Huo Wujiu came back in no time.
It usually only took a few days to travel from Suzhou to Lin’an. But with Huo Wujiu horse galloping at top speed, he rushed back in the early morning two days later.
He clearly returned to denounce somebody publicly for his crime. At such a fast speed, it didn’t look like he really suffered multiple injuries.
Well, Huo Wujiu indeed did not suffer much injury. Huo Yuyan only sent ten assassins, and the rest were all his men used to bluff.
His injuries were downright perfunctory. They were not so much an injury as they were simply in coordination with the performance.
Moreover, when he saw Huo Yuyan again, his injured arm was quite conspicuous with the bandages.
His left arm was wrapped in snow-white bandages, even hanging in front of the chest, looking seriously injured. But when he walked towards Huo Yuyan, he was walking like a fly, clearly injured, but like a high and mighty victor.
Currently, he was indeed a victor.
Huo Yuyan came south, and to hoodwink people, he didn’t bring many of his trusted people. Presently, all the soldiers stationed in the imperial city were Huo Wujiu’s troops.
He couldn’t escape and had nowhere to hide. These two days, he waited in the imperial city with a deathly pale complexion.
Today, when the palace door was closed, and their eyes were facing each other, they both showed their undisguised and most genuine expressions for the first time.
Huo Wujiu raised one corner of his mouth, smiled provocatively, and looked at Huo Yuyan, who was trembling with hatred.
“You planned this a long time ago,” Huo Yuyan gritted his teeth and confirmed.
Hearing this, Huo Wujiu raised the corner of his lips and stood there, looking down at him.
“What does it mean saying I planned a long time ago?” Huo Wujiu rhetorically asked. “Elder Brother, I just learned that you had dealings with Pang Shao long ago and also about crippling me. I wanted to give you a chance to repent.”
Huo Yuyan’s pupils suddenly constricted.
“W-What did you say?” He faltered, then stared at Huo Wujiu in shock.
“Stop pretending,” Huo Wujiu raised his hand and rubbed his temples. “The letter you sent, which Pang Shao preserved well, also happened to fall into my hands. I can still recognize your handwriting, and it’s more genuine than your current expression.”
Huo Yuyan stared at him for a long time, and gradually restored to his all-expressionless appearance.
“So what if I did?” He stayed silent for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was already a bit hoarse.
Huo Wujiu marched and sat straight down on the chair diagonally in front of him. With a lift of his hand, he pulled the bandages hanging in front of his chest that were in the way.
“So, you went to all this trouble, but why didn’t you team up with Pang Shao earlier?” Huo Wujiu leaned back on the seat, turned his head sideways and asked. “After the change of dynasties, you got entangled with the old dynasty. Huo Yuyan, are you reluctant to part with it?”
Huo Yuyan stared daggers at Huo Wujiu.
Huo Wujiu’s tone was so casual, as if all his plans over the years were all a joke.
But the reason he was so preoccupied and unable to sleep was all because of Huo Wujiu.
He commanded public respect and support; the title was rightfully his; even when there was a discussion in the courtroom, it was he who had laid the foundation of the country.
Everyone only knew how great his war achievements were, but they never saw the bones behind him. Even his close relatives from the Huo family were either killed or seriously injured. In the end, only he, Huo Wujiu, was the one left unharmed.
Huo Yuyan glared at him for a long time, and after a moment, he laughed.
“Huo Wujiu, then you should ask why your father left the throne to my father after his death. Or you should also ask why you didn’t die in that battle in Xunyang.”
Huo Wujiu couldn’t help but frown when he heard him say that.
“What are you talking about?” he asked icily.
He watched as Huo Yuyan’s miserable white face smiled coldly at him.
“A good general is supposed to die for his country, not to delude himself into thinking about sitting on a high official position after his success.” Huo Yuyan said. “You’re so conceited. Don’t you just feel you’ve achieved great success in the war? Aren’t my father’s and my positions all handouts from you? Huo Wujiu, who can be at peace with a person like you living? What I’ve done is only for the sake of a century of the Great Liang.”
Huo Wujiu’s expression grew colder and colder.
He has never liked Huo Yuyan’s habit of hiding half of his words and revealing half of it since he was young, but now it seemed that it was better for him to hide back all of his sincere words.
“You’re sick, you know?” Huo Wujiu asked.
Without waiting for Huo Yuyan to answer, Huo Wujiu continued to ask.
“Following what you’ve said, I have to take the initiative to commit suicide in exchange for your peace of mind, right?”
As he spoke, he laughed to himself: “Handouts? How generous am I to give away the throne? It wasn’t something I wanted in the first place, so if I give it to you, are you still afraid I’ll snatch it back?”
Before Huo Wujiu came, he originally also held the idea of asking Huo Yuyan properly. But now, after he had just said a few words, he felt tired and annoyed.
There was no need for it. It was akin to a chicken talking to a duck, or playing his guitar to an ox. People should always talk to people.
With this in mind, he stood up, casually dusted his robe, and wrapped the bandages hanging around his neck back into his supposedly injured arm.
“Think and do whatever you want, anyway, you yourself lost your throne.” Before he turned around, he took one last look at Huo Yuyan.
“Only when your heart’s filthy will you think that others’ are filthy as well.
——
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