WangXian Forever 6

Chapter 109 Intentions

Hui Gai stared at his mother, unsure how to tell her everything. Wei Ying squeezed his knee, trying to encourage him.

"Just tell her the truth." Wei Ying told him, his voice full of certainty. "She deserves to know."

"Agreed, my son. You should always pick honesty if given the choice. However, I may know of something that will bring you some measure of relief." She wrapped her aura around him again. "But you should also know that it doesn't matter what you have to tell me, it will never change how I feel about you."

Hui Gai could see the truth of her words through the warmth he could feel, but in truth, he wanted to spare her the pain of knowing what her other son was really like.

"What if it was bad?" He licked his lips. "Like, really bad?"

"Even then, I would prefer you to tell me the truth."

Hui Gai felt as if her eyes were delving deep inside his mind, searching for the truth.

"Do it. Tell her everything." Wei Ying smiled at him. "She'll understand. She's got that motherly feeling about her."

"So my brother and I, we were captured by a bad man. He cursed us to reside inside onyx knives, and he performed sacrifices. He wanted to complete a ritual that involved killing a whole load of innocent dragons."

He sensed hesitation in her.

"What did you do?" She asked him tentatively.

"I tried to stop him, to save my brother..."

"And?"

It seemed she really wanted to know. So he reluctantly continued.

"My brother had absorbed the curse, and he agreed with the bad man, to the point of taking over his body. Then when we tried to stop him, he tried to kill my friend. When I tried to stop him from doing that, my friend had to make a hard choice but he saved me. My brother died by dragon fire." Hui Gai tried to keep it short and simple. It would not be fair to hurt this lady when all she had shown him was love.

But he could not look at her anymore.

"Do you know what happens when children are born in a royal household?" She asked him instead.

He shook his head.

"Please forgive this one for his ignorance."

"There is nothing to forgive, because you had no one to tell you. Just hear me out?"

Hui Gai nodded, anxiously waiting for her to say what was on her mind.

"Children of nobility, especially if they are to come into power, are taken to astrologers. Their exact time of birth is recorded and from that, a prediction is made. You don't know this, but your brother was born a full five minutes before you."

"That makes a difference?" He asked her, but he found it difficult to believe.

"Of course. So does the place. For example, a child born here and on the other side of the world, even though it's at exactly the same time, will have completely different horoscopes. The astrologers draw up a horoscope made up of twelve houses. These twelve houses pertain to the twelve different parts of your life, from the moment you are born, childhood, your relationship with your mother and your father, puberty, adulthood, marriage, death and your personality."

"What did his say?" Hui Gai asked, licking his lips.

His relationship with his brother was complicated to say the least, but a part of him always regretted what happened to him.

"They recommended killing him in order to save you."

Wei Ying choked.

"That's a bit harsh, isn't it?" Hui Gai stared at her.

"Astrologers are not emotional about their jobs. You ask, they tell. It's a simple procedure." She sighed.

"But...you don't have to listen, right? You can do what you want, isn't it?" He asked.

Hui Gai couldn't believe his parents would have done what was recommended...not to his brother.

"I didn't go with your father to get the predictions. And when he came back, he wore that same look upon his face that you do right now. When he told me, I too, didn't want to believe it. How could one child be responsible for killing the other? You were twins after all. Yet his horoscope said one thing, and yours said another."

"What did mine say?" Hui Gai asked, tentatively.

"That initially your life would be difficult, but if something auspicious happened, it would change the course of your entire life. That you would go on to be a great king. And the father of many, many children."

Hui Gai thought she was trying not to laugh. He was incredibly embarrassed though.

"Do not worry, for a good king always sees his subjects as his children." She continued. "So you needn't have worried. When I saw you, and your brother was not here with you, I sort of knew."

"Then why make me tell you?" His voice had an edge.

"It was a test, to see what kind of person you are. I wanted to know if you actually would tell me the truth, or lie because you wanted to hide it. But all I sensed was a desire to protect me from what you perceived as being painful for me."

"That is true. I wanted to protect you." He admitted.

"My child...I lost your father. No other pain could even come close to that." She said softly.

They were quiet for a while, each processing what they had learned about each other.

Hui Gai was the first to break the silence.

"When we defeated Yao Wang for the first time, I heard a voice when I was about to open the black box. Was that you?"

"Yes, it was I. I was anxious to meet you, and it was a celestial test of your character. Chang'e gave that box to you, correct?"

Hui Gai nodded. "Yes, but what do you mean by celestial test?"

"They wanted to see if you could make a correct decision under pressure, or succumb to vengeance. Only then they could see that your choices were made from equality, to achieve balance rather than from a personal perspective. And you did, because the light that shone from the box was yellow. Had you wanted to kill Yao Wang out of hatred or vengeance, the light would have shone red, and you would have missed your chance to save our people. The Celestials would have invaded and banished you for starters. And then goodness knows what would have happened to all of these innocents? Instead, you passed their test. Indeed you are your father's son."

"And yours." Hui Gai added.

"Now I can rest easier. After this meeting, I will go and find your father. He is waiting for me."

"Were you waiting for me?" Hui Gai asked, hardly daring to believe it.

"I died here. My soul was tied to this Palace, but not as a resentful spirit because they saw my death as a sacrifice to protect my sons. Both innocent at that time. I wanted to stay until you returned, and now that you have, I can finally go."

"But mother, I wish to speak with my father as well." Hui Gai whispered.

Wei Ying was having a hard time not fist pumping the air.

"We need something of his, but we didn't know what would work." He added.

"That's easy." She replied with a smile. "Look for a carved rattle. He made that himself, when he found out that we were starting a family. Then, I will wait until after you have made your peace with him, before we leave together."

"As you wish. But mother, if you're going to wait anyway, I would like you to meet both my daughters and my life partner." Hui Gai told her.

He could have sworn that her warm yellow light glowed even brighter at his words.

Wei Ying looked at his friend and knew he would be alright.