died in this family. I ask that father will be more lenient in the future to those who are still alive.”

Lenient meant that the Emperor’s past actions had been overly severe. The Emperor’s expression immediately became grave and stern. For some reason, hearing his son’s words did not make the Emperor angry. On the contrary, he looked at Li Chengqian with a complicated gaze and slowly said, “I promise you.”

A gust of autumn evening air poured in from the north of the Royal Palace. It blew along the corridors, gardens, and calm waters, adding a sense of sorrow.

“Live on. I can pretend certain things did not happen.” The Emperor opened his mouth and said something that surprised Li Chengqian greatly.

A tragic smile rose to Li Chengqian’s face. He knew what kind of person his father was. The Emperor valued heart above all else. Since he had already rebelled once, he would never be able to obtain his father’s trust. Furthermore, the matter between him and his aunt had gone against the dragon’s scales.

Li Chengqian would not accept a lifetime of house arrest. As a man of the Li family, he still had to the courage to kill himself. His gaze became cold. Looking at the Emperor, he quietly said, “What point is there in saying these things now?”

“Earlier I asked how would the history books record this period of time,” the Emperor said.

“Presently, we are treacherous people that rebelled and everyone had been put to death. Colluding with foreign enemies, throwing the court into disorder... You are the brilliant ruler of a generation. You have done nothing wrong. All mistakes belong to others.”

The Emperor’s expression had recovered its calm. He quietly listened to Li Chengqian’s indifferent tone, which sank deeply into his bones.

“But, you seemed to have forgotten one thing. Regardless of how the history books paint it, it will have to record how many people died in this month. The Li family lost a grandmother, empress, Eldest Princess, Crown Prince, and a prince in the autumn of the seventh year of the Qing calendar.”

Li Chengqian sighed. It was his first time using an equal and even insulting gaze to look at his father, who could not be defeated. He said, “You will become an Emperor in the history books for all eternity. However, it will be very empty beside you, to the point that there is not a single person. Won’t that be lonely?”

The Emperor looked coldly at him and didn’t say anything. The corners of his lips carried a light smile. It was as if he was saying, How could a god above the Ninth-heaven care about the loneliness above the clouds or the rowdiness in the mortal world?

He then stood up and walked out the door of the Eastern Palace. When he was at the door, his heart moved slightly. He took a letter out from his sleeve. This letter was the Second Prince’s suicide note, which Gong Dian had given to him earlier.

The Emperor took out the thin sheaf of paper and looked at what his second son wanted to tell him before he died.

The two lines on the paper were written carelessly. The ink was spattered. It appeared hurriedly written. However, the turns on the characters had strength. It pierced like a sword into the back of the paper, filled with anger and dissatisfaction.

The first whetstone the Qing Emperor had tossed into the court, the third prince [JW1] Li Chengze, cried out to his lofty father in his last letter much the same way as the Crown Prince. However, the words he used were more piercing and sharper, particularly the last four words.

“Widower! Lonely! Orphan! Alone!”

Old and without a wife was to be a widower. To not be close to a single person in the world was to be lonely. Losing a mother and surviving alone was to be an orphan. Old and without child was to be alone.

The incident at Dong Mountain spread continuously through Jingdou. The Qing Emperor had consecutively broken two Great Grandmasters, lured out and cleaned out the discontent figures in the royal family and the military, picked out the hidden traitors in the court, and, in one move, ensured the Qing Kingdom’s glorious achievement of unifying the world in the future.

However, the empress died, the woman in the past had died long ago, the empress dowager died, the Eldest Princess—who had accompanied the Emperor for 20 years and sacrificed her youth—died, the Crown Prince died, and the Second Prince died. Everyone died.

There was only the Emperor left all alone.

The Qing Emperor coldly read this letter. His fingers trembled slightly. With a rustling sound, the paper dissolved into a pile of white powder, sliding from between his fingers. It was picked up by the autumn wind outside the Eastern Palace doors and dispersed in all directions like a somber snowfall.

A hidden pain flashed through his eyes as his brows furrowed tightly. The words of his two sons before their deaths pierced deeply into this ruler’s heart. The white hairs deepened at the temple of this middle-aged man. The light in his eyes gradually dimmed. There seemed to be a smudge of wetness at the corner of his eyes, but his figure remained tall and straight, strong enough to not move at all.

1. Quote: "Fan Xian's disciples all stay loyal to him, right?"

I don't know about the novel, but from the drama and after going through the novel references and comments, I would say Wan Li and Chan Li will remain loyal to FX.
2. The 4th disciple they keep mentioning seems like a pawn already been in use by someone (?) or else his presence would not have been so suspenseful.

3. Quote: "Hong Ji Chang seems fickle."

I agree with this. This person seems opportunistic, just like He Zong Wi, and will slide to anyone who will be helpful to him. He might become one of the hidden blades against FX (?). 

There are a few things I don't understand.

1. Many commented on the birth order of the royal family as being like this:
1st Prince > 2nd Prince > Crown Prince > Fan Xian > 3rd Prince.
I wonder why the Emperor chose CP when 2nd Prince seems to be more capable and resembles his character (cunning, ruthless, maneuvering, scheming, etc.). I know that the Emperor clearly wants someone who is like a puppet to him, but still, the second prince is more like the Emperor. Also, the emperor seems to be hell bent on covering his crimes.

2. Why is the Empress Dowager holding on to the key to the YQM special box/suitcase? Does the Emperor know of its existence and the pond secret in the Tai Ping residence as well? If he knows, why hasn't he made any approach to uncovering the mystery?

3. Does the CPP know that the emperor was involved in the YQM murder? If so, why is he silent?

4. YQM indirectly created the Grand-masters to check and balance the regions so that there wouldn't be unnecessary battles that would lead to the deaths of innocent civilians. Even then, we have not noticed any involvement of the Grand-masters in preserving peace and balancing the region to avoid any tyranny. 

@ VincentGoh  Thanks for the reply.

1. I don't know where I missed the CP info, I will re-watch to understand the scenario.

2. Sorry "Empress Dowager took YQM possession during the assassination of YQM by her brother (Empress's father)"

Kinda confused here. YQM was assassinated by the current Qing Emperor (FX father) right?
Empress Dowager's brother would become the current emperor's uncle.
Empress's father would be grand emperor to the current emperor?