Jia Ling's face suddenly turned pale, and he glanced at Pei Xiao stiffly with the rest of his eyes.

His little movement was caught by Emperor Zhou, who frowned but said nothing else.

Jia Ling was disheartened, and he knew that even if he refused to plead guilty, this matter would not end well. If he continued to investigate, and if Pei Xiao was implicated and Pei Xiao fell, his Chongyuan Marquisate would not have a good end. Jia Ling now only regretted his recklessness and greed, and for his own selfishness, he had implicated the entire family.

He now had only two choices, either to give Pei Xiao away and ask the emperor for leniency. Or to take all the blame himself.

Pei Xiao acted secretly, and even if he chose the former, it would be difficult to find other testimony, and he would lose Pei Xiao's support instead.

Jia Ling closed his eyes. The best way for him now was to take all the blame, deny it to death, and save Pei Xiao, hoping that he could save the Chongyuan Marquisate. At least the family wouldn't be destroyed.

"I know my crime!" Jia Ling fell to the ground, took off his hat and put it aside, crying, "It was because I was confused for a moment that I accepted money from the bandits on Matou Mountain, which revealed the whereabouts of the emperor. The bandits are the remnants of the previous dynasty, "I thought they were just a bunch of stubborn people who didn't have the courage and ability to attack your majesty's parade, so I was obsessed with it, betrayed your majesty's trust, and put your majesty in danger!"

The sound of Jia Ling's forehead hitting the ground could be heard in the room. He cried, "I am the only one who knows about this matter. All the blame is borne by me alone. It has nothing to do with my parents, brothers, and female relatives. Your majesty, please forgive them for the sake of the Jia family's century-old ministers!"

Ji Xiangzhen was nervous and turned his head away without looking at him.

Emperor Zhou asked, "It has nothing to do with your family, and it has nothing to do with others?"

Jia Ling said, "It was all done by me alone. Your majesty, please understand!"

Emperor Zhou let out a long "Oh".

Bao Ning nervously grasped the cloth on her legs. She felt that Emperor Zhou had understood something, but he just didn't say it. Bao Ning secretly glanced at Pei Yuan again. He was looking straight ahead, with a calm expression on his face, as if he had expected it.

There was silence in the room for a moment, and then Pei Xiao pounded the ground and cried loudly: "General Tao died so innocently!"

His face was pale, and he cried only once, then he leaned back and fainted. The wound burst open, and blood splattered on the ground. Bao Ning shuddered when she heard his body fall to the brick floor with a thud. Pei Yuan patted her back soothingly, "Don't look."

The prince fainted. The chief eunuch Jiang Yan hurriedly screamed, "Call the doctor, call the doctor!"

Emperor Zhou sat there without moving. He watched the servants hurriedly help Pei Xiao out and said lightly, "Minister Lin from the Ministry of Justice will be here soon. Take Jia Ling away and hand him over to the Ministry of Justice for trial. That's it for today. I'm tired too. Let's all go." Everyone

left one after another.

Bao Ning walked out of the door. She watched several soldiers tie Jia Ling's hands behind his back, wrap a thick rope around him several times, and roughly push him out. Jia Ling's face was pale, and there was no trace of the high spirits he had when he last saw him. Baoning felt sad. She asked Ji Xiangzhen, "Sister, what are you going to do with Xue Fu?"

"I am no longer a member of the Jia family. When I go back today, I will move back to the Duke's Mansion." Ji Xiangzhen said, "Lady Jia can do whatever she wants with Xue Fu. It has nothing to do with me."

After she finished speaking, she smiled faintly at Baoning, "Baoning, sister really wants to thank you. If it weren't for you, sister's end would be very miserable."

Ji Xiangzhen was in a bad mood, and Baoning could see it. She pulled her hand, wanting to comfort her, but she didn't know how to start, and looked at Pei Yuan for help.

Pei Yuan didn't know what to say. He pondered for a while and asked, "Sister, do you want to rest here for a while, or go back now? I'll prepare a carriage for you."

Baoning glared at him secretly. Pei Yuan was really useless. He was asked to say a few nice words but ended up chasing the guests away.

Ji Xiangzhen didn't care: "Thank you, Fourth Prince. I brought a carriage. You can go by yourself."

She bowed again and said, "I also want to congratulate the Fourth Prince. You got what you wanted. You can turn things around in the future and it will be a new world."

Pei Yuan said, "I will find a chance to advise the emperor and choose a good marriage for my elder sister."

Ji Xiangzhen suddenly remembered what Baoning said to her in Ruyi Tower that day. She laughed and said, "Baoning told me that one marriage is better than the other. I'm sorry to trouble the Fourth Prince."

Pei Yuan was stunned. He repeated, "One marriage is better than the other." He tilted his head and asked Baoning, "What do you mean?"

Baoning was extremely embarrassed. She frowned and avoided the topic. She said to Ji Xiangzhen, "Eldest sister, let me take you there!"

"Why are you hiding?" Pei Yuan pulled her arm, his face not looking good, "It's definitely not a good thing, explain it to me."

Ji Xiangzhen saw their situation and knew that he had said something wrong, so he quickly said goodbye and left in a hurry.

Bao Ning explained: "Why is it not a good thing? I didn't curse anyone."

"You don't need to tell me, I guessed it, I've also been educated." Pei Yuan grabbed Bao Ning's wrist, stared at her and asked, "Does it mean that the one you marry after the divorce is better than the previous one? Where did you hear that, who taught you? Or did you figure it out yourself?"

Bao Ning was anxious: "I was comforting my elder sister at the time, telling her that Jia Ling was not good, leave this one, the next one is better. I just thought of this sentence suddenly, and said it out."

"Everything you say is the truth." Pei Yuan pressed, "Have you been thinking about the next one for a long time? Who is it? Who do you like? Don't tell me that it's a sudden inspiration. If you don't think about it normally, how can you suddenly say it? I don't believe it. By the way, you still kept the divorce letter. Last time you ran away from home, you took it out to threaten me. Why did you keep that thing? Do you have something to hide? No, where did you hide it? Take it out quickly, I want to burn it!"

Bao Ning stepped on him, too lazy to pay attention to him, and turned to leave: "You speak so fast, aren't you afraid of biting your tongue? I don't want to listen to your nagging, it's really annoying."

"You feel guilty!" Pei Yuan pulled her belt, "Why are you running? You feel guilty!"

Bao Ning said, "I just feel lazy to look at you!"

"We've been married for only half a year, and you're too lazy to look at me?" Pei Yuan hissed, "What are you doing?"

Bao Ning said, "I'm going to the kitchen to look for Uncle Zhang."

Pei Yuan asked, "Aren't you too lazy to look at him? He's over 50 years old, and his face is as wrinkled as stale skin. Why are you looking for him? Don't you feel bitter in your mouth when you look at his face?"

Bao Ning pushed him away and walked hurriedly to the yard, "Why is it bitter?"

Pei Yuan followed her closely and answered, "It smells like stale skin!"

"I asked him for a clay pot so I could boil some medicine. This morning, the pot fell to the ground and broke into pieces." Bao Ning turned to look at him, "Didn't you just vomit blood? You looked so gloomy in the room just now, but now you're full of energy again, like a jumping monkey!"

"Yes, I'm still sick, and you're making me angry." Pei Yuan suddenly showed a look of pain on his face. He stopped his feet, put his hand on his chest and touched it, and said to Bao Ning: "My heart beats much faster."

Bao Ning raised her hand and touched her face, and imitated him, staring with wide eyes and said: "Oh my God, why is my face so red and hot? I feel the blood in my chest surging, I'm going to be angry to death!"

Pei Yuan looked at her face: "It's not red, it's still white, Is it because you put on too much powder that you can't tell?"

Baoning looked at him fiercely: "I'm white to begin with."

Pei Yuan looked at her meaningfully, and glanced down: "Yes, a big white bun."

Baoning reacted and quickly covered her chest: "Lecher!"

Pei Yuan said: "Hey!"

They were walking on the road, and there were people passing by here and there. Seeing them arguing, they all hid far away and took a sneak peek.

Bao Ning was shy and was angry just now, so he didn't pay attention. Now he felt embarrassed and dragged Pei Yuan to the courtyard in a hurry: "Stop talking, we are making fun of each other!"

Pei Yuan asked: "Who dares to laugh at me?"

Bao Ning said: "You are drunk! Why are you talking nonsense all the way? Come into the house!"

Pei Yuan said: "If you beg me, I will go in."

"..." Bao Ning went straight into the kitchen, "If you don't want to go in, just sit outside."

Seeing that she rolled up her sleeves, washed her hands, and then scooped flour from the flour jar, she didn't mean to talk to him anymore. Pei Yuan touched his nose and stepped into the door by himself. He was actually still a little weak, having been toiling for so long, he was already exhausted, but after a few words with Bao Ning, he saw that she was so angry that her face turned red and she wanted to scold him, but she was too embarrassed to do so. He also felt that she was too cute and lovable, so he wanted to tease her. It was very relaxing.

Pei Yuan asked, "What do you want to eat?"

Bao Ning said, "Yangchun noodles, with clear soup and water. You can eat it."

"Add a soft-boiled egg."

Bao Ning pointed to the corner of the wall and said, "The basket is over there. Take as many as you want."

Pei Yuan squatted down to pick a few and asked in disgust, "Why is there shit and grass on it?" Bao

Ning was kneading the dough and rolling the dough. She didn't want to pay attention to Pei Yuan, but she was afraid that he would not give up. She said helplessly, "It's a fresh egg from a chicken's butt."

Pei Yuan laughed when he heard it. Bao Ning glared at him and he stopped talking. Sitting on a small stool, with his elbows on his knees, he watched her busy.

The fire in the stove started, and the smell of burning firewood filled the whole room.

Bao Ning worked very quickly. In a quarter of an hour, the noodles were rolled out and the water was boiling, ready to be put into the pot. She stared at the bubbling water and turned to ask Pei Yuan: "Do you think Pei Xiao will be punished?"

"Yes." Pei Yuan nodded, "But it's hard to bring him down with this." Bao

Ning said "Oh" and didn't ask why. She grabbed the noodles into the pot and stirred them gently.

Pei Yuan said: "We should move again."

Bao Ning paused, she was silent for a long time, and forgot to stir the noodles, just standing there in a daze.

"What are you doing?" Pei Yuan reminded her, "They are going to stick together, move quickly."

Bao Ning came to her senses and was about to move when she heard footsteps outside. The two looked up and saw that it was Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan stood at the door and looked at them in surprise. He did not expect that the Fourth Prince and his wife would be so simple and approachable, and could even cook their own meals. And the two dogs running around in the yard were simply... hard to describe, they did not look like a prince anyway, but surprisingly made people feel very friendly.

He quickly put away the expression on his face, bowed and saluted, and said to Pei Yuan: "This old servant is here to convey the words of His Majesty."

Pei Yuan stood up, and Jiang Yan said: "Just a few words, no need to salute."

He cleared his throat: "His Majesty said that the Fourth Prince has made great contributions in protecting the emperor this time, and the title of King of Jibei will be restored. He will choose a day to move back to the palace, and all treatment will be the same as before. Now it is an oral order, and the imperial edict will be issued after returning to the palace. As for when he is willing to go back, it depends on the Fourth Prince's mood. His Majesty also said that he has not seen the Fourth Prince for a long time. , I hope to visit the palace more often when I am free in the future and see more of her."

Jiang Yan glanced at Baoning again and said, "His Majesty also said that the name of the Fourth Prince's wife has not been written into the jade disc yet. The jade disc will be repaired soon and it needs to be written in. The Fourth Prince's wife's dress also needs to be prepared quickly. Someone will come to the mansion to measure her in a few days. In addition, the Empress Dowager needs to be seen as well, but the Empress Dowager has not been in good health recently, so she needs to wait a while."

Speaking of the Empress, Pei Yuan's brows wrinkled slightly, and then relaxed again.

Jiang Yan said, "Also, His Majesty invites you two to the room to have dinner together. His Majesty also has something else to say."

After he finished speaking, he bowed to Pei Yuan and then to Bao Ning, "I will take my leave first. Your Highness and the Princess should come quickly. Don't keep Your Majesty waiting."

Pei Yuan nodded and watched him leave.

Bao Ning's straight back relaxed. She pinched her shoulders and complained, "It's just a few words, but you said so much."

Pei Yuan said, "You are an old eunuch. You talk a lot when you get old."

Bao Ning smelled a strange smell at the tip of her nose. She wrinkled her nose and asked, "Is there a strange smell?"

"Yes, there is. What is it?" Pei Yuan said, and suddenly reacted, "The noodles, the noodles are burnt!"