Pei Wenxuan looked at Li Rong for a long time without speaking. Li Rong couldn’t help but laugh: “You’re usually so talkative, why don’t you comment on this?”

Pei Wenxuan held his ceremonial tablet with both hands, letting them hang naturally in front of him. He lowered his head and chuckled softly. Li Rong raised an eyebrow: “What are you laughing at?”

“Your Highness,” Pei Wenxuan looked at her with a smile, “after all these years, you’re still adorably cute.”

Li Rong was somewhat bewildered, and just at that moment, the eunuch’s summoning voice echoed from within the great hall: “Summon Princess Pingle and Pei Wenxuan into the hall—”

Hearing this summons, the two immediately straightened their expressions. After exchanging glances, they entered the great hall one after another.

Inside the great hall, Consort Ning and Yang Quan’s father, the head of the Yang family Yang Lie, knelt together on the ground. Li Ming sat on the high throne. Seeing the two enter, Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan kept their eyes straight ahead, advanced to kneel beside Consort Ning, and paid their respects to Li Ming.

“Pingle,” Li Ming had the two stand up and said calmly, “I previously assigned you to oversee the Yang family case. How has your investigation proceeded?”

Li Rong dared not answer Li Ming’s question too thoroughly. Being too thorough or too clever might arouse Li Ming’s suspicions. So Li Rong smiled and coughed lightly: “This matter was handled with Lord Pei’s assistance. He’s eloquent and I’m not very good at speaking, so let Lord Pei explain.”

“Pei Wenxuan.”

“Your humble servant is here.”

Pei Wenxuan stepped forward. Li Ming looked at the young minister who came forward and said slowly: “Some time ago, you were accused of murdering the wealthy merchant Tuoba Yan. Recently, this Tuoba Yan came back to life and filed a complaint at the Shuntian Prefecture, claiming the Yang family sent people to assassinate him. Are you aware of this?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty,” Pei Wenxuan said respectfully, “regarding this matter, please allow your humble servant to explain in detail.”

“Speak.”

“Two months ago, Princess Pingle held a spring banquet at a suburban villa. Yang Quan wanted to form a marriage alliance with Her Highness the Princess, so on the Princess’s return journey to the palace, he dispatched people to ambush her, planning to play the hero and save the beauty to deceive Her Highness. On my way home, I detected Yang Quan’s intentions. To save the Princess, I clashed with Yang Quan, and was then rescued by His Highness the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince brought both myself and the Princess into the palace. I had an audience with Your Majesty, and Your Majesty, sympathizing with my frightened state, specially dispatched people to escort me home. Unexpectedly, Yang Quan, harboring resentment because I ruined his plan, was audacious enough to set an ambush on my journey home and attempt assassination. In my desperation, I accidentally killed Second Young Master Yang.”

“Learning of Yang Quan’s bold actions, Your Majesty specially appointed Princess Pingle as chief investigator, this humble servant as assistant, and Vice Minister Su as supervisor to jointly thoroughly investigate the Yang family. We accepted the command. After I established the case for thorough investigation, I received a letter from someone in secret, revealing what the Yang family had done in the Northwest, stating that the Yang family had been colluding with the enemy and betraying the country for many years.”

“You’re lying!”

Hearing these words, Yang Lie shouted at Pei Wenxuan. Pei Wenxuan’s expression remained unchanged. Li Rong stood to the side, smiling as she fanned herself, watching as Pei Wenxuan continued calmly: “According to what this person said, the Rong nation suffers from bitter cold, and to this day their swords and blades are still mostly made of bronze—they’re nothing but a barbaric small nation. It was the Yang family who, to solidify their own position, reached an agreement with the Rong nation. Every autumn, the Rong nation would dispatch troops to invade. The Yang family would request troops and provisions, and after receiving them, would split them evenly with the Rong nation, staging fake battles while actually performing theater. Over the years, all the victory reports, large and small, were nothing more than the Rong nation taking money to cooperate with the Yang family’s performance…”

“Insolent brat!”

Yang Lie became so agitated he stood up. Seeing Yang Lie’s movement, Li Rong gripped her golden fan tightly with a sharp “swish” and shouted sternly: “Kneel down!”

Her rebuke rang out forcefully and clearly, shocking Yang Lie back to some clarity. He gritted his teeth and knelt down again. Pei Wenxuan glanced at him indifferently and continued: “This is one person’s account, but since there was such a rumor, your humble servant naturally had to investigate and verify it. Your humble servant heard that in Hua Jing there was a foreign merchant named Tuoba Yan who had purchased Yang family cultural relics multiple times. So your humble servant requested the Princess’s permission to go together to find this Tuoba Yan to investigate the case. At Tuoba Yan’s residence, your humble servant stole account books from his mansion recording transactions with the Yang family. I discovered that over these years, just from this Tuoba Yan alone, the Yang family had obtained a considerable sum of money. The prices Tuoba Yan paid for the antiques sold by the Yang family far exceeded normal prices, clearly not ordinary transactions. So your humble servant followed the trail, checked with the Ministry of War, cross-referenced all account books and ledgers, and questioned all relevant personnel one by one.”

“Perhaps this matter reached Consort Ning’s ears,” Pei Wenxuan looked toward Consort Ning. Consort Ning knelt on the ground, her expression unmoved. Pei Wenxuan turned his head and continued: “To eliminate evidence, they killed Tuoba Yan and framed your humble servant and Princess Pingle. At the same time, learning that his family members in the mansion were detained, Yang Lie plotted to kill the commanding general at the front line, then submitted his resignation, threatening Your Majesty.”

“Your Majesty,” Pei Wenxuan raised his head, his expression grave, “now the account books from the Northwest frontline for the past ten years, the Ministry of War’s account books, and the account books from Tuoba Yan’s possession have all been reconciled. The money that flowed from Tuoba Yan to the Yang family mansion, including timing, all matches with what was recorded in the Ministry of War and frontline account books. Combined with testimony from Tuoba Yan and others, this is sufficient proof that over these years the Yang family has been lining their pockets at the border.”

“Why could they leave behind so much money? Why, according to current frontline reports, does the Rong nation have large quantities of our Great Xia’s weapons during their invasion? All the evidence taken together proves that what the person who initially sent information said is indeed true.”

“What the Yang family has done—deceiving the sovereign, violating the law, harming the nation and its people, showing no respect for the Son of Heaven above, showing no concern for the common people below, colluding with the enemy to deceive our Great Xia—Your Majesty,” Pei Wenxuan knelt down and kowtowed, “with such grave crimes, the Yang family cannot be spared!”

After Pei Wenxuan finished speaking, all the civil and military officials were shocked. Everyone stared blankly at the kneeling Yang Lie and Consort Ning. After a long while, Li Ming spoke: “Yang Lie, do you have anything more to say?”

Yang Lie knelt on the ground. He lowered his head, thought for a long while, then smiled mockingly: “Whatever Your Majesty says, that’s what it is.”

“Consort Ning,” Li Ming looked toward Consort Ning and said flatly, “What about you?”

Hearing Li Ming’s words, Consort Ning raised her hand to support herself on her knee and stood up with elegant bearing.

“Things have come to this point. What meaning is there in Your Majesty asking these questions?”

Consort Ning raised her head to look at Li Ming: “Whatever crimes the Yang family committed, aren’t they all according to Your Majesty’s wishes? When Your Majesty needed the Yang family, the Yang family stayed at the border, fighting for half a lifetime. Now that Your Majesty feels the Yang family obstructs Your Majesty and wants to support Prince Su, the Yang family colludes with the enemy, betrays the country, and deceives the sovereign. Ha…” Consort Ning laughed aloud, “Laughable, utterly laughable!”

“Yang Wan!”

Li Ming shouted sternly: “How dare you!”

“I’m being outrageous?!” Consort Ning raised her hand to point at Li Ming, shouting fiercely, “You Li family forced me to this point, yet still won’t allow me to be outrageous?! I’m telling all of you,” Consort Ning turned her head to look at the court officials, “the Yang family’s fate today will be your fate tomorrow…”

“Guards,” Li Ming coldly ordered, “drag this mad woman out.”

With that, soldiers rushed forward to pull at Consort Ning.

Coming from a military family, Consort Ning struggled fiercely, and for a moment they couldn’t pull her out. While pushing away the soldiers’ pulling hands, she lunged toward Li Rong: “Li Rong, you fool! He’s long wanted to depose Li Chuan! All these men he arranged marriages with for you—not one of them is any good! He can’t wait to marry you off in a political alliance and have you die abroad, yet you still respect him and love him… You Li family won’t die well! Won’t die well!”

The soldiers pulled at Consort Ning. Consort Ning seemed to be fighting for her life as she lunged toward Li Rong’s direction.

Pei Wenxuan imperceptibly blocked Li Rong’s front. Li Rong quietly watched Consort Ning, her expression as calm as death. Consort Ning shrieked and screamed until finally, at the instant she pulled a golden hairpin from her head, Li Ming shouted loudly: “Kill her!”

Swords pierced through Consort Ning’s body. In that split second, Pei Wenxuan instinctively raised his hand to cover Li Rong’s eyes.

Fresh blood splattered onto Pei Wenxuan’s sleeve as he blocked Li Rong. Li Rong held her golden fan, lowered her eyes, and remained coldly motionless.

From her line of sight, she could see Consort Ning’s blood soaking across the great hall floor, spreading all the way to her feet.

Then she heard the sound of someone dragging Consort Ning out. She suddenly spoke: “Wait.”

Everyone looked at her. They saw her use her golden fan to push down Pei Wenxuan’s hand covering her eyes, looking at Consort Ning being dragged out like a pig or dog, and said coldly: “Noble families and imperial households must not be dishonored in death. Bring a stretcher and white cloth—carry her out properly.”

With that, she removed her outer robe, walked to Consort Ning’s side, and covered her with it.

In no time, people from outside brought in a stretcher, placed Consort Ning on it, covered her with white cloth, and carried her out.

Pei Wenxuan walked behind Li Rong, looked at Yang Lie, and simply said: “General Yang, do you plead guilty?”

Yang Lie raised his head. With turbid eyes, he quietly looked at Li Rong. After a long while, he kowtowed and said in a hoarse voice: “Your humble servant knows his guilt.”

This phrase “your humble servant knows his guilt” proclaimed the complete downfall of the Yang family.

After Li Ming recovered for a moment, he said with some fatigue: “Take him down. Transfer the rest to the Ministry of Justice. Detain all members of the Yang clan. In consideration of their ancestors’ merit to the court, let them keep their whole corpses—bestow poison.”

“Your humble servant…” Yang Lie said tremblingly, “thanks Your Majesty.”

After Yang Lie accepted his punishment, he was led away. Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan also withdrew together. At the entrance, Yang Lie stumbled. Pei Wenxuan reached out to support him. Yang Lie raised his head and quietly looked at this young man who had condemned his entire clan to death.

“Do you know what you’re doing?”

He said hoarsely: “Young man, being a blade is not so easy.”

Pei Wenxuan’s expression was calm. He raised his eyes to look at Yang Lie: “Then General Yang, do you know what you yourself were doing?”

Yang Lie didn’t quite understand. Pei Wenxuan supported him as they walked out, saying flatly: “I’ve read General Yang’s youthful poetry. General Yang once wrote, ‘White horse leads troops, blade pointing north, sweeping across the frontier to repay the nation’s grace.’ Does the General still remember?”

Yang Lie’s expression became dazed. After a moment, he smiled bitterly: “To think someone still knows of these things.”

“You had ambitions in your youth. Why didn’t you continue on that path?”

Pei Wenxuan looked up at him. Yang Lie shook his head: “One person cannot drain a muddy pond clean.”

“Officials protecting officials, relationships intertwined—Lord Pei comes from an aristocratic family, you should understand these principles better than I. Youthful aspirations soar to the clouds, but in the end one always discovers that what the elders say is always correct.”

Yang Lie smiled faintly and raised his hand to pat Pei Wenxuan’s shoulder.

“Lord Pei, see me off to here.”

With that, Yang Lie turned around. With iron chains on his hands, he walked slowly but steadily.

“One day, Lord Pei will understand what this old fool means.”

Pei Wenxuan said nothing. He tucked his hands into his sleeves and stood on the long staircase, quietly watching Yang Lie walk away.

Li Rong stood beside Pei Wenxuan and said softly: “He’s about to die. Why ask him these things?”

“Those about to die,” Pei Wenxuan said peacefully, “will tell you why they die, so that in the future you’ll know how not to die for such reasons, and how to prevent others from dying for such reasons.”

“You already understood those words of his long ago, didn’t you?” Li Rong chuckled. “Did you live fifty years for nothing?”

Hearing this, Pei Wenxuan also laughed: “I won’t hide it from Your Highness the Princess—after living fifty years, I indeed still haven’t understood those words.”

“Liar,” Li Rong immediately said. “If you didn’t understand these things, why would you compete with me for the heir apparent? When you were young, you also said you wanted the common people to live a little better, but in the end didn’t you compete with me over and over for personal power?”

Hearing these words, Pei Wenxuan fell into silent contemplation. He somewhat wanted to explain, yet knew his explanation was not something Li Rong should know.

Li Rong could never understand his ambitions, his aspirations, his almost naive ideas.

Because Li Rong was born in high places. She had never, like him, walked through fields, seen mountains and rivers, made friends of all kinds in Luzhou, or witnessed the hardships of the common people.

Maintaining orthodoxy and stability was Li Rong’s faith. But he knew deeply that if such faith persisted, the end of Great Xia could already be foreseen.

But he couldn’t speak these words, and Li Rong couldn’t understand them either.

Seeing him remain silent, Li Rong assumed she had touched a sore spot. Feeling she had spoken too harshly, she walked forward with him while tapping her palm with her fan, salvaging the conversation: “But people are all like that. Didn’t I also think about these things when I was young? You were afraid I’d see blood today, but I’ve seen plenty…”

“Li Rong,” Pei Wenxuan suddenly interrupted her. His expression showed neither joy nor anger. Li Rong turned to look at him, and heard him say, “Every time you see blood, your left hand trembles.”

Li Rong slowly composed her expression. Pei Wenxuan continued: “You always tell me that people like you and Su Rongqing have no true heart, that you’re selfish and self-interested. But not everyone would risk danger in the court hall to put a robe on a dead person out of compassion.”

“Words that are spoken aren’t necessarily true,” the two reached the palace gate. Pei Wenxuan stopped and turned to look at her. “And some words, though spoken in jest, aren’t necessarily false.”

“Such as?”

Li Rong asked directly. Pei Wenxuan looked at her. After a long while, he suddenly said: “After leaving the palace this time, I’m afraid we won’t meet again before the wedding. During this time, I plan to rebuild my previous information network. I need some money.”

Li Rong: “…”

“I really want to know,” Li Rong looked at Pei Wenxuan, her face full of admiration, “how you can ask women for money so smoothly?”

“Because the money you give me today, I can return to you doubled in the future,” Pei Wenxuan smiled composedly. “Do you want to do this business or not?”

In their previous life, Pei Wenxuan’s shadow network was even stronger than Li Chuan’s. He had his own system for establishing shadow networks that ensured their efficiency. Li Rong had to go through him for much of her intelligence. And accompanying the shadow network were various major commercial establishments. The worry-free latter half of Li Rong’s life—more than half her wealth could be said to have come from the money she invested in Pei Wenxuan early on.

Who wouldn’t do such a guaranteed profitable business? Only a fool wouldn’t.

Li Rong was no fool, so she took out her token and handed it to Pei Wenxuan: “If you need anything, go to the Princess’s mansion to find the steward. But I’m telling you clearly—I don’t have much money right now, just this much in assets. Don’t mess around.”

“Seems marrying a princess doesn’t have many benefits,” Pei Wenxuan took the token with a look of disdain, “I wonder if other princesses might have more money…”

“Give that back to me!”

Li Rong reached out to grab the token. Pei Wenxuan held it up behind his back, using his other hand to block Li Rong: “Mind your deportment, Your Highness. I know I’m devastatingly handsome, but please don’t take liberties with me.”

“Pei Wenxuan,” Li Rong was nearly laughing from anger, “you have no shame!”

Pei Wenxuan raised an eyebrow with a smile, his eyes showing satisfaction, then turned and walked toward the palace gate with his hands behind his back: “The Princess may see me off to here. This humble servant takes his leave.”

“Who’s seeing you off! You use even one copper coin of mine, and you have to keep accounts! I want to audit the books!” Li Rong wished she could tear him apart. But with people around, she couldn’t say too much. After shouting fiercely with full momentum, she felt somewhat better. Just as she turned to leave, Pei Wenxuan suddenly called out: “Also,”

Li Rong turned back to look at the young man before the palace gate. He stopped, turned to look at her, and suddenly smiled with curved brows: “If there’s a next time, I’ll still cover your eyes.”

Li Rong was stunned.

“For a young lady,” Pei Wenxuan’s eyes held an indescribable tenderness, like a summer breeze gently wrapping around a person. He lowered his voice and said warmly, “it’s always good to have someone protecting you.”

After Pei Wenxuan finished this sentence, he truly didn’t look back and walked out of the palace gate.

Li Rong quietly watched his retreating figure. For a moment, she actually felt that even after knowing him for over thirty years, she seemed to have never truly understood what kind of person Pei Wenxuan really was.

She was in a daze for a moment, then heard Jing Lan beside her speak: “Your Highness, His Majesty seems to have finished court.”

Hearing this, Li Rong snapped back to attention, collected her thoughts, and turned around: “Let’s go find His Majesty.”

Li Rong had someone notify Li Ming, then rushed over to dine with him.

Li Ming had just finished court and arrived at Taihe Palace. After changing into regular clothes, he was holding a cloth to wash his hands when he heard the announcement that Li Rong had arrived. He smiled and had Li Rong summoned in. After Li Rong performed the courtesy, Li Ming looked her up and down and said with a smile: “You’ve gotten thinner.”

“That place was impossible to stay in,” Li Rong said unhappily. “How could I not get thinner?”

“What’s this,” Li Ming threw the hot cloth back into the basin and went to the dining table, “blaming me?”

“Not really,” Li Rong sighed. “The Yang family was too much. I know you had your difficulties, Father Emperor.”

“You understand all this now?” Li Ming laughed and beckoned her to sit. “You’ve really grown up.”

“What’s so hard to understand about this?” Li Rong sat down. “Pei Wenxuan explained and I understood right away.”

Hearing Li Rong mention Pei Wenxuan, Li Ming couldn’t help but give her an extra glance: “I heard you were imprisoned together with him?”

“Yes,” Li Rong picked up her chopsticks casually. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have known anyone at all. At night with no one to keep me company, I’d have been so scared.”

“You’ve spent quite some time together.” Li Ming took the fish that a eunuch had deboned for him and said slowly: “What do you think of him?”

“Huh?” Hearing this, Li Rong immediately became somewhat stiff, a flash of unnaturalness crossing her face. She said quietly: “Just… pretty good.”

“What does ‘pretty good’ mean?” Seeing Li Rong’s appearance, Li Ming understood and laughed. “I gave you four choices. Yang Quan is gone, so you have to choose one. Right?”

“Well…” Li Rong blushed. “He’s… quite good.”

Li Ming rarely saw Li Rong being coy and couldn’t help but laugh aloud: “When did our Pingle become unable to speak clearly? Is that Pei boy no good? If not, choose between Cui Yulang and Young Master Ning.”

“I never said he wasn’t good.”

Li Rong became anxious and quickly said: “Lord Pei is quite good.”

“Finally the truth.”

Li Ming raised his chopsticks to pick up food and said with a smile: “All these years no one could control you. This Pei boy actually has some ability. What did he say to you? I imprisoned you, yet you didn’t come crying to scold me?”

“He told me that Father Emperor loves me. If you could help me, you definitely would. It must be that you have difficulties, otherwise you wouldn’t treat me this way. Father and daughter of one heart—I support Father Emperor, and I’ll always be Father Emperor’s precious darling.”

“On this point, he’s not wrong.” Li Ming sighed. “You’ve grown up quite a bit from this imprisonment. What about your mother empress? Did she come to see you?”

Hearing Li Ming’s words, Li Rong immediately showed a disappointed expression: “She… must also have her difficulties.”

Li Ming scoffed: “She indeed has her difficulties. While you were in prison, she didn’t think of you at all, coming every day to quarrel with me on behalf of Chuan’er, never mentioning you even once.”

Hearing this, Li Rong’s eyes reddened. Li Ming’s eating movements paused. After a moment, he said slowly: “Don’t be upset—you have me for everything. I didn’t arrange your marriage to Pei Wenxuan in the hall today because it seemed inauspicious after seeing blood. Later I’ll have someone deliver the imperial marriage decree to the Pei mansion. After you marry and move into the Princess’s mansion, you won’t need to worry about palace matters anymore.”

“I can’t live in the palace anymore in the future?”

Hearing this, Li Rong raised her head to look at Li Ming with reddened eyes. Li Ming smiled helplessly: “Where is there a princess who always lives in the palace? Once you’re married, live a good life with Pei Wenxuan.”

Li Rong lowered her head, looking upset again. Li Ming paused with his chopsticks, then said: “Ah, eating a meal with all this crying. Let’s not talk about this anymore. Be happy and let’s discuss your wedding instead. I plan to set the wedding date for the third day of next month. What do you think?”

“I’ll listen to Father Emperor.”

Li Rong sniffled: “Wasn’t my wedding already being discussed? It was just delayed two months by the Yang family matter. Isn’t the Ministry of Rites handling it?”

“Don’t wrong them.” Li Ming laughed. “Not only did the Ministry of Rites handle it, they prepared two sets of wedding robes for you. Go choose one.”

“Really?”

At the mention of clothes, Li Rong’s eyes lit up. Seeing her act like a child, Li Ming couldn’t help but laugh: “So childish. Would I lie to you?”

Li Rong became happy and discussed the wedding process with Li Ming. She truly acted like an eighteen-year-old girl, clinging to her father and chatting about everyday matters. After finishing the meal, both father and daughter were in good spirits. Li Rong accompanied Li Ming to the imperial study. Just before leaving, Li Ming suddenly remembered: “Why did Rong’er put a robe on someone like Consort Ning today? Weren’t you afraid of the blood?”

“How could I not be afraid?” Li Rong laughed. “But I am a princess. I can’t let people see me as a laughingstock. Consort Ning… we had some interaction,” Li Rong sighed, “seeing her like that was unbearable.”

“You,” Li Ming raised his hand to point at her, somewhat exasperated, “are too soft-hearted. Alright, go back. Fulai,” Li Ming turned to look at the eunuch beside him, “have the Ministry of Rites send both sets of wedding robes to the Princess for her to choose. If the Princess has any requests, have the Ministry of Rites accommodate them. My Princess Pingle’s grand wedding,” Li Ming patted Fulai’s shoulder, “don’t mess it up.”

Getting these words, Fulai bent at the waist to see Li Ming into the imperial study, then turned to look at Li Rong with a smile: “Your Highness, you see how much His Majesty cares about you.”

“Of course,” Li Rong laughed, quite proudly, “I’m Father Emperor’s most beloved daughter.”

With that, Li Rong waved her hand: “This palace will return first. Eunuch Fulai need not see me off.”

“Respectfully seeing off Your Highness.”

Fulai bent at the waist and bowed respectfully.

After Li Rong finished discussing the wedding with Li Ming, she yawned and returned to the imperial palace. At the same time, Pei Wenxuan also arrived at his own home.

Having just left prison that morning, he had someone notify Tong Ye. After court, he avoided the carriages of other Pei family elders and waited alone for Tong Ye to come pick him up.

Tong Ye brought a shabby carriage over, complaining: “Young Master, don’t mind that the carriage is shabby. Last time we took that carriage from the household, we haven’t returned it. The old woman in charge of the carriages comes to me every day demanding money. You haven’t returned to the mansion for so long, and I don’t have the money to compensate her. She said if we don’t pay, she won’t let us use carriages anymore. It’s not bad that I could borrow one today.”

Pei Wenxuan sat in the carriage with his eyes closed, resting. He was too lazy to bother with such trivial matters. Seeing him not speak, Tong Ye sighed: “These old cunning servants just bully us. Look at the young masters in Second Master’s and Third Master’s courtyards—who would be troubled over a carriage? But Young Master, when will you get your monthly salary? This carriage money must be returned soon, otherwise you won’t even have a way to go to court tomorrow.”

“Just go change clothes first, then I’ll have money.”

After changing clothes, he’d go to the Princess’s mansion to get money. With Li Rong’s money, he’d buy himself a carriage. He couldn’t buy an expensive one—if Li Rong found out, she’d scold him for being extravagant. He’d buy one casually for now, and when he had his own money later, he’d get a better carriage.

Pei Wenxuan calculated seriously. Hearing Pei Wenxuan’s words, Tong Ye was quite worried, always feeling that Pei Wenxuan must have been traumatized somehow in prison.

When Pei Wenxuan arrived at the Pei mansion, he entered with Tong Ye, taking the long corridor back to his own courtyard. Just arriving at the courtyard entrance, he sensed something wrong. He vaguely saw his courtyard full of people standing there. His heart immediately felt uneasy, and he began analyzing who these people in his courtyard might be.

Those who could bring people to wait for him in his courtyard at the Pei mansion could only be two groups: either his mother, or his second uncle and third uncle.

And either of these two groups probably wanted to stop him from marrying Li Rong. His mother had never liked the idea of him marrying a princess, only accepting it helplessly. Now that the imperial marriage decree hadn’t been issued yet, it was entirely possible his mother would come to “salvage the situation.”

If it was his second uncle and third uncle, they even more so didn’t want him to marry a princess. Once he married a princess, it meant having a powerful backer and breaking free of Pei family control.

Thinking that this group of people had come to disrupt his marriage made him feel irritated.

Although marrying Li Rong was a forced situation, it had indeed become his goal. To marry Li Rong, he had killed Yang Quan and brought down an entire Yang family. Now someone still wanted to stop him?

The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became. He flicked his sleeves and charged forward, muttering under his breath: “Why is marrying a wife so difficult?”

Tong Ye was somewhat bewildered, then saw Pei Wenxuan grab his ceremonial tablet, stride into the small courtyard with a cold face, sweep his gaze over the servants waiting for him in the courtyard, and say coldly: “What are you doing here? Who allowed you to come in?”

Pei Wenxuan was already prepared—whoever dared interfere with his marriage, today he would make an example to slap the faces of those above.

Who would have thought, a plump woman at the front stepped forward, bowed to Pei Wenxuan, and said respectfully: “First Young Master, this old servant has been waiting for you for almost two months. Hearing that First Young Master was returning today, I specifically waited here for you.”

“Wait for me for what?” Pei Wenxuan frowned, sensing something amiss.

The woman smiled faintly: “Two months ago you borrowed that carriage, and the account hasn’t been settled yet. Originally one carriage isn’t much, but after all it belongs to the whole household. Everything still needs to follow rules. Don’t think this old servant is making things difficult for you. Will you pay to settle the account, or return the carriage?”

Pei Wenxuan: “…”

Pei Wenxuan was silent for a moment, adjusted his emotions, and said calmly: “How much?”

The woman held up two fingers: “Two hundred taels.”

His monthly salary, excluding extra provisions like grain and cloth, came to only two taels in hand. Very good, he was certain—

He couldn’t afford it.

Author’s Note:

Pei Wenxuan: “If I’d known it was this expensive, I wouldn’t have dismantled that carriage and would have thought of another way…”

Tong Ye: “Young Master, don’t be too upset. In another ten years of work you’ll have paid it off.”

Pei Wenxuan: “No, I have another method!”

(Dark of night, Pei Wenxuan knocks on Li Rong’s door)

Li Rong: “Why are you here so late?”

Pei Wenxuan (aggrieved): “Your Highness, I don’t want to work hard anymore.”

Li Rong: “…”

A moment later.

Li Rong: “Don’t want to work hard anymore, what do you want to do?”

Pei Wenxuan: “Want to buy a carriage.”

Li Rong: “What kind of carriage?”

Pei Wenxuan: “…”

A moment later.

Pei Wenxuan: “When it comes to being high-minded, you’re still higher.”

Li Rong: “When it comes to being shameless, you’re still more shameless.”