Looking at Shangguan Ya's expression, Su Ronghua felt a little angry, but also a little funny.

How could he not know how bad Shangguan Ya's gambling skills were? If she wanted to gamble, she would just leave the winning or losing to him.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Shangguan Ya handed the cards to him and said, "You come and try your luck."

Su Ronghua sat up and looked back at the people in front of the cell. Shangguan Ya stretched out her hand, her eyes full of flattery. She pushed the card forward and asked, "Do you want it?"

Su Ronghua hesitated for a long time, finally stood up and took Shangguan Ya's card.

"Which card do you think is bigger, yours or mine?" Shangguan Ya asked him with a smile. Su Ronghua stroked the cards. He looked at the person in front of him. After a long time, he lowered his eyes and said slowly, "Yours is bigger."

"Then let's see how lucky we are."

Shangguan Ya said this as she turned over the cards, revealing the tiger face on her card.

Su Ronghua turned over the card, revealing the dog's head on it.

"Yeah," Shangguan Ya said happily, "Is this the first time I beat you?"

Su Ronghua didn't say anything. He sat down calmly, leaned against the wall, bent one leg, put his hand on his knee, and said slowly: "Okay, I'm not angry anymore, you can go back."

Shangguan Ya thought about it, she took a small stool from the side, brushed off the dust on it, and sat on the stool: "Let's chat?"

“I don’t dare to talk.”

Su Ronghua decisively refused, and Shangguan Ya smiled: "Why, are you still afraid that I will cheat you?"

"Shouldn't I be afraid?" Su Ronghua glanced at her coldly, "Hasn't it been enough that I've been cheated by you?"

"No, didn't I apologize?" Shangguan Ya said shamelessly, "Actually, I'm not that bad. I'm just mean to my enemies. Now that we've talked it out, we're not enemies, so I won't cheat you in the future."

"I said I'm not an enemy, and you believed me?" Su Ronghua looked at her coldly and replied with her own words, "Do you think I'm a fool?"

"You are a little silly." Shangguan Ya laughed embarrassedly. Su Ronghua was so angry that he stood up and was about to leave. Shangguan Ya grabbed his sleeve and said anxiously, "Wait for me to finish. We finally had such a deep exchange. Don't leave so easily."

After hearing this, Su Ronghua paused, took a deep breath, and sat back down.

Shangguan Ya leaned forward, placed her hands on her knees, propped up her chin, and looked at Su Ronghua in front of her: "Actually, don't blame me. I have never seen anyone like you before. You see, you come from a prominent family, you are smart, and you have so many identities, so I can only be suspicious of you. Since I was a child, my family told me that the first thing you can't trust in this world is politicians, and the second thing you can't trust is men. You have both."

"You blame me for this?" Su Ronghua sneered, "You learned a lot of crooked ideas yourself."

"You are the odd one out." Shangguan Ya responded immediately. Su Ronghua ignored her. Shangguan Ya thought for a moment and said carefully, "By the way, I've heard you say it. You don't seem like someone who pursues fame and fortune. Why do you want to be a teacher and come to the Inspection Department?"

"How can I refuse if your majesty has appointed me?" Su Ronghua looked at her as if she was crazy.

Shangguan Ya became even more curious: "But if you become his teacher, you will be tied to him. Aren't you worried about your future?"

"Future?" Su Ronghua laughed. "Do you think I have a future? If I wanted a future, I would have studied hard, like my brother, and accepted the careful cultivation of my family, and then assumed the family responsibility and entered the court. Why am I the teacher of Prince Su? Because His Majesty needs someone from the Su family to be the teacher of Prince Su, and the Su family couldn't refuse, and didn't want to have too much relationship with Prince Su, so they threw me out as a discarded child. I am a lunatic and never represent the attitude of the Su family. Don't you understand?"

"I understood it before," Shangguan Ya leaned against the prison door, "but after you came to the Inspection Department, I no longer understand. What did you come to the Inspection Department for?"

Su Ronghua said nothing. He looked up at the sky. After a long time, he said slowly, "My brother asked me to come over, so I came over. But deep down, I might also want to see what you and His Highness are doing." Su Ronghua turned to look at Shangguan Ya, "What do you want to do?"

"Since I was young, everyone said I was an alien and that I had no responsibilities. But I often wondered, what is responsibility? Family is a responsibility, but officials are not ordinary people? Ordinary people are responsibilities, but wives, children, friends, and their friendships are also responsibilities on everyone's shoulders? I have seen countless people who were clear about right and wrong when they were young, frivolous and wanton, but slowly, they seemed to have changed into different people, always talking about status, responsibilities, and then doing dark and dirty things. A person can live a good life, do his job in his position, manage himself, take care of his parents, raise his children, be righteous to his friends, be loyal to his ministers, follow the laws of the court, and observe propriety, righteousness, benevolence and trustworthiness. Above this, he can do whatever he wants, what is wrong with him?"

"I hate those hypocrites and don't want to be a monster like them in this city. I want to live like a human being, to be free to like the people I like and to choose the things I like."

"But there are too few people like me. It was not until the Qixi Palace Banquet last year that I smelled a perfume at the banquet," Su Ronghua laughed. "That fragrance had a familiar smell to me, so I voted for it. Later, I wanted to find the incense owner, but found that the incense was made by the second daughter of the Qin family. But when I continued to investigate, I found that the second daughter of the Qin family was not good at making perfume. Finally, I found out that there was a girl who didn't want to enter the palace. It turned out that His Highness Pingle was helping the prince delay his marriage."

"Look," Su Ronghua spread his hands, "it turns out that everyone is struggling in this palace. So I really want to see what you and Your Highness are thinking about."

Shangguan Ya hugged her knees as she listened to Su Ronghua's words. Su Ronghua turned to look at her and asked, "Why did you join the Inspection Department?"

"In the final analysis, maybe it's the same as you," Shangguan Ya smiled, "I want to live like a human being."

"I don't want to change, but I know that I'm not a saint. If I enter the palace, I'll be no different from the elders I see now. They will do anything for the sake of family interests and will give in to anything. But I don't want that."

"So I have to be useful," Shangguan Ya looked at Su Ronghua seriously, "I have to provide irreplaceable value to the family, more important than marrying someone. Only in this way," Shangguan Ya smiled, "can I always be Shangguan Ya."

"In the future, I can gamble with you, drink a little wine, and quarrel with you," Shangguan Ya said with a smile about her imagined future. "I will never marry, have my own estate, and adopt a few boys or girls from the family. I will be an old aunt for my whole life, and then raise many girls like me."

"You still think of betting with me and drinking with me," Su Ronghua raised his eyebrows, "It seems that you have a good impression of me."

"About that," Shangguan Ya shrugged, "are we all aliens?"

"Su Ronghua," Shangguan Ya thought for a moment, and then she stretched out her hand, "Let me make a promise with you."

"Um?"

"From now on, I won't use your kindness to me to trap you." Shangguan Ya stared at him, "You also shouldn't lie to me, okay?"

"good."

Su Ronghua stretched out her hand and hooked her little finger with hers.

When her skin touched, Shangguan Ya shuddered involuntarily. She couldn't tell what the feeling was. She only heard a noise coming from outside. Shangguan Ya stood up hurriedly and said nervously, "I'm leaving first. I'll treat you to dinner another day."

Having said that, Shangguan Ya hurriedly left from another road.

After a while, a line of guards came in. They were obviously people from the palace. Su Ronghua glanced at them and said calmly, "What are you doing? Find a few dancers and jail or punish them. Don't interrogate them. It's disturbing."

"Take it away."

The guard opened his mouth directly, entered the cell, pulled Su Ronghua out and began to interrogate him.

Su Ronghua openly admitted that he had invited Xia Wensi to dinner and invited several dancers, but he said that he did not hire prostitutes and nothing else.

After the guards interrogated him and Xia Wensi's confessions, they sent the confessions into the palace. Li Ming read the confessions carefully and placed them on the table.

Fu Lai came in with the tranquilizing soup sent by Concubine Rou. Seeing Li Ming's frown, he couldn't help but say, "Your Highness, it's late at night. Concubine Rou just sent some tranquilizing soup over. Drink it and go to bed early."

Li Ming raised his eyes and moved his gaze to the tranquilizing soup. He frowned. Fu Lai saw that he looked unhappy and asked anxiously, "Your Majesty?"

"You say, isn't Concubine Rou going a little too far?"

"Your Majesty?"

Fulai hesitated and didn't say anything. Li Ming threw the confession to the ground, closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and said irritably: "Look for yourself."

Fulai placed the tranquilizing soup on the table, bent down and took the confession. After reading it carefully, he asked in confusion: "Your Majesty, this eldest son Su...how could he do such a thing?"

"Why would he do such a thing?" Li Ming sneered, "He is a young man from an aristocratic family, doesn't he want to have a good reputation? I'm afraid he is just hiring a prostitute for personal gain."

Fu Lai didn't dare to say anything, and Li Ming went over the whole thing in his mind.

Someone deliberately promoted Pei Wenxuan to be the Minister of Personnel in order to make him suspicious of Li Rong. After he became suspicious of Li Rong, he was worried that the Supervision Department was in Li Rong's hands. Who would be the biggest beneficiary?

If Li Rong wanted Pei Wenxuan to be the Minister of Personnel, it would definitely alarm him. For such an important position, Li Rong could just ask him directly. Why would she have to be so secretive?

And now Su Ronghua has met Xia Wensi. Who is Su Ronghua? Who has he hosted a banquet for alone in the court over the years?

Meeting with Xia Wensi alone, if there is no hidden plot, then it would be weird!

Li Rong cried and said that Hua Le's words of ridicule were still fresh in her mind, and Li Ming closed his eyes.

In fact, he was not intolerant of Concubine Rou and her tricks. If Concubine Rou could build up her own power to fight against the Empress, he would be happy to see it happen.

What he couldn't tolerate was Concubine Rou being out of his control.

The previous emperor had already raised a Shangguan, and he did not want to raise another Xiao. Concubine Rou could only be a tool for balancing the court. If she had plans beyond his control, it would be unforgivable.

The more Li Ming thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He stood up and walked straight to Mingle Palace.

Concubine Rou didn't expect Li Ming to come so late, so she chatted with Hua Le in boredom.

Li Ming was furious and rushed into Mingle Palace. The palace maids didn't even have time to stop him before they saw Li Ming striding in. As soon as he entered the inner courtyard, he heard the sound of Huale and Concubine Rou making fun of each other in the room.

When the palace maids saw Li Ming, they were about to kneel down. Li Ming raised his hand to stop them from making any sound. The whole yard fell silent. Li Ming did not allow anyone to make any sound or move. The mother and daughter could only be heard joking in the room. Hua Le said happily, "If I were to marry someone, I would never marry someone like Pei Wenxuan. Apart from being good-looking, he has no other abilities. He was born in a poor family. After marrying my elder sister, he cannot even be an examiner. You said that my elder sister has been arrogant all her life, but now she married such a person..."

Hua Le couldn't stop laughing. Li Ming was furious and kicked the door open and rushed in. When Concubine Rou saw Li Ming coming in, her face turned pale instantly along with Hua Le's.

"Your Majesty," Fortunately, Concubine Rou quickly responded, stood up and said with a smile, "Why are you here?"

"You taught your good daughter." Li Ming pointed at Hua Le and stared at Concubine Rou. "Is this how a princess goesssips behind people's backs?"

"Qiong'er was wrong," Concubine Rou admitted her fault straightforwardly and said quickly, "Hua Le, apologize to your father."

"Apologize," Li Ming nodded, "Is she the one who should apologize? Get out!"

Li Ming looked at Hua Le, Hua Le glanced at Concubine Rou, Concubine Rou gave her a wink, Hua Le quickly stood up and retreated respectfully.

When only Li Ming and Concubine Rou were left in the room, Concubine Rou poured tea for Li Ming and said softly, "Hua Le is young and naive, and has been corrupted by the palace maids. I was just about to scold her..."

"Did you appoint Pei Wenxuan as the Minister of Personnel?"

Li Ming spoke decisively, and Concubine Rou was horrified: "Your Majesty, why do you say that? I have been in the harem for many years, how can I decide such an important matter? Where did Your Majesty hear such rumors and misunderstand me like this?"

"Rumors?" Li Ming sneered, "I know your ability very well. If it weren't for your ability, do you think a mere ant could be in this position?!"

Concubine Rou kept smiling and said respectfully, "Your Majesty is right, but this matter has nothing to do with me. Your Majesty, you must have heard about this from some villain. Why not call them out to confront me..."

Before he could finish his words, Li Ming raised his hand and slapped Concubine Rou hard on the face.

Concubine Rou staggered after being hit by him. She knelt on the ground and did not move. Li Ming stood up and looked at her coldly: "I can allow you to be scheming and use tricks in this harem. But I cannot allow you to deceive me. I can lift you up with one hand, and I can pull you down with the other hand."

"I don't like lying. Today I give you this face, and I won't pursue it at this time." Li Ming half squatted down and stared at Concubine Rou, "But Xiao Rou, remember what you said to me that year. You are willing to be my knife, don't forget your identity."

"I will keep it in mind."

Concubine Rou spoke softly, and Li Ming's anger subsided when he saw that she was obedient. He stood up and looked at the delicate woman sitting on the ground. Her skirt was like a blooming lotus. Even at this moment, she still had a kind of heart-breaking beauty.

Li Ming was silent for a long time, and finally turned around and left.

After he left, Hua Le rushed in hastily, losing his manners in a hurry, and asked directly: "Mom, are you okay?"

Concubine Rou clenched her fists, raised her head slowly, and smiled: "It's okay."

She is a knife, she always remembers it.

Seeing Concubine Rou's smile, Hua Le felt relieved. She quickly stepped forward and helped Concubine Rou up: "Mother, what did the emperor say just now?"

Concubine Rou's expression remained unchanged. She was about to give instructions when she saw a servant hurriedly walking in from the corridor.

He rushed to Concubine Rou's side and whispered something in her ear. Concubine Rou looked up in surprise and asked anxiously, "Really?"

The attendant nodded and said softly, "It is absolutely true. The person is already outside the palace."

"Great!" Concubine Rou said happily, "I will go to see His Majesty right now. Li Rong dared to do this," Concubine Rou laughed, "I'm afraid he will be in big trouble this time."