Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan walked out of the palace together. Li Rong suddenly remembered, “Aren’t you going to the government office today?”

“I had some matters to discuss with you,” Pei Wenxuan explained. “I happened to hear you were in the palace, so I came directly.”

“Oh?” Li Rong was somewhat surprised. “What matter made you rush over so urgently?”

“Today there was a victory report at court. The front lines achieved a great victory.” As Pei Wenxuan spoke, Li Rong raised her eyebrows. Then she heard Pei Wenxuan continue, “There’s been a dispute over the list of generals Xiao Su submitted for rewards.”

Li Rong processed this information and immediately understood.

Xiao Su was Consort Rou’s older brother. He had originally been from a humble family, studied for a few years, and climbed the ranks through Consort Rou’s connections.

This time, Li Ming had eliminated the Yang family and then sent Li Chuan to the battlefield. By manipulating Li Chuan, he forced the aristocratic families to contribute their efforts. It took considerable effort to stabilize the situation in the Northwest. But just before the merit could be claimed, Li Ming pulled Li Chuan back and forcibly replaced him with Xiao Su as the commanding general. This grievance was probably still weighing on the Shangguan family’s heart.

The Shangguan family was a prestigious clan with centuries of history, with many marriage connections among the families at court. In this confrontation with the Yang family, the various great clans at court likely expended considerable effort.

Xiao Su came from a humble background and was a sharp blade Li Ming specifically used to suppress these aristocratic families. The reward list he provided, even if not filled with his own people, absolutely could not include people from the aristocratic families. The aristocratic families had worked so hard in the early stages—how could they possibly let it go without recovering some of their investment?

So now that the front lines had achieved a great victory and this list was sent back, the aristocratic families immediately began quarreling with Li Ming.

“So what are they saying?”

Li Rong twirled her small fan in her hand, thinking aloud, “They can’t touch Xiao Su and his people. Consort Rou is currently in high favor. If they could move against him, they would have done so long ago. They can only pick on the soft targets.”

As she spoke, Li Rong thought to ask, “Which generals did Xiao Su report?”

“A total of seventeen generals,” Pei Wenxuan said, analyzing as he spoke. “Basically people from the civil service examinations, humble families, or second-tier aristocratic families.”

“Is Qin Lin among them?”

Li Rong immediately asked. Pei Wenxuan shook his head, “He’s not, but Qin Feng is. From what I heard in the battle report, Xiao Su probably feared his qualifications were too shallow, so he attributed his merit to his uncle. But they’re all one family, so it doesn’t matter.”

Li Rong acknowledged this. Qin Lin was still too young now. Coming to prominence too early would indeed be bad. But as long as the Qin family could establish a firm foothold in the Northwest, Qin Lin’s emergence was only a matter of time.

“Then,” Li Rong tapped lightly on the table, “the aristocratic families will probably make trouble by targeting these ordinary generals. His Majesty won’t just stand by and watch.”

“Correct,” Pei Wenxuan responded. “After court, His Majesty summoned my second uncle.”

Starting with Pei Lizhi, the Pei family had been the core that Li Ming specifically cultivated to oppose the aristocratic clans. After Pei Lizhi died of illness, Pei Lixian continued his path. Although his abilities were not equal to Pei Lizhi’s, he still occupied the position of Chancellor of the Secretariat.

While this position was not like Pei Lizhi’s former position as Left Vice Minister of the Department of State Affairs managing the Six Ministries with actual executive power, it still held the authority to review and reject proposals and was extremely close to the Emperor.

Li Ming had summoned Pei Lixian over, probably to discuss how to fight with the aristocratic families over this large piece of meat that was the Northwest border.

Li Rong fell even more silent. Pei Wenxuan sat to one side. After waiting a while, he finally said, “What does Your Highness think?”

“Today I got into a dispute with Mother Empress.”

Li Rong said calmly, “She’s determined to have Chuan’er marry someone from the Shangguan family, especially Shangguan Ya. She was furious about what happened at the palace banquet yesterday and scolded both Chuan’er and me.”

“What did Your Highness say?”

Knowing Li Rong could not possibly submit to Shangguan Yue so easily, Pei Wenxuan directly asked about Li Rong’s response. Li Rong said slowly, “I explained the pros and cons clearly to Mother Empress. There’s no need for Chuan’er to marry Shangguan Ya—it would only invite disaster. But she doesn’t seem to have listened.”

“The Empress cannot possibly listen.”

Pei Wenxuan picked up his tea and took a light sip, saying only, “After all, the Empress is a daughter of the Shangguan clan, inseparably connected to them. In this Northwest border conflict, all the aristocratic families at court shed considerable blood. If the position of Crown Princess isn’t used as a reward to placate the aristocratic families, the Shangguan clan will feel it’s unfair, and the pressure the Empress must bear is too great.”

Li Rong remained silent. Pei Wenxuan knew Li Rong was thinking, so after waiting a while, he couldn’t help but laugh lightly, “Why is Your Highness worried?”

Li Rong was quite puzzled. She raised her head and looked at Pei Wenxuan, whose expression carried some curiosity, “What?”

“Actually, this matter doesn’t concern Your Highness too much,” Pei Wenxuan analyzed. “Just let the aristocratic families and His Majesty fight it out. If the aristocratic families win, they already support the Crown Prince anyway, so there’s no great harm. If His Majesty wins, among the names on the list Xiao Su recommended, some are our people, and for the rest we can find other ways. What does Your Highness have to worry about?”

Li Rong pondered. After a long while, she said slowly, “Do you really think that after the aristocratic families arrange their people to the Northwest border, their people will be our people?”

Pei Wenxuan smiled without speaking, lowering his head to pour tea. Seeing he had no desire to answer, Li Rong couldn’t help but say, “Why aren’t you speaking?”

“Your Highness, you should ask yourself this, not me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your Highness in the previous life,” Pei Wenxuan looked up, his expression calm, “weren’t you part of the aristocratic families?”

From the moment Li Rong became the Princess Royal and Li Chuan ascended the throne, they were no longer on the same path.

“Was Your Highness’s power in the previous life completely equivalent to His Highness the Crown Prince’s power?”

Li Rong was speechless.

Pei Wenxuan tucked his hands into his sleeves and smiled lightly, “Only when I was alive and Your Highness had someone you needed to defeat, constantly needing His Highness the Crown Prince’s help, would you always stand together with His Highness the Crown Prince. If one day I were gone and the Princess Royal alone dominated the court, the Princess Royal’s sharp blade might very well be pointed at His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Li Rong looked up at Pei Wenxuan. She gazed at him quietly, and after a long while, she finally said, “Then does your power belong to me?”

“I don’t know about the future. But at least at this moment,” Pei Wenxuan answered sincerely, “even Pei Wenxuan as a person belongs to Your Highness.”

Li Rong was slightly stunned. She looked into Pei Wenxuan’s clear eyes. Though she knew Pei Wenxuan was talking about political matters, she still couldn’t help her heart skipping a beat.

She forcibly pulled her gaze away, looking out the window, stroking the pattern on her gold fan as she continued, “Make good contact with Qin Lin. Whatever help he needs, send it to him. On the court’s side, I’ll have Tuoba Yan secretly smooth things over for the Qin family, but I won’t let others know about this. The more distant the relationship between the Qin family and me, and the Crown Prince, appears, the better.”

“Understood.”

After Pei Wenxuan finished speaking, the two had nothing more to say. After a while, Li Rong turned her head. She looked Pei Wenxuan up and down. After looking for a long time, she sighed, shook her head, and turned away.

Pei Wenxuan was left completely baffled by Li Rong’s scrutiny and couldn’t help but say, “What does Your Highness mean?”

“Pei Wenxuan,” Li Rong said helplessly, “why are you getting promoted so slowly?”

Hearing this choking remark, Pei Wenxuan gave Li Rong a light glance and said matter-of-factly, “Your Highness, it seems you’re still not favored enough. Otherwise, my promotion should be quite fast.”

“Look at that mouth of yours,” Li Rong tapped Pei Wenxuan’s hand lightly with her fan. “You’re really annoying.”

Pei Wenxuan laughed once and ignored Li Rong, taking up his documents and lowering his head to work in silence.

For the next several days, Li Rong had people closely monitor the movements of all parties. At court, there was endless debate over the question of rewards for the various generals at the border. The core issue wasn’t money, but positions.

Each turnip has its hole—if this person takes a position, another person cannot. After the Yang family fell, such a large piece of meat as the Northwest was something everyone wanted a share of. So every day at court there were verbal battles. The aristocratic families attacked the people Xiao Su nominated. Every time Li Ming wanted to grant a reward, they would say this person had problems. When Li Ming forcibly tried to grant rewards, the Secretariat refused to issue the order. When the Secretariat finally issued the order, the Chancellery would reject it, saying there were also problems.

Li Ming was so angry he smashed things in the palace all night. After the aristocratic families proposed a reward plan list, Li Ming directly tore it up without even bothering to reject it.

The two sides reached a stalemate for several days, quarreling at court every day.

Although Pei Wenxuan’s position at the Censorate wasn’t high, he was Li Ming’s core fighting force this time. After all, when it came to quarreling, Pei Wenxuan could take on ten people without breaking a sweat. So every day when Pei Wenxuan came home, he was exhausted to death and would fall asleep as soon as he lay on the bed.

Li Rong didn’t want to disturb him either, but every time she came to bed, she would hear Pei Wenxuan ask groggily, “You’re back?”

“What did you do today?”

Li Rong didn’t know if he was awake or not, but since he asked, she answered. She slept well every day and was in great spirits, with plenty of energy to answer Pei Wenxuan’s questions.

Her days were much more leisurely than Pei Wenxuan’s. The thing she did most every day was walk around various places, contact acquaintances, go to teahouses to listen to scholars’ discussions and gatherings, and see if there were any talented people she could approach.

Her days were perhaps too boring, so after saying a few casual sentences, Pei Wenxuan would fall asleep.

Li Rong found it amusing, not knowing what kind of habit this was for Pei Wenxuan—he had to exchange a few words with her before he was willing to fall asleep.

In the blink of an eye, they had been quarreling for five or six days. Li Rong called Shangguan Ya out and secretly got information from her, estimating that the aristocratic families probably wouldn’t keep quarreling and should get serious soon.

They had no way to deal with Xiao Su or Li Ming, so they would find one person from among these officials receiving rewards and make an example of them to frighten the others into backing down.

To choose someone to intimidate, they would naturally choose the hardest of these soft targets, the one occupying the best position.

Li Rong looked through the list in a circle, speculating that the person the aristocratic families planned to target should be the Jiang clan from Shannan, whom Xiao Su valued most, or at worst some other people who walked closely with Xiao Su.

If the aristocratic families moved against Xiao Su’s people, it was equivalent to moving against Li Ming’s people. Li Ming would certainly not let it go and would probably strike back hard. With this back and forth, once they were tired, Li Rong could step forward to secretly mediate between the aristocratic families and Li Ming, selecting a bunch of unaffiliated second-tier aristocratic families to fill the positions.

Li Rong’s calculations were sound. She had even prepared a list of candidates. But on the eighth night, just as she was sleeping, urgent footsteps came from outside.

That night there was heavy rain. The sound of rain drowned out the sounds outside. Li Rong only vaguely heard human voices mingling with the rain. While she was still groggy from sleep, someone lifted a hand to cover her eyes, reminding her, “The lamp is being lit.”

Li Rong came to her senses. Pei Wenxuan slowly released his hand, letting Li Rong adapt to the light, then got up saying, “I’ll go out and see.”

With that, Pei Wenxuan threw on his clothes and got up to walk outside.

Seeing Jing Lan come in to light the lamp, Li Rong knew something must have happened. She wasn’t flustered either. She got up and dressed. Just as she finished putting on her outer robe, she saw Pei Wenxuan return.

His expression was extremely grim. He clutched a slip of paper in his hand and said coldly, “The Ministry of Justice has sealed off the Qin family.”

Hearing this, Li Rong’s head snapped up, “What?!”

“Yesterday afternoon, a memorial was submitted by the Censorate, impeaching the Qin family for participating in the Yang clan case, colluding with the Yang clan and the Rong Kingdom, selling out the country to the enemy. The Ministry of Justice handled it overnight. The Ministry of Justice, Censorate, and Court of Judicial Review issued a search warrant together, and they’ve already mobilized people from the South City Army to surround the Qin residence.”

“And you’re just standing there?!”

Li Rong shouted loudly and headed straight outside, “Go to the palace immediately and report to His Majesty. I’ll take people there right now.”

“What are you taking people there for?” Pei Wenxuan grabbed her, saying urgently, “If you go there, the Qin family’s relationship with you and the Crown Prince will be exposed!”

“If I don’t go, they’ll have all the evidence they need after they finish searching! Why worry about exposure?!”

Li Rong pushed him aside and, without even time to grab an umbrella, shouted for people to assemble and rushed out.

Pei Wenxuan gritted his teeth and finally called for a horse, taking his token and charging straight into the palace.

Li Rong led people racing toward the Qin residence. When she arrived, she found the Qin residence filled with cries and wails. Soldiers had surrounded it tightly. Li Rong didn’t dare rashly step forward. She stood in the shadows observing the situation, thinking about countermeasures.

Heavy rain soaked the entire world into a hazy blur. She couldn’t see clearly at all. Li Rong stood in the rain, her heart both shocked and furious.

How did these people set their sights on the Qin family?

Clearly she had already secretly had Tuoba Yan smooth things over with people in the aristocratic families, and the Qin family was definitely not as conspicuous as the Jiang clan from Shannan and others. No matter how one calculated it, the aristocratic families making a move should not have started with the Qin clan.

Li Rong took a deep breath, deciding to first ignore everything else and go up to stall for time. But just as she started to move, a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the hem of Li Rong’s skirt. Li Rong whipped around and saw a hand reaching out from inside a nearby bamboo basket.

Li Rong flipped over the bamboo basket with one motion and saw a teenage girl crouched inside, her whole body trembling, her face deathly pale. Li Rong instantly recognized her as a maid serving Qin Zhenzhen. Li Rong crouched down and said calmly, “I’m acquainted with Qin Lin. I’ve come to save you. Where is your young miss?”

The girl’s lips trembled. She raised her hand and pointed north, stuttering, “Ran… ran…”

Li Rong immediately understood the girl’s meaning. She stood up and led people to chase in the direction she had pointed.

Based on her understanding of Qin Zhenzhen, though Qin Zhenzhen was upright to the point of naivety, she wasn’t stupid. For her to desperately run out like this, she must know what had happened and was leaving with something important.

Li Rong chased for a moment and saw sword marks on the alley walls. Li Rong followed the sword marks all the way out. Before long, she saw blood. The rainwater rapidly diluted the blood. In the darkness, Li Rong worked hard to identify the rainwater, blood, sword marks, and various traces of combat.

These traces extended all the way to the end of the narrow alley. The end of this alley seemed to be where ordinary people piled miscellaneous items. Those things were piled half a wall high. Everyone instinctively chased behind the wall.

Li Rong didn’t move. After scanning the surroundings, she fixed her gaze on a wooden chest in the center of the miscellaneous items.

She strode forward quickly and lifted the lid of the chest with one motion. At that very instant, cold light slashed through the night rain. A blood-stained sword pressed directly against Li Rong’s throat.

Li Rong looked at Qin Zhenzhen, whose entire body was covered in blood, her face deathly pale. The other party seemed to have suffered serious injuries. She was breathing shallowly and was separated from Li Rong by only a few inches.

Qin Zhenzhen scrutinized Li Rong, the sword in her hand held extremely steady.

Li Rong looked down at the girl before her who seemed like a cornered beast, her expression stable. After a long while, she spoke calmly, “Lower the sword.”

“I’ve come to save you.”

“How can I trust you?”

Qin Zhenzhen spoke hoarsely. Li Rong looked at her quietly without a trace of panic, “If you don’t trust me, then just kill me directly.”

Qin Zhenzhen said nothing. She gripped the sword in her hand. After a long time, she lowered the sword and struggled to lift herself out of the wooden chest with difficulty.

Li Rong caught hold of her. Qin Zhenzhen had injuries on her body. As soon as she moved, the wounds began bleeding. She pressed her hand against the blood from her wound, panting as she said, “Let’s go.”