Li Rоng wаs stаrtlеd uроn hearing thе nеws, thеn sаid сoldly, "Wherе is Хun?"
"At the Lоng Paviliоn in thе suburbs."
"Gо thеrе immеdiatelу."
After giving the order, Li Rong instruсtеd the сarriаgе tо сhangе dirесtiоn аnd sat bаck inside.
She sееmed furiоus, gripping her fаn tightly, her еxprеssiоn ехtrеmеlу grim. Pei Wеnхuan роurеd her а cuр оf tea аnd sоothеd, "It’s not surprising that Luо Juan has beеn missing fоr sо long. Yоur Highness, plеаsе cаlm dоwn."
"Тhеу аre uttеrlу insolеnt!" Li Rong shоuted angrilу. "Knоwing full wеll thаt I am invеstigаting this mаttеr, they still darеd to kill him directly. Do thеy think I’m a pushоver?"
"Prеcisеlу beсause they know you are investigating this matter," Pei Wenxuan said calmly, "that’s why they had to kill him."
Li Rong fell silent. She looked up at Pei Wenxuan, whose expression was terrifyingly composed. "If your Supervisory Department is successfully established, it will pose too great a threat to the noble families. They will spare no effort to force you to retreat at this moment. If you win this battle, the Supervisory Department’s position will be secured. If you lose, it will be difficult for either the Crown Prince or His Majesty to establish another force to contend with the noble families in the future."
"Of course," Pei Wenxuan added slowly, "Your Highness’s and my future will also be ruined."
Pei Wenxuan spoke with great calm, as if discussing something trivial. Li Rong gradually calmed down as she listened to him. Such confrontations were not new to her—she had experienced them countless times in her past life. Yet it had been many years since she and Pei Wenxuan had been bound together like this, sharing life and death.
She couldn’t help but look at Pei Wenxuan, studying the young man in his early twenties before her. Pei Wenxuan leaned against the table, gazing out the window at the bustling crowd, seemingly lost in thought. Sensing Li Rong’s gaze, he turned to her. Seeing her watching him, he smiled. "Why are you looking at me, Your Highness?"
"I was just thinking," Li Rong said with a smile, "it seems like this is the first time we’ve worked together like this."
"In the first year of our marriage, our relationship was actually quite good," Li Rong tapped her fan against her palm and turned to look out the window, a hint of nostalgia in her voice. "But we were still young then, naive about court affairs, and we hadn’t encountered such major events."
"Later, when we did face such events, we were already frequently quarreling. The only time you moved me was when I was in prison. I thought you would abandon me and Chuan’er to join Consort Rou."
As she spoke, Li Rong couldn’t help but glance at him again and asked with a smile, "Why didn’t you run then?"
Pei Wenxuan remained silent. Li Rong didn’t seem to mind and continued, "After that, our relationship was neither good nor bad—a mix of caution and cooperation. We were never as harmonious as we are now."
"What if I told you I never once thought of abandoning you?"
Pei Wenxuan suddenly spoke up. Li Rong looked up in surprise to see him gazing at her calmly. "In our past life, I never broke our alliance."
So that year, when Li Chuan was deposed as Crown Prince and Li Rong was imprisoned, despite his high position, his first thought was never to seek refuge with others.
Instinctively, even after years of disputes with Li Rong, he chose without hesitation to go to the prison, look at her, and make a promise—to wait for him to return.
Li Rong was speechless. Her eyelashes trembled slightly. Pei Wenxuan smiled and said, "After all the trials we’ve been through, isn’t it only natural that you trust me in this life?""After all, apart from me," Pei Wenxuan said earnestly, "no one can guarantee that under any circumstances, they would never betray Your Highness in this lifetime."
Hearing these words, Li Rong chuckled softly and replied gently, "I don't believe in promises."
"I know," Pei Wenxuan also smiled. "I was just saying it casually."
"Then it's better not to say such things in the future," Li Rong sighed. "When you say them, I want to believe them, but deep down I know they can't be taken seriously. It hurts to think about it, so it's better never to have heard them at all."
"It's my fault for speaking carelessly," Pei Wenxuan apologized quickly. "I've troubled Your Highness."
As they chatted casually, they arrived at the outskirts of the city. As soon as the carriage stopped, Li Rong immediately jumped down. A few people were standing by the long pavilion, and Li Rong hurriedly led Pei Wenxuan over, asking anxiously, "Where are they?"
"Your Highness, please follow us."
The person responded and led them into the nearby woods. Li Rong followed for only a moment before seeing a group of people gathered around a spot. Xun Chuan stood at the edge wearing a mask, clenching her fists.
Li Rong stepped forward and asked coldly, "What happened?"
As she approached, she caught a whiff of a foul odor. Before she could turn around, Pei Wenxuan stepped forward, blocking her view. "Your Highness need not look."
"Step aside!"
Li Rong pushed Pei Wenxuan aside and saw more than a dozen exhumed corpses.
Staring at the bodies scattered on the ground, Li Rong turned to Xun Chuan beside her. "Have the autopsies been done?"
"They have," Xun Chuan replied hoarsely. "Their identities have also been confirmed. They are all the witnesses involved in the case."
"All dead?"
Li Rong asked in disbelief. Xun Chuan nodded. "All dead, not a single one left. Over the past few days, I investigated them one by one and found they all left the capital on the same day. Before leaving, they left large sums of money for their families, claiming they were returning to the northwest. I tracked them along the way and discovered they never stayed at any post stations or roadside teahouses. I inquired carefully at the last place they were seen, gradually narrowing down the search until I found this location."
Li Rong fell silent for a moment before speaking. "Clean up the bodies and take them to the public mortuary. How did you find this place?"
"There was a scholar at the long pavilion not far from here. That day, he happened to be bidding farewell to a friend when he saw a group of people herding others into the woods, acting suspiciously. I inquired with the teahouse owner about the whereabouts of the guests he could recall and eventually found this scholar."
"Where is he now?"
"He is already under guard."
Hearing this, Li Rong felt relieved. After a moment of thought, she said, "Have someone continue the investigation based on the scholar's testimony. Also, go find the Crown Prince." Li Rong pursed her lips. "Ask him to arrange for someone to help me enter the Ministry of Justice to see Qin once."
Upon hearing this, Xun Chuan stiffened. She looked up at Li Rong, and though she said nothing, Li Rong understood her meaning.
"You'll come with me, but..."
Before Li Rong could finish, Xun Chuan interrupted her. "This humble officer understands. Your Highness need not worry."
Qin Zhenzhen had already dashed her head against the Princess's Manor and died. Deceiving the emperor and breaking the law—no one could bear such a responsibility.
Li Rong acknowledged with a sound, and Xun Chuan instructed her subordinates to make the arrangements.
Li Rong stood by the side for a while, quietly gazing at the corpses. After some time, she finally turned and said, "Let's go."
Pei Wenxuan accompanied her, following behind as they boarded the carriage together.After boarding the carriage, Li Rong closed her eyes. Within moments, she caught the faint scent of incense wafting around her and realized that Pei Wenxuan had taken an incense burner from the drawer and lit the fragrant wood.
Li Rong chuckled. "You still have the leisure for such elegance?"
"You've never been fond of these things," Pei Wenxuan said calmly. "This incense calms the mind."
After speaking, he closed the lid of the incense burner and then sat down beside Li Rong. Before she could react, he had already lifted his sleeve, reached behind her neck, placed his hand on her shoulder, and used his other hand to gently press her head against his shoulder.
This posture seemed to completely isolate her from the outside world. The scent of incense mingled with the faint fragrance from his body, and these aromas, along with his warmth, created an exceptionally warm and peaceful world for her.
"Close your eyes," Pei Wenxuan said gently. "Don't think about anything. I'm here with you."
"Pei Wenxuan," Li Rong closed her eyes as he instructed but still spoke, "it's not the first time I've seen a corpse. You don't need to take such care of me."
"I remember in the tenth year of Kangping, you once went with me to the Ministry of Justice," Li Rong leaned against Pei Wenxuan as he slowly recounted the past. "You watched the execution of a prisoner. I saw your hands trembling. To avoid being noticed, you hid them in your sleeves, resting them on the armrest. You kept that posture for the entire afternoon."
"I don't remember that."
"Then, when you came out, you vomited. Su Rongqing stood by your side, comforting you and bringing you tea and water."
Li Rong fell silent, listening quietly. Then she heard Pei Wenxuan say, "That day, on the way back, I kept thinking that I should have held your hand, lit some incense, and talked to you. Perhaps you would have felt much better."
"There were many things in our previous life that I didn't do well or didn't accomplish."
Pei Wenxuan spoke and looked down at Li Rong. "In this life, if there's anything I haven't done well, Your Highness, please remember to tell me."
Li Rong leaned quietly against him, listening to his heartbeat. Pei Wenxuan asked curiously, "Your Highness?"
"It's already very good."
She spoke without elaborating further.
She thought about Pei Wenxuan's words and finally recalled the fragments he mentioned from the distant memories of their previous life.
But after recalling them, she couldn't help but think of Su Rongqing from those days.
She suddenly realized the difference between Su Rongqing and Pei Wenxuan. Su Rongqing served her diligently and respectfully, but in his eyes, she seemed inherently cold and strong. He never imagined she could be afraid or that she might occasionally need someone to lean on.
Su Rongqing would always stand behind her, like a shadow—there when she turned around, yet forever distant.
Her feelings for Su Rongqing were different from those she had for Pei Wenxuan back then. She had always thought it was because she met Su Rongqing too late, making it difficult to feel the youthful flutter of the heart.
Only now did she understand that it was because Pei Wenxuan's affection for her was unreserved and sincere.
It was a stolen kiss under the night sky, fingers intertwined on the bed as they laughed about the future, and his ability to understand her true desires from the slightest gesture.
But Su Rongqing's affection for her was always a distant gaze.
For over a decade, he accompanied her without ever overstepping. Even the occasional kiss was cold and filled with despair.Li Rong closed her eyes, not daring to think too much. Pei Wenxuan held the person in his arms and spoke softly, "I didn’t want you to see these things, but you had to. I’ll prepare some calming incense for you later—carry it with you at all times. When you encounter situations like this, bring me along."
"What happened in the previous life is in the past. In this lifetime, I will stay by Your Highness’s side and never let you suffer the slightest grievance."
As Pei Wenxuan spoke, he received no response from Li Rong. He lowered his head to look and saw that she seemed to have fallen asleep.
Seeing her resting peacefully against him, he couldn’t help but smile.
He watched her for a while, wanting to kiss her forehead but afraid of waking her. After hesitating for a moment, he finally lowered his head and gently kissed her hair.
Li Rong leaned against him and slept all the way until they entered the city. Once inside, they headed straight for the Ministry of Justice. By the time they arrived, it was already night. They had their meal in the carriage, and not long after finishing, Li Chuan’s messenger arrived with news that everything had been arranged.
After all, Li Chuan had been entrenched in the court for many years and had far more people at his disposal than Li Rong. Once Li Chuan had made the arrangements, Li Rong immediately stepped out of the carriage. Leading her people to the entrance of the Ministry of Justice, she saw a figure dressed in black robes already waiting there.
Li Rong was somewhat surprised. With a few guesses in her heart, she hurried forward. The figure turned around, revealing his still-youthful face in the darkness.
"Sister," Li Chuan looked at Li Rong and said earnestly, "I’ll go in with you."
Author’s Note: [Mini Theater: Official Complaints from the Cannon Fodder]
Qin (waving): "Your Highness, you’ve finally remembered me?"
Luo Juan + Witness: "The readers haven’t even figured out what we’re here for, and we’re already out of the picture…"
Enemies: "Why hasn’t Your Highness arrived yet? I’m in a hurry to clock out and grab a boxed meal."
Pei Wenxuan: "Sorry, everyone. For the sake of romance, I’ve slowed down the progress."
Everyone: "...Can we request the male lead to be written off?"
Pei Wenxuan: "Do you all know that in novels, the male lead is usually called… the Child of Fate? Anyone who tries to take him down ends up dead. Got it?"
Everyone: "..."
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