Chapter 54 Xiao Zhuo: The feeling of closing the net on the prey. ...

Empress Dowager Lu spoke with difficulty: "So, with the rumors of her marriage to Pei Xi spreading like wildfire, does Your Majesty really disregard them all?"

Not long after these words were spoken, a palace servant entered the hall to report that the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel requested an audience with His Majesty.

The Emperor smiled and said, "Lord Pei came to see me now because he sensed what the Empress Dowager had said. The Empress Dowager need not worry, I will explain everything to him naturally."

Long after the emperor left, a buzzing sound still echoed in Empress Dowager Lu's ears. The emperor had left no further explanation regarding his intention to marry a woman from the Yuan family.

Empress Dowager Lu had experienced many ups and downs with the Xiao family in her early years. When the late emperor was alive, she was only the empress in the inner palace, but she did not have much real power in the court. When the late emperor was about to die, the new emperor was more powerful than the late emperor, which made Empress Dowager Lu powerless. She could not intervene in the court even if she wanted to.

The late emperor was particularly indifferent to kinship. Among all his sons, he valued his eldest son the most. From birth, he personally raised him and took him to the military camp for training. As a result, the emperor and Empress Dowager Lu spent little time together and their relationship became distant. In fact, it is said that Empress Dowager Lu is now afraid of her son.

With a loud crash, the sound of the porcelain bowl shattering rang out.

The palace servants inside the hall trembled with fear as they saw the teacups smashed on the floor.

Beneath the heavy curtains, a dark shadow enveloped Empress Dowager Lu's frail figure. She leaned on the edge of the bed, her face full of anger, her eyes fixed on the direction the emperor had left.

**

Xile Palace is a palace complex consisting of palaces and high pavilions. It is magnificent and winding, surrounded by forests and mist. From a distance, it looks like a giant dragon sitting on a high mountain.

When Pei Xi was brought to the high platform, he saw the emperor standing on the edge of the cliff in a moon-white robe. The ground beneath his feet was sheer and shrouded in mist, a position that inevitably made him feel uneasy.

The emperor rested on a rock as tall as a person, toying with an exquisite dagger between his fingers. The tip of the dagger sliced ​​through the silver plate held high by the palace servants, cutting the bloody raw flesh on it into strips. He tossed each strip aside casually.

The leopard, which was crouching to the side, leaped into the air, caught the strip of meat, and swallowed it in large gulps.

Just as Pei Xi had seen in his youth, the king before him was dressed in a magnificent robe, elegant and handsome, and in every gesture, he seemed to still be the noble young master he had been before.

When the golden lion saw people coming, it breathed hot air and circled around them.

Pei Xi lowered his eyes and bowed, then slowly raised his head, "Your Majesty."

"Minister Pei has arrived." The Emperor took the handkerchief and wiped his hands, saying unhurriedly, "Perfect timing, I was just about to summon Minister Pei to speak with me."

The purpose of their meeting today was something both of them knew perfectly well.

Xiao Zhuo continued to feed the leopard strips of meat, saying, "When you were seventeen, your family was held hostage by the previous dynasty. With a do-or-die spirit, you braved mountains of knives and seas of blood to come before me and surrender to me."

"From now on, all matters concerning the provisions and logistics of my three armies will be handled by you, my dear minister. You will make every decision I issue without error and with utmost care. It is my good fortune to have you as my minister."

"Your Majesty flatters me," Pei Xi said with a smile. "The tyrannical Chu was so unruly that Heaven did not grant it a way out, but instead guided me to a wise ruler. In this chaotic world, only the Xiao family can save the people from suffering. I will certainly follow them."

He paused for a moment: "Since I began to follow Your Majesty, I have never harbored any disloyal thoughts."

Xiao Zhuo looked down at the golden lion at his feet and said calmly, "Yes, I have never doubted your loyalty."

Pei Xi said, "I have always devoted myself to repaying Your Majesty's kindness in saving my life and appreciating me, but I never expected that one day Your Majesty would treat me in this way."

Upon hearing this, the Emperor finally lifted his gaze from the golden lion at his feet, a smile playing on his lips: "Minister Pei, you've come for the morning dew?"

Hearing him address Yuan Chaolu so affectionately, Pei Xi's eyes flickered slightly as he replied, "Yes."

The Emperor said, "There is one thing I don't understand, and I hope Minister Pei can enlighten me. When did Chaolu formally agree to a marriage with Minister Pei?"

Pei Xi: "Although no marriage agreement has been made, the court officials are already aware of this marriage. I dare to ask, where does Your Majesty place the law and etiquette in this matter?"

"Ah, etiquette and law, and all the officials know this." The emperor seemed to suddenly realize something, and clapped his hands, saying, "Then Minister Pei, why don't you explain it to me more clearly? What are you two trying to cover up by hastily announcing your marriage?"

The eunuchs serving nearby were so silent that they almost dropped the tray in fear upon hearing Lord Pei's words. Who in the world would dare to question the emperor in this way?

Pei Xi's eyes were like frost, piercing straight at the emperor. "Your Majesty knows that Miss Yuan Er was harassed by Lu Yu and accidentally killed someone. This is all Lu Yu's fault. Why would you use this to coerce me into canceling my marriage with Miss Yuan Er? I am well aware of the serious crime of deceiving the emperor. However, it is to protect Miss Yuan Er and to fulfill her request to get married as soon as possible so as to dispel her unease. My feelings for Miss Yuan Er Er are sincere."

Xiao Zhuo shook his head: "When has Minister Pei ever been so easily moved by emotions? My dear minister is not one to act on emotion. Otherwise, I would not have felt at ease entrusting state affairs to you."

Seeing that Pei Xi was about to speak, Xiao Zhuo raised his hand to silence him and said, "You say that I coerced you into marriage? How dare you tell the heavens that you helped Chao Lu deal with Lu Yu's body that day and took the initiative to propose marriage? You had no intention of repaying kindness with kindness?"

Pei Xi's expression gradually tightened.

Xiao Zhuo said, "Even if you two claim to be in love before getting married, this marriage is not pure. There is an element of you using your weakness to control her. Do you dare to deny that?"

Pei Xi couldn't deny it. When he first offered Yuan Chaolu a helping hand, he made it clear that he wasn't a philanthropist and wouldn't bother with unimportant people. Naturally, he wanted her to exchange something for him, which meant he wanted her to settle the matter with a marriage.

And being a clever woman, she readily agreed.

A strong stench of blood wafted from his feet, and the golden lion chewed on chunks of meat, making a sickeningly loud swallowing sound.

Even tamed birds of prey can suddenly attack and devour people. No matter how cold-hearted Pei Xi is, he cannot remain unmoved when facing such a beast.

The emperor, however, showed no fear. Each time he lowered his hand to feed the leopard chunks of meat, his fingertips were only inches away from its menacing teeth, making one worry that he would be devoured by the leopard's jaws.

Xiao Zhuo raised an eyebrow and said, "The phrase 'mutual affection' has been said by Chaolu to the Prince of Yan, and also to you. You don't understand her. She treats everyone the same way. Her affection for you, my dear minister, is no different from her affection for others. She's just trying to make you happy. My dear minister, you've always been as steadfast as iron. Would you tolerate such a willful and reckless woman as your wife?"

Pei Xi looked at the man in front of him and saw the sea of ​​clouds surging behind the emperor, with dragon-like mist swirling around his robes, as if the entire country was prostrate beneath his robes.

"I do not believe that Your Majesty would tolerate Miss Yuan's personality."

The emperor's face remained calm and composed, a gentle smile playing on his lips. Only when the leopard tore at the meat and blood splattered onto his brocade boots did he furrow his brow, place the dagger on the tray, and signal the palace servants to take the golden lion away.

"At least for now, I can tolerate her; we can deal with the rest later. I have something to tell you."

The emperor's gaze was extremely light, like a mountain breeze. "At the end of the tyrannical Chu dynasty, heroes rose up one after another, and warlords carved up the land. How many independent lords were there on this land? It was a place where dragons and tigers reigned supreme, but in the end, only I survived."

“I have plenty of ministers like Minister Pei under my command, and I have never lacked outstanding individuals. Your success today is solely due to my appreciation. Even without Minister Pei, there would be others to carry out my orders.”

His voice was calm, yet it was as sharp as a cold blade, each word piercing the heart.

"Only I, the emperor, have bestowed upon you such glory and wealth. Everything you have is in my hands."

A monarch who emerges from a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​bones, with unparalleled wisdom and the submission of all under heaven, naturally has the confidence to say such things.

Pei Xi lowered his eyelids and uttered a very soft "yes" from his throat, clearly a gesture of submission, but his straight back revealed what seemed to be extreme resentment in his heart.

The next moment, the emperor raised his hand and patted his shoulder, saying gently, "But Minister Pei is the sword I am most comfortable with. Although others may be able to hold the position of Minister, they cannot do it better. Minister Pei holds a very special place in my heart."

The Emperor smiled gently: "You are now the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, below the Minister of Personnel, just one step away from him. The Minister of Personnel is getting old and will soon request to retire. I will reserve this position for you."

“All along, I have only considered you, my dear minister.” He tightened his grip, then released it.

"The matter of Lu Yu has been put behind us. I'm sure you'll know what to do in the future."

Pei Xi rarely saw the emperor lay out so much groundwork beforehand, first praising and then admonishing him, then giving him an official position, all for the sake of the final sentence, telling him to completely give up on this marriage.

The phrase "Pei Qing will know his place in the future" was also a subtle warning that everything he had came from the emperor, and that after today, he should let bygones be bygones. Even if the marriage with Yuan Chaolu did not go through, he should not harbor any resentment towards Yuan Chaolu.

The emperor was telling himself that the person behind the Yuan dynasty was the emperor.

Pei Xi lifted his brocade robe and knelt down: "Your Majesty, I thank you."

The emperor waved his hand: "You may leave."

Pei Xi rose to take his leave, but after taking a step, he turned back and said, "Your Majesty has always had a heart ailment. Physical ailments can be cured, but heart ailments are difficult to cure. Outsiders think Your Majesty is indifferent to matters of love and sex, but I know that Your Majesty finds it difficult to trust people because of your heart ailment. Now, however, you are interested in Miss Yuan. Has she become so important and irreplaceable to Your Majesty?"

"No. As far as I am concerned, no one is indispensable," Xiao Zhuo said calmly.

"Then Your Majesty..."

“But at least for now, she is somewhat different in my heart than others—” Xiao Zhuo drew out the last syllable, “not at all.”

After everyone left, Xiao Zhuo looked back at the verdant mountains and raised his hand to feel the free mountain breeze passing through his fingers.

The mountain mist billowed up his sleeves, but when he clenched his fist, the mist scattered, and he couldn't hold onto anything.

Like the morning dew, once the sun shines on it, it evaporates into mist, turns into shimmering light, and disappears without a trace.

“Yuan Chaolu.” He murmured the name.

Now it's clear that everything was his doing: from initially arranging to meet her in the forest, deliberately bringing the Heavenly Horse, arranging for Pei Xi to bump into her in the forest and arouse suspicion, he foresaw that he would drag the Prince of Yan into the scheme, then Xiao Zhuo meeting Yuan Chaolu in his unusual scarlet robes, deliberately letting the Prince of Yan's people see him, making him suspicious, but he couldn't guess it was him, until finally, the Prince of Yan discovered his relationship with Yuan Chaolu, and only the Prince of Yan was so reckless, had the ability to command soldiers, would attract a crowd, and make things an unbearable situation.

It's just an easy, simple layout.

The feeling of finally bringing the prey into the net is truly subtle.

Xiao Zhuo smiled and let go, the mist dissipating between his fingers.

**

The further down the mountain you go, the thinner the mountain fog becomes.

Pei Xi walked slowly down the verdant mountain path, and when he reached the halfway point, he saw his younger sister, Pei Lan, already waiting for him.

Pei Lan stepped forward, and the first thing she did was to ask him how he was doing.

"Did His Majesty say anything to my brother?" Her eyes were full of concern. "Yuan Chaolu treated my brother like this. I will definitely demand an explanation from her."

Pei Xi reached out and pulled Pei Lan back, "No need."

"There's no need to stand up for my brother, nor to make things difficult for Yuan Chaolu," Pei Xi said softly. "Let it be."

Pei Lan wanted to retort, but saw that her brother's expression was calm, and there was even a faint smile on his lips, as if he really didn't care.

She said, "My brother proposed this marriage to our father and mother in a very hasty manner. Although the family had some concerns, they agreed because they saw how serious my brother was. Who would have thought it would turn out like this?"

She paused, her voice soft, "There's just too much gossip going on outside these days. I feel sorry for my brother."

Pei Xi descended the mountain with her: "I have never suffered any injustice. Since you are aware of the gossip, you need not worry about those external disturbances."

Most importantly, the seal of the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat was firmly in his grasp, and he also possessed a secret that could shake the entire court—

When Lu Changli was sent to Jiangnan by the emperor, he married a woman and later cruelly killed her. His wife was the eldest daughter of the Yuan family and the older sister of Yuan Chaolu.

Pei Xi had overheard Lu Yu and Yuan Chaolu's conversation, but never told anyone, including Lu Changli.

Pei Lan, standing beside him, asked, "Brother, are you really willing to give up on Yuan Chaolu?"

Willing to leave...

Pei Xi concealed all the emotions in his eyes, his tone as calm as a deep pool: "Saying these things is no longer important."

He looked down from the mountainside, where mist swirled around the mountain path, paving a road to the clouds for him.

"My sister is so sincere in defending me, and outsiders are also sighing about this marriage, feeling that I am wronged and pitiful."

He recalled his conversation with Yuan Chaolu on the hillside that day, in which he coldly advised her to turn back before it was too late, and to pretend that her affair with the emperor had not happened, revealing his willingness to go against the emperor for her sake.

Her eyes were wide with surprise at his words.

Pei Xi said, "What's more, about her."