How could my childhood sweetheart be the current empress?

For example, Xue Yuan's ring is worn on her index finger, which means she is still single, while Tong Xin's ring is worn on her middle finger, which means she is already taken.

Although both of them wore rings on their hands, the meanings were completely different.

"I see. Then Tong'er understands. The master put the ring on Tong'er's middle finger, which means that Tong'er will only belong to you from now on."

Tongxin nodded and looked at Xue Yuan in front of her with a provocative look, as if to say, are you angry? I'm already taken, what about you?

Xue Yuan naturally had nothing to say. After all, she was someone close to the empress. If she dared to wear the ring given by Xu Chengling on her middle finger, the empress would cut off her finger.

However, Tongxin's words also gave Xue Yuan an important piece of information.

"Prime Minister Xu, does Miss Tongxin mean that... you are going to marry Miss Tongxin?"

"Ah."

Xu Chengling nodded.

Xue Yuan was suddenly panicked. If His Majesty knew about this, he would probably collapse.

It was obvious that she was the one who married Prime Minister Xu first, but after what happened, there are more and more women around Prime Minister Xu, but Your Majesty is still single.

If she were His Majesty, she would probably want to die.

"Miss Xue Yuan, what are you thinking about?"

Seeing that she seemed to be lost in thought, Xu Chengling could not help but ask.

"Nothing. By the way, His Majesty invites you, Prime Minister Xu, to come with me to the palace."

Xue Yuan shook her head, and then remembered that she actually had something important to do here.

"Prime Minister Xu, it would be better not to let His Majesty know about your plan to marry Miss Tongxin for the time being."

Xue Yuan whispered in Xu Chengling's ear that she was worried that this matter would be a blow to His Majesty.

"Okay, I understand."

Xu Chengling nodded and immediately understood what Xue Yuan meant.

His wife is your Majesty's biological sister, and now he is going to marry another woman. Your Majesty must not know about this for the time being, otherwise your Majesty will definitely make trouble for him.

By the time Your Majesty finds out about the matter, it will be too late to do anything.

In short, this matter must be kept secret from His Majesty first.

Afterwards, Xu Chengling followed Xue Yuan to the palace.

Tongxin was worried, so she followed him, but she could only wait outside the palace.

This time, His Majesty did not go to the Imperial Study, but went to the more formal Yuhe Hall, which was specially used for audiences with the emperor.

In the Yuhe Hall, in addition to the woman in dragon robe sitting on the dragon throne with curtains, there was also a young face that looked slightly familiar.

However, the fox mask that was supposed to be on her face was gone, replaced by a young and beautiful face.

"Are you... Miss Fox?"

Looking at the young woman in front of him, Xu Chengling asked in disbelief.

Chapter 281 Resurgence

The young woman in front of him was wearing a fish-patterned brocade dress. She looked at Xu Chengling, who was surprised, and said:

"Mr. Xu, should I call you Prime Minister Xu now?"

"You can call it whatever you want. Whatever comes to your mind is fine."

Xu Chengling scratched his head and said embarrassedly.

Due to some special reasons, he concealed his true identity from the other party and only said that he was a senior servant in the Prime Minister's Mansion.

But later, when he used the golden imperial order to command the Heavenly Supervisor, the other party also knew his true identity.

However, it was the first time that Xu Chengling saw Miss Fox's true appearance. He originally thought that there was something shameful on her face, but it turned out that her face was white and clean, and there was a heroic spirit between her brows that was no less than that of men.

"Ms. Fox, where is your mask?"

Xu Chengling couldn't help but ask in a low voice, somewhat curious.

"Since you are meeting His Majesty, you can no longer wear a mask. Also, I am not Miss Fox."

Miss Fox smiled charmingly and said to him:

"Let's get to know each other again, the Junior Minister of the Heavenly Monitoring Department, Liu Hanqiu."

"Okay, Miss Fox."

"… whatever you like."

The two of them reminisced about the past until their Majesty coughed lightly from above, and they quickly shut their mouths.

"Shaoqing, Xiangguo, you are here."

"I have met His Majesty."

The two men stepped forward, bowed, patted their sleeves, and greeted His Majesty.

"Your Majesty, why did you summon me to the palace?"

Until now, Xu Chengling still hasn't figured out why His Majesty summoned him.

The dragon-robed woman behind the curtain looked at the woman beside her and said to her:

"Shaoqing, please explain this to the Prime Minister."

"Yes."

Shao Qing nodded, then looked at Xu Chengling and explained to him:

"Prime Minister Xu, this is the case. The Tianjian Division has received news recently that many court officials were found dead in their residences. These officials all supported Your Majesty, and all of them had one thing in common: the little fingers of both hands were cut off."

"Your little finger was cut off?"

Xu Chengling couldn't help but frown. Why did this method sound so familiar?

Soon, he remembered that when Tong Xin was carrying out missions before, he would also cut off the target's little finger as proof of receiving the bounty.

That's not right. He had not allowed Tongxin to carry out the mission a long time ago. Then who could have done it?

"Yan Luo Men!"

These three words suddenly emerged in Xu Chengling's mind. The modus operandi of this killer organization is known to everyone, and that is cutting off the little finger.

But what puzzled Xu Chengling was that Yan Luomen had been resurrected, but dared to leave evidence of the crime in such a high-profile manner. Wasn't he afraid of being destroyed by the court again?

Or did they do this on purpose? Or was it a copycat?

"The number one killer organization in Jianghu, Yanluomen, has made a comeback again."

Shaoqing spoke slowly, and at the same time verified Xu Chengling's guess that Yama Gate had resurrected again.

Then, Shaoqing continued to explain to Xu Chengling:

"According to the records of the Heavenly Supervision Department, after the Yama Sect was destroyed by the imperial court, its top leaders disappeared, and there are still many remnants of the Yama Sect in various places. Now, these remnants have made a comeback under the call of the top leaders and launched a revenge operation against the imperial court."

"I see. It looks like Yan Luo Men is preparing to make a comeback."

Xu Chengling had a slightly thoughtful look on his face. He remembered that Tongxin used to be a member of Yanluomen, and was also Yanluomen's gold medal killer with a very high status.

Not long ago, he met two remnants of the Yanluomen, who seemed to be looking for the top leaders of the organization and revealed that in addition to them, there were many remnants of the organization in various places.

In other words, important high-ranking officials of Yama Gate are still alive. Under the call of the high-ranking officials, they gather the remnants of the party from all over the country and return to the arena again.

It is conceivable that with the resurrection of this killer organization, there will be another bloody storm in the world.

At that time, Yanluomen was destroyed by the imperial court. Tongxin was seriously injured and fled to the gate of Xiangguo Mansion, where she was rescued by him. After that, she had nowhere to go, so she stayed by his side.

Now that Yan Luomen has returned, how will Tong Xin, once the organization's top killer, decide whether to stay or go?

Even if he took a step back and believed that Tong Xin would not betray him or return to the organization, wouldn't the people from the organization come looking for her, the former gold medal killer?

Thinking of this, Xu Chengling's heart tightened, as if he suddenly understood something.

Tong Xin had been in a bad mood before, as if something was on her mind. Could it be because of something that happened in the organization? !

"Xu Xiangguo, what are you thinking about?"

Shaoqing's voice suddenly sounded in Xu Chengling's ears, interrupting his thoughts at the moment.

"It's nothing, just go on."

Xu Chengling shook his head. Those were just his guesses and might not be correct.

But Yan Luomen suddenly reappeared, and as a former member of the organization, Tongxin might have already learned the news.

Just imagine, if you were a senior executive of an organization, you would definitely want to call back your former capable men. Moreover, Tongxin is a gold medal killer. For Yan Luomen who has returned to the arena, she is an indispensable member.

But suppose, if Tong Xin doesn’t want to go back, will Yan Luomen let her go?

The more Xu Chengling thought about it, the more scared she felt. She had a bad feeling in her heart. Tongxin was still waiting for her outside the palace. Would something happen to this girl? !

"This is the situation. Yan Luomen has now re-emerged and sent people to assassinate the ministers of the court. There must be someone behind this who is instructing them. Otherwise, no matter how bold Yan Luomen is, he would not dare to offend the court."

Shaoqing went on to say that she didn't think that Yan Luomen would dare to openly provoke the imperial court on its own, and there must be a big shot behind the scenes giving instructions.

The Yanluo Sect, which had been destroyed by the imperial court, was able to revive. There must be someone behind the scenes who helped the Yanluo Sect and provided them with experienced killers.

After all, training an experienced killer takes a lot of time and cost, and even requires training from a young age. When the Yama Gate was destroyed, the court found dozens of trained children within the organization who had the ability to kill at the age of only six or seven.

If this happens until they grow up, the consequences will be disastrous.

Now that Yan Luomen has just returned to the underworld, it is impossible for him to train so many experienced killers. The only possibility is that someone is secretly helping Yan Luomen.

Anyone who can pull off such a feat and secretly train a large number of private soldiers must be powerful and influential in the court, and have a solid foundation. There are only a handful of such people in the entire court.

For example, the prime minister standing in front of her has the ability to do these things.

At this time, the dragon-robed woman who had been sitting above slowly opened her mouth and asked Xu Chengling below:

"My dear, what do you think about this matter?"

When Xu Chengling heard this, he thought about it and roughly understood what was going on.

According to Shaoqing's description, there must be a huge force behind Yanluomen that is secretly helping it, otherwise it would not be possible for it to revive so quickly.

So who is it that has the ability to train a large number of private soldiers and also holds enormous power in the court?

What a coincidence, he seems to fit these requirements.

It is obvious that His Majesty is suspicious of him!

Chapter 282 Half of the Tiger Talisman

But Xu Chengling knew clearly that this matter had nothing to do with him and he was absolutely loyal to His Majesty.

So who was behind all this?

He knew he was innocent, but His Majesty didn't know, and all he had to do was prove his innocence.

But it seems that he also has many unclear points, such as secretly cultivating personnel in the intelligence organization, mastering the intelligence of every official in the court, and it seems that there is a person from Yamamen in his mansion.

And what a coincidence that this person was once the gold medal killer of Yanluomen.

Why is there a top assassin from Yan Luo Men in the Xiangguo Mansion? This is really worth pondering.

Just for this reason alone, he can no longer clear himself of the issue.

But Xu Chengling knew in his heart that Tongxin had always been by his side and had long since abandoned her previous identity.

Today, she is no longer the gold medal killer "Bi Yan" of Yanluomen, she is just a maid named Tongxin in the Xiangguo Mansion.

But what's the use of him knowing this alone? Your Majesty doesn't know it and won't believe what he says.

"Your Majesty, I am not aware of this matter. If Yan Luomen reappears in the arena, I think it is necessary to eradicate it to prevent future troubles."

Xu Chengling thought about it and couldn't help but speak.

At this moment, he noticed that Shaoqing was looking at him with a strange look in his eyes, and even His Majesty, who was sitting behind the curtain, looked a little strange.

There was a secret letter in front of Yan Qiaoling, which was the result of an investigation conducted by the Meihua Inner Guard not long ago.