"Brother, how... how have you been?" Qi Meizhen stepped closer but it was clear to everyone that she was not too close to him. It made sense, for she was only the half-sibling of Qi Longhai.

Qi Longhai looked at Qi Meizhen, whose image still remained the same, even looking as if she had become younger. He stared at the boy who had hid himself behind Qi Meizhen. The boy caught his eyes, but immediately turned away. He... the boy really looked like his father. Except for the vermilion mark between his brows, everything was the same.

"I have been well, sister." Qi Longhai could only say in turn. His facial expression was calm, as if his heart wasn't breaking. He had steeled himself, returning before death took him. Yet, the pain was really evident.

"Mother, who is that?" From behind Qi Meizhen, the young boy had finally spoke up.

Qi Meizhen looked at her son, smiling lightly as she said, "This is your uncle, your mother's brother."

Qi Longhai looked at the young boy. "This is your son."

Qi Meizhen smiled, "Yes, he is my son. His Majesty granted him the name, Mo Changming, flourishing brightly. His title is Yang Junwang*, or Mo Yang, Prince of the Sun, the first prince."

Mo Yang peeked out and looked at Qi Longhai. His cheeks were chubby, and at only three years old, he was already able to walk properly and even able to speak without stuttering.

Qi Longhai couldn't help but smile softly. "Your Highness, this official's name is Qi Longhai. I am the Royal Strategist, having just recently returned to fulfill my duty."

Hearing this name, Mo Yang brightened up as he came out from behind Qi Meizhen and said, "I know you! Imperial Father speaks about you daily."

Qi Longhai knitted his brows. But, his hope did not reignite. It was time to move on, he should have since long ago. "Is that so, Your Highness?" He didn't have any hope, Qi Longhai was merely speaking to his nephew.

Mo Yang pursed his lips, looking around as he finally answered, "Imperial Father likes to speak long sentences. When he thinks about you, he says really beautiful words that I can't understand."

Qi Meizhen looked at her son, a hint of worry evident in her brow. While she didn't stop her son, her hands clenched tightly around her handkerchief as she listened.

"I see. His Majesty and I were once friends. He is merely thinking about the past, Your Highness." Qi Longhai's words felt like blood running out of his throat. His eyes held a hint of sorrow but he kept his composure so that no one would notice anything strange.

"Sister, what is my niece's name?" Qi Longhai did not bring the past topic back. When Qi Meizhen heard this, her heart was finally at peace.

"His Majesty granted her the name, Mo Caihong, a rainbow in the sky. Her title is Jin Heshou*, Mo Jin, the Third Princess, Princess Gold." Qi Meizhen ordered the maid who held her daughter to step up. Wrapped in a bundle, a very small child laid, her eyes closed.

Qi Longhai's heart felt warm, even though it ached, at least Mo Chou was able to have his life.

"Sister, I will have to take my leave first. Please excuse me." Qi Longhai bowed, back bending slightly.

"Then, brother, have a safe trip." Qi Meizhen looked like she had some other words she wanted to say but she didn't say anything else. Instead, she could only watch as Qi Longhai walked away, a hint of darkness in her eyes.

"Mother, why does Uncle look so cold?" Mo Yang didn't understand why Qi Longhai looked so far and indifferent.

Qi Meizhen looked at her son and merely said, "It is simply part of the past, don't worry about it Yang'er."

As Qi Meizhen began walking away, her eyes turned a bit cold. There was a vengeful smile on her lips, filled with faint bitterness and anger. While holding Mo Yang's hand, her own face had become frightening.

"Qi Guifei, Her Majesty has ordered for all the concubines to meet in Gufeng Pavilion."

"With a new Empress, it seems that my position is being shaken." Qi Meizhen softly said.

Liang, who had been by Qi Meizhen's side ever since she first entered the palace merely said, "No one will be able to shake your position, Qi Guifei. You have given birth to the First Prince and the Third Princess. His Majesty only has three imperial children and Qi Guifei has given birth to two of them."

"That's what everyone says. But what good can that do when I am not the Empress, when I am not the one that His Majesty loves... All I am is a greedy woman who stole what cannot belong to me, hoping that it can become mine when it never will. At heart, I am just a selfish person who has sacrificed everything for a man who can never love me."

-

"Chouyi, how has your relationship been with Empress Hui Yin?" In the room now, only Mo Chou and Bai Suixin remained. As they talked to one another, Mei Xi stood, guarding carefully for any intruders.

"Mother, things have been well. She and I have come to a compromise. While the future is still unknown, she has agreed to my words and I to her's." Mo Chou was very calm as he said this, fixing his robe as he spoke.

Bai Suixin nodded her head. "I have met Empress Hui Yin. She is a very smart person, able to guess and scheme when she has to. Not to mention, she knows to stand her ground and not to let anyone take advantage of her. Having her here, the harem will be able to stay at peace, the turmoil will be overturned." Bai Suixin fixed her hair, her eyes tired and losing some of her normal liveliness.

"I know, that is why I chose her out of everyone else. She knows that I ask nothing more from her other than becoming a good figure for Mo Nation." While saying this, Mo Chou flinched a bit. It wasn't from his words, but rather that he had recalled something that was better sealed off.

Bai Suixin's eyes glanced at her son, the man who had grown from when he was just a little boy, a child uncaring of the world to the man he now was. Suddenly, she smiled lightly, a smile that seemed to carry a thousand words that could not be explained.

"Do you regret it? This throne became your wish, your dream. To achieve this dream, you changed. To complete this wish, you lost so many things even as you clearly gained so much. Was everything that you lost worth the things that you now have?" Bai Suixin's words were twinged with heavy regret, as if she was thinking about her own life.

Mo Chou's eyes flickered, his own throat running dry, the words not willing to come out. His blue eyes looked up and he also mirrored Bai Suixin's sorrowful smile. "Back then, it was worth it. Back then, I believed that everything I lost was worth less than what I would've gain. Back then, I became infatuated with the power, the glory. In turn, I lost the only thing that I wanted most. I had betrayed someone with the worst betrayal possible. Now, I look back and sigh at the person I once was, only realizing that I became too greedy then."

With that, they both stared out the window. There was a silence in the room, an overbearing silence that seemed to swallow the room in darkness.

"The position you hold now is too great for you to ever give it up. Even if you want to, you will have to bear the responsibilities that comes with your position. Now, what you wanted most has become something that will bind you to it forever."

-

"Qingshan!" Lu Fengmian smiled as he followed behind Tang Qingshan.

Tang Qingshan turned back to Lu Fengmian, a smile on his lips as he said, "Well, it seems like you will also have your own role now."

"While it seems like that on the surface, there is much more I will have to worry about. I wasn't intending for this to happen so soon. I still want to follow you." Saying this, Lu Fengmian's eyes casted downward.

Tang Qingshan shook his head, "Her Majesty is a good person. With her, your future will be guaranteed, and now that you have that seal, no will dare to slight you. In fact, you may be even more powerful than I am, Fengmian." Tang Qingshan joked as the two walked in the bamboo forest near the palace, just a bit further away from Tang Qingshan's own manor.

"That only makes me more worried. It also seems like I will be called to the palace a bit near the future. Just like you, my life will start getting busy." Lu Fengmian shook his head lightly, still keeping his soft demeanor under the gleaming moon that was shining bright, giving off light.

To this, Tang Qingshan gently chuckled, a deep sound rumbling from his throat. "It may seem like that, but worry not. Her Majesty is an understanding person and she also knows that you are close to me. While I may not seem like it, I am still powerful too."

The bamboo forest was starting to clear. The lights from a huge manor could be seen, servants walking and guards patrolling. As they walked down the path, a man soon came out. He was an old man, a man with slight graying hair and a few wrinkles on his face.

He looked once at Tang Qingshan and greeted, "Master, the Madam has already been waiting for your return in the palace hall. You and this Young Master can step in." The man smiled while curtly nodding his neck at Tang Qingshan.

Tang Qingshan smiled as he said, "Butler Xin, this is my guest. You may address him as Young Master Lu."

Butler Xin smiled at once. One could easily tell that the relationship between the two were close.

"Young Master Lu, welcome to the Tang Manor. If there is anything that you should need, please do tell me at once. I shall prepare everything that you wish for." Butler Xin had noticed Lu Fengmian right away. If anything, his eyes twitched suspiciously but stopped before anything serious.

Lu Fengmian softly smiled, a gentlemanly look on his face. "Thank you, Butler Xin. If I have anything to speak of, I shall alert you at once."

"Then please let me guide you in." Saying this, Butler Xin looked at the guards who closed the gates at once. He then guided the two inside as they walked past the servants who would stop to greet Tang Qingshan. "Master, the Madam has been the same as normal. While her cough has not been cured, it has not worsen."

Lu Fengmian listened to this with a furrow in his brows. It seemed like Tang Qingshan's mother was a sickly woman. But judging from their tone, it seemed like a normal occurrence or something that has lasted for a while now.

"I see, I assume that my mother has been living well during the months I was gone?" Tang Qingshan's voice was very even but there was worry laced in his words.

"Madam has been well. She was worried when you left but the Empress Dowager had helped invited her to a few events and distracted her from worrying too much." Butler Xin explained.

Tang Qingshan nodded his head as Butler Xin opened the doors, revealing the hall.

"Please go in, Madam should be waiting for you already." Butler Xin stood outside the door, holding it opened as he bended his back awaiting them.

Tang Qingshan glanced back at Lu Fengmian, noticing that there was a very light furrow on the man's face. Seeing this, he smiled lightly, his coldness dissipating as he said, "Don't worry, my mother is a very kind person."

Lu Fengmian nodded his head lightly at this, his hands slightly tugging his outfit. It felt like he was being introduced to his in-laws. It was nerve-wrecking for him, his heart was feeling warm and even his fox demon senses were rising for some reason.

The doors revealed a large hall with chairs lined, a room that was elegant and beautiful. Within the room, a woman dressed in white was standing while looking at a calligraphy on the wall, a maid standing by her side.

Tang Qingshan looked at his mother as he opened his mouth and recited the poem she was looking at, "The mountains so tall, the sky so wide. The heaven so high, the earth so deep. The seasons are fleeting, while time is unending. A sword in hand, a heart galloping slow. The wars I conquer, all to return back home." His voice was smooth as he said this.

The woman turned to Tang Qingshan, a sad smile on her face, her beautiful, oriental features shining.

(Shan Mingxia (A bright glow through the clouds at dawn), 38 years old)

"Qing'er, you've returned." Shan Mingxia's features were very mature, her personality calm and at peace.

Tang Qingshan stepped towards Shan Mingxia as she reached for his hand and held it softly. "Mother, I hope that you have been well during the time I was gone."

"I have. Don't worry, my son. I just thought about your father for a bit and wanted to come see the words he had written." Shan Mingxia looked at the poem that was hung on the wall as she said this. Her eyes were gleamed with deep sorrow and pain. One could easily tell just how much pain she had gone through.

Tang Qingshan gave a moment of silence as he also gazed at the words written so powerfully onto the paper that was hung up. "Father was a good man, mother. He wouldn't want you to be so sad even now."

Shan Mingxia could only shake her head. "More than fifteen years have passed. He had left us when you were so young and I had been with him not even long enough." Shan Mingxia looked at her son, softly sighing. But then, her eyes caught onto the young man who had been waiting for them silently. Her eyes suddenly widened as she looked at him.

"Young man, who are you?"

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