Chapter 11645 — What a Big Mouth
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Even so, the King of Qi had always loomed in his eyes as something towering, like a god.
Were it not for the full ten thousand years he had spent tempering himself in the Land of Sin, a trial that had remade him utterly, he would never have dared to speak back to his father to his face.
Even when a scene like today's broke out, he had never imagined a rupture between father and son.
Never in his wildest dreams had he thought his own father could be so heartless!
"Calm yourself, Your Majesty! The prince meant no offense to you. Young men's thinking is unripe—he is at fault, but not to this degree!"
"Calm yourself, Your Majesty!"
At once the core high officials present all fell to their knees to plead for him.
They might not think much of Prince Qi himself, and they might loathe the good-for-nothing, silk-pants antics he had shown in the past, but one matter was one matter. However worthless Prince Qi might be, he was still the best choice for heir to the Qi Princely Estate—and there was no second.
Once Prince Qi was driven from the estate, it would not only give every faction a fine laugh; worst of all, the fight over the heir would inevitably bring open strife and veiled scheming, even bloodshed, within the Qi Princely Estate.
In ordinary times that might have been bearable—at worst it would cost them some vitality, and with its vast household and great resources the Qi Princely Estate could still hold itself together.
But now, at this very juncture when the great upheaval was about to arrive, to suddenly have such a thing erupt—any clear-eyed person would turn pessimistic.
Yet the King of Qi's will was iron: "My mind is made up. Whoever tries to persuade me further can roll out of the Qi Princely Estate together with this unfilial son!"
The crowd was struck dumb, every one of them silent as a cicada in winter, not daring to make another sound.
Gazing at that familiar yet strange figure behind the gauze curtain, Prince Qi felt a desolation in his heart.
After a moment of silence, Prince Qi said nothing, and did not plead to his face either.
Thump!
Under the eyes of all present, Prince Qi knocked his head heavily to the ground nine times in a row, then abruptly rose and left.
Once past the main gate of the Qi Princely Estate, Prince Qi suddenly shook his head and laughed.
In times past, a thing like this would have been no different from the sky collapsing on him; he might even have fainted dead away on the spot.
But now, instead, he felt that the shackle binding him had finally shattered and fallen away.
A true man is born between heaven and earth; the world is vast—where can he not find a place to stand?
Under the pitying gazes of the crowd behind him—some genuine, some feigned—Prince Qi felt not the slightest attachment left, and strode away.
Watching his retreating back, several of the more seasoned high officials of the Qi Princely Estate exchanged glances, and the same thought arose in each of them unbidden.
Perhaps the Qi Princely Estate had just let slip a true restorer of its fortunes.
No sooner had Young Master Qi departed than the atmosphere throughout the Qi Princely Estate did anything but settle; instead it grew heavier still, as though a storm were about to break and a mighty foe stood at the gates.
There was no other cause: Wei Zhao had come.
And not Wei Zhao alone—Wei Baizhan, Li Qinghe, and the rest of the Ten Great Sinners had come as well.
The ten of them ranged themselves in a single line facing the main gate of the Qi Princely Estate, and the aura they radiated simply overwhelmed the grandeur of the estate's entire complex of buildings.
In the eyes of the world, this top-tier power of the Inner Royal Court, which stood aloof on high and rivaled the Qin Princely Estate, had in this instant become the small and feeble party.
Countless streams of thought hovered overhead, fixed intently on every move either side made.