The water source was not far ahead. After the two had a great fight, they felt exhausted and stopped arguing. Li Rong went down the small slope first and reached the flat ground near the water source. There was some grass a little away from the water source. Li Rong was so tired that she didn't care whether it was clean or not and just sat down.

Pei Wenxuan came slowly. He picked up some dry firewood in the woods and returned to the river. When he arrived at the river, he saw Li Rong sitting on a haystack. She seemed extremely tired, but still insisted on sitting. She was usually arrogant and domineering, but now she was quiet. She wrapped her arms around her knees, lowered her head and buried her face in her knees without making a sound. She looked somewhat pitiful.

Pei Wenxuan also felt that he was accustomed to being ordered around by her, and he was actually a little uncomfortable looking at her like this. He put down the firewood, cleared a piece of mud from the haystack, then bent down to build a small pile, and took a tinder to light the fire.

After the fire lit up, Li Rong raised her eyes and looked towards the source of warmth.

She was tired and sleepy, but the grass was wet, and if she lay down, her clothes would get wet in a short while. So she didn't want to lie down, but it was uncomfortable to endure it like this.

She vaguely heard Pei Wenxuan go back to the woods. After a while, he came back with a bunch of things wrapped in his coat. Li Rong looked over and found that Pei Wenxuan seemed to have picked up a bunch of dead leaves.

He piled up the dead leaves and covered them with his clothes, then called to Li Rong: "Come over and hold them down, don't let the wind blow them away."

After finishing speaking, Pei Wenxuan turned around, rolled up his trouser legs to his knees, tied up the hem of his clothes, picked up the sword in his hand and went to the water's edge.

Li Rong was not someone who didn't know what was good for her. She stood up, went to the clothes, and lay down. She immediately felt much more comfortable.

After lying down for a while, she listened to the sound of water beside her and felt a little sleepless again. She turned over, lay on her clothes, propped up her upper body, and looked at Pei Wenxuan not far away.

Pei Wenxuan stood in the river, sword in hand, motionless.

He was very patient. Li Rong stared at him for most of the day and didn't see him move any part of his body except his eyes. It was just like the way he hunted enemies in the court.

Li Rong held her chin up and looked at the young man in the distance, and slowly she understood something about it.

If Pei Wenxuan didn't speak, his face was indeed unparalleled in Shengjing, with a mixture of gentleness and a bit of handsomeness, not too gentle, with a bit of indescribable arrogance, but not annoying. In the moonlight, he stood quietly in the flowing water with a long sword in white clothes, like a banished immortal, reflecting the moon's brilliance.

Pei Wenxuan was not good in any way, but Li Rong had nothing to say about his face. Especially since he was still in his twenties, the best years of his life. Li Rong liked him much more than the old man she later became.

Li Rong stared at Pei Wenxuan for a while, and saw that he was quick-eyed and quick-handed. He dropped the sword into the water with a "swish" and skewered a fish.

He threw the fish onto the shore, turned around and waited, and after a while he used the same trick again and caught another fish.

He got the fish, squatted on the ground, quickly cleaned the fish by the river, washed his hands, plugged it with the tree trunk he had cut in advance, and walked back to the fire holding it.

He knew that Li Rong was not asleep, so when he got to the side, he handed the fish to her and said impatiently, "Grill it yourself."

Originally, it was fine for Li Rong to grill fish by herself, but she couldn't stand Pei Wenxuan's tone of ordering her, so she ignored him and said lazily, "I don't know how to grill fish."

"Then don't eat it."

"But I like to eat fish," Li Rong said with a smile, "If you don't roast it for me, I'll grab the fish if you have it!"

Pei Wenxuan was speechless. He couldn't argue anymore and didn't want to argue with Li Rong anymore, so he sat down, propped the fish up with stones, and roasted it over the fire.

There were sounds of water and sizzling fish all around them. The two of them were silent for a long time before Li Rong asked, "When did you come back?"

"More than a month ago."

Pei Wenxuan looked up at her: "What about you?"

“About the same time.”

After the two finished talking, there was a moment of silence. After a while, Li Rong couldn't help but sigh: "I didn't expect that you didn't hide it from me."

"What's there to hide?"

Pei Wenxuan said calmly: "Didn't you hide it from me?"

"I'm different from you." Li Rong said lazily, "I'm always brave enough to take responsibility for what I do, so why would I hide it from you? You're different," Li Rong said, glaring at him, "You little bastard."

Hearing the word "villain", Pei Wenxuan sneered: "How dare you call me a villain? I wonder who broke the covenant first and attacked me?"

"Ha," Li Rong stood up and clapped her hands after hearing what he said, "Rong Qing really did kill you after all? Well done, brilliantly done!"

Li Rong squinted at him and said in celebration, "People like you who are treacherous and ungrateful will never have a good death."

"How dare you say that?!"

Pei Wenxuan was completely furious when he heard her words. He was so angry that he clenched the wood in his hand that was fiddling with the fire, controlled his speech, and stared at Li Rong: "Li Rong, I don't think I have done anything to let you down. Although you and I often quarrel and occasionally clash, I have never let you down in all these years, right? For the dispute over the throne, you actually let Su Rongqing take action..."

"You are not?" Li Rong said coldly, "You are just the heir to the throne, and you have forgotten the oath of the covenant. You can kill me, so I shouldn't do it?"

"Killing you is nothing more than fulfilling the promise between you and me."

Pei Wenxuan was stunned when he heard this. He realized something was wrong and asked quickly, "Who was the first to break the oath and attack the other party?"

Li Rong also reacted when Pei Wenxuan asked this question, and her face immediately changed: "Didn't you poison me first?"

As she spoke, she immediately described: "You came to me first and warned me. When you came, you had a strange fragrance on your body. Not long after you left, I drank a bowl of medicine and was poisoned. Wasn't it you who poisoned me?"

"No," Pei Wenxuan was shocked, but he reacted quickly and explained to Li Rong about the past life, "I did place a hidden stake in the princess's mansion to prevent any accidents. I had someone poison you after you sent someone to kill me."

"When did you die?"

Li Rong frowned, and Pei Wenxuan thought for a moment: "On the way back from the Princess's Mansion, he was intercepted and killed by Su Rongqing and his men."

"It is indeed my man."

Li Rong lowered her eyes. After a moment of silence, the two of them sorted out their thoughts. Pei Wenxuan thought for a moment before concluding: "So, in your last life, you didn't actually want to kill me. Someone made you think I killed you, and you fought back and killed me before you died. Is that right?"

“That’s how it should be.”

Li Rong responded softly, and Pei Wenxuan looked at her quietly. He paused for a moment and chuckled. He wanted to say something but didn't. He raised his hand and patted his thigh, sighed and said, "The agency is too smart, but its smartness backfired. Li Rong, you still don't believe me after all."

"Do you believe me again?"

Li Rong looked up at him with a calm expression.

If she believed him, she would not have identified him as the murderer at the first moment, and she would not even be willing to transfer power to Su Rongqing and kill him.

And he would not have planted hidden stakes in her house early on, ready to strike back and kill her at any time.

"You're right," Pei Wenxuan nodded. "It's hard for a real couple to have such heartfelt trust, let alone us. But I'm curious, how did you determine that the murderer was me?"

"I died from the poison of Lady Xiang." Li Rong recalled the state before her death. "When you came to see me, you had a strange fragrance on your body. You almost never wear perfume bags normally, but you wore one that day. Then you told me about Chu Jun and threatened to kill me if I didn't agree. After you left, I drank the medicine and died of the poison."

Pei Wenxuan listened to Li Rong's story about her death with a solemn expression. Li Rong continued, "The evidence is indeed not sufficient, but you have the motive and ability, and the clues point to you..."

"You think it's me."

Pei Wenxuan nodded in summary. Li Rong remained silent. Pei Wenxuan seemed to find it funny. He looked down at the fish with a hint of self-mockery in his eyes.

Li Rong knew she was in the wrong, so she didn't dare to say anything. After a while, she whispered, "Where does that fragrance on you come from?"

"I told you, you're probably going to be unhappy." Pei Wenxuan's eyes were filled with a bit of schadenfreude.

Li Rong thought for a moment and frowned: "Su Rongqing?"

"yes."

Pei Wenxuan took the fish off the fire, looked around, and saw that the fish was almost done, so he handed one to Li Rong. Li Rong took the fish in a daze, put it on the fire to roast, and listened to Pei Wenxuan slowly saying: "When I went there, Su Rongqing said that you were very sick. When you enter the inner room from the outer room, you must wear a herbal sachet, otherwise you will cough when you see people. I asked someone to check the ingredients of the sachet, and it was tested and found to be non-toxic, so I took it. And your servants all carry this sachet, but mine is newer, so the fragrance is stronger."

Li Rong was stunned. Pei Wenxuan looked at her in a daze, thinking that she was not someone who would easily believe him. He then said, "You don't have to believe me. It doesn't matter. Anyway, even if it's not Su Rongqing, it's not me either. Just don't put the blame on me."

Li Rong said nothing, she just stared at the fire. Pei Wenxuan was flipping the fish and looking at her with a smile, seeming to be quite happy.

Li Rong couldn't help feeling a little dazed when she heard him acting like he was not afraid of any trouble in the midst of all the fun.

She believed what Pei Wenxuan said.

She was the one who saved Su Rongqing.

When Prince Su was plotting a rebellion, Su Rongqing's brother spoke for Prince Su, but was later framed for having an affair with Prince Su and saying that Su and Prince Su were plotting a rebellion together. Li Chuan was so angry that he imprisoned the entire Su family without a joint trial by the three courts, executing the men and exiling the women.

She disagreed with this and rushed to Li Chuan for help before the Su family met with disaster. She was beaten with ten boards and, with the help of Pei Wenxuan, she was able to obtain a special amnesty for the Su family.

The death penalty can be avoided, but the living crime cannot be escaped. Even if the male members of the Su family could survive, they were all castrated. Others could not bear the humiliation and committed suicide in prison. When she passed away, there was only one male member of the Su family left, Su Rongqing, who was "trying to survive".

At that time, she told Su Rongqing that she rescued him and did not ask for anything in return. She could give him silver and a job so that he could live a good life in the future.

At that time, she didn't have any special feelings for Su Rongqing, but because he had saved her and taken care of her, she felt a little more grateful, and... a vague tenderness. She saved Su's family because she was more concerned about Li Chuan and her own conscience.

The Su family was a noble family, and she could not sit idly by and watch them suffer such an unclear disaster.

But at that time Su Rongqing didn't want to leave.

He knelt before her and begged her respectfully: "My body is broken and I am not tolerated by this world. I can live in peace in the princess's mansion. I am willing to serve the princess and repay her for saving my life with my life and death."

He said so, so she kept him. The Su family had many enemies outside, and Su Rongqing could not enter the officialdom in his life, and it would be difficult for him to have a position outside. She couldn't bear to see Su Rongqing being humiliated outside.

Because he was castrated, it was natural for him to stay in her house. Later, they developed a relationship. Although Pei Wenxuan noticed it, he couldn't say anything. Li Chuan and the court officials didn't think much about it, so Pei Wenxuan's cheating was not so obvious.

It's not that she hadn't thought about Su Rongqing's revenge. After all, it was Li Chuan who personally ordered the execution of all the male members of the Su family and the exile of all the female members. No one could forget this blood feud, let alone the number one prince of that year. So for so many years, she didn't dare to hand over the real power to him. She watched him, guarded against him, and tried to make his life better.

She couldn't overcome her conscience and really kill him, but she couldn't really feel at ease handing over power to him.

In the end, he still took action. He killed her first, and then took over her power in the name of eliminating Pei Wenxuan. If she guessed correctly, he would not leave with her staff, but would win the hearts of the people in the name of revenge for her, join hands with the queen, and fight to the death with Pei Wenxuan's remaining faction to promote Li Xin to the throne.

In this way, he can be tied to her people tightly, and he will have real power. Li Chuan has been practicing Taoism for many years, and his foundation in the court has long been unstable. In addition, his health has been failing recently. Su Rongqing may really have a chance to kill Li Chuan with her own hands.

She had anticipated this from the moment she took Su Rongqing in, but when it really came, she couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

If the Su family had been able to avoid the disaster, perhaps she and Su Rongqing would not have ended up like this.

Li Rong took a deep breath, and seeing Pei Wenxuan's happy expression, she couldn't help but ask, "What are you happy about?"

Pei Wenxuan grilled the fish and said in a long voice: "I told you long ago that this person can't stay, but you didn't listen. Now look what happened." He smiled and looked over, "You got a loss, didn't you?"

"Are you so happy just because I suffered a loss?" Li Rong said coldly.

"That's right." Pei Wenxuan said happily, "It's a rare opportunity for our Princess to suffer a loss. It's a rare opportunity to see such a spectacle." Pei Wenxuan raised a hand and placed it on his chest, "I feel very relieved."

"Master Pei is wrong this time," Li Rong was so angry that she laughed and said, "I have let him serve me for 25 years, so I am willing to let him kill me. You are just a fish in the pond, what are you so proud of?"

"He has already killed you, and you are still willing?" Pei Wenxuan sneered. Li Rong squinted at him, "Why, Master Pei still doesn't allow it?"

"Is it my turn to agree or not?" Pei Wenxuan laughed angrily, "Princess, you are a princess, you can do whatever you want, but I have to remind you."

Pei Wenxuan turned his head to look at the jumping fire, his voice became a little colder: "In the last life, if you had been entangled with him, you would have been beaten with a stick. Now if you dare to be entangled with Su Rongqing, it would be better for you to go and marry. Otherwise, I am afraid that your life will be in danger."