Pei Wenxuan didn’t want to continue being her husband in name and friend in reality, but truly and genuinely wanted to be a pair of mandarin duck allies with her.

Pei Wenxuan wanted to marry her, wanted her heart to hold him.

It wasn’t strange for him to have such thoughts. When she first saw him after her rebirth, she had considered he might have such ideas.

After all, being bound together with her came with a heap of benefits. If Pei Wenxuan wanted to marry her without knowing she was reborn, then knowing she was also reborn, knowing her methods, knowing her future—if not considering emotions, from a profit perspective, if not eliminating her, naturally he should utilize her.

And what was the best way to utilize a woman? Marry her, and ideally make her love him wholeheartedly. In a world where women followed their husbands after marriage, even a princess, once she gave her heart to a man, everything about that woman would belong to that man.

Only they had revealed their identities to each other early on. Pei Wenxuan had disliked her and was unwilling. Later, even when the two reconciled, they were old friends after all, so that intention faded.

So why did Pei Wenxuan suddenly want to do this now? What was he after?

Based on her understanding of Pei Wenxuan, though this person had a third part of straightforwardness in his character—much better than other black-hearted politicians—he was still the only person since the founding of Great Xia to hold the position of Chancellor of the Secretariat. Even calling him Chancellor diminished him.

After all, the Secretariat of Great Xia historically only had Left and Right Vice Directors. No one had ever seen a living Chancellor of the Secretariat, yet he had sat in that position, truly below one person and above ten thousand. For such a person to expect much romantic love in his heart would be far too naive.

So his wanting to marry her was probably three parts feeling and seven parts calculation. In summary, it was just him thinking left and right, fearing she had Su Rongqing in her heart and would lean toward the aristocratic families.

If she were an ordinary princess, Pei Wenxuan probably wouldn’t care. But she was precisely Li Rong, and moreover Li Rong who had already established the Constabulary Bureau and held power.

Now everything was vastly different from the previous life. Su Rongqing had taken a stance early and actively proposed marriage to her. All of this posed a threat to Pei Wenxuan, who was positioned with the humble families.

Previously, he might have been unwilling to take the route of moving her with feelings due to their grudges from the previous life, and thinking that the relationship between her and Su Rongqing would only be possible after he had grown his wings. So out of friendship, he wanted to help her and Su Rongqing.

But now after spending time together, Pei Wenxuan probably had developed some favorable feelings for her. With Su Rongqing’s stance becoming increasingly clear, and her power growing heavier after establishing the Constabulary Bureau, facing the threat of her potentially defecting, he didn’t mind using his charms to serve and stabilize her position.

Li Rong knew thinking of Pei Wenxuan this way was somewhat unfair, but if she didn’t think this way, should something truly happen, she feared she wouldn’t blame herself for wrongly accusing others, but rather blame herself for being foolish.

Just like… back then.

Eighteen-year-old Li Rong had never imagined there could be someone who could make you feel on the surface that he liked you, yet it was never one hundred percent genuine.

Even though Pei Wenxuan later explained in various ways, the embarrassment and humiliation of realizing her unrequited feelings became a lesson Li Rong would forever remember.

This taught her that one could believe there were good people in this world, but thinking of everything in the worst light would never be worse off.

Because of this, she survived in the treacherous political arena, remaining fine all along until now.

Thinking of this, Li Rong’s heart, which had been stirred up by Pei Wenxuan earlier, gradually calmed down.

She felt Pei Wenxuan’s steady breathing as he held her from behind. She pushed at the person behind her. He was already deeply asleep and was easily pushed away by her. She wrapped herself in the quilt and settled her mind.

She didn’t need to concern herself with any of this. Whether Pei Wenxuan wanted to be friends or wanted to be husband and wife, ultimately it was his business and had nothing to do with her.

She only needed to pretend she knew nothing, hold her ground without moving, and watch how this old fox would make his moves.

Li Rong closed her eyes and thought no more, falling asleep with Pei Wenxuan until dawn.

Li Rong slept rather deeply. In the morning, she vaguely heard Jing Lan outside calling her to rise but didn’t truly wake.

Now approaching winter, getting up from warm blankets in the early morning always required some courage. Li Rong vaguely heard Pei Wenxuan rise first, then light the lamp.

She slowly awakened in the lamplight, then felt someone draping clothes over her.

The clothes carried warmth. Pei Wenxuan wrapped her up and helped her sit up. Li Rong adjusted to the light and saw Pei Wenxuan wearing an outer robe, taking her clothes and helping her dress.

Seeing Li Rong had woken, Pei Wenxuan smiled. “Your Highness is awake?”

Li Rong closed her eyes again, seeming very sleepy. She nodded. “Morning.”

Pei Wenxuan placed her hands into her garments, helping her dress like helping a child. His movements were very gentle. Li Rong couldn’t help feeling an impulse to lean on him, but she restrained herself, making herself wake up more, allowing Pei Wenxuan to help her down from the bed.

Pei Wenxuan called people in to attend to Li Rong’s washing. Pei Wenxuan washed up together with her. After casually eating something, Li Rong became much more energetic. Then she had Jing Lan fetch memorials and walked out together with Pei Wenxuan.

The cold wind of winter morning made Li Rong completely wake up. Seeing the memorials in Li Rong’s hands, Pei Wenxuan said slowly, “Is Your Highness prepared today?”

“Mm.” Li Rong held the memorials and acknowledged quietly.

Pei Wenxuan helped her onto the carriage, then followed up himself. He extended his clean hand toward Li Rong. “Why doesn’t Your Highness let me see?”

Li Rong hesitated for a moment. Pei Wenxuan smiled. “What, does Your Highness fear this official will speak of it?”

“Not quite.” Li Rong smiled and passed the memorials over. “Just worried you wouldn’t agree.”

Having received these words, Pei Wenxuan said no more. He opened the memorials and scanned his eyes over them.

Li Rong had prepared two memorials in total—one on the Qin family case, one on the military provisions case.

Regarding the Qin family case, during Li Rong’s confinement at North Swallow Pagoda, Shangguan Ya had already investigated everything clearly together with Xun Chuan.

Though Xun Chuan wasn’t particularly clever, her execution ability was extremely strong. Led by Shangguan Ya, they had cleaned up everything from witness testimonies to physical evidence.

For the Qin family case, Li Rong showed no mercy whatsoever. She impeached everyone from top to bottom without leaving anyone out. The three leading officials were to receive extreme punishment. Shangguan Xu and other high officials were to be investigated. Other participating officials were to be demoted and exiled, each with detailed handling.

As for the military provisions case memorial, the main content was organized from the evidence Pei Wenxuan had brought. Pei Wenxuan’s evidence and testimonies were numerous and complex, but over last night, she had already sorted them out clearly. Combined with some evidence from Shangguan Ya’s side for mutual verification, Li Rong had roughly sorted out seventy to eighty percent. She listed a string of officials’ names pending investigation, requesting strict investigation.

Pei Wenxuan quietly scanned through this memorial. After pausing for a moment, he said somewhat hesitantly, “This memorial… His Majesty probably won’t agree.”

“I’m aware.”

Li Rong tapped her palm, saying quietly, “But I must impeach them.”

“The Qin family was wronged and it involves military provisions. If this just passes by without real impact, those evildoers will probably become even more rampant in the future. If I impeach harshly now, His Majesty will definitely hesitate. Then when I argue with His Majesty and dispute with court officials, there ultimately won’t be too bad a result. If I’m soft-handed from the start, they’ll still contend with me.” Li Rong spoke while opening her tea bowl. Pei Wenxuan raised his hand to pour tea for Li Rong. Li Rong watched the tea water pour into the bowl and said indifferently, “If I can’t even manage to exile a few officials, wouldn’t I have been bullied for nothing in this affair?”

Hearing Li Rong’s words, Pei Wenxuan only said, “The number is probably too many.”

Since Great Xia’s founding, the Grand Ancestor advocated streamlined officialdom and didn’t allow too many officials. In all of Hua Jing from top to bottom, formal officials from first rank to ninth rank numbered less than six hundred. Beyond formal officials, if manpower was still insufficient, additional “miscellaneous workers” were hired to help with tasks.

Miscellaneous workers had vastly different status from officials, weren’t included in the ranking system, and had no hope of promotion.

And the list on Li Rong’s memorial included nearly fifty-plus people, with nearly twenty at sixth rank and above. For Hua Jing, such a major change of fifty-plus people could be called a major reshuffle.

Hearing Pei Wenxuan’s words, Li Rong smiled without speaking and only said, “Report ten parts, and if he gives me seven parts, that’s fine.”

Pei Wenxuan didn’t speak. He nodded and pondered silently.

The two arrived at the palace. As soon as they entered the palace gates, officials all looked over. Li Rong paid no attention and stood in her own position. Pei Wenxuan stood beside her. Li Rong couldn’t help feeling somewhat strange. “What are you standing here for?”

“I’ll return in a moment,” Pei Wenxuan said indifferently. “In case someone comes up to cause trouble.”

Hearing this, Li Rong laughed, raising her fan to point at him. “You’re looking down on me. In broad daylight in public, would they dare hit me? As long as they don’t get physical,” Li Rong scoffed, “I’d like to see who’s more cutting.”

Pei Wenxuan felt somewhat helpless but still didn’t leave, only saying, “Then let this official shield Your Highness from the wind.”

Pei Wenxuan was always this considerate. In the past, Li Rong hadn’t noticed and only took it as habit. However, having understood his intentions, she inexplicably gained an awareness. She paused, wanting to say something, but ultimately let it slide, pretending to know nothing, only saying, “Fine, if it makes you happy.”

Soon after, Li Ming arrived. Seeing Li Ming’s imperial carriage from afar, Pei Wenxuan returned to his own position. Li Rong secretly glanced at Pei Wenxuan, seeing this young man’s back straight as a lone sword, completely different from the warmth when his face bore a smile.

Actually, this was perhaps the real Pei Wenxuan.

No matter how gentle he appeared on the surface, no matter how good his temper, essentially Pei Wenxuan had always been a person carrying sharp edges, unwilling to bend even half a measure.

Li Rong looked at his back for a moment. Only at the instant before he was about to turn back did she realize her overly long gaze and silently shifted her eyes away.

Li Ming’s imperial carriage entered within the eunuchs’ chanting. Everyone knelt in salute. After Li Ming entered, everyone filed in within the chanting voices.

Having entered the great hall, everyone knelt in salute, calling out ten thousand years. After all ceremonial matters were complete, Li Ming followed routine, inquiring about recent weather in various places, then confirmed ice disasters in the north, discussed solutions for a while, and finally asked Li Rong, “The case I had you investigate—you have results, yes?”

“Yes.”

Li Rong had prepared early. She spoke respectfully, taking out the memorials prepared last night, kneeling to present them. “Reporting to Your Majesty, the Qin family case has basically been clarified. This case originated in the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War poorly maintained military campaign logs, causing pages to be missing from the logs. An official accidentally discovered this battle at Huangping County seemed unusual and casually mentioned it. Afterward, a well-meaning person anonymously reported the Qin family to Censor Wen Ping. Censor Wen jointly investigated the case with Vice Minister Cui Shuyun of the Ministry of Justice. During the process, the two were derelict in their duties, resulting in a wrongful case. Now that the Qin family’s grievous wrong has been cleared, I hope Your Majesty will severely punish Ministry of War Division Chief Wang Xi, Censor Wen Ping, Ministry of Justice Vice Minister Cui Shuyun, and other related personnel.”

Speaking thus, Fulai from above descended, took Li Rong’s memorial, and delivered it up.

During Li Rong’s report, Li Ming opened the memorial. His eyes scanned over it and his expression became somewhat unpleasant. Li Rong secretly observed Li Ming’s expression, waiting for Li Ming’s next questions.

She had already considered that Li Ming couldn’t punish too severely, but since Li Ming had established the Constabulary Bureau, naturally he wanted to make an example to show the aristocratic families some consequences. So he couldn’t punish too lightly either. Therefore, what Li Rong needed to do was hand Li Ming a ladder, pushing all responsibility onto herself.

It wasn’t that the emperor wanted to punish them—it was that she, Princess Pingle, was unrelenting.

Only this way could she truly move these deeply entrenched aristocratic family members.

She had prepared a string of arguments and prepared the posture of a civil official remonstrating unto death, just waiting for Li Ming to perform a show with her of back-and-forth, then through discussion finalize all the punishments.

“Besides the Qin family case, regarding the military provisions matter involved in the Qin family case, your son has also compiled it. The list of related personnel involved has also been presented. I humbly request Your Majesty allow your son to thoroughly investigate.”

After Li Rong finished speaking, she began waiting for Li Ming’s response.

However, after waiting a long while, Li Rong heard Li Ming cough lightly, then say happily, “Well done!”

Speaking thus, Li Ming looked at the ministers beside him. Not mentioning the case at all, he only said, “Look at this. Previously when Zhen wanted to establish the Constabulary Bureau, you blocked it and wouldn’t allow it, saying Pingle was young and couldn’t accomplish anything. Now regarding this case—how was it handled?”

No one in the court spoke. Li Ming laughed coldly. “Zhen thinks it was handled extremely well! Investigated clearly with not a single flaw. Your little pigtails were pulled out one by one. If not for Pingle, Zhen wouldn’t even know you all had such great abilities!”

Hearing Li Ming continuously talking about Constabulary Bureau matters, Li Rong couldn’t help frowning, feeling somewhat uneasy. Seeing no one speak, Li Ming smiled. “So the Constabulary Bureau will be formally established. Princess Pingle will serve as Director of the Constabulary Bureau. Does anyone have objections?”