Li Rong asked Pei Wenxuan to stay in the princess' mansion. The news came.
Li Rong was stunned when she got the news in the room. She couldn't help but look at Pei Wenxuan and said in surprise, "She even dared to arrest the Minister of Personnel directly. I was also considered a loot and arrested Xie Lanqing back then. Could it be that Concubine Rou is out of her mind?"
"She dares to detain her, of course there is evidence." Pei Wenxuan smiled, took the tea with his good hand, and explained, "Before Wang Houwen gave her money, she planned to let Wang Houwen go, but Now that I make a fuss, everyone knows that Wang Houwen is suspected, and she wants to let go, but she has to take care of her face."
"But she... doesn't have the guts, does she?"
Li Rong frowned: "Wang Houwen gave her money, so if she doesn't help, she'll arrest him?"
Hearing this, Pei Wenxuan smiled and took a sip of tea, and Li Rong immediately responded, "What did you do wrong?"
"Last night I arranged for someone to pretend to be someone from the palace, sent a message to the palace, and wrote a poem that satirized Concubine Rou and satirized her origin."
Li Rong understood when she heard this. Although Concubine Rou had her own skills, there was one thing. She and Hua Le were too concerned about their origins.
If it was in the past, it would be fine. Now that Concubine Rou has taken over the supervision and inspection department, everyone has to give up three points. When the limelight is in full swing, Wang Houwen dares to write a letter to mock her because he is from a noble family. Naturally, she is not stable. Hold your mind.
After all, she holds the Inspectorate and is a concubine with a high rank, so it is still easy to arrest someone. It can be said that Pei Wenxuan's rank is not enough to be reprimanded, but as long as Concubine Rou has enough troops, there is no one she can't catch.
It's easy to catch people, but hard to keep them. Li Rong thought for a while, and couldn't help but say, "What if Concubine Rou and Wang Houwen met and got the poem right?"
"What about coming out?" Pei Wenxuan smiled, "Wang Houwen was finally caught by her, and when the noble family looked at her, she would only think that she was too arrogant, and Wang Houwen would not swallow this breath. Your Highness, hurry up and fan the flames. , let the people from the Censor's desk stare at Concubine Rou and handle Wang Houwen's case. In this way, she will think that this letter was written by His Highness, and that His Highness wants to fight for power, so she will naturally be in a mess. If she doesn't handle the case, His Majesty will not be able to establish her prestige in the Han family, but if she does it, the way to secretly form alliances with such Jiangnan families as Su Rongqing will be broken."
Pei Wenxuan said, put down the tea bowl, and said slowly: "I want to see what she plans to do."
The two were talking when a notification sound came from outside, saying that it was someone from the palace, and Li Rong asked someone to take care of Pei Wenxuan, so she stood up and went to the hall.
Once in the hall, Li Rong saw Fu Lai leading the soldiers and standing in the lobby. Li Rong stepped forward to salute, and whispered, "Father Fu Lai."
"Your Highness."
Fu Lai smiled in return: "Long time no see."
"How come father-in-law is free today, come to my place as a guest?"
Li Rong greeted Fu Lai to sit down, Fu Lai shook his head, but didn't sit down, only said: "This old slave came here under His Majesty's order to ask. Yesterday, His Highness forcibly left the mansion and took Pei Shilang back to the mansion, what's going on."
Hearing this, Li Rong's face instantly turned cold: "Is this father-in-law here to ask the teacher for guilt?"
"Don't dare." Fu Lai hurriedly bowed and said urgently, "His Royal Highness, this old slave is only acting on orders, and I hope Your Highness will not be embarrassed."
When Li Rong heard this, she accepted her face, turned her head and said, "Go back and make it clear with your royal father. Yesterday, Mrs. Wen came to me and told me that Xiao Wei sent a greeting card to Pei Wenxuan. I How long have you been apart from Pei Wenxuan? Concubine Rou has bullied me like this? No matter what, Pei Wenxuan is still my former concubine, she let... "
"Your Highness," Fu Lai hurriedly said after hearing this, "Why don't you go to the palace with the old slave and say these words..." Fu Lai showed a rare expression, "It is not easy for the old servant to communicate."
"I'm not embarrassing you," Li Rong stood up and said straight, "I'll go to the palace now and make it clear with the royal father."
Li Rong seemed to be very angry, and led the people to the palace. When they arrived at the imperial study, Li Mingzheng and Su Minzhi were watching a picture of a bird together. Li Rong rushed in aggressively and said loudly, "Father Royal , you have to call the shots for me, Father!"
Li Ming was a little stunned when he heard Li Rong barge in directly. Su Minzhi smiled and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, the old minister will retire first."
Li Rong entered the room and was stunned when she saw Su Minzhi, then hurriedly saluted, seeming to be aggrieved, "I have seen Su Lao."
Su Minzhi smiled back and then walked out.
When one of Su Min left, Li Ming immediately lowered his face: "Look at your rudeness, what are you talking about!"
Li Rong's eyes blushed when she heard this: "Yes, my daughter is disrespectful. What kind of thing is my daughter being bullied? You don't listen to me, and you say I'm disrespectful!"
Li Ming took a quick look at Fulai, who followed up, and Fulai explained, "His Royal Highness is here to explain the matter of leaving the palace without authorization yesterday."
When Li Ming heard this, he nodded, sat in his seat, and said indifferently: "Speak, okay, why did you leave the house? I heard that Pei Wenxuan was taken back to the house?"
Li Rong asked Xiao Wei to meet with Pei Wenxuan, and Mrs. Wen quickly talked about the whistleblowing with her, and said angrily: "I will go to Pei Wenxuan to discuss with him, who would have thought that I haven't troubled him yet? , I saw someone stab him in the street. Su Rongqing was in charge of escorting him to the punishment department, but he was seriously injured in the street, so I took him back to the mansion for recuperation."
Li Ming listened quietly, fiddled with the tea in the tea bowl with the tea lid, and said slowly, "Then you have done a good deed. How is Pei Wenxuan now?"
"Fortunately," Li Rong's eyes turned red when she heard this, "I still have my life, I just need to support it."
Li Ming frowned and thought for a while: "Then send the person back to Pei's house."
"I don't send it."
Li Rong refused decisively: "Send it back, who knows when Xiao Wei will come again?"
"You are separated from him!" Li Ming said with dissatisfaction, "Why are you keeping people in the house so forcefully?"
Li Rong turned her head away, with an angry expression on her face: "Then why did the royal father have to separate me from him?"
"People don't like you," Li Ming was a little annoyed. "You, a princess, look like you are chasing a man like this."
"You are the Son of Heaven," Li Rong turned her head, seemingly puzzled, "I am the princess, what is Pei Wenxuan thinking, does he dare to leave with me under your order? Obviously you want to break us up!"
"You are talking nonsense!" Li Ming slapped the table with a slap, but he was also a little guilty.
Seeing him yell at her, Li Rong immediately burst into tears: "You can take the inspector and give it to Concubine Rou, and you can force me and Li, let Hua Le go to my house to beat me, and ask me to make Rou The concubine sits firmly and the inspector is grounded. What's wrong with your daughter, I have listened to you one by one, but you still want to let Concubine Rou insult me like this? I have never liked anyone in my life. Pei Wenxuan is your choice. I finally liked it, you agreed with him and Li, and now you want Xiao Wei to meet him in front of me... "
Li Rong scolded one by one, Li Ming felt guilty for a while, Li Rong raised her hand to wipe her tears: "You are forcing me."
"Don't be sad, Your Highness," Fu Lai saw Li Ming embarrassed and stepped forward to pull Li Rong, "You are Your Majesty's most beloved daughter, and Your Majesty is also concerned about your reputation."
"What Fu said is," Li Ming coughed lightly and saw Fu Lai hand him the steps, "I am also concerned about your reputation. If you don't like Xiao Wei, then don't let Xiao Wei see him."
"I can't trust other people either," Li Rong said decisively, wiping her tears, "He is injured now, and I'm not at ease if you let him be elsewhere."
Li Ming paused for a moment, and Li Rong was indeed thinking about it. Now, in this assassination, if it wasn't for Li Rong's appearance, Pei Wenxuan might have died.
Pei Wenxuan is one of the most direct executors of all his wills. If he just died like this, firstly, others would not dare to come forward, and secondly, he would also have one less person to do things.
In the entire court, I am afraid that no one considers Pei Wenxuan more than Li Rong.
After all, other people have more interests with Pei Wenxuan, and Li Rong... She has Pei Wenxuan in her heart.
Thinking of this, Li Ming felt fortunate for a while, but also unpleasant.
Fortunately, he can use the relationship between Pei Wenxuan and Li Rong to make more gaps between Li Rong and Li Chuan. There is always an inexplicable feeling...the feeling of the jade cabbage in my homeland being arched by a pig.
Li Ming hesitated for a while, but finally settled down: "Okay, then let him be raised there. After the injury is healed, he will come back immediately."
"But… "
"What else is it?" Li Ming looked up at her and said annoyed, "Would you like to become a relative again?"
When Li Rong heard this, she seemed a little embarrassed: "Anyway, you live in my house... You have to be concerned about your daughter's reputation, or else..."
"Are you talking about reputation with me now?" Li Ming laughed mockingly, and didn't bother to pay attention to her, he just said, "Go on."
"Royal father, and what about Su Rongqing?" Li Rong stared at Li Ming. "He arrested Pei Wenxuan and sent him to the punishment department, so he gave Pei Wenxuan a chance to be assassinated. He suffered such a serious injury, so forget it?"
Li Ming thought about it and finally said: "I will punish him, but after all, he is only a poor protector, not a murderer, so you don't have to be too concerned."
"That's fine too," Li Rong said immediately. "You must give them some color, otherwise they will all stare at Pei Wenxuan. Who will dare to help you in the future?"
These words came to Li Ming's heart. Li Ming waved his hand and said, "Go back and do more embroidery and calligraphy. Don't think about it."
Li Rong pouted, knelt down and kowtowed, and when she was about to leave, Li Rong suddenly remembered: "Father, then my ban..."
"Withdraw."
Originally, it was made for others to see and to show concubine Rou. Now that Concubine Rou has captured Wang Houwen, she doesn't need to ground Li Rong to support her.
Concubine Rou's face is now much better.
Li Rong smiled and saluted, left happily, and returned to the room. Pei Wenxuan saw that Li Rong had a happy expression on his face, and knew that everything was going well. He raised his finger to the two letters on the table, and said with a smile, "Write me a book. Alright, please send it to the Censor's Desk and let people watch Wang Houwen's case."
"My shoulders are hurt, can I still write essays?" Li Rong smiled and sat next to Pei Wenxuan. Pei Wenxuan looked up at her and chuckled, "Not only can I write essays," said Pei Wenxuan. He stood up and approached Li Rong, "I can still do a lot of things, Your Highness, do you want to try?"
"Pei Wenxuan," Li Rong pushed his head with a fan, "you are really old."
"Dead with a peony flower, it's romantic to be a ghost." Pei Wenxuan leaned over and wanted to kiss Li Rong, but when Li Rong saw him coming, he got a little itchy, giggled and stood up, "I don't say this to you, I still busy with business."
Having said that, Li Rong went to the table to get Pei Wenxuan's booklet. Pei Wenxuan sighed and fell back on the bed: "After using Wei Chen, seeing that Wei Chen is useless, Your Highness will ignore me."
"Yeah, I didn't use dog stuff," Li Rong passed him and tapped his belly with a fan. When she got to the door, she thought about it, turned around, and gave him a meaningful look, "Take care of your injuries. ."
At that glance, she looked at it very slowly, as if it contained countless romantic meanings, with an ecstatic hook.
Pei Wenxuan took a deep breath and watched the woman push the door open and walk out.
Li Rong sent the book to the people from the Censor Desk. The next day, when Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan were eating oranges in the house, they heard the news that the Censor Desk participated in Wang Houwen and said they would assist Concubine Rou in investigating the case. , was rejected by Concubine Rou.
Su Rongqing was fined three months for protecting Pei Wenxuan, and at the same time, he appointed Pei Liming, the left servant of the Punishment Department, as the new Minister of Punishment.
The position of the Minister of Punishment has been undecided between Su Rongqing and Pei Liming. Now that Su Rongqing injured Pei Wenxuan, it is obviously a punishment, but everyone knows that for Su Rongqing's background, the salary is not that important. Therefore, the real punishment for Su Rongqing is actually to make Pei Liming the Minister of Punishment.
These two news made the two of them eat two more bowls of rice, and Li Rong privately asked people to keep inquiring about Wang Houwen and Concubine Rou.
After Wang Houwen was detained by Concubine Rou, it is said that Concubine Rou abused Concubine Rou in prison, and Concubine Rou directly sent people to "secret torture".
Where did Wang Houwen experience such a sinister means, and it didn't take long for him to recruit.
After Wang Houwen was beaten and recruited, Concubine Rou finally went to see someone. Wang Houwen was tortured to death by her, and said with a smile, "Lord Wang, how do you feel?"
Wang Houwen was tortured for a few days and did not dare to say more, but it was difficult for him to bow his head to Concubine Rou, so he remained silent, Concubine Rou flicked his fingernails and said slowly: "The black bird in the pig food lane. Busy, I used to praise the phoenix on the branches. Wearing a yellow top and green mouth and holding a pearl, it is difficult to hide the turbidity of the night. Lord Wang," Concubine Rou turned to look at him and chuckled, "Do you still think this is a good poem?"
Hearing this, Wang Houwen couldn't help laughing: "Good poem!"
He shouted loudly: "It's perfect for the empress!"
"That's just right," Concubine Rou said softly, "When Lord Wang goes to the guillotine and asks about the beheading in the autumn, I will come and see, Lord Wang still thinks if it is a good poem."
After speaking, Concubine Rou stood up and walked out. When she walked out the door, she narrowed her eyes and turned to ask the guard next to her: "Chen Houzhao's case, haven't we found evidence of Pingle's actions?"
"Not yet." The guard whispered, "His Royal Highness Pingle is too clean."
Concubine Rou narrowed her eyes: "This girl is much smarter than her mother."
"But Niangniang," the guard was rather worried, "the old lady sent someone to tell me that the case of Chen Houzhao was done by your distant cousin. Please take care of me."
Concubine Rou paused for a moment, then asked urgently, "Who else knows about this?"
"Niangniang don't have to worry, it's all her own." The guard quickly reassured her, "The old lady said that as long as Chen Houzhao is gone, the rest is up to Niangniang."
Hearing this, Concubine Rou pondered for a moment and whispered, "I will combine this case with other cases, so that my mother... don't have to worry about it. But in the future, this kind of thing must be told to me," Rou said. The concubine's eyes sharpened, "This is not an example."
"Madam, don't worry, the old lady has already said that, and the family has already punished it. Master Wen was also worried that the mother was in financial trouble in the palace, so he sent two silver tickets in." Concubine Rou watched the guards reveal the two silver tickets secretly. Glancing at the numbers above, his expression softened slightly, and he only said, "After all, we are all a family. If there is any difficulty, we still have to help."
Concubine Rou said, and walked out with the guards.
Concubine Rou offended Wang Houwen, and naturally did not dare to offend other families, so she began to make friends with the family and gave them money.
But her methods were ruthless, and the fact that Wang Houwen was directly tortured to extract a confession was still circulated among the family. The family was cautious and fearful of her, so their attitude towards her became better. Concubine Rou only thought that the relationship between the noble family and her had eased, she had no scruples about the noble family, and there was no supervision from the censor station. Concubine Rou became more and more reckless in her actions.
In half a month, she officially declared the case closed.
She arrested nearly 30 people, of which nearly 8 were beheaded. Except for Wang Houwen, almost all of them were officials involved with the Shangguan family.
People with discerning eyes can see the meaning of Concubine Rou at a glance, so some small families and the original cold family of the imperial court scramble to cling to it and become the "king party" in the court.
With the conclusion of Concubine Rou's case, Concubine Rou gave out the list of students who participated in the imperial examination. On the day Concubine Rou gave out the list of the more than 100 complainants who were confirmed to be replaced, a group of officials from the Ministry of Personnel came to the entrance of the Princess Mansion.
Pei Wenxuan and Li Rong were sitting and playing chess when they heard that a group of officials from the Ministry of Personnel came from outside the government and wanted to see Pei Wenxuan.
Pei Wenxuan and Li Rong looked at each other, and Li Rong couldn't help laughing: "I don't know about Mr. Pei's illness, are you healed?"
"I'm okay, don't your Highness know?"
Pei Wenxuan put down his chess pieces with a smile, and said gently, "Take the person to the front hall, and I'll be there in a while."
The people who came were all small officials from the Ministry of Personnel, who were in charge of the specific handling of the imperial examination. Seeing Pei Wenxuan coming over, a group of people immediately became happy.
"Lord Pei," those people bowed their hands to Pei Wenxuan, "you can be considered good."
"Take care of my colleagues."
Although Pei Wenxuan was resting these days, he secretly kept in touch with these people through correspondence and assigned affairs. Although he hadn't seen each other for more than half a month, he didn't appear to be unfamiliar.
The group chatted for a few words at random, and a few of them spoke with Pei Wenxuan: "We came here because we got news, and the concubine Rou asked some of us in private to see if anyone could be the chief examiner. I'm guessing, Empress Rou Fei is afraid that she is going to change her lord, so she came here specially to inform her about it."
Pei Wenxuan heard this and glanced at a few people. These people were all children of noble families. Although they were not first-class nobles, in Huajing, first-class nobles such as Su and Shangguan were after all. A few, those who do things below, are mostly small nobles who are rooted in Huajing.
When they came to tell him about it so clearly, it was like explaining their position. Pei Wenxuan smiled softly and said gently, "Don't worry, everyone, I will go back tomorrow."
"The matter of the imperial examinations, I still have to pay attention to you."