845 A Story (1/2)

”Duodun might be the only living relative that you have left,” the Second Consort said gently. She knew that this wouldn't work, but she still stubbornly tried to use this method to reduce the Dragon King's ruthlessness.

It indeed didn't work. Head down, Gu Shenwei was checking the two pieces of worn underwear.

This kind of underwear was very common and the color of certain parts of them had faded, but the pattern of two mandarin ducks playing in a pond was still very clear on each one. Below each of the patterns, there was a line where the birth date was embroidered into the cloth.

”These are in the Central Plainsmen's style.” The Second Consort was somewhat anxious, and she started explaining before the Dragon King had asked. ”You can find someone who knows about this kind of thing and ask them about it. These two pieces of underwear haven't been altered at all. If my speculation is right, then you will find the two dates very interesting, Dragon King.”

Of course Gu Shenwei was interested. The two birth dates were exactly the birth dates of his sister and him.

”This is your evidence?” Gu Shenwei returned the underwear to the Second Consort.

The Second Consort carefully took them back. ”Are the dates wrong?”

”People born on the same date are very common.”

”First of all, there's no way I could get underwear with the specific birth dates of you and your elder sister. Second, it's very difficult to find two Central Plains underwear, still less two with dates embroidered on them. Anyway, believe it or not – it's up to you.”

”Talk.” After a while, Gu Shenwei said this.

”About what?”

”The story you made up.”

”This is not a story.”

”Whatever.”

The Second Consort smiled. Whether the Dragon King had been tempted or not couldn't be judged by only his words. The Dragon King had told her to ”talk” – this was a good sign. ”It was Duodun's elder sister who gave me these two pairs of Central Plains underwear before she died.”

The Second Consort paused for a while in order to give the Dragon King some time to digest this information. ”Duodun's elder sister was naturally the old Khan's daughter. She was about the same age as me, and her personality was also somewhat similar to mine. We were close friends to some extent. She said that she had once had an affair with a man from the Central Plains, given birth to a boy and a girl, and that if someone from the Gu family ever asked me some day, I could give them these two pairs of underwear as proof.”

That was all. The Second Consort had deliberately told the story in a simple way, and waited for the Dragon King to ask questions.

Gu Shenwei saw through what she was trying to do, but he had no choice but to ask, ”Did the old Khan's daughter fall in love with a guard from the Central Plains?”

”She said that she had an affair with a man from the Central Plains, and then she paused for a while before talking about 'someone from the Gu family.' However, she didn't say that the surname of that man from the Central Plains was also Gu, so you can just…”

”Just make up another story? Like I'm a bastard son of some royal member of the Central Plains?”

The Second Consort let out two laughs, realizing that she had been too hasty. ”Let's put the story aside and talk about some facts. Duodun's elder sister – she was the Khan's daughter, but do you know how many daughters the old Khan had? At least fifty. Even the old Khan himself didn't know the exact number. Mengli – this was Duodun's elder sister's name – like all her sisters, had never been the Khan's favored child. You can't blame her though – the old Khan was not interested in any woman that he couldn't sleep with. So, Mengli could enjoy freedom to the fullest. Unlike me – there was always someone watching me.”

”But she was still the Khan's daughter.”

”Let me finish.” The Second Consort sat down cross-legged on a felt blanket, and propped her right hand on a small table. She stared emptily at the entrance of the tent, reaching back into her past memories. ”Mengli told me that she constantly made excuses to go back to her maternal grandmother's, but that she was actually using that time to have secret meetings with her lover – nobody cared about her anyway, and nobody would ask her. There were also two occasions when she stayed at her 'maternal grandmother's' home for a very long time – it was because she had to give birth to her two children.”

”And then what?”

”And then, the kids couldn't stay in the Royal Court. So, Mengli had no choice but to suppress her pain and agree to let her lover send her children to the Central Plains. I remember very well that the word she said was 'send', not 'take.'”

Once again, the Second Consort was trying to insinuate that the Dragon King's father might not be Gu Lun. However, this attempt only sharpened Gu Shenwei's mind. ”Have you finished telling your story?”

”Yes. But it's not a story.”

”Except for these two pairs of underwear, everything else came from your mouth. Second Consort, you're a good storyteller, and you've told me a lot of stories. To be honest, I don't believe you.”

”Of course.” The Second Consort wasn't annoyed. ”I didn't tell you the truth in the beginning – and that was my mistake. I once tried to pretend to be your mother – that was an even worse mistake. But I mean no harm. You can ask Duodun – I've always insisted on allying with you. I just hoped to slightly attenuate your strength and… pride.”

There was no need for Gu Shenwei to ask anyone. Shangguan Ru had already asked the green-faced assassin, Qian Ying, about the Second Consort's true plans in detail, and had thus learned about it all in detail – indeed, she had intended to humiliate Shulitu in public so as to weaken the Dragon King's strength. But she did insist on allying with him, and she even scolded Duodun because of this issue.

”You're the old Khan's grandson and half a Norlander, Dragon King. I suspect that the old Khan also knew something about this, and that was why he trusted you. He arranged that slave girl for you probably because he wanted to acknowledge that you're a Norlander, but he also didn't want you to show too much partiality to Duodun.”

The Second Consort's speculation about the old Khan's intentions had always proved to be very accurate, but Gu Shenwei had had enough of it. ”Maybe you're telling the truth. Here's my answer: I can't save Duodun even if all of your words are true. Allowing him to end his life was an order from Shulitu who's also the future Khan. They're both descendants of the old Khan, and the relationship between them is even closer than the one between me and him.”

”Shulitu still has tens of thousands of relatives, but you have only one left, Dragon King.” The Second Consort was clutching at straws by now.

”I don't.” Gu Shenwei shook his head. ”All my relatives are dead. They were killed and burnt to ashes by Golden Roc Castle.”

The Dragon King's voice was calm and slow, but was also mingled with extreme cruelty and ruthlessness. It suddenly dawned on the Second Consort that all her previous efforts had been in vain.

Maybe this was an ending she had already foreseen before she came here, but if she didn't try, her heart would never be at peace for the rest of her life, ”So this is how it's going to be?”

”This is the only way it can be.”

The Second Consort remained silent for quite a long time. He didn't knew whether she was trying to convince herself to accept the truth before her, or if she were trying to find some other reasons to persuade him with. But when she finally spoke again, her voice sounded very tired. ”Then I have only one last request – let me meet Duodun.”

”All right.” Gu Shenwei stood up, ready to see her out. ”So far, I hold no grudges against any Norlander.”

The Second Consort also stood up, forcing a smile onto her face. ”You don't have to worry about me, Dragon King. The Norlanders' revenge is only about strength. I don't have that strength, so I naturally won't try to seek revenge. That's not even mentioning that this is a competition for the throne during which there are only losers and a single winner. There's no hatred or love.”