Pei Wenxuan’s thinking was clear. Actually, for Li Ming, everything he did ultimately came down to testing.
He was doubting Pei Wenxuan’s loyalty. And if Pei Wenxuan followed along with his probing—if Li Ming wanted divorce, he would divorce—then no matter what, Li Ming would remain suspicious.
It was better to turn the tables and switch from defense to offense.
“What do you mean by this?”
Li Ming frowned. “You want to divorce Pingle? What’s wrong with my daughter that you want to divorce her?!”
The more Li Ming spoke, the angrier he became. He raised his hand and slapped it on the table, shouting, “Pei Wenxuan, you have quite the audacity!”
Hearing Li Ming’s words, Pei Wenxuan hurriedly kowtowed. “Your Majesty, please calm your anger, but Wenxuan… Wenxuan is also…”
As Pei Wenxuan spoke, he seemed somewhat humiliated. He simply straightened his body and yanked open his official robes, exposing the marks on his body.
Bite marks on his shoulders that nearly reached bone, mixed with scratch marks all over Pei Wenxuan’s body—the sight made everyone gasp. Li Ming couldn’t help but freeze. “This is?”
“Your Majesty,” Pei Wenxuan’s face showed grief and indignation, “these were all inflicted by the Princess last night.”
Hearing this, Li Ming felt somewhat awkward for a moment. He couldn’t help but follow Pei Wenxuan’s words: “How did you two end up fighting? And so severely at that.” Then Li Ming remembered, “You didn’t hit her, did you?”
“Her Highness is of noble birth—this subject wouldn’t dare.”
Hearing Li Ming’s words, Pei Wenxuan’s expression grew even colder. Li Ming, knowing Li Rong hadn’t suffered any grievance, felt relieved. “What happened? Tell me about it.”
“Your Majesty,” Pei Wenxuan spoke, first taking out a talisman paper from his sleeve, “this matter must start with this talisman. Last night when Her Highness returned from the palace, this subject went to meet her. After reaching the palace gate, Her Highness gave me the talisman, saying how could I casually write talismans outside—I nearly caused her to fall into Consort Rou’s trap.”
Hearing this, Li Ming frowned, but he didn’t interrupt Pei Wenxuan, only letting him continue. “After this subject examined the talisman, I was certain this was not my handiwork.”
“This wasn’t written by you?” Li Ming inquired seriously. Pei Wenxuan shook his head. “Your Majesty can invite a master to verify—this is not this subject’s handwriting. Your Majesty should know that such talismans are extremely difficult to obtain. With this subject’s daily official duties being so busy, where would I find time to do such things?”
Li Ming said nothing, only having someone take the talisman and giving quiet instructions: “Go verify it.”
After saying this, Li Ming turned to look at Pei Wenxuan. “If the talisman is fake, why did Pingle say it was real? And say you went to the temple together?”
Consort Rou had accused Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan of privately contacting Master Hongde, lying on behalf of Li Chuan so he wouldn’t have to marry. For this, she produced the talisman as evidence, proving Pei Wenxuan had contacted Master Hongde. Li Rong explained that although this talisman was real, it had been obtained at the temple, using this to refute Master Hongde’s lies.
But if this talisman was actually fake, why didn’t Li Rong directly say it was fake? Or was Li Rong simply refuting for the sake of refuting—had she actually contacted Master Hongde privately to delay Li Chuan’s marriage?
Li Ming secretly pondered in his heart. Pei Wenxuan said respectfully, “Your Majesty, rather than wondering why the talisman is fake yet the Princess acknowledged it, why not consider—why did Master Hongde produce a fake marriage talisman allegedly written by me to prove the Princess pressured Master Hongde on behalf of the Crown Prince?”
“Even if the marriage talisman was written by me, it proves neither that the Princess met with Master Hongde, nor that the Princess sought anything from Master Hongde regarding the Crown Prince. Whether the Princess acknowledged this talisman or not proves nothing. So why would Hongde say such things?”
Hearing this, Li Ming’s expression remained unchanged, but his mind immediately reacted.
The fake marriage talisman proved nothing at all. Why would Hongde go to such unnecessary lengths to produce this talisman?
“Actually, regarding many matters, Your Majesty has long reached conclusions in your heart—there’s no need to say more. Both the Princess and this subject understand this clearly in our hearts.”
For example, his suspicion of Li Rong and Li Chuan—he had actually subconsciously assumed Li Rong would help Li Chuan speak before Master Hongde, which was why he completely failed to notice that this talisman appeared too unreasonably, and there was currently no substantial evidence proving this matter at all.
Since Li Rong knew of this matter, naturally she panicked. When facing accusations, she instinctively refuted all evidence—this was also possible.
Li Ming understood Pei Wenxuan’s meaning. Although he hadn’t directly explained the reason for Li Rong’s lie, he had already led Li Ming to guess the cause.
“Since this subject was elevated to the position of Vice Minister of Personnel, this subject and the Princess have been walking on thin ice, careful in everything, just afraid that at some point we’d do something wrong and give others leverage against us.”
“The aristocratic families are displeased, the Crown Prince harbors resentment. We don’t know who’s behind all this—first using the position of Vice Minister of Personnel to place the Princess and me over the flames, then framing us through Master Hongde, and now this fake talisman incident. Though Her Highness and I aren’t clear on what Master Hongde’s true intentions are, they must be plotting something. So in my anxiety and momentary anger, I rebuked Her Highness for being rash, for speaking carelessly about things she didn’t understand.”
“And Her Highness has long been dissatisfied with this subject during this time. Because this subject comes from a humble background with an unsmooth official career, Her Highness has faced much criticism among the princess’s court ministers. This subject suggested the Princess establish the Constabulary Bureau to share Your Majesty’s burdens, but now court ministers have much dissatisfaction with Her Highness, the Crown Prince and Her Highness have grown distant, and the Empress detests Her Highness even more. Therefore last night… Her Highness and this subject inevitably quarreled.”
“In Her Highness’s anger, she declared this subject base and lowly, not even comparable to those performers at South Wind Pavilion, so she summoned performers for a flower boat night tour. This subject, in desperation, kidnapped Her Highness, originally intending to reason with her gently, but was beaten and cursed by Her Highness instead. Your Majesty,” Pei Wenxuan straightened his body, his face showing grief and indignation, “though this subject comes from a humble background, I am still a seven-foot man. Even if Her Highness is a princess, how can she humiliate this subject so? This subject married Her Highness only following Your Majesty’s command, fulfilling a subject’s loyalty. Her Highness’s usual tyranny, arrogance, rudeness, and even harboring feelings for others in her heart—all these things this subject can endure one by one. This subject asks myself, as a husband and subject, I have not overstepped in the slightest. Yet Her Highness still wanted to tour a flower boat at night, summoning dozens…”
Pei Wenxuan couldn’t continue for a moment. He took a deep breath, knelt prostrate on the ground, and said respectfully, “Your Majesty, this subject knows he is guilty, failing Your Majesty’s great grace. But please, Your Majesty, in consideration of my late father’s half-lifetime of loyal service and this subject’s wholehearted loyalty, let this subject and Her Highness divorce…”
Pei Wenxuan’s voice was hoarse, nearly crying: “This subject truly cannot continue like this…”
Pei Wenxuan’s speech left Li Ming momentarily speechless.
As fellow men, how could Li Ming not understand the humiliation in Pei Wenxuan’s heart?
Even if Pei Wenxuan was putting on a show for him, there was no need to have Li Rong summon so many performers…
Li Ming carefully contemplated Pei Wenxuan’s words, and couldn’t help but develop another train of thought.
Actually, Pei Wenxuan’s words did awaken him. From the Vice Minister of Personnel to the current Master Hongde incident, it all seemed like Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan had gained benefits which he discovered, so he had been doubting Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan’s loyalty all along.
But what if he thought about it the other way? What if from the Vice Minister of Personnel to Master Hongde, everything was designed by others—what exactly were they designing?
If he didn’t know before, with this talisman now appearing, how could he still not know?
A talisman that proved nothing about Li Rong and the Crown Prince’s relationship was produced by them to trick Li Rong into acknowledging it, then finally telling him it was a marriage talisman representing their excellent marital relationship.
The Vice Minister of Personnel incident was aimed at making him worry about Li Rong’s power.
Master Hongde’s incident made him worry about Li Rong and Li Chuan’s relationship.
And the talisman incident made him worry that Pei Wenxuan and Li Rong were united as husband and wife. Why worry about their unity? Because deep down he was already worried about Li Rong’s excessive power and her collusion with Li Chuan. Now if Pei Wenxuan and she were united as husband and wife, how could that be acceptable?
Thinking this way, the opponent was truly attacking his mind step by step, and the target of their schemes wasn’t Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan, but him!
Li Ming’s heart surged with waves, but his expression remained unchanged.
After all, this was only Pei Wenxuan’s one-sided account—he couldn’t fully believe it. So he followed Pei Wenxuan’s words: “Speaking this way, Rongrong is indeed too spoiled. Since you’re determined to divorce, I don’t want to force it. You go back first. I’ll draft the decree now. How about that?”
Hearing this, Pei Wenxuan became excited and said respectfully, “Thank Your Majesty! Your Majesty is wise!”
Li Ming looked at Pei Wenxuan’s secretly pleased appearance, his heart a jumble of feelings. Li Rong was still his daughter after all. Being so despised by someone left him feeling somewhat vexed. He waved his hand and said indifferently, “You may go.”
After Pei Wenxuan bowed respectfully, he withdrew.
When he walked out of the imperial study, a young eunuch followed him, seeing him out. Pei Wenxuan walked out with a cold face. Just before leaving, he said in a low voice, “Have His Majesty investigate how Master Hongde entered the palace.”
The young eunuch said nothing, but obviously heard.
After seeing Pei Wenxuan out of the palace gates, the young eunuch hurried back.
When Pei Wenxuan returned from the imperial study to the government office, in the Su family manor, a young gentleman held a book scroll in one hand while placing a chess piece with the other.
Kneeling beside him was a woman. Her kneeling posture used palace etiquette. Though she appeared composed, her eyes carried a bit of unease.
“The Consort said that talisman was fake and was taken out by Her Highness Pingle. What if they verify it?”
The maidservant was somewhat panicked. “Now Master Hongde has also been taken away. My lord, if he speaks recklessly, he’ll implicate the Consort!”
“He won’t have the chance to speak recklessly. Tell the Consort to rest assured.” The young gentleman placed his chess piece, his expression calm. Getting this response, the maidservant understood his meaning. Her heart eased slightly, but she still asked, “What about the talisman?”
“Since Her Highness the Princess has already acknowledged it, even if it’s verified as fake, what of it? If they tell His Majesty the Princess lied, then why did the Princess lie? His Majesty will still have doubts in his heart and will inevitably test Pei Wenxuan and the Princess. And Pei Wenxuan cannot possibly pass His Majesty’s test.”
“My lord is so certain?” The maidservant frowned. “It’s not impossible for Pei Wenxuan to agree to divorce.”
“He cannot possibly agree.”
The young man put down his book and began calmly clearing the chess board, his voice gentle. “He doesn’t dare, won’t, and doesn’t want to.”
“What if he does agree?” The maidservant insisted on asking. The young man’s movements paused slightly. After a long while, he frowned. “Then he deserves to die.”
“Those who betray Her Highness,” the young man’s voice was very soft, so soft that others could barely hear. He gently raised his head, watching early spring butterflies land in the courtyard. His desolate eyes carried a bit of mockery. “All deserve to die.”