20 Liar, Liar

The next day, the news had spread throughout the entire capital city of Yinchuan like wildfire. By this point, many nobles had at least seen Tian Ren and Tian Ao at a banquet or gathering. They had context. Word was that Tian Ao was the real son of Prince and Princess Rui, who had been swapped with Wei Hong Sheng at birth and whisked away to Northern Xi. So who was Wei Hong Sheng truly if not the legitimate son? He was too similar in appearance to Prince Rui and other members of the royal family, so he was unlikely to be a complete nobody. This mystery was on everyone's lips, particularly delighting the common folk who lived for such strange and scandalous tales.

At first, everyone still doubted the efficacy of these rumors. They almost seemed too ridiculous to be true. However, after some days had passed, the emperor finally released a proclamation. In summary, it said:

One, that there had been a woman who was formerly a maid at Prince Rui's estate who had committed suicide some months back. She left a long letter behind in which she stated that she had helped to switch the babies. Her mother was sick at the time and she had been coaxed to do this by a large sum of money that would save her mother's life. Still, this crime so consumed her with guilt that she'd tried to keep tabs on the legitimate baby, though she lost touch over time and feared he might be dead. The last she'd heard, the baby had been taken in by a rich couple who'd had trouble conceiving a child.

Two, upon hearing of this matter from a concerned relative of the deceased maid, the Ministry of Justice sent people to Northern Xi to investigate. They'd done a lot of digging and eventually narrowed it down to a few young men whose age and appearance seemed a match. Tian Ao was the strongest candidate for this missing person, as he bore a strong resemblance to both a younger Prince Rui and Princess Rui's older brother.

Three, Tian Ren and Tian Ao were invited to join a delegation from Northern Xi so that the emperor might meet them both and pass judgment. In the meantime, the Ministry of Justice was meant to continue digging up more clues in secret. The result of that was finding an old wet nurse who swore that Tian Ren's wife had not given birth to Tian Ao. Some years later, the couple had experienced a miracle and had a legitimate son of their own--one who bore no resemblance to his supposed older brother.

The emperor continued on to say that investigations were still pending. After all, they didn't know Wei Hong Sheng's true identity. There were still a lot of gaps in this story. The only thing that was certain was that Tian Ao was certainly the true son of Prince and Princess Rui. All citizens were encouraged to show this young man some compassion during this trying time.

The results of all this were that Wei Hong Sheng was stripped of his shizi title and was encouraged to confine himself to his own courtyard for the time being. Naturally, his engagement with Yan Qiu Yue was put on ice. As a precaution, Duke Ning's estate was ordered to return the betrothal gifts they had been sent and they did so immediately. Additionally, Tian Ao and Tian Ren were "invited" to stay at the Prince Rui estate.

Few knew the true current state of these two esteemed guests.

It had been about a week since the original emergence of the rumors. Tian Ao was sitting at a table, a mass of empty wine jugs in front of him in a state of utter disarray. "Another cup!" he ordered, slamming down the newly empty cup in his hand. A nearby server immediately heard and obeyed. Tian Ao was currently in disguise and patronizing a seedy restaurant. He'd been basically locked up inside Prince Rui's estate for the last few days and his resentment and anger had reached fever pitch. He had half a mind to completely escape the capital of Eastern Wei and go somewhere far away where no one knew him.

"I've been looking everywhere for you. Who knew that my son had become a drunkard without my knowing?"

Tian Ao recognized Tian Ren's voice and so did not look up, knocking back another cup of alcohol. "You're still calling me your son?" he sneered.

"I have raised you from the time you were an infant 'til now. What else can I be called except a father?"

This provoked a reaction from Tian Ao, who ignored the depressed tone of Tian Ren's voice and turned. "A liar? A kidnapper? A man with no conscience?"

"Xiao Ao..."

"Stop!" Tian Ao laughed brokenly. "Don't think I don't know that it's that Esteemed One who sent you here to find me." There was no way that Tian Ren, who was under even more scrutiny than him, could have left the estate except by Prince Rui's order.

"I begged him to let me find you. Xiao Ao, you don't understand. I know that you are angry with me, but--"

"You are the one who does not understand. You believe that I'm angry because I found out the truth about my birth? Hardly!" Tian Ao rose from his seat and jabbed his index finger into Tian Ren's chest in an accusing manner. "Can you imagine what it feels like to learn something of this magnitude about yourself from the gossip of others? I have been with you for nearly 20 years and you could never spare a moment to let me know? You let me come all the way to the true country of my birth and now I am exposed to all!"

"That's..." Tian Ren paled. Tian Ao's words rang true. It really was too much that he and his wife had concealed this matter from him. However, it wasn't exactly a strange or new practice for a couple to adopt an orphan. How could they ever have guessed that the abandoned baby they picked up was the son of royalty? Tian Ren and his wife had always viewed Tian Ao as their own flesh and blood. Even after their second, legitimate son was born, they didn't treat him any differently. Perhaps some part of them had forgotten, wanted to forget that Tian Ao was not their real son. In deceiving him, they were deceiving themselves, too.

Every year they had thought, "This will be the year we tell him." But as they watched their baby become a boy and grow into a man, these words stayed lodged in their throats. What if he left them to seek out his birth parents? How could they bear for their beloved son, the son they were so very proud of, to leave their side?

As Tian Ao had said before to Yi Cheng Rui, human greed was deep. What he did not yet realize was that love was even more so, a twisted, inexplicable motivator.

"Leave me be!" Tian Ao shoved the older man aside and stomped off, slamming some banknotes onto the table as he left.

"Xiao Ao!" Tian Ren followed his son out of the restaurant and quickly caught up to him, pulling him by the arm. "If you would only listen..."

Tian Ao chuckled, but his voice was so soft like a broken thread that was one tiny strand away from completely snapping. "You know, I used to admire you so much. I thought that I wanted to grow up to be a man like you, honorable and upright. 'My father always does what's right, what will not burden his conscience' is what I would often say to others."

Tian Ren froze. "Ao..."

"But see, now you've made a liar out of me, too." Tian Ao choked out, then pulled his arm out of his former father's grip and strode away.