Chapter Thirty: Is It That I Don't Want To? No, I Dare Not!

"A father does not understand his son, and a son does not understand his father?" Li Chengqian repeated these words in a murmur, yet his heart jolted violently, and his throat instantly tightened with emotion.

He had almost been swayed by the tender, affectionate posture of Li Shimin, nearly letting go of the heavy burdens and the raging inferno of fury in his heart—nearly forgetting the very purpose of his arrival today!

"Your Majesty!" Li Chengqian steeled his resolve once more. He turned his head away, avoiding Li Shimin’s touch. "Since you sowed the seeds of evil in me in the past, you must naturally expect to harvest the bitter fruit that I have become!"

"I came to the palace today to resolve the confusion and agony that have plagued my heart for years!"

"Why must Your Majesty hide behind the glib words of 'a father not understanding his son, and a son not understanding his father' to gloss over the truth?"

"Chengqian, you!" The warmth that had just surfaced in Li Shimin’s eyes was shattered instantly by the Crown Prince’s sharp words, replaced immediately by a biting chill.

Yet Li Chengqian did not fear him in the slightest!

He stiffened his neck and continued to roar, "Your Majesty!"

"You say I do not understand my father? Then I must ask."

"Do I truly not understand my own father?"

"It is clear that Your Majesty has indulged the Prince of Wei without restraint while suppressing the Eastern Palace!"

"You have allowed me, the Crown Prince, to lose all face before the court and the people!"

"And now you blame me for failing to understand your profound intentions?"

"Is it that I did not want to?"

"It is that I could not!"

"I dared not!"

"I feared that if I truly understood your intentions, the last shred of humanity left in my heart would be utterly extinguished by you!" Li Chengqian was firing on all cylinders. His relentless barrage of questions left Li Shimin, whose own heart was already a tangle of complex emotions, momentarily speechless.

Li Shimin could only turn his head away, his face etched with agonizing pain!

The anger that had just cooled in his heart suddenly flared up again!

Yet somehow, as he looked into Li Chengqian’s bloodshot, wide-staring eyes, that rage receded like a tide, vanishing without a trace in an instant!

This sensation, like being caught between ice and fire, caused a flicker of struggle to cross Li Shimin’s face. He squinted slightly, finding himself at a loss for words.

Meanwhile, Li Chengqian remained there, neck stiff, gazing heavily at Li Shimin. He was clearly waiting for a response.

After a moment of contemplation, Li Shimin spoke slowly: "I know that for many years... I have indeed not been a good father to you."

"And it is true that I have showered Qingque with affection while being most severe with you."

"But I have never had the intention to depose the heir."

"Let alone replacing you in the Eastern Palace with Qingque."

"My feelings for you..." Li Shimin’s voice was hoarse, but as he finished, his tone carried an indescribable sense of desolation. He let out a heavy sigh and fell silent.

That sigh, heavy with the weight of years, struck Li Chengqian’s defenses like a thunderbolt, causing his tense frame to tremble and his tightly clenched fists to slacken slightly.

But in that brief moment of wavering, Zhao Mu’s warnings flashed through Li Chengqian’s mind!

Along with the deep-seated despair and madness he had seen in the eyes of Hou Junji when he had incited him to rebel!

"Fine!" Li Chengqian let out a cold laugh. "Even if I do not understand your intentions, even if you were merely sharpening me, your incompetent Crown Prince!"

"But Your Majesty, was forcing the Duke of Chen, Hou Junji, into a dead end—driving him to desperate measures, forcing him... to come to me, a Crown Prince already driven to the edge by you, to plot a rebellion—was that, too, merely your way of sharpening me?"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin’s brows furrowed, his heart filled with utter shock!

However, he was not surprised by the fact that Hou Junji had incited the Crown Prince to rebel. That had happened more than once. And in this most recent instance, it was exactly as Li Chengqian said: it was indeed a scheme he had orchestrated from behind the scenes!

It was just that... how did Chengqian know the inside story?

And how could he be so certain that it was his own doing?

He had handled it with such secrecy!

First, he had hidden armor in the Duke of Chen’s mansion to make him tremble with fear, then he had let him lower his guard and send evidence of his crimes out of the estate, only to seize both the man and the armor red-handed on the road. Everything had been carried out by the most clandestine 'Eighteen Riders' within the Hundred Offices, and even his closest attendant knew nothing of it.

Yet, Chengqian had found out!

And most crucially, how did Chengqian dare to confront him?

When Li Shimin first planned this, he had naturally calculated the various ways the Crown Prince might respond—perhaps ignoring it as he had in the past, or, feeling secure in his position, reporting Hou Junji. He had even considered the possibility that the Crown Prince might be successfully persuaded by Hou Junji to launch a coup. But he had never expected that Li Chengqian, his eldest son and Crown Prince for over a decade, would burst into the palace in the dead of night to interrogate him directly...

Was he not afraid that he would fly into a rage...?

Li Shimin was completely baffled, yet a trace of imperceptible embarrassment flickered across his face!

Could he help but be embarrassed?

He had secretly arranged for someone to force the Duke of Chen to unite with his own son in rebellion, all to test his son’s loyalty. And now, he had been found out—and confronted to his face!

Good heavens, it was fortunate that the gold bricks on the floor of the Ganlu Palace were sturdy. Otherwise, Li Shimin feared he could have dug a whole new palace with his toes!

In a fleeting instant, countless thoughts raced through Li Shimin’s mind.

But at this moment, Li Chengqian was growing bolder with every word!

He seemed to have found an outlet for all his suppressed grievances and fears, and he demanded with a shrill cry: "Did Your Majesty not wait for Hou Junji to incite me, the Crown Prince, to rebel?"

"So that you could then use your overwhelming power to wipe us all out in one fell swoop!?"

"All to clear the path for your beloved Prince of Wei?"

Boom!

Li Shimin felt dizzy and lightheaded from the relentless stimulation of Li Chengqian’s words!

However, this matter...

Sigh...

Perhaps it was because the Prince had brought him both too many surprises and too many shocks today that Li Shimin had shed his usual temperament, becoming uncharacteristically sentimental.

Even when being interrogated by his own son, he could not bring himself to be angry...

He even thought to himself that since he had been found out, no matter how awkward it was, he had to face it. As an Emperor, 'evasion' was not in Li Shimin’s creed!

Yet, how to face it left Li Shimin standing there in profound embarrassment, weighing his words for a long time.

After much thought, he could find no better way out.

He had no choice but to resort to the most time-honored way of dealing with father-son conflict since ancient times!

Li Shimin assumed a posture of righteous justification and said quite candidly: "Chengqian, you are correct. Hou Junji was indeed driven into a corner by me, which is why he took such a reckless risk."

"As for why..." Li Shimin paused, then looked at Li Chengqian with a grave and serious expression. "In truth, I, the Emperor of the Great Tang, simply wanted to know what choice the Crown Prince would make if incited by such a villain to rebel and seize the throne!" Li Shimin frankly and unreservedly told his thoughts to the still-furious Crown Prince.