Nightfall

The Military Ministry started looking into the connection between the weird homicide cases and Ning Que. Even if they found nothing, the rumor about his family had spread in Chang’an for a long time.

People all believed that Ning Que was Lin Guangyuan’ son and the only survivor in the murder case. He had been hiding in a far distant mountain for a long time and once he got into the Academy, he would start his revenge. Even the Empire and Xia Hou believed it, as well as his Senior Brothers and Sisters in the back of the mountain.

Therefore, when the people in front of the palace heard what Ning Que said, they were shocked and they hardly believed it. They all wondered why Ning Que did this if he was not Lin Guangyuan’s son.

Xia Hou looked at Ning Que under the black umbrella and frowned. Nobody knew what he was thinking about.

Ning Que lowered his head to look at the blood drops on the snowfield and smiled a little. These blood drops reminded him the ones on the woodshed ground 15 years ago.

The snow became stronger and fiercer.

Ning Que raised his head and asked three questions to the people.

"Why do you all believe that I’m the son of the General?

"Why do I have to be him?"

"Why do you all wish for me to be him?"

People were still in shock and no one was able to answer him.

Ning Que said wryly, "I’ m sorry. I’m not him at all.

"My father was not the Xuanwei General. Not a captain, not an officer or a clerk. He was only a gatekeeper of the General’s Mansion who was not even at the front door and did not get paid much."

"My mother was not the General’s wife, either. She was a poor maidservant. Even though she had fed the master and freely went in and out the yard, she was still a maidservant."

"I’m certainly gratified that His Majesty decided to retry the case, because the Generals were all good people and they died for nothing. I just so regret that I did not hear my parents’ names."

He looked at the people and said, "That’s reasonable since my parents were ordinary people and they had ordinary names."

"My father was an orphan and he was given the name Lin Tao by the General."

"My mother didn’t even have a name. She came from Hebei County and was sold in Chang’an. She was called Li Sanniang from birth to death because she faintly remembered she was the third child in her family."

The blood flowed down along his hand to the ground and he said that calmly and peacefully, not wryly. He was really calm.

However, the unusual peace froze everyone who was looking at him, from the feet up.

This kind of peace was horrible.

Sangsang did not feel afraid of him. At this moment, she was feeling the same feeling, sadness, and disappointment as him. She just wanted to hold his hands and warm him subconsciously.

"I know, the story in the book tells us..."

"The prince will always come back for revenge after his throne is taken away, and a young master survived from his framed family, reversing the verdict after he passed the exam and gets the emperor’s favor."

"Why does the protagonist in every revenge story has to be a prince? Doesn’t a son of a gatekeeper and a maidservant qualify to seek revenge?"

People all kept silent facing this harsh but peaceful question. Zeng Jing failed to say something since he could not open his mouth, and Li Qingshan only sighed slightly.

"The book is written like this and you all believe it should be that way. I don’t blame anyone, and it’s foolish to be contrite and reform myself, but I still hate this.

"Just like many years ago."

Ning Que looked at Xia Hou and said, "That day, I went out to play with my master like any day before, because he treated me like a friend. That was irrelevant. Anyway, the housekeeper needed to save the master, so he took me into the Official of Counsel’s mansion across the street with my master as well."

Upon hearing this, Zeng Jing was stunned because he remembered that day when he had a newborn daughter while the family across the street was exterminated.

Ning Que continued. "When you came into the General’s Mansion, my master, the housekeeper and I were hiding in the woodshed of the Official of Counsel."

Xia Hou said somberly, "When my men went tracking and reached the woodshed, they found two dead bodies. That’s why I was sure that Lin Guangyuan’s son was dead for sure. I had been wondering who you were all the way until now. Although I’m not confused, I’m still curious about how you did that."

Ning Que looked at the snow around him and tried to remember something. He said with a smile, "There is no surprise story under Haotian and neither was what I did."

"If the general’s son wanted to live, the gatekeeper’s son had to die. Since we were both four years old and if we changed our clothes and were badly mutilated, no one would be able to tell the difference between us.

"The old man thought he did not have to be vigilant against a four -year -old boy, thereby, he watched me with his sad, sorry, and sympathetic eyes and then I knew what he was going to do."

"Wasn’t the story in the book like this?"

Then the smile on his face gradually disappeared. He looked at Xia Hou, Zeng Jing, Li Qingshan, and all the people in front of him and asked wryly, "But why?"

"Why I should follow the book?"

"Why the general’s son can live and I have to die?"

"Why I should be killed?"

There was complete silence in front of the palace.

No one was able to answer his question, therefore, only Ning Que’ voice could be heard in the snow, becoming colder and higher.

"I’m only a gatekeeper’ son."

"But I want to live."

"I have to live."

Ning Que talked about his thought calmly and firmly, like talking about the truth of the sun rising every day and water moving down.

"So when the housekeeper was persuading me to take off my clothes while moving to take a chopper, I grabbed it first and stabbed him in his stomach."

"I seemed to stab him more than once."

"Maybe five times."

"Since I was not strong enough and stabbed him not deeply enough, I had to stab him over and over again until he was dead. He just looked at me alarmedly as if I was a monster and did not make any noises. I kept wondering whether he was too shocked to say anything or he just did not want to be found."

He paused for a while and said, "My master, the general’s son, had no idea of what had happened. He found the old man lying in the pool of blood and then he rushed toward me. He tried to hit me and bite me like a crazy man."

He shook his head and said, "I was panicked and waving the chopper to stop him until I scratched him with the chopper. Then he covered his neck with his hands and fell on the woodpile.

"The blood came from his fingers so quickly even though I had tried to help him cover it. I failed and he died in front of me with his blood coagulating in my hands."

Ning Que raised his head to look at the people in the snow. He shook his head after a long time and said, "It was not a manslaughter."

"Maybe I meant to kill him at that time."

He looked at Xia Hou and smiled, "Only if he was dead, I, a son of a gatekeeper would be able to avoid catching your attention."

The whole world was enveloped by snow and wind as if it were dead.

The snowflakes fell on Ning Que’s face which made him look even grimmer.

The smile on his face was seemingly warm but extremely grim.

People saw his smile and were badly shocked. They felt an unprecedented cold.

They seemed to have seen what happened in the woodshed decades ago.

A four years old boy was standing beside two corpses, desperate and terrified, with a chopper in his trembling hands and on the verge of collapsing at any moment.

However, he did not.

Today, the boy was standing in front of the palace, telling people about the story from long ago.

The story in the book was always the same.

However, his was not in the book.