HCB Chapter 455 Meng Ze Removes the Human Skin Mask
Chapter 455 Meng Ze Removes the Human Skin Mask
Mengniang slumped to the side, her shoulders trembling, and she kept sobbing softly, but Gu Qing seemed not to hear her.
He stared blankly at his hands, remaining motionless for a long time.
Twenty years.
For the past twenty years, he has lived the life of an ordinary old farmer, growing vegetables, raising chickens, boiling water, and chopping firewood.
He had almost forgotten that he could kill.
But today, after so many years, he actually struck again...
Just then, a cold, sharp question came from outside the courtyard.
"Who's inside?!"
Gu Qing was jolted, her whole body tensing up suddenly, like a fully drawn string that might snap at any moment.
He immediately bent down, picked up the hoe from the ground, and stood in front of Mengniang.
With eyes as alert as a wolf's, he stared intently at the doorway, ready to fight to the death at any moment.
Mengniang trembled and shrank behind him, her right hand clutching Gu Qing's clothes tightly as she sobbed softly.
Just then, "Squeak—"
The door was pushed open, and a tall, imposing figure stepped across the threshold. Backlit, his robes fluttered in the wind, and his face was as cold and stern as a knife.
Gu Qing suddenly looked up, his fingers gripping the hoe trembling.
He saw that face.
His calm and collected demeanor, and the familiarity of his features, were all too familiar.
In an instant, reality and memory intertwined.
For a moment, I couldn't tell whether I was in the present or twenty years ago.
"Your Highness..."
Gu Qing murmured aloud.
His voice wasn't loud, but the room was too quiet.
Therefore, everyone could hear him clearly as soon as he opened his mouth.
Zizhu immediately frowned, "What are you saying? This is our Xie Yanli, the young master!"
Gu Qing's body trembled, as if he had suddenly woken up from some kind of daze.
He stared blankly at Xie Yanli's face, remaining motionless for a long time.
A complex emotion welled up deep in his eyes.
So, he was that child.
It's grown so big now.
He looks so much like the eldest prince back then.
Gu Qing swallowed hard, then put away the hoe behind him. "This humble subject has misspoke and offended Your Highness. Please forgive me."
The eldest prince died more than twenty years ago.
Now dust to dust, ashes to ashes.
Now that the emperor has ascended the throne, the court has changed hands. Who would still stand up for a dead prince?
He was nothing more than a dead man in the countryside.
As long as the young prince is alive and well, that's enough.
Xie Yanli stood in the courtyard, calmly looking at Gu Qing kneeling on the ground.
He knew the eldest prince.
Moreover, he clearly mistook someone for someone else just now.
Xie Yanli frowned, and a thought involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
Do he and the eldest prince look very alike?
He didn't press further, but instead spoke calmly.
"Tell me first, what exactly happened just now? Why did you kill him?"
Gu Qing immediately bowed his head and said, "Your Highness, it is the Duke of Zheng who has his eye on this land and wants to annex it for his own hunting grounds."
“My wife and I refused to move, so they sent people to harass us every day. Today they even broke into our house, destroyed our property, and insulted us. I was so enraged that I accidentally killed someone…”
He paused mid-sentence.
His gaze passed over Xie Yanli's shoulder and landed on the man standing quietly behind him.
Almost immediately, Gu Qing's pupils contracted, and he seemed to freeze.
Meng Ze followed the gaze and found himself face to face with Gu Qing.
His expression remained calm and composed.
However, Gu Qing seemed to have been struck by lightning, her face showing intense excitement and shock.
It's His Highness, it must be His Highness!
Others might not recognize him, but he won't!
He and His Highness had been together since childhood, growing up together, playing and tumbling together on the horse track, and eating and sleeping together in the tent.
More than twenty years! A full twenty years!
He had always thought His Highness was dead!
His Highness is finally back! He didn't die!
He's not dead!
With tears welling up in her eyes, Gu Qing staggered forward and knelt heavily before Meng Ze.
Her fingers trembled; she almost dared not touch him.
"Your Highness... Your Highness..."
"I am Gu Qing, Your Highness! I am Gu Qing, your bodyguard Gu!"
He called out to himself in a low voice over and over again, as if afraid he was dreaming.
Meng Ze looked down at him.
Blank, still blank.
He couldn't remember anything.
He didn't recognize the man in front of him.
There was only a strange discomfort, a faint throbbing deep within my chest, but I couldn't quite grasp it.
Qin Jiuwei and Xie Yanli watched this scene, their fingers unconsciously tightening.
They had long suspected that Meng Ze was no ordinary person, but they never expected that he was actually the eldest prince!
He was still alive, standing right in front of them!
Moreover... he is Xie Yanli's biological father!
For a moment, the air seemed to freeze.
Meng Ze felt their gazes, his eyes sweeping over Xie Yanli before landing on Qin Jiuwei.
He pursed his lips, knowing he couldn't hide it anymore.
He didn't want to hide it anymore.
He also wanted to know who he really was.
Meng Ze stood still, sensing the surging emotions in the silence around him.
He slowly raised his hand, his fingertips lifting the extremely thin human skin mask on the side of his neck.
As the mask was slowly removed, a face that had been hidden for more than twenty years was finally exposed to the light of day.
It was a face that looked almost exactly like Xie Yanli's.
With a sharp, cold profile, deep features, and a calm and reserved demeanor, he exudes an air of authority even when he is silent.
The only difference was that on his left cheek, there was a hideous long scar that ran diagonally from his temple to his jaw.
Qin Jiuwei gasped sharply, completely stunned.
This face looks exactly like Xie Yanli's.
Xie Yanli was completely stunned.
His usually calm mind was completely shaken, and he even paused for a moment.
Beside him, Gu Qing finally managed to regain his senses, his eyes filled with disbelief and deep pain, his voice trembling: "Your...Your Highness, your face..."
He choked up and couldn't speak.
"I have amnesia," Meng Ze finally said.
“When I woke up, I already had this scar on my face, and I was already in Daliang, where I was rescued by the Meng family.”
“The Meng family took me in and gave me a name.”
Qin Jiuwei's expression hardened, and she finally understood.
Why was the eldest prince dead, yet his body never found?
Why is there no news of him even though he is clearly alive?
Xie Yanli stood to the side, his expression complex.
It's all so absurd, yet so real.
He never imagined that his father would reappear before him in this way.