I became the God Brother of the Regent King after Transmigration!-Chapter 147 - 101: Unworthy

Jiu widened his eyes in shock, kneeling on the ground with a thud, "Your Highness wants to dismiss me?"

Rong Heng poured himself a cup of water, carefully took out a piece of mooncake from his bosom, placed it on a plate, but did not eat it, simply looking at it quietly.

"If you stay in the palace, you’ll be a servant all your life."

Jiu shook his head, "I follow the command of the Pingnan Marquis, willingly protecting Your Highness. This is my duty."

"No one’s duty is to protect another person. The Xiao Family is gone, you naturally do not have to listen to the old Marquis anymore," Rong Heng said. He finished his water and turned to look at Jiu kneeling on the ground.

The baby-faced young man before him was staring fixedly at him, with wounds all over his body still bleeding, but his gaze was determined.

He remembered, Xiao Jiu was a year older than him, yet he was the last among the Xiao Family’s death warriors hidden guards.

Being young, Xiao Jiu’s duty from an early age was to protect him from the shadows.

So that day, when the Xiao Family was raided, the other hidden guards either died on the southern border’s battlefield or changed their names and fled the Capital City. Only Xiao Jiu silently hid in Xiaoxiang Palace.

Seven years ago, Xiao Jiu came out of the shadows, replacing the little eunuch sent by the Su Family to spy on him.

Since then, he could no longer be Xiao Jiu.

"The old Marquis gave me a meal, Heir Xiao taught me martial arts, the eldest lady protected me secretly during the palace upheaval, and you, Your Highness, left the last grain of rice for me... These are the reasons I willingly protect you."

Jiu looked at Rong Heng intently and said seriously.

"Do you intend to be a eunuch all your life?" Rong Heng gritted his teeth, speaking each word forcefully.

He looked at the blood on his hands, which was Jiu’s blood. As a death warrior of the Xiao Family, he had exceptional martial arts skills, yet he could only lie on the ground, enduring others’ humiliation, struggling to survive as a useless person.

If Jiu were just a little eunuch without martial arts skills, he would have returned today only to find a corpse.

In this palace, Rong Jing would eventually kill him. For now, he is safe because his performance deceived him, but in the end, the performance will conclude, and at the curtain call, Rong Jing will leave no one alive.

"I cannot—"

"Do you intend to live under the name of Jiu forever, watching Rong Baoyi come of age, marry, and not even dare to respond to her with a thank you?"

Rong Heng interrupted Jiu, his voice booming like a sharp needle piercing the heart.

Jiu was stunned, his fingers trembling slightly, looking at the bloodstains in his palm.

He seemed to see, amidst the brilliant fireworks, a fleeting, bright and pure smile, which, like fireworks, seemed out of reach and quickly vanished.

The voice beside his ear said earnestly, "You saved me; you are not a servant."

"I dare not dream extravagant dreams,"

After a while, Jiu said softly.

"With Lin He in the palace, moreover... no one will truly kill me, Rong Jing hasn’t had his fill of fun yet." Rong Heng’s fingertips finally touched that piece of mooncake.

"Today, as Rong Baoyi comes of age, she requests to join the military."

Jiu’s pupils trembled, "Join the military? She’s a woman, how could she—"

"In some days, she’ll probably report to the Capital City Guard."

Jiu lowered his head, smiling slightly, dimples appearing on his cheeks, "That’s good... I congratulate the Commandery Princess on fulfilling her wishes."

Rong Heng’s voice turned cold, as if coarse sand was scattered over his vocal cords, filled with fresh, bleeding sorrow:

"Xiao Jiu, you should leave,

I no longer wish to see anyone die before me."

Jiu wiped his tears, the blood mixed with them dripping down, "I am still alive, I will always live well, protecting you."

Rong Heng shook his head, finding new hemostatic powder and placing it in Jiu’s blood-stained hand, saying, "Rong Jing did say something correct, I don’t deserve friends."

As he spoke, he put the mooncake into his mouth, with its sweet and sticky red bean paste filling.

"What a pity, this mooncake was never sent out. It will never have the chance to be sent out."

*

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, study continued, only today the young prince and Rong Baoyi were absent. Gu Lan brought breakfast to Maoqin Hall, placed a portion on Rong Heng’s desk, and began to eat.

After she finished her egg dumplings and red bean porridge, she turned around to find that Rong Heng, who was always self-disciplined, hadn’t eaten.

"Brother Hang, what’s wrong, are you sick and lost your appetite?"

Rong Heng did not answer. At this time, a middle-aged man dressed in a teacher’s robe walked in, cupped his hands, and said, "Today, Teacher Li has personal matters, I am Lv Liang, substituting to lecture history to you nobles."

Gu Lan furrowed her brows and lay down on the table.

The new teacher had a frivolous look in his eyes, reeked of alcohol, and spoke Mandarin with a slight accent. She was already planning to take a nap to prepare for Qin Zhenghu’s exam later.

Just as she was about to close her eyes, she suddenly remembered that Qin Zhenghu had left for Huai City to manage a flood, and he was already out of the Capital, so the math teacher had been switched back to that white-bearded old man, and there wouldn’t be any exams for a few days.

Gu Lan reluctantly perked up and played with the Xiu jade dangling from her fan.

"With bronze as a mirror, one can straighten their attire; with history as a mirror, one can understand the rise and fall, so my history class will not be biased towards only our Yan Country. Today, we will discuss the defeat at Yinzhou seven years ago."

As Lv Liang started speaking, the slightly whispering Imperial Family classroom suddenly fell silent.

Gu Lan found the name Yinzhou familiar. Wasn’t it the Southern Border city where Prince Rui was stationed? So, there had been a defeat seven years ago.

"Do we still need to discuss the defeat at Yinzhou? It’s a humiliation for Yan Country that even a three-year-old knows about."

Rong Qijun interjected, exchanging glances with Lv Liang, and looked triumphantly at Rong Heng, with deep resentment flashing in his eyes.

Lv Liang stroked the tuft of beard on his chin and said, "Precisely because it’s a defeat, we need to use history as a guide to avoid such disasters again."

Gu Lan watched these two exchange knowing looks, frowned, and turned her head, only to meet Rong Heng’s cold and profound gaze.

"Young Master Gu, why don’t you tell us, what was the defeat at Yinzhou?" Lv Liang asked.

In an instant, Gu Lan felt a chill emanating from behind her.

She thought about the books she’d read, finding no recollection of it. Yan Country hasn’t been destroyed yet, who would record a defeat in the history books?

Seeing Gu Lan remain silent, Lv Liang covertly looked at Rong Qijun. Seeing Rong Qijun nod, he smiled slightly and slowly asked:

"Since Young Master Gu is unwilling to speak of this matter, perhaps to avoid embarrassing Fifth Young Master Rong, then Fifth Young Master Rong, surely you’re not oblivious to this matter."

What could the defeat seven years ago have to do with Rong Heng? He would have been only eight or nine years old at that time.

Gu Lan took out a piece of preserved fruit and put it in her mouth, her frown deepening.

"Rong Heng, Teacher Lv is asking you a question, why are you pretending to be dead?" Rong Qijun couldn’t wait to jump in.

This Lv Liang was someone he’d bribed handsomely to humiliate Rong Heng by bringing up the defeat at Yinzhou.

That defeat... was caused by the Xiao Family of the Pingnan Marquis Mansion back then!

During regular classes in the Imperial Family school, Rong Heng always sat in the last row, never speaking or being called upon by the teachers. Once, when Xie Yun asked him a question, he sat in his seat, remaining silent.

Today, Lv Liang proactively brought him up, and with Rong Qijun jumping around beside them, it suggested the defeat at Yinzhou was nothing simple. Gu Lan thought that in the face of such a blatant provocation, Rong Heng would still remain indifferent, maintaining his aloof and solitary demeanor.

Unexpectedly, Rong Heng stood up.

Rong Qijun was taken aback for a moment; he hadn’t expected Rong Heng to stand up so easily.

"Seven years ago, Wei Country, with an army of a hundred thousand, laid siege to Yinzhou City. At that time, Yinzhou City was defended by Pingnan Marquis Xiao Jing, with fifty thousand elite soldiers inside, and sufficient supplies. It was originally as solid as gold."

Rong Heng spoke faintly. At first, Gu Lan listened with interest, but upon hearing Pingnan Marquis, she inadvertently frowned.

Seven years ago was exactly when the Pingnan Marquis Mansion faced total extermination.

Was Rong Qijun and that Lv Liang deliberately trying to expose Rong Heng’s scars?

"However, on the tenth day of Wei’s siege, Pingnan Marquis unexpectedly launched an attack, only to fall into Wei’s ambush. The Dayan Iron Cavalry suffered heavy losses, and Pingnan Marquis’s army was driven back to the city in disarray, under suspicious circumstances.

In times of crisis, the former Emperor, bedridden, ordered a thorough investigation of the Pingnan Marquis Mansion in the Capital, and indeed found evidence of Pingnan Marquis colluding with the enemy and plotting treason."

Rong Heng paused in his narration.

Rong Qijun said coldly, "Continue! Why are you stopping? Rong Heng, you sinner, how many Dayan soldiers did your Xiao Family cause to die at Yinzhou’s defeat! Xiao Jing, Xiao Lie, they deserve a thousand deaths!"

Even Rong Miaoyan, who was usually quite annoyed with Rong Qijun, looked at Rong Heng with a complex expression, without saying a word.

Although she wouldn’t hold Rong Heng, who was just a child back then, accountable for the Xiao Family’s actions, all the books she’d read since childhood, the stories passed down by palace attendants, and the teachers’ teachings all told her that the Xiao Family was indeed deeply sinful.

Rong Heng’s peripheral vision fell on Gu Lan’s face, a hint of gentleness in his gaze.

Then, as if he couldn’t hear Rong Qijun’s clamor, he continued without pause:

"The former Emperor ordered Pingnan Marquis to be brought back to the Capital for execution, but unexpectedly, Pingnan Marquis was beheaded by the Wei army in front of the formation upon exiting the gates of Yinzhou City. Yinzhou City fell, Wei’s army advanced unopposed, plundering, burning, and killing at Yan’s Southern Border, countless border soldiers died or were injured, half, and over ten cities in the Southern Border were lost——"

"Stop talking."

Gu Lan interrupted Rong Heng, her eyes on him, visibly agitated.

What was wrong with Rong Heng today, actually listening to Rong Qijun’s words, publicly reopening his wounds.