"Your Highness," Pei Xuanqing frowned, he stood up and said, "Although Wenxuan married you and is your husband, and you are eager to protect him, I understand, but Wenxuan is also a member of the Pei family. It is not the principle of Daxia to leave the clan if he does not become a son-in-law. He is a member of the Pei family for a while, and he will be a member of the Pei family for life. I hope Your Highness will understand."

"What do you want to forgive?" Li Rong sneered, "I want to forgive you for being so ungrateful and short-sighted?"

"Your Highness," Pei Liwen said hastily, "How could you ..."

"Shut up!" Li Rong slapped Pei Liwen on the face and shouted angrily. Pei Liwen was stunned by her and stared at Li Rong blankly with his face covered.

After this incident, no one in the Pei family dared to say anything. She turned her head, stared at Pei Xuanqing, and said in a cold voice: "I know very well why you let Pei Wenxuan come today. Do you think that beating him today is an explanation to the other families and a warning to me. Let me not build the Supervisory Department to meddle in other people's business?"

"Do you think," Li Rong looked around, "that your Pei family is now a big family in the court, Pei Lixian is the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, with a rank comparable to that of a prime minister, Pei Li is the Minister of Culture and Works, and there are many other children throughout the court, so you are the same as those aristocratic families? If they ask you to come and cause trouble for me, you can't wait to be used as a knife? Do you want me to remind you all?"

Li Rong taunted, "Your Pei family is from a poor family in Luzhou. Before this generation, you were not even as good as a second-rate family in the court, and your highest official position was only a fourth-rank minister. It was Pei Wenxuan's father, Pei Lizhi, who brought you from Luzhou to the court, and brought you from a poor family to an aristocratic family!"

"And what about now? Pei Lizhi has only been gone for a short time, and you are already bullying these orphans and widows like this."

"Your Highness," Pei Lixian said coldly, "You are going too far."

"It's over?" Li Rong laughed. "Pei Wenxuan is the top scholar in the third year of his reign. He comes from an aristocratic family. With his status, he should have been in a position of power long ago. But what about now? If he hadn't married me, he would still be a minor official, not even as good as a jailer! You can fool the Wen family with the training that disciples from aristocratic families need to go through, but can you fool me?!"

"When he was sick, you held him back from being seen; when he went out to socialize, you refused to give him money and made things difficult for him; now he is in the court, relying on himself to fight for a way out for the Pei family, and you are so blind as to bully him to this extent!"

"You say you are his family," Li Rong said sarcastically, scanning the crowd one by one. "Have you ever cared about him or helped him?"

"Establishing the Supervisory Department is my business and His Majesty's business. Even if you beat him to death, neither His Majesty nor I will stop. And you should also remember how your Pei family got to the top. Don't sit in a high position for too long and forget where you came from."

As she spoke, Li Rong turned to look at Pei Wenxuan: "Who did it?"

Pei Wenxuan knew that Li Rong was angry, so he didn't dare to say anything more and could only raise his finger and point at the person.

Li Rong directly ordered the people around him: "Break your hands."

After Li Rong finished speaking, she pulled Pei Wenxuan up and walked out directly.

Two male screams were heard in the hall. Li Rong led Pei Wenxuan to the door. Suddenly, she remembered something, stopped, turned around and looked at the Pei family.

"I will say this one last time today. Pei Wenxuan is my consort and my man. If you don't like him, then expel him from the family tree, and I will help him to set up his own family. If you still want to keep him, you should respect him the same way you respect me."

"As for Wen," Li Rong guessed that Wen should be there too, so she raised her voice, "If you can't learn how to care for your child, then go back to your temple, fast and chant to commemorate your husband for the rest of your life."

"Pei Wenxuan already has a new family. He has someone to take care of him and love him. If you are not able to shoulder the responsibility of being a mother, please do not cause him trouble. He can tolerate it, but I cannot."

"Do you understand?"

Li Rong looked at everyone, but no one dared to speak. The servant whose hand was broken rolled on the ground and wailed. Seeing that no one responded, Li Rong turned around and pulled Pei Wenxuan out.

She walked in a hurry, obviously trying to control her emotions. Pei Wenxuan was dragged by her, and his wounds hurt whenever he moved. But for some reason, being dragged by Li Rong like this, passing through the familiar corridors and paths of Pei's house, even though the wounds on his back hurt, he felt inexplicably happy.

He felt as if he was walking on a road full of flowers. Li Rong was holding his hand and leading him towards a completely new, unknown, yet exceptionally beautiful world.

He looked at Li Rong's back and couldn't help but laugh. He held Li Rong's hand and squeezed it tightly. He wanted to hold her hand and follow her, watching her reveal all her emotions for him.

Only then did he realize that when Li Rong lost her composure for him, he could feel such great happiness.

Li Rong dragged him all the way out of Pei's house. When they reached the door, she finally let him go. Then she turned around unexpectedly and slapped Pei Wenxuan in the face: "Are you stupid? Don't you know what they are doing?"

"I calculated it. It's okay." Pei Wenxuan looked at Li Rong angry, but he couldn't stop smiling. Li Rong was even more furious when she heard this. She laughed in anger and said, "Okay, okay, what do you mean by calculated? Have you ever thought about it? If your second uncle is determined to do it today and lets his servants take the opportunity to beat you to a pulp, your life will be over."

"No." Pei Wenxuan smiled and said, "Besides, aren't you here?"

Pei Wenxuan seemed to remember something as he said, "Didn't you go to Su Rongqing's for dinner? I specifically told you not to disturb you."

Li Rong didn't say anything, she just stared at Pei Wenxuan. She couldn't tell what emotion she was feeling, she just looked at this person, facing everything as if nothing had happened. She had an indescribable discomfort and bitterness filling her heart.

Pity, sadness, and pity, mixed with indescribable emotions, made her stare at him with a cold face.

"Pei Wenxuan," Li Rong finally spoke, "When will you think more about yourself and realize that you are important and don't risk yourself for everything?"

Pei Wenxuan didn't say anything. In fact, Li Rong's expression was no different from usual. But at that moment, he seemed to see tears in Li Rong's eyes.

The tenderness permeated his heart, making him suddenly feel that he seemed to be quite valuable.

She was worried about him, cared about him, felt unfair for him, and felt sad for him.

Pei Wenxuan smiled, he walked forward and hugged Li Rong, he pulled her into his arms and tightened his arms.

"I will work harder in the future."

Pei Wenxuan said in a low voice: "Try harder, so you won't worry."

"I'm not worried."

Li Rong said in a stiff voice: "I just feel that you have embarrassed me. You are my consort, and only I can bully you."

"Okay." Pei Wenxuan smiled and hugged her tightly, "From now on, I will only let you bully me."

"Pei Wenxuan," Li Rong's tone softened as she heard him give in, "Why are you so useless?"

"I was wrong."

Pei Wenxuan said gently: "I will never let anyone bully me again."

Li Rong felt that Pei Wenxuan was just trying to get her to stop, but she had nothing more to say. Xun Chuan led the group out. Li Rong felt a little embarrassed to be hugged in public. She whispered, "Let's get in the carriage."

Pei Wenxuan responded and slowly let go of Li Rong. Xun Chuan came over and saw the two people. She nodded at Pei Wenxuan and then reported the situation to Li Rong.

Li Rong asked Pei Wenxuan to get on the carriage, and she and Xun Chuan listened to the information she had just observed at the Pei family. She said, "I will look for trouble with the Pei family tomorrow. You continue to look for Luo Juan first. Have you found him?"

"No." Xun Chuan frowned and said, "He is not at his house. He has disappeared for several days. I am still chasing him."

"Yes." Li Rong nodded and said, "You continue to investigate. It's getting late. Let's go back."

After Li Rong finished speaking, she got on the carriage. After entering the carriage, Pei Wenxuan was already sitting in his seat. Except for his pale face, everything else looked normal.

Li Rong walked in with a cold face, sat next to him and said, "Let me see."

"Just wait until we get home and let the doctor see it."

Pei Wenxuan smiled and said, "It's useless for you to read it."

"Turn around."

Li Rong spoke coldly, and Pei Wenxuan's face froze, but he glanced at Li Rong's expression, and finally turned around and said with a smile: "Don't blame me if you get scared."

As he spoke, Li Rong saw his clothes stained with blood.

I couldn't see it clearly in the dark just now, but now it is much clearer under the candlelight. Li Rong watched quietly. Seeing that she didn't say anything, Pei Wenxuan joked, "Why, do you want me to take off my clothes for you to see?"

"Pei Wenxuan," Li Rong said hoarsely, "Aren't you in pain?"

Pei Wenxuan turned his back to him. After a while, he sighed and said, "Your Highness, you and I are different people. You are born in a noble family. Many times, you can suppress others with your status and power. But I can't do that. Ethics and morality always suppress me. I can't do what Your Highness does."

"Your Highness can say the same thing today, but I cannot."

Pei Wenxuan smiled bitterly: "I am used to this life, and I don't think it's a big deal. It's just that I am guilty of causing Your Highness to suffer. I didn't want to alarm Your Highness, but I didn't expect Your Highness to come anyway. But don't worry, Your Highness. Now that I am injured, my mother is a fence-sitter. Tomorrow, as long as I can convince my mother to stand on our side, I can go to my grandfather to negotiate. Not to mention that the Pei family will be handed over to me, but my father's share of the property must be divided on my side."

Li Rong listened to Pei Wenxuan's words without much response. She untied Pei Wenxuan's belt from behind and pulled down Pei Wenxuan's clothes.

Pei Wenxuan had his back to her and felt her movements. He knew that she wanted to take a look at his wound and help him deal with it, but for some reason, he felt an inexplicable sense of tension rising in him.

Li Rong looked at Pei Wenxuan's entire back exposed under the light. He was fair-skinned, and his back had the thinness that was unique to a scholar. There were bloodstains crisscrossing his back, which looked a little scary.

Li Rong looked at the bloodstains. The lights in the carriage were a little dazzling. She moved forward and observed the wounds.

The breath sprayed on Pei Wenxuan's back, and Pei Wenxuan stiffened.

He felt that she was too close to him, yet he wished she was closer. For a moment, heaven and hell overlapped at the same time. Li Rong gently placed her hands on his shoulders and lightly touched her forehead to his uninjured back.

"Pei Wenxuan, actually I used to complain about you not having money just to tease you."

She whispered, "Don't do this again in the future. It makes me uncomfortable to see you trying so hard."

The author has something to say: Little Pei was finally adopted by the princess and taken home!