Chapter 378: Suffer a Double Loss

Rong Jin was dazed from the slap.

The Empress didn’t hold back on the slap, and she directly caused half of Rong Jin’s face to swell up.

Her palm turned slightly numb. When she saw Rong Jin’s dazed and hurt expression, her heart also shuddered.

If she wasn’t forced to the corner, how would she bear to hit the son she doted on the most? But…

“You have no right to speak!” hollered the Empress angrily as she struggled out of Rong Jin’s reach and knelt on the floor while moving forward. She begged miserably, “Your Majesty, you can punish me however you want, but… I really did this on my own…”

“Didn’t you keep denying it before? Why are you admitting to it so decisively now?” Emperor Jiawen’s eyes were filled with mockery. She just doesn’t want to cry unless she sees the coffin and is stubbornly insisting on her own ideas! Upon seeing all the evidence laid out in front of her and that she can’t refute it anymore, she finally chose to admit to it. Moreover, she even wants to cover up for the rest and take all the blame.

“Your cultivation talent is just average. This copper vat definitely isn’t prepared for you, right? How many people in the world can make you spend so much effort…?” As Emperor Jiawen spoke, his gaze landed on Rong Jin.

A chill was sent down Rong Jin’s spine. For some reason, he unknowingly became guilty.

He wasn’t stupid; when he knew of the copper vat’s use, he noticed something. And with the Empress’s later reaction, it would be a joke if he couldn’t guess who it was prepared for.

Even if he didn’t know anything beforehand, he still trembled with fear, thinking of the hundreds of cultivators’ skeletons hidden in this yard.

The Empress was stumped.

Emperor Jiawen closed his eyes. “Bring the Empress and Rong Zhen back to the palace! Without my permission, they can’t leave their rooms! As for Rong Jin… you better go back to Crown Prince Mansion! Oh, yes! As for Rong Qi, make sure he stays in his Prince Ping Mansion! When the truth regarding this matter prevails, I’ll punish them one by one.”

Then, Emperor Jiawen angrily whipped his sleeves and turned around to leave.

Eunuch Min hurriedly followed him and didn’t dare to say another word.

Chu Ning heaved a sigh of relief and patted Chu Liuyue’s arm. “Yue’er, you should go back and rest.”

This incident had completely zero relation to them now, but as the imperial guards’ Commander-in-Chief, he still had to follow His Majesty and follow up on this matter.

Chu Liuyue nodded lightly. “Don’t worry, Father. I can take care of myself.”

Chu Ning was then assured as he turned to Rong Zhen. “Fourth Princess, please.”

Rong Zhen glanced at the Empress hesitantly. “Mother—”

“Get lost! I don’t have a daughter like you!” screamed the Empress loudly!

Rong Zhen’s colorless face turned even paler. Her lips moved, but she didn’t say anything in the end as she turned around to leave.

When she passed by Chu Liuyue, she still lowered her head as if she didn’t notice Chu Liuyue’s presence.

“Fourth Princess,” said Chu Liuyue suddenly.

Rong Zhen then stopped and looked up at her.

When Rong Zhen saw Chu Liuyue, she instinctively knitted her brows and revealed a look of disgust. But when she was about to speak, she suddenly felt terrified for some reason.

Mysteriously, she swallowed all the words at the tip of her tongue.

Facing her series of strange reactions, Chu Liuyue’s eyes sparkled, and she had a guess in her heart. She didn’t say anything else and gave Chu Ning a reassuring smile.

However, Rong Zhen was scared by it as she walked off hurriedly.

On the other end, Rong Jiu stood in front of the Empress and Rong Jin, quietly waiting for them. He seemed to have a lot of patience as he didn’t say anything and waited at the side.

From time to time, he even glanced at the two of them with some interest.

Nobody knew how long he had waited for this day. Now, he could finally see the Empress’s unkempt appearance, so he naturally had to grab this opportunity.

Rong Jin noticed his gaze and instantly felt like the fire in his heart was ignited. “Rong Jiu! You did this on purpose, right? You just want to make my mother and me a laughingstock! Are you satisfied now?”

Rong Jiu lightly said, “Brother, what are you saying? I’m just waiting to send the two of you back. Father has already given his command, so I naturally have to follow it.”

Rong Jin clenched his fists tightly. “Don’t think that I don’t know what you’re thinking! It’s just because of your lowly birth mother, right? It’s not the first day you’ve hated us! One day, I’ll repay this by a hundred-fold!”

Rong Jiu’s gaze turned cold as intense murderous intent exuded from him. “Crown Prince, if you’re so free, you should properly think about how to get out of this stalemate.”

The Empress definitely couldn’t keep her position, and Rong Jin was no better. This time, the Si family might even be implicated.

Rong Jin couldn’t even save himself, yet he was thinking about revenge. What a joke.

Rong Jin almost crushed his molar teeth as he finally suppressed his vengeance. “Mother, let’s go!”

We must think of another way!

Rong Jiu helped his mother along and walked in front. Rong Jiu paused for a while and looked at Situ Xingchen. “Eldest Princess Situ, are you going with them or…”

Situ Xingchen’s expression was like a frozen mask—awkward and ashamed. She didn’t imagine things would end up like this. Wasn’t it going very well previously? Why did the Crown Prince and the Empress end up in such perilous situations after leaving the palace? What should I do?

“I… I won’t follow them then…” said Situ Xingchen forcefully as she was filled with regret.

If she knew of this earlier, she definitely wouldn’t have a marriage agreement with Rong Jin! She couldn’t even salvage this situation now!

“That’s not very nice, right? Eldest Princess Situ, you just got engaged to the Crown Prince. Now that he’s in trouble, you’re just walking away like that? Isn’t that akin to escaping in the face of trouble? Not only the Crown Prince, but I believe many people would be very disappointed in you, right?” said Chu Liuyue lazily as she hugged her arms.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Situ Xingchen glanced at her, and a look of vengeance quickly flashed past her eyes. Chu Liuyue is clearly doing it on purpose!

“I think I had better not. This incident has a huge impact. Even though I’m engaged to the Crown Prince, I’m still an outsider currently. As the eldest princess of Country Xing Luo, I shouldn’t get involved in this.” At this point, Situ Xingchen was still speaking very tactfully, and she easily extracted herself from the situation.

It was as if she had forgotten that this was because she had said that she saw Chu Liuyue and Rong Zhen together, which instigated the Empress and Rong Jin into accusing Chu Liuyue in front of Emperor Jiawen.

Chu Liuyue nodded with a smile. “Eldest Princess Situ, that makes sense. However, I originally thought that you must love and admire the Crown Prince very much since you got engaged to him very quickly. I thought you’d definitely stand up for him when you saw him in trouble. It seems like I’ve been thinking too much.”

Situ Xingchen looked even more awkward.

Rong Jin—who was walking in front—suddenly reacted and quickly rushed to Situ Xingchen. He clutched her hands in one fell swoop. “Right! Xingchen, only you can help me now! You can go and beg your father to put in a good word for us! Father will definitely let this slide!”