Origin of the Love Knot

Madam Liu's shouts rolled like thunder.

"Do you not boast of being a loyal subject of Great Yu?"

"Why can't you learn from His Majesty? His Majesty keeps body doubles. I just keep a few more substitutes than His Majesty does, so why can't you accept it?"

"And..."

"You should learn from the late Emperor even more!"

"With such a heavenly appearance and dragon-phoenix bearing, the late Emperor was willing to summon the late Empress's former lover to the imperial presence just for her sake. He left him to accompany the late Empress, allowing them to be sweet and affectionate, to pour their hearts out to each other, and he even rewarded them greatly..."

"You, Pei Jingzhi, why can't you learn from that?"

Pei Jingzhi suddenly turned around.

"What?"

"What did you say about the late Emperor?"

...

At Duke Ren's Mansion.

Ren Tianye suddenly jumped up from his chair.

"What did you say?"

"Xiao Jingyuan summoned the Prostitute Empress's old lover to the imperial presence? He even let him catch up with the Prostitute Empress, and while they were sweet and affectionate, Xiao Jingyuan just hid to the side, not daring to disturb them?"

Half-kneeling on the ground, Su Jin nodded, his face full of disbelief, and said, "Your Grace, when your subordinate first heard this news, I couldn't quite believe it either..."

"Xiao Jingyuan was, after all, the supreme ruler of a nation, and the Prostitute Empress was, after all, just from a brothel. No matter how much he loved her, it shouldn't have gone this far, right?"

"But, your subordinate captured the Vice Minister of Rites and the Minister of Rites. These two high-ranking officials, who were blinded by love and favored their concubines over their wives, were interrogated separately, and they both admitted to this."

"Your subordinate can absolutely conclude it."

"The late Emperor Xiao Jingyuan indeed did such a thing!"

"Moreover, afterward, he heavily rewarded the Prostitute Empress's old flame. The rewards were quite substantial, though your subordinate could not find out exactly what was given."

Ren Tianye sat back in his chair, his eyes somewhat dazed.

He originally thought Xiao Mingzhao was already unparalleled in the world, but he did not expect that compared to her father, Xiao Jingyuan, she was completely overshadowed!

He married a prostitute as his wife, and then brought the prostitute's former true love into the palace, hiding to the side himself to let the prostitute and her old flame be intimate?

Was this some perverted game?

Or was he such a huge fool for love that it had caused brain damage?

It was simply outrageously absurd!

Absolutely off the charts!

"Your Grace, your subordinate has also investigated the background of the Prostitute Empress..." Su Jin continued, "The Prostitute Empress was not some lady from a prominent or modest respectable family who ended up in a brothel due to her family's decline. She grew up in the brothel from a young age. Her looks were not top-tier, and her skills in the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting were only average, and what's more..."

"The Prostitute Empress was fickle, promiscuous, and reckless, no different from any lowly woman of the entertainment quarters."

"Given her behavior and style, your subordinate truly cannot imagine how she managed to make the late Emperor so dead set on her."

"After all, no matter what, the late Emperor shouldn't have taken such a huge interest in such a vulgar woman."

Saying this, Su Jin took out a painting.

After opening it, the portrait was yellowed, clearly having aged quite a bit.

There were people painted on it.

Su Jin said, "This is a portrait of the Prostitute Empress that your subordinate found. Please take a look, Your Grace. The one at the very front is the Prostitute Empress."

Ren Tianye took a glance. Although the portrait was done in ink, it had a certain flair. It clearly showed the woman in the front waving a folding fan, her facial expression wanton, unlike someone from a proper family.

Yet such a woman was actually able to drive Xiao Jingyuan crazy step by step.

"The two people behind her, one should be a friend of the Prostitute Empress whose identity is currently unknown, and the last person is the Prostitute Empress's servant girl, who was once bestowed the name Aunt Xiao by the late Emperor Xiao Jingyuan, and was later appointed as the Director of the Palace Bureau by the female Emperor Xiao Mingzhao."

Ren Tianye nodded.

He was too familiar with Aunt Xiao.

Back then, Aunt Xiao shielded a barbarian youth, and without any army guards following behind her, she was met by him alone with a Heaven Piercing Halberd. In an instant, he chopped off several heads, slaying them all from his horse.

Aunt Xiao died by his hands!

It was just...

Looking at this portrait now, Ren Tianye felt a bit of regret. If he had known today would come, he should have tortured Aunt Xiao more severely for information back then.

Just what kind of relationship was there between that Prostitute Empress and Xiao Jingyuan?

As he was thinking, his body suddenly jolted.

Because he saw that the friend of the Prostitute Empress in the portrait had a true-love knot jade pendant tied to her waist!

It was completely different from the styles of true-love knots on the market.

Instead, it was extremely similar to the true-love knot embroidered on the scent sachet given to him by the female Emperor Xiao Mingzhao. It was just that the true-love knot on the sachet given by Xiao Mingzhao had smoother, simpler, and more expressive lines.

It must be an evolved version.

"So, this woman was the first to have such a true-love knot?"

"Is this woman the root of everything?"

"And..."

Ren Tianye's breathing could not help but quicken a bit.

He knew it. He always felt that the true-love knot on the sachet given by the female Emperor Xiao Mingzhao felt somewhat familiar, but he could never remember why.

Now that he saw the first version, Ren Tianye instantly realized it.

Damn, it was a telecommunications operator's logo!

It had just been simplified a bit!

"This person..."

Ren Tianye's eyes instantly became incredibly sharp: "This woman right here, you must find out exactly who she is!"

"If she is alive, where is she now?"

"If she is dead, I want to see her corpse!"

Ren Tianye had always been steady and composed. The bigger the matter, the more placid his expression was. Sudden emotional fluctuations like this were extremely rare even to Su Jin, who had followed Ren Tianye for years.

He couldn't help but feel greatly shocked in his heart.

It seemed that this woman had definitely violated some taboo of His Grace.

Just like Ye Fan in Cloud Ridge City back then!

In order to hunt down Ye Fan, he didn't even defend Cloud Ridge City. He chased him all the way to Sifang City, conquered Sifang City, and just killing Ye Fan wasn't enough.

He even had to grind Ye Fan's bones to dust!

This woman's situation was very much like Ye Fan's.

Therefore, Su Jin quickly half-knelt down, declaring that he would definitely use the fastest speed to find news about this woman.

But at the same time, Su Jin's heart was also boiling and churning.

The true-love knot jade pendant worn by the woman in the portrait and the true-love knot embroidered by the woman suspected to be his third sister obviously originated from the same source.

So, if that woman suspected to be his third sister was truly his third sister Su Li, it would completely prove that Su Li had gotten mixed up with this woman whom the Great General considered a taboo.

Instantly...

Su Jin felt a massive headache coming on.

Back then, his second sister Su Xiu got mixed up with Ye Fan, turning everything upside down. Why... why did his third sister Su Li get mixed up with this woman too!

Does their Su Mansion of the Northern Frontier really have to suffer so much?

And Second Uncle, a single act of kindness was about to bring thousands of disasters to their Su Mansion again!

Su Li wanted to come seek revenge on His Grace, yet she happened to get mixed up with this true-love knot thing. He hardly needed to think about it to know that the future would definitely be another storm of blood and violence!

...