The Lord's Empire
The Lord's Empire - Chapter 0: Prologue

Prologue

It was pouring outside when a 27 or 28-year-old beautiful woman brought a 5 or 6-year-old young boy to kneel in front of the iron gates of a luxurious villa.

The woman was called Zhao Meiling, and she came from a remote village. Six years ago, she had brought her hopes and dreams to enter a university here, but she had never expected that she would meet a man who would change everything for her. This man was the most famous hedonistic young master of Beitang City… Li Zhe!

Back then, Zhao Meiling and Li Zhe had attended the same campus, and Li Zhe had set his eyes on her after meeting her. Afterwards, he madly pursued her, using all sorts of methods and tricks to woo her.

Zhao Meiling was a simple and guileless girl who had only just come to the city; how could she withstand the courting of an expert? She had given him not only her body but also her entire heart to him. However, after Li Zhe had become bored of her, he had savagely tossed her away.

Afterwards, Zhao Meiling found out that she was pregnant. She decided to give birth to the child and had a massive falling out with her family because of this.

After the child was born, Zhao Meiling wanted to raise him herself. However, after five years, because she had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and her body had become incredibly weak, she knew that she didn’t have many years left. She decided to send the child to the Li family so that he could experience fatherly love and have a better life. That way, she would be happy even if she died.

However, she had been coldly refused by the Li family, who claimed that the child did not belong to the Li family. As such, Zhao Meiling and the child could only kneel in front of the iron gates and bitterly plead.

At this moment, the iron gates slowly opened, and a few people holding umbrellas walked out. The man in the lead looked quite similar to the boy; he was the boy’s father, Li Zhe.

“Here! This amount of money will be enough for you to live well, you filthy woman,” Li Zhe said as he frowned and held out a check to Zhao Meiling.

Zhao Meiling shook her head and looked up at Li Zhe, saying, “Zhe, you must take in Fu’Er; he’s your son!”

“Absolutely not!” Li Zhe immediately refused before coldly saying, “Do you want the money or not?”

Zhao Meiling’s tears covered her entire face, and she shook her head.

Li Zhe coldly harrumphed and threw the check at Zhao Meiling before turning to leave.

Kneeling on the ground, Zhao Meiling grabbed Li Zhe’s leg and begged him, “Zhe, Fu’Er really is your son. You have to take him in, my body is…”

Pa!

Before Zhao Meiling could finish her sentence, Li Zhe heavily smacked her on the face and snarled, “Let go, you filthy woman!”

Seeing his mother being hit, the boy quickly ran over and grabbed onto Li Zhe’s leg, yelling with his tender voice, “Daddy, don’t hit mummy!”

In actuality, the boy had never known who his father was, and his mother had never mentioned it before. Only recently had Zhao Meiling shown the boy a picture of his father, and he had been so excited that he had jumped up and down.

However, right now, he couldn’t understand why his father didn’t want his mother and was hitting her.

Li Zhe looked down at the boy holding on to his leg with a look of contempt and kicked him away, yelling, “Who’s your dad, you damn bastard?!”

The boy was sent flying and crashed onto the ground, and he curled up into the fetal position. He wrapped his arms around his stomach with an expression of pain – this pain was far beyond what a 5-year-old boy could endure, and he couldn’t stop the large tears rolling down his face.

A look of shock appeared on Zhao Meiling’s face, and she let go of Li Zhe to pick up the little boy. She asked with a concerned tone, “Fu’Er, are you alright?”

The little boy saw how worried his mother looked, and he forced back his tears as he nodded.

Li Zhe looked at the mother and son and walked back past the gates. A manager with slightly greyed hair picked up the check and handed it to Zhao Meiling, saying sympathetically, “It’s best you take it.”

Zhao Meiling shook her head and held the boy as she slowly walked away in the rain.

The manager watched the mother and son leave and deeply sighed as he locked the gate before walking back.

Four years later, before Zhao Meiling passed away, she called the 9-year-old boy to her bedside. She gently stroked his head and smiled as she said in a weak voice, “Fu’Er, make sure you study hard and get a good job in the future. Don’t hate the Li family or your father. Can you promise me that?”

The boy fought back tears as he nodded earnestly.

Seeing the boy nod so seriously, a peaceful smile lingered on Zhao Meiling’s face as she slowly closed her eyes forever.