In the silence, only the sound of flowing water from the artificial hill in the distance could be heard.

Pei Zhixuan couldn't help but look back at Shen Yunjiao.

Today she wore a light green pleated skirt, a pink hairpin, and a blue jade earring.

The dappled sunlight from the summer leaves fell on her fair skin, creating ripples on her skin.

Pei Zhixuan had never understood why his classmates could remember what jewelry their wives wore and what clothes they liked to wear.

It was only then that he realized, in a daze, that falling deeply in love with someone meant being so deeply in love that he wanted to remember even the smallest strand of her hair.

The person I was before, who disdained love and only wanted to establish a foothold in the officialdom, was utterly foolish.

"I'm curious, don't you feel sorry for Fang Ziyu for doing this? She treated you with all her heart." Shen Yunjiao raised her eyes and looked at him coldly. "Pei Zhixuan, do you know that you are actually heartless and ungrateful by nature? When I was following you around, you trampled my sincerity under your feet. When you finally got to live happily ever after with Fang Ziyu, you wanted to go back to your old flame."

"You are the kind of man who disgusts me."

Shen Yunjiao's words stung Pei Zhixuan.

His chest heaved with blood and qi, and his throat tasted metallic. Just as he was about to explain, a gush of blood suddenly welled up uncontrollably from his throat.

Even so, he still tried to explain, "No, Shen Yunjiao, listen to me."

When Shen Yunjiao saw the man in front of her, who had been perfectly normal, suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood, she was completely terrified.

Really?

She made him vomit blood?

"Miss, the nanny is preparing chrysanthemums—ah!" Fu Xia cried out in fright at the sight before her, "Young Master, Young Master, why are you vomiting blood?"

"Fu Xia, quickly bring the medicine box from the storeroom." Shen Yunjiao turned around and instructed Fu Xia.

She guessed that Pei Zhixuan probably hadn't fully recovered from the knife wound Shen Yunmo had inflicted on her last time.

Why.

When it's time to save someone, they still need to be saved.

Not to mention that Pei Zhixuan was injured for his own sake.

"You, you come to my room quickly, let me take another look at the wound on your back," Shen Yunjiao urged, her brows slightly furrowed.

But as she turned around, Pei Zhixuan suddenly reached out and grabbed her sleeve.

At this moment, blood slowly trickled from the corner of his mouth, adding an unexpected touch of sorrow.

"Yun Jiao, I am not a heartless person."

"On the day I returned to the Pei family, when you bickered with me and deliberately made me angry, I had already unknowingly fallen for you."

"From beginning to end, I never liked Fang Ziyu, nor did I ever touch her. I only felt gratitude towards her."

"The only one I love is you."

After saying these words, Pei Zhixuan did not follow Shen Yunjiao into the room.

Instead, he took a large step back, a hint of sadness on his handsome, jade-like face. He forced a smile and said, "I won't bother you any longer; I should go."

Pei Zhixuan thought that Shen Yunjiao must be tired of hearing these words.

He never imagined that one day he would become so humble.

Like a lost soul, stubbornly waiting for their partner to change their mind.

No matter how humble Pei Zhixuan was, he was unwilling to use his injuries to gain even a shred of pity from Shen Yunjiao.

"Take good care of yourself."

After struggling to finish speaking, Pei Zhixuan smiled forlornly, staggered around, and left Shen Yunjiao with a lonely silhouette.

\"etc.\"

Shen Yunjiao pressed her temples, giving him a helpless look. "You vomited blood here. What if you faint outside the manor? Do you want people outside to think the Shen manor is some kind of dangerous place?"

"Why don't you come inside with me and take a look?"

In the end, Shen Yunjiao still brought Pei Zhixuan into the room.

A moment later, Fu Xia came in carrying a gilded sandalwood box.

Shen Yunjiao took the first-aid kit, gestured with her chin to Pei Zhixuan, and said, "Sit down."

Pei Zhixuan lowered his eyes, obediently pulled out the rattan and rosewood chair, and sat down in front of Shen Yunjiao.

"Take off half of your shirt so I can see how the wound is," Shen Yunjiao said without any change in tone.

But Pei Zhixuan hesitated.

He was afraid that the mottled wounds covering his body would frighten the person in front of him.

"Pei Zhixuan."

Shen Yunjiao's tone became somewhat impatient.

Pei Zhixuan then slowly untied his robe and belt, revealing dozens of long and deep whip marks.

In addition, there was a wound on his back that had not yet healed.

The entire back looks like a colorful palette.

Shen Yunjiao's hand holding the cotton ball trembled instantly, and her expression darkened. "Where did you get all these injuries?"

Pei Zhixuan lowered his head and remained silent for a long while before answering, "When the Crown Prince suffered misfortune, I pleaded for him before the Emperor, but His Majesty considered it a great disrespect. In a fit of anger, His Majesty punished me with fifty lashes."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yunjiao paused slightly in her movements. She said softly, "You are Xiao, you are someone close to His Highness the Crown Prince. If you plead for him at this critical juncture, His Majesty will naturally be furious."

"I know," Pei Zhixuan replied, a glint in his eyes, "but I must speak out for him."

The nation's fortunes declined, and the monarch became incompetent.

Dayong was already in dire straits, and now it faces both internal and external troubles.

Emperor Zhaowu now only listens to the slander of Consort Shu and the eunuch Gao Renji'an, and is only interested in getting rid of the crown prince to preserve his throne.

But the Crown Prince is the only hope to save Dayong.

Pei Zhixuan had already made up his mind to follow the Crown Prince.

That's why he risked being dismissed from his post to plead for the crown prince.

“Yun Jiao, although Prime Minister Shen is currently favored by His Majesty, nothing lasts forever. His Majesty is currently muddle-headed, so who can guarantee that he will treat Minister Shen as warmly as he does now in the future?”

"Furthermore, Lord Shen's close association with Consort Shu's faction is not a good thing. Consort Shu's ambition is growing, and what if she suddenly develops a desire to seize power?"

Pei Zhixuan subtly reminded Shen Yunjiao that he knew she might not listen to what he was saying.

But he couldn't rest easy if he didn't say the truth about the saying "when the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked."

Unexpectedly, Shen Yunjiao did not refute him righteously. Instead, she nodded and said, "Father is not the kind of person who cannot distinguish right from wrong. I know he will not help the wicked. I will definitely talk to him properly."

According to Shen Yunjiao, Shen Zhizhang once plotted to kill the Crown Prince in the book, but he failed. Later, when Pei Zhixuan was purging the Shen family, he asked Shen Zhizhang why he had tried to kill the Crown Prince.

Shen Zhizhang's reply was, "Because you are a member of the Crown Prince's faction, if I don't kill the Crown Prince, you will always have a powerful backer."

In other words, Shen Zhizhang plotted to kill the crown prince in order to prevent himself from being bullied by Pei Zhixuan.

Now that she and Pei Zhixuan have divorced and have no further connection, Shen Zhizhang naturally has no reason to harm the Crown Prince.