"Young Master Xie has time to question me, why not investigate properly what exactly happened?"
Pei Zhi said angrily, "Every day that Young Master Xie delays, my brother will suffer another day of torture in prison."
Xie Qi nodded, "What the princess says is true, I will remember it."
Xie Qi asked a couple more questions about the details, and after Pei Zhi answered them, Xie Qi got up to take his leave.
Pei Zhi suddenly called out, "Young Master Xie, please wait."
Xie Qi turned around and looked at Pei Zhi, puzzled.
Pei Zhi took two steps closer to Xie Qi and lowered her voice, saying, "I know that Young Master Xie does not like my elder brother."
"I also hope that Young Master Xie can put aside past grievances and catch the heinous criminal as soon as possible."
Xie Qi was stunned for a moment before he realized that Princess Chang Le was worried that he would take the opportunity to retaliate against the Fifth Prince.
Just as Xie Qi was about to speak up to explain himself, Pei Zhi spoke up again.
"This assignment was snatched from the Fourth Prince by my elder brother. I believe the Fourth Prince is involved. Young Master Xie should investigate the Fourth Prince thoroughly."
Pei Zhi seemed to wish she could tell Xie Qi that this whole affair was orchestrated by the Fourth Prince.
"After all, if something happens to the Emperor, the direct beneficiary will be the Fourth Emperor."
Xie Qi originally wanted to explain to the princess that things were not so simple.
The Fourth Prince wouldn't be so foolish as to take such a huge risk to do something like this.
Moreover, there were quite a few robbers.
If so many skilled individuals had set out from the capital, Xie Qi wouldn't have been completely unaware of their presence.
"I have taken your advice to heart, Princess." Xie Qi bowed to Pei Zhi and took his leave.
Xie Qi was too lazy to explain to Princess Chang Le, who naturally sided with the Fifth Prince.
Even if he explained, the princess wouldn't believe him.
Xie Qi sat in the carriage, thinking that he had come all this way for nothing.
He was really confused; he actually thought of coming to the princess's residence to question her.
How could it have been Princess Chang Le who did it?
Indeed, Princess Chang Le saw the Fifth Prince off the night before his departure.
Princess Chang Le is the fifth prince's younger sister, so it's perfectly normal for her to wish her brother a triumphant return.
Moreover, Princess Chang Le had no motive for doing this.
The princess is a woman; what is the point of harming the fifth prince?
Moreover, Xie Qi did not believe that Princess Chang Le, a woman, could command so many skilled people.
Emperor Pei entrusted the matter to Xie Qi, but half a month passed and Xie Qi still hadn't made any progress.
This is the first time Xie Qi has encountered something like this since taking office.
There was simply no way to investigate it.
The robbers seemed to appear out of nowhere, and their belongings vanished into thin air.
There was no trace of them, and the robbers could not be found either.
Pei Yuance was imprisoned for half a month. Pei Zhi pleaded with Emperor Pei several times and was finally allowed to see Pei Yuance in prison.
Pei Zhi carried the food box into the prison, where Pei Yuance was in a disheveled state.
Even though Pei Yuance was a prince, he received no special treatment once he was imprisoned.
"Brother, are you alright?"
Startled by the call, Pei Yuanze saw Pei Zhi and immediately burst into tears.
"Chang Le, you've finally come to see me. I thought I was going to be locked up here forever."
"Brother, what are you saying?" Pei Zhi looked Pei Yuance up and down. "Brother, you've suffered in there."
"How's the situation outside? Have you found the items?"
Pei Zhi lowered her head, avoiding the topic, and picked up the food from the lunchbox.
"Brother, you must not be eating well in prison, right? Have something to eat first."
Seeing this, Pei Yuance understood everything.
"That's right. If the item is found, Father should release me."
Pei Yuance sighed, "Then you should have come to take me out, not to visit me."
"Father Emperor entrusted the task to Xie Qi of the Xie family to investigate, but so much time has passed and there is still no news."
Pei Zhi complained, "Don't they all say that there's no case in the capital he can't handle? How come when it comes to my brother, I don't hear a single word from him?"
Pei Zhi subtly sowed discord between Pei Yuance and Xie Qi.
Pei Yuance thought to himself with resentment, "This is outrageous! Xie Qi must still be holding a grudge against me."
Pei Zhi feigned curiosity, "Brother, when did you offend Xie Qi?"
Pei Yuance's expression was slightly unnatural for a moment. He couldn't very well say that he had committed several murders before.
Although everything was completely wiped out afterward, Xie Qi still came to ask a couple of questions, right?
Pei Yuanze had just been adopted by the Empress and was naturally arrogant. He told Xie Qi to come and arrest him if he had any evidence.
"It's a trivial matter, not worth mentioning."
Pei Zhi's voice choked with emotion as she said, "If my brother is imprisoned any longer, I'm afraid things will really change outside."
Pei Yuance hurriedly asked, "What else happened?"
“These days, Mother has often had the maids bring Eleventh and Thirteenth to her. I’m afraid Mother will abandon them…”
Pei Yuance took two steps back, clearly not expecting the Empress to be so ruthless.
Now that he's in trouble, I want to kick him aside.
Pei Yuance finally understood that, in the entire capital, only his younger sister was someone he could truly rely on.
Pei Yuance gripped Pei Zhi's hand tightly. "Chang Le, you have to think of a way to save me. I can't stay locked up like this forever."
Pei Zhi's hands ached from gripping them so tightly, but she said, on the verge of tears, "If we had money to fill this hole, my brother's punishment would be lighter."
“But you don’t know, Your Majesty, most of my previous betrothal gifts were used by Father to fill the hole in the north. Now, there’s no way to save you.”
Pei Zhi took the opportunity to pull her hand away from his grasp and pretended to wipe it with a handkerchief.
"Money." Pei Yuance paced back and forth in the prison. "Money, I have money in my household."
"Brother, at a time like this, please stop joking. This is no small sum of money."
Pei Yuance hurriedly said, "When Yan Xinyue married me, the Yan family brought almost half of their mansion as dowry. Go and take some people to use Yan Xinyue's dowry."
Pei Zhi paused slightly. "A woman's dowry is extremely precious. Yan Xinyue probably won't agree to this, will she?"
In this era, a woman's dowry was her own property.
Even if she is divorced in the future, her dowry can be brought back to her parents' home intact.
In a respectable family, if the husband's family spends the woman's dowry, they will be ridiculed by the whole world.
This is why the Yan family was so confident in providing Yan Xinyue with so many things as part of her dowry.
Pei Yuanze is a prince. No matter how bad things get, he wouldn't use Yan Xinyue's dowry, would he?
Pei Zhi lowered her voice and said, "Your Majesty is not unaware of Yan Xinyue's character."
"If she is unwilling and then proposes a divorce from her elder brother, Father might actually agree out of respect for the General of the Escort Banner."
Pei Zhi warned Pei Yuan Ce, "When Yan Xinyue divorces and returns to her parents' home, anyone will be able to kick my brother while he's down."
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