351 Hesitation (1/2)

Chapter 351: Hesitation

Translator: TransnEditor: Transn

Shangguan Hong had never understood how things actually happened, but he insisted that he had no fault in it.

Zhang Ji made him do whatever he could to please Lady Meng, but he never did say that Shangguan Hong must throw himself at her, and he definitely did not harbor such thoughts as well. To him, Lady Meng was akin to the Lord himself, and his impression of them was only fear and pressure.

However, after thinking about it carefully, Shangguan Hong realized that he had some unique advantages indeed.

First of all, there was not a lot of men in the Inner Residence as most of them were either handymen or killers. Because of this, Shangguan Hong was above them all due to the fact that he carried the surname of Shangguan and shared the same blood as Supreme King.

Moreover, he had always stayed near Lady Meng's residence and would pay his respects two times a day like how servants do. Then, he would wait patiently and try to seize any opportunity to please and flatter Lady Meng shamelessly.

Perhaps he outdid himself on his ability to please people, Shangguan Hong sometimes thought. However, the reason Lady Meng chose him seemed to be related to the Supreme King as well.

Lady Meng was extremely furious about the affair between the Supreme King and Luo Ningcha. She had even shed tears over it several times. It was during then when Shangguan Hong noticed that Lady Meng's attitude towards him had changed. She would glance more often at him, and there was some kind of obvious scrutiny coming from her gaze.

”How is it that he has so many women yet his appetite can't be satisfied?” Lady Meng once complained in front of Shangguan Hong. ”Why must he go to that woman of all people? That's his daughter-in-law! Isn't he ashamed at all? Must everybody be like pigs in this castle in order to live well?”

Shangguan Hong was terrified and did not dare to answer as he knelt on the ground. He did not tell Zhang Ji what Lady Meng had said, for fear that he would be embroiled in a brutal family feud.

In the following year, Shangguan Hong managed to gain more trust from Lady Meng and began to run errands for her. During this time, he also had more frequent contact with her as well.

Suddenly on one night, it all unfolded.

Shangguan Hong had no choice. He was too terrified at that time, and his whole body was limp. However, to his great surprise, only the nether region was erected.

Naturally, after the first time came the second, and the third time soon followed...

Shangguan Hong became a toy and a confidant of Lady Meng. He knew the Supreme King had a change in temperament and started to not give in to temptations of women and lust from Lady Meng's mouth. He was also taking back his authority from Lady Meng bit by bit.

Shangguan Hong kept this secret hidden for a long time and did not mention a thing to anybody, as Lady Meng also demanded silence on this issue. She told him directly without hinting, and said, ”If any of this leaks, be prepared to jump down straight from the Reincarnation Cliff with your mother.”

But he could not help himself. Like an inflated balloon, the secret was taking over his mind and it would explode sooner or later if he did not release it.

Therefore, Shangguan Hong revealed everything to the only person he trusted.

Zhang Ji's reaction at that time did not seem like a counselor who harbored ulterior motives. He merely sneered, neither praising nor objecting and never spoke of the matter again. But he did request Shangguan Hong to carefully bring up the topic of Third Young Master in front of Lady Meng.

Zhang Ji managed to instill an idea to Lady Meng through Shangguan Hong's mouth: Supreme King hoped to balance the several influences within the Stone Castle and did not like it when someone controls most of the authority, therefore Lady Meng should take the initiative and create a ”rival” that she could control.

The Second Young Master was still alive back then, but he was known for being her lackey, so the best candidate for this ”rival” should be the Third Young Master.

He was kept imprisoned in the dungeons for years and therefore had no foundation in the castle, plus he had always been at odds with his father, all these were some of his ”advantages” so to speak.

It was a mission that was carried out step by step and Zhang Ji was never in a rush. Shangguan Hong spent half a year to finally convince Lady Meng and she took almost as long to let the Supreme King recall that he still had a son who was imprisoned. A defiant but promising son.

Then the matter was dropped, Zhang Ji no longer urged about it, the affair between Shangguan Hong and Lady Meng slowly lost interest as well, while Third Young Master continued to be imprisoned, suffering the fate of being forgotten once again.

Shangguan Hong did not realize then that Third Young Master was an important figure when he went to Shu-lik last year and was forced to divulge the secret to Dragon King.

When Chu Nanping and Tie Linglong were captured in Golden Roc Fort, Shangguan Hong was immediately suspected once Dragon King claimed that he was aware of Lady Meng's secret. But Lady Meng did not act on it right away and only waited until Shangguan Fei came to the Stone Kingdom to seek a marriage. It was only then that she sent Shangguan Hong to follow her son along.

Zhang Ji told him, ”Lady Meng is going to kill you, and she will most likely make use of Dragon King's saber to do so. Heed my words and you might be able to return to Jade City alive.”

Zhang Ji then passed Shangguan Hong a kit and asked him to hand it to Dragon King only after the Stone Kingdom had chosen their prince consort. He also told Shangguan Hong that he should never peek into the kit and that Dragon King cannot know about this until everything was settled. ”Whether or not you can survive depends on your determination to hold on until the end.”

Shangguan Hong managed to persist until the end, but he would never have imagined that his ”teacher” of so many years would actually sell him out to Dragon King as a ”gift”.

This was the most disappointing and saddest thing to him. Dragon King's saber was of no importance compared to this betrayal. ”I trusted him so much...”