Fuzhu's Ballad

52

Chapter 52 A fleeting dream

<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>

“Let’s start with you.” The Empress Dowager looked at Shentu Cheng, smiling coldly. “Do you still remember your mother?”

Shentu Cheng thought for a moment and spoke in a cold tone, “When she was taken to the palace, I was only eight years old. I only remember her as a beautiful woman. She was not favored and did not live with my father in the capital of Beimo. So I grew up in a remote small city with only two maids serving us. We lived a very hard life.” He sneered. “So that’s why I was chosen as a hostage and sent to another country.”

The Empress Dowager chuckled, her words full of irony. “It seems that you have no feelings for your mother at all. You even blame her for not being favored, for causing you to wander outside and being sent to an enemy country as a hostage.”

Shentu Cheng smiled indifferently, acknowledging her words. Not every child would be fond of their mother. His memories of his mother and childhood were vague, filled only with bitter cold and endless wasteland. Even the bond of dependence left no trace. His mother? To him, she was just a woman who passed away early.

“You dislike your childhood very much, so you didn’t deliberately recall or verify it, which led to many mistakes.” The Empress Dowager smirked. “Tongye used to be a territory of Beimo more than a decade ago, called Junye. Does it sound familiar?”

Shentu Cheng’s expression suddenly became cold and stern. Frowning tightly, he drank his wine in one gulp, seeming to be recalling something.

“Back then, Da Min’s frontier generals were stationed in Jixian, which is now known as Junye. Normally, they rotated every five years, but one person did not get rotated in time and stayed in the northern border for ten years. That person was Shentu Rong Qing.” The Empress Dowager’s smile disappeared, her expression filling with disgust as she mentioned Shentu Rong Qing. “It was also him who, in order to gain credit, fought against Beimo several times and took over Junye, expanding Da Min’s borders. In the battles, he seized many Beimo refugees. Men were forced to become slaves to build the Junye city walls, and women… suffered even more tragically, becoming playthings. One of them even gave birth to his son. Of course, he was not very concerned about this mother and child, abandoning them in the unfinished Junye city walls, where they remained for seven years.”

The Empress Dowager paused, feeling a bit sorrowful. “It was precisely because he had a strong foundation in the northern border that when Beimo’s Khan launched a surprise attack, he was still the first to know the news and led his troops to resist. He took a risk and made great contributions, receiving the title of Duke of Anguo. He felt he had achieved success and fame and brought his abandoned son and concubine to the capital. This is what you remember as being ‘sent as a hostage.’ Think about it, isn’t it exactly the same?”

Shentu Cheng tightly gripped his wine glass and sat stiffly.

“Actually, the real Beimo hostage entered the capital before you. When you arrived at the Duke’s residence, Shentu Rong Qing was already on his deathbed.” The Empress Dowager sneered. “So, you don’t have much of an impression of him.”

Shentu Cheng frowned and smiled bitterly, not really questioning it, but casually pointing out the mistake, “Was he really sick?”

The Empress Dowager waved her hand, not bothering to explain, and looked at Shentu Cheng with an understanding gaze. Who cared whether Shentu Rong Qing died of illness or poison? Anyway, he deserved to die, and it was his time to go. “At that time, Consort Xi had already been taken into the palace, and the hostage had escaped with his life, changing his name and hiding.”