"Let me hold you for a while, just for a while."

These coaxing words startled Tao Ti.

She thought of the fatigue that could not be concealed between Pei Yanqing's eyebrows and the red bloodshot in his eyes when he looked at her just now. She felt so distressed that she lay motionless and let him hold her.

Pei Yan's tall nose was deeply buried in her soft neck, and the elegant fragrance lingering around his nose made him feel at ease.

Not sure how much time had passed before he loosened his hold on her a little and leaned over to kiss her forehead.

Tao Ti raised her little face, her clear black eyes full of concern, and said softly, "Your Highness, go to the couch and rest first. I'll go to the kitchen... um!"

Before she could finish her words, her lips were blocked.

Pei Yan held the back of her head and kissed her fiercely.

Taoti, "......?"

We agreed to just hug, why did you use your hands and mouth on me?

Soon, her surprise and doubt were suppressed by his unusual mood today. He teased her and made her turn around, then held her waist and walked towards the table.

Realizing his thoughts, Tao Ti's heart began beating like a drum. She wanted to fight but had no strength.

Her skin suddenly came into contact with the cold night air and her body trembled a little. She herself didn't know whether it was because of the cold or the nervousness of unlocking a new scene.

She was a little embarrassed, and she crossed her arms in front of her, asking him to turn off the lights.

Pei Yan's Adam's apple moved up and down, but he didn't respond.

But he was reluctant to embarrass her, so he covered her eyes with his large, slender hands, allowing only a little light to leak through the gaps between his fingers.

The candlelight flickered, and the temperature in the room gradually rose.

He pinched her waist, his deep eyes bright and passionate.

Tao Ti didn't feel cold at all at this moment, she just felt like she was about to melt.

After the storm.

Pei Yan carried her to the bed and the two of them snuggled together intimately.

Tao Ti's long eyelashes were wet. She curled up in his arms and rested for a long time. Then she turned around and looked at him with doubt in her eyes.

What happened to him today?

Even though they have always been harmonious and have done things frequently, it was quite sudden that this happened today when I first walked in.

Meeting her gaze, Pei Yan gently lifted the wet hair from her forehead and said in a hoarse voice, "I haven't seen you for a day and a night. I miss you."

These words were spoken bluntly, and Tao Ti's fair cheeks were slightly hot, but he was thinking about her in his heart, and she felt sweet in her heart, and whispered, "I miss you too."

Pei Yan hugged her tighter.

After a long tender moment, Tao Ti asked, "Your Highness, you've been busy outside all day, aren't you tired?"

"tired."

"You're tired, but you're still torturing me!" She propped herself up and stared at him with wide eyes. She felt sorry for him for letting her hold her even though she saw how tired he was. If she was really tired, she wouldn't have the energy to do that!

I'm afraid this man is pretending again.

Seeing her angry expression, Pei Yan smiled and pulled her back into his arms, biting her earlobe gently, and said honestly, "You won't get tired if you do something you like."

Tao Ti's mouth twitched and said, "I don't believe you at all."

She was still thinking about the kitchen, "There's chicken soup simmering on the stove, Your Highness, please get up and drink it."

Pei Yan played with her white and delicate little hands, "I'm not very hungry now, stay with me for a while."

He slept very restlessly yesterday.

He didn't know when it started, but he had gotten used to sharing a bed with her. He had to hold her soft body in his arms to have a good sleep.

The soup was always available, and now he just wanted to hug her more.

Tao Ti didn't know what Pei Yan was thinking. Her many experiences of being "cheated" in bed told her that if he continued to hold her in such a clingy manner, she would definitely not be able to get out of bed today.

She stewed the chicken soup for more than an hour. It was so delicious! It is shameful to waste food!

"You are not hungry, but I am." Tao Ti struggled gently in his arms.

"You didn't have dinner?" Pei Yan asked gently.

"Yes. But I've used up a lot of energy just now, so I need to eat a midnight snack to fill my stomach."

Hearing her words, Pei Yan snorted and laughed, then turned over and pressed her back.

His black eyes were filled with a teasing smile as he tapped her nose. "What energy did you use up? I was the one exerting all the effort."

What's wrong with this person? Has he no shame?

Taoti's ears turned red, and she shyly turned her face away, avoiding his gaze. However, she was a little unconvinced, and muttered back, "Did you say don't use your strength?"

Pei Yan was startled for a moment, then he burst into laughter, and Jian Shuo's chest was shaking with laughter.

Seeing him laughing so loudly, Tao Ti hurriedly reached out to cover his mouth.

Pei Yan took her hand away, put away his smile, and said in a serious tone, "Well, you're right, it does strain your throat."

"Don't you dare say that!!!" Tao Ti glared at him fiercely.

Qiong Qi is right. No matter how handsome and gentle a man is outside of bed, he will be bad in bed!

Seeing that the little girl was about to get angry, Pei Yan quickly smoothed her hair, ruffled her hair, pulled her up, and coaxed her, "Be good, let's go drink some chicken soup and rest after you're full, okay?"

Tao Ti has always been easy to coax, especially when Pei Yan smiled at her gently. Just looking at his face, she couldn't get angry anymore.

The two of them simply dressed and went out hand in hand to drink chicken soup.

The astragalus and wolfberry black chicken soup was served in a ceramic pot and simmered over low heat. As soon as the lid of the pot was opened, a rich and delicious aroma immediately hit the face. The black chicken was stewed to perfection, and the chicken fat was boiled out. It blended with the medicinal effects of astragalus and wolfberry into the clear and light yellow chicken soup. Just smelling it makes people salivate.

The two of them each took half, and Pei Yan put all the chicken legs into Tao Ti's bowl, "Ah Ti, you've worked hard, eat more."

Tao Ti paused with her hand holding the bowl, and stared at him with narrowed eyes: She always felt that he was laughing at her.

Pei Yan's eyes were calm and his face showed innocence.

Tao Ti curled her lips, picked up the chicken leg and started eating without any hesitation.

The stewed black chicken melts in your mouth without being dry at all. The chicken skin is also smooth, tender and delicious. When it goes down with the sweet chicken soup, it warms your stomach.

"Your Highness, please tell me what happened at the wedding banquet yesterday. How did the assassins break in? And I heard that many people died. Were they all guests at the wedding banquet?" Tao Ti asked.

Linglong only gave her a general idea yesterday, which made her unable to help imagining the scene. Even her dreams at night were filled with those scenes.

Seeing her curiosity, Pei Yan did not hide anything. He simply skipped over the horrific scenes of blood and flesh flying everywhere, and only described the process from the assassin's appearance to the discovery of the secret room in detail.

Tao Ti was stunned when she heard this, her two big watery eyes widened.

Finally, Pei Yan said, "Father has ordered the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple to investigate this matter. I believe that it won't be long before there will be a result."

Tao Ti frowned and asked, "Is Pei Lingbi still in the Zhou Mansion? I heard that she seems to be a little confused. The Queen will probably plead for her, right?"

Pei Yan's eyebrows were cold, and he said in a deep voice, "All the men of the Zhou family were taken to prison, and Pei Lingbi and the women of the Zhou family were still staying in the Zhou Mansion, which was heavily guarded. As for the queen... Oh, I'm afraid she can't care about Pei Lingbi at the moment."

Tao Ti thought about it and nodded, "Yes, the Queen and Pei Changzhou must be worried now."

After a moment's silence, she slowly raised her eyes and looked at Pei Yan, "Your Highness, does this matter of the Zhou family... have anything to do with you?"

The two of them exchanged glances. Pei Yan closed his eyes, serious and earnest, "Yes."

Tao Ti was silent, without any surprise on her face.

Ever since she knew Pei Yan was a traitor, she knew he would definitely get involved in the intrigues and disputes in the court.

She took a deep breath, blinked, and asked tentatively, "The Zhou family has fallen, so is it Pei Changzhou's turn next?"

Pei Yan's slender fingers tapped the table twice casually, and he opened his thin lips slightly, "Almost there."

After a pause, he said softly, "But the next one should be the Yongwei Marquis Mansion."

Tao Ti's breath was choked.

The spoon in her hand slid into the bowl, and she frowned, "Is the Yongwei Marquis' Mansion related to the Zhou family?"

Pei Yan hummed softly, "Your mother decided to divorce your father precisely because the Yongwei Marquis's Mansion was on good terms with the Zhou family and secretly supported Pei Changzhou."

Tao Ti's brows furrowed even more tightly. So Zhang suddenly wanted to divorce because of this?

She thought that Zhang couldn't stand the scumbag Yongweihou, so she finally made up her mind to seek a way out. She didn't expect that the real reason was to avoid embarrassing her daughter.

Tao Ti felt a little sad: In fact, Zhang still loved her daughter. It was just that in the past, she had always made the same mistake as other patriarchs, always trying to control her child's life in the name of love.

Seeing that Tao Ti remained silent for a long time, Pei Yan suddenly remembered Zhou Pinglin's malicious smile in prison. His heart sank and he couldn't help but called out "Ati".

Tao Ti came back to her senses and looked at him, "Then how do you plan to deal with the Yongwei Marquis Mansion? Kill them all?"

Pei Yan met her gaze, and there was a subtle tension in his calm tone, "I must destroy the Yongwei Marquis's mansion, but I can spare the life of Yongwei Marquis."

Tao Ti understood what he meant. He was planning to completely destroy the Yongwei Marquis Mansion.

She had no feelings for the Yongwei Marquis' Mansion, and Zhang had already divorced. If Pei Yan had to deal with it, it would not involve Zhang.

As for the biological father, Marquis Yongwei, he knew that the Zhou family and Pei Changzhou had always coveted the position of crown prince, but he chose to help Pei Changzhou? This shows that he has no sympathy for his daughter who married into the East Palace.

Perhaps the prince had shown signs of degeneration before, and as the prince's father-in-law, it would have been fine for the Marquis of Yongwei not to help him, as it was human nature to protect himself. But he did not help his own son-in-law, but instead helped his son-in-law's rival, which was really disheartening.

Zhang had given birth to the original owner, and Yongwei Hou, apart from contributing a sperm, had not shown much love to the original owner over the years. Tao Ti would naturally not plead for such a scumbag father.

She said to Pei Yan, "Your Highness, you have done your best to spare his life. As for the rest, you can do as you wish without having to worry about me. He doesn't have much affection for me and my mother. Now that my mother is divorced, and he is so heartless to the Eastern Palace, why should I care about him?"

Pei Yan heard her say this and shook her hand.

Tao Ti held his hand in return, smiled softly, and then seemed to remember something and said, "I want to see my mother tomorrow."

Zhang was in Chang'an at the time. She had just returned from Luoyang a few days ago and planned to inspect a fried chicken restaurant and prepare to open a branch in Luoyang.

After all, the Yongwei Marquis Mansion was where Zhang had stayed for nearly twenty years, so Tao Ti wanted to give her a shot of vaccination so that she could be mentally prepared.

Pei Yan thought for a moment and agreed, "Okay, I'll arrange it tomorrow."