His Rui

Chapter 764: What Did Li Qiang Actually Want?!

Inside the outer hall of Plum Courtyard, at this moment, Gu Li, Li Rui who was standing beside Xi Ying, General Li, and Li Qiang were present.          

    

Two of his soldiers were still there who refused to leave their master’s side while others had been dismissed by Li Qiang himself.      

Xi Ying looked at Li Qiang with no emotion on his face and then said coldly      

“Would General Li question his brother on his own? Because if this Lord started his questioning then General Li might think that this Lord is disrespecting General Li’s elder brother.”      

General Li’s face also didn’t have any emotion.      

However, his fists were clenched and his eyes were slightly red when the next moment, he walked to stand in front of his brother.      

Li Qiang raised his head and looked at him calmly.      

“I…”     

General Li swallowed after only one word. It could be seen that Li Qiang’s presence in the Imperial Palace with Zhao Zhuang Chen had left him shaken.      

“Elder Brother…”     

Even when Li Heng completed the words ‘Elder Brother’, a single tear rolled down his eyes.      

Li Qiang was startled when he saw this.      

His fists were clenched as he looked at his younger brother and then heard him ask     

“What were you doing there with First Prince?”     

General Li really wished that there was some kind of explanation. In fact, a large part of his heart believed that there was something else.      

However, Li Qiang didn’t speak at all.      

Li Qiang’s silence frustrated him to the core.      

“Elder Brother, I asked you something.”     

He said expressing his frustration.      

On the other hand, Xi Ying smiled in mockery. What will Li Qiang say now?      

He himself was slightly shaken because he had thought that Li Qiang was loyal to Li Clan. He loved his younger brothers more than his children …but it seems that this time, his eyes recognized this person wrongly.      

However, Li Qiang’s calm eyes, the guilt-free face still made Xi Ying confused.      

It was this confusion that stopped him from taking any hard action against Li Qiang.      

Otherwise, he would have told Wu Dang that Li Qiang was also involved with Zhao Zhuang Chen.      

However, he lied.      

He told Wu Dang that he and General Li were informed by Princess Consort Yu that Zhao Zhuang Chen was going to attack Zhao Wang Lei.          

    

Hence, Li Qiang accompanied them.      

‘It was unfortunate that they couldn’t reach at the time and Zhao Zhuang Chen also set out early for completing his mission. Hence, when they reached the Emperor was already dead.’     

Wu Dang was managed by these words.      

After making sure that everything was alright, Xi Ying left the matters of the Imperial Palace to Zhao Zhang Wei and came back to Xi Manor.      

Xi Ying came out of his trance when he heard General Li speaking again.      

“I don’t believe that you planned against me.”     

He saw that General Li was looking at his brother with firm eyes.      

Li Qiang was still silent and stood straight like a wall.      

“You are my brother…but you have raised us like a mother. Such a brother can never betray his brother.”     

General Li had actually been told by Xi Ying that Qin Wenya had offered his elder brother something in return for him coming to their side.      

She had offered him the seat of the head of the Li Clan by killing him and his son.      

However, his elder never met Qin Wenya again after that…did it not mean that he disliked Qin Wenya’s offer very much?      

General Li had been proud and happy at his elder brother’s choice.      

However, today his pride was suddenly crumbling.      

General Li’s mother had left the world very early. His father used to stay at the border mostly. Hence it was his elder brother who had raised him and his brother as his children.      

“If you really wanted to be the head, then you could have asked me once.”     

He whispered suddenly as he looked at Li Qiang.      

His eyes were filled with unshed tears.      

Li Qiang has never seen him like this before. Even when their mother had left, Li Heng had been very sensible and didn’t cry after a night again.      

Even at that time, he had been hiding in a room and crying silently.      

But today, he was crying in front of him.      

However, he didn’t say a single word. His eyes unconsciously flickered with gentles when he heard Li Heng’s words.      

“I would have given you everything without any upset feeling inside my heart. You just needed to tell me once.”     

“Why did you not tell me?… I …had never thought that you would do this to me.”     

General Li blamed Li Qiang as he covered his face with his hand.         

    

It was at that moment, that the soldier standing behind Li Qiang could not bear it any longer and stepped forward.      

“General Li, it is not what…”     

The soldier however suddenly stopped amidst his words when he was glared at by his master, Li Qiang      

However, General Li who had already uncovered his eyes saw this interaction and made the soldier turn and look at him.      

“You…what were you saying? Tell me. Don’t be afraid of him.”     

However, the soldier seemed visibly hesitant after he saw how cold his master’s face was.      

“You are very loyal to your master and my uncle.”     

It was Li Rui who said these words.      

The soldier didn’t dare to look at her straight knowing that she was the young miss of their manor. However, he heard Li Rui’s words very clearly.      

“However, at this moment, what your master needs is not your loyalty but for you to bring out the truth in front of everyone that he is not ready to say.”     

Li Rui looked at her uncle who looked away from her as if hiding something.      

She now knew that her father was right.      

Her uncle never betrayed them. It was something else.      

“This one would breathe the oath given to the master of never saying a single word about the plan to anyone.”     

Li Qiang looked at his soldier coldly. However, the soldier ignored him this time and continued.      

“We went to the place to kill His Majesty with First Prince…however, after that, we were never going to kill Second Prince. Master had planned to detain First Prince before that and then surrender to the Imperial soldiers and accept First Prince’s plan in front of everyone. A soldier was ready to bring Head Wu Dang to the Imperial chamber as soon as First Prince would have killed His Majesty.”      

In other words, Li Qiang wanted to kill Zhao Wang Lei and then make Zhao Zhuang Chen stuck instead of letting him go to Xinhe Palace and get.      

However, he wanted to surrender himself to Zhao Zhuang Chen.      

This time, General Li was shaken more than before.      

Xi Ying’s eyes were filled with surprise while Li Rui was frowning. She looked at her uncle with somewhat helplessness.      

It was clearly a wrong decision from his side.      

However, at the same time, she was touched seeing how much he was ready to go through without saying a word.      

She suddenly remembered what Li Qiang had said to her that day in the study room when he had come to know everything.      

‘We are together in all this, Rui. Don’t worry about anything.’     

“You wanted to take all the blame?”         

    

General Li was now boiling with anger as he looked at Li Qiang.      

Li Qiang looked at him silently but there was now a frown on his forehead.      

“Do you think that I would have been able to go through all that alone?”     

General Li actually hit Li Qiang’s chest with his whole force when he finished his words.      

Li Qiang was forced to take a step back.      

Seeing, how he was crying like a child, Li Qiang felt helpless and finally spoke.     

“Li Heng…why are crying like a child?”     

General Li, however, doesn’t seem to feel embarrassed at all. It could be seen how much he loved and cared for his elder brother.      

“I just wanted to ensure that no one will look at our clan with a bad eye.”     

Li Qiang said firmly as he held his younger brother’s shoulder and made him look at himself.      

“And what about you?’     

General Li asked with anger-filled eyes.      

However, he only saw a smile on his elder brother’s lips.      

“What about me?”     

“You could have gone to prison…life imprisonment for sure”     

General Li said angrily and Li Qiang was still smiling.      

“That would have been good.”     

The words made General Li go still as he looked at his elder brother silently.      

“That would perhaps lessen the burden of my children’s sin on my head.”      

And then his elder brother’s words made him aware of how burdened he had been feeling in these past few days all along.      

For a long time, General Li silently looked at Li Qiang who was smiling.      

Then he suddenly hugged him tightly in his arms and told him what he didn’t before.      

“I never blamed you.”     

However, that was what had made Li Qiang helpless.      

Li Heng never blamed him.          

    

He wished that he would have but he never said a single word to him. On the other hand, his wife would say bad things about his brother’s family every day.      

Li Qiang really wanted Li Rong to be there when Li Heng said that he would have given him everything if he would have asked him once.      

She should see and remember that his brother, Li Heng was never selfish and loved and respected him as his father.