Chapter 360: Telepathic Bell

The Empress’s heart skipped a beat. The matter is indeed exposed!

She was petrified as she tolerated the pain in her chest and begged pitifully. “Your Majesty, I don’t have any other intentions for doing it! I just wanted to protect myself. All these years, there’s only Si Meng…”

“How dare you argue?” Emperor Jiawen was infuriated, and his eyes seemed to have fire blazing in them.

The Empress was taken aback. Emperor Jiawen has never directed such a huge outburst toward me before.

Actually, she also knew that this incident had crossed Emperor Jiawen’s bottom line. It did not matter if she had one or ten; the important thing was that Emperor Jiawen didn’t know about Si Meng’s presence.

This was akin to giving Emperor Jiawen and all the guards in the palace a resounding slap.

“Speak! Where’s that traitor and Rong Zhen now?”

The Empress cried and shook her head. “Your Majesty, I really don’t know. Si Meng had died a few days ago, but Zhen Zhen is still missing…”

Emperor Jiawen stared at her with a deadly gaze and sneered. “Dead? Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?”

“It’s true! I’ve always kept in contact with him, but it suddenly broke a few days ago. He really died! Your Majesty, I’m not lying to you!”

Upon seeing the Empress’s appearance, Emperor Jiawen finally believed her a little. However, his anger didn’t subside at all. “We can talk about him being alive or dead later. Now, I want to know where Rong Zhen is!”

The Empress cried even more miserably. “Your Majesty, I’ve actually been looking for Rong Zhen in secret these few days, b-but… I couldn’t find any clues… I’m also very worried, and I couldn’t sleep at night…”

Emperor Jiawen couldn’t hold it in and kicked her again. “If you were truly uneasy, you would’ve told me earlier! If I didn’t find out about it myself today, how long were you planning to hide this from me? You’re already the Empress, and your son is the Crown Prince. What else are you unsatisfied with?”

The Empress knelt on the floor, and her hair was messy. Her clothes were dirty, and she looked very unkempt.

Eunuch Min stood behind Emperor Jiawen and was horrified by this scene. He had served His Majesty for many years, but he had never seen him hit the Empress before. This showed that His Majesty was really enraged this time.

He did not dare to move either.

It was fine that the Empress had hidden the fact that Rong Zhen went missing, but she had also secretly kept guards by her side. This was clearly pitting herself against His Majesty! Once this thing was exposed, she might not even be able to continue being the Empress.

“Someone, drag the Empress down! At the same time, summon Si Ye to the palace!” Emperor Jiawen wanted to ask Si Ye if the Si family intended to rebel.

The Empress suddenly raised her head, and her face was filled with horror. Is His Majesty locking me up? How can this be? Once word gets out, I definitely can’t be the Empress anymore!

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty! I’m begging you, please take into account me serving you for so many years and let me off this time around! There’s still R-Rong… Rong Jin! I can accept any punishment you give me, but if Country Xing Luo finds out about this, it will definitely affect both parties’ marriage alliance!”

Her later sentences made Emperor Jiawen falter. That’s right. Rong Jin is currently in Country Xing Luo. If things go smoothly, he can settle his marriage with Situ Xingchen. However, if news of this ugly matter gets out…

He glared at the Empress harshly, causing her heart to go weak. “Si Huijing! You really know how to play your cards!”

She must’ve planned all of this in advance and purposely made Rong Jin her last shield! Emperor Jiawen clearly knew that the Empress had dug a hole for him, but he had to jump into it!

The Empress’s pale lips trembled, and she looked away, not daring to look at Emperor Jiawen or speak another word.

After some time, Emperor Jiawen coldly said, “Send my word down! The Empress is gravely ill and can’t get out of bed. In the future, everything in the palace will be handled by Concubine Gu!”

The Empress’s heart sank. His Majesty is grounding me and taking away all my power!

“Your Majesty!”

Emperor Jiawen lowered himself and harshly squeezed the Empress’s chin. He enunciated every word carefully as he said, “I’ll send someone to find Rong Zhen. When Rong Jin’s matter is over, and we find out the truth behind Rong Zhen’s whereabouts, I’ll teach you a lesson.”

He then flung his wrist, and the Empress collapsed on the floor.

Emperor Jiawen turned around and walked out of the room with big steps.

Eunuch Min glanced at the Empress and hurriedly followed him.

Only when their figures disappeared did the Empress finally heave a sigh of relief and take something out from her arms. Now, all my hopes are on Rong Jin… This marriage alliance must go smoothly!

…

Country Xing Luo.

The palace held a welcome party for Rong Jin and the rest.

In the palace, everyone gathered together to drink and gamble.

Many of them gave a toast to Rong Jin, and the atmosphere was very lively. This was because Country Xing Luo’s Emperor, Situ Chong, had just agreed to Rong Jin’s proposal for Situ Xingchen.

The two parties had officially become engaged!

Situ Chong seemed to be very satisfied with Rong Jin as he directly arranged the date of their wedding to be a month later.

This made the crowd very doubtful. Many aristocratic families had previously requested for Situ Xingchen’s hand in marriage, but both Situ Xingchen and Situ Chong did not budge.

Originally, they thought that Situ Chong couldn’t bear to give his princess away, but they did not expect him to agree readily when Rong Jin appeared.

Of course, everyone knew that the marriage alliance was a serious matter and that they had definitely already discussed it in advance.

This was just a routine of formality. However, the crowd still did not understand why it was Rong Jin.

They heard that Country Yao Chen’s Crown Prince did not have a good reputation recently.

The more surprising thing was that Elder Zong Ye—who had just returned from Mingyue Tianshan—seemed to admire Rong Jin quite a bit.

With his words, nobody dared to object to it.

The marriage alliance was then completed smoothly.

Rong Jin was enveloped in everyone’s enthusiastic greetings and was over the moon. Looking at other people’s looks of jealousy and envy, he finally could unleash everything he suffered previously.

With a face full of smiles, he toasted Situ Xingchen—who was sitting not far away.

Situ Xingchen smiled and nodded, looking extremely graceful.

Rong Jin felt relieved. What’s mine will still be mine.

Suddenly, his gaze changed, and he smiled at the crowd. “My head hurts slightly; I’ll go out to take a breather.”

The crowd thought that Rong Jin was heading outside to avoid drinking that much, so they chuckled and didn’t stop him.

Rong Jin left the palace in quite a hurry.

Situ Xingchen squinted her eyes, stood up, and followed him out.

Rong Jin walked to an isolated corner and took out a bell from his arms.

The bell was ringing at this point, and the sound was extremely soft. However, Rong Jin’s face turned even worse.

Before he left, he specifically left this telepathic bell behind. If Rong Zhen’s matter was exposed, his mother would ring the bell.

Did something happen to Mother?

“Your Highness.” A gentle voice was heard.