The hospital room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
It was as though time itself had come to a standstill.
The long leaves in the vase by the window no longer swayed, and the steady white light fell upon the features of two silhouettes, one standing, one lying down. Silent and staring at each other, father and son seemed as estranged as strangers.
"I came... to see how you are."
Zhao Qi’s hands lifted uncertainly, then fell again. He had come empty-handed because he knew... his father lacked for nothing.
Having just ended communication with the Central Continent Council, Zhao Xilai’s thoughts were in disarray. He took a deep breath and gestured for his son to sit down. The hospital room was spacious, yet Zhao Qi chose to sit by the bed.
In fact, he hadn’t come bearing nothing...
He brought a necklace.
That necklace was tucked in the inside of his garment, just a reach away. Zhao Qi’s fingers began to tremble; the closer he got to his father... the more the feelings of "awe" and "fear" became unbearable.
"Your visit... it’s comforting to me."
The elderly man looked meaningfully at his son, but there wasn’t much comfort in his tone.
Zhao Qi forced a difficult smile.
He wanted to say something, but countless thoughts choked his mind. What was this... casual talk, or encouragement? In an instant, his thoughts were dragged back to the long nights of many years ago when he was still a child. His father had already stood at the pinnacle of Da Du, and he had run desperately, hoping for a sliver of praise.
that cold figure, high and mighty, didn’t resemble his father but rather a towering mountain. No matter how hard he tried, that distant and elusive man would never reach out to him.
Praise? Recognition? Encouragement?
His childhood was filled with loneliness and failure.
A voice slowly rose, like a thunderclap on a clear day, shattering Zhao Qi’s cluttered thoughts.
"The matter at Freedom Hall... you were behind it, weren’t you?"
Zhao Qi’s pupils contracted, and he turned back clumsily, looking bewildered at his own father.
The old man spoke softly, "Lu Nanzhi’s spirit was banished... To accomplish that in the hall shrouded by ’Dissolving Dream’, you would need Xiao to unlock the Spiritual Link. As far as I know, you are the only one who can act freely."
Zhao Qi’s forehead began to bead with cold sweat.
His smile stiffened, "Father... what are you talking about?"
"About a year ago, a mysterious individual from the old city district made contact with you, using an anonymous communication method. With the help of that mysterious person, you began collaborating with the South Bay Faction and successfully negotiated several transactions... In the board of Hua Zhi, people started seeing you in a new light." Zhao Xilai lowered his eyes slightly, "I paid attention to these businesses, and I must say, what you achieved is quite remarkable. Even Ye Ningqiu, who is known for being unbending, was willing to lower his stance in negotiations, sacrificing most of the benefits to seek cooperation with Hua Zhi. These deals shook the entire executive board... At that time, Little Cui urged me to investigate that ’mysterious person’s’ identity."
"But I didn’t do it."
"It wasn’t because I only care about profits... but because, you are my son." Zhao Xilai said calmly, "No one knows you better than I do. You have never been a hero, nor one to take reckless risks. You’re not equipped to handle storms, nor to cause serious trouble. If nothing unexpected happens... you will probably live your life as a coward."
These words were unpleasant but carried a semblance of truth, and were also rather cruel.
Zhao Qi’s smile slowly vanished from his face.
He looked at his father, unable to fathom what kind of person... would say such things to their own flesh and blood.
And who would willingly be a coward?
"Last month, you hid yourself away, actually because someone had hurt you," Zhao Xilai said indifferently. "You didn’t dare to use a healing talisman, afraid that I would find out... Teeth were knocked out, and yet you swallowed them, isn’t that being a coward?"
"You didn’t dare to make it public... because you were afraid that even worse things would be revealed," the elder’s words cut into Zhao Qi’s heart like a knife, "You didn’t seek revenge merely because you had no evidence, it happened in the Old Town Area where there are no Heavenly Eyes, you were unlucky to be disciplined, couldn’t find evidence, and could only let it go."
The man seated on the edge of the bed, clearly a young man, appeared utterly defeated. He slumped his shoulders and lowered his eyes, his voice growing lower and lower, "Was it... Liu Yi who told you?"
The old man said calmly, "In Dadu, how could there be anything that can be kept from me?"
"The one who has been silently supporting you is ’Xiao’, the concessions made by Ye Ningqiu in those business dealings weren’t a miracle, simply because she too is a puppet of Xiao," Zhao Xilai spoke without a hint of disappointment, as calm as ever, "So... all of this can be explained. The ultimate goal of the Changjiu Foundation is to dilute the power structure of Dadu District, starting from the side of the council members, slowly dissolving the two vast conglomerates, simply controlling someone’s spirit isn’t enough, even if that person is very important."
"Xiao wishes for you to take over Hua Zhi."
Zhao Xilai looked at his son, "Supporting you, that is... the most straightforward and crude method."
Not getting in touch with Lu Nanzhi was because the risk of contacting Lu Nanzhi was too high; the lady detested the Changjiu Foundation. If the manipulation failed, Xiao would face a devastating blow.
The same goes for... within the Hua Zhi Faction, who else is more suitable than Zhao Qi for contact?
However, Xiao’s biggest miscalculation was overestimating Zhao Qi’s ambition and also his courage.
"That night, the night you were beaten... you went to the Old Town Area to meet Xiao," Zhao Xilai asserted without a question or a rhetorical question in his voice, directly stating Zhao Qi’s concealed truth piece by piece: "He gave you a spirit talisman... and it wasn’t the first time. Nanzhi suffered from ’insomnia’ for a while. Crow’s rage was also related to that incident. He’s searching for the culprit, you should be thankful, you didn’t leave behind any evidence."
"Otherwise... he really would have killed you."
Zhao Qi felt something crack inside his heart.
Looking at his father... he felt that this was not just a mountain that had been pressing on his heart for years but also a prison. His father watched everything that happened in Dadu, and all of his own doings could not escape his father’s notice. Those little tricks, little thoughts, were just things his father chose not to point out.
Zhao Qi slowly stood up, he smiled and confessed, "The incident at Freedom Hall, it was my doing."
After uttering these words, the boulder weighing thousands of pounds on his heart suddenly lifted.
"You wanted to kill Lu Nanzhi, to inherit Hua Zhi," the old man looked at his son with still no expression on his face.
Zhao Qi felt lighter all over, his fingers no longer trembled; he easily pulled out the necklace from inside the lapel of his coat.
"I used this talisman..."
Fascinated by the necklace, Zhao Qi muttered, "Just need to wear it for a short while, and the consciousness will be eternally... exiled."
"Exiling the spirit, how could that be considered... killing?"