Seeing the once confident young man like this, Uncle Yang cried, “Young Master, my condolences!”
The sixteen-year-old’s eyes turned red at those words.
After a long time, Song Jingchen closed his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, his face had regained its usual calmness, as if what happened was just an illusion.
Turning his gaze to his legs, he murmured, “My legs are crippled now?”
It sounded like a question, but felt more like a statement.
Uncle Yang couldn’t bear to say it aloud, so he just nodded.
For some reason, Shen Yijia, who had always been insensitive to emotions, felt a little sorry for Song Jingchen.
He was not crying or making a fuss. He simply looked calm as if nothing had happened.
Shen Yijia took a few steps over and held his tightly clenched hand. She looked into his eyes seriously and said, “You’ll get better, trust me.”
Song Jingchen’s face was still calm, and he didn’t say whether he believed it or not. He only silently withdrew his hand and instructed Uncle Yang, “Get someone to arrange a room for her to rest first.”
Uncle Yang responded and quickly brought in a maidservant.
Shen Yijia wanted to say that this was her room, but after thinking about it, it didn’t matter to her where she slept. He was sick, so she had to compromise a little.
After comforting herself, she obediently followed the maidservant out of the room.
Only Uncle Yang and Song Jingchen were left in the room. They discussed everything that had happened in the past few days.
Uncle Yang took out a letter and handed it over. “The old master knew that this would be the outcome. Before he left, he wrote this letter. He said that it would be good if the young master can live a peaceful life without using the things inside it.”
Song Jingchen lowered his eyes and didn’t answer. He opened the envelope and a tiger-shaped object tumbled out of it.
Apart from him and Old Master Song, no one knew about the existence and meaning of this item.
Not even his father knew.
This was a Commander’s Seal that could command the 50,000 private troops of the Song family. Its original purpose was to serve as the last line of defense to protect the royal family of Great Xia!
It was established by the late emperor when he was still alive.
These troops could not be mobilized unless all other hope was lost.
He was worried that someone would use this army. Perhaps even Emperor Chong’an did not know of its existence.
Uncle Yang only knew about this because he was once part of those troops.
Song Jingchen held it in his hand and found it ridiculous.
The person they wanted to protect was also the executioner who wanted his family destroyed.
He pulled out a thin sheet of paper from the envelope. Surprisingly, it was the old master’s handwriting.
“His Majesty’s actions are within my expectations.
Since ancient times, accompanying a ruler was like accompanying a tiger. The fates of most people with great achievements are often similar to ours. I only hope that my family has the chance to survive this incident.
Grandfather knows you are a man of great ambition, so I will not ask you to live like your father.
However, I also hoped that you, my grandson, will remember that the citizens of this country are innocent. Do not needlessly cause misery and death!
Today, Grandfather will bestow upon you the name ‘Shenzhi’. I hope you will think carefully before you act.
If you can live your life peacefully, I would be very relieved. I only wish my grandson a peaceful and happy life!”
Song Jingchen continued to stare at these words for the next 15 minutes.
He asked Uncle Yang to bring over a candle, and personally burnt the letter.
Under the flickering firelight, Uncle Yang felt that his young master seemed to have grown up overnight. He could not predict what the young master was thinking.
At dawn, Song Jingchen insisted on keeping vigil despite Madam Li’s objections.
Since he could not kneel, he sat in the mourning hall. The mother and son kept vigil silently without speaking to each other.
On this night, other than the twins, only the big-hearted Shen Yijia was sleeping in her room.
However, Shen Yijia’s sleep was not restful. It was unknown what she was dreaming about, but her hands kept waving in the air…