The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

Chapter 267: Surfaced

Pei Yanyue looked at Xia Mianwan cautiously. The feelings between her and Pei Yanqi were indeed deep, unlike those of others. She lived a comfortable life, and seeing Pei Yanqi like this, she felt a little sad.

"Take it down!"

Following Xia Mianwan's instructions, several maids took Pei Yanqi out.

After the noise subsided, Madam Pei and Pei Yanyue were also speechless. Xia Mianwan said calmly: "Big sister, being self-righteous is harming her, not saving her."

Pei Yanyue was in a state of confusion. She asked cautiously, "Sister-in-law, can't Aqi's child be kept?"

Xia Mianwan sighed and said, "Ayue, if Aqi's child is born, the Pei family will lose all their reputation. Tell me whether I should keep the child or not. I'll let you make the decision today. If you say to keep the child, then I'll keep it. If you say not to keep the child, then I won't keep it."

Pei Yanyue stopped talking. She was not smart and could not be smart anymore.

"Stay with your mother for a while. I'll go find your older brother."

Xia Mianwan's intuition told her that although today's incident was a matter within the inner chambers, it was closely related to the imperial court. All of this was... too weird.

Back at Shaoguangyuan, Pei Yanxu was flipping through the case files. Seeing Xia Mianwan's unhappy expression, he put down the case files in his hand and asked, "What happened? Who offended you?"

After Xia Mianwan briefly explained the matter to Pei Yanxu, she found that Pei Yanxu's expression changed slightly.

"What's wrong?" Xia Mianwan had a feeling something was wrong.

Pei Yanxu took out a letter from the desk and motioned Xia Mianwan to open it.

Xia Mianwan's expression changed after she opened the letter.

Some time ago, natural disasters occurred frequently in various places. The emperor allocated a batch of silver and grain from the national treasury and appointed Lord Zhao to go to the disaster relief. The letter in Xia Mianwan's hand was written in blood by Chen Suzhi.

The letter said that after Lord Zhao arrived in Jiangnan, officials from top to bottom joined forces to eat up all the relief money and half of the grain. Some upright officials refused to go along with the corrupt officials and were silenced by the Zhao family.

The letter also said that Chen Suzhi had already found out that Lord Jiang, the imperial envoy sent by the emperor, was Marquis Jinyang's man. Marquis Jinyang should have joined forces with the Zhao family and was determined to seize the throne.

This letter written in blood by Chen Suzhi was delivered by Xiaowu's people. Chen Suzhi's life or death is now unknown.

"Marquis Jinyang is an iron-blooded royalist, but he actually...sided with the third prince." Xia Mianwan frowned, so what was the purpose of Marquis Jinyang's son doing this?

Pei Yanxu smiled bitterly and said, "I knew the Zhao family was not simple, but I never thought that the Zhao family's hidden black hands had stretched so far. The most troublesome thing is that the imperial envoy Jiang was recommended by me... He is openly my man."

There seemed to be a layer of fog in front of their eyes, which dazzled Pei Yanxu and Xia Mianwan.

Chen Suzhi's blood letter, the embezzled disaster relief silver and grain, the imperial envoy recommended by Pei Yanxu, and Pei Yanqi's child, these four things seem to be completely unrelated, yet they seem to be inextricably linked.

Xia Mianwan picked up a pen and started writing on the paper. Suddenly she asked, "How about we see the big picture from the small?"

Pei Yanxu raised his chin and motioned Xia Mianwan to continue.

"Among the four things that happened to Chen Suzhi, Lord Zhao, Lord Jiang and the Prince of Jinyang, the thing about Aqi is the smallest. Let's try to use the thing about Aqi as a clue to infer other things. What do you think?" Xia Mianwan asked while writing on paper.

Pei Yanxu had no objection, since he had no idea at the moment anyway.

Xia Mianwan invited Pei Yanxu to sit with her. After they sat down, Pei Yanxu asked, "Do you think the incident between the Marquis of Jinyang and Aqi was a coincidence or premeditated?"

Xia Mianwan tilted her head and thought for a moment, "If it was just a coincidence, why did it happen at this time?"

Pei Yanxu thought so too, "If it's not a coincidence, what is the purpose of Marquis Jinyang?"

The two of them thought about it for a long time, and they always felt that they couldn't figure it out. If they wanted to win over Pei Yanxu, they shouldn't have defiled Pei Yanqi's body first, then had a child, and then let Pei Yanqi go back to the Pei Mansion to make trouble. This didn't look like they were trying to win over the Pei Mansion, this was simply trying to make enemies with the Pei Mansion.

"I'm afraid he wants to make us enemies with the Cui family of Qinghe." Pei Yanxu thought for a long time before speaking.

Xia Mianwan thought for a moment and said, "If our Pei family goes to the Marquis of Jinyang for Aqi, the prince of the Marquis of Jinyang will definitely marry Aqi as his second wife. However, this would be a great shame for the Cui family. It would not be surprising if the Cui and Pei families become enemies because of this. Lord Cui holds military power. Although he is a royalist, he mainly stands on the side of the prince because the emperor stands on the side of the prince. But if the Cui and Pei families become enemies, the Cui family may have to consider their future path."

Pei Yanxu nodded: "That's right, so I think... Aqi's chess piece is to make the Pei family and the Cui family alienated, and after Aqi marries into the Marquis' Mansion, she will definitely be instigated to continue to cause trouble for the Cui family. Then even if they don't alienate each other now, there will always be a day when they can't bear it anymore."

"So if we follow this line of thought, Lord Jiang is trying to frame you. There must be a trap here, and in the end, Marquis Jinyang will step in. So... Lord Jiang should be a dead man, and I think the final result is that he will die inexplicably." Xia Mianwan said as he sorted out the information.

Pei Yanxu's eyes brightened when he heard this. What Xia Mianwan said made a lot of sense. There was no clearer move than this. Jiang Haichuan was his man on the surface, so it should be the Marquis of Jinyang who would find out the mastermind behind the scenes.

"Jiang Haichuan's move seems to allow Marquis Jinyang to advance or retreat." But if Pei Yanqi marries the prince of Marquis Jinyang and is used by the Marquis's mansion, then... the Cui and Pei families are enemies and will naturally add insult to injury. So Lord Jiang's move is not only to frame Pei Yanxu, but also to allow Pei Yanxu to be used by the Marquis's mansion and completely betray the prince. If he retreats, he can put Pei Yanxu in jail. This is a move that is 100% profitable.

No...that's not right. Lord Zhao is a corrupt person. If that's the case, how can he possibly clear himself?

Unless Chen Suzhi is also a pawn!

Xia Mianwan and Pei Yanxu were indeed in sync. When it came to Lord Zhao, all previous speculations seemed to be overturned. But with Chen Suzhi, things were different.

"If... Su Zhi's blood letter was originally sent to us by the opponent on purpose, then there are only two possibilities. The first possibility is that the blood letter is Su Zhi's and was used. The second possibility is that the blood letter is still Su Zhi's and Su Zhi did it on purpose." Pei Yanxu speculated.

Xia Mianwan continued, "So, how Lord Zhao escaped unscathed must have something to do with Chen Suzhi. It seems more likely that he did it on purpose. Husband, it seems that we should be prepared for Chen Suzhi to turn against us."