Chapter 424: King Rui’s Ability

At the beginning of the new year, the people of Chang’an finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Your Majesty, who has been on the throne for thirty-seven years, officially passed the throne to Prince Chun. Prince Chun did not support the restoration of the old laws and handed over the government affairs to the three provinces. He spent all day either fishing with the Minister of the Supreme Court or studying cooking in the imperial kitchen. It seemed that he was even less reliable than the previous Majesty.

However, there was no criticism of Prince Chun either among the people or in the court.

After going through ups and downs in recent years, people have realized one thing.

A country can do without an emperor.

An emperor who only likes fishing and cooking is far better than a tyrant.

Changan.

Hibiscus Garden.

The warm spring sun shines through the hollow carved railings, casting mottled halos of light on the bluestone path.

There were ripples on the lake surface under the float. Prince Chun gently lifted the rod, but the hook was empty.

He threw out the club again with some regret. He heard footsteps behind him. The lake in front of him was dim, reflecting the figure in casual clothes behind him.

Prince Chun patted the hem of his clothes, handed the fishing rod to the man, and stood behind him.

Emperor Xia held the fishing rod, lowered his eyes and stared at the water, and asked, “Is it worth it?”

Li Xuanjing did not speak. He continued to ask: “For some people who have nothing to do with you, you were deserted by your friends and relatives, and bore the infamy of the world for twenty years. In the end, what did you get… Is it worth it?”

Li Xuanjing smiled slightly and said, “Isn’t it worth it to let Your Majesty fish quietly here?”

“But I can only fish here.”

Emperor Xia lowered his head and said in a deep voice: “Li Xuanjing, you made me lose miserably, but what did you win? The people’s hearts, what’s the use of them? Power, I know you don’t want power; wealth, you have no shortage of these; women, you don’t like women even more, you must be after something…”

Li Xuanjing said softly: “Xie Mingyuan, Shen Qingyan, Su Dan, Lin He, Chu Huaiqian, Jiang Wenshao… Su Daru, what are they planning?”

Emperor Xia did not answer. He held the fishing rod and shook his head, saying, “You Confucians are all a bunch of boring people…”

The lakeside gradually fell into silence.

One after another, figures appeared in the garden.

Today is a family dinner for the royal family.

Whether it was the King of Han and King You who were imprisoned before, or the King of Xin, King of Xuan, and King of Ji who had already been eliminated from the power struggle, all appeared here.

Prince Rui, who had not been seen for a long time, walked into the gate of Furong Garden while reading a book in his hand.

Prince Gong followed him into the garden and looked at Prince Chun wearing the imperial crown from afar. He sighed deeply and said, “Who would have thought that among us, the one who won in the end would be him…”

Thinking back to those days, King You of Han was at the height of his power, King Rui had many supporters, and he was secretly plotting. Who had ever looked at King Chun in the eye?
But all of them lost to Prince Chun, the most inconspicuous one in these years.

King Rui closed the book and said softly, “It is destiny, there is nothing to be surprised about.”

Prince Gong sneered: “Destiny, bullshit destiny, I never believe in destiny, he is just lucky!”

King Rui just smiled and didn’t explain any further.

In Prince Gong’s eyes, this smile was full of sarcasm.

The failure in the fight for the throne made him look like a joke. This laugh broke his defense again. Prince Gong reached out and grabbed Prince Rui’s collar, angrily saying, “What are you laughing at!”

But when he stretched out his hand, his palm passed through King Rui’s chest.

Prince Gong tried a few more times, but the same thing happened.

Prince Rui seemed to have fallen into nothingness. He was clearly standing there, yet he could not be reached.

Prince Gong had never seen such a strange scene before. He collapsed to the ground and said in a trembling voice: “You, are you a human or a ghost?”

Li Nuo, holding An Ning’s hand, had just walked into the garden gate when he suddenly looked up and forward, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

What power is this?
Just now, a very strange power fluctuation came from King Rui.

Li Nuo’s body contains the power of various families, but the power of King Rui is different from the power he is familiar with.

Only the calligrapher’s power seems to resonate with that power, but there is no similarity between the two.

And the ability of King Rui to turn his body into an illusion was something that even he, who was well-read, had never heard of.

At that moment, King Rui seemed to have left this space.

It has to be said that each of these princes of the Great Xia royal family has something special on them.

Li Nuo took An Ning by the hand and walked to King Rui and asked, “What kind of ability is this?”

Although the two had some conflicts before, now, those have become the past that does not need to be mentioned anymore. Prince Rui put away the book in his hand, smiled at Li Nuo, and said: “I don’t know what kind of ability this is. If I have to give it a name, then I’ll call it ‘Reading’. This is a kind of power that I have realized in the past few years of studying…”

Li Nuo nodded slightly, holding An Ning’s hand and walked away.

An Ning looked back and asked Li Nuo curiously, “What is a reader? How come I have never heard of it?”

Not only An Ning, Li Nuo had never heard of it either, but this was not something strange.

Confucianism, Legalism, Mohism and other schools of thought did not exist from the beginning. They always had a founder. King Rui’s “reading of family” might be a path he created himself.

Judging from the perception just now, this ability does not seem to be threatening.

But that ability to escape into the void was still somewhat novel, especially when Li Nuo made eye contact with him, he felt as if he was being spied on.

The world is so big and full of wonders. Li Nuo is no longer curious about everything.

Li Nuo did not refuse the invitation to the family dinner initiated by the former Majesty.

This shows that he has let go of the grudge between the royal family and the Li family.

For An Ning, this is also the best ending.

Li Nuo held An Ning’s hand and admired the scenery in the garden, then walked towards Li Yun who was snuggling with the mechanical woman not far away.

King Rui stood under a tree, his eyes sweeping over everyone.

The feminine man stood beside King Rui and turned to look at him.

The way His Highness looked at them was exactly the same as when he used to read.

Your Highness has changed a lot in the past two years.

Especially in recent months, he noticed that there was always a kind of sadness in His Highness’s eyes.

At a certain moment, he noticed that there were some changes in King Rui’s gaze.

Looking in the direction of his gaze, he saw Li Xuanjing, the Dali Temple Minister, who was fishing by the lake and had just caught a big fish…

Seeing that Prince Rui was staring at the figure for a long time, he couldn’t help but ask, “Your Highness, what’s wrong?”

Prince Rui shook his head and smiled, but there was a hint of self-mockery and melancholy in his smile. He said softly, “In this world, there are people who are born different from us…”

And when he cast his gaze towards a certain place by the lake, or to be exact, when he saw Li Nuo, his eyes that seemed to see through everything suddenly showed a little confusion.

On the lakeside, An Ning held Qing Qing’s hand, looked at her carefully, and exclaimed: “Really? It looks exactly like the real person…”

The mechanical woman in front of him, no matter whether he looked at her from far or near, could not be identified as a mechanical person. Even her eyes were as lively as those of an ordinary woman.

Li Yun smiled and said, “We found some precious materials and Mohist secrets in a Mohist family in Qi State. How about it? It seems that Qingqing’s body is made of mechanical materials…”

The woman looked at her delicate arms and said, “What’s wrong with mechanical materials? They will never age. Even if they are damaged, they can be replaced with new materials. Humans should abandon the burden of the flesh…”

Before she finished speaking, Li Yun covered her mouth. Li Yun smiled and said, “She was just talking nonsense, don’t take it to heart…”

……

Changan.

The royal family banquet is in progress in Furong Garden.

The land of the extreme south.

On the top of the snowy mountain, three figures stood in front of a snow cave, arguing.

“You are the eldest brother, you go in first!”

“I was the first one to do it last time. It’s your turn this time.”

“Junior brother, you go ahead.”

“According to the order, it’s your turn, Senior Brother…”

……

Finally, the Wei State Master sighed and slowly walked into the snow cave.

A moment later, an angry voice came from the snow cave.

“What, you failed again?”

“Teacher, this time it’s really not our problem. It’s because the enemy is too strong. Why don’t you go out and take a look yourself…”

(End of this chapter)