Han Zhengqing still didn’t know that his son was now thinking about cutting him into a thousand pieces to avenge those women he had tormented for a lifetime. Even if he knew, this matter wouldn’t really be a matter to him. To put it bluntly, he had never treated these women as human beings, much less cared about the sons these women had borne.
Even Little Lady Fan… thinking of Little Lady Fan, he felt vaguely uncomfortable in his heart. He had indeed wronged her somewhat, but she really did resemble her sister so much. Those eyebrows, those eyes—they were exactly the same as Elder Lady Fan whom he’d known in Xingyang back then. At first, he had genuinely intended to treat her well, but she refused to appreciate it. Not only did she not appreciate it, she made trouble with all her might. Back then, he still cared about his children. Back then, looking at those fine jade-carved children, his heart was full of joy too. He happily held them in his arms, and for a time really wanted to live properly with Little Lady Fan.
But the more he showed affection to the children, the more Little Lady Fan acted up. Later, she even tried to poison Han Zhi. This woman hated him so much… hated him enough to want to poison even her own biological son.
His thoughts had wandered far… anyway, since he didn’t take these people to heart, their life or death was even less his concern. Han Yang’s usefulness to him was just to relay messages. That he could gain Prince Gong’s favor was naturally an unexpected bonus.
But this wasn’t any big deal to him. What he was anxious about was another—his truly cherished son, the one he held in his hands fearing he would fly away, held in his mouth fearing he would melt—Prince Dongping.
He had written to the Fan family in Xingyang, asking them to send Master Fan’s son to the capital to persuade Prince Dongping, to get him to quickly leave the capital, that place of trouble.
In his view, that place wasn’t safe at all. What if the matter of him sending Han Cheng to find Prince Dongping was exposed? How would Prince Dongping survive then?
The door was knocked on urgently. He snapped out of his contemplation and called someone in. His trusted subordinate, Vice General Chen, entered with a face full of difficulty. Seeing him was like seeing a ghost—his expression was terrible to the extreme. Han Zhengqing raised an eyebrow and gave a light snort. Vice General Chen then poured everything out like beans from a bamboo tube.
“This matter—it was Second Master Fan who instigated Grand Preceptor Yecha to do it. Apparently he listened to Commander-General Cui’s words. When we went to Datong Prefecture, we couldn’t find Second Master Fan’s people at all, nor could we find his group of beautiful wives and concubines.”
As expected, it was that good-for-nothing Second Master Fan. Though one couldn’t really call him good-for-nothing—Han Zhengqing frowned with disgust and annoyance. Compared to that even more unreliable Third Master Fan, who had indirectly harmed Liangdi Fan, Second Master Fan could still get practical things done. He was just a bit too afraid of death, though that was also human nature.
He lightly tapped his fingers on the table, his expression showing not a trace of joy or anger.
Yet Vice General Chen felt even more afraid. He shrank his neck, hesitated for a moment, then steeled himself to speak of another matter: “There’s one more thing, my lord. News came from the capital, saying that…” Vice General Chen, under Han Zhengqing’s chilling gaze, continued with his heart racing: “The capital says that the people the Fan family sent, after meeting with Prince Dongping’s chief clerk, never appeared again…”
What this represented, everyone understood clearly. Prince Dongping wasn’t being coerced by anyone at all—he truly didn’t want to acknowledge Han Zhengqing as his biological father. As soon as the words left his mouth, Vice General Chen’s shoulders slumped, and his heart rose high in his chest.
Sure enough, the next moment, Han Zhengqing—who had been expressionless and inscrutable—suddenly erupted in rage. He swiftly swept everything off the table. The room rang with the crisp sounds of things shattering, clanging and crashing, making people’s hearts jump.
Vice General Chen instinctively retreated a step and stood to the side with his head lowered, not daring to breathe heavily.
Regarding Prince Dongping’s matters, one could never offer advice—not a single word more. If one spoke poorly, it would bring a bout of displeasure. He was afraid—after all, even Young Master Han Yu’s life or death didn’t matter to the marquis, so what about people like them?
No matter how he tried, Han Zhengqing couldn’t understand why Prince Dongping would do this. He was Prince Dongping’s biological father! He had even given out Liangdi Fan’s handwritten letter—what more did Prince Dongping refuse to believe?!
Even just based on Liangdi Fan’s letter, he shouldn’t be this stupid—stupid to this degree, stubbornly insisting on staying in the capital!
What was so good about staying in the capital?! Even if the capital was good, in a few more years—give him just a few more years—he could storm into the capital. Then, would he still fear not enjoying wealth and glory? Would he still fear not being able to continue his former life in the capital?!
Why must he acknowledge that useless mud of a Crown Prince and refuse to acknowledge him?!
His thoughts were driving him nearly mad. He remembered when Elder Lady Fan brought Prince Dongping to the marquis’s manor as a child—Prince Dongping’s soft, sweet smile and bright eyes. His heart softened into a puddle. Forget it, forget it—why was he quibbling with a child? After all, this was his and his cousin’s only child… His cousin was already gone. He couldn’t lose his son too… If he lost his son, what hope would he have left?
“Send someone again—” He stopped mid-sentence, then quickly said: “Send someone to the capital again to pass word—tell them not to send messages to him anymore. If discovered, it would harm him instead.” He sighed, full of fatherly affection: “Just have people watch over him and care for him properly. Don’t let him suffer harm from others, and don’t let him suffer grievances.”
If he won’t come, then he won’t come. When the day came that he conquered this realm, his son would naturally understand what’s good for him.
Vice General Chen listened with his tongue tied, feeling that his lord was good at everything, saw every matter with incomparable clarity and rationality, yet on this one matter of Prince Dongping, it could truly be said his heart was clouded as if by lard—he was simply bewitched. No matter how much Prince Dongping disdained and despised him, he never took it to heart.
His fatherly affection seemed entirely given to Prince Dongping alone.
He stood dazed for a moment. Seeing Han Zhengqing look over, he quickly nodded in agreement.
After Han Zhengqing finished instructing about this matter, he repeated it once more before feeling reassured. Then he added: “Have them prepare accordingly. What needs to be done should be done now.”
Finally getting to proper business, Vice General Chen breathed a sigh of relief, having thought the marquis’s heart could only hold Prince Dongping.
He bent and responded affirmatively, then asked him: “Then should we deploy the backup plan we left in the capital now?”
When Han Zhengqing spoke of this, he immediately calmed down. The corners of his mouth pulled up in a smile, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes at all: “Use it—why not use it? This time we won’t play these petty games with them. Let them properly understand what we’re capable of.”