Chapter 172 – Historically Memorable Villainy Arc
“You don’t want to rebel. You never even entertained the thought. From the beginning, you never wanted to sit on the throne…”
Song Rong’s voice was unrecognizably hoarse, and he spoke with difficultly. He looked into Lu Li’s icy eyes and knelt before him on one knee.
“Prime Minister, you are educating the emperor, right?”
A trace of coldness flashed in those eyes. In the next second, Lu Li had one hand clasped around Song Rong’s throat. If he exerted force, he could take his life.
Song Rong remained motionless, his eyes fixed on the other man.
“You didn’t allow the emperor to meet the late emperor, because the late emperor had no intention of cultivating the crown prince. All the gifts, those books, and those encouragements… you had people send them to the crown prince in the name of the late emperor, so that he would think that he had a gentle and kind father…”
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Song Rong’s chest heaved up and down violently. When he saw the icicles in Lu Li’s eyes, it did not rouse a desire for confrontation, instead it only left him with a deep sense of regret.
Song Rong couldn’t resist taking a hold of Lu Li’s hand. The other man’s hand was frail and his grip was weak. His gesture was obviously meant to be threatening, but due to his injuries, he couldn’t even exert any strength at all.
Those hands couldn’t even grip a pair of chopsticks. Even though this seemingly thin body still contained powerful strength, it could no longer pose the slightest threat to him.
Song Rong raised his hand to caress Lu Li’s forehead, which was covered with a thin layer of sweat. Song Rong’s voice became hoarse and it trembled slightly as if he was afraid to broach the next topic.
“Qing Guang, you… why are you doing this?”
Lu Li’s hand trembled and finally gave up all pretense of strength. His long eyelashes lowered and his powerless hand fell into the palm of Song Rong’s hand.
Lu Li’s sharp aura – which was like a dangerous, unsheathed blade – dissipated, and Song Rong realized that the other man was trembling uncontrollably. The explosive force of action just now had obviously exceeded the limit of his body, and now the backlash was taking its toll with interest.
Song Rong could withstand the prime minister’s oppressive aura; he could withstand Lu Li’s murderous looks, but he was unable to remain staunch in the face of Lu Li’s weakness, especially when the man was so weak that he was nearly trembling with fear, yet still desperately trying to put on an obstinate front.
Lu Li’s weakness stripped the last bit of Song Rong’s perseverance like broken armor.
Lu Li’s frail body toppled forward and Song Rong hastily reached out to catch him in his arms. He anxiously lowered his voice and said, “Relax, Qing Guang, relax. I won’t ask anymore, so don’t do this, don’t force yourself…”
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“Wangye, a traitor is also a human being with a heart, and there will be times when he is inattentive and soft-hearted.”
Lu Li’s feverish forehead pressed against the side of Song Rong’s neck. His hoarse voice sounded lightly right beside Song Rong’s ear. His tone of voice carried a bit of cold self-mockery.
“It was just a moment of carelessness on my part. I thought I could control the crown prince. I didn’t think that I would end up nurturing a tiger instead… I am merely reaping what I have sown. I lost because of that little kindness I had shown him at the beginning. For that, I do not grieve my lost. Wangye, since you know then just keep it to yourself. There is no need to let the emperor know. No matter how dire my straits are, I am not at the stage where I require the emperor’s pity.”
Song Rong couldn’t bear to keep pressing Lu Li for answers. He just nodded lightly and held the collapsed body in his arms. He brushed his warm palms across Lu Li’s trembling limbs, carefully calming him down.
“I understand. Qing Guang, sleep for a bit. I will be here guarding you…”
“Wangye, you’re speaking as if you can go anywhere else.”
Perhaps it was due to the warmth from his touch, the person in his arms did not resist, but he kept mumbling as if unable to admit defeat.
Song Rong was incapable of speech. He couldn’t help the bitter twist of his lips as he looked down helplessly at the man in his arms. Lu Li’s extremely tired eyes slowly closed. His black lashes lowered, concealing the clear and cold light in his eyes.
Lu Li’s fever was still high, but his terrible trembling had finally calmed down. Song Rong breathed a sigh of relief and carefully moved the unconscious man to the couch. Then he covered him with the blanket.
The side hall was still a gloomy and cold place after all. With Lu Li’s persistent fever, his body curled up instinctively due to the cold not long after he fell asleep.
Song Rong frowned. He got up and walked out the entrance. But before he could open his mouth, the captain of the imperial guards was already approaching him with an awkward look on his face.
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“Wangye, the emperor has already decreed that the expenses for the side hall will only be allocated according to the budget for the heavenly prison. Except for the regent’s three meals a day, which will remained unchanged, we cannot accommodated anything else…”
“He said this himself?”
He never imagined that Song Zhilan could go to such lengths. Thinking of the sleeping person inside, Song Rong suppressed the anger in his chest, and his voice became lower and lower, “According to those words, is he saying that he doesn’t plan to do anything even though the prime minister is heavily injured and still down with a high fever?”
The captain of the imperial guards also felt bad about the situation. The struggle was clear on his face, but he could only lower his head in silence.
When Song Rong recalled the inside story that he had just gleaned from the prime minister, fierce anger suddenly boiled up from the bottom of his heart. The flames of his anger roared through his body, burned all his internal organs, and finally extinguished into cold embers.
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