Pei Wenxuan thought clearly that for Li Ming, the ultimate purpose of everything he did was to test him.

He doubted Pei Wenxuan's loyalty, and if Pei Wenxuan followed his temptation and wanted to divorce Li Ming, then he would divorce him. In any case, Li Ming would be suspicious.

It would be better to turn the tables and turn defense into offense.

"What do you mean?"

Li Ming frowned: "You want to divorce Pingle? There is nothing wrong with my daughter, why do you want to divorce her?!"

Li Ming became angrier and angrier as he spoke. He raised his hand and slammed it on the table, shouting, "Pei Wenxuan, you are so brave!"

Pei Wenxuan listened to Li Ming's words and kowtowed hurriedly: "Your Majesty, please calm down, but Wenxuan... Wenxuan is also..."

Pei Wenxuan seemed a little embarrassed as he spoke. He simply stood up and tore off his official uniform, revealing the marks on his body.

Pei Wenxuan's shoulders were covered with teeth marks and scratches that were almost visible to the bone. Everyone gasped. Li Ming was stunned for a moment: "What is this?"

"Your Majesty," Pei Wenxuan said with a look of grief and anger, "This is all caused by the princess beating me last night."

Li Ming was a little embarrassed when he heard this. He couldn't help but continue with Pei Wenxuan's words: "Why did you fight? And it was so serious." As he said this, Li Ming remembered, "You didn't hit her, did you?"

"Your Highness is a noble lady, I dare not."

Pei Wenxuan's face turned even colder as he listened to Li Ming's words. Li Ming knew that Li Rong had not been wronged, so he felt relieved: "What's going on? Tell me."

"Your Majesty," Pei Wenxuan said, taking out a piece of talisman paper from his sleeve, "This matter needs to start with this talisman paper. Last night, Your Highness came back from the palace, and I went to pick her up. But when we arrived at the palace gate, Your Highness handed the talisman paper to me, saying that how could I write talismans casually outside, and almost caused her to fall into Concubine Rou's trap."

Hearing this, Li Ming frowned, but he did not stop Pei Wenxuan, and let Pei Wenxuan continue: "After I looked at the talisman paper, I am sure that this is not my handwriting."

"You didn't write this?" Li Ming asked seriously. Pei Wenxuan shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, you can ask a master to come and identify it. This is not my handwriting. Your Majesty should know that this talisman is extremely difficult to obtain. I am usually busy with official duties. Where do I find the time to do this?"

Li Ming said nothing, but asked someone to take the talisman and whispered, "Go and test it."

After finishing speaking, Li Ming turned to look at Pei Wenxuan: "Since the talisman paper is fake, why did Pingle say it was real? And he also said that it was the temple you two went to together?"

Concubine Rou accused Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan of secretly contacting Master Hongde to lie for Li Chuan so that he would not get married. She produced a talisman as evidence to prove that Pei Wenxuan had contacted Master Hongde. Li Rong explained that although the talisman was real, it was obtained from a temple, thus refuting Master Hongde's lie.

But if the talisman was fake, why didn't Li Rong just say it was fake? Or did Li Rong refute it just for the sake of refutation, and actually contacted Master Hongde privately to postpone the marriage for Li Chuan?

Li Ming was thinking secretly in his heart. Pei Wenxuan said respectfully: "Your Majesty, instead of wondering why this talisman is fake and the princess admitted it, why don't you guess why Master Hongde took out a fake marriage talisman written by me to prove that the princess put pressure on Master Hongde for the prince?"

"Even if I wrote the marriage talisman, it can neither prove that the princess and Master Hongde have met, nor that the princess asked Master Hongde for anything related to the crown prince. Whether the princess recognizes it or not, this talisman cannot prove anything. Why did Hongde say so?"

Li Ming didn't show any emotion when he heard this, but he reacted immediately in his heart.

A fake marriage talisman can't prove anything at all. Why did Hongde go to such lengths to give out this talisman?

"In fact, Your Majesty has already made up his mind about many things, so there is no need to say more. The princess and I are both clear about this."

For example, he suspected Li Rong and Li Chuan. In fact, he had already subconsciously determined that Li Rong would help Li Chuan speak in front of Master Hongde, so he did not notice that the appearance of this talisman was too unreasonable, and there was no real evidence to prove this.

Since Li Rong knew about this, she was naturally nervous. It is also possible that she consciously refuted all the evidence when facing the accusation.

Li Ming understood what Pei Wenxuan meant. Although he did not directly explain why Li Rong lied, he had already let Li Ming guess the reason.

"Since I was promoted to the position of Minister of Personnel, I and the princess have been walking on thin ice, being careful at every turn, fearing that we might make a mistake and be caught by someone."

"The noble families are unhappy, the prince hates me, and I don't know who is behind it. They first put me and the princess in the fire by using the position of the Minister of Personnel, and then framed me with Master Hongde. Now they are making fake talismans. Although your Highness and I don't know what Hongde means, they must be doing something. So I was anxious and angry for a moment, so I scolded your Highness for being presumptuous. How can you talk nonsense about things you don't know?"

"Your Highness has been dissatisfied with me for some time. Because I was born in a poor family and had a bad career, Your Highness has been criticized by the princess and her courtiers. I suggested that the princess set up an inspection department to relieve your majesty's worries. Now many courtiers are dissatisfied with Your Highness, the crown prince and Your Highness have already left each other, and the queen hates Your Highness even more. So last night... Your Highness and I had an argument."

"Your Highness was furious and said that I was lowly and even inferior to the actors in the Nanfeng Pavilion, so he took the actors for a night cruise. In a hurry, I kidnapped Your Highness and wanted to persuade him with kind words, but Your Highness beat and scolded me. Your Majesty," Pei Wenxuan stood up with a sad face, "even though I was born in a poor family, I am also a seven-foot man. Even if Your Highness is a princess, how can you bully me like this? I married Your Highness only to follow Your Majesty's order and fulfill my loyalty. Your Highness is usually arrogant and rude, and even has a secret crush on someone else. I can tolerate all these things. I ask myself, as a husband and a minister, I have not transgressed the slightest, but Your Highness still wants to go on a night cruise and summon dozens of people..."

Pei Wenxuan was unable to continue speaking. He took a deep breath, knelt on the ground, and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, I know that I am guilty and have failed your grace. But please, Your Majesty, for the sake of my father's loyal service for half his life and my loyalty, let me and Your Highness divorce..."

Pei Wenxuan's voice was hoarse, and he was about to cry: "I really can't live anymore..."

Pei Wenxuan's speech left Li Ming speechless for a moment.

As a man, how could Li Ming not understand the humiliation in Pei Wenxuan's heart?

Even if Pei Wenxuan wanted to put on a show for him, there was no need for Li Rong to call so many actors...

Li Ming carefully considered Pei Wenxuan's words, and he couldn't help but have other thoughts in his mind.

In fact, Pei Wenxuan's words did wake him up. From the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel to the current Master Hongde, it seemed that Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan had gotten the upper hand and were discovered by him, so he had always doubted the loyalty of Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan.

But what if we think about it the other way around? If everyone from the Minister of Personnel to Master Hongde was designed by others, then what were they designing?

If you didn’t know it before, now that this rune has come out, how can you still not know it?

They took out a rune that could not prove the relationship between Li Rong and the prince at all, but tricked Li Rong into admitting it. Finally, they told him that it was a marriage rune representing the extremely good relationship between them.

The purpose of the Minister of Personnel issue was to make him start to worry about Li Rong's power.

The matter of Master Hongde made him worry about the relationship between Li Rong and Li Chuan.

As for the matter of the rune, he was worried that Pei Wenxuan and Li Rong would be in cahoots with each other. Why was he worried about the couple being in cahoots with each other? Because deep down, he was already worried that Li Rong had too much power and was colluding with Li Chuan. Now that Pei Wenxuan and he were in cahoots with each other, what could he do?

Thinking about it this way, the other party was really attacking his heart step by step, and the target was not Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan, but him!

Li Ming's heart was in turmoil, but his expression remained unchanged.

After all, this was Pei Wenxuan's family's words, and he couldn't believe it completely, so he followed Pei Wenxuan's words and said, "If you say so, Rongrong is indeed too arrogant. Since you want to divorce, I don't want to force it. You go back first, and I will draft an order, how about it?"

Hearing this, Pei Wenxuan was excited and said respectfully: "Thank you, Your Majesty! Your Majesty is wise!"

Li Ming looked at Pei Wenxuan's secretly happy expression, and his heart was filled with mixed feelings. After all, Li Rong was still his daughter, and being rejected like this made him feel a little upset. He waved his hand and said calmly, "Go down."

Pei Wenxuan bowed respectfully and then retreated.

When he walked out of Yu's study, the eunuch followed him and escorted him out. Pei Wenxuan walked out with a cold face, and before he left, he whispered, "Let His Majesty find out how Master Hongde entered the palace."

The young eunuch said nothing, but he obviously heard it.

After seeing Pei Wenxuan out of the palace, the young eunuch hurried back.

When Pei Wenxuan returned to the office from Yu's study, in Su's mansion, a young man was holding a scroll in one hand and playing chess with the other.

There was a woman kneeling beside him. She was kneeling according to the palace etiquette. She looked calm, but there was some uneasiness in her eyes.

"The Queen said that the talisman was fake and was taken away by His Highness Pingle. What if they take it for verification?"

The maid was a little flustered: "Now Hongde has been taken away, sir, if he talks nonsense, he will be clinging to the queen."

"He won't have the chance to say anything nonsense, so don't worry, madam." The young man was playing chess with a calm expression. When the maid heard this, she knew what he meant. She felt a little relieved, but still asked, "What about the talisman?"

"Since Her Royal Highness has already admitted it, what does it matter if it turns out to be fake? If they tell Your Majesty that the princess lied, then why did the princess lie? Your Majesty will still have doubts in his heart, and he will definitely test Pei Wenxuan and the princess. And Pei Wenxuan will not be able to pass Your Majesty's test."

"Are you so sure, my lord?" The maid frowned. "It's not impossible for Pei Wenxuan to agree to a divorce."

"There's no way he'll agree to that."

The young man put down the book and began to calmly pack up the chessboard. He said in a gentle voice, "He doesn't dare, he can't, and he doesn't want to."

"What if he agreed?" The maid insisted. The young man paused for a moment, then frowned and said, "Then he deserves to die."

"Those who betrayed His Highness," the young man said in a very soft voice, so soft that others could not hear it at all. He gently raised his head and watched the early spring butterflies landing in the courtyard. There was a hint of mockery in his desolate eyes, "They all deserved to die."