Dance Of The Dragons
Chapter 242 : The Xie Bloodline (3)

Chapter 242: Chapter 242 : The Xie Bloodline (3)

Xie Jianyu met up with his elder brother the next day at the Palace Registry Office to inquire about all the marriages that Xie family members ever had, dating from a hundred years back.

"Xie and Qing..."

The registry clerk put on her magnifying glasses and scanned through the records one by one in front of the siblings. Xie Jianshen tightened his fingers into fists and released them again and again to drive away his anxiety. Xie Jianyu did some breathing exercises to calm his nerves.

After almost half a shichen, the registry clerk looked up, took off her glasses, and announced, "There was no marriage between any male alpha with Xie surname with any omega with Qing surname in the last one hundred years."

"What about with any beta?" Xie Jianyu followed up with another question.

"Also not with any beta," the clerk replied without skipping a beat. "Or any alpha," she added with a tiny giggle. The giggle quickly disappeared when she saw the tense expression on the siblings’ faces.

"Ahem. But yes. Nothing."

A child out of wedlock.

If that was the case, then the parents probably discarded Xie Jianzhi as a child, Xie Jianyu thought to himself.

Xie Jianshen was not easy to convince.

"I want to take a look at the records myself," he announced.

This was an internal matter of the noble family that held the Dragon Throne since forever, so the registry clerk was more than happy to let the siblings rummage in the marriage records on their own.

It took some time before the two omegas got used to reading the records. After half a day of reading and re-reading, they had to agree that the registry clerk did not make any mistakes.

There really was no marriage entry between an alpha Xie and any Qing from any clan.

And yet, as the two brothers exited the Palace Registry Office, they came up with two very different conclusions.

"Clearly, he is an impostor," Xie Jianshen said with a snort. "I was right. Good that we have not spoken to Father about him."

"Or, he might be an unknown love child from an extramarital affair," Xie Jianyu argued. "We should consult Father about him."

Xie Jianshen broke into a burst of cheerless laughter.

"Little Yu, Father is going to laugh at you. Father is an only child. If your theory proves true, then Xie Jianzhi’s father might hail from a very distant branch of the Xie family."

"But he still maintains the Xie surname," Xie Jianyu insisted. "Brother, if he truly is part of the family, then..."

Xie Jianshen heaved a sigh. He threw his arms in the air in resignation.

"Fine. Let’s talk to Imperial Father about this matter."

It was close to midday, and the Heavenly Emperor was working through a pile of documents in his study. He was pleasantly surprised to have both of his sons appear in front of him to report the matter of Fuxi Palace’s succession.

"Reporting to Father, I went through the list of the noble houses in the dragon clan, and found them all to be unqualified to shoulder the heavy burden of managing Fuxi Palace.

"Hmm."

The Heavenly Emperor dipped his brush into the ink pad and then started writing at the bottom of a scroll.

"And then?"

"I was thinking of adopting an orphan child to educate, hoping to raise him to be a member of the Xie family, despite not sharing the same bloodline."

"Ah."

Xie Jianyu swallowed hard before he continued.

"I took the opportunity to meet the orphan children during the Dragon Awakening Festival. By chance, the head of the orphanage was a man by the name of Xie Jianzhi."

The Heavenly Emperor ripped his eyes from the scroll in front of him.

"... Xie Jianzhi?"

"He is a male alpha. He said that he was an offspring of a Xie father and a Qing mother."

"...."

The Heavenly Emperor’s face turned ashen.

"He lost his parents when he was three years old. From then on, he sought shelter in the orphanage and remained there until now."

The Emperor still had not given any response. Xie Jianyu looked at him, waiting for his father to say something. And yet, the Emperor remained quiet and unresponsive.

The silence that filled the study chamber was deafening. The Heavenly Emperor stared off into the distance with an unknown expression. Xie Jianshen furrowed his brows. Faint concern was reflected in Xie Jianyu’s eyes.

"Father, do you know of such a connection? Maybe one or two generations in the past...?" Xie Jianyu asked.

The Emperor still had nothing to say in reply. Xie Jianshen, ever the straightforward one between the two siblings, stepped forward and asked boldly, "Father, do you happen to know a Qing omega personally?"

Xie Jianyu whipped around and stared at his elder brother in disbelief.

Xie Jianshen and the Emperor stared into each other’s eyes.

Unable to match Xie Jianshen’s relentless gaze, the glaring competition was ended by the Emperor first. He had no other choice but to confess a sin of the past.

Meanwhile, Zhang Fengxi was busy investigating Xie Jianzhi’s identity on his own. He employed all his connections to find out the slightest hint about Xie Jianzhi’s origin. After some time, he did manage to obtain a piece of very discreet information about the man’s birth.

This information came from an old, retired eunuch who once served in the Golden Dragon Palace during the early reign of the current Heavenly Emperor.

The old beta was initially reluctant to spill the secret and was determined to take it to his grave, but he eventually gave in to Zhang Fengxi’s persuasion.

Xie Jianzhi was indeed born of an alpha father by the surname Xie and an omega mother by the surname Qing. The Qing woman was the youngest omega daughter of a merchant family in the dragon clan.

Supposedly, the Xie alpha fell in love with the Qing omega at first sight. Their affair resulted in the birth of a son, whom the woman then named Xie Jianzhi.

As for the identity of the father, he was none other than the Heavenly Emperor himself.