Transmigrated as My Best Friend's Ex

72. No One Can Replace Xu

Translator: Guy Gone Bad

Nancheng Lie carried Li Qinghao to the bathroom, put him down and retreated to the door to wait. Li Qinghao curved his lips into a faint smile and asked, “Are you avoiding me? You seem bashful and awkward.” Li Qinghao unzipped his trousers and began to pee. Nancheng Lie stood at the door with a poker face and glanced at Li Qinghao out of the corner of his eye from time to time. Li Qinghao was fine in profile and had the air of a proud and aloof man. Even though he had admitted that he was not Li Qinghao, Nancheng Lie still didn’t know who he was. He looked exactly like Li Qinghao and had the same DNA as Li Qinghao, but he claimed that he was not Li Qinghao.

Nancheng Lie clenched his fists. ‘I have waited more than 10 years. Waiting another four months is a piece of cake to me,’ he consoled himself.

However, he was heartbroken at the thought of not being able to meet Xu immediately.

They went back to the bedroom. Nancheng Lie helped Li Qinghao sit down on the sofa. “What else have you found except that Keqi is not Han Mingxu?” asked Li Qinghao.

Nancheng Lie didn’t want to answer. But after thinking for a while, he replied honestly, “Nothing else. I only found out that Keqi had appeared in Leiluo Kingdom before he took Xu’s place.” Nancheng Lie’s eyes burned with hatred when he mentioned Keqi. He had no intention of hiding his strong desire to kill Keqi in Li Qinghao’s presence. His hatred for Kei was as much as his love for Han Mingxu. The thought of Han Mingxu brought him a deep sense of heartache.

He was tormented by a mixture of love and hatred.

“Can you do me a favor?” Li Qinghao came back to his senses. All the clues pointed the finger of suspicion firmly at Princess Frise. He had a general idea of what kind of plan she had, but he still had in mind some doubts which really puzzled him. Only Keqi could help him out of his doubts.

“What?” asked Nancheng Lie.

“I want you to investigate what happened to Han Mingxu’s parents 22 years ago. Mr. Ao, the old king’s steward, told me that 22 years ago the former crown prince brought his woman– that is to say Han Mingxu’s mother– to Leiluo Kingdom. He wanted to marry her, but the old king objected strongly. The old king threatened the former crown prince with the safety of his unborn child, and imprisoned them. Later, Mr. Ao released Han Mingxu’s parents secretly and turned them over to Princess Frise. She hid the couple.” Speaking of which, Li Qinghao’s expression grew solemn. He looked so different from that when he flirted with Nancheng just now.

Nancheng Lie perceived that Li Qinghao was trying his best to suppress his anger. Judging from everything Nancheng Lie knew, Li Qinghao had nothing to do with Xu. Why did he care so much about things related to Xu?

“While I feel familiar with you, do you also feel the same way?”

What Li Qinghao had said that day sowed the seeds of doubt in Nancheng Lie’s mind.

A frown formed between Nancheng Lie’s brows. He soon calmed himself down. He comforted himself with the view that he would know the truth in four months. Now all he needed to do was to cooperate with Li Qinghao. However, Nancheng Lie’s heart ached when he sensed that this obstinate man with a pale face was trying his best to mask his vulnerability.

It was in Mrs Han’s mourning hall that Nancheng Lie first saw Han Mingxu. Han Mingxu was just a five-year-old boy. His eyes were red, but he bit his lower lip to keep from crying. At that time, Nancheng Lie knew nothing about the feeling of heartache; he only knew that he couldn’t take his eyes off that beautiful boy. He even made up his mind to protect the boy for the rest of his life.

“Why did Mr. Ao tell you about it?” asked Nancheng Lie. As a matter of fact, after he found out Keqi and Han Mingxu were probably twins, he began to investigate what had happened to Mingxu’s parents 22 years ago.

But that had been a long time ago and someone had erased all the evidence, so he found no clues. The only thing he learned from his investigation was what every citizen of Leiluo Kingdom knew– that year the former prince and his woman were imprisoned by the old king and later, someone rescued them. But no one knew who rescued them.

Afterwards, the old king gave up pursuing this matter further. No one dared to mention it again because of the king’s absolute authority in Leiluo Kingdom.

“I don’t know.” Li Qinghao leaned on the sofa. The wind blew in through the window and lifted his soft hair. He glowed softly like a beautiful painting. “Mr. Ao said that although Princess Frise was a woman of great ambition, she would certainly protect the former crown prince, because if the crown prince had an accident, the throne would fall into the hands of other royal male heirs and it would do her no good.”

“He’s right. Women have no place in Leiluo Kingdom. If she wanted to maintain her position as a noble princess, she must ensure that the eventual heir to the throne was the crown prince, her twin brother.” Nancheng Lie was quite clear about the succession system of Leiluo Kingdom. “But later, the former crown prince and Xu’s mother returned to China and lived with the Han family.”

“Don’t you think it’s strange?” Li Qinghao closed his eyes to enjoy the coolness of the breeze. Meanwhile, he queried, “Since it was closely related to her position in Leiluo Kingdom, why did she allow the former crown prince to go back to China?”

With his eyes closed, Li Qinghao was unaware of Nancheng Lie’s gaze on him. There was a kind of intense emotion in Nancheng Lie’s eyes.

“You’re right.” Nancheng Lie suddenly realized that since Frise dared to do so, she must have dreamed up a comprehensive plan. He narrowed his eyes and was sure that Keqi was the key of her plan. “I will immediately begin to investigate what actually happened to Mingxu’s parents 22 years ago.”

“Wait a minute.” Li Qinghao buttonholed Nancheng Lie. “May I use your cell phone?”

Nancheng Lie cast a glance at Li Qinghao and gave Li Qinghao his cell phone without any hesitation.

Li Qinghao took the cell phone from Nancheng Lie and dialed Mu Yinting directly. “This is Li Qinghao speaking.” Li Qinghao spoke first when Mu Yinting answered the phone. He had no intention of avoiding Nancheng Lie, because he knew that trust was a two-way thing. He needed to do something to win the trust of Nancheng Lie so that he could act freely in the following four months. “I’m now in Leiluo Kingdom with Nancheng Lie. This is his cell phone number. Please call this number when you want to contact me.”

“What? Aren’t you afraid he would discover the truth?” Mu Yinting was surprised. He had asked Li Qinghao if he had ever thought of telling Nancheng Lie the truth. At that time, Li Qinghao said that he didn’t want Nancheng Lie involved. Why did he suddenly change his tune?

“A lot of things happened. I have made a gentleman’s agreement with him. He won’t meddle in my affairs in the following four months.” Li Qinghao exchanged a knowing look with Nancheng Lie. “Frise is trying to kill me. I’m afraid that she wouldn’t give me the antidote. Now I can only rely on Yingli.”

“I see.” It was not necessary to make everything clear, especially to clever people. They two were smart and knew what to do next. “Ming… Qinghao, last time you met killers at the gate of your university. I’ve found out who was behind it. It’s Keqi…” What Mu Yinting said was like a bomb exploding inside Li Qinghao’s brain and shaking his heart. The voice from the other end of the line seemed to drown into a blurry pool in his head, and he couldn’t hear anything because his ears were in a buzz.

Keqi’s name kept echoing in his mind. Mu Yinting never made a false statement. In other word, he was very sure that the other group of killers, who had tried to kill him at the university gate, had been hired by Keqi to do the dirty deed.

He remembered what Keqi had said that day, “You have 49 days to create a piece of evidence that I fall in love with you.” How ridiculous it sounded!

“Are you okay?” Nancheng Lie detected a terrible sadness in Li Qinghao’s face. He was worried about Li Qinghao, but he told himself that he was just worried that he would never know where Xu was if something bad happened to Li Qinghao.

” I’m all right.” Li Qinghao quickly composed himself. He looked up at Nancheng Lie and said, “Frise is a cruel and merciless woman. I’m afraid that she already killed all the people who took part in that plot. How are you going to start your investigation?

“All the people?” Nancheng Lie gave a little chuckle. His voice was melodious and full of confidence. “There must be one per cent of the insiders that she couldn’t kill.”

Li Qinghao knew the implication in Nancheng Lie’s words. He frowned and wanted to say something, but when he opened his mouth, his tone changed from softness to sternness. “Nancheng Lie, you should remember that if anything untoward happened to you, you would never see Han Mingxu again.”

It sounded like a threat, but Nancheng Lie knew that Li Qinghao cared about him.

Nancheng Lie couldn’t tell what he was feeling now. There were always lots of people who scrambled to show concern for him. He was accustomed to being cared for. But Li Qinghao’s concerned voice deeply touched his heart. He fought down a sudden rush of emotion and said coldly, “Don’t worry about me. If four months later you can’t tell me where Xu is, you will be killed.” No one could replace Xu in his heart.