Peach Blossom.

The national mourning had not yet ended, but the eldest princess and her husband, who were most favored by the late emperor, fell ill at the same time. When the news spread to the Duke of Qiao County, it became a strange story.

After what happened that night, Si Rong no longer wanted to care about Chen Ji, but she would not relax her surveillance of Chen Ji, and she still had spies around inside and outside the house.

Chen Ji felt that he couldn't remain in a stalemate with Si Rong, so he personally came to apologize to Si Rong with the medicine in his hands.

"You must have heard wrongly. How could there be another woman by my side? Why don't you call all the maids in our house and ask them one by one where they were that night?"

Si Rong lay in her quilt without saying a word, but in fact, before Chen Ji said this, she had already taken inventory of all the maids in the mansion. None of them was alone that night, and there were witnesses to prove that they had never appeared in that place.

"But I clearly heard it..." Si Rong was surprised at the source of the voice and said it out loud inadvertently. Then she remembered that she had decided not to talk to Chen Ji again and she broke her promise so quickly.

"I asked the imperial doctors, and they said that when a person cares about someone or something, he or she may hear hallucinations, especially when they are emotionally excited. The fact that you can hear these things shows that you care about me too much. I am really touched..." Chen Ji smiled, scooped a spoonful of medicine, and handed it to Si Rong's mouth: "But, I am really wronged... Madam, please don't be angry, okay?"

Before this, Si Rong had never known that her jealousy was so strong and her envy was so severe that it had even reached the point of auditory hallucinations?

She felt very depressed, but she could not find any evidence that Chen Ji had another woman.

Si Rong rolled her eyes at Chen Ji, drank the medicine, and asked, "Then tell me, what were you doing out in the middle of the night?"

Chen Ji put down the medicine bowl, and his face instantly became dull: "I'm very tired, I just want to go out and get some fresh air..."

"Tired?" Si Rong asked puzzledly.

"We have always been close, but recently you have become suspicious. I know that the death of Emperor Chengzong must have been a big blow to you, so I tried my best to tolerate your emotions..." Chen Ji's eyes seemed to be more affectionate and disappointed than ever before, "But, Rong'er, please have pity on me... I have been an orphan for a long time..."

The four words "fatherless and motherless" suddenly hit Si Rong's fragile heart. She obviously knew that Chen Ji had been an orphan since childhood, but at this moment her heart trembled at these words.

Maybe... it's because she has become an orphan from now on.

"I never saw my mother, my father couldn't watch me grow up, and my only brother was the one who hurt me the most... I didn't have a home and relatives until I was in my thirties..." Chen Ji suddenly hugged Si Rong tightly, and said, "You and the children are my only relatives... If one day, you suddenly no longer believe in me, if my home is no longer warm, and I am alone, what is the meaning of living in this world?"

A kind of sincere enthusiasm seemed to be transmitted from Chen Ji's arms to Si Rong's whole body, making Si Rong feel hot inside.

"No... I don't disbelieve you... Don't be so sad..." Si Rong couldn't help but hug Chen Ji. She couldn't explain the feeling in her heart. She felt like she was also afraid of being alone.

Chen Ji hoped that Si Rong would be moved by him and would relax her surveillance on him a little.

However, Si Rong was truly touched, but she did not relax the surveillance.

He was deeply aware of one thing: the power of Si Yuan's last words was deeply rooted in Si Rong's heart and could not be violated in any way.

With the previous two experiences, Chen Ji did not dare to go out in the middle of the night easily again, but he had to find an opportunity to confirm whether Zhang Xiaowan had gone to Jiaozhou.

This time, Chen Ji knocked on the mirror while using the toilet. This was definitely not an absolutely safe place, but since he could not leave Si Rong's sight, the toilet was the only relatively convenient place.

As soon as Xiaowan appeared in the mirror, Chen Ji put his index finger in front of his mouth, signaling her to speak in a low voice.

"Are you going to be locked up again?" Xiaowan asked in a low voice in the mirror.

"Don't ask so many questions. Are you in Jiaozhou?" Chen Ji's voice was very low, almost frivolous.

"Don't worry, I'm the quickest to get things done. I've already met Chen Liang and passed on the message. He even took me in to stay." Xiaowan looked very proud when she answered.

"Very good, then you can stay in Jiaozhou temporarily. Tell him to let those two people have an accident."

"Which two people?"

"Chen Liang knows. Okay, that's it. You have to be ready to pass on messages to me at all times."

After saying these words, Chen Ji didn't dare to stay in the toilet for too long and prepared to knock on the mirror again.

Xiao Wan's casual words came out from the mirror: "I forgot to tell you, I told them that I was your mistress. They were all very nice to me."

Chen Ji was stunned: "How can you say that?"

"If I don't do this, how can I prevent you from destroying your bridges after crossing the river?" Xiao Wan was in high spirits and sneered softly: "I'll pass on the message for you a few more times, and the identity of this mistress will probably be confirmed by your confidants, and you will have to admit it even if you don't want to!"

This was the only small action recently that was not noticed by Si Rong. Chen Ji walked out of the bathroom, feeling lost.

"Why does it take so long to go to the bathroom?" Si Rong's voice suddenly reached his ears.

Because he was distracted, Chen Ji actually forgot at some point that Si Rong was sitting in the yard basking in the sun.

It was a rare sunny day today, and Si Rong sat in the middle of the yard, which was the position where she could capture the widest view in the yard. Of course, she could also see Chen Ji the moment he left the toilet.

There were many maids in the courtyard, and each of them was paying attention to the every move of Chen Ji and the old servants of the Chen family in the mansion.

"My stomach feels uncomfortable. Maybe I ate something bad." Chen Ji looked at Si Rong and forced a smile. Faced with all-round and uninterrupted surveillance, he had no other choice but to accept it.

He was restricted by Si Rong and the spies everywhere in the mansion to the point where he could hardly move forward. He could not speak a word to any of his confidants alone, which meant he was isolated from the world. The only person he could contact through special means, Zhang Xiaowan, was only a friend of interest and was really unreliable.

He felt that he could not always be in such a passive position, and he could not entrust too much to Zhang Xiaowan.

Finally, the national mourning ended. Wang Yu once again proposed to Si Xiu to let Wang Jing leave the capital, but Si Xiu said that the coronation ceremony was imminent and it was of vital importance, and it was not appropriate for Marquis Anfeng to leave the capital at this time.

Wang Yu had no choice but to send a message to Meixiangxie again, saying that Wang Jing could leave Beijing after the coronation ceremony.

This time, Tao Ye felt that this statement was even more unbelievable.

Just when he was feeling uneasy, Wang Dun came to visit Wang Jing and brought a letter from Jiaozhou: "Huan'er said in the letter that the two people that Lord Xu had planted died suddenly one after the other. One fell into the water, and the other accidentally fell from a building. This... How can I explain this to Lord Xu?"

Wang Jing was not surprised, but just analyzed quietly: "After all, they are nominally members of our Wang family. Without Chen Ji's approval, Chen Liang would not have the courage to do this..."

Tao Ye was listening on the side, very puzzled: "But... didn't Yu'er tell us last time that Princess Si Rong listened to the emperor's advice and monitored Chen Ji's every word and action, leaving him no chance to pass on messages or write letters to anyone?"

"I was also wondering how this news got through?" Wang Jing said slowly, and finally sighed.

"The key is, if Lord Xu asks, how are we going to explain it?" Wang Dun reiterated his question again.

Wang Jing shook his head slightly and replied in a low voice: "No need to explain. When he sent people there, he should have thought of the possibility of being silenced. You should ask Huan'er to return to Beijing as soon as possible. Jiaozhou... is really not safe."

Wang Dun nodded and went home to write a letter to his daughter.

Tao Ye stood beside the wheelchair and asked to herself, "So, is the capital safe?"

Wang Jing sighed again.

The coronation ceremony was held as scheduled. Si Xiu officially became emperor and honored his biological mother, Bai, as empress dowager. All the concubines in Chengzong's harem were given honorable titles.

After the conferring of the title, Chen Ji suddenly stepped out from among the ministers and said, "Your Majesty, besides Empress Dowager Bai, you also have a legitimate mother, Shen. Why not move her coffin to the capital to be worshipped in the ancestral temple to show your filial piety?"

Faced with this sudden proposal, Si Xiu was immediately at a loss, because... he had no idea where his stepmother Shen was buried.

Among the ministers, those who supported Chen Ji also began to advise: "What the Duke of Qiao said is absolutely right. Shen was the empress of Emperor Chengzong, and she should be moved to the imperial mausoleum and buried with Emperor Chengzong."

Shang Yun, who was standing in the same row with Chen Ji, glanced at Chen Ji from the side and vaguely sensed the malicious but not obvious smile.

What the group of people said made Si Xiu even more embarrassed. He tried to keep his face calm and said slowly, "My dear ministers, what you said makes sense, but... Yongchang is a long way away, and I still have to choose a good day and slowly plan the relocation of the burial."

Wang Yu, who was sitting next to Si Xiu, clearly felt Si Xiu's nervousness and felt very unhappy. He looked up at Chen Ji who was deliberately making trouble, and thought of the death of his own mother, and he gritted his teeth in hatred.

When the ministers were leaving, Xu Mu deliberately walked behind Chen Ji and asked with a cold smile, "The previous emperor never moved his queen's burial place when he ascended the throne, and never mentioned burying her with Shen before his death. Now the Duke of Qiao County wants the emperor to move the burial place. Does he have an ulterior motive?"

Chen Ji did not even turn his head, and replied with a fake smile: "Master Xu is really a suspicious person. Shen is not your biological mother, but my biological mother-in-law. I want to fulfill my filial duty and ask you to do a "small favor". What's the intention?"

After saying this, Chen Ji turned his head again and grinned, "Grandmaster, you should take care of your own affairs and stop stretching your hands too far!"

A few steps forward, a maid stopped Chen Ji and said, "Please wait, Lord. The princess is resting in the back garden and hasn't come out yet. Please wait for her for a while."

Chen Ji looked up and saw that the palace gate was not far away.

"I actually forgot, how could I have the chance to travel with the Duke of the County? The Duke of the County has his lovely wife to accompany him every day, and nowadays it is not easy to make friends with people like him. A bachelor like me can't envy him!" Xu Mu walked past Chen Ji and casually bumped into Chen Ji's shoulder, then laughed and left, waving his sleeves.

Chen Ji stood there without saying anything.