Transmigrated as My Best Friend's Ex

79. Keqi’s Unhappy Boyhood

Translator: Guy Gone Bad

Li Qinghao’s anxious tone made Ke Qi laugh in spite of himself. “Why are you so nervous, Qinghao? You seem to care very much about what happened 22 years ago.”

Li Qinghao rolled his eyes at Keqi. “The story is fascinating, and I lose myself in it.”

“Oh…” Keqi drawled and looked at Li Qinghao with a meaningful smile. Obviously, Li Qinghao was lying. He had no intention of making up a better excuse, because he knew Keqi well. Keqi continued, “As you say, it would do Frise no good if the eventual heir to the throne were not the crown prince. So, after we were born, she refused to let my parents go. She even intended to turn us over to my grandfather. She said my grandfather would forgive my parents for the sake of the babies. But the crown prince didn’t agree. He knew what Frise was most concerned about, so he made a deal with Frise. Finally, he exchanged one of his twin sons for his freedom. He said to Frise, ‘This kid is my own flesh and blood and His Majesty’s grandson. Even without me, His Majesty will give up pursuing this matter further for the sake of his grandson. The kid will succeed to the throne when he grows up, and you will still be the noble princess of Leiluo Kingdom.'”

“He exchanged one of his twin sons for his freedom…” Li Qinghao thought back to his childhood. Although he had no memory of his father, he remembered that his mother did love him very much when he was a child. But his mother never told him that he had a twin brother. At that time he was too young to understand what was going on. But why didn’t his mother tell his grandfather or uncles the truth?

Was it because she was afraid of causing unnecessary trouble?

“It was a good deal, wasn’t it? If the crown prince disappeared, my grandpa would keep me no matter how much he hated me, because I was the only one who was related to him by blood.”

“Then what happened? Why did you masquerade as Han Mingxu?”

“Frise didn’t give me to my grandpa. Neither did she tell him the truth. Instead, she hid me. She found me a home tutor and etiquette teacher and offered me a good learning environment, but she forbade me to go out. Besides my study, she also asked me to mimic Han Mingxu. I was forced to be another Han Mingxu. I spent my childhood learning.”

Li Qinghao felt a stab of pain in his heart.

At the moment, Li Qinghao’s heart ached for Keqi. It was never occurred to him that when he lived in comfort, his twin brother had a hard life.

But even so, he still couldn’t understand how Keqi could have the heart to kill him. He couldn’t forgive Keqi anyway.

“As a child I was naughty and playful. I often climbed over the wall or climbed up the tree, because I wanted to see the outside world. However, I was recaptured and punished. I gradually realized that freedom was out of my reach.

Later, my teacher told me that I should be patient to endure hardships and wait for the right opportunity. So, I gave up trying to escape. Finally, the opportunity came.

One day Frise told me that my grandpa became increasingly ill. In case the throne fell into the hands of other royal heirs, he decided to take the son of the crown prince back to Leiluo Kingdom. Over the years, he had never gone to see my twin brother Han Mingxu; he always pretended to be indifferent to Han Mingxu. But in fact, he had his men keep an eye on Han Mingxu. Every week his men reported Han Mingxu to him. I’m afraid that’s one of the reasons why Frise asked me to mimic Han Mingxu since childhood.”

“So the shooting that caused the death of Han Mingxu’s life was born.” Before the heartache spread, Li Qinghao felt like falling into an icy river. He heartily sympathized with Keqi and knew Keqi suffered a lot. He understood Keqi’s feelings of helplessness. But anyway, Keqi shouldn’t have killed his twin brother. “Han Mingxu was ignorant of all this. How could you have the heart to kill him?”

“His ignorance has nothing to do with me.” Keqi’s eyes were as cold as ice. “His parents’ selfishness led to his ignorance. He lived a life of ease, but I was deprived of liberty. Do you think I should sacrifice myself for his ignorance, Qinghao?”

“I…” Li Qinghao was speechless. After a pause he said, “But anyway, you are twin brothers. Why didn’t you try to contact him and tell him the truth when you had the freedom of action? Maybe he would have been most willing to help you. Maybe you wouldn’t have had to kill him.”

Keqi answered Li Qinghao’s question with another question. “Do you think that I had the freedom of action at that time? Don’t you know I’ve been in the grip of Frise from childhood?”

“I…” Li Qinghao lapsed into silence.

“Although I seem free now, everyone around me is arranged by my aunt as a spy to keep a watch on me. Do you think that I have the freedom of action? Or do you think that I should regard him as my dear brother because he looks exactly like me and have the same DNA as me? Qinghao, you are smarter than anyone. You should know the saying that blood is thicker than water is just a lie. The real brotherhood is born of heart and can stand the test of time, just like relationship between Nancheng Lie and Han Mingxu. I don’t think he would have brotherly affection for me if I suddenly appeared in front of him. We never lived together. We know nothing of each other. I don’t believe the so-called brotherhood.”

Yes, if someone suddenly appeared in front of you and told you that he was your brother, you would only be shocked instead of feeling a gush of affection for him.

Because before that, you were completely strangers. Could two strangers suddenly treat each other as a blood brother?

The answer was no.

“My aunt has promised me that she will set me free as long as I pass myself off as Han Mingxu, inherit the throne and then pass it to her.”

“Do you believe her? What if she kills you in the end?”

“To me, death is no worse than living all my life in a cage.” Not until this moment did Keqi realize how naive the man in front of him was. “She won’t kill me, because only when I’m alive can she sit steadily on the throne. Once I have an accident, the royals will question the legitimacy of her ascending the throne. So, I don’t think she’ll kill me.”

It was quiet in the room. Li Qinghao’s heart was heavy. There was no getting away from the fact that he hated Keqi. But now that he knew of Keqi’s past, he realized his hatred for Keqi was meaningless.

“What about you, Qinghao? Can you tell me what is the relationship between you and Han Mingxu? Or can you tell me whether you are Li Qinghao or not? I can hardly believe that Nancheng Lie’s ex should have had something to do with Han Mingxu… In other words, I don’t believe that as Nancheng Lie’s ex, you can know Han Mingxu so well that you tell at a glance that I’m not Han Mingxu.”

Li Qinghao searched his mind for a plausible excuse, but at the time he was unable to utter a word.

‘As Nancheng Lie’s ex, the original owner of this body is certainly unfamiliar with Han Mingxu. The reason I can tell at a glance that he’s not Han Mingxu is because I’m the real Han Mingxu. Should I tell him that my soul was reborn in Li Qinghao’s body?’ he thought to himself.

“How do you know that I have something to do with Han Mingxu?”

“Because I’ve found someone logged into Han Mingxu’s bank account. I tried everything to log into that bank account, but failed. If I had succeeded, my imitation of Han Mingxu would have been more perfect. I used to wonder who logged into Han Mingxu’s bank account and why he or she didn’t inform me before doing that. After all, almost all people think of me as Han Mingxu. But when I associated you with this matter, I came to a conclusion that person was you, am I right?”

Li Qinghao didn’t refute. He offered another possibility, “Maybe Han Mingxu himself logged into the bank account.”

“I don’t think it possible. I thrust a dagger into his heart. No one can survive from such a fatal wound. Besides, I buried his corpse with my own hands.”

Keqi’s cold voice rang in Li Qinghao’s ears. He felt as if a knife pierced  through his heart. He clenched his fists and resisted the impulse to kill Keqi. A voice within him said that his hatred for Keqi was meaningless. But he finally gave way to the impulse and lost his head. Li Qinghao rushed up to Keqi, grabbed him by the collar and punched him in the stomach.

If he had a gun, he would shoot Keqi.

“Keqi, you’ll live to rue the day you killed Han Mingxu. You’ll regret it.”

‘As long as you have Li Qinghao in your heart, you will live in deep remorse.

Keqi, as long as you have me in your heart, you will have no courage to ask me to develop a romantic relationship with you when you know I’m Han Mingxu.

Keqi, you’ll live to regret,’ Li Qinghao thought to himself.

He closed his eyes, overwhelmed with heartache. “That day I met killers at the university gate after you left. You sent those killers to kill me, didn’t you?” Although Mu Yinting had found out the truth, Li Qinghao wanted a direct answer from Keqi.

Keqi felt his stomach knot with apprehension. He looked away, apparently uneasy. He wanted to say, “Yes, I did.” But he had no courage at all. “I was afraid that you would be my weakness,” he replied. At that time, his affection for Li Qinghao had been in an embryonic stage. It hadn’t been sublimated into love. So, Keqi had decided to nip it in the bud.

At the moment, he couldn’t forgive himself for having tried to kill Li Qinghao. Keqi didn’t know that the man in front of him was in fact Han Mingxu and he already killed him.