After Su Rongqing spoke, Li Ming completely set his mind at ease. He nodded: “Since Vice Minister Su also says so, then let Vice Minister Pei handle this case. Draft the decree.”
After Li Ming finished speaking, he had someone draft a decree summoning Pei Liming to investigate the case.
With the investigator decided, Xie Lanqing’s expression was extremely poor. Li Ming waved his hand: “Take him down.”
Only then did Xie Lanqing finally react. He threw himself at Li Ming’s feet, saying urgently: “Your Majesty, this old minister is wronged! Your Majesty, someone must be manipulating things behind the scenes. Bring the clear water over—test again! Test again!”
“Drag him out.”
Li Ming waved his hand. Guards from both sides rushed in and dragged Xie Lanqing out.
Xie Lanqing wailed and struggled all the way, showing no sign of his earlier serious injury.
After Xie Lanqing was dragged out, Lin Feibai still stood dazedly in place, staring at that bowl of water mixed with blood droplets. When guards came forward to pull him, he finally came to his senses. With a shake of his arm, he turned and strode out: “I’ll walk myself.”
After Lin Feibai left, Li Ming seemed somewhat tired. He waved his hand: “I’m somewhat weary. You may all leave. Pei Wenxuan, stay—I have a few matters to entrust.”
Having received these words, everyone bowed respectfully and departed one after another.
Li Rong followed the crowd out. She wiped her tears, eyes red, withdrawing to the corridor outside the imperial study before stopping.
Shangguan Ya walked to Li Rong’s side and inquired: “Your Highness is waiting for the Prince Consort?”
“Yes.” Li Rong sniffled, seeming to have just recovered her emotions. Shangguan Ya sighed: “Your Highness keeps so many grievances in your heart without speaking of them. Watching truly pains this subordinate. In the future, Your Highness should confide more in this subordinate and not shoulder everything alone like this.”
“You’re right.” Li Rong smiled. “You may go back first.”
Shangguan Ya nodded gracefully. Glancing at the people still talking nearby and thinking there were too many loose lips, she finally bowed and withdrew.
After the surrounding crowd finished talking and mostly dispersed, Li Rong felt cold wind brush against her face. She slowly composed her expression, standing in the corridor, quietly gazing at the courtyard.
Before long, someone came to stand beside her. Li Rong said nothing, nor did the other person speak. After a long while, Su Rongqing’s voice slowly sounded: “Your Highness’s actions today greatly exceeded this humble minister’s expectations.”
“Minister Su’s actions today also exceeded my expectations.”
“What did Your Highness think I wouldn’t do?”
Su Rongqing’s distance from her was neither far nor near—exactly the length of a forearm, seemingly the habitual distance he used to maintain with her in the past.
Li Rong noticed this distance and felt somewhat dazed. She collected herself and said flatly: “I thought Minister Su wouldn’t yield on Xie Lanqing’s case.”
“He assassinated Your Highness,” Su Rongqing said mildly. “This humble minister wouldn’t cover for him.”
Li Rong responded lightly. After a long while, Su Rongqing spoke again: “Your Highness, why did you establish the Constabulary Bureau?”
“For nation, for people, for heavenly principles and justice.” Li Rong’s reply was flat, and because it came too quickly, it showed a touch of casualness. In the courtyard beside them, bare branches in the wind seemed to have condensed frost. Su Rongqing quietly gazed at the ice and snow on the branches, saying quietly: “Your Highness, has opposing aristocratic families already become the heavenly principles and justice in your heart?”
Li Rong paused at these words. Su Rongqing lowered his eyes, his voice steady: “Though there are parasites among aristocratic families, they are also Great Xia’s foundation. When water is too clear, there are no fish. For the sake of a few parasites, to shake Great Xia’s foundation—if war erupts again and storms rage, where will Your Highness’s nation, people, heavenly principles, and justice exist?”
Li Rong looked at the courtyard without speaking. Su Rongqing turned to look at Li Rong: “Your Highness, after marrying Pei Wenxuan, have you been well?”
“Naturally I’ve been well.”
Li Rong smiled: “The Prince Consort is a very good person.”
“That’s good then.”
Su Rongqing gazed at Li Rong, saying gently: “When Your Highness married, I had a small wish. I hoped Your Highness’s feelings wouldn’t involve power and position, that they could be pure and clean, leaving Your Highness with no regrets.”
Hearing this, Li Rong turned back in surprise. At that moment, Pei Wenxuan’s voice bidding farewell to a servant came from the entrance.
“Thank you for seeing me off, Eunuch Fu. I’ll return now.”
“Prince Consort, take care.”
After Pei Wenxuan finished speaking, his footsteps gradually approached. Li Rong stared blankly at Su Rongqing. Su Rongqing turned his head, only saying: “Hearing Your Highness is doing well puts this humble minister’s mind at ease. Su Lin will submit a memorial tomorrow requesting to retire to his hometown. In the future, may Your Highness deliberate more carefully before acting.”
Having said this, before Pei Wenxuan arrived, Su Rongqing bowed respectfully, turned, and withdrew.
Pei Wenxuan saw Li Rong watching Su Rongqing leave. His footsteps paused for a moment before he stepped forward to Li Rong’s side, hands tucked in his sleeves, leaning his head over with a smile: “Oh my, watching quite intently.”
“Father Emperor finished speaking with you?”
Li Rong turned to look at him, withdrawing her gaze with a smile: “What did he say?”
“Then what did Your Highness and Minister Su just discuss?”
Pei Wenxuan walked to Li Rong’s side, saying leisurely: “I saw Your Highness seemed quite moved. Were you touched by something?”
“You’re not wrong,” Li Rong nodded, her fan lightly tapping her palm as she sighed, speaking with considerable emotion: “He truly told me something very important that deeply moved my heart. I couldn’t help but develop some additional thoughts about him as a person.”
“You don’t already have enough thoughts about him?”
Pei Wenxuan laughed coldly: “How much more? Just put him at the tip of your heart—though that would be hard on Minister Su.”
“Putting him at the tip of my heart—how would that make things hard for him?” Li Rong raised her eyebrows.
Pei Wenxuan shook his head and sighed, seemingly sympathetic: “The space at the tip of your heart is so small. To stand there, he’d probably have to do a golden rooster stand—when the left leg gets tired, switch to the right leg; when the right leg gets tired, switch to the left. Don’t you think Minister Su would be exhausted?”
Li Rong almost laughed aloud at these words, but she still suppressed her smile, saying slowly: “Then that’s truly too exhausting. Such tiring work—it seems Minister Pei couldn’t handle it. Better leave it to someone else.”
“Your words err greatly,” Pei Wenxuan immediately said. “Your Highness doesn’t understand me. The golden rooster stand is my unique skill. If Your Highness is willing, I could stand on one leg at the tip of Your Highness’s heart for a lifetime.”
Hearing this, Li Rong truly couldn’t hold back and laughed aloud. Pei Wenxuan had no heart for continued banter, only saying: “What did Su Rongqing tell you?”
“He said Su Lin will request to retire to his hometown tomorrow.”
“What does he mean by that?” Pei Wenxuan frowned. Li Rong tapped her fan against her palm, saying slowly: “Probably showing goodwill toward me, wanting me to trust their own handling methods. He told me that aristocratic families are Great Xia’s foundation and cannot be recklessly disturbed—that stability is more important than pursuing absolute justice.”
Pei Wenxuan said nothing. Li Rong turned to look at him: “What did Father Emperor say?”
“He asked me about the specific circumstances of the assassination matter, and about my uncle’s actual capabilities.”
Li Rong nodded: “After Vice Minister Pei takes over Xie Lanqing’s case, once it concludes, he should naturally succeed to the Ministry of Justice. At that time, our work will become much more convenient.”
Pei Wenxuan acknowledged. Li Rong walked along the corridor. Seeing her remain silent for a long time, Pei Wenxuan couldn’t help but ask: “What is Your Highness still thinking about?”
“I’m thinking,” Li Rong raised her eyes. “Don’t you think Su Rongqing is somewhat too strange?”
“Where does Your Highness find him strange?”
“At the beginning of this life, he told me he wanted to privately pledge support to the Crown Prince. But the Su family has always remained neutral. His desire to use me to pledge support to the Crown Prince was somewhat reckless.”
“Perhaps because he’s still young,” Pei Wenxuan said flatly. “He believed that Su Ronghua being designated as Prince Su’s teacher affected the Su family’s neutral position, so he decided to use this to balance the Su family’s stance?”
“But he never did this in the previous life.”
“Or perhaps he did, and you didn’t know?” Pei Wenxuan said slowly. “After all, after His Highness the Crown Prince was deposed, the Su family was first to turn against him, wasn’t it?”
Li Rong’s fan lightly tapped her palm. She continued: “Then his current actions…”
“His assistance to the Crown Prince stems primarily from the Crown Prince being the legitimate son of the Empress. And now that the Constabulary Bureau has violated the interests of multiple families, he naturally won’t support it.”
Li Rong said nothing. Pei Wenxuan continued: “And his discussion of marriage with you at Northern Swallow Tower was simply because he discovered marriage’s influence on you. You married someone from a humble family and established the Constabulary Bureau. With the Bureau in your hands and you unwilling to relinquish it, aristocratic families face two choices: expel you from the capital, or keep this hidden danger.”
“Expelling you from the capital would inevitably breed resentment in the Crown Prince. The Su family’s position is most likely to avoid disrupting the current situation, hoping the Crown Prince and aristocratic families work together harmoniously, not giving Consort Rou any opportunity. But keeping you while you control the Constabulary Bureau restricts aristocratic families too greatly. The only solution—marry you when you’re in crisis.”
“Your Highness is a princess, but Your Highness is, after all, a woman.”
Pei Wenxuan raised his eyes to look at Li Rong: “To outsiders, Your Highness is sovereign. But if you had a husband, if the husband didn’t protect you, the so-called principles of yin-yang and the husband-wife relationship could crush Your Highness.”
Li Rong remained silent. After a long while, she smiled bitterly: “Putting it that way, Su Rongqing’s thoughts are truly somewhat disgusting.”
“This is the Su family’s thinking, which is why the Su family was willing to risk suspicion and allow him to marry Your Highness.” Pei Wenxuan’s voice was flat. “But he himself is different.”
Li Rong turned to look at Pei Wenxuan. Pei Wenxuan’s expression showed neither joy nor anger. Li Rong couldn’t help but ask: “Then what does he think?”
“What he thinks,” Pei Wenxuan turned to look at Li Rong, “doesn’t Your Highness know?”
Receiving these words, Li Rong laughed lightly: “I don’t know.”
“I may think too highly of myself,” Li Rong turned away, walking ahead as she spoke slowly. “I often feel in certain moments that the person likes me. Then I become anxious, my heart stirs. Sometimes I even think through how to refuse, and sometimes without planning to refuse, when the other party delays action, I take initiative once or twice, only to finally discover I truly was overthinking.”
“So many times, I just don’t know anymore whether what I thought was real or false.”
Pei Wenxuan watched Li Rong’s back as she walked ahead. He looked calmly for a long time before slowly saying: “What Your Highness sensed was all real.”
Li Rong stopped. She turned to look at Pei Wenxuan. Pei Wenxuan smiled slightly: “It’s just that the person responding to Your Highness told lies. Some lies were because he himself didn’t know his own heart, while other lies were because he couldn’t respond to Your Highness’s feelings.”
Li Rong quietly gazed at Pei Wenxuan. After a long while, she smiled: “You dislike him so much—why do you keep speaking for him?”
“I do dislike him, but I also can’t slander him because of that.”
As Pei Wenxuan spoke, he couldn’t help but sigh: “Actually, sometimes I find it regrettable that only you and I returned.”
“Otherwise?”
Li Rong raised her eyebrows, somewhat curious: “What would you want?”
“If he truly returned,” a trace of coldness flashed in Pei Wenxuan’s eyes, “settling grudges and grievances would depend on each person’s methods. But unfortunately, what we face now is a young pup.” Pei Wenxuan sounded somewhat regretful. “Competing with him would lower my status.”
“How regrettable.”