Kangxi looked at Fang He with uncontrollable rage and asked, “Are you finished?”
Threatened by the violence and murderous intent in his eyes, Fang He suddenly grew angry.
Was he showing off his power to her now?
As expected, this natural Master Kang really needed to be taught a lesson.
She sneered, “Wasn’t it the Emperor who asked me to tell the truth?”
“Earlier, in front of the Crown Prince, the Emperor was quite calm. Now you’re acting all powerful in front of me? Will that keep your ‘good’ Crown Prince from rebelling and murdering his Father?”
Kangxi pinched his brow, trying hard to suppress the wicked fire that was becoming harder to control.
He didn’t fail to realize that Fang He was right.
But facing the fact that the Great Qing only had a little over 200 years of destiny left, along with the historical records of himself and the failure of the Crown Prince’s education, all spread out before a woman… it was truly difficult to bear.
He tried his best to stay calm.
“Enough. I have my own decision. I do not need you to judge how I teach my sons.”
“Heh…” Fang He laughed mockingly, “A decision? Do you want to continue raising your sons like poisonous insects, letting them kill each other until they are no longer brothers? And then, in the end, you’ll just pick the tallest of the dwarves from the winners?”
Her expression was filled with disdain and mockery, her eyes lowered to hide the flicker within them.
“Oh, I remembered something else. Future generations seem to have turned your method of raising sons into a story called the ‘Nine Lords’ Contention.’ Stories of how the Great Qing reached its end are played out everywhere among the common people.”
Kangxi was so angry his chest rose and fell violently.
He glared at Fang He with a predatory gaze, but he couldn’t stop her from stabbing his heart with her ridicule.
“Your methods of teaching your sons are truly remarkable. Many people praise you, saying that from ancient times until now, no one can compare to you, My Lord—the ‘Saintly Ancestor’!”
Kangxi could no longer hold back.
Enraged, he strode forward and reached out, grabbing Fang He by the neck.
When he spoke again, his voice was almost like Yinreng’s earlier, squeezed out from his throat, “Do you want to force me to kill you?”
Choked and uncomfortable, Fang He frowned and looked at Kangxi without blinking, her eyes welling with physiological tears as she raised them defiantly.
“Yes. Does the Emperor dare?”
The murderous intent in Kangxi’s eyes deepened.
He exerted pressure with his hand, making it nearly impossible for Fang He to breathe.
Tears slid from the corners of her eyes and onto Kangxi’s wrist.
Kangxi suddenly shuddered and let go, making a “he-he” sound in his throat.
He raised his hand, wanting to point at Fang He to say something.
But as soon as he opened his mouth, he couldn’t help but turn his head abruptly and spit out a mouthful of fresh blood before falling backward.
Liang Jiugong, who had practically embedded himself into a dragon pillar, was horrified.
He rushed over to support Kangxi, “My Lord! My Lord! Someone! Call the Imperial Doctor!”
Fang He clutched her neck, coughing painfully to the side, but her tearful eyes were still fixed on Kangxi.
Liang Jiugong couldn’t be bothered with her for the moment.
He only ordered Jinghao to watch over Fang He and not let her move about freely while he hurriedly carried Kangxi to the dragon bed.
By the time the Imperial Doctor entered, Kangxi had already opened his eyes.
He didn’t wait for the doctor to take his pulse, instead ordering in a raspy voice, “Liang Jiugong, tell Li Dequan to clean up the hall. If a single word about what happened here today gets out, I will have you flayed!”
Liang Jiugong instinctively looked back at Fang He.
He opened his mouth, then gritted his teeth and answered, “Understood.”
Only then did Kangxi close his eyes and allow the Imperial Doctor to check his pulse.
Fortunately, it was nothing serious.
Imperial Doctor Zhang Ziqin, another of Fang He’s old acquaintances, felt relieved after taking the pulse with a trembling heart.
“My Lord has a blockage in his heart and his liver qi is obstructed. If this continues, it will surely affect your lifespan.”
“Now… by spitting out the stagnant blood, most of the blockage has been cleared. You only need to take a few doses of a warming recipe to soothe the liver and regulate qi, and you will be fine.”
After a period of chaos, Liang Jiugong walked over to Fang He with a complex look and bowed, “Noble Lady Lan, this servant will escort you back to Jiayin Hall.”
When they reached the entrance of Jiayin Hall, Liang Jiugong hesitated several times before finally stopping her.
He knelt directly in a corner and asked, “Noble Lady Lan, I do not know why you would… speak so insolently to the Emperor. My Lord has already shown you immense imperial grace. A person should know how to be grateful, shouldn’t they?”
“I am dull and do not understand your deeper meaning, but if there is a next time, I will stop you from going before the Emperor even if it means my death.”
“No matter what your identity is, My Lord is the backbone of the entire Great Qing. He is not meant to be treated so poorly by you.”
“Is that so? Then why don’t you go ask your ‘good’ Master which is more fatal: spitting blood from anger or getting a slap? I’m in a hurry to be reincarnated.” Fang He had lost her arrogance from the hall and simply turned toward Jiayin Hall with an expressionless face.
Liang Jiugong was speechless, ‘Are you in a hurry to be reincarnated, or do you want to take this servant with you into oblivion?’
He wouldn’t dare ask that!
If Kangxi found out he had privately threatened Noble Lady Lan, he might be sent to his next life first.
He could only curse Fang He in his heart.
When he returned to Chunhui Hall, he didn’t mention a word of it, not wanting to make his Master angry again.
To his surprise, as soon as he returned, he saw his Master leaning against the Luohan couch with a smile on his face, holding a book of chess endgames.
He wasn’t even reading it, just rolling it up and propping up his chin with a face full of amusement… as if the scene of spitting blood earlier had been a dream.
Seeing Liang Jiugong return, “Kangxi” looked at him indifferently and asked with a smile, “What did… your Noble Lady Lan says?”
Liang Jiugong grumbled internally.
Since when had she become ‘his’?
Even if the Liang family’s ancestral graves were burned to ash, they couldn’t produce such a formidable figure.
After a moment of hesitation, he recounted Fang He’s words.
“Kangxi” let out a low laugh and shook his head helplessly.
That troublemaker must have grown suspicious the last time because of the way he referred to Yinreng and Uya-shi.
This girl was extremely clever and never played by the rules.
Right now, she was probably trying to force him to reveal himself.
However, he did not plan to meet Fang He so soon.
They had been together for several decades, and he knew very well that Fang He had secrets.
But she didn’t want to talk, and he had waited for many years without ever figuring out what they were.
He didn’t want to force his Guoguo, but he wanted to understand.
It wasn’t to pry into her past; he was afraid that if there was a next life and he hadn’t even figured out where his wife came from, he wouldn’t be able to find her.
The thought of that possibility made “Kangxi” particularly uncomfortable.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have the heart to let her suffer the temper of another version of himself here.
Liang Jiugong knelt by the footstool, his mind racing.
Ling Pu and So’etu had stuffed plenty of silver into his hands.
If they were punished in the future, he might be implicated as well.
Moreover, this Noble Lady Lan was truly too audacious.
If she really angered the… if she really hurt My Lord, he didn’t want to be buried with that ancestor!
Liang Jiugong tested the waters cautiously, “My Lord, please don’t blame this servant for speaking too much. Even if this Noble Lady Lan has some supernatural origin, if we ask the Master of Tanzhe Temple and Zhao Chang, what could we not find out through interrogation?”
“Noble Lady Lan dared to be so insolent today. Tomorrow, she might dare to commit regicide. Such a person truly shouldn’t be kept by your side. Even if it means my death, I truly cannot bear to watch My Lord’s Dragon Body be mistreated like this!”
“Kangxi” stared at Liang Jiugong.
He stared until sweat broke out on Liang Jiugong’s forehead before he finally used his toe to nudge the eunuch’s shoulder, “Liang Jiugong, if it weren’t for the fact that no matter how much silver you took from So’etu and Ling Pu, you didn’t leak a single word of information from my side, you wouldn’t be alive today.”
“If you want to die, I can fulfill that wish. It wouldn’t be difficult to seize your house outside the palace. In consideration of your service, I’ll even leave you with an intact body.”
“If you still want to live, then shut your foul mouth. Serve Noble Lady Lan from now on just as you have served me. If you say one more word, I will send you to the Graveyard. Do you understand?”
Liang Jiugong had not expected his Master to know everything.
He shook like a sieve, his pupils shrinking as he prostrated himself on the ground.
He couldn’t say a single word, nor did he dare to.
After Liang Jiugong retreated, a long time passed before the original Kangxi suddenly gasped for air as if he were drowning.
His expression was extremely unsightly.
“That dog servant Liang Jiugong… why didn’t Fang He say anything? He deserves to die!”
“Kangxi” knew who he was referring to.
He said indifferently, “You didn’t strike him when he was hoarding wealth before, and now you blame the servant for becoming greedy? Why doesn’t the Liang Jiugong on my side have this problem?”
“I advise you: even if you replace him with someone else, they might not be as useful. Now that this has happened, if you keep a close eye on him, he won’t dare to act up again.”
Kangxi still felt a burning pain in his chest.
His expression changed several times before he asked through gritted teeth, “Do you also think I was wrong? Should I do exactly what that troublemaker… what your wife said? Should I depose Baocheng at all costs?”
“Kangxi” was noncommittal, “In any case, over where I am, even Yinreng is working for the Great Qing. All of my sons are exceptionally useful. But as for what ends your sons will face here, that depends on your ability to figure things out.”
Kangxi sneered repeatedly, “If it weren’t for you being too foolish and letting her notice something was wrong, would that troublemaker dare to lecture me like that?”
“Do you think she looks like she wants to talk properly with me right now? She’d like nothing more than to slap me directly to death from anger!”
“Kangxi” went silent for a moment before saying thoughtfully, “Is there a possibility that because the two of us were together every day, even the slightest difference in you couldn’t be hidden from the person I share a pillow with?”
“As for that slap… don’t worry. Before she’s sure it’s me, she should be too lazy to have any skin-to-skin contact with you. Your temper is also a bit too small. You’ll get used to it.”
Kangxi was, after all, another version of the same man; he was never associated with being stupid.
Using the same sharp insight and scheming nature as “Kangxi”, he processed the information hidden in those words.
Even Liang Jiugong couldn’t see the difference between him and “Kangxi”.
Yet that troublemaker had sensed something during such a brief moment of spiritual fluctuation… just how close were the two of them?
And… “Kangxi” had definitely been slapped before.
Instead of being ashamed, he treated it as a point of pride, even thinking of it as a form of playfulness… and he was even used to it.
That meant it had happened more than once.
He touched his own face and suddenly clutched his chest.
“My Lord, are you feeling unwell somewhere?” As soon as Zhang Ziqin entered, he saw the Emperor frowning with a pained expression.
He hurried forward and asked nervously.
Kangxi said, “…I am fine.”
It was just that the stagnant blood probably hadn’t been cleared out entirely.
Zhang Ziqin was truly uneasy.
If anything else went wrong with his Master, his career as an Imperial Doctor would be over, and his entire family might lose their heads.
He stepped forward cautiously and asked, “How about… let this official check your pulse again?”
“No need!” Kangxi waved his hand impatiently.
Could he say he was being disgusted by ‘himself’?