Pei Wenxuan held Li Rong in his arms without making any further movements. After a while, he slowly fell asleep.

Li Rong noticed that Pei Wenxuan fell asleep, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She relaxed completely and fell asleep with her eyes closed.

When the lights in the Princess's Mansion were turned off, the Shangguan Mansion was brightly lit. Many people gathered in Shangguan Xu's room, all with worried looks on their faces. Yu Shitai Wenping walked back and forth in the room, looking angry, and scolded Wang Xi, a doctor in the Ministry of War, saying, "I asked you to find a handle. You said that his family had problems in the battle in Huangping County, but that battle was caused by your embezzlement of military pay. Why didn't you say it in advance? Now someone has found a handle, this is good, we are all finished together!"

"Can you blame me for this?" Wang Xi also had a bit of anger on his face, but he didn't dare to scold him directly, so he could only say in a roundabout way, "The Qin family doesn't have anything to investigate, but they insist on investigating. What can I do?"

In order to fight for the military power in the northwest, he originally planned to find a few dishonest people from these poor families to deal with, in order to scare Xiao Su and make him not rely on Concubine Rou and the emperor to go against the noble families, but Shangguan Xu temporarily changed the target family to the Qin family.

The Qin family was a clean-handed family with nothing to do. In order to curry favor with Shangguan Xu, the subordinates turned a blind eye and simply tore up the military report of Huangping County that had been submitted to the Ministry of War. Everyone in the family was determined to make this an ironclad case.

If it involves the front line, it means the crime of confiscating property and exterminating the clan. When such a case was brought out, everyone was a little scared at first, but thinking that the emperor had been suppressing the noble families too much recently, a group of people wanted to dampen Li Ming's temper, so they simply decided to handle this case with determination.

But who could have thought of it?

At first, Wang Xi did not dare to reveal the matter of missing military pay, and only said that there were doubts in the case. The people in the Ministry of Justice thought they could cover up the truth, so they tried to forge evidence, and finally they were dragged into such a military pay case by Li Rong.

Wang Xi's words were full of meaning, and Shangguan Xu also heard it. He raised his head and looked over coldly: "Why, are you blaming me?"

"I don't dare."

Wang Xi held his breath and could only say: "But at the beginning, Wen Yu, Shi Cui and others all said that no matter what the case was, it could be handled properly. Now that something went wrong, it's all my fault. I..."

Wang Xi didn't say anything else, but Shangguan Xu already understood.

Cui Shuyun, who had been listening for a long time, sighed. He was the Minister of the Ministry of Justice and the main person in charge of this matter. After the situation got to this point, he lost the strength to argue and could only say, "It is meaningless to discuss right and wrong now, Prime Minister." Cui Shuyun turned his head and looked at Shangguan Xu and said, "The most important thing now is to stop His Highness. If it weren't for His Highness investigating today's matter, would it have come to this? If it were someone else, everyone would have taken action long ago, but His Highness is the eldest sister of the prince and the niece of the Prime Minister after all, and everyone gave in to her for the Prime Minister's sake. Previously, the Prime Minister took into account the friendship of His Highness, but now it depends on His Highness whether he will take into account the friendship of the Prime Minister."

Shangguan Xu listened to Cui Shuyun's words, turned around, and his eyes fell on Cui Shuyun's face. He said coldly: "What do you mean?"

"Prime Minister," Cui Shuyun took a cup of tea from the side and said calmly, "I have made some inquiries about the military pay case today. Many people are involved, such as my third uncle..."

"You want to protect him?"

Shangguan Xu understood what Cui Shuyun meant and said calmly, "He embezzled military pay. You want to protect such a big thing, Cui Shuyun, are you crazy?"

"You are joking, sir," Cui Shuyun laughed, "I am just pleading for your uncle. After all, your uncle is the main leader of this matter."

Shangguan Xu was not surprised to hear this. With a cold face, he listened to Cui Shuyun calmly saying: "Sir, whether His Highness can stop or not depends on your opinion. If His Highness can't stop..."

Cui Shuyun didn't finish his words. He smiled and bowed, saying, "Sir Shangguan, it's getting late. You should have a good talk with His Highness. We will leave first."

Wang Xi and others followed Cui Shuyun in paying their respects. A group of ministers greeted Shangguan Xu and then withdrew.

After everyone left, Shangguan Xu suddenly flipped the table and said angrily: "Shameless!"

Shangguan Ya was waiting in the courtyard. After Cui Shuyun and others came out, she took a bowl of soup and went to Shangguan Xu's study.

"Dad," Shangguan Ya stood at the door and said softly, "Your daughter has prepared snow pear soup for you. Your daughter is coming in."

"go out!"

Shangguan Xu shouted angrily: "I'm already annoyed! What are you mixing with me?"

Shangguan Ya listened to Shangguan Xu's words without getting annoyed. She just said, "Dad, the fire is too strong and needs pear soup to cool it down. Dad, please let your daughter come in."

Shangguan Xu was about to curse, but before he opened his mouth, he realized something and stopped. He thought for a moment and suddenly realized that Shangguan Ya might be hinting at something, so he hurriedly said, "Come in."

Shangguan Ya came in with pear soup and saw Shangguan Xu sitting behind the table. She waved her hand and the servants beside her went out. Shangguan Ya went forward and placed the pear soup in front of Shangguan Xu, pursed her lips and smiled, "Those people are here to make Dad unhappy again."

"It's late at night, if you have anything to say, just say it."

No one knows a daughter better than her father. Shangguan Xu knew what kind of a monkey he had raised. When Shangguan Ya brought the soup over, he knew what his daughter was probably thinking.

Shangguan Ya smiled, knelt down in front of Shangguan Xu, and said gently: "My daughter heard that the Qin family's case has been overturned."

Shangguan Xu's expression remained unchanged. Shangguan Ya poured tea and said calmly, "It is said that this is a case in Huangping County, and it is related to the military pay case. I think if something goes wrong with the military pay, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue will not be able to escape. The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue is my uncle. I feel uneasy when I think about it. If my uncle is involved in this case, should I take care of it or not? If I take care of it, embezzlement of military pay is a matter that will shake the foundation of the country. But if I don't take care of it, I'm afraid grandma will not let dad go and will make a big fuss."

"Just tell me." Shangguan Xu knew that Shangguan Ya was here to lobby, so he asked directly, "What do you want to do?"

"I wonder what my father is going to do next?"

Shangguan Ya asked directly, but before Shangguan Xu could answer, she helped Shangguan Xu continue: "Father is facing only two problems now. First, Cui Shuyun and others fabricated evidence to frame Qin. Should we protect her or not? Second, should father investigate the case of embezzlement of military funds or not? But in the final analysis, this matter is actually a problem in the end, that is, facing Her Royal Highness the Princess," Shangguan Ya raised her head and looked at Shangguan Xu, "What attitude should we take to face it?"

"And standing behind the princess is His Majesty, so what I want to ask today is, father, how should I face His Majesty?"

"Your Majesty's intention to weaken the Shangguan family is well known to everyone. Father's tough attitude now is just to make Your Majesty cautious and not to take extreme actions," Shangguan Ya said, stirring the tea leaves into the teapot in a calm voice, "but father does not want to completely break with Your Majesty. The Shangguan family will stand on Your Majesty's side no matter what. After all, no matter what, Your Majesty is from the Shangguan family. He is your cousin, and his wife is your sister. If the Shangguan family breaks with Your Majesty completely, the aristocratic family may gather the power of the ministers to replace the king. And will the new king still be from the Shangguan family?"

"You are right," Shangguan Xu said a little tiredly, "but His Majesty doesn't think so. He is now obsessed with the Shangguan family's interference in government..."

"Your Majesty, your idea is not bad." Shangguan Ya said slowly, "For example, in this case, father, if the princess does not intervene, how will you deal with the military pay case in the end?"

Shangguan Xu paused, and Shangguan Ya said in a steady voice: "This case involves many members of the Shi family. Father can't really do anything to his supporters, as this will chill their hearts. So if they really investigate, it will just mean demotion and exile, and arresting a few little demons without backers as a punishment, but will this have any effect?"

"The noble families are intertwined like a spider web. You can't move, and neither can Your Majesty. But no one is moving," Shangguan Ya smiled bitterly. "Then it's normal for the Yang family to sell out their country and bribe the Rong country to avoid war."

"So it is normal for Your Majesty to think that the Shangguan family is interfering in government affairs."

"But all noble families are like this." Shangguan Xu's face was a little angry. "He is targeting the Shangguan family so much?"

"Who is the representative of the noble family?" Shangguan Ya asked calmly. Shangguan Xu was stunned for a moment. Shangguan Ya lowered her eyes and poured tea, and said slowly, "Father, the current situation of the Shangguan family is that the emperor is jealous above and the noble families are resentful below. The Shangguan family has long been a target. It seems to be extremely powerful, but it has long been in danger. This time, father, can you feel that things have already gone beyond your control? In order to please you, the people below lied about Qin's case. Now that the incident happened, you are forced to be involved with them. In the end, do you control them, or do they control you?"

Shangguan Xu listened with a calm expression. He took the tea from Shangguan Ya and took a sip. He was silent for a long time, as if he was thinking about Shangguan Ya's words.

Shangguan Ya waited for a long time. Shangguan Xu slowly put down his teacup and finally said, "Then according to your opinion, what do you think we should do now?"

"From my daughter's point of view, what happened today is not the first time. Father is already exhausted. Why not take advantage of today's opportunity to completely rectify the Shangguan family?"

"Rectify?" Shangguan Xu frowned. Shangguan Ya took a step back. She knelt in front of Shangguan Xu and saluted respectfully: "Father."

"If my father trusts me, I am willing to be an envoy and ask for peace from His Majesty on my father's behalf."

"then?"

"Then, we will use the princess's name to rectify the Shangguan family. If there are people who have committed crimes such as embezzling military funds, they will all be dealt with first."

"We will suffer heavy losses if this happens," Shangguan Xu said anxiously, "If other noble families strike back, or if His Majesty wants to cause trouble for us..."

"Isn't there a princess?"

Shangguan Ya spoke calmly. Shangguan Xu was stunned for a moment. Shangguan Ya laughed and said, "Father, if the Shangguan family wants to last long, a noble family cannot go beyond the imperial power."

"What do you mean? If you think we just need to submit to the imperial power, why don't you just surrender directly to His Majesty?"

"Because if we obey His Majesty directly, His Majesty will limitlessly weaken the power of the noble families to satisfy his intentions. Only by relying on the princess can she give us balance."

Shangguan Ya analyzed: "The princess needs the power of the family to support her position, so she will protect us. In exchange, we must obey the princess's arrangements. Otherwise, the princess would not dare to hold a knife without a sheath. With the princess, we have a buffer between His Majesty and us. Now that we have cut off our wings, we are surrendering to His Majesty and even more so to the princess."

"The princess will only accept a clean Shangguan family, and father, you can only absolutely grasp power in a clean Shangguan family."

Otherwise he will have countless leverage and will always be controlled by others.

"Then," Shangguan Xu hesitated, "how can I ask this?"

If he proposed to investigate the Shangguan family himself, he would be forced to step down from his position as the head of the family by the family elders as soon as he opened his mouth.

Shangguan Ya saw Shangguan Xu's hesitation and laughed, "Don't you still have me?"

Shangguan Xu was stunned. Shangguan Ya looked at Shangguan Xu and said, "Father, you can let me do the internal investigation of the Shangguan family. From today on, I am the scabbard of the Shangguan family."

"As long as my father doesn't mind my daughter's identity as a woman," Shangguan Ya sighed, "it would be fine if he could give her some power in secret."

Shangguan Xu remained silent. Shangguan Ya looked at him with her peripheral vision. After a long while, Shangguan Xu finally said, "Okay."

As he spoke, he looked at the sky and said directly, "You should leave now and go to the Princess's Mansion to convey my intentions."

"From now on, the Shangguan family will be the princess' Shangguan family, and I hope the princess will give this case more consideration."

This is an exchange.

Shangguan Ya smiled and stood up to salute. When she turned around, Shangguan Xu suddenly said, "I've always known that you went to the casino."

Shangguan Ya froze, her smile temporarily failing to maintain.

Shangguan Xu continued, "I hope you can tell His Highness one thing. In fact, I could have fought her to the end. If I killed her, the Inspection Department would be finished. Then I could put pressure on Your Majesty and unite with the noble families in the future. Whether Your Majesty deposed the crown prince or not, I could have made the crown prince ascend the throne."

"I'm compromising now, but only for one reason," Shangguan Xu sighed, with a hint of helplessness in his tone, "You young people are all my family."

"I hope Your Highness will always remember this."