437 A Secret Lover

Qiu Mu was irked because the position of the Crown Prince slipped off his hands so easily. However, amidst that ruckus, a good thing happened. His mother had bestowed the inner palace power.

“Mother, Li Hua had opened the door to the throne, but Lóng Wei spilled water on that,” Qiu Mu complained to his mother. Xiuying told her son not to be upset about it.

“However, we found out one thing in all these ruckuses. Lóng Wei will get quiet or most probably, he will die if Li Hua is removed from her life,” Xiuying stated. Qiu Mu drew his brows close and asked her not to do such a thing.

“What does Prince Mu mean?” Xiuying queried him.

“If Mother is thinking of harming Li Hua, then she must not do this,” Qiu Mu stated.

Xiuying was bewildered to hear that statement from his son. She thought he would tell her to find a way to remove Li Hua from Lóng Wei’s wife. But the opposite happened. “Let this matter go. Did you meet Kang Cha Ying?” She asked with a curious gaze.

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“I could not get the time to meet Miss Kang,” Qiu Mu replied. “I was investigating this matter,” he informed his mother.

“Now, the matter has been solved, so the Prince can meet Cha Ying at her home. The Prime Minister will be delighted if Prince Mu go to their house. Prince Mu should strengthen his relationship with the Kang Family,” she advised her son.

“Mother, I have to help Lóng Wei in searching for Uncle Qizhen. I think that I have to delay meeting with Miss Kang for a while,” Qiu Mu stated.

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“But I have already told Prime Minister Kang that you will go to the Kang Residence to meet all of them,” Xiuying proclaimed.

“I will inform Prime Minister Kang Xi not to make any arrangements for me. Currently, finding Uncle Qizhen is important,” Qiu Mu said with a serious expression on his face. “Ex-General Ye was a great warrior, yet he ended up dying so brutally. Uncle Qizhen has become powerful after getting defeated by the Father,” he deduced, and deep frowns appeared on his forehead. He was concerned thinking that if Qizhen had an army then it could be a threat to them.

“Qizhen was of timid nature. I was betrothed to His Majesty when he was in the position of the General. Along with me, Sister Ruoxi and the other sisters had also become his concubines. However, Qizhen did not marry a single woman at that time. He was not a good fighter either. The death of Ye Yujin came out as a shock to everyone,” Xiuying briefed a little to his son about the past.

Qiu Mu was stunned to learn all those things. He never knew that Qizhen had not married despite he was the King of the Qiu Kingdom.

“Was Uncle Qizhen not older than the Father? Why did he not marry anyone?” Qiu Mu waited for his mother’s to reply. “Maybe that time he was not a good fighter, but so many years have passed,” he opined.

“Your Father is only a few months younger than Qizhen. There were rumors that time that Qizhen had a secret lover, but he never revealed about her,” Xiuying replied to the first question about her son.

“That is a possibility that he trained all these years. But Qizhen was not even capable of becoming the King,” she remarked and chuckled as if he was mocking Qizhen’s capabilities. “He was lucky to be the eldest son. As you know that your father was the son of the consort, not the Queen, so he lacked many rights,” she added.

“Why was uncle Qizhen not capable of becoming the King?”

“He was too kind and his policies were not liked by the ministers of that time. Moreover, he had not married any woman, so that was another reason to take away the throne from him,” Xiuying stated.

“Oh.” Qiu Mu was astonished to find all such information about Qizhen. When he was young, he had not heard much about him or his other uncles except the fact his father killed them.

“Your father was quite protective of Lóng Wei’s mother. Today when the Queen said that Lóng Wei became Governor of Qinping, I felt a little odd too. I think His Majesty still has Concubine Jun in his mind. For her, he forgave Lóng Wei’s crimes. Concubine Jun entered the palace after your father acquired the throne. Lóng Wei has got some perks because of Concubine Jun,” Xiuying said as she tightly clutched the bolsters which were placed on the two sides of the chaise.

Qiu Mu could see the anger on his mother’s face. So, that was the reason that Lóng Wei was alive even after he killed his mother. Because Qiu Zedong liked Yu Jun more than all of his women. So, he could not get rid of her son. Qiu Mu pondered.

“I used to think that Lóng Wei did not get the death penalty because of the prophecy that old monk made,” he muttered.

Xiuying raised her eyes and gazed at her son. “That is another reason, Prince Mu,” Xiuying stated. “But the chief reason was His Majesty’s likeness towards Concubine Yu Jun,” she clarified to Qiu Mu.

“Mother, Lóng Wei is already on a path where he is contributing towards the Kingdom and its people. So, I have no problem with him anymore,” Qiu Mu stated. Recently, he had seen that Lóng Wei had started to respect his elders too. He did not want to keep any more enmity with Lóng Wei.

He rose to his feet and bowed before his mother. “I should leave, Mother. I am happy that you get such an important power in the palace,” Qiu Mu said and lifted his head.

Xiuying blessed him. “It all happened because of the smartness of my son. I am so proud of Prince Mu,” she gave the credit for this to Qiu Mu. He smiled at his mother and then, left her chamber.