When Li Rong’s people quietly infiltrated the Pei household, Pei Wenxuan was standing before a basin of clear water, silently examining his own appearance.
He had actually come back to life.
Looking at his barely twenty-year-old self, he found it somewhat hard to believe. However, years of court life had taught him to restrain his emotions. Even if his heart was in complete turmoil, his face maintained perfect composure.
His attendant Tong Ye stood beside him, watching him nervously and saying in a small voice, “Young Master, are you all right?”
Since getting up this morning, after he’d asked what day it was, he had been in a daze until now. Although Pei Wenxuan was usually someone who didn’t talk much, he had rarely been this silent. Tong Ye couldn’t help but feel somewhat frightened, and continued, “Young Master, if you’re not feeling well, I’ll go fetch a physician for you.”
Hearing these words, Pei Wenxuan finally raised his eyes. After responding with “No need,” he washed his face and went directly out the door.
He walked out of the courtyard, and Tong Ye quickly followed. After holding back for a moment, he finally said, “Young Master, if something’s troubling you, don’t keep it bottled up inside. Say it out loud—perhaps you’ll feel better. Miss Qin came to break off the engagement—this can’t be blamed on Miss Qin. She was sincere toward you, it’s just…”
“No need to speak of it.”
Seeing Tong Ye say more and more, Pei Wenxuan stopped in his tracks and turned to instruct him, “This matter need not be mentioned again in the future.”
With that, he tucked his hands into his sleeves and stood outside the courtyard, gazing at the distant tower in the palace city.
The tower soared into the clouds with red lacquer and golden tiles. Copper bells hung beneath the eaves, chiming in the wind—exactly the same as in his memory.
Back when he was at the Chancellor’s manor, whenever he encountered troubles, he liked to stand in the courtyard and look up at the distant tower. Now this habit seemed to have been preserved. At this moment, looking at the tower, his heart slowly calmed, and he began to think through his situation.
He remembered that when he was twenty years old, he had just finished observing mourning at his ancestral home and returned to Hua Jing. His second uncle controlled the Pei family, and his mother was weak and easily bullied, claiming illness daily to avoid calamity. Although he was the most natural heir of the Pei family, he was thoroughly excluded by family members. Despite being the legitimate eldest son of the prestigious Pei family of Hua Jing, he could only become a small prison guard at the Ministry of Justice.
His current circumstances should be just after he’d been jilted.
When his father was still alive, he had arranged a childhood betrothal for him with Miss Qin Zhenzhen of the Qin family, with whom they had generational ties. The match was arranged early, so there wasn’t any particularly solemn ceremony—they simply exchanged jade pendants, and it was considered settled. Thus he and Qin Zhenzhen had been familiar companions since childhood. He was single-mindedly devoted to marrying her, but who knew unexpected changes would occur.
His father died early, and the Qin family now had good relations with his second uncle Pei Lixian. So it was reasonable that Qin Zhenzhen would break off this childhood betrothal.
The engagement back then hadn’t been solemn enough, so breaking it off now was quite simple. After returning the token from years ago, there wasn’t even a letter—just some silver left behind before she departed.
Of course, he didn’t blame Qin Zhenzhen. He himself lacked capability—there was no reason to blame the young lady.
And then?
Pei Wenxuan struggled to recall.
Then his awkward status should have caught the Emperor’s eye, and he was bestowed upon Li Rong.
With Li Rong’s current status, truly finding her a poor scholar would be unseemly—the realm would likely be filled with gossip. Finding her someone from a prominent clan would be adding wings to a tiger, making the Emperor wary. Someone like him—seemingly noble in status but actually without prospects—was most suitable for Li Rong.
With the identity of Prince Consort, the Pei family began to value him again, and he finally had real backing in court.
According to the timeline, the imperial edict bestowing the marriage should come down very soon. Coming back again, he still had to marry Li Rong.
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
He and Li Rong—they were enemies from a previous life.
They had cooperated for a lifetime, been mutually suspicious for a lifetime. He had thought that even if Li Rong didn’t have marital feelings for him, she should at least have the friendship of allies. He never expected that in the face of power and position, she could still strike him down without blinking an eye.
However, if he died, she couldn’t live either.
She sent him a sharp blade, so he sent her a bowl of poison that pierced the intestines.
There had never been any debt between them. Their lives were the same.
Human resentment arose only from injustice. Between him and her over the past thirty years, there wasn’t anything unfair. He had someone in his heart, she had someone by her side. She gave him swords, he gave her poison.
Thinking of it this way, even though she had killed him, he actually didn’t harbor much resentment. Now, coming back again, thinking about having to marry Li Rong again, he actually didn’t feel much anger.
In fact, he couldn’t help but wonder—
The eighteen-year-old Li Rong still had a few traces of innocent kindness. When she saw him, she would occasionally blush. The day she lifted her bridal veil and looked up at him with bright eyes, her smile carried a few traces of genuine sincerity. Taking the nuptial cup, she said to him, “Pei Wenxuan, regardless of why we’re together, since we’ve become husband and wife, I still want to spend a lifetime with you.”
If in this lifetime, he didn’t let Li Rong discover that he cared about Qin Zhenzhen, or if in this lifetime, he stopped caring about Qin Zhenzhen, she wouldn’t be furious, wouldn’t separate from him, wouldn’t meet Su Rongqing…
Perhaps they could still be an ordinary married couple, growing old together.
The mutual suspicion and struggles of the previous life—he was tired of them too. If possible, he also wanted an ordinary family, to live peacefully and steadily for a lifetime.
As for Qin Zhenzhen…
In the previous life, he couldn’t have her but protected her for an entire lifetime. Walking through that lifetime, responsibility exceeded love, regret exceeded longing. Since fate had determined they couldn’t be together, then so be it.
After thinking through these matters, Pei Wenxuan calmed down. He turned his head and said to Tong Ye indifferently, “Let’s go back.”
Right now he didn’t need to do anything—just wait for the imperial marriage edict.
However, after waiting in his room for several days, the imperial marriage edict didn’t arrive. Instead, an invitation to Princess Pingle’s Spring Banquet was delivered to his manor.
Pingle was Li Rong’s title. Looking at that garishly decorated invitation, Pei Wenxuan felt somewhat uneasy. He frowned, involuntarily beginning to recall—in the previous lifetime, had he attended a Spring Banquet hosted by Li Rong? Was he losing his memory from old age, or had reality diverged from his memories?
While Pei Wenxuan was at home repeatedly pondering what this Spring Banquet was about, Li Rong was in the palace, cheerfully arranging the Spring Banquet.
She loved this kind of lively occasion. In her youth, she had found it noisy, but only after growing older did she realize that elderly people enjoyed watching young people being lively while complaining about the noise.
It made her feel full of youthful vigor!
Besides arranging the Spring Banquet, she had many other things to do.
She first went to reselect a pile of clothes, sending all her previous black, white, and cool-colored garments to the bottom of the chest. She specifically got some reds and golds—these bright colors—dressing herself radiantly and charmingly!
Then she transplanted all her maintenance routines from the previous life, massaging, bathing, and applying fragrant ointments from morning to night every day, not letting go of a single detail, fully enjoying the wonderful life of being a princess.
Finally, she had to listen to Jing Lan report on the activities of those four young masters whenever she had time.
Lu Yu stayed home every day counting ants. He had already counted two ant colonies clear and made good friends with the ants.
Yang Quan had recently been fighting at the training grounds, beating three colleagues into the medical hall, then getting thrashed by his old man and knocked onto a bed, where he’d been crawling for two days.
Cui Yulang had recently gotten drunk at brothels and written thirty poems to great acclaim.
As for Pei Wenxuan, he went to work daily, practiced calligraphy, and at such a young age was already living like a court retirement official. The strangest thing each day was that he always stood at his own doorway, as if waiting for something.
Of course, he successfully waited for her Spring Banquet invitation in the end.
“Heaven truly doesn’t fail those with determination,” Li Rong said while soaking in a petal bath and listening to Jing Lan report these matters. She couldn’t help but ask, “Was he surprised? Was he shocked? Did he ever think that an eighth-rank minor official like himself would receive an invitation from Princess Pingle? Was he overjoyed?”
“No,” Jing Lan’s expression was calm. “At the time, Lord Pei’s complexion wasn’t very good. The servant beside him called Tong Ye asked him how he could receive an invitation—whether it had been sent to the wrong person.”
“What did he say?”
“Lord Pei said,” Jing Lan recounted matter-of-factly, “the invitation wasn’t sent incorrectly. He’s good-looking, so the invitation must be from you.”
Hearing this, Li Rong couldn’t help but spray out a mouthful of water.
This was the first time she knew that Pei Wenxuan had such confidence in his own face.
However—Li Rong quickly became somewhat puzzled—how did Pei Wenxuan know that she liked good-looking people?
Li Rong kept this question in her heart.
Time passed extremely quickly. Li Rong felt she had just adapted to life in Chang Le Palace when the Spring Banquet arrived.
The day before the Spring Banquet, she went ahead to her suburban villa, staggering her schedule from the other noble families’ travels the next day. The following morning, young masters and ladies from various noble families arrived one after another. Outside the estate, fragrant carriages and precious horses came in an endless stream. Each family’s carriage was luxurious and exquisite, with servants calling before and crowding behind, looking very respectable.
Before long, two jade-adorned carriages arrived one after another. The front carriage hung a jade-carved character “Su,” while the rear carriage hung a “Pei.”
The two great prestigious clans of Hua Jing arrived one after another, and everyone hastily moved aside.
Shortly after, the carriages stopped one after another. From the Su family carriage in front, a person emerged first. That person wore white brocade robes with a jade hairpin securing his cap. His features were handsome, refined, and gentle, his bearing elegant and moving.
As soon as he appeared, someone urgently called out loudly, “Young Master Su, you came too!”
“The Princess invited me,” Su Rongqing opened his mouth and said with a smile, “How could there be any reason not to come?”
With that, he descended from the carriage and had servants quickly make way for the carriage behind.
As soon as Su Rongqing appeared, everyone gathered around. People spoke with Su Rongqing in a lively manner. When Pei Wenxuan descended, not many people paid attention.
Pei Wenxuan descended from the carriage himself. Hearing Su Rongqing’s voice, he couldn’t help but look up.
This was the person who had stayed by Li Rong’s side for the latter twenty years. He didn’t like him.
His disgust toward Su Rongqing had almost become an instinct.
After all, even though he and Li Rong both spoke clearly about living their separate lives, Su Rongqing had always been a challenge to his dignity—just as Qin Zhenzhen was to Li Rong.
This disgust had nothing to do with romantic love, but rather that bit of self-respect in the human heart.
However, this was the next life after all. Pei Wenxuan felt that dwelling on matters from the previous life was somewhat irrational. He quickly turned his head away and led Tong Ye together toward the estate.
Although Su Rongqing was talking with people, his steps didn’t stop. He and Pei Wenxuan walked into the courtyard one after another.
At this time, Li Rong had also woken up. After finishing her grooming, she yawned while heading toward the courtyard where the main banquet was being held. Just as she reached the entrance to the courtyard, she heard a familiar voice.
That voice had changed somewhat from later, but it was still one she had carved into her heart.
She was too familiar with that voice. Instinctively, she turned her head.
Then she came face to face with two people.
One in white robes with a jade cap, standing with a smile. The other in blue robes with a gold cap, looking at her in stunned surprise.
One was refined and gentle, the other upright and handsome. The two stood not far from each other—their striking appearances were truly stunning.
Li Rong looked at both of them, stunned for an instant. At this time, Su Rongqing was the first to come to his senses. He bowed to Li Rong, and between his lips and teeth were the words he had spoken countless times in years past.
“This humble subject Su Rongqing greets Your Highness the Princess.”