Chapter 47:
He took a few steps to stand before Xie Wanning, his gaze skipping over Pei Yuqing beside her, staring straight into her eyes. “His Majesty has summoned me. I must enter the palace to see him. Today’s matter can be discussed later.”
Discussed later?
Xie Wanning’s tightly pursed lips moved slightly. “Lu Ziyan, relying on your bit of military merit, you’re arrogant and lawless, truly contemptible.”
She said, “The humiliation you brought me today, I will report it to Father and Brother, and impeach you with a memorial in the Golden Hall.”
He dared to act directly in the Princess’s residence. Even if His Majesty treats him with special favor and great trust, he cannot ignore it.
Hearing this, Lu Ziyan remained calm, gave her a deep look, turned, and left.
Not long after he left, the guests who had been watching from afar for a long time were persuaded to disperse by two old wet nurses who appeared from nowhere.
The surroundings quieted down again. The two old wet nurses came before them, curtsied deeply, and said politely, “Miss Xie, Your Highness requests your presence.”
Xie Wanning was stunned for a moment and had not yet replied when Pei Yuqing beside her spoke up to help her out.
“You may withdraw first. Go report to Mother. I will come to pay respects later.”
The two old wet nurses exchanged a glance, responded softly in agreement, curtsied, and took their leave.
The area around the rockery, which had been lively moments ago, was suddenly left with only Xie Wanning and Pei Yuqing.
“He…” Pei Yuqing’s tone was uncharacteristically hesitant. He paused, then said, “My courtyard is not far from here. Shall we go rest?”
“No,” Xie Wanning kept her head lowered, not looking at him. “I want to return to the manor.”
The moment she thought of this man having seen with his own eyes how Lu Ziyan had pinned her down and bullied her, and how Lu Ziyan had just said all sorts of nonsense, Xie Wanning’s mind went blank. She couldn’t stay in front of him for even a second.
She lifted her foot to go find Er Qing, but as she turned, her wrist was grasped.
Pei Yuqing said, “I cannot just let you leave like this.”
On his turf, she had suffered such great humiliation. He couldn’t let her go back alone, all aggrieved like that.
Xie Wanning stopped, turned back, and asked him, “My maidservant was acupointed by Ming Jian, one of Lu Ziyan’s men. Do you know where he put her?”
“At the Welcoming Wind Pavilion,” Pei Yuqing said. “Her acupoints have been released. Come with me. I’ll send someone to fetch her.”
He did not release her hand, leading her down the rockery. Xie Wanning’s gaze fell on his slender, bony hand, and she followed silently.
The two arrived at a courtyard.
The plaque above the door bore three large characters written in a flowing, dragon-like script.
Xuan Hua Courtyard.
Pei Yuqing did not enter the room but led her to sit in the flower garden in the back courtyard.
Servants set out a tea set and incense burner.
Through the steam rising from the hot water, Xie Wanning looked at him, her expression somewhat dazed. “What should I do to get rid of his entanglement?”
Lu Ziyan’s parting words clearly meant he would not let it go easily.
He would continue to pester her endlessly.
Pei Yuqing lifted the pot and poured her a cup of tea. “I guarantee that within at least three months, Lu Ziyan will not appear before you.”
“…What do you mean?”
“There’s been some trouble in Yunzhou. His Majesty just summoned him to the palace, surely for this matter.” Pei Yuqing looked down at her and said calmly, “To suppress the chaos in Yunzhou, it will take him at least three to five months to return.”
Xie Wanning frowned slightly. “…How did you know?”
It wasn’t that she was deliberately doubting him, but she clearly remembered that in her dream, after returning to the capital from bandit suppression in Bianzhou, Lu Ziyan had never left the capital until their marriage.
It wasn’t until Liu Manrou gave birth to the eldest son that Lu Ziyan was ordered to investigate a case in Southern Sichuan.
She remembered it so clearly because when Lu Ziyan left, fearing his favored concubine would suffer grievances without protection, he insisted against opposition on raising Liu Manrou to the status of second wife and equal wife.
But the man before her had no reason to deceive her, and his intelligence seemed quite reliable.
This time, Pei Yuqing did not brush her off with “I have my ways.” Instead, he said seriously, “This generation of Qing Tian Guard is under my command. Trust me—Lu Ziyan will leave the capital at the latest tomorrow morning.”
Xie Wanning’s pupils suddenly widened, her eyes bulging in shock.
The fame of the Qing Tian Guard was renowned. Even young ladies raised in deep seclusion had heard of them.
This was an organization founded in the Taizu era, the empire’s top intelligence network. It was said that before the Qing Tian Guard, no courtier could keep a secret.
As the Princess’s only legitimate son and His Majesty’s only full-blooded nephew, it made sense that Pei Yuqing had His Majesty’s trust and was given command of the Qing Tian Guard.
But wasn’t it said that this man had poor health and loved traveling, without entering officialdom?
In the eyes of the world, he was still a Heir who kept aloof from worldly strife and seemed like he wouldn’t live much longer.
Was this all playing the pig to eat the tiger?
No one would think that the Young Lord of Duke Pei’s Mansion, who rarely appeared due to frail health, was such a figure with immense power and reach in the Great Khan Empire.
She opened her mouth and asked, “Did you secretly do something to make His Majesty decide to send him to suppress the chaos in Yunzhou?”
Anyway, in her dreams, Lu Ziyan had not left the capital during this time.
Her shock was very obvious. Pei Yuqing saw it and smiled, saying softly, “Because of his entanglement, you’ve been so worried you’re unable to sleep at night. I had to find a way to make him disappear.”
The words “make him disappear” were said casually by him, but Xie Wanning could hear the weight behind them.
It was indeed him!
He had spread the news of Liu Manrou’s pregnancy, making Lu Ziyan readily agree to breaking off the engagement.
Now he had schemed to have His Majesty send Lu Ziyan away from the capital, all to spare her from enduring Lu Ziyan’s pestering.
Xie Wanning blinked, and the heart that had been uneasy and fearful because of Lu Ziyan gradually calmed.
In the back courtyard flower garden, the two sat facing each other, both falling silent for a time.
Pei Yuqing gazed at her steadily for a long while, his smile gradually fading, and said hoarsely, “Today’s great humiliation you suffered is all my fault.”
“How can it be blamed on you?” Xie Wanning did not have the habit of taking out her anger on others. She waved her hand and said, “Who could know he was such a person?”
If she had known earlier, she would have stayed in the manor, no matter how much Mother urged her.
Thinking of this, she felt herself pathetic.
Why should she be afraid of Lu Ziyan to the point of not going out!
She gritted her teeth hatefully. “I don’t believe that with his unruly and unreasonable behavior, if the censors knew, they wouldn’t impeach him with a memorial, and His Majesty would still indulge him.”
No matter how outstanding his military merit, the imperial court had no shortage of political enemies.
There would always be those who disliked him, seizing the chance to stab him.
Pei Yuqing smiled faintly at her words, lowered his eyes as if thinking of something, and only after a long while said, “With His Majesty’s trust in him, it would only be a light punishment.”
Xie Wanning knew this full well—His Majesty’s favor toward Lu Ziyan had reached a level envied even by the princes.
Thinking this way, she felt worried again.
Even if Lu Ziyan left the capital tomorrow, so what? He would return someday.
When he came back in three to five months, if he still hadn’t gotten over it and came to pester her again, what then?
Was she to hide from him by never going out?
