Chapter 438: Picking What’s More Important

If someone else were here and heard this, they would definitely be taken aback. This incident had many implications, yet Emperor Jiawen directly asked him, which showed just how much he trusted Rong Xiu.

Rong Xiu opened his phoenix eyes and looked shocked. “Father, you called me here for this?”

Emperor Jiawen looked at him solemnly and didn’t say a word.

Rong Xiu’s lips curved up slightly, and something flashed across his eyes lightly. “Father, you’re suspecting Yue’er?”

Emperor Jiawen rubbed his temples. “Rong Xiu, you’ve always been smart.”

He had to admit that Elder Zong Ye’s words made him falter. Last night, he almost didn’t sleep a wink because he kept thinking about this.

Out of so many people, why did they point out Chu Liuyue? Besides, judging from Chu Liuyue’s previous stunning performances, she might really be hiding some secrets.

Even if Elder Ye had already agreed to ask Chu Liuyue personally, he still felt uneasy. But Chu Liuyue’s identity was special, so he could not and was not willing to touch her. Thus, he could only call Rong Xiu over.

Rong Xiu thought for a while and suddenly said, “I think there’s something you might not know, Father.”

Emperor Jiawen sat up straight.

Rong Xiu was still smiling, but a playful aura spread across his face. “Situ Xingchen has… liked me for many years.”

Emperor Jiawen was instantly stunned, but he quickly understood something.

Could it be that Situ Xingchen kept targeting Chu Liuyue because of this?

Emperor Jiawen’s brows twitched slowly. “Even if so, she shouldn’t frame… After all, she already has a marriage agreement with Rong Jin… What good does it do if she offends Chu Liuyue?”

Rong Xiu’s smiling intentions were deep and cold. “Father, you know the best what’s going on between her marriage agreement with Brother.”

Emperor Jiawen fell into deep thought.

“I wonder if you remember that I went to the Qing Jiao Competition on the last day.”

Emperor Jiawen nodded. “Of course, I remember.”

“I went over that day to ask Yue’er for a favor. When we left, we met Situ Xingchen. I unwittingly discovered that her sleeves had a cloud embroidery that was almost identical to mine.” Rong Xiu’s voice was distant.

Emperor Jiawen’s heart skipped a beat.

In the past, Rong Xiu loved those unique cloud embroideries. Hence, many of his clothes specifically had such designs.

“Perhaps… it was a coincidence?”

“After I went back that day, I kept thinking about it and felt rather uncomfortable. Thus, I called the servants to burn all the clothes with such embroidery.”

Emperor Jiawen’s expression changed.

I have a vague impression of this, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. I just thought that Rong Xiu wanted to uplift his mood as he recovered from his illness, so he threw away all those clothes. I didn’t expect there to be a hidden reason.

“That day, Situ Xingchen was also outside Prince Li Mansion and saw this scene. After she left, she hid in an isolated corner and killed a few cultivators. She wrecked their corpses and only stopped after they became a pile of mess,” said Rong Xiu slowly, but his words made people’s hearts beat wildly. “Father, do you think… that was also a coincidence?”

Emperor Jiawen finally couldn’t sit any longer as he suddenly stood up. “How do you know about this?”

Rong Xiu smiled calmly. “Father, I’m in the Imperial City. If I don’t even know who went to Prince Li Mansion and who had what kind of attitude toward me, how can I continue surviving?”

Emperor Jiawen looked at him with a complicated gaze and didn’t say anything for quite some time. “…Yes! I almost forgot…”

Even though Rong Xiu was frail, he was extremely intelligent. It would be a real disappointment if he couldn’t even do this after staying at Mingyue Tianshan for so many years.

“Those few people regularly whiled their lives away at all sorts of gambling dens and brothels in the Imperial City, and they are very well-hated, so nobody cared that they died. This incident just died down, but if you want to verify it, it’s simple—”

“No need to say anymore. I believe in you.” Emperor Jiawen lazily waved his hands and leaned against the chair.

Rong Xiu kept quiet.

The room fell into silence.

Emperor Jiawen’s thoughts were in turmoil.

Anyone can hear the strange parts of this incident. For so many years, Situ Xingchen has always been high, mighty, gentle, and elegant in everyone’s hearts. But from this incident, one can clearly tell that she isn’t that type of person.

In actual fact, he had long felt this way after interacting with Situ Xingchen for the past few days. However, he didn’t expect her to be even more vicious than he had imagined…

After linking everything up, many of his doubts were dispelled. “So… this means that Situ Xingchen purposely targeted Liuyue because her love turned into hatred?”

In this way, there was also a logical explanation as to why Situ Xingchen intervened in Rong Zhen’s matter and had even accused Chu Liuyue for no reason.

Rong Xiu smiled nonchalantly. “I didn’t say that. Father, you know what’s right and wrong.”

Emperor Jiawen opened his eyes and looked deeply at Rong Xiu. “I didn’t expect the first time you decided to be honest with me about all of this would be due to Chu Liuyue.”

Rong Xiu’s words were akin to admitting that he had his own power in the Imperial City and that he wasn’t as nonchalant as he portrayed himself to be. He definitely knew that this was the biggest taboo to an emperor.

“Aren’t you afraid that I’ll scheme against you?” asked Emperor Jiawen.

The sunlight shone in and reflected in Rong Xiu’s eyes, causing them to dazzle and sparkle.

He said, “I just picked what’s more important.”

To him, she was the most important thing, and she was his only choice.

…

Almost at the same time, Chu Liuyue waited for Elder Ye in her backyard.

So many things had happened the night before. Situ Xingchen will definitely point me out and tell everything to Emperor Jiawen.

Thus, she was long prepared. However, she didn’t expect her own mentor to be the one that would come here.

Chu Liuyue delightedly welcomed him. “Mentor, what brings you here?”

Elder Ye looked at her and suddenly asked in shock, “Hm? Since when did you break through and become a stage-three warrior?”

If I didn’t remember wrongly, this girl had just broken through and became a stage-two warrior during the Qing Jiao Competition. Why did she so quickly—Besides, her aura seems different from before…

If Elder Ye had carefully checked Chu Liuyue’s Yuan meridian, he would realize that the strange change was because of the advancement in her Yuan meridian level.

Chu Liuyue’s eyes curved up like a crescent moon. “I just broke through these few days. I’ve learned quite a bit from Tai Yan Academy’s library, so I tried to break through, and it worked.”

Elder Ye thought about it in detail and felt that it made sense. He had long known that Chu Liuyue’s body had rich force, so it was a matter of time for her to break through. “You’re indeed my disciple! Haha!”

Upon seeing Elder Ye’s face filled with happiness, Chu Liuyue’s lips curved up as she seemingly nonchalantly reminded him, “Why did you come to look for me today?”

Elder Ye suddenly stopped laughing.