Li Rong asked Pei Wenxuan to stay in the Princess Residence, and the two of them waited for the people in the palace to question Li Rong about stealing Pei Wenxuan without permission. Unexpectedly, the next day, no one came to question her. Instead, the news of Consort Rou forcibly detaining Wang Houwen came.
Li Rong was stunned when she heard the news. She couldn't help but look at Pei Wenxuan and say with some surprise, "She actually dared to directly arrest the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. Back then, I was also arrested with evidence. Xie Lanqing, is Consort Rou crazy?"
"If she dares to arrest him, she naturally has evidence." Pei Wenxuan smiled and picked up a cup of tea with his uninjured hand. He explained, "Previously, Wang Houwen gave her money. She originally planned to release Wang Houwen, but now that I've made a fuss, everyone knows that Wang Houwen is a suspect. Even if she wants to release him, she has to consider her reputation."
"But she … doesn't have the guts, does she?"
Li Rong frowned. "Wang Houwen gave her money. It's fine if she doesn't help him, but she still wants to arrest him?"
Hearing this, Pei Wenxuan smiled and took a sip of tea. Li Rong immediately reacted. "What did you do?"
"Last night, I arranged for someone to pretend to be someone from the Wang Residence and pass a message to the palace. He wrote a poem that mocked Consort Rou and mocked her background."
When Li Rong heard this, she understood. Consort Rou had her own methods, but she and Hua Le both cared too much about their backgrounds.
If it was in the past, it would have been fine. But now that Consort Rou was in charge of the Inspectorate, everyone had to give in to her. When she was in the limelight, Wang Houwen still dared to write a letter to mock her just because he was from an aristocratic family. Naturally, she couldn't stay calm.
After all, she was in charge of the Inspectorate and was an imperial concubine. Her rank was high, so it was easy for her to arrest someone. Pei Wenxuan could be criticized for not being of high enough rank, but as long as Consort Rou had enough troops, there was no one she couldn't catch.
However, it was easy to catch someone, but difficult to make them stay. Li Rong thought about it and couldn't help but ask, "What if Consort Rou meets Wang Houwen and confirms the truth about the poem?"
"So what if she confirms it?" Pei Wenxuan smiled, "In the end, Wang Houwen was caught by her. The aristocratic families watching from the side will only think that she is too arrogant, and Wang Houwen will not take this lying down. Your Highness should quickly fan the flames and have the Censorate keep an eye on Consort Rou's handling of Wang Houwen's case. This way, she will think that the letter was written by Your Highness. Your Highness wants to fight for power, so she will naturally be flustered. When the time comes, if she doesn't handle Wang Houwen's case, she won't be able to build up the prestige that Your Majesty wanted her to. If she handles it, then her secret alliance with Su Yongqing and the other aristocratic families in Jiangnan will be broken. "
As Pei Wenxuan spoke, he put down his teacup and slowly said, "I'd like to see what she plans to do."
While the two were talking, there was a report from outside, saying that someone from the palace had arrived. Li Rong ordered people to take care of Pei Wenxuan, then stood up and went to the hall.
Once in the hall, Li Rong saw Fu Lai and his soldiers standing in the hall. Li Rong went forward and bowed, then called out in a low voice, "Fu Lai, eunuch."
"Your Highness."
Fu Lai smiled and returned the greeting, "Long time no see."
"How did eunuch find the time to visit me today?"
Li Rong asked Fu Lai to sit down, but Fu Lai shook his head and didn't sit down. He only said, "This old servant is here on His Majesty's order to ask what happened yesterday when Your Highness forcibly left the residence and kidnapped Assistant Minister Pei."
Hearing this, Li Rong's face instantly turned cold, "Eunuch, are you here to denounce me?"
"I wouldn't dare." Fu Lai quickly bowed and said anxiously, "Your Highness, this old servant is just following orders. I hope Your Highness won't make things difficult for me."
Hearing this, Li Rong's expression changed. He turned his head and said, "Go back and tell Imperial Father clearly. Yesterday, the Wen family came to me and told me that Xiao Wei sent a visiting card to Pei Wenxuan. How long has it been since Pei Wenxuan and I separated? Consort Rou dares to bully me? No matter what, Pei Wenxuan was my previous son-in-law. She let … "
"Your Highness," Fu Lai heard this and hurriedly said, "Why don't you go to the palace with this old servant to talk about this? These words …" Fu Lai revealed a difficult expression, "This old servant can't convey it."
"I won't make things difficult for you," Li Rong stood up and said directly, "I'll go to the palace now and explain it to Imperial Father clearly."
Li Rong seemed to be extremely angry and led people to the palace. When they arrived at the imperial study, Li Ming and Su Minzhi were admiring a bird painting together. Li Rong aggressively rushed in and shouted, "Imperial Father, you have to uphold justice for me, Imperial Father!"
When Li Ming heard Li Rong directly barging in, he couldn't help but be stunned. Su Minzhi smiled and respectfully said, "Your Highness, this old servant will take his leave first."
Li Rong entered the room and was also stunned when he saw Su Minzhi. Then, he hurriedly bowed and said with a slight grievance, "Greetings to Elder Su."
Su Minzhi smiled and returned the greeting, then walked out.
After Su Minzhi left, Li Ming's face immediately fell, "Look at your rude appearance, what is this!"
Li Rong's eyes reddened when he heard this, "Yes, your daughter is outrageous. Your daughter was bullied to this extent, but you didn't care about it and even said that I was outrageous!"
Li Ming quickly glanced at Fu Lai who followed in. Fu Lai explained, "Your Highness is here to explain why you left the residence without permission yesterday."
When Li Ming heard this, he nodded and sat down, saying indifferently, "Speak, why did you leave the residence? I heard that you even brought Pei Wenxuan back to the residence? "
Li Rong quickly told him about Xiao Wei's meeting with Pei Wenxuan and how Mrs. Wen told her about it. Then, he angrily said, "I went to find Pei Wenxuan and asked him for an explanation. Who would have thought that before I could find trouble with him, I saw someone assassinate him on the street? Su Yongqing was in charge of escorting him to the Ministry of Justice, but he actually let someone seriously injure him on the street. So, I brought him back to the residence to recuperate. "
Li Ming listened quietly and used the teacup lid to stir the tea in the teacup. He slowly said, "Then you did a good thing. How is Pei Wenxuan now? "
"Not bad," Li Rong's eyes reddened when he heard this, "He's still alive, but he needs to recuperate."
Li Ming frowned and thought for a while, "Then send him back to the Pei residence."
"I won't send him back."
Li Rong decisively refused, "If I send him back, who knows when Xiao Wei will come again?"
"You separated from him!" Li Ming's tone was dissatisfied, "Why did you keep him in the residence?"
Li Rong turned his head, his face angry, "Then why does Imperial Father have to separate us?"
"He doesn't like you," Li Ming was annoyed, "You're a princess, how can you chase after a man like this?"
"You're the Son of Heaven," Li Rong turned his head, seemingly puzzled, "I'm a princess, Pei Wenxuan is nothing. If you gave the order, would he dare to separate from me? It's obviously you who wants to separate us! "
"You're talking nonsense!" Li Ming slapped the table, but he also felt somewhat guilty.
Li Rong saw him yelling at her and immediately cried, "You took away the Consort Rou from the Inspectorate and forced me to separate from him. You let Hua Le come to my residence and beat me up. You also wanted me to be grounded for the sake of Consort Rou's position in the Inspectorate. I listened to you one by one, but you let Consort Rou humiliate me like this? I've never liked anyone in my life. Pei Wenxuan was chosen by you. It wasn't easy for me to like him, and you agreed to separate from him. Now you want Xiao Wei to see him in front of me … "
Li Rong scolded him one by one. Li Ming suddenly felt guilty. Li Rong raised his hand to wipe his tears, "You're forcing me."
"Your Highness, don't be sad," Fu Lai saw Li Ming's embarrassment and went forward to pull Li Rong, "You're His Majesty's most beloved daughter, and His Majesty is worried about your reputation."
"Fu, you're right," Li Ming coughed softly. Seeing that Fu came to give him a way out, he said, "I'm also worried about your reputation. If you don't like Xiao Wei, then don't let Xiao Wei see him."
"I also don't trust other people," Li Rong wiped his tears and said decisively, "He's injured now. If you let him be somewhere else, I won't feel at ease."
Li Ming paused. Li Rong's consideration was indeed correct. If Li Rong hadn't appeared in this assassination, Pei Wenxuan might have died.
Pei Wenxuan was now one of the most direct executors of his will. If he died like this, first, other people wouldn't dare to come forward, and second, he would have one less person to do things for him.
In the entire imperial court, there was probably no one who cared more about Pei Wenxuan than Li Rong.
After all, other people had more to do with Pei Wenxuan, but Li Rong … she had Pei Wenxuan in her heart.
Thinking of this, Li Ming felt lucky for a moment, but also a little sad.
He felt lucky that he could take advantage of the relationship between Pei Wenxuan and Li Rong to create more gaps between Li Rong and Li Chuan. There was an inexplicable feeling … like his precious cabbage had been eaten by a pig.
Li Ming hesitated for a moment, and finally decided, "Okay, let him recuperate there. When he's recovered, he'll come back immediately."
"But …"
"What buts?" Li Ming looked up at her and said in annoyance, "Do you want to get married again?"
When Li Rong heard this, she seemed a little embarrassed, "In any case, he's living in my fu … you have to consider my daughter's reputation, how about …"
"You're talking about reputation with me at this time?" Li Ming laughed mockingly and didn't bother to pay attention to her. He only said, "You can leave."
"Imperial Father, also, what about Su Yongqing?" Li Rong stared at Li Ming, "He caught Pei Wenxuan and took him to the Ministry of Justice, which caused Pei Wenxuan to have the opportunity to be assassinated. He suffered such a serious injury, are you going to let it go just like that?"
Li Ming thought for a moment, and finally said, "Zhen will punish him, but after all, he only failed to protect Pei Wenxuan. He's not the murderer, so you don't have to take it to heart."
"Even so, he has to be punished," Li Rong immediately said, "He has to be taught a lesson. Otherwise, if they all target Pei Wenxuan, who will dare to help you in the future?"
These words touched Li Ming's heart. Li Ming waved his hand and said, "Go back and embroider more flowers and practice your calligraphy. Don't think about these things."
Li Rong pursed his lips and knelt down to kowtow. When he was about to leave, Li Rong suddenly remembered, "Imperial Father, then my confinement order …"
"Remove it."
She had done this for others to see, to establish Consort Rou's authority. Now that Consort Rou had arrested Wang Houwen, she didn't need to confine Li Rong to support her.
Consort Rou's face was now very big.
Li Rong smiled and bowed, then left happily. When he returned to his room, Pei Wenxuan saw Li Rong's happy face and knew that everything had gone smoothly. He raised his hand and pointed to the two letters on the table, and said with a smile, "I've finished writing the memorials. I'll have to trouble you to send them to the Censorate and have someone keep an eye on Wang Houwen's case."
"Your shoulder is injured, but you can still write memorials?" Li Rong smiled and sat down next to Pei Wenxuan. Pei Wenxuan looked up at her and chuckled. "Not only can I write memorials," Pei Wenxuan propped himself up and moved closer to Li Rong, "I can do many other things. Your Highness, do you want to try?"
"Pei Wenxuan," Li Rong pushed his head with his fan, "You're really an old pervert."
"If I die under a peony flower, I'll still be a romantic ghost." Pei Wenxuan moved closer to Li Rong, wanting to kiss her. Li Rong saw him coming over and felt tickled by his touch. She giggled and stood up, "I'm not going to talk about these things with you. I still have work to do."
Li Rong went to the table and took Pei Wenxuan's memorials. Pei Wenxuan sighed and fell back on the bed, "After using me, you see that I'm useless. Your Highness is ignoring me."
"That's right, you didn't use that dog thing." Li Rong passed by him and hit him in the stomach with her fan. When she reached the door, she thought for a moment and turned back to look at him meaningfully. "You should take care of yourself."
She looked at him very slowly, as if it contained countless romantic feelings, with an ecstasy that could devour one's soul and bones.
Pei Wenxuan sucked in a breath of cold air and watched as the woman pushed the door open and walked out.
Li Rong handed the memorials to the people from the Censorate. The next day, when Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan were eating oranges in the room, they heard the news that the Censorate had submitted a memorial to Wang Houwen, saying that he wanted to assist Consort Rou in investigating the case, but he had been rejected by Consort Rou.
Su Yongqing had been fined three months of salary because he failed to protect Pei Wenxuan. At the same time, the Left Assistant Minister of Justice, Pei Liming, was appointed as the new Minister of Justice.
The position of Minister of Justice had always been undecided between Su Yongqing and Pei Liming. Now that Su Yongqing had injured Pei Wenxuan, it was clear that he had been fined his salary, but everyone knew that for someone of Su Yongqing's background, salary was not important. Therefore, the real punishment for Su Yongqing was to make Pei Liming the Minister of Justice.
These two pieces of news made the two of them eat two more bowls of rice. Li Rong secretly sent people to continuously inquire about Wang Houwen and Consort Rou.
After Wang Houwen was detained by Consort Rou, it was said that he cursed Consort Rou in prison, so Consort Rou directly ordered people to use "secret torture" on him. The so-called "secret torture" was a form of torture that did not leave any visible scars.
Wang Houwen had never experienced such a sinister method, so it didn't take long for him to confess.
After Wang Houwen was beaten up and confessed, Consort Rou finally went to see him. Wang Houwen had long been tortured to the point of being on the verge of death. She smiled and asked, "Official Wang, how do you feel?"
Wang Houwen had been tortured for several days, so he didn't dare to say much. However, he also found it hard to accept lowering his head to Consort Rou, so he remained silent. Consort Rou lightly tapped her fingernails and slowly said, "The crows in the pig-eat-alley are busy, but a new branch calls itself a phoenix. Wearing a yellow hat and a green mouth holding a pearl, it's hard to hide the turbid night fragrance. Official Wang, "Consort Rou turned to look at him and smiled," Do you still think this is a good poem? "
Hearing this, Wang Houwen couldn't help but laugh, "Good poem!"
He said loudly, "It's perfect for Your Ladyship!"
"That's good," Consort Rou said softly, "When Official Wang goes to the guillotine and is executed after autumn, I'll see if Official Wang still thinks it's a good poem or not."
As she said this, Consort Rou stood up and walked out. When she was outside, she narrowed her eyes and turned to ask the imperial bodyguard next to her, "In Chen Houzhao's case, has there been any evidence of Ping L E's involvement?"
"Not yet," the imperial bodyguard said in a low voice, "Her Highness Ping L E did a clean job."
Consort Rou narrowed her eyes, "This girl is much smarter than her mother."
"But, Your Ladyship," the imperial bodyguard said worriedly, "the old madame sent someone to say that Chen Houzhao's case was done by your distant uncle. Please take care of him."
Consort Rou paused for a moment, then asked anxiously, "Who else knows about this?"
"Your Ladyship doesn't need to worry, they're all on the same side." The imperial bodyguard hurriedly comforted her, "the old madame said that as long as Chen Houzhao is gone, the rest will be up to Your Ladyship."
Consort Rou thought for a moment, then said in a low voice, "I'll combine this case with the other cases, so that my mother … doesn't need to worry. But in the future, you must tell me about this, "Consort Rou's eyes sharpened," this won't happen again. "
"Your Ladyship doesn't need to worry, the old madame already said that the main family has already punished him. Master Wen Shu was worried that Your Ladyship was short of money in the palace, so he sent in two banknotes. " Consort Rou saw the imperial bodyguard secretly reveal the two banknotes. She glanced at the numbers on the banknotes, and her expression softened. She said, "After all, we're all family. If there's trouble, we have to help."
As Consort Rou said this, she walked out with the imperial bodyguard.
Consort Rou offended Wang Houwen, so she naturally didn't dare to offend the other aristocratic families. Thus, she began to befriend the aristocratic families and gave them money.
However, her methods were ruthless, and the fact that she directly tortured Wang Houwen secretly spread among the aristocratic families. The aristocratic families were cautious and fearful of her, so their attitude towards her became better and better. Consort Rou only thought that this was because her relationship with the aristocratic families had improved. Without the supervision of the Censorate, Consort Rou became more and more unscrupulous in her actions.
In less than half a month, she officially announced that the case had been closed.
She arrested nearly 30 people, and nearly 8 of them were executed. Other than Wang Houwen, almost all of them were officials related to the Shangguan Clan.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see Consort Rou's intentions at a glance. Thus, some of the smaller aristocratic families and the original members of the Imperial Court fought to establish ties with her, and became the "Prince Su's Party" in the Imperial Court.
Following Consort Rou's closure of the case, Consort Rou handed out the name list of the students who participated in the Imperial Examination. On the same day that Consort Rou gave out the name list of more than 100 people who were confirmed to have been substitutes, a group of officials from the Ministry of Personnel arrived at the Princess's residence.
Pei Wenxuan and Li Rong were sitting and playing chess when they heard a group of officials from the Ministry of Personnel outside the residence. They wanted to see Pei Wenxuan.
Pei Wenxuan and Li Rong looked at each other. Li Rong couldn't help but laugh: "I wonder if Lord Pei's illness has recovered?"
"Your Highness still doesn't know whether I'm well or not?"
Pei Wenxuan smiled and put down the chess piece. He said gently: "Bring them to the front hall. I'll be there in a moment."
The people who came were all small officials from the Ministry of Personnel. They were in charge of the specific arrangements for the Imperial Examination. When they saw Pei Wenxuan arrive, they immediately became happy.
"Lord Pei." Those people cupped their hands and bowed to Pei Wenxuan, "Your body can be considered to have recovered."
"Thank you for your concern."
Although Pei Wenxuan was resting these days, he still secretly communicated with these people through letters. Although they hadn't seen each other for half a month, they didn't seem unfamiliar with each other. In fact, because they had more private connections, they became more familiar with each other.
The group of people casually chatted for a while. Then, a few of them spoke to Pei Wenxuan about the purpose of their visit: "This time, we came because we received news that Consort Rou privately asked some of us to see if any of us could take up the position of the Chief Examiner. We guessed that Consort Rou was planning to replace you. Therefore, we specially came to inform you of this matter."
When Pei Wenxuan heard this, he glanced at these people. These people were all children from aristocratic families. Although they weren't first-class nobles, in Huajing, first-class nobles like the Su Clan and the Shangguan Clan were the minority. Those who worked under them were mostly small nobles who had roots in Huajing.
They came to inform him of this matter in such an obvious way. Pei Wenxuan smiled lightly and said gently: "Everyone, don't worry. I'll return tomorrow."
"I'll have to trouble everyone to take care of the Imperial Examination."
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