Leap Forward Comics: Watch How I Become a Villainess

Chapter 138 The Two People's Path to Survival

"I like you……"

"Your Highness, please be careful with your words!" Gao Zhan knelt down with a thud.

As expected, he wouldn't accept it. Li Guangqi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Brother, my feelings for you..."

"Your Highness, please be careful with your words!" Gao Zhan kowtowed again.

Yes, Gao Zhan had a girl he admired, but she was chosen as a concubine and entered the palace. Gao Zhan was heartbroken and vowed never to marry. How could such a devoted man accept this...?

Li Guangqi closed his eyes, and two lines of tears streamed down his face. He looked up and suddenly wondered what the meaning of his life was.

In the past, he knew his goal was the throne, and to promote Gao Zhan... but now...

"Your Highness, please pull yourself together! You must live!" Gao Zhan continued to kneel on the ground, pleading with him.

“I think I know why Li Cen sent you here…” Li Guangqi understood. The feelings he had been hiding had long been discovered by Li Cen. As for Li Cen, she was probably just like him, and had the same thoughts about Mr. Lu beside him.

As expected, he could recognize his kind at a glance, and Li Guangqi's smile was painful.

Gao Zhan looked up and saw him crying and laughing, his voice hoarse, and felt a pang of sorrow in his heart. "Your Highness! I beg you, please live."

……

……

"Guangqi! I beg you, choose a way to live! I beg you..." Gao Zhan got up, reached in, and grabbed Li Guangqi's sleeve through the wooden railing.

“Brother…” Li Guangqi regained some of his composure.

"Although I can't accept your feelings... my desire for you to live is genuine, even if it costs me my own life..."

“Brother, I understand. I choose to live…” Li Guangqi reached out and pressed down on Gao Zhan’s hand that was grabbing him, patting it: “I won’t die, don’t worry. Can you call Li Cen to see me?”

"Okay, I'll go right away." Gao Zhan said, picking up the food box from the ground: "I almost forgot about this. It's all your favorite food, specially made for you by Miss Nie Qing..."

"I had no feelings for her; we were just using each other..." came the cold and indifferent reply.

"Yes, then stop your hunger strike and eat quickly..." Gao Zhan said, calling over a jailer and handing him the food box: "Take good care of His Highness the Crown Prince. Anyone who dares to neglect him will be executed without mercy!"

After giving instructions and making arrangements, Gao Zhan turned and left. As he walked around the corner, the tears he had been holding back for so long finally burst forth. His left hand, which he had been hiding in his sleeve, had been clenched so tightly that it had bled.

The food in that lunchbox was prepared by him, but he didn't want him to know.

With heavy steps, Gao Zhan stood outside the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, pausing for a final look back.

"Fool, how could I not know..." Li Guangqi took a few more bites. This was the taste of his childhood. Back then, he was a picky eater and loved to cause trouble. His older brother would often do everything he could to coax him to eat. He could tell the taste just by tasting it. He was so stupid to lie to me that it was made by Miss Nie... Li Guangqi shook his head with a smile as he ate. He was really too silly, Gao Zhan.

Knowing that you have me in your heart, I am content for this lifetime...

two days later,

Li Cen then visited Li Guangqi in prison.

"What, why do you want to see me?"

Li Guangqi had lost his former pride. He sat on the ground, leaning against the wall, too lazy to even tidy his appearance. His ragged clothes truly suited his current status as a prisoner.

"Li Cen...we've been fighting for so long, but in the end, I've lost." He no longer always wore a smile like before. Now, he could cry when he wanted to cry and laugh when he wanted to laugh, and he was much more at ease.

"You really haven't taken the third brother seriously all along." Li Cen shook his head, feeling indignant on behalf of Li Yunming.

"Hahaha, sister is so funny," Li Guangqi was amused by her grasp of the key point: "It's as if you, sister, are interested in third brother."

"That's true."

(Li Yun: Ah, yes, yes, you two are so smart, you're really something else.)

The two looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"I never thought we could talk so freely without any reservations." Li Guangqi's smile this time was genuine, revealing the bright eyes and white teeth of a young man.

"Do you hate your father?" Li Cen suddenly asked. What she really wanted to ask was whether her father would be sad after his death.

“Hate!” Li Guangqi’s smile vanished. “He doesn’t deserve to be a father…”

“Yes…even tigers don’t eat their cubs…but he…treated us like playthings…” After learning the truth, Li Cen truly hated the emperor for making his mother suffer a fate worse than death and forcing his siblings to kill each other.

“But perhaps he really loved my mother… otherwise he wouldn’t have made me the crown prince…” Li Guangqi probably still couldn’t accept that his father didn’t love him.

"I advise you not to have any illusions about him. Let me show you something." Li Cen took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Li Guangqi in the cell.

"This is... Mother's handwriting?" This was the handwriting he would hold and caress day and night; how could he mistake it?

She opened the handkerchief, on which were written the emperor's countless mistreatments of her. Li Guangqi's hand trembled as he held the handkerchief.

"A demon! A true demon!" How dare he torture my mother like this! He's worse than a pig or a dog! I only regret that I couldn't kill him with my own hands.

"Has he always had this kind of hobby?" Li Guangqi was no longer willing to call this man his father.

"Yes, he treated not only your mother this way, but also the other concubines. He enjoyed abusing them... Also, your mother always hoped that you could stay away from the palace and live a peaceful and happy life..."

“I will live well…” He then added, “If I had known that my mother had suffered such a thing, I would probably have done the same… He deserved it…” Li Guangqi seemed to be comforting Li Cen, which was quite unexpected.

"You asked me to come here just to chat?" Li Cen didn't think that Li Guangqi wanted to see her to rekindle their sibling relationship.

"Of course I need your help..."

"Are you begging me to leave the Gao family alone?"

"Sister, you really are... It's so much easier to talk to smart people." The only family Li Guangqi cared about was the Gao family.

“As long as Gao Yi doesn’t have any wicked intentions, I will naturally not eliminate the Gao family… If he does have wicked intentions… I can only spare Gao Zhan…” Li Cen pondered for a moment before giving his answer.

"Okay, it's a deal!" Li Guangqi finally felt relieved.

"Gao Zhan said that you have chosen the path of survival. Tomorrow, Lord Lu will come to take you out for questioning. You just need to go."

The next day,

Lu He personally led several sentries to the prison to retrieve the prisoners.

Without asking any questions, Li Guangqi obediently followed and got into the carriage.

As expected, this road did not lead to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

The carriage traveled all the way to the outskirts of the capital.

“We’ve arrived, Your Highness, you may now depart.” Lu He said, handing him some travel money and a bundle: “A small token of my appreciation from your elder sister.”

Li Guangqi said nothing, took the bundle and got off the carriage. In the distance, he saw a man standing at the crossroads ahead, leading two horses, waiting for him.

Upon closer inspection, it was Gao Zhan's confidant.

Lu He's voice came from inside the carriage: "With this person escorting you, you can rest assured, and Lord Gao can also rest assured."

"Thank you..." Li Guangqi bowed and expressed his gratitude, then strode away.

After they had gone some distance, Lu He also got off the carriage. The sound of horses' hooves grew louder as someone galloped up from behind.

Lu He stood there waiting for him.

The visitor was none other than Gao Zhan.

"Why does Lord Gao do this? He's so worried, yet he won't come to deliver it himself." Lu He pouted.

"Thank you for your trouble, Lord Lu." Gao Zhan dismounted and bowed to Lu He to express his gratitude. Originally, according to their ranks, it should have been Lu He who bowed to Gao Zhan.

"You can still catch up now..." Lu He couldn't help but advise, "Don't wait until you regret it later..."

Gao Zhan stood there, staring blankly at the figure in the distance that had been covered by smoke and dust: "Lord Lu...you don't seem to be talking about me..."

"what?"

Is there something you've decided on that you still have time to do but haven't yet?

This thought-provoking question stumped Lu He. Why was Gao Zhan so eager to chase after the disappearing figure?

"It's enough to see him leave safely, Lord Lu. When I came, Her Highness the Princess asked me to convey a message, requesting that you return to the palace as soon as possible." After Gao Zhan finished speaking, he quickly mounted his horse and rode away in a cloud of dust.

"Has something happened?" Lu He wondered to herself. When they met yesterday, she hadn't been told that she needed to return to the palace immediately after finishing her business. It seemed that something had suddenly happened today.