Ji Yunqing acted even faster than Wen Yu had expected. In the following days, Pei Shen seemed to be as busy as before, but this time he didn't look as embarrassed as last time.
"Why don't you seem worried at all?" Xun Ying looked at Wen Yu in confusion. The latter was calmly flipping through the official account books of the Pei Mansion, seemingly not worried at all about Pei Shen gaining power.
Hearing this, Wen Yu finally lifted her eyes. She looked meaningfully at Xun Ying and said with a half - smile, "Do you think the Third Prince is doing all this to promote Pei Shen?"
"Of course. If it weren't for promoting Pei Shen, there would be no need for him to do these things. I heard from His Highness that the Third Prince even intends to transfer Pei Shen to the Selection Department of the Ministry of Personnel." After explaining, Xun Ying was even more confused when she saw Wen Yu's unchanging attitude.
The Selection Department of the Ministry of Personnel was in charge of the promotion and transfer of officials.
If the Third Prince intended to place Pei Shen there, he must be cultivating him as a trusted subordinate.
"Whether he intends to or not, it's all up to the Third Prince, isn't it?" Wen Yu replied with a smile, and then added under Xun Ying's gaze, "Tell His Highness not to be anxious. This matter will definitely not succeed."
To outsiders, it might seem that Ji Yunqing really intended to promote Pei Shen recently. Even Pei Shen himself was a bit unsure now, but in Wen Yu's view, it was not the case at all.
Ji Yunqing was narrow - minded and was not a person who could trust others unconditionally.
Since Pei Shen had once defied Ji Yunqing for her, he could also go against his wishes for someone else.
A person with such a large uncertain factor, the more talented he was, the more uneasy others would feel when using him.
If Pei Shen had stood by or even added fuel to the fire at the Wen family's banquet, maybe Ji Yunqing would have considered giving him another chance to climb up.
But he didn't.
With Ji Yunqing's mindset, even if he wanted to promote Pei Shen, it wouldn't be now.
However, Pei Shen's foundation in the court was still shallow. Because his stance was different from his elder brother Pei Qing's, all the connections Pei Qing had built before were like a piece of waste paper in his hands.
He even had to guard against these people harming him.
After all, they were in different camps.
Now, even if Pei Shen knew that the Third Prince's current attitude was a trap, he could only grit his teeth and accept all of Ji Yunqing's arrangements.
Otherwise, he would have no chance to prove his talent to Ji Yunqing, nor would he have a chance to reach a higher position.
"Are you really not afraid of any accidents?" Xun Ying asked again, as if to confirm.
In matters of the court, Wen Yu didn't understand better than Ji Yunqing and Pei Shen, but she could say that she knew these two people well.
Moreover, the Pei family was no longer the powerful aristocratic family it used to be.
Although Pei Shen had always disagreed with Pei Qing's political views, Wen Yu could always understand the purpose of each of Pei Qing's actions.
The Pei family had declined, but the aristocratic family's traditions could not be abandoned. Although everyone knew that the Pei Mansion was gradually declining, the family's expenses had not been reduced much.
After all, once the name of the aristocratic family was completely removed, it would be difficult to put it back on.
Pei Qing would rather bear the name of decline than grit his teeth and hold up the last dignity of the family.
Therefore, in order to maintain the appearance of prosperity, after he became an official, he began to deliberately accumulate wealth. He was indeed intelligent. On the surface, people only thought that it was because the Pei Mansion's previous industries were well - managed.
But no matter how carefully he embezzled, there would always be traces of what he had done.
Therefore, Pei Qing thought of getting married. Only through marriage could he most smoothly shift the blame.
The Wen family was prosperous, and Wen Xun was a rare person who didn't value family background. Moreover, if he could really get in touch with the Wen family, he might not even need to worry about destroying these incriminating evidences.
But Wen Xun was much more difficult to handle than Pei Qing had imagined.
He could marry his daughter to a lower - status family without caring about family background, but he would never change his stance even a little bit because of the in - law relationship.
So, Pei Qing had no choice but to follow the original plan and frame others.
At the same time, after he married Wen Yu, he immediately defected to the Second Prince.
With the marriage to the Wen family before, he was a sought - after figure in the eyes of several princes.
But only by the side of the Second Prince could Pei Qing quickly gain a foothold.
However, Pei Shen never agreed with this. He always believed that the Third Prince's maternal family was more noble, and the court officials in the Second Prince's camp were not as powerful as those in the Third Prince's.
Only by following the Third Prince could the Pei family have the opportunity to make contributions to the new emperor.
On this point, Pei Qing and Pei Shen had never reached an agreement.
"At that time, I don't think Pei Qing didn't choose the Third Prince because he didn't want to. It's more likely that he had no choice. The Third Prince's mother is now a noble concubine, and her family has great prestige in the court. The Third Prince himself has countless supporters. In contrast, the Pei family is really not worth mentioning."
"By the side of the Second Prince, Pei Qing could still be the most important source of money and be highly regarded by the Second Prince."
"But with the Third Prince, his greatest advantage was only his in - law relationship with the Wen family. But since he couldn't influence my father, he was useless."
Wen Yu explained slowly, and her tone couldn't help but be tinged with mockery.
Pei Shen was very smart, smarter than most of the advisors under Ji Yunqing.
But to become a right - hand man on the road to competing for the crown prince, being smart was the least remarkable quality.
"His Highness once spoke highly of Pei Shen." Xun Ying reminded in a timely manner, but there was already a wavering look in her eyes.
Hearing this, Wen Yu even let out a soft laugh. "From the perspective of governing the country, my father also thinks that Pei Shen is a malleable talent. But the Third Prince is just a prince after all. In front of him, pulling His Highness off the high position is the most important thing."
"As for Pei Shen, his ability to do things in this matter is really limited."
"If Pei Shen had the opportunity to grow up, he would indeed give His Highness a headache. But he doesn't have that opportunity anymore."
If it were the prosperous Pei family in the past, with two brothers like Pei Qing and Pei Shen, they would surely be good at stirring up trouble in the court.
But now, Pei Shen still didn't understand that smart people without a family background were not rare in this world.
Maybe one Pei Shen could be as smart as ten trusted subordinates, but Ji Yunqing had enough resources to raise hundreds of them.
He simply didn't need to invest too much in Pei Shen, especially since Pei Shen had shown his rebellious nature several times before showing his value.
"Talented people are the most proud, especially Pei Shen. In this game, let His Highness wait patiently and just watch them fight among themselves." After saying that, Wen Yu let out a soft sigh and picked up the account books of the Pei Mansion again.
Rather than paying attention to Pei Shen's current movements, she was more eager to know what was going on with that restaurant that determined the fate of the Wen Mansion.
Xun Ying was silent for a long time before showing a suddenly enlightened look. "Miss Wen sees things clearly. I'll tell His Highness exactly what you said."
"There's no need to tell him exactly. If I can see it clearly, His Highness can't fail to calculate it." Wen Yu held back her laughter and casually threw a leisure book to Xun Ying. "Read more books when you're free. Don't be used as a tool by His Highness. Tell His Highness for me that if he tries to test me again, he'll have to increase his stakes."
Fortunately, she knew a thing or two about schemes. If she had really been misled by Ji Yundan and ruined this game of chess, she might have to add one more person to the list of people she wanted to kill.