Chapter 529: A Ruthless Character
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Zhou Xiangrong, let me tell you this today. All schemes and plots are useless in front of my fist!” Su Ying growled.
Su Ying released her grip, and Zhou Xiangrong fell to the ground like a piece of rag. Her body had already become all contorted due to the pain.
“You claimed that you are not from this world. Then I will let you have a taste of the cruelty of this world.”
Su Ying waved her hand, and the Imperial Guards stepped forward to haul Zhou Xiangrong up. “Lock her up in the prison of the Ministry of Justice first. I will personally deal with this character.”
Zhou Xiangrong’s eyes were as icy and sinister as a snake’s as they fell upon Su Ying. “Su Ying, as long as I don’t die, I’ll make sure you die!” she thought.
“Your Imperial Highness, you have to give a good explanation to all of us officials. What exactly is going on? Your Imperial Highness must give us an explanation!” The court ministers came back to their senses and went forward to help Lord Liu up.
Su Ying’s attitude of not caring about the lives of others was simply too infuriating. The Empress was the mother of a kingdom and should have a benevolent heart. How could such a heartless person be fit to be the mother of a kingdom?
Su Ying glared at them icily. “I will give an explanation, but not to you guys.” Instead, the explanation was meant for the girls who had been hurt.
Zhou Xiangrong had been arrested, and so had her two spies in the academy. However, this matter was not over yet.
“The academy will temporarily suspend classes from today onward. Let all students pack their things and go home with their families first to comfort the students. Three days later, I will give everyone an answer.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”
Outside the academy, the parents had not left as they were worried about their children. When they saw the gate of the academy opening, they swarmed forward. When they saw their children coming out safe and sound, some parents with weaker psychological constitutions were so scared that they burst into tears.
“No more studying, no more studying. It’s fine if you don’t get to study here.”
“Let’s go home. Go home first. If you have anything to say, we can talk after we go home!”
The parents took their children back one after another, but the news of the academy running into trouble soon spread in the capital city.
The idea of setting up the academy had been mooted by Su Ying, and now that such a major incident had occurred, it was only natural that all the accusing fingers were pointed at Su Ying.
“Your servant never thought that Zhou Xiangrong was behind all this!” Bai Shuang was downright furious. She had always thought that Zhou Xiangrong was a good person.
After Su Ying returned to the Imperial Palace, she took out the papers that Zhou Xiangrong had written and read them over and over again.
“Have you found the brothel that Moon mentioned? Whose name is it registered under?”
Zhou Qing replied, “Your Imperial Highness, I’ve found it. It’s under the name of the younger brother of Xiao Shihang’s wife.”
They followed the lead regarding this person and found out that Xiao Shihang’s brother-in-law was a piece of trash who was beyond hope. He did not have the ability to run such a brothel at all. Therefore, the person in charge of this building behind the scenes was very likely to be Xiao Shihang.
“Has Xiao Shihang done anything recently?”
Zhou Qing shook her head. “He’s very patient. He’s been hiding in Prince Jiangning’s Residence all this time and hasn’t come out.”
Su Ying gave a scornful laugh. “Go. Tell him that Zhou Xiangrong has been captured. Tell him that Zhou Xiangrong has confessed everything. I don’t believe that he can still sit still.”
Su Ying wasn’t sure how Xiao Shihang and Zhou Xiangrong maintained their relationship, but the two of them definitely had a deep connection. Otherwise, Zhou Xiangrong alone wouldn’t have been able to put into motion such a large-scale strategy.
She wanted to uncover other evidence as she dug out the root of this crime. She wanted to clean up all the associated dirt at the same time!
Those few court ministers followed Su Ying back to the palace. The first thing they did was to complain to Xiao Jin immediately.
“Your Majesty, if the Empress was really responsible for this matter, then she can no longer be the Empress of our Chu State.”
“She doesn’t care about Lord Liu’s life or death at all. She doesn’t care about the lives of innocent students. She doesn’t have any ounce of compassion. We beseech Your Majesty to depose the Empress!”
Those few court ministers were filled with righteous indignation and did not notice Xiao Jin’s icy gaze at all.
“Then who saved Minister Liu in the end?”
Lord Liu raised his head when he heard this. It seemed like Su Ying had saved him, but he felt that he was fine because he was lucky and his rescue had nothing to do with Su Ying!
“Your Majesty, the situation was critical at that time. Your lowly official was also prepared to die. I was just worried about the students who were still in the school building…”
“I asked you, who saved Lord Liu in the end, and who captured Zhou Xiangrong?” Xiao Jin couldn’t help raising his voice.
Lord Liu gritted his teeth and answered, “Your Majesty, it was the Empress.”
“Listening to what all of you said just now, those who didn’t know would have thought that the person who wanted your lives was the Empress. Now that the Empress has risked her life to save all of you, are you still not satisfied? If it wasn’t for the Empress’s timely intervention, can all of you guarantee that no one else would be injured again?”
Those ministers fell silent, but their hearts were still filled with prejudice against Su Ying.
Xiao Jin told them to scram. He himself returned to Conjugal Phoenix Palace.
Now that such a thing had occurred, no matter who was responsible, Su Ying’s reputation would be affected to a certain extent. It was just a matter of how big or small the effect was.
“Greetings, Your Majesty.” When Bai Shuang came out of the inner hall, she saw Xiao Jin walking towards her.
“Where is the Empress?”
“Your Majesty, Her Imperial Highness is in the inner hall.”
Xiao Jin gestured with his hand, and Bai Shuang bowed and excused herself.
When Xiao Jin walked into the inner hall, he saw Su Ying sitting on a chair with her back all tensed up. He rarely saw her like this, and there was a hint of worry between her brows.
“Don’t think too much. Leave the rest to me.” Xiao Jin held her hand, and his palm gradually tightened.
Su Ying came back to her senses and felt the burning heat from his dry palm. It made her tensed nerves gradually relax.
She was in deep thought, but she was not thinking about the academy but about that character Zhou Xiangrong.
From her probing words, Su Ying was certain that Zhou Xiangrong was a transmigrator. However, it seemed that she was not from the same world as Su Ying was before she transmigrated. What was wrong with the force field of this world that it could actually attract so many spiritual entities?
If the physical receptacle of her spirit died again, would she end up in someone else’s body?
It was like a person who could die and come back to life repeatedly.
“This person is very ambitious. She must die, or else I won’t be able to give those girls who had suffered an explanation.”
Su Ying blamed herself somewhat. She had relinquished control of this matter too quickly. If she had tightened her control a little, Zhou Xiangrong wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of such a loophole.
As if he could see her self-reproach, Xiao Jin hugged her and comforted her softly. “No matter how sturdy the wall is, it can’t stop the termites that want to infiltrate it. You’ve already done enough.”
Su Ying gently leaned against him. If she had experienced all this suffering herself, she wouldn’t have been too traumatized. To her, being alive was the greatest blessing.
However, it was different for those girls who had not even reached marriageable age. This might become a pain that they could not erase for the rest of their lives.
“When the plague broke out in Luo City, I found it a little strange. The disease came and went too suddenly, but because the corpses of the dead patients had been disposed of, I didn’t discover much. Later, I found out from Zhou Xiangrong that those people were not infected with the plague at all, but were poisoned by her!”
Su Ying looked up, her eyes blazing with scorching heat. “This woman is scheming enough, bold enough, and ruthless enough. She’s indeed a ruthless character who can accomplish things..”