Pei Wenxuan was silently thinking about how to respond when an old man called out from not far away: "Your Highness."

They both looked over and saw Xie Lanqing walking towards them from not far away.

Pei Wenxuan and Li Rong looked at each other very quickly, and saw some surprise in each other's eyes. Xie Lanqing walked up to the two of them and saluted to Li Rong: "Your Highness."

"Thank you, Minister." Li Rong nodded as a greeting, then smiled and said, "Mr. Xie usually doesn't talk to me, why did you take the initiative to greet me today?"

This was an extremely humiliating statement, especially for Xie Lanqing who had served in such a key position as the Minister of Justice for many years.

But Xie Lanqing remained calm and said, "I heard that Your Highness was assassinated yesterday. I am worried. I am afraid that Your Highness, as a young man, has no experience in handling cases, so I came to ask if you need help from the Ministry of Justice."

"I have captured the person and have almost finished the interrogation," Li Rong looked into Xie Lanqing's eyes, "I will not trouble you, sir."

"Does Your Highness know the mastermind now?"

Xie Lanqing asked directly. Li Rong put her hands in front of her and looked at Xie Lanqing, smiling but saying nothing. Xie Lanqing frowned and asked, "Why don't you answer, Your Highness?"

"Why is Lord Xie asking?" Pei Wenxuan interrupted at the right time. Xie Lanqing looked at Pei Wenxuan and saw Pei Wenxuan smiling and said, "Could it be that Lord Xie is worried about something, so he needs to come and confirm with His Highness?"

"I am only worried that Your Highness asked this casually. Lord Pei is overthinking it."

Xie Lan had a cold face and was quite dissatisfied. Pei Wenxuan put his hands in front of him and bowed as an apology.

"Since my concern has aroused suspicion from Your Highness, I will not ask any more questions," Xie Lanqing turned around and said coldly, "Your Highness, please investigate it yourself."

Xie Lanqing said this and returned to her seat. Pei Wenxuan glanced at Li Rong and then smiled: "Your Highness, I will take my leave first."

Pei Wenxuan bowed and returned to his seat.

Soon Li Ming arrived at the main hall and started the morning court as usual. Li Ming looked a little tired and seemed very irritable. After he entered the court, he first asked about the weather in various places, then turned to look at Li Rong and said stiffly, "Pingle."

"Father."

Li Rong heard that Li Ming's voice seemed to be restrained, and knew that Li Ming was not in a good mood today. She hurriedly knelt forward, already in a gesture of apology. Seeing her action, Li Ming slowed down a little and said: "I heard that you were assassinated yesterday. Is this true?"

"Report to the Emperor, this is indeed the case."

"What a mess!"

Li Ming stood up suddenly and shouted: "Who dares to assassinate you? Do you want to die?!"

"Reporting to the Emperor, the murderer who has been captured confessed that he is a member of the family of Chen Guang, the former head of the Cangbu, and he came here for revenge."

"Revenge?" Li Ming laughed angrily after hearing this. "He's not dead yet, what's there to take revenge for? And he embezzled military pay and committed such a heinous crime, shouldn't he be put to death?! How dare his family take revenge?"

"Your Majesty, I have something to report." A censor stood out from the censors' line. Li Ming raised his eyes and said coldly, "I am talking to the princess. What do you want to report? Wait a minute."

"Your Majesty," the official did not retreat, but continued, "What I want to report is related to the princess."

Li Ming frowned, and Li Rong also turned to look over. After looking for a moment, she finally recognized the person. It was Chen Guang's cousin Wang Huan.

Li Rong raised her eyebrows and saw Li Ming waved his hand impatiently. Wang Huan bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I would like to ask you to summon Chen Wangshi."

"Chen Wang?"

Li Ming was somewhat puzzled, and Wang Huan said respectfully, "It is Chen Guang's mother, Chen Wang."

Li Ming hesitated for a moment, then seemed to remember something and said impatiently, "Go ahead."

Li Rong observed Li Ming's expression and pondered a little. After a while, hurried footsteps were heard at the door. A moment later, an old woman with white hair walked in and said respectfully, "Greetings, Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty."

Everyone looked over. Li Ming seemed to think for a moment, then hesitantly said: "You...seem to be..."

"Your Majesty," the woman raised her head and said respectfully, "I used to be a lady-in-waiting in the palace. When Your Highness was young, I took care of Your Majesty for some time. I didn't expect that Your Majesty still remembers me."

"I remember now," Li Ming's expression eased a little, and he nodded, "You used to work in the Empress Dowager's palace for a period of time."

When Mrs. Chen heard this, she kowtowed again, tears welling up in her eyes. Li Ming saw that Mrs. Chen had white hair and whispered, "Mrs. Chen is not young anymore, please give her a seat. What are you doing here today?"

"Your Majesty, I came here today to seek justice for my son."

As Chen Wang spoke, she raised her head and cried, "I have come to the court today to accuse Her Royal Highness Princess Pingle of torturing my son Chen Guang into confessing. I hope Your Majesty will be wise and understand!"

Li Ming frowned and glanced at Li Rong.

Li Rong had just finished accusing the Chen family of assassinating her when Chen Wang came to accuse Li Rong of being tortured into confessing. Everyone looked at Li Rong as if they were watching the excitement. After a moment's hesitation, Li Ming said, "You said Pingle beat Chen Guang. How do you, a woman, know that?"

"Your Majesty, although I am a woman of modesty, I miss my son so much that I asked my servants to go around and finally got a chance to see my son. I know that what I did is a crime, and I am willing to take full responsibility. But everything I said is true. I hope Your Majesty will order other officials to review the military pay case and clear my son's name."

"Besides you, is there anyone else who can testify to this?"

"In addition to me, there are also the servants who visited with me, as well as other guards in the Inspection Office. I just don't know whether they are willing to tell the truth."

"Your servant is your surname Chen, so he should avoid suspicion. You can't find anyone among the guards in the Inspection Office, which means that there is no evidence for what you said."

Li Ming thought for a moment and said slowly, "And today Pingle accused you of assassinating her with the Chen family, but there are witnesses and physical evidence. Do you admit it?"

"My Chen family assassinated the princess?"

Chen Wang's eyes widened, and then hurriedly said: "No, it's impossible. Your Majesty, my Chen family has been loyal to the emperor for a hundred years, and dare not disobey the royal family in the slightest. Even if Your Highness kills my son and destroys the Chen family, we dare not assassinate Your Highness!"

"Do you have any evidence?"

Li Ming asked calmly. Chen Wang's face turned pale. She knelt there blankly. After a long time, she kowtowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have nothing. I am just a woman in the back house. I can only see my son once even if I spend all my family wealth. I cannot torture him to extract a confession, nor can I bribe others. I have no experts to forge evidence and confuse right and wrong. But I believe that there is justice in this world, and there is a god above us. I have no evidence, but I," Chen Wang said calmly, "I am willing to die to prove my innocence!"

After saying that, Chen Wang fell headfirst to the ground.

Li Rong stood up suddenly and shouted, "Stop her!"

The moment she stood up, Pei Wenxuan rushed out with a brisk step. Everyone else looked at him in shock. When Pei Wenxuan rushed in front of Chen Wang, the old woman was still kneeling on the ground, and a pool of blood had already appeared on the ground.

Pei Wenxuan quickly turned the woman over and placed his hand on the tip of her nose. Li Rong calmly called, "Doctor Yu, call Doctor Yu over!"

As she spoke, Li Rong came in front of Chen Wangshi. Her hands were shaking slightly. Pei Wenxuan raised his head and shook it with a sullen face.

As he spoke, he stood up. Doctor Yu rushed in and examined Mrs. Chen Wang's pulse. After a moment, Doctor Yu raised his head and said in fear, "Your Majesty, this lady... has passed away."

Li Ming looked extremely unhappy. He seemed to be trying to control himself for a long time before he said, "Lift it down first."

The guards received the order and hurried forward to escort Chen Wang away. The court was in a dead silence. After a long while, Li Ming took a sip of tea and said, "Let's leave the court first."

Everyone saluted and then left in silence. Pei Wenxuan walked over to Li Rong and called out softly, "Your Highness."

"I'm fine."

Li Rong calmed down. At this time, Fulai came over and whispered, "Your Highness, His Majesty wants you to come over."

Li Rong responded, turned around and said to Pei Wenxuan: "You go back first."

Pei Wenxuan didn't say anything. He bowed to Li Rong and Fu Lai, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I'll wait for Your Highness outside the study."

Li Rong had no intention of responding to him. She just nodded and followed Fu Lai away.

She was led by Fulai all the way to Yu's study. When she entered the room, Li Ming stood with his back to her. As soon as she entered, she knelt down and saluted, saying, "Greetings, father..."

"Look at what you've done!"

Li Ming hit Li Rong on the head with a folded paper, and the folded paper instantly left a bruise on Li Rong's forehead.

Li Ming paused when he saw the wound on Li Rong's head. Then he said in a tough tone, "How many times have I told you to be cautious and not to be reckless? Look at you now. How can you be so reckless when judging such a big case? Do you really think that I can do whatever I want just because I pamper you?!"

"I don't know what your father is blaming you for."

Li Rong knelt on the ground and said calmly, "Father, do you think that I should not have tried the Qin case and the military pay case?"

"What's your attitude?" Li Ming was furious when he saw Li Rong's expression. "Are you threatening me? I asked you to handle these two cases, not to cause trouble for me! You don't know that the nobles cannot be punished, but you actually tortured officials to extract confessions..."

"I didn’t."

Li Rong spoke decisively. Li Ming looked around and waved his hand to have everyone rush out. Then he walked in front of Li Rong and squatted down: "Do you think I'm angry that you tortured them? If you want to investigate the case, you can do it your way. I only want the result. I'm angry that you didn't clean up the mess!"

"I didn't." Li Rong raised her head and said in a loud voice, "Father, why don't you believe that I didn't torture them? They wanted to harm me and assassinate me, so you don't blame them, but today you blame me?! Father, don't you know how much resistance there was in these two cases? Father, don't you understand how much pressure I endured for you and for the justice in my heart?"

As Li Rong spoke, her eyes turned red. She stared at Li Ming and said, "You clearly know how many of them want to harm me, but you still believe them..."

"Pingle..." Li Ming felt guilty when he saw Li Rong crying, "Father doesn't distrust you. It's just that your temper..."

"What's wrong with my temper?" Li Rong didn't care about her manners anymore. She just knelt on the ground and cried loudly, "I have a bad temper, don't I? I'm not worthy of being a princess or a daughter, right? They want to kill me every day, how can you expect me to have a good temper? You are my father, and it's fine if you don't protect me, but you also want to bully me together with them."

"Why did you bring up all this?" Li Ming felt a little headache. "What do you mean by bullying or not? You are now an official appointed by the court, why are you still acting like a child? How can this be tolerated?"

"I don't want dignity anymore," Li Rong cried, "I don't want to be this official anymore, please let me go back. Changle and Huale are both doing well, why should I wade into this mess? Why should I? Father, what do you think I want?!"

Li Rong raised her head and grabbed her clothes on her chest. "Isn't it all for my father that I went through life and death? I couldn't bear to see those noble families forcing my father. Did I do something wrong?"

These words hit Li Ming's heart instantly. He looked at Li Rong who was crying bitterly at his feet, and was unable to say anything for a moment.

He felt a little sad. Li Rong was crying in pain. After hesitating for a long time, Li Ming couldn't say anything. He sighed and finally said, "You should go back first. Don't worry about the military pay case and the Qin case."

"I don't care, who cares?"

Li Rong said in a low voice: "Father? Or the Crown Prince? Or someone else? Whoever cares about this matter will be in trouble. After so much effort, father wants to bow his head again, right?"

Li Ming remained silent. Li Rong supported herself and slowly climbed up: "Father, please make the decision. I am not responsible for anything."

"Rong'er," Li Ming looked at Li Rong's lost back and hesitated for a long time before he finally said, "Then, let Pei Wenxuan decide. You should be relieved if he makes the decision, right?"

Li Rong turned her back to Li Ming and after a long while, she said respectfully, "Thank you, Father."

As he spoke, Li Rong bowed and said, "I'll take my leave."

Li Ming responded, and Li Rong wiped her tears and walked out the door. After she left, Fu Lai brought her tea and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, Your Highness is still a child after all, still young."

"I thought she had grown up," Li Ming sighed, "but she is still young after all."

Li Rong wiped her tears and walked out of Yu's study. As soon as she walked out of the corridor, her expression turned cold.

Li Ming was in a bad mood today and was obviously dissatisfied with her, and the matter of Chen Wang had been prepared in advance. It was estimated that she had just set up an ambush yesterday, and those people in the dark came up with today's drama.

But who influenced Li Ming?

Li Rong thought about it and stepped out of the door. As soon as she left the yard, she saw a young man standing on the corridor. He was wearing a dark official uniform with a red border, holding a tablet, and was quietly looking at the dead branches in the courtyard.

Hearing the voice coming from the surrounding, he turned his head and looked at Li Rong. Seeing that it was Li Rong, he smiled and said respectfully, "Your Highness."

Li Rong didn't expect Pei Wenxuan to have been waiting here all this time. She suddenly became a little flustered. She lowered her head to hide the traces of her crying. She walked to his side and asked in a hoarse voice, "Why didn't you go to the government office?"

"Your Highness didn't listen to me carefully just now," Pei Wenxuan said, as if he didn't see anything, and sighed, "I said I would wait for you, but you didn't take it seriously at all. It seems that I am not important enough in your heart."

Li Rong couldn't help but laugh when she heard what he said: "How heavy do you want it to be?"

"No more, no less," Pei Wenxuan tapped his chest lightly with the tablet, "Just a full heart is enough."

"You have too big an appetite." Li Rong sneered, "You are just dreaming in broad daylight."

Pei Wenxuan nodded gently: "Thank you for your compliment, Your Highness. My greatest strengths are that I have a good appetite, great ambition, insomnia and dreaminess at night, and good luck on weekdays."

After just a few words, Li Rong was amused by him. She glanced at him lightly and raised her eyebrows and said, "Didn't you want to sleep in a separate bed from me yesterday? Are you not angry today?"

"Your Highness, you are joking. When have I ever been angry with you?"

Pei Wenxuan said calmly: "I just feel that I should keep a distance from Your Highness. Our relationship has not reached that stage yet. I cannot let Your Highness tarnish my innocence and take advantage of me for nothing."

Li Rong: “…”

Very good, but has a very bad temper.

Pei Wenxuan saw that Li Rong's expression had eased. He felt that the atmosphere was about right. Seeing that there was no one around, he gently leaned over and whispered, "I just checked. Last night, His Majesty stayed at Concubine Rou's place. Princess Huale was acting out with His Majesty and was punished by having her female ring copied ten times."

Li Rong glanced at Pei Wenxuan, who smiled and said, "I think this will help Your Highness understand your confusion."

Li Rong didn't say anything. She walked on the corridor with Pei Wenxuan. She did understand.

Yesterday she set an ambush at Butterfly Gorge. Since the Chen family had carried out this assassination attempt, it stands to reason that today they should be able to use this assassination as a bargaining chip to force the military pay case and the Qin case to be settled.

Those people behind the scenes must have thought of this as well. They were unwilling to let these two cases be settled. Once settled, it would not only be a problem of a large number of official changes, but most importantly, many of Li Rong's people would be nominated among these officials. Li Rong's position in the court would then be completely secure.

They were afraid that Li Rong would gain a firm foothold, and at the same time they were also afraid that Li Rong would investigate the matter in depth. Those who participated in the assassination were also very frightened, so they should have reached some agreement overnight, at least with Concubine Rou. So Concubine Rou let Hua Le say something as a mouthpiece, which led to Li Ming's anger with her today.

Judging from Li Ming's attitude today, Hua Le estimated that he would only say something like she was not doing her job well, tortured officials, and was too arrogant. So Li Ming punished Hua Le, but Li Ming took these thoughtless words to heart, so he came to trouble her.

When Li Ming had opinions about her, he let Chen Wang come to the court to prove his innocence, and the assassination case would be difficult to investigate further. After all, the current "mastermind" was dead, and in the cases that Li Rong had handled, no matter how much evidence there was, there would be more doubt in the minds of ordinary people.

Whether it was for the sake of public opinion or to appease the aristocratic families, Chen Wang died in this way, and it is highly likely that neither the military pay case nor the Qin case would be sentenced severely.

Li Rong frowned and walked forward with her head down. After taking only two steps, she heard Pei Wenxuan say respectfully, "Thank you, Minister."

When Li Rong heard this, she looked up and saw Xie Lanqing standing in front of her.

Xie Lanqing looked very happy and raised his hand to salute Li Rong: "Your Highness Pingle."

"Where are you going, Minister Xie?"

As soon as Li Rong opened her mouth, her voice was a little hoarse. Xie Lanqing smiled softly: "I was just about to go find His Majesty. What's wrong with His Majesty? Your eyes are red. Did you seem to have been crying?"

"The wind and sand are blinding," Li Rong pretended not to hear the mockery in Xie Lanqing's words and replied, "Since Master Xie still has something to do, I will go first."

"Your Highness, slow down," Xie Lanqing called to Li Rong. Li Rong turned around to look at him. Xie Lanqing smiled and said, "Your Highness, the sea of ​​suffering is endless. Turn back and you will find the shore."

Li Rong stared at Xie Lanqing for a long time, then she smiled and said, "Thank you for your advice, Lord Shangshu. I would like to say something to you as well."

"Oh," Xie Lanqing raised her hand, "I'm all ears."

"Mind your own business and enjoy your old age." After saying that, Li Rong threw her sleeves and left. Pei Wenxuan bowed to Xie Lanqing and followed Li Rong. Pei Wenxuan chased after Li Rong and whispered, "Don't be angry. Why are you angry with this old man? He won't live long anyway."

In the previous life, Xie Lanqing was the first high-ranking official from aristocratic family to be beheaded after Li Chuan ascended the throne.

Li Rong glanced at Xie Lanqing's back with cold eyes, and then moved to Pei Wenxuan's side. Pei Wenxuan slightly bent his waist and heard Li Rong whisper in his ear: "I think I know why Chuan'er wanted to chop him."

"Um?"

Li Rong gritted her teeth and said, "This old man is so annoying."

Pei Wenxuan thought about it. Actually, Xie Lanqing didn't say anything just now. Li Rong was so angry probably because Xie Lanqing saw her crying.

Pei Wenxuan glanced at the direction Xie Lanqing left and said with a smile, "Your Highness is right. This old man is not a good person."

Li Rong felt much better when she heard Pei Wenxuan was on her side. When Pei Wenxuan sent her to the carriage, she finally remembered and said with some dissatisfaction, "Why don't you comfort me?"

Pei Wenxuan sat across from her leisurely, raised his head and smiled: "What do you mean, Your Highness?"

"Don't pretend to be ignorant when you know the truth."

Li Rong raised her hand and hit him with her fan: "Why are you getting more and more courageous now?"

Pei Wenxuan knew she was referring to the fact that he saw her crying but didn't say anything. Pei Wenxuan found it funny in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face. He lowered his head and opened the letter, saying calmly: "Your Highness doesn't want to save face, but I still want to save face."

Li Rong frowned, and then she heard Pei Wenxuan say leisurely: "You haven't paid the money yet, and you want me to comfort you?"

Li Rong was speechless for a moment, and she couldn't help feeling a little guilty. She had made up her mind that she would pay Pei Wenxuan the money for the peony when she returned, and they would be able to talk properly after the account was settled.

Pei Wenxuan secretly glanced at Li Rong's expression, suppressed the smile on his lips, and pretended to be focused.

He suddenly felt that Li Rong was extremely interesting.

Like a cat that tries hard to stretch out its claws to touch you but feels embarrassed, it is worrying about how to attract your attention.

He had never seen Li Rong like this before, and seeing her now was both fresh and interesting, so he kept all his plans to himself and did not speak a word.

Li Rong had thought about paying back the money, and when she saw Pei Wenxuan lowering his head with the corners of his lips curled up wildly, she stopped what she was about to say and was speechless for a moment.

How happy he was! If he had a tail that could wag, how could he pretend to be so indifferent and distant?

She felt helpless with Pei Wenxuan, and after thinking for a moment, she decided not to say anything.

Install.

She thought, she would pay him back the money, and when she didn't owe him anything, if he still treated her like that, he shouldn't blame her for being rude.