Refusing to Serve Me? Then Off With Your Head!

Chapter 35

Smile for Zhen to See

I knelt in front of Father's altar, sobbing my heart out. The sky was dark, everything else that surrounded me was dim. My voice had turned hoarse from crying. Only when my eyes had turned deep red did I finally showed the sign of stopping.

Uncle Tong gave my return a tearful welcome. He stroked his beard while tears fell from his old eyes. He comforted me with a hoarse voice, "Since Xiao Lang has returned, why don't you lit incense for the Old Master? You had been gone for three years, I thought...... I thought you were long gone...."

I took a bunch of lit incense from Feng Zhao Wen's hand and placed them in the incense burner. When I raised my head as I knelt, I finally realized that someone else was kneeling with me. Uncle Tong tried to help him up, "Your Majesty, this is too inappropriate. The Old Master is already at peace now with Xiao Lang's return, how can we make you kneel to him?"

Feng Zhao Wen pushed his hand away, "The Old General is worthy of my respect." After that, he kow-towed in front of Father with me.

Later, Uncle Tong questioned me behind Feng Zhao Wen's back, "Xiao Lang..... What is going on between you and His Majesty?" He still called me by my old nickname.

After crying, my heart had became a lot more relaxed. I sat on the old courtyard, watching the flowers and trees. The grasses and weeds seemed to have flourished a lot. Seeing that view and remembering the person who was no longer there, tears pooled in my eyes once again. I looked at Uncle Tong with my swollen eyes; I must have looked really ugly, "What do you think is going on between me and him, Uncle Tong?"

He patted my head. In the three years I had not seen him, his hair and beard had turned completely white. He had aged really hard, though his hand remained just as warm, "I could see that he dotes on you a lot...... However, before Old Master died, the thing he didn't want the most was you entering the palace...." He turned around to wipe his tears: "I must have gotten really old. I shouldn't have bring up the Old Master in front of you."

For the first time in my life, I raised my head to look at Uncle Tong with no guilt at all, "Were you angry at me, three years ago? You must have really hated me for...."

In the end, I simply lowered my head, no longer had it in me to continue talking.

He caressed my head with his large palm, wiping my tears with his coarse fingers, "The Old Master treasured you like you were a pearl. If anything, he would blame that Yan brat for not having discerning eyes. He would never be angry at you, he was simply worried. There were waves of instability in the court back then; you were a simple girl, how would you understand the intrigue behind every turn of events?"

My voice trembled as I tried to reaffirm what I just heard, "Father really didn't blame me?"

Uncle Tong hugged me with one arm and let my tears fell on his chest, "You foolish child. No parents would blame their children over anything. Besides, back then, the Old Master drank a tea that was presented by an official from the military department. After that, he got sick. That person was a trusted aide of the previous empress dowager. How could he not understand when things had transpired in that manner?"

My nose was filled with the familiar scent of Uncle Tong. When Father was busy when I was younger, I would glue myself to Uncle Tong. I would lazily sleep in his embrace. Just like Father, he watched me grew. After everything I had been through, I was finally home. I quietly cried in his embrace.

Lucky he was still here.

He spoke on, "The previous emperor was a little muddle-headed. There were rumors outside that he was actually the son of a maid from the empress dowager's palace. She had only pretended to be pregnant back then. I do not know if the rumors are true. What I do know is she had been coveting power after the late emperor died. She wanted to be involved in politics, just like Empress Lu. Unfortunately, there were Yan Yu and the Old Master in court. She had wanted to pull one to her side and kills the other. The Old Master was righteous and Yan Yu was crafty, so she had the Old Master raised a little so that his fall would be harder. That treacherous woman!" His voice was gradually consumed by hate. The frail old man that was holding me was filled with poison and fury, even my heart ended up twisting a little.