Star Luo Empire, Gengjin City, Imperial Palace, Imperial Study Room.

"You mean Fan Yun from Wuhun Palace sneaked into your mansion without alerting anyone?"

The emperor with dazzling blond hair was sitting on the throne that belonged to him. The hand holding the pen that was writing suddenly stopped in mid-air. He looked at the man in black with rare surprise in his eyes.

The head of the Zhu family stood in front of the emperor's desk, with a cold face and nodded silently.

After receiving a positive answer, the emperor closed his eyes and thought deeply for a few seconds, then opened them. The hand he was writing on also resumed his movements, and his eyes and expression returned to their usual coldness.

Just like the head of the Zhu family.

"According to what you said, except for you, no one in your Zhu family can discover him."

"To put it this way, there are very few people in the entire empire who can discover Fan Yun's secret infiltration. Let me ask you, if Fan Yun infiltrates this palace, can the people in the palace discover him?"

The Supreme Emperor noticed the thoughtful expression on the man's face after hearing his question.

Do we still need to think about this kind of problem for so long...

"In the palace, I can... Your Majesty... maybe you can..."

There was a little uncertainty in the last tone of the Zhu family's head, but the emperor did not feel any displeasure because of his doubts, but thought about it for a while.

The head of the Zhu family is very clear about who he is as an emperor and has always been outspoken, even for him as an emperor.

So since he said this, it means that if Fan Yun wants to sneak into the palace, basically no one can stop him.

And what this means...both the emperor and the head of the Zhu family know it very well.

"When did Fan Yun enter the empire?"

The head of the Zhu family slightly raised his hand: "The intelligence network within the empire only knows that he suddenly appeared in Taoli County three months ago, and nothing else is known about it."

As he continued writing, the emperor glanced sideways at the man in black across from him, and then said: "You cannot escape the blame for such a big omission in the empire's intelligence network. If such omissions occur again in the future, the head of the Zhu family will

It doesn’t have to be you.”

Facing the emperor's faint threat, the man's expression remained unchanged, his face remained stern, his eyes were unwavering, as if he had not heard the words, and he just stood there without saying a word.

The emperor didn't seem surprised by the man's performance. He raised the hand holding the pen slightly, then motioned to the waiter next to him to take away the written memorial on the table, opened the next one, continued writing, and then said:

"Since it can't be found within the empire, what about outside the empire?"

"I learned from the old man in the mountain that Fan Yun entered the empire from Zhenbeiguan a year ago as Tao Zhu, a merchant in the empire." The man's tone was unhurried.

"Oh……"

The emperor sneered, and then asked: "Can you find out how many of the imperial household registrations are fake?"

"We have been investigating, but the exact number is still difficult to determine."

"Continue to increase your efforts. The huge Xingluo cannot be compared with the sky. It is like a sieve and has no appearance of an empire at all."

"yes."

After talking about this arrangement, the emperor fell silent and concentrated on writing. After noticing the emperor's performance, the head of the Zhu family continued to speak:

"Sneaking into the Zhu family's mansion, Fan Yun only wants one thing, and that is to form an alliance with the Zhu family."

"Form an alliance?" The emperor raised his eyes slightly, glanced at the head of the Zhu family, then said nothing, turned his eyes back, and was still writing the memorial.

"Fan Yun wants to form an alliance with the Zhu family. The purpose of the alliance is to remove His Majesty from the throne of Xingluo."

"Crack."

He locked the pen in the emperor's hand on the pen holder, closed the memorial on the desk, and looked at the man in black across the table from him.

"I asked him for more details of the plan, but Fan Yun did not elaborate. He just said that when the time comes, I will notice it and take action."

The head of the Zhu family's tone was still calm, but he was neither hasty nor slow, as if he didn't notice the extremely fierce eyes of the emperor opposite him at all.

"Then, how did you respond?" Emperor Xingluo spoke slowly.

"I am a subordinate of Xingluo and a sharp-clawed lackey under His Majesty's command. Naturally, the interests of the empire come first. Any proposal that is not beneficial to the empire and endangers the stability of the empire needs to be strangled in the cradle."

The head of the Zhu family slowly raised his eyes and looked directly into the emperor's emotionless eyes.

Two pairs of eyes with different colors but very similar faces were facing each other at this moment, like two pieces of ice that would never melt, but neither side gave in.

"Oh……"

Looking directly into the eyes of the head of the Zhu family, the emperor finally had a "smile" on his cold face:

"You are the spine of the empire and my most trusted subordinate. Naturally, I will not doubt you. I still need you to continue to serve the empire."

Half-kneeling on the ground, the head of the Zhu family still had an expression as cold as ice. He lowered his head and kept his hands in front of him: "Your Majesty, thank you very much for your trust. I will die for the empire."

"Okay, if you have nothing to do, just go down. I'm a little tired too."

"yes."

Standing up from the ground, the head of the Zhu family took long strides, turned around and left without any hesitation or hesitation.

"Wait a minute." Just as the head of the Zhu family was about to step out of the imperial study, the emperor's voice came from behind again.

"The queen has not seen your brother for a long time, and she has been talking about it recently. You should take time to visit the queen tomorrow. She is quite lonely in the palace alone."

"Yes." The man in black replied, without looking back, and walked out of the study room.

After the head of the Zhu family left the imperial study, the "smile" on the emperor's face turned cold. He sat in his seat and stared blankly. After a while, he waved to the emperor who had been guarding the emperor.

The waiter in the study came over and then ordered:

"Send someone down to check how many people in the empire may have private contact with Fan Yun."

"Yes." The waiter slowly retreated.

…

Turning back time, a few months ago, Wuhun City, the Pope's Palace.

"The Xingluo Zhu family is different from other families. Why do you think he would agree to be a 'friend' with you?"

Hu Liena heard the news from Fan Yun through her eighth brother, and her surprise was visible on her face.

She really didn't expect that the reason why Fan Yun set Gengjincheng as the destination was to meet the head of the Zhu family!

[Fox, don’t forget my apprentice Zhu Zhuqing.]

"So what, your student can now be regarded as the 'abandoned child' of the Zhu family. She cannot have any influence on the Zhu family's decision-making!"

Hu Liena looked at Xiaoba who had opened his mouth, as if she hoped to express her shock and objection to Fan Yun through it. She could never imagine why Fan Yun had such ridiculous ideas. Could it be that after going out for such a period of time, his brain was damaged?

?

[Of course not because of this. What I mean is not that Zhuqing can influence the Zhu family’s decision-making, but that we can see some of the attitude of the head of the Zhu family through her. 】

Hearing this, Hu Liena raised her eyebrows. What kind of analysis does Fan Yun want to make?

"What attitude?"

[You should also know that the Star Luo Empire has strict rules, especially the children of the major clans, who are not allowed to have self-awareness at all. It is like a part on a precision machine, it only needs to run, any other ideas are possible

It will cause machine failure, which is naturally not allowed by Xingluo.】

[Zhu Zhuqing was Dai Mubai's fiancée at the time, and she died together with Dai Mubai. Her life was tied to Dai Mubai's life and was completely out of his control. After Dai Mubai escaped from Xingluo, according to Xingluo's rules, she should have been imprisoned.

Within the family, he cultivates quietly and waits for Dai Mubai's return.】

[If Dai Mubai returns, then she will be lifted from the ground and continue to fight for her own life; but if Dai Mubai fails to return or dies unexpectedly, then she will only die. This is what she should have done as a royal consort

fate.]

"But she ran away, didn't she?" Hu Liena asked.

[Yes, she ran away in order to survive. But this was the awakening of self-awareness, which went against the will of the clan and Xingluo, the system of the royal family. The children of the royal family can have their own lives and choices before the official decisive battle. This is

Their privileges, but not royal spouses.】

[That’s why Zhu Zhuyun was able to recruit so many people to hunt down Zhu Zhuqing with her. Not only because she was the daughter of Zhu Zhuqing, but also because Zhu Zhuqing had violated a taboo, and Zhu Zhuyun had righteousness in his hands.]

"But she still escaped from Xingluo, didn't she? Otherwise she wouldn't have become your apprentice, and she wouldn't be where she is today."

[Yes. And I also discovered some interesting points about this matter. 】

"What?"

[That is, the people chasing Zhuqing are generally not very strong. Even the Zhu family, who had violated their clan consciousness, did not send strong men to capture Zhuqing. In other words, Zhuqing's escape may have been caused by Zhu Qing.

The result of the tacit consent of the head of the family.]

[Also, through visiting various "friends" on this journey in Xingluo, I also discovered one thing, that is, many small clans said that some people did not allow them to send members who were stronger than the great soul masters to participate in the pursuit. 】

Hu Liena's eyes flickered: "You mean that the head of the Zhu family is already dissatisfied with the current order, so he turns a blind eye to this daughter who wants to break through the constraints and control her destiny, and

Did you also provide support secretly?"

【Most likely yes.】

"But even so, are you so sure that he will come to help you and not tell the emperor of Xingluo what happened between you two? You know, you can be considered an enemy of the Zhu family."

【……】

[Haha...of course he will tell that person...]
Chapter completed!