After a long silence, Emperor Pei slowly said, "I am aware of this matter. Go back and take good care of your injuries. I will have someone investigate."

Pei Zhi dared not say anything more and raised the jade pendant: "Return it to its rightful owner."

Emperor Pei looked at the jade pendant and said after a moment, "Keep it with you, so that I won't have to give it to you when I need you to do something in the future."

Pei Zhi did not refuse, saying, "Thank you, Father Emperor."

After learning that Pei Zhi had entered the palace, the Fourth Prince became increasingly anxious.

Ever since he learned that Pei Zhi was not dead, the Fourth Prince has been worried.

The Fourth Prince never expected that even with over thirty assassins, he couldn't kill Pei Zhi.

The Fourth Prince went to great lengths to save Pei Zhi's life.

He was willing to pay any price; all he wanted was for Pei Zhi to die.

As it turned out, the Emperor's secret guards were actually in Pei Zhi's hands?

"Your Highness need not worry, all the men we sent out are dead, there is no way to verify the facts."

"I know, but what will Father Emperor think?"

It would be fine if Pei Zhi were dead, but Pei Zhi is not dead.

Who knows what Pei Zhi will say to the Emperor when she enters the palace?

"You bunch of good-for-nothings, why didn't any of you tell me beforehand that Father Emperor's secret guards were in Chang Le's hands?"

If the Fourth Prince had known about this earlier, he would definitely have treated Pei Zhi with great courtesy.

The staff were also in a terrible predicament.

How would they know about something like this?

"Your Highness, since His Majesty values ​​the princess, why don't you sue for peace with her?"

Upon hearing this, the fourth prince kicked his advisor to the ground.

The Fourth Prince angrily said, "Chang Le was almost killed by my men, and I went to her door to beg for peace. What, am I offering my face to her to slap?"

He and Pei Zhi were already mortal enemies.

"She may not appear to know, but she knows perfectly well that I did it, and she will definitely retaliate against me severely in the future."

The advisor dismissed the concern, saying, "Your Highness is worrying too much. She's just a princess; what great things could she possibly accomplish?"

"His Majesty entrusted the secret guards to her simply because he believed that she, a woman, could not cause any trouble."

"Even if the princess knew that you sent someone to kill her, what could she do?"

"His Majesty wouldn't kill His Highness for the sake of a princess; at most, he'd just criticize him a bit."

The fourth prince nodded repeatedly, "Yes, I am a prince."

"She's just a princess. Even if she knows it's me, what can she do?"

The fourth prince sneered, "Does she think she can order Father's secret guards to assassinate me?"

"Even if she dared, Father would not allow it."

The aide immediately added, "Your Highness's most important task right now is to perform well before His Majesty and return to officialdom."

The fourth prince asked, "Do you have any good ideas?"

"The hunting season will begin again in the spring. Your Highness should perform well and win first place, so that His Majesty can see your abilities."

After Pei Zhi returned to the manor, Qin Xiangyang immediately came to greet her with a cloak.

"I'm fine."

Qin Xiangyang carefully helped Pei Zhi tie her cloak, saying, "The princess still has a fever, so we need to be careful."

Pei Zhi coughed twice and let Qin Xiangyang help her inside.

How is your injury?

Qin Xiangyang was kicked by the assassin, and the doctor diagnosed that he had suffered some internal injuries.

Qin Xiangyang avoided the topic, saying, "I'm fine."

Pei Zhi understood that Qin Xiangyang was still blaming himself.

“That day, even if it wasn’t you, but Yuan Chengyu or Xie Qi, they couldn’t have done anything.”

Pei Zhi reassured Qin Xiangyang, "Besides, this is part of my plan."

Pei Zhi's only surprise was that she hadn't expected the fourth brother to go to such lengths and send so many people over.

It seems that her fourth brother really hates her to the core.

Despite Pei Zhi's words, Qin Xiangyang still felt guilty.

As a grown man, he had no chance to fight back when his wife was in danger.

Xie Qi appeared carrying a bowl of medicine: "The medicine is ready, Princess, please drink it first."

Xie Qi knew that Pei Zhi was injured, and he had spent most of his time at the princess's residence these past few days.

After Pei Zhi finished drinking the medicine, Yuan Chengyu helped her re-bandage her wound.

The wound, which hadn't fully healed, worsened after Pei Zhi's trip to the palace.

Yuan Chengyu kept a tense expression on his face and moved his hands very gently, as if afraid of hurting Pei Zhi.

"The Xie family has a lot of private soldiers. I'll find a pretext to send them to the princess in a few days."

Pei Zhi asked, "Are you crazy?"

Xie Qi's face turned ashen. "The Fourth Prince has made a mistake once. Who knows if he won't come back stronger?"

Pei Zhi reiterated, "As I said, it's all within my plan."

Yuan Chengyu, who was standing to the side, asked, "Was it all part of the princess's plan to inflict such a serious injury on herself?"

Pei Zhi's injury was part of her plan.

However, Pei Zhi did not intend to suffer such a serious injury.

She was just a mortal, and naturally she was afraid of pain.

Pei Zhi's original plan was to suffer a minor injury, then pretend to be sick so that people would think she was seriously injured.

As a result, they encountered a group of reckless assassins, but there are always unexpected events, aren't there?

Pei Zhi said calmly, "If you want to achieve great things, how can you do it without enduring any hardship?"

Xie Qi: "If the princess wants anything, she should just say so. Why risk her life?"

“Father is not a fool. If you make a move, it will be detrimental to the Xie family.”

The Xie family first reported the Zhong family, and then the Fourth Prince got into trouble.

The Emperor will naturally be wary; if it is discovered that the Xie family is involved, then things will be very troublesome.

"When the time comes to use you, I won't hesitate, but now is not the time."

Yuan Chengyu bandaged Pei Zhi's wounds, saying, "The Fourth Prince has failed this time. I will escort the princess whenever she goes out in the future."

Without even thinking, Pei Zhi retorted, "What would that look like?"

"If people outside see this, who knows what kind of gossip will spread."

Yuan Chengyu stubbornly replied, "I can't care about that anymore; I only care about the princess's safety."

Pei Zhi sighed, but she also knew that her injury had frightened them.

Not to mention them, even Pei Zhi herself almost thought she wouldn't make it through.

He was burning up with fever and was delirious, not even fully conscious.

Pei Zhi was afraid that if she really died, the mission would fail, and that would be troublesome.

Fortunately, she was strong enough to pull through.

"At the hunt in half a month, I will make my fourth brother pay for his crimes in blood."

Yuan Chengyu immediately said, "Whatever the princess wants to do, just leave it to me. The princess should just focus on recovering from her injuries."

Pei Zhi looked at her arm and refused, saying, "I want to avenge this myself."

Xie Qi reminded Pei Zhi, "The princess's wound won't heal in half a month, will it?"

"It's not going to get better, but it's close enough."

Yuan Chengyu looked at Pei Zhi's expression and said, "Princess, you're not planning to put yourself in danger again this time, are you?"

Xie Qi retorted sarcastically, "Does she have any other tricks up her sleeve besides this one?"

Pei Zhi couldn't help but kick Xie Qi, "I'm already injured, so naturally I'm here to take his life."