110 Warning

◎That’s all I have to say. You can do whatever you want◎

Xue Ji paused, petals falling from the sky onto his light-colored robe. He turned and asked Rong Ruoyu, "What do you mean?"

"Sister, you are the Queen, why are you so close to the Lord?" Rong Ruoyu lowered her eyebrows, and in a trance, she really looked a bit like Rong Qianyu. She stepped closer to Xue Ji and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "From a high place, you will fall hard. Aren't you afraid of getting me in trouble?"

Xue Ji didn't seem to care much about her words. He took a step back and said, "There are some things that Your Majesty has his reasons for not intervening. As a legitimate princess married into the Great Zhou as a concubine, you should know that among the princesses married into the imperial family, only the empress's eldest legitimate daughter has the highest status and the greatest use. Otherwise, just wait and see. If something happens to you and the empress, who will your good emperor help?"

What he said was true. Marriages with princesses were usually made with daughters of the imperial family or adopted daughters from ministerial families. Real princesses were rarely used. But among all the real princesses, the one with the greatest use was undoubtedly the eldest legitimate daughter of the empress.

The rule that the legitimate wife is the wife and the concubine is the concubine has been in place since ancient times, and Xue Ji's words hit Rong Ruoyu right in the bud. She had been the apple of her father's eye since childhood, doted on by her father, yet she had never imagined that one day she would be sent to marry a foreign prince.

"You are not allowed to slander my father!" Rong Ruoyu said angrily, a little angry.

"Slander?" Xue Ji couldn't help but laugh. "Slander him for sending the daughter he'd doted on for years to marry as a concubine? That's your good father, a good father who treats everyone equally."

Rong Guangzhao is a man with power that no woman in the tribe can compare to. Every time Rong Qianyu feels that He Wanrou came at the right time. If her situation were reversed with her mother's, perhaps He Wanrou would have died in childbirth.

Because her father only cared about power, and thought day and night about how to consolidate his power, but never thought about the situation of those he abandoned.

In this respect, he is very similar to Fu Hua. They only have themselves and the throne in their hearts. Fortunately, the Crown Prince of Rong is a good child who is unlike his parents, so at least there is no need to worry about the decline of Rong.

"You!" Rong Ruoyu had nothing to say.

Xue Ji advised kindly, "So, the one you can count on now is not Emperor Rong, nor me, but Your Majesty, only Your Majesty."

After saying this, he turned and left. If there were any other women in the palace that Fu Hua liked to take into his harem, they would all be considered half-real mistresses. Rong Qianyu's marriage was also chosen by the Queen Mother, who valued her character and status. The Great Zhou had always treated her with courtesy, but only Rong Ruoyu was a bargaining chip exchanged between the two countries, a carefully decorated gift.

It was a random reward from her father.

A few days later, all the concubines came to Fengyi Palace to pay their respects. Rong Qianyu dismissed everyone else and only left Rong Ruoyu.

"Everyone except Concubine Min, please go out."

"yes."

Since there were only two sisters around, Rong Qianyu didn't speak so politely and her tone was much softer.

Rong Ruoyu, however, always treated her as an enemy and treated her badly. Today she dressed very cutely.

Rong Qianyu looked her up and down. She was wearing a moon-white long dress with a pattern outlined with gold thread on the neckline, a huge pearl inlaid on her chest, and a plain gold bracelet on her wrist, as if she wanted to wear all her belongings on her body.

"Today, an official gave me a red coral, saying it was from your order. Is that true?"

"Yes." Rong Ruoyu said.

Rong Qianyu asked again: "So you know about this?"

"yes."

Hearing her correct answer, Rong Qianyu became furious and threw the teacup she had just been drinking from heavily to the ground. This scene scared Rong Pan who was standing beside her.

“Kneel down!”

Rong Ruoyu: “…”

Rong Qianyu raised her voice again and repeated carefully, "I told you to kneel down!"

Rong Ruoyu naturally knew the reason why she was angry, but she could not admit that she had private dealings with officials. It was a taboo for the harem to interfere in politics.

It was the first time she saw Rong Qianyu so angry, and she was a little confused, but she pretended to be calm and said, "I did nothing wrong, why should I kneel!"

"Privately, I am the elder sister and you are the younger sister. I have the responsibility to advise you. Publicly, I am the queen and you are the concubine. I have the right to discipline you. I now ask you to kneel down!"

Hearing this, Rong Ruoyu had no choice but to kneel down obediently.

Rong Qianyu was so angry that her features were furious. "How dare you sell official positions? Do you know that the harem cannot interfere in government affairs? You are abusing your power for personal gain. You are so bold!" "Tell me, who else is with you?"

"unmanned."

"No one?" Rong Qianyu hoped she could betray Cui Rumei. After all, they were sisters of the same blood. She didn't want to involve irrelevant people in her fight against Cui Rumei. "No one, you've only been in the Great Zhou for a few months. Who gave you this connection?"

"So, there's collusion between officials from the previous dynasty?" Rong Qianyu pressed, "Don't you want to live anymore?"

But Rong Ruoyu didn't seem to cooperate, "This is my business, it has nothing to do with you."

Rong Qianyu really didn't know how she and Cui Rumei ended up together, and why she had to cover up such a big thing for her.

She was so angry she felt dizzy. She sat down and drank her tea and said, "Red coral isn't very productive. Even I only make some jewelry. This coral is so large and intricately carved, it doesn't look like it's from this year. This kind of coral is only found in the South China Sea, and it has to be salvaged with extreme caution. It's impossible to cultivate it inland. I'm afraid that the coastal official is trying to bribe you by going to Beijing with it."

"No, I really don't." Rong Ruoyu knelt on the ground, her eyes dodging, tears faintly visible in her eyes, but she was still ruthless, not wanting to confess, "Your Majesty, please go back. I really don't understand."

Her younger sister has been like this since she was a child. When their mother was still alive, their relationship was pretty good, but after their mother passed away and He Wanrou became the heir, their relationship was no longer as good as before.

Rong Qianyu had been quite accommodating towards Rong Ruoyu, but this time was different. She still didn't want her to have anything to do with Cui Rumei. "As your elder sister, let me ask you again, what exactly is going on?"

“…” Rong Ruoyu still didn’t speak.

"You know the Queen and I don't have a good relationship, but you are my sister after all, and I don't want you to be dragged into this. If you return the things today, I can pretend I didn't know anything about it. Otherwise, if it happens again and His Majesty finds out, I won't be able to protect you."

But she still said, "I don't know." In that case, there's no need to persuade her.

"That's all I have to say. You'd better take care of yourself." Rong Qianyu said coldly.

After leaving Fengyi Palace, Rong Ruoyu's heart was pounding all the way.

"What should I do? What should I do? She knows. How did she know? Is it Xue Jiming? Does he know something?"

The maid didn't understand anything and could only comfort her, "My Lady, would you like to tell His Majesty?"

Rong Ruoyu knew that Rong Qianyu must have important evidence in her possession when she came to her. If this really got out of hand, she would be powerless to defend herself. "You are so stupid! We are… we are selling official positions. The imperial examination is coming up soon. Let His Majesty know how I should deal with this."

"What should we do then? Should we go back?"

"What if he changes his mind and turns against us if we retreat? Wouldn't it be even more difficult to explain? Let's go find Cui Rumei!"

The two of them hurried to Cui Rumei's palace.

"Why is my sister here?" She was very leisurely, lying on the chaise longue and eating cherries.

"Rong Qianyu knows!"

Cui Rumei pretended not to know, "Know what?"

Rong Ruoyu was terrified and lowered her voice, fearing that others would hear her even though they were indoors. "They know about us buying...!"

"So what? You're her biological sister. How could she not protect you?"

"She won't." Rong Ruoyu answered blankly.

"Then what should we do? Otherwise, sister, you should retreat and tell that person that you can't do anything?"

Cui Rumei dragged her onto the pirate ship. Now the matter is done and there is not much to hide. The two of them are tied together now. If something happens to one of them, neither of them can escape.

Rong Ruoyu angrily rebuked, "This is ridiculous! How can this be possible?"

Seeing that she was a little annoyed, Cui Rumei took her aside and softened her attitude to comfort her: "Don't worry, I will have a good talk with His Majesty before the emperor's bedchamber today. Don't worry, my brother is in the Ministry of Rites. The candidates are selected from the emperor's disciples, so there will be no problem."

"really?"

"Of course." She looked really pretty when she smiled, which made Rong Ruoyu let down her guard. She took her hand and teased her as if they were very close. "Don't worry, sister. Isn't that red coral beautiful?"