After hearing Jing Hongchen out, Uncle Xiao gave a rather comical smile. "The same old excuses again. Jing Hongchen, I'm sick of hearing them."
"Even if you didn't want to drag the Hongchen Family into it, you could at least have gone to the palace to find Kong Deming, couldn't you?"
"You were one of his favorite students. He was in seclusion then, but if you'd asked him to come out, who would have dared run wild?"
Jing Hongchen's anger gradually subsided. "Elder Kong also has royal blood. He swore never to take sides in disputes between younger members of the Royal Family."
"He'd already seen through His Majesty's intentions then and chose not to interfere. He simply hadn't expected His Majesty to be so ruthless."
"I thought the same as Elder Kong-that His Majesty only meant to force the Late Emperor to abdicate. Who could have known..."
Jing Hongchen's eyes immediately dimmed, revealing a trace of sorrow.
Uncle Xiao sneered. "Stop pretending, Jing Hongchen. I don't see a shred of guilt in you toward the Late Emperor."
Faced with Uncle Xiao's cutting mockery, Jing Hongchen no longer appeared so furious. Clearly, both men had grown accustomed to arguing over this.
Listening to their conversation, Huo Yuhao roughly pieced together the relationships involved.
It turned out that Xiao had been one of He Caitou's father's former subordinates. Jing Hongchen had received word when the Sun Moon Emperor launched his coup, but he hadn't entered the palace to protect the emperor.
In the end, the Sun Moon Emperor's coup succeeded, while Xiao survived because he had remained in Illustrious Virtue Hall.
"Though I failed the Late Emperor, I've at least done right by you, Xiao Ze." Jing Hongchen abruptly changed tack, questioning him coldly. "For these past ten years, I treated