chapter 86
Chapter 85: King Rongsheng’s Last Wish
When King Rongsheng learned of his fate, he had no reaction.
He knew what kind of destiny awaited him. For him, at least he retained the dignity of a king in the end, and that was enough.
When he was taken out of the Tingwei Mansion, King Rongsheng was escorted back to the palace. There were still two months left until the actual execution. During this time, he would spend it in the house where he used to live in the palace. Except for not being able to leave his courtyard, everything else was the same as when he was still a prince.
This was considered the last bit of dignity given to him.
When Qin Ji went to visit the prince again, he found that there were already piles of written books in front of him.
These books were all neatly bound, and the handwriting on them was upright and clear, making them pleasing to the eye.
As for the emperor’s hope that he would not get too close to King Rongsheng…
“Tsk, at least he should convey her answer to His Majesty, right?”
This time, the King of Rongsheng did not keep him for long, only handing him a few keys and instructing Qin Ji to find a way to personally copy his own mansion and take away several large boxes from the mansion.
Those large boxes were a small gift he left for Qin Ji.
Qin Ji did not refuse the gift. He knew very well what the other party had left for him. The keys in his hand were typical bookcase keys, with exquisite patterns and the word “book” engraved on them.
It seemed that the King of Rongsheng had always been thinking about his books. Now, he was willing to hand these keys to Qin Ji, indicating that he ultimately hoped someone would keep his books.
Qin Ji agreed to his request. Those collections might be very helpful in understanding this King of Rongsheng. Moreover, Qin Ji was willing to believe that this king, who could cause such a big stir and gather so many followers, must have had some progress.
The Fifth Prince indeed had some unrealistic ideas, but unrealistic ideas were not necessarily wrong, just not in line with this era.
Therefore, Qin Ji was still very willing to accept this gift. To ensure that there were no people from His Majesty monitoring around, he specifically asked Ling Yan to be on guard.
After putting away the Fifth Prince’s gift, Qin Ji explained Xia Yuxiao’s request to the Fifth Prince. Hearing that Xia Yuxiao said she would consider it, the King of Rongsheng smiled with relief. Although she said she would consider it, it basically meant she had agreed.
Seeing the King of Rongsheng like this, Qin Ji couldn’t help but sigh. In the end, this prince, once a strong contender for the throne, ended up like this.
“Oh, by the way, I heard that the exchange students between our Great Xia and the Western Empire are going to return home soon. Is that true?”
“Yes, it was a three-year exchange program, and now it has expired. The students should all be on their way back,” Qin Ji said. “I hope what they learned in the Western Empire can be useful in our country.”
Hearing this, the King of Rongsheng smiled: “Taiwei, your thoughts are not wrong. After all, although Great Xia is full of talents now, in most people’s eyes, there are still many gaps. This also requires a lot of talents. When our talents return, Taiwei must find a way to keep them in the country.”
“Rest assured, I have already prepared for this.”
In fact, the treatment in Great Xia has always been very good, no need to say more. This time, Qin Ji also decided to treat those returning talents generously. After all, there are still many gaps in Great Xia that need to be filled.
“That’s good.” The King of Rongsheng fell silent for a moment, seemingly having no other topics to talk about, and finally decided to see the guest off.
Before Qin Ji walked out of the gate where the King of Rongsheng was under house arrest, he was suddenly called back by the king.
“Wait a minute.”
“Does Your Highness have any other instructions?”
Qin Ji asked routinely.
“No, I just want to ask, I won’t be pushed outside and executed in public, right?”
He asked.
To be honest, everyone has to face death sooner or later. However, for someone as high-ranking as the King of Rongsheng, being executed in public was quite disgraceful.
Even if he had to die, at least don’t die in front of a crowd like a villain on stage. If it were according to the complete law, it would be like being laughed at by a group of people in broad daylight…
“I don’t know about that either. The final details are up to His Majesty. I am just conveying her answer. If you have nothing else, I will take my leave.”
………………….
When leaving the mansion, Ling Yan followed behind, keeping guard all the way.
Although this was in the palace and theoretically very safe, last time a group of assassins also sneaked into the palace and specifically came to assassinate Xia Yuxiao. Therefore, Ling Yan was not completely relaxed in the palace.
This time, Qin Ji received a few keys and some boxes said to be filled with jewels. These jewels were also given to Qin Ji. However, Qin Ji did not have much desire for these jewels.
He was not particularly fond of money and jewels. Although sometimes, due to his position, he had a lot of money, Qin Ji had never really gone crazy for money. So, to be honest, he felt disdainful of the Fifth Prince’s material “inheritance” (although Germany had not yet disintegrated at this time).
However, those books were completely different.
Walking back, Qin Ji hummed a little tune happily. The current work was going very smoothly, and if things continued like this, the matter might be resolved sooner.
The news that His Majesty was about to execute the enemy of the empire, Xia Yun, spread quickly through the streets and alleys of Tai’an City. This news became a topic of conversation for many people during their leisure time.
For many ordinary people, although there had been cases of officials and nobles being punished before, most were not carried out without controversy within the framework of existing laws.
But now, the new emperor was really planning to kill Xia Yun, who was once the fifth prince of the empire. This matter suddenly boosted the business of taverns and teahouses around Tai’an City.
People were discussing the character of this emperor and whether such a decision was cold-blooded and ruthless. But on closer thought, many people were relieved. Regardless of His Majesty’s character, whether it was right to kill his own brother, at least His Majesty valued the law very much.
Daring to act against his own brother, such an emperor might indeed be quite formidable.
A considerable number of common people thought so.