Chapter 126.2: Li Hong Yuan, Child of a Ghost

Luo Pei Shan inhaled a breath of cold air. He thought, at least in this ‘wife cursing’ area, it should be true, and even thought, if his precious granddaughter were to get involved with him, what if she also gets cursed by him? Yet in the end, this was also something he’d calculated ahead of time. At the time, he hadn’t even met third girl yet, but was already able to go this far. One has to know, those young ladies, each and every one were all of high and noble status. If their families were to discover that everything was all Jin Qinwang’s schemes, no matter how much his Majesty dotes on him, he would still shed a layer of skin. “Wangye, by doing all this, what position are you putting this old subject’s granddaughter in?”

“The position of Jin Wangfei can only be Wan Wan’s, do you understand Sir Luo?” Li Hong Yuan’s gaze carried a bit of chill, “Any hinderance, this prince will certainly all eliminate. Even if one creates a path of sin, that all falls on this prince’s head.”

Luo Pei Shan didn’t know what exactly Jin Qinwang saw in his dreams for third girl’s influence towards him be this big, but there was one thing he can confirm, his dear granddaughter, afraid, in the end, can only marry him. “Why didn’t wangye say so earlier, that way Wan Wan’s marriage arrangements won’t need to be this messy, getting engaged, and then have you painstakingly ruin it, where is the need?”

“This prince’s reputation isn’t good, but her reputation is good, will she be able to marry this prince?”

Your bad reputation is all of your own design, whose fault is that?

“There is a great disparity between this prince and Wan Wan’s status, if this prince’s reputation is good, will she be able to marry this prince?”

You already explained it very clearly in front, you don’t need to repeatedly state the conclusion. Luo Pei Shan was thoroughly left speechless. He also knew Le Cheng Emperor cared very much about status. “Even if Scribe Sun cancels the engagement right now, there are still many people that want to marry her. How many more times does wangye plan on letting her to get engaged? No, that’s not right, if wangye really intends this, then you won’t be here right now.” Coming to rope in him to work for him was probably just done in passing!

“Too many people peeping at her.”

So this is getting jealous? Or worrying about the issue growing out of hand? “Wangye, before it reaches the point where there are no alternatives, how are you going to let his Majesty agree to letting you take this old subject’s granddaughter as your wife?”

“Once this prince sits on the throne, then naturally won’t need to care whether or not he agrees.”

Heavens, for the sake of marrying his granddaughter, Jin Qinwang won’t even hesitate to rebel? Wan Wan is actually a country-ruining demoness? “Wangye, by doing this, aren’t you worried about breaking his Majesty’s heart? This old subject thought that your movements in private, his Majesty is aware of, or perhaps, he’s even helping you in secret, you are the heir to the throne he’s selected behind close doors, right?”

Just like he’d heard the funniest joke in the world, Li Hong Yuan laughed for a long time, his voice deep and low, but one couldn’t sense the slightest joy in this voice, instead feeling terrifyingly chilly, “If he knew, he probably won’t hesitate to eliminate this prince at all cost.”

“Impossible——–” Luo Pei Shan subconsciously retorted. His Majesty’s pampering towards Jin Qinwang wasn’t fake.

Indeed this temperament was indefinite, in a blink of an eye, he began smiling particularly enticingly again. “Sir Luo, this prince will tell you a secret. This secret, aside from this prince, only imperial father and Noble Consort Su knows about, do you want to hear?”

Luo Pei Shan just felt his back growing cold. This level of secret information, once learned about, was ‘a hundred harm and no good’. “Presumably this is wangye’s domestic affair, thus it isn’t necessary for this old subject know.” He’d already learned too much tonight, so much to the point that he was already grasped in the palm of this future grandson-in-law completely. However, regardless of which angle, he was all wholeheartedly willing.

Just, the one he was facing was Li Hong Yuan, whether Li Hong Yuan said or not all depended on himself, regardless of whether he wanted to hear or not. “This prince, well, is in name and in reality…………a ghost child[1].”

Luo Pei Shan violently lifted his head and looked towards Li Hong Yuan, how is that possible?

The so called ‘ghost child’ referred to people born on the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month[2]. But Jin Qinwang’s birthday, he although didn’t know which day it was, definitely wasn’t on the seventh lunar month. As for that other circumstance, that is………….a child ‘born’ from a dead person. He’d heard that Jin Qinwang’s birth mother seemingly died from postnatal hemorrhaging, so where did this saying of ‘ghost child’ come from?

Li Hong Yuan’s smile was overflowing, “This prince, was personally cut out by imperial father from my consort mother’s stomach, who’d already stopped breathing by then.”

Luo Pei Shan just felt this smile of his was practically even more terrifying than his most ruthless temper on normal days.

Ghost children are viewed as ominous. If this really is true, for Le Cheng Emperor to be able keep him alive was already not bad. As for the throne, even if Le Cheng Emperor only has Li Hong Yuan this one son, afraid he would rather adopt another in the clan than to pass Li Hong Yuan the throne.

Secretly helping him cultivate power, as expected, was an enormous joke!

“Because he felt guilty towards the woman he loved the most dearly, and because that woman was shouting for her child before dying, he thus had the child that was a ghost child cut out. And because he wanted to compensate, that’s why, as long as this ghost child son didn’t cross his bottom line, he can ask for anything and everything. Sir Luo, do you know, how his most beloved woman died?”

Facing Li Hong Yuan’s calmness in the midst of chaos, Luo Pei Shan just wanted to block his ears, or find a place to completely hide away, so that he can’t hear anything.

Li Hong Yuan smiled both eerily and violently, “………She was single-handedly strangled to death by him, ruthlessly gripping that slender and frail neck, just like facing his deeply hated nemesis, even letting someone hear the sound of bone snapping.”

The corner of Luo Pei Shan’s mouth somewhat rigidly twitched. Truthfully speaking, he didn’t really believe Le Cheng Emperor was someone that would do something this ruthless, but Jin Qinwang seemingly didn’t have the need to lie about this kind of thing either. Thus the question came, how did he know these things? He’d said just then, aside from himself, only Le Cheng Emperor and Noble Consort Su knew. It can’t be Le Cheng Emperor that told him, thus it can only be Noble Consort Su. But under what circumstances, would Noble Consort Su tell him? Reasonably speaking, as the only person aside from Le Cheng Emperor to know about this matter, she ought to have this secret forever kept in her stomach, because once it becomes known to outsiders, Le Cheng Emperor will want to kill her first thing, even if she’s the most pampered in the harem Noble Consort Su!

However, Luo Pei Shan won’t stupidly try to get to the bottom of this.

The shocks tonight were already too many. This old heart of his was already about to give in.

However, Li Hong Yuan probably also thought it was enough, standing up from his seat, “Those brothers of this prince’s, Sir Luo no longer need to painstakingly deal with, just focus on gaining control of the Ministry of Appointments as quickly as possible. When facing Li Hong Yi, if you don’t voluntarily go look for him, he probably won’t put down his status to come curry favor with you. As for Li Hong Ming, just strictly handle everything in a businesslike manner. And the others, further don’t need to bother with.

“And Gong Qinwang?”

“Him?” Li Hong Yuan coldly laughed, “The Left Commander-in-Chief is this prince’s person.”

Gong Qinwang’s greatest asset was precisely his father-in-law, the Left Commander-in-Chief, Qin Tian Ming. Yet in the end, heh, afraid he was even inferior to the other princes that had a maternal clan. The imperial court was indeed a three-way standoff, just this third person wasn’t the slightly weaker in power Gong Qinwang, but rather Jin Qinwang, who perhaps was even the strongest one in power.

[1] 鬼子 – This word has a double meaning, and here, it’s sorta used as a pun. It means both child of a ghost and devil/demon in chinese, so when he says he’s in reality and in name a ghost child, he’s referring to how people view him like a demon, but he’s also in reality born as a ‘child of a ghost’ in the literal sense. Because both these words are the same word in chinese it’s a bit hard to get across when translating.

[2] One of the 28 constellations in the chinese system is the constellation of the ghost [鬼] and children born under this constellation are refer to as ‘ghost child’. And you can just imagine how children like that are discriminated against in a highly superstitious society.

T/N: Poor Gong Qinwang, he’s like someone who lost the race before it even started. I really love how this novel presents more mystery as it answers one mystery, it’s what keeps the intrigue going and the plot interesting. I’m actually a huge fan of the mystery genre. There’s a reason why this novel never feels draggy despite its 600+ chapters length, because there’s so many layers to it. As I’ve said before many times, every question in this novel all have a logical reasoning and answer for.