135. Provocation

When Rong Se walked out of the door, he ran into Cao Lun who was waiting in the corridor. The two of them met each other. Rong Se didn't want to pay attention to him at first, so he just pretended not to see him and walked past him, but suddenly stopped, took two steps back, looked at Cao Lun with a smile, and asked in a low voice: "Lord Cao, how long do you think it will take for His Majesty to have an heir?"

Cao Lun remained calm and looked at him solemnly, "The Empress has been sealed, so naturally there will be good news soon."

Rong Se laughed and said with a hint of sarcasm: "I think that our Majesty will not have an heir."

Cao Lun's face changed, "My Lord, be careful with your words!"

"I'm just telling the truth." Rong Se was happy to see him trying to hold back his anger. He rolled up his sleeves leisurely and said slowly, "Also, Lord Cao - Xingzhou miscalculated."

Cao Lun's face was already tense, "I am an old and stupid official. I don't understand what the prince is saying."

"Master Cao, why do you have to be so modest? There's no point in pretending. You and I both know that Sanlang will soon reach Qiangzhou." Rong Se walked past him slowly with a relaxed tone, saying only, "Master Cao, just wait and see."

Normally, he was reluctant to have verbal disputes with others because it was meaningless, let alone actively provoking them.

But today Rong Se just wanted to say a few words to this old man, otherwise he would be unable to get rid of his anger.

Rong Se was thinking as he walked, how could Rong Jing, such a complete traitor, have a child?

Old stuff, just wait.

If I send you away, Rong Jing won't be able to give birth to a son.

Rong Jing was still in Linghui Pavilion, and when Cao Lun entered, he had already put on his usual calm expression, but his eyes were somewhat gloomy. He lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, the plan in Xingzhou has failed. I told Your Majesty a few days ago that it was not the right time, but now it is."

Rong Jing no longer trusted Cao Lun that much. When he saw him now, he felt that his expression, which was no different from usual, was hiding a sinister plot.

"The plan in Xingzhou." Rong Jing pulled the corners of his lips, but he didn't laugh. He stared straight at Cao Lun and said in a deep voice, "Are you talking about assassinating Dingbei Marquis? Uncle, the Minister of War knows about this, and Zhou Haiyi, who is far away in Xingzhou, has received your instructions. But why... I don't know?"

Cao Lun bowed his head in a seemingly respectful manner, "Your Majesty, just be the emperor. I, your subjects, will take care of these trivial matters for you. Why do you need to worry about them?"

If it were in the past, Rong Jing would have just let it go after hearing this, but this time he just felt disappointed.

"But I am the emperor." Rong Jing gritted his teeth, "Didn't my uncle say that the emperor holds all the power in the world? But I don't know anything, so what power do I have?"

Cao Lun raised his eyebrows in surprise, but did not retreat under the questioning. Instead, he looked directly at the emperor and asked, "Your Majesty, why do you say that? Hasn't it always been like this?"

Why didn't he teach the emperor sincerely?

But Rong Jing is really no match for him. Liang Shenyu has been fooling him since he was a child. With Cao as his mother's family and relying on the fact that the late emperor only had this son, he is too confident.

So step by step we have come to this day.

It seemed to be a confrontation between the regent and the new emperor, but in fact it had long been a struggle between the royal family and the imperial relatives. The imperial relatives, led by the Cao family, had gradually eroded the imperial power.

That's fine. Cao Lun only cares about the glory of the Cao family. As long as he can preserve the Cao family's foundation, it doesn't matter whether the monarch is wise or not.

——As long as he holds power, it is enough.

Rong Jing was also suddenly stunned.

Indeed...it has always been like this. He didn't have to worry about anything. When he was studying, Liang Shenyu would do everything for him. Later, he had Cao Lun as his uncle. All the things he took for granted were now coming back to him.

Rong Jinghun's body turned cold as he suddenly realized that there was no one he could trust in this magnificent and majestic palace.

The two men confronted each other for a long time, and Rong Jing finally understood his helpless situation. Rong Se wanted to kill him, and his trusted uncle was no longer trustworthy, but at least at this moment, Rong Jing knew that he could not afford to offend Cao Lun.

"Then... there is Uncle Lao."

Rong Jing forced a smile and dug his nails into his palms.

Cao Lun nodded in satisfaction, and in an instant he became the uncle again, admonishing, "The empress has been appointed, Your Majesty should also seize the opportunity to expand the royal family."

When Rong Jing heard the words "spread out branches and leaves", he felt as if a knife was falling on his neck, and he felt a chill. However, he could only nod and say, "...I understand."

"That's good, Your Majesty, please go back early." Cao Lun leaned forward, "I'll take my leave."

Rong Jing returned to Zhaoyang Palace in a daze, only to be told that the Queen had been waiting for a long time. As soon as Rong Jing entered, a beauty dressed in gorgeous Queen's attire came out to greet him, her jewelry jingling, her footswaying, and a fragrant breeze coming to his face.

Rong Jing had a blank expression. He glanced at Hou Qingxia's slender jade fingers stretched out to him. They were fair and slender, as only a woman could be. He suddenly felt disgusted. The scenes of men and women entangled in love that he had seen in his childhood suddenly emerged in his mind, and Rong Jing almost vomited.

"Don't touch me!"

Rong Jing subconsciously slapped Hou Qingxia's hand away, and pointed to the door with disgust, saying coldly: "Get out!"

The back of Hou Qingxia's palm immediately turned red. She lost all her smile and looked at Rong Jing in shock, somewhat incredulous, "Your Majesty...?"

"I told you to get out!" Rong Jing growled.

Hou Qingxia didn't dare to stay any longer and left in a hurry.

Rong Jing stood in front of Zhaoyang Palace, already freezing cold. The eunuch accompanying him tremblingly reminded him, "Your Majesty, it's cold. Come inside quickly to avoid catching a cold."

Rong Jing didn't move, he was afraid of this deserted room.

It shouldn't be like this, how could it be like this? Rong Jing couldn't understand, he was the only one qualified to be the emperor, he should be the ruler of the world, he should be above everyone, he should hold power!

But why...why did it come to this?

The resentment and resentment in his heart condensed into an increasingly distorted expression between Rong Jing's eyebrows, and underneath that was endless panic.

On the other side, Hou Qingxia also had an ugly look on her face. She stroked the red on the back of her palm and gritted her teeth.

It seemed that the emperor had discovered something, which was why he was reluctant to touch her. Especially just now, she saw clearly that there was disgust in the emperor's eyes, as if she was some dirty thing that could not be approached.

Hou Qingxia had never suffered such humiliation before.

"Go, call my brother into the palace." Hou Qingxia ordered, suppressing her anger.

The maid responded immediately: "Yes."

Hou Peihu entered the palace very quickly. As he was a foreign man, he was not supposed to meet the empress privately. But now he held an important position in Xuanjiying and could enter and leave the palace at any time, which was naturally convenient for him.

Inside Fengning Palace, Hou Peihu also said in a hoarse voice: "Your Majesty, are you really like this? Telling you to get out in public?"

Hou Qingxia sat on the short couch, her pretty face still showing anger. She snorted when she heard the voice: "How could I lie to my brother? There are so many eyes in this palace watching me. He abandoned me on the night of my coronation. In these days, I can hardly even see him once, let alone sleep with him! Fortunately, there are no other concubines in this palace, otherwise, wouldn't everyone in the palace have to watch me make fun of me?"

Hearing his sister's resentment, Hou Peihu frowned and asked, "What does the Queen mean?"

"Brother, you and I both know why I entered the palace." Hou Qingxia said slowly, her eyes dim, "But now it is not easy for me to conceive a son. I finally took the throne of empress. His Cao family was able to rise to heaven thanks to Empress Dowager Cao, so it is time for our Hou family to do the same."

Hou Peihu agreed and sighed, "But the Cao family was blessed by heaven back then, but now your majesty has no real power and is unwilling to give it to you..."

"Let him be." Hou Qingxia said coldly, "It's just a child. If I want to have one, I can have one. The child is in my belly, and he is the heir to the throne!"

Hou Peihu understood what was said and was immediately shocked, "You mean...? Are you crazy?!"

He quickly looked around, fearing that someone on the other side of the wall might be listening, and then whispered, "This is a crime of deceiving the emperor and confusing the royal bloodline. How many heads do you have to chop off?!"

Hou Qingxia looked at him with a firm gaze: "That's why I called my brother to discuss this. Isn't there Lord Cao? As long as he admits that my child is the heir to the throne, who dares to interfere?"

Hou Peihu hesitated for a moment.

They seemed to be joining forces with the Cao family, but in fact they all had their own thoughts. They all knew why Cao Lun wanted to find a prince, and they all agreed to it tacitly.

Hou Qingxia said in a deep voice: "Brother, the current situation is our chance!"

Hou Peihu took a breath and said slowly: "…This is a serious matter. I will go home and discuss it with my father before making a decision."

Hou Qingxia hesitated for a moment, knowing that this matter was of great importance, and nodded.

.

"Really? He really drove the Queen out?"

Rongse sat up straight in his chair and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Yun Chu reported the news in the palace to him, saying how the eunuch described in vivid detail how the emperor had driven someone away. He nodded and said, "The news is true. It has spread all over the palace. It's not just this one thing. Your Majesty is hiding from the Empress. On the night of the coronation, he left the Empress in the bedroom and slept in a side hall."

Rong Se had mixed feelings. It seemed that Rong Jing was truly a virgin, but this was too much. He had married the Empress into the family, yet he treated her like this.

Rong Zhixu, who was listening in, suddenly said, "Speaking of which... there are few servants in the palace, even palace maids. Most of them are eunuchs..."

Rong Se originally thought it was no big deal, but when he changed his mind, he was suddenly shocked.

...Rong Jing avoided Hou Qingxia as much as possible and refused to marry or take concubines, and was unwilling to even pretend. In the original novel, it could be said that he was keeping his chastity for Liang Shenyu, but now Liang Shenyu had made it clear that he was going against him, so what was he keeping?

Judging from what he did, he doesn't seem like such a sentimental person.

so……

Is he a misogynist?

When Rong Se thought of this, he felt that everything made sense. A sneer slowly rose from his lips and he snorted, "It's not unfair to say that he is stupid."

"Ah? Why?" Lan Ying sat next to Rong Zhixu holding a plate of cakes, eating like a little hamster, muttering: "Sending him a queen is to make him have children. If he has a prince, he, the emperor, will be useless! He naturally doesn't like that queen. For the sake of his own throne, I don't think the emperor will have children with the queen."

Rong Se shook his head, looking puzzled.

"That may not be the case."