Qi Rong continued, “Even if he doesn’t order for their deaths on the spot, An Le also had the entire nest of your old hag’s relatives killed in front of the old coot, so sooner or later he would have to open fire on the people of Xianle. Your good shifu realized this, weighed the options, and decided, no, the old man couldn’t be saved, so PLORK and the old man’s heart goes kaput. That’s the kind of person my good cousin is, a saint who can’t have sand in his eyes, always doing shit that hurts both others and himself; he wants to please both sides but succeeds with neither, hee hee hee hee, ha ha HA HA HA ha ha h—”
“Qi Rong, you shut your mouth!” Xie Lian shouted.
Lang Qianqiu whipped his head around. “Why do you want him to shut up? Because what he said is the truth?! At that Gilded Banquet, you and An Le both struck; one killed my entire family, and the other finished the act on my father. You’re all lying to me?!”
Xie Lian started, “Don’t listen to—”
Qi Rong cut in. “OF COURSE WE’RE ALL LYING TO YOU! You’re so stupid, who else would we deceive if not you? If not for the interruption that spoiled our plans, Xianle would’ve already taken your damned life at the age of twelve, instead of giving you the luxury of growing up and ascending!”
“Twelve?” Lang Qianqiu repeated. The biggest incident that happened when he was twelve was that kidnapping, and he was saved by Xie Lian. He demanded, “That year, the culprits who invaded the palace to kidnap me were sent by the people of Xianle?”
“Duh!” Qi Rong spat. “Did you think ordinary assassins could just kidnap the crown prince from under the noses of hundreds of royal palace guards? Please. I was the one who helped An Le with that.”
Lang Qianqiu nodded. “Helped? Good. I understand now. So all my friends are fake. The people of Xianle never cared for our amity. Your Prince An Le never had good intentions and instead came for our lives.”
He turned to Xie Lian. “So everything you told me was false too.”
Qi Rong pretended to look surprised. “Come, come, come, quickly now, tell me what my saintly cousin told you!”
Lang Qianqiu ignored him completely and continued to address Xie Lian, “You said Yong’an and Xianle were but one nation at their roots; whatever conflicts the royals had with each other had nothing to do with civilians. Both sides used to be one family, and under our generation’s rule, there could be changes for the better. As long as the people were happy, it didn’t matter what the royal house was named, and both sides could let go of their grudge and unite in time. All that was false. All nonsense, bullshit, lies!”
This was precisely what Xie Lian didn’t want to hear. He cried out immediately, “No! It’s not false! Think: under your rule, weren’t there real changes?”
Lang Qianqiu closed his mouth, and the heaving of his chest faltered.
Xie Lian continued, “Didn’t you do really well? Didn’t the remnants of Xianle integrate peacefully with the people of Yong’an? There were fewer and fewer conflicts and riots, so how could any of it be false?”
There was a moment of silence. Tears rolled down Lang Qianqiu’s cheeks.
“But…but what about my royal parents? Yong’an and Xianle integrating was their greatest wish; that’s why they granted the princely title ‘An Le’ to the last of your royal bloodline. Their wish came true, but what of their end?”
Qi Rong clicked his tongue. “What a whiny crybaby, just like my saintly cousin was once upon a time! You came crying for your old man and old hag; I haven’t fucking harassed your ancestors for my old man and old hag! Integrating Yong’an and Xianle was their wish? What pretty words. An Le, An Le, settle first, joy after.9 You think I can’t tell that it means you Yong’an dogs want to walk all over the heads of Xianle for the rest of our lives?”
Xie Lian yelled angrily, “Qi Rong, stop your madness!”
Lang Qianqiu, on the other hand, glowered at Qi Rong with tears still falling from his eyes.
“You’re the mastermind behind the massacre of my clan? And you’re part of the plot behind the Gilded Banquet too?”
Qi Rong snickered gleefully. “Yes, I’m part of it. An Le was part of it as well. And your shifu! We three people of Xianle all had our part. Ha ha ha ha ha…”
Unexpectedly, midway through his laugh, Lang Qianqiu’s greatsword swung down and struck. Qi Rong yelped and was sliced into two!
It was an exceedingly gory scene. Both halves of his body writhed and rolled around on the ground, and his upper half cried, “IT DOESN’T HURT! IT DOESN’T HURT! IT DOESN’T HURT ONE BIT! COMPARED TO THAT PUNCH FROM COUSIN CROWN PRINCE, YOU’RE NOTHING! HA HA HA HA HA HA!”