Truth or Deception; Difficult to Discern (Part 3)
Xie Lian shouted, "Qi Rong, you shut your mouth!"
Lang Qianqiu turned his head angrily, "Why does he have to shut up? Because what he
said is the truth?? In that Gilded Banquet, you and An Le both struck; one killed my
entire family, and the other finished the blow to my father. You're all lying to me?!"
Xie Lian responded hurriedly, "Don't listen to–" Qi Rong cut in, "OF COURSE IT'S ALL
A LIE! You're so stupid, if not you, then who else do we deceive? If not for some rando
spoiling our plans, Xianle would've already taken your fucking life at the age of twelve,
instead of giving you the luxury to grow up and ascend!"
"Twelve?" Lang Qianqiu repeated. The biggest thing that happened when he was twelve
was that kidnapping, saved by Xie Lian. He demanded, "That year, the muggers who
intruded the palace to kidnap me was sent by the people of Xianle?"
"Duh!" Qi Rong clicked his tongue, "Did you think any ordinary assassins can just
kidnap the Crown Prince from hundreds of royal guards? Please. I was the one who
helped An Le on that."
Lang Qianqiu nodded, "Helped? Good. I understand. So my friends are all fake. The
people of Xianle never cared for our amity. Your Prince An Le never possessed good
intentions, and instead came for our lives."
He turned to Xie Lian, "So, everything you told me was false too."
Qi Rong pretended to look surprised, "Come, come, come, hurry and let me hear what
my saintly cousin told you!"
Lang Qianqiu ignored him and continued to address Xie Lian, "You said YongAn and
Xianle were but one nation at their roots; whatever conflicts the royals had with each
other had nothing to do with civilians. Both sides used to be one family, and under our
generation's rule, there could be changes for the better. As long as the people were
happy, it didn't matter what the royal house was named, and both sides could let go of
their grudge and unite in time. All that was false. All nonsense, bullshit, lies!"
This was what Xie Lian didn't want to hear the most. He cried immediately, "No! It's not
false! Think: under your rule, weren't there real changes?"
Lang Qianqiu closed his mouth, his breath held. Xie Lian continued, "Didn't you do
really well? Didn't the remnant citizens of Xianle integrate peacefully with the people of
YongAn? There were less and less conflicts and riots, so how could any of it be false?"
There was a moment of silence, and tears rolled down Lang Qianqiu's cheeks, "But…
but what about my parents? YongAn and Xianle uniting was their greatest wish, that's
why they granted the princely title "An Le" to your last royal bloodline. Their wish came
true, but what of their end?"
Qi Rong clicked his tongue, "What a whiny crybaby, just like my saintly cousin once
upon a time! You came crying for your old man, old hag; I haven't even fucking
harassed your ancestors for MY old man and old hag! Fucking uniting YongAn and
Xianle was their wish? What pretty words. An Le, An Le, settle first, joy after*; you think
I can't tell it means you YongAn dogs want to walk all over the heads of Xianle for the
rest of our lives?"
Xie Lian yelled angrily, "QI RONG, STOP YOUR MADNESS!"
Lang Qianqiu on the other hand, glared at Qi Rong, tears still falling from his eyes,
"You're the mastermind behind the massacre of my clan? And you're part of the plot
behind the Gilded Banquet too?"
Qi Rong snickered, "Yes, I'm part of it. An Le was part of it too. And your master! Us
three people of Xianle all made part. Hahahahaha…"
Suddenly, halfway through his laugh, Lang Qianqiu's longsword abruptly swung down
and struck. Qi Rong yelped, and his person was sliced into two!
It was an exceedingly gory scene, both halves of his bodies were rolling around the
ground, and his upper body cried, "IT' DOESN'T HURT! IT DOESN'T HURT! IT
DOESN'T HURT ONE BIT! COMPARED TO THAT PUNCH FROM COUSIN CROWN
PRINCE, YOU'RE NOTHING! HAHAHAHHAHAHA!"
Lang Qianqiu didn't say a word, grabbed him by the head and picked it up. Qi Rong was
still spouting insults, but Xie Lian had noticed something off with Lang Qianqiu's
expression and said hurriedly, "Qi Rong, stop talking if you value your life!"
Xie Lian always treated others with kind respect, yet Qi Rong was someone that
couldn't be faced normally; he knew this, so every time he faced him, Xie Lian didn't
want to be polite at all, and unconsciously became rude himself.
Lang Qianqiu dragged Qi Rong's upper body and came to the giant boiling, bubbling
cauldron. "Do you usually use this cauldron to cook humans?"
Having been dragged around, Qi Rong's bloodied carcass drew a thick trail of blood on
the ground, "Yea, so?"
Without another word, Lang Qianqiu let go of his hold.
"AAAAAAHHHH HAHAHAHAHA —"
It was hard to discern whether if Qi Rong was screaming or laughing, and the moment
he was dropped into that cauldron, his flesh was instantly burnt and boiled to mush. Xie
Lian had not expected this development; his pupils shrank and he blurted, "QIANQIU!"
Lang Qianqiu responded sharply, "What? How many people has the Green Ghost Qi
Rong eaten? We can't teach him what it feels like to be cooked? He's the enemy that
murdered my clan, am I not allowed to make him suffer???"
Of course he could. So, Xie Lian couldn't say anything, and he also had no right to say
anything. Yet, no matter as the Crown Prince of a mortal kingdom, or the martial god of
the east of heaven, Lang Qianqiu had never done a thing such as this. He had always
been straightforward in fights and never used any cruelty. These actions were far from
the Lang Qianqiu Xie Lian knew.
After being thrown into the boiling water, after a while when Qi Rong was fished up, his
body no longer retained the shape of human, and instead resembled a melted lump of
skin and flesh, bones poking out in some areas, terrifying to behold. Yet he seemed
quite pleased and was still guffawing, "Congratulations, cousin! Look at your good
disciple! His wings have hardened! He's cruel and knows how to torture now!"
Lang Qianqiu released his hold again, and Qi Rong was once again submerged into the
bubbling cauldron. This time when he was dropped, it seemed even his bones were
dissolved by the boiling liquid. Qi Rong didn't float up again, and only remnants of some
green cloths emerged on the surface. After a while, having still not seen his shadow, Xie
Lian couldn't help but call out, "Qi Rong!"
His younger cousin, who once upon a time couldn't shut up about his cousin the Crown
Prince, had idolized him and praised him for everything he did. However, after the fall of
Xianle, he had turned into a madman completely. He led the burning of his temples, the
desecration of his palaces, and commissioned the kneeling Crown Prince statues
everywhere, affixing them as thresholds. To make Xie Lian suffer, he could do anything.
Xie Lian had done his best to put up with that behaviour, and if it involved others, he'd
do his best to obstruct; until finally when he could no longer tolerate it, he could only
keep away and practice out of sight, out of mind.
Afterwards, they'd lost touch for many years, and Xie Lian thought Qi Rong had passed
away. Who knew that after so long he would suddenly meet a figure of the past and see
that face that so resembled his. He really couldn't tell whether if there was any feelings
of nostalgia or remorse. After all, the only ones left from the royal house of Xianle were
them two. But they hadn't even seen each other for that long before he died before him,
and he was even cruelly killed by a Lang Qianqiu who couldn't even use wooden rods to
punish. So much happened in such a short period of time, Xie Lian hadn't even sorted
the thoughts in his head, his heart a mess. Lang Qianqiu stood next to the cauldron with
his head lowered, unspeaking. Just then, Hua Cheng spoke up, "He didn't die."
Lang Qianqiu raised his head to look at him. Hua Cheng continued, "You don't think this
is actually revenge? You only killed one of his many clones. If you want to exterminate
him completely, you need to find his ashes."
"Thanks for reminding me," Lan Qianqiu said coldly, "I will definitely capture him with my
own hands and use his ashes to pay respects to my esteemed father and mother. When
that happens, I will come and tie things up with you. Guoshi, don't you dare think about
running away!"
As he ended his words, he gripped his longsword and struck, slashing the cauldron, and
turned abruptly to walk away. Boiling water spilled from the cauldron, and liquid filled
with slithers of bones poured onto the ground. Xie Lian wanted to chase after him, but
he knew that it wouldn't be of use.
He braked in his step and stopped, standing still, unable to speak. Hua Cheng
approached him, "He just found out the truth, so it's better to let him be by himself and
cool down."
Xie Lian was dumbfounded, "Why must he know the truth? Was the truth that
important?"
"Very important." Hua Cheng replied, "He needed to know what was done by you and
what wasn't, and why you had to do what you did."
Xie Lian whipped around in a fit and said coldly, "What's the use of knowing everything
so clearly? Would I be any more blameless if I killed less people? Would things be less
hard??"
Hua Cheng didn't respond. A burst of anger rolled up from Xie Lian's chest, and he
didn't even know who to be mad at. He blurted, "And what shitty hardship have I
experienced? His majesty the king father had always wanted to integrate the two clans,
did I not kill him? Prince An Le was the last to my family's bloodline, did I not kill him?
No matter what it's all my fault, so if all the blame goes to me what's wrong with that?
What's there to be afraid of? Whatever comes at me, I can't die anyway! I did this. I
bring misfortune. And now I've brought it to Prince An Le, to Qi Rong, and to everyone
in Xianle. Is it not better to hate one instead of all? Must he think that everything I taught
him was false, and nothing more than empty bullshit???"
Hua Cheng watched him quietly and didn't argue. The two stared at each other, and
suddenly Xie Lian covered his face with his hands, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, San Lang. I've
gone mad. I'm sorry."
"It's nothing. It's my fault." Hua Cheng said.
"No, you're not at fault. This is my problem." Xie Lian slumped to the ground, holding his
head, "What a mess. What a disastrous mess."
After a moment, Hua Cheng sat down next to him, "You weren't wrong."
Xie Lian held his head and said nothing. Hua Cheng continued, "The YongAn king was
killed to protect the remaining people of Xianle. Prince An Le was killed to prevent the
two clans from fighting. In the end, to die in the hands of Lang Qianqiu, the murderer
faced justice. Three lives exchanged centuries of peace, it's worth it. If it was me I
would've done the same. Listen to me."
His voice was firm with no room for doubt. "You weren't wrong. No one could've done it
better than you."
Xie Lian was quiet. After some time he finally said, "I just don't think it's right."
He slowly lifted his face, "I just don't think it's right for someone to have been kind but
received a bad end."
"Even if it's fake, I wanted Qianqiu to remember that his benevolence to Xianle would be
reciprocated. Doing the right thing will open endless paths. Not like now, where he
thinks everything I told him, everything he believed in, were all false, lies, deception.
That everything was goddamn bullshit! I just…"
He raised his right hand, and said while looking at it, "…I don't want to see anyone go
through what I've gone through."
Hua Cheng listened silently. Xie Lian felt self-conscious about the vulgar words he used
and apologized again, "I'm sorry. But look how incredibly silly things are in this world.
The first few generations of YongAn rule was filled with violence and cruelty, but none
died in tragedy. When it came to Lang Qianqiu's parents, all they wanted was to do
some good, do something great, but ended the way they did."
The king of YongAn honoured him as the Guoshi, and treated him with the utmost
respect. Even at the end of his life, he passed on without any signs of that trust
dispersing. Xie Lian's eyes looked far ahead but unfocused and whispered, "I really
can't forget… the look on his face when my sword penetrated him."
Hua Cheng said softly, "Forget about it. That was Qi Rong and Prince An Le's fault."
Xie Lian shook his head, and buried it between his knees, his voice exhausted, "…And
everything was going just fine too."
When Lang Qianqiu's father first ascended the throne, his first rule was to break the
culture of oppressing the people of Xianle. The people of Xianle and the people of
YongAn finally experienced peace among each other for the first time; there was finally
winds of change, finally a sign of integration, finally hope for leaving conflict behind, and
Prince An Le had to pick that time to awash the Gilded Banquet with blood.
That night when he escaped and found Prince An Le, he was originally going to warn
him never to stir up troubles again. Yet, after the last descendant of his royal house
discovered his true identity, he excitedly grabbed hold of him, and asked him to join his
grand scheme of revenge and recovery of their kingdom. His eyes were red with
passion, his voice high with excitement; he first swore to spill blood at the Gilded
Banquet, then annihilate Lang Qianqiu, and cause havoc in YongAn. They would do this
even at the cost of destroying the growing amity amongst the two peoples; at the cost of
all the lives that remain from Xianle; at the cost of dragging all of YongAn, royalty and
common alike, to the depths of hell.
But in the end, what was killed was killed, what was murdered was murdered. However
just the reason, however compelling the reason, the truth was he killed with his own
hands an honourable king who had truly wanted to eradicate discrimination, and the last
blood descendant of his family in this world.
So, he deserved all the blame.
————–
●An Le (安樂): [安] means 'safe', 'peace', 'to settle'; [樂] means 'happiness', 'joy' –
Qi Rong was dissecting the words on their own and drawing his own meanings
from them.