Hu Xiaotian said nothing, but he already understood who the man Xue Shengjing spoke of-the one who had plotted against him-was.
Xue Shengjing said, "He deliberately arranged for a dancing girl to approach me. I fell madly in love with her, heedless of everything, and she loved me too. But because I belonged to the imperial family, I could never marry her and bring her into my household. I could only settle her somewhere in secret. She bore me a son and a daughter. Once all this was an accomplished fact, that man reported my affair with the dancing girl to my imperial father. My father flew into a rage, believing I had disgraced our family, and ordered her execution. When I heard the news, I believed it and had people escort her and the children away. Little did I know that every move I made was under his control." He sighed again. "The truth was, my father had never intended to kill my children. Someone deliberately spread that rumor, intending to wipe out all three of them as they fled."
Hu Xiaotian could now be certain that the man who had plotted against Xue Shengjing back then was none other than Xue Shengkang, the emperor of Great Kang. Now that Xue Shengkang was dead, that old feud no longer held much significance. Yet a thought involuntarily surfaced in his mind: Was there some hidden mystery behind Xue Shengkang's sudden death? After sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall, enduring all those years of hardship, would Xue Shengjing really abandon revenge? From what he knew of Xue Shengjing, that was clearly impossible.
Xue Shengjing did not continue the subject. He looked out the window and drew a deep breath, composing himself before lifting the wine cup in front of him and