The carriage suddenly stopped halfway.
The guard on the horse beside them made a sound of surprise.
Fu Zhen paused, just about to lift the curtain when the door opened from outside. Pei Zhan bent down and entered, first glancing at her, then sitting down beside her.
"What are you doing here?" Fu Zhen thought for a moment; this wasn’t the road from the palace back to the Pei Mansion.
Pei Zhan said, "My mother-in-law heard that we hadn’t eaten yet, so she sent a large table full of dishes for us. I’m waiting for you to come back and eat."
Hearing this, Fu Zhen glanced at the pitch-black night outside and sighed, "This day has been really long."
After saying this, she sniffed and looked at him: "When did you get back? You’ve already changed clothes and bathed?"
Pei Zhan lowered his head and sniffed his sleeve: "I stayed in the palace for a long time and pulled Xu Yin along, so of course, I needed to bathe when I got back."
Fu Zhen raised an eyebrow: "You pulled him too?"
Pei Zhan lazily said, "I even spoke on his behalf before the emperor!"
Given Yongping’s temperament, if both the emperor and empress were muddle-headed, she would have been arrogant long ago. The reason she still needed to be cautious in her actions was precisely because she knew that if she crossed the line, neither the emperor nor the empress would forgive her.
This time, she actually instructed a court official to murder someone; how could the emperor tolerate such a thing?
When Xu Yin entered the palace and opened his mouth to plead on someone’s behalf, Pei Zhan immediately knew what he intended.
For this person, besides himself, no one else mattered.
In the past, he could kill Liang Ning; why couldn’t he abandon Yongping now?
Pleading now would only intensify the emperor’s anger towards Yongping.
But Yongping deserved her punishment.
Pei Zhan never liked to bind himself with morals. From the moment Yongping initiated this conspiracy, she had already qualified to bear all the consequences.
Therefore, Pei Zhan knew what Xu Yin wanted to do, and he didn’t undermine him. Since everyone had the same goal, there was no need to worry about minor details.
After the emperor had interrogated Consort Yu and dealt with Yongping, he pardoned Xu Yin’s kneeling punishment.
When Pei Zhan went to announce the imperial decree, Xu Yin’s knees were so stiff from kneeling that he almost fell onto Pei Zhan, who then extended a helping hand to him.
"Did the emperor say anything to Xu Yin afterward?"
"Not yet." Pei Zhan leaned against the wall of the carriage, crossing his stretched-out legs: "However, after he pleaded, his promotion is bound to be more difficult." Newest update provided by novel•fire.net
Fu Zhen contemplated and then said, "Even if he can’t be promoted, he hasn’t completely gone without gain. He must have weighed this outcome."
With Yongping’s uproar, Xu Yin couldn’t possibly remain unaffected. Even if the emperor didn’t mind, the courtiers would have opinions.
He understands this result well.
Having stayed out of sight all day, he likely couldn’t restrain himself anymore and didn’t want to return to putting on a facade.
Liang Chen had gone there to provoke him with words, making Xu Yin unable to ignore the Liang Family. So Xu Yin took a gamble and went to the palace to plead for Yongping, thereby deepening the emperor’s resentment towards her and ultimately pushing Yongping to her doom.
Although Xu Yin’s promotion might be obstructed, he used the emperor’s hand to completely curb Yongping, making Prince Rong’s Mansion lose some of its momentum.
Using the ineptitude of Prince Rong’s Mansion in teaching their daughter as leverage, he no longer had to humble himself at Prince Rong’s Mansion as before.
Having raised such a foolish and troublesome daughter, who even embarrassed her once influential son-in-law, no father-in-law or mother-in-law could have the gall to put on airs before their son-in-law!
Fu Zhen leaned back against the pillow: "Let’s see how he and Prince Rong’s Mansion continue to play out this drama!"
The Zhe Family still had Zhe Yu, who had just woken up, wholeheartedly longing for Yongping. That fool still didn’t believe that the man chosen by his dream lover was actually his assassin; on Prince Rong’s side, there’s no rush!
The Xu family finally quieted down near midnight. The place where Yongping was confined was a courtyard located in the northwest corner of the Xu Mansion. Even though the imperial decree had just been announced, the eunuchs responsible for guarding Yongping were already in position.
They assigned personnel to guard the entire compound in shifts. When Xu Yin arrived outside the courtyard gate, the eunuch pondered for a moment before stepping aside to let him in.
"Assistant Minister, please don’t stay inside for too long; otherwise, we won’t be able to account to our superiors."
Xu Yin thanked him, reached out to push open the door, and walked in slowly.
The courtyard was shrouded in darkness, with only one lamp lit on each of the four corridors. In the main room facing the courtyard gate, however, three or four oil lamps were lit, clearly outlining the prostrate form of Yongping on the ground.