When Luo Wei woke again, there was no one waiting at his side. He didn’t make a sound either, only laying there thinking. If that wasn’t just a dream, then it’d have to be the ending the melodrama of his past life. Long Xuan loved him? Luo Wei laughed voicelessly, he’d just heard another hilarious joke about his life.
A warm hand pressed against Luo Wei’s cheek.
“Lan,” Luo Wei stared at Wei Lan, smiling.
Wei Lan turned to rush outside, shouting, “The Young Master is awake!”
Luo Wei didn’t know that he’d already been comatose for much of half a month. The Imperial Physicians were of the opinion that he’d never wake up again, and his family were in the process of preparing for his funeral, everyone had mentally prepared themselves to accept Luo Wei’s death as fact.
“Does the young master feel any discomfort?” Imperial physician Wei asked Luo Wei, a group of other imperial physicians stood behind him, followed by all of Luo Wei’s family members.
“I have no strength,” Luo Wei didn’t feel any pain, but just a general lack of energy and strength in his limbs.
Imperial Physician Wei felt for Luo Wei’s pulse, and quickly offered the youth’s wrist to another physician. The physicians present each had their turn assessing him, then gathered together to discuss.
Luo Wei looked towards his family, smiling, “I’m fine, sorry for worrying you all.”
Surprisingly, the first one to cry was Bo Hua. This half month, she’d been blaming herself for not having ever been truly good to Luo Wei.
The Imperial Physicians let out a collective breath of relief. Even though Luo Wei was still feverish, but he was conscious and alert, that meant that he wasn’t getting any worse, and was on the way to being better.
“Wei Er,” Bo Hua stepped up to him, asking after him quietly, “Are you hungry? Do you want to eat anything?”
Luo Wei shook his head, he wasn’t hungry at all.
Luo Zhi Qiu muttered, “How could you not be hungry at all?”
Physician Wei came over and advised, “The Third Young Master can drink some congee, but he can’t have anything too heavy just yet.”
In the end, the bowl of congee hadn’t even arrived yet and Luo Wei had already closed his eyes.
“Xiao Wei!” Luo Ze, the first to notice, called out to his little brother.
Luo Wei opened his eyes again, “What?” He didn’t know that everyone in the room was afraid that he was never going to wake up again.
“Do you want to go back to sleep?” Luo Qi asked Luo Wei.
Luo Wei felt listless, he really did want to get back to sleep.
“You should eat something first before sleeping again,” Bo Hua reached out and pushed some stray hairs out of Luo Wei’s face.
The warm congee arrived. Bo Hua fed Luo Wei spoonful by spoonful, having never been this close to Luo Wei as a mother in two lifetimes. Luo Wei ate a few mouthfuls, then shook his head to say that he was full, that he didn’t want to eat anymore.
“Just a little more,” Bo Hua asked Luo Wei, “Just a few more mouthfuls.”
Luo Wei listened and ate a few more mouthfuls, but a wave of nausea hit him, and he leaned over the side of the bed out of reflex and threw up all that he just ate.
Imperial Physician Wei faced the family, whose expressions had all changed by now, and shook his head, “The third young master should take some ginseng soup.”
Luo Wei threw up violently, and felt even more wrung out when he finished. He closed his eyes and fell asleep as soon as he did. When he woke again, the one waiting by the side of his bed was Luo Zhi Qiu, as if he’d been waiting there for a long time.
“Are you awake?” Luo Zhi Qiu saw that Luo We’s eyes were open, and quickly reached out to feel his forehead. It was ice cold. His fever had gone. “Do you still feel nauseous?” He asked Luo Wei.
Luo Wei shook his head.
Xiao Xiao ran out of the room and returned not too long after with a bowl of ginseng soup.
As the hot ginseng soup made its way into his stomach, Luo Wei’s pallid face softened some, and gained some color. “Father,” He asked Luo Zhi Qiu, “Who did this to me?”
Luo Zhi Qiu answered, “You don’t need to worry about this, focus on getting better first.”
“Have they not found out who did it?” Luo Wei was someone who didn’t care about his own health at all, how would he listen to Luo Zhi Qiu’s suggestions?
Luo Zhi Qiu looked nervous and worried as he stared at Luo Wei.
Luo Wei’s heart clenched, “Have you seen my wounds, father?”
“Wei Er!”
Luo Zhi Qiu’s eyes were clear and full of anguish, and the look was answer enough for Luo Wei, “Father, it’s alright. I’m not some woman, there’s no virginity or purity to speak of. Besides, it’s not as if they’ve actually done anything to me physically, I’m not so mentally distraught that I’d go and seek my own death.”
The more that Luo Zhi Qiu heard Luo Wei speak this way, the more his heart ached for his son. Imperial Physician Wei had already told him everything. Luo Wei had been given drugs and aphrodisiacs by those men. Along with the injuries and the fact that he’d not fully healed from the loss of blood, wounds upon wounds, the chances that Luo Wei’s body would fully heal were slim.
“Who did this to me?” Luo Wei asked once more.
“People who were allied with Liu Shuang Shi.” Luo Zhi Qiu said.
Luo Wei asked, “Why do they hate me this much?”
Luo Zhi Qiu sighed, “Wei Er, the depths of darkness within a man’s heart knows no bounds, how could we guess at the goals and thoughts of someone else? The Liu family had already been fully exterminated five days ago.”
Emperor Xing Wu sent One to go and investigate. From Ku Liu’s body, they found the reward money, and following the not completely destroyed stamp markings on the money, they managed to find their way back to the palace, and then onto the Empress Dowager. Luo Zhi Qiu was there when this happened too, and when he thought about all the goings on in this imperial family, his heart filled with reticence.
Emperor Xing Wu roared at his mother, “He’s only a chid, how could you stand to send him to a place like that?! How has Luo Wei done you any wrong?!”
“He’s Luo Zhi Jin’s son, a bastard who doesn’t deserve to see the light o day!” The Empress dowager cursed back in a tone just as loud, “Should I have watched him destroy this entire royal family?!”
Emperor Xing Wu pointed at the empress dowager, shaking with anger, “You, mother, do you hate me this much?”
“Mother?” The Empress dowager sneered, “I can’t possibly take the weight of this title, as your mother. You said that it was the Rei Mu clan that killed Luo Zhi Jin, you wanted the entire Rei Mu clan to pay for this woman’s life with theirs. I am the only surviving member of my clan now. Why should that woman have a son alive still, and capable of enjoying all the fortune and riches that life has to offer?!”
“Shut up!”
“A whore’s son should live where the whores live! I want her to turn and writhe in her grave without a day’s peace even in death!”
“I said shut up!”
“Why don’t you kill me! Let the whole world see how the ruler of a nation pays filial piety to his mother!”
“You think I wouldn’t kill you?!”
Matricide. Even the emperor couldn’t bear the weight of this guilt. Luo Zhi Qiu hated the empress dowager’s treachery as well, but all he could do was hold the emperor back, the emperor who’d lost the last shred of his rationality, hoping that his imperial majesty wouldn’t kill Empress Dowager Rei Mu.
All of the eunuchs and the maids at the Hall of Longevity were sentenced to death that very night
When he’d finished cutting down everything that could be broken in the Hall of Eternal light, Emperor Xing Wu sent down another edict. The Empress Dowager has an illness, and thus would be moved to the Hall of the Eastern Buddha to recover. The Hall of Eastern Buddha sounds like any other hall in the palace, but was in fact a small temple chamber where one could leave offerings for the Buddha. It was hidden and far away from the thoroughfare of the main palace, and more deserted than even the Cold Palace where the most hated and reviled concubines lived.
The palaces are deep and full of secrets. Those who were outside of a select circle knew very little of what’s happened, but everyone seemed to know that the relationship between the Imperial Majesty and his mother had gone to pieces. As long as the emperor did not kill his mother, the denizens of Greater Zhou had no real reaction to the news that the Empress Dowager had been moved to the Hall of the Eastern Buddha.
Emperor Xing Wu and Luo Zhi Qiu were of one opinion on the matter of what happened to Luo Wei. They can never let Luo Wei know of the truth. They knew how intelligent Luo Wei was. If he knew, it wouldn’t be long until he found out his real identity as a son of the emperor. Before Emperor Xing Wu was ready to recognize Luo Wei’s proper status as a royal son, this secret was to be kept far from Luo Wei’s infinite knowledge.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES:
Thank you everyone for your well wishes last time! I’ve been in recovery for the last little while, trying to get my mental health and physical health back in place.
I want to send out this chapter and wish everyone a happy lunar new year!! 😉 if you want, you could leave me a little red pocket in my ko-fi link, but otherwise, I’m just very thankful and happy that you have all kept following this story and reading this translation!