He Zhizhou narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at him with an unfathomable smile. "Then who do you wish your real father to be?"
Huo Wei said coldly, "I'm naturally Xie Jinyang's son. There's absolutely no way I'm the offspring of that disgusting old man."
He Zhizhou lowered his eyes.
"Yes, you're Xie Jinyang's son, the only bloodline of the entire Xie family. Your mother said this in her letter. It's absolutely true.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have tried every means to send you away. If you were really Murong Min's son, he would have recognized you anyway.
So do you know what you should do? You should avenge your relatives in the past as soon as possible, rather than trying to reverse the unjust case.
Seize power first, and then kill Murong Min.
Huo Wei, your master has been exhausted over the years and doesn't have many years to live. I just want to see you avenge your enemies.
Then I'll go underground and tell your father and mother that their son has accomplished this."
Huo Wei slumped back onto the stone bench. The gentle breeze blew, scattering his heart into pieces. His voice was tinged with a sense of hollowness.
"But what I want to do is to clear the Xie family's name. Murong Min deserves to die, but he shouldn't die so easily."
He Zhizhou raised his eyes and glanced at Huo Wei. His long eyes darkened.
A month passed. Murong Min searched all over Beiyan for the orphan of Jinyang, but he found no clues.
That child should have died back then. It was very likely that the child had been swapped and taken away.
Because of the assassination at Fuyue Temple, Murong Min was convinced in his heart that the child had really come back for revenge.
When he sent people to Fuyue Temple again to check Lu Wanyin's tombstone without inscriptions, he found that the tombstone had fallen, the tomb behind it had been opened, and the bones inside had been taken away.
From then on, Murong Min became like a frightened bird. He could even dream of Xie Jinyang's son chasing and killing him at night. After many days, he looked a bit tired.
Dugu Luanyue was truly weak for a month because of excessive blood loss. Murong Min ordered people to send a large number of precious tonics and came to see her every day. It was really different from his perfunctory attitude in the past.
She lay in bed and said, "Your Majesty has been over - worried recently. It may be harmful to your dragon body.
I've heard that there's a Taoist master in Dongning who studies the art of longevity.
This Taoist master once lived in the palace of Nanchu for a while. My father was in poor health, and the medicine from the imperial physicians didn't work much.
It was this Taoist master who led my father to maintain good health every day. My father was in a good mood, and his illness naturally got better.
Your Majesty, do you want to invite that master here so that he can tell Your Majesty about the way of longevity and the method of remaining youthful?"
She knew that Murong Min hadn't summoned any concubines to accompany him to bed for a long time because he had been drinking constantly. Murong Min was vain and lecherous by nature. He must want to recover his health as soon as possible.
Murong Min raised his head and said without much thought, "If it's really that miraculous, then the queen can send someone to invite him."
In autumn, Murong Min fell ill. The imperial physician said that it was because of excessive worry and stagnation of liver qi, which led to the imbalance of yin and yang in his body.
He had taken a lot of medicine, but there was no sign of improvement.
Nightmares came one after another day and night.
Murong Min was already in middle - age. He had wasted some of his health on lust in the past. Now that he was ill, his body seemed to have collapsed a lot.
Although Dugu Luanyue was still a bit weak, she would accompany him every day and serve him the tonic wine. "Your Majesty, what on earth are you worrying about?"
Murong Min remained silent. After a long time, he asked,
"Can the queen accompany me to bed?"
Every time he drank the wine, he felt energetic, but he just couldn't perform well at the critical moment. He didn't know why.
Dugu Luanyue frowned slightly and then smiled.
"I'm sorry to disappoint Your Majesty. My wound is too deep, and it may not have fully healed.
When I came here just now, I saw Concubine Wei. Why don't you let her come in and talk to Your Majesty?"
Recently, Dugu Luanyue had started to create opportunities for Wei Enxian to be alone with the emperor. She also constantly praised the Third Prince in front of Murong Min and Wei Enxian, which made Wei Enxian very surprised and didn't know what the queen was up to.
Murong Min shook his head. "Forget it. I'm not in the mood. It's late at night. The queen should also return to Fengluan Palace."
Dugu Luanyue got up and left Zichen Hall. When she walked to the imperial garden, she ran into Wei Enxian.
This was the first time that Concubine Wei saluted her properly. "Your servant pays respects to the queen. May the queen be in good health."
Dugu Luanyue smiled. "No need to be so polite." She walked a few steps and said,
"Concubine Wei doesn't need to go to Zichen Hall. I've already asked for you. His Majesty doesn't want to see anyone.
These days, His Majesty has been deeply worried and haunted by nightmares. I don't know what's going on."
Wei Enxian looked around to make sure there was no one around. She walked over and said,
"Did His Majesty start acting like this after returning from Fuyue Temple?"
Dugu Luanyue nodded.
Wei Enxian said, "Humph, His Majesty is still thinking about that woman. Twenty years have passed, and she's still a knot in his heart. Sure enough, the things one can't get are the most heart - scratching. It's a pity that she has haunted the emperor for a lifetime."
Under the cold moonlight, Dugu Luanyue saw the mocking look on Wei Enxian's face. She raised her eyebrows and smiled.
"It doesn't matter. No matter who is in His Majesty's heart, Concubine Xian already has the Third Prince. The Third Prince will always be Concubine Xian's.
But Concubine Xian shouldn't stop halfway. I'm lonely in the deep palace. Why don't you tell me the story of His Majesty and that woman in the past?"
Wei Enxian lowered her voice and slowly said,
"Behind Fuyue Temple is buried a woman named Lu Wanyin. She was the wife of Xie Jinyang, the former city defender of Danyang. Danyang City was not called Danyang City in the past. It was called Jinyang City.
Xie Jinyang was a former frontier official of Beiyan and a loyal and capable minister. Many years ago, there was a palace banquet in the palace for the crown prince's enfeoffment ceremony, which was His Majesty today.
I happened to be ill that day, so I stayed in the Eastern Palace. I felt bored and wandered around the Eastern Palace.
I walked into the crown prince's study and heard him threatening a woman, saying that if she dared to resist, he would have Xie Jinyang carried out of the palace horizontally.
Then the woman stopped resisting, and everything became quiet. I secretly hid in the corner and watched. Actually, I already knew who she was at that time, but I still wanted to take a look.
The woman's name was Lu Wanyin. She walked under the moonlight in a mess. Her appearance was extremely beautiful, and her skin was so white that it glowed like white jade.
A few days later, I heard that Xie Jinyang had quickly gone to the western border to fight, and Lu Wanyin was left in the palace by the then Queen Hua."
Dugu Luanyue said, "When a general goes to war, leaving his family in the palace or in the imperial capital for honorary support is a common operation of the royal family to restrain those who hold military power.
Did His Majesty pester this woman later?"
Wei Enxian nodded.
"Yes. After that, Lu Wanyin was scolded by Queen Hua for some reason and was punished to go to Fuyue Temple.
When I saw Lu Wanyin leaving, it seemed that she was already pregnant. If you looked carefully, you could see that her waist and abdomen were slightly swollen."
Dugu Luanyue was very puzzled.
"The legitimate wife of a frontier official was pregnant, and her husband was fighting on the western border. Didn't Queen Hua give any face?"