quarrel
Xiao Diting didn't argue with him anymore, but turned and walked towards the inn. Pei Wenjin watched her thin figure from behind, feeling a pang of sadness in his heart.
He had this realization when Xiao Diting proposed coming to Huaizhou: if the princess came to Huaizhou in person, the truth would not be something she could cover up with her words.
Relationships between people are so complicated. One minute they can be sharing sweets amicably, and the next they can wipe the crumbs from their mouths and turn their backs on each other.
It truly is a ruthless trait passed down through the royal family.
Pei Wenjin sighed and quickly followed.
Back at the inn, Xiao Diting went straight to the bedside, sat down, untied his fur coat, and lifted the quilt to lie down.
Pei Wenjin quickly stopped her: "You just came back from outside and you're feeling cold. Warm up first before you sleep."
He turned and went to the charcoal brazier, adding a few more pieces of fresh charcoal. The flames crackled, and the room gradually warmed up.
Smelling the smoky aroma of charcoal in the air, Xiao Di suddenly spoke up: "Why bother, Lord Pei? You've been putting on an act for over a year, racking your brains over this matter, even resorting to the most troublesome methods to find out where the grain is coming from..."
Pei Wenjin paused in adding charcoal, avoiding answering her question and instead asking, "Why does Your Highness insist on going to Xuanlan Courtyard when the situation is so tense?"
Xiao Diting glared at him and brought up the old matter again, but he couldn't explain why.
Pei Wenjin understood, but pointed out to her: "You can't explain it clearly, can you? But you're smart, and it's impossible for someone working at the Dali Temple to be completely clueless about this matter."
"Was it my imperial brother and his group?" Xiao Diting interrupted him. "They've hunted me down so many times at all costs. I don't believe they have nothing to do with it. I came to Huaizhou to find out the truth..."
She glared at Pei Wenjin, her expression pained: "The one I can't understand the most is you, Lord Pei. The Embroidered Uniform Guard is my father's man... My brother wants to kill me, but you have repeatedly contradicted him. I don't understand you."
Pei Wenjin leaned against the edge of the table, maintaining a safe distance between them. He was truly at a loss with this girl. He gave a perfunctory smile and simply said, "This humble servant has always been His Majesty's man. Your Highness, you have miscalculated this time."
A single sentence, as light as a feather, dealt a significant blow to Xiao Diting. No wonder Pei Wenjin had been so secretive about the matter, remaining vague and ambiguous for over a year.
It turns out the old emperor had tacitly approved it all along!
She angrily slammed her hand on the edge of the bed and got up, glaring as if she wanted to say something. But anger overwhelmed her, and a sense of powerlessness instantly engulfed her. She couldn't support her body and fell backward.
Pei Wenjin simply crossed his arms and looked at her coldly. After the confrontation, it seemed that the two of them had no relationship to continue pretending.
Xiao Diting staggered a few steps in frustration, then lunged forward and grabbed Pei Wenjin's clothes tightly. She started to have a fever again, and her breath was frighteningly hot.
“Say it again, who orchestrated all of this… was it the powerful figures in the capital, or my father and brothers?”
Pei Wenjin supported her thin shoulders, lowered his eyes, and the two were very close. Her hot breath touched his chin, so he retorted defiantly, "It is Your Majesty, your father. I only serve Your Majesty."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Di was in so much pain that he could hardly breathe. Incredulously, he raised his hand and slapped him across the face. He was too weak to continue his outburst. Pei Wenjin didn't need to dodge; he felt guilty and simply took the blow squarely.
"Do you have any other questions? Now that things have come to this, there's nothing more I need to hide from you."
"No need! I've said enough!" She was truly furious. After letting out this low growl, she completely gave way, her knees buckled, and she collapsed to the side.
Pei Wenjin: ...
He picked up the fainting princess, tucked her into the quilt, checked her pulse to make sure she was alright, then tucked her in, gently closed the door, and went to fetch the imperial physician.
The princess still has a fever; her health must not be compromised.
Only the princess, who should have fainted, wearily opened her eyes. She was in some pain, but not to the point of fainting from anger.
And she was in so much pain that she had to slap Pei Wenjin. Although there was an element of spite in it, she wanted to use her talent, "Listening," more than anything else.
As she expected, Pei Wenjin had lied after all. His thought messages were brief and disorganized, and she could only barely make out a few words.
"...Northwest military rations."
Her consciousness was then further consumed, and she drifted into a deep sleep, unable to even hear the imperial physician entering with his medical kit.
The epidemic in Huaizhou City did not improve. After she had been delirious and feverish for a while, she was finally able to get out of bed and walk when a snowstorm came unexpectedly.
Xiao Diting, wrapped in a thick mink coat, sat by the window, watching the snowflakes fall softly onto the window frame, melting into watermarks that meandered down.
They haven't seen each other for half a month since their argument with Pei Wenjin that day.
He was busy deploying defenses in the epidemic area, coordinating medicines, and comforting refugees. He almost single-handedly supported the overall epidemic prevention situation in Huaizhou. It is said that he worked non-stop for three days and three nights. He didn't even have time to groom his dark stubble and had lost a lot of weight.
Using the excuse of recuperating from illness, she locked herself in the courtyard of the inn, becoming a complete idler.
"Your Highness, this is today's medicine." Chunyan, who had been transferred from Jiangzhou to Huaizhou, brought in the medicine bowl and carefully placed it on the table. "Prefect Liu sent someone to say that the epidemic in the west of the city has been brought under control. Lord Pei... Lord Pei told you to rest assured and not to worry."
Xiao Di didn't respond, but her fingertips tapped lightly on the windowsill. She hadn't been idle these days.
With Pei Wenjin now in charge of Huaizhou, almost all the manpower comes from him, so it will take him a lot of effort to check phone numbers and things without his knowledge.
Fortunately, Pei Wenjin was too busy to keep an eye on her, which gave her room to do her own little schemes.
Seeing her solemn expression, Chunyan hesitated before speaking: "Your Highness, the people we sent to investigate Madam Ji's whereabouts a few days ago have returned. They said... said that the Yang family's cemetery is empty, and the coffin is filled with stones."
Xiao Diting raised his eyes, a cold glint flashing in them: "As expected."
How could someone like Ji Shuangqiao be willing to end her life with an empty coffin? Her meticulously planned scheme, from the corpse on the mast to the "sincerity" of Qingshan Temple, from faking her death to luring her into the trap, was full of calculations at every step.
Such a person is surely still lurking in the shadows, waiting to deliver a fatal blow to someone.
"Continue the investigation." Xiao Diting picked up the medicine bowl, tilted his head back and drank it all, the bitter taste spreading on his tongue. "Find out where she was last seen, and investigate her relationship with Pei Wenjin."
The swallows retreated in response, and the room returned to silence.
As Xiao Diting gazed at the snow falling outside the window, he suddenly recalled what Ji Shuangqiao had said at Qingshan Temple: "All I seek is a belated 'cause and effect'."
She didn't understand then, but now she vaguely understands.
In this cause and effect, there is the injustice suffered by the Ji family, the sins committed by the Yang family, and perhaps... the secret that her father, the emperor, did not want to reveal.
Three days later, Pei Wenjin sent someone to deliver a letter.
The letter contained only a few words: "The epidemic in Danzhou is recurring, and I need to go there in person to supervise. All matters in Huaizhou have been handed over to Liu Cheng. If there is any unusual activity, you can use this token to mobilize troops."
The signature was his illegible name, with a crooked talisman drawn next to it, as if it had been added casually.
Xiao Diting held the heavy token in his hand, his fingertips tracing the cold metal surface.
This is the waist tag of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which allows her to move freely by virtue of her status. Not many people here know that she is a princess, so her movements are naturally hindered.
But Pei Wenjin gave her the waist badge that symbolized power just like that. Was it trust, or... something else?
She carefully put away the waist token, but she knew in her heart that with Pei Wenjin gone, the undercurrents in Huaizhou would only become more turbulent.
The Yang family's medicinal herb warehouse was sealed off, cutting off their source of income, so they certainly wouldn't let it go easily; and Ji Shuangqiao was probably waiting for this opportunity as well.
Sure enough, the day after Pei Wenjin left, Xiao Diting received a note.
The note was written in rouge, with delicate and strong handwriting: "At midnight, in the dilapidated temple in the western suburbs, I will settle the karmic debt with you."
It was unsigned, but Xiao Diting recognized it at a glance as Ji Shuangqiao's handwriting.
As night fell, the snow fell even heavier. Xiao Diting changed into a set of night clothes, avoided the spies outside the inn, and quietly left the city.
The old temple in the western suburbs was already dilapidated. The broken walls cast mottled shadows under the moonlight. The weeds were knee-high and covered with thick snow, which made a soft "crunch" sound when stepped on.
The temple door was ajar, and a faint candlelight shone through, revealing a slender figure kneeling on a prayer mat, offering incense to the memorial tablet.
"You've come." Ji Shuangqiao turned around, her plain dress stained with snow, her face paler than when they last met, but her eyes were surprisingly bright.
“You really didn’t die.” Xiao Diting walked into the ancestral hall, her gaze sweeping over the dusty memorial tablets. She didn’t know which ghosts or gods they represented, but since Ji Shuangqiao wanted to pay her respects, she didn’t say anything else.
Ji Shuangqiao smiled, a hint of desolation in her smile: "If you're dead, who will avenge this blood debt?" She pointed to the prayer mat beside her, "Sit down. There are some things you should know."
Xiao Diting sat down as instructed, watching as she took out a yellowed ledger from her bosom and handed it to him: "This is the complete list of whereabouts of the stolen grain from Huaizhou."
The handwriting on the ledger was strong and powerful, and it recorded in detail the amount of grain transported from the four prefectures, the transportation routes, and... a name from long ago—Yang Zhengyuan.
Yang Li's father was the former prefect of Huaizhou.
"Lord Yang was an honest and upright official. When natural disasters struck, he opened the granaries to distribute grain and did his best to help. But it was at this critical moment that some people set their sights on the grain... and my good husband, Yang Li, conspired with them to murder his own father." Ji Shuangqiao's voice was calm, as if she were telling someone else's story, but her tightly clenched hands betrayed her emotions.
"Lord Yang was the person I respected most in my life. My parents died, my family property was coveted, and my younger brother suffered from tuberculosis... It was Lord Yang who sought medical treatment everywhere, allowing him to pass away peacefully."
Xiao Diting's heart sank. Seeing Ji Shuangqiao's voice becoming increasingly choked with emotion, she knew that what had happened was already done, and her words of comfort would be pale and useless.
I just sat quietly and listened to her sob.
“An imperial envoy once came to thoroughly investigate this matter, but after so long, he still hasn’t given me an explanation. I have told him everything I’m saying to you today.”
"Could it be Xiao Diting, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?"
"Exactly!" After calming down, Ji Shuangqiao kept telling himself to calm down. "After the natural disaster, Huaizhou was in chaos, and the refugees had no choice but to become bandits in the mountains. So I took over the 'Duqu River Bandit Case' and wondered if anyone else would come here."
"In the end, they just gave me a perfunctory response, and no one was willing to speak up for me."
At this moment, she finally understood Ji Shuangqiao's true intention.
This is not a simple family feud, but a shocking conspiracy involving the Crown Prince, and even... the Emperor.
"Did you already know that the mastermind was the Crown Prince?" Xiao Diting's fingertips trembled slightly as he recalled Pei Wenjin's lie and the records in the ledger.
Ji Shuangqiao nodded, a hint of mockery flashing in her eyes: "I know, that's why I can't beat these people today, but you can't, can you?"
She looked at Xiao Diting and said, "Your Highness, I have seen you before and heard the story of your exoneration. I ask for nothing else but that you, Yang Li, pay the price."
Xiao Diting burst out laughing: "That's all you ask for?"
Ji Shuangqiao patted the futon with a smile: "You're just a fallen princess, we'll each get what we need."
Xiao Diting refrained from rolling his eyes: "You should be more polite when speaking to allies."
Ji Shuangqiao was too lazy to expose her, and raised her chin: "But I don't have any evidence left. I went to beg that Pei guy from the Embroidered Uniform Guard before, and he has all the things."
Seeing her somewhat dejected expression, Xiao Diting spoke up at the opportune moment, and she blinked: "Do you think that unfilial son Yang Li is afraid of ghosts?"
Ji Shuangqiao hesitated: "What do you mean?"
Xiao Diting revealed a meaningful smile: "I have an idea."
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