“... Lian... er?”
Qin Huailian suddenly froze in her tracks!
She looked down in disbelief. When she saw Qin Huaiqiu's slightly opened eyes in her arms, her throat tightened abruptly, and her whole body began to tremble. The next second, she immediately helped Qin Huaiqiu sit against the wall and said tremblingly, "Brother? Are you okay? Do you want me to find a doctor...?"
Qin Huailian's voice became softer and softer. Qin Huaiqiu blinked his eyes. His gaze only stayed on her for a moment, then he turned his head to look around. Finally, it settled on the person lying on their side with their back to them in the cell.
“... Father...?” Qin Huaiqiu's face was covered in blood. His figure was a bit unsteady. The moment he saw Qin Feng, he seemed to suddenly lose all his strength, just like the tall building he had tried his best to maintain in his heart suddenly collapsed due to an external force. Qin Huaiqiu only felt the blood surging in his abdomen, and he suddenly coughed out a mouthful of blood.
“Brother!” Qin Huailian exclaimed. She quickly helped Qin Huaiqiu straighten his body and was about to check on him, but unexpectedly, Qin Huaiqiu pushed her away forcefully. He was very strong, and Qin Huailian didn't expect him to treat her like this. She saw her body fly backwards suddenly and hit the iron bars of Qin Feng's cell directly.
Qin Huailian let out a muffled groan and bent down in pain.
Kozel stood aside with his arms folded, looking at the prison gate as if nothing that was happening in the cell had anything to do with him.
Qin Huaiqiu never thought that the reunion of their Qin family would be under such circumstances. He took a few long breaths and slowly stood up, supporting himself against the wall behind him.
Qin Huailian covered her arm and sat on the ground, looking at him in shock: “Brother... Are you okay?” Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, she turned to look at Kozel and shouted angrily, “Kozel! You actually lied to me!”
Kozel shrugged his shoulders and didn't even look at her. He said indifferently, “It's not my fault. Yazeb told me to give him the sleeping drug.”
“Y-you...!” Qin Huailian trembled with anger, “Why did you do this! Don't you want to cooperate with me anymore?”
“Cooperate...?” Qin Huaiqiu finally managed to stand up straight against the wall. His legs were still a bit weak from the sleeping drug, but at least the rest of his body was gradually regaining strength. He stared down at Qin Huailian as if she were a complete stranger. His lips trembled for a long time before he said heart - brokenly, “So... what he said is all true?!”
-
“Don't you know that your sister is the mastermind behind all this?” Kozel's voice was like a devil's low growl. Amid the noise of the battlefield, it directly rushed into Qin Huaiqiu's mind.
Although he had already prepared himself for the possibility of an insider among the enemy, he had never thought about this assumption that seemed easy to guess but was completely unacceptable to his subconscious - the insider was his own younger sister.
So when Kozel took out the battle plan written by Qin Huailian himself, looking at the familiar handwriting that he would never mistake, Qin Huaiqiu's mind went blank instantly.
Kozel quickly blocked a long knife that was attacking Qin Huaiqiu from behind. He took out a horn from his bosom and blew it: “Woo - woo - ”
Clearly it was the sound of the attack horn, but a large part of the allied army suddenly retreated as if they had heard something. Qin Huaiqiu's eyes widened in shock. He quickly issued an order to stop the war, but what was happening in front of him left him and all his subordinates stunned.
A large part of the retreating allied army suddenly raised their long knives. Before the small part of the army even understood what was going on or completely misinterpreted the situation, they started to fight each other.
Everyone from the Great Sheng Dynasty stood there stunned. They watched helplessly as the enemy allied army suddenly turned on each other. Since there were some differences in the clothing of the Loulan and Xiongnu people, Qin Huaiqiu vaguely noticed that the large part of the army that started the infighting seemed to be Loulan people, while the small part that was being chased and hacked seemed to be Xiongnu people.
He squinted his eyes. He didn't know what the enemy was up to. He held his ground and observed quietly. It wasn't until Kozel sent people to capture and kill a few escaped Loulan soldiers in front of the closed Zhu City gate that he let out a long sigh of relief.
The Loulan and Xiongnu allied army was truly a disorganized mess.
But all he could think about now was what Kozel had just said, which made him extremely anxious.
Kozel sent people to throw the bodies of those Xiongnu soldiers one by one in front of the Great Sheng army. He raised his chin at Qin Huaiqiu and said, “There are more than a thousand Xiongnu soldiers in total. Now they claim to be allied with us, but they only sent so few people. This is clearly not an alliance. Instead, it's a form of supervision, right?”
He looked at Qin Huaiqiu and said, “See? They're all dead. Is this enough to show my sincerity?”
“What do you want to do?” Qin Huaiqiu stared at him and said seriously.
“I have a plan that requires your cooperation.”
Although he had reached an agreement with Kozel and followed him into Zhu City, he didn't expect Kozel to say that they had to go all the way with the act. He was caught off guard and was drugged by Kozel and dragged here.
Anyway, Kozel didn't seem to have lied to him.
The moment he saw Qin Huailian, he figured out a lot of things. Why did the enemy have catapults? Why could the enemy easily bypass Gengnan City? Why was this battle against Loulan so much more difficult than before? It was because the opponent he had been fighting all along wasn't Loulan or the Xiongnu. It was his own younger sister!
How ironic!
Qin Huaiqiu was so angry that his eyes were red and his whole body was trembling.
He looked at Qin Huailian who was slowly standing up. He wanted to know a lot of things. He wanted to interrogate her, to scold her, but in the end, it all came down to three simple words: “Why?”
“There's no why,” Qin Huailian coughed a few times. She stood up and wiped the corner of her mouth, “Brother, are you crazy about that Si Kongting? Don't you know that it was him who killed Mother?!”
Qin Huaiqiu's pupils trembled slightly, “... What did you say?”
“Don't you understand yet?!” Qin Huailian's face was distorted. She shouted sharply, “Don't you remember that eleven years ago, Mother went to the capital just to report on her duties, but suddenly she was ordered to send troops to Loulan and was specifically told to go through the Kunlun Mountains?!”
“Wasn't it because the place where the enemy attacked was close to the Kunlun Mountains?” Qin Huaiqiu's face was full of panic.
“Bullshit! It was because that damned crown prince, Si Kongting, was assassinated and only the Snow Lotus from the Tianshan Mountains could save his life!” Qin Huailian roared, “The Si Kongting you like was saved by Mother at the cost of her life! This is the royal family. For their own lives, they are willing to exchange the lives of others! It's extremely disgusting!”
Qin Huailian stood there stunned on the spot. A white light seemed to flash before his eyes. He questioned, “Lian'er! Where on earth did you hear these unfounded rumors?”
“Unfounded? Humph...” Qin Huailian sneered, “It's clearly written in the historical records, and it's right in the imperial library in the palace. You just didn't see it yourself!”
Qin Huailian's whole body went stiff.
“So, brother, come with me and kill Si Kongting to avenge Mother. When all the Si Kong family is dead, whether you or Father becomes the emperor, this world will be ours. And it should have been ours from the beginning.” Qin Huailian took a step forward and grabbed Qin Huailian's hand.
“... What are you talking about?” Qin Huailian's face was as pale as paper. He seemed to be completely heart - broken. He pointed at Qin Huailian's nose and scolded, “What on earth are you talking about?! You're rebelling. You're betraying the country. How can you have the face to face our loyal and heroic Qin family?”
“The loyal and heroic ones were loyal to their emperors, not Si Kongting! Si Kongting killed Mother! Don't you know that, brother?!” Qin Huailian covered her head and shouted, “So what if I betray the country? So what if I rebel? I don't think I need to expect anything. I just want to avenge Mother! What's wrong with me! Why don't you support me!”
Qin Huailian looked at Qin Huailian in front of him. He felt that he had never really understood his own younger sister since he was a child.
“Is this so - called revenge of yours just wantonly starting a war?” Qin Huailian said.
Qin Huailian was stunned. She seemed to have been suddenly grabbed by the throat, and her crying suddenly stopped.
“Is this so - called revenge of yours just dragging the border of the Great Sheng Dynasty into the flames of war again, causing countless people to be displaced?” Qin Huailian's voice was stern. He walked up to Qin Huailian, grabbed her shoulders forcefully, and held her tightly.
Qin Huailian gritted her teeth and said harshly, “So, brother, you mean we should just continue living in peace? Huyelu has already flattened most of the countries in the northern states. Loulan has also developed rapidly in recent years. This war is going to break out sooner or later. I just gave it a little push. What's wrong with that? They were just people who were going to die anyway. I just made them die a little earlier!”