Pei Ying's complexion changed instantly, and she immediately asked, "What marriage? Why haven't I heard my elder brother mention it?"
Facing the interrogation, Luo Xiang wasn't annoyed.
She slowly showed a corner of the bright - yellow imperial edict from her sleeve.
As calmly as if she were talking about the weather today, she said, "An imperial edict came from the palace. I just received this news. I've been thinking about how to share this great news with Yingying."
Pei Ying took a step back, her tone urgent and angry. "Brother will never agree!"
Luo Xiang smiled faintly.
Her fingers slowly slid across the imperial edict. Her lowered eyes were full of confident pride.
"Yingying, don't be so categorical. It's better to listen to what's in this imperial edict before making a judgment."
Pei Ying clenched her hands helplessly.
Looking at Luo Xiang like this, a sense of fear slowly rose in her heart.
---
Cui Jintang guessed that there might be chaos outside because of her disappearance.
But she really didn't expect that it would... come to a standstill because of her disappearance.
First, Zhu San didn't return for a long time. Then Cui Jintang disappeared in the palace, leaving only Zhu Er behind.
Zhu Er got angry and wanted to send out all the men to look for them.
On the four main streets in the capital, it was common to see peddlers doing business while secretly searching everywhere.
If they weren't careful, hooligans would take the opportunity to overturn their stalls and snatch the fruits and vegetables before running away.
The peddlers were anxious because they lost their goods. The common people were busy watching the fun, and the hooligans were happy, shouting that it was a windfall.
Zhu Er checked all the people Cui Jintang might have offended over the years. The pigeons of the secret hall came and went constantly.
What Qi Xutao did was not much different from what Zhu Er did.
The Jinwu Guards, who were feared by everyone in the border areas, became reckless bandits who grabbed people to look at the portraits in the capital.
Although Qi Xutao had already given an order for the Jinwu Guards to disguise themselves as ordinary people and not to attract the attention of the common people, the Jinwu Guards with a fierce look on their faces were the focus wherever they went!
The common people who didn't know what was going on were all afraid of being involved, so they locked their doors every day.
But there were still many common people who were involved and didn't get an explanation. Filled with anger, they directly sued in the government.
In just two days, the whole capital became in a complete mess, with complaints everywhere.
This commotion even alerted Xie Rou, who was peacefully pregnant in the palace.
She couldn't help but worry in her heart.
How could the emperor not be suspicious of the Cui family?
Pei Zhaolin, who knew about this desperate commotion, fell silent.
Looking at Cui Jintang, who was stroking the worried chin of Fa Cai and making it purr, he hesitated to speak.
Suddenly, there came a sound of footsteps outside.
It was Zhu San.
Zhu San walked in with a bowl of medicine on a wooden tray, looking depressed.
He was still brooding over the interrogation by Pei Zhaolin.
He unceremoniously put the wooden tray in front of Pei Zhaolin and couldn't help but say sarcastically, "If Lord Pei doesn't want to die, drink it quickly! Otherwise, you'll make someone cry again another day!"
Cui Jintang didn't even raise her head. She picked up Fa Cai, which was happy from being stroked, into her arms and said, "Zhu San."
Zhu San pouted. At this moment, he found the curve of Pei Zhaolin's mouth extremely irritating!
He walked behind Cui Jintang with a bellyful of anger.
This girl's heart was so biased that he didn't know where it had gone!
Cui Jintang looked up with a smile and glanced at Pei Zhaolin, who was in a very good mood. "But you deceived the imperial concubine and then lured Zhu San to your courtyard and imprisoned him. You didn't act fairly in this matter, did you?"
Without hesitation, Pei Zhaolin stood up and bowed to Zhu San, who had a gloomy face.
"I'm ashamed of the divine doctor in this matter."
"If the divine doctor has any requests, as long as they don't violate benevolence and morality, I will surely do my best to fulfill them."
Zhu San's eyes lit up. "Then quickly send our girl and me back!"
Pei Zhaolin smiled faintly and politely refused. "This won't do."
"..."
Zhu San was so angry that he bared his teeth.
He finally understood why Zhu Er always showed an angry and helpless expression whenever he mentioned Lord Pei.
Who wouldn't be angry in such a situation?!
Cui Jintang fed Fa Cai a small piece of fish.
She was confused and spoke bluntly to Pei Zhaolin. "You've already found out my identity, and I have no intention of running away at all. Why do you still imprison me?"
It wasn't entirely imprisonment, after all. Every day when Pei Zhaolin opened his eyes, he thought about how to make her happy.
Pei Zhaolin's Adam's apple rolled up and down.
He stared directly at her, his eyes as bright as the stars in the sky.
Facing Cui Jintang, he wished he could expose all his emotions at once.
"Tomorrow is my birthday."
Cui Jintang's hand holding Fa Cai paused.
She had completely forgotten about this.
She lowered her eyes guiltily.
The next moment, her face was held up by Pei Zhaolin's hands.
He was smiling.
The expectation in his eyes was not concealed at all.
"With so many things happening recently, it's normal for you to forget."
"But tomorrow, I will announce something to you in front of everyone in the capital."
Cui Jintang's breath caught.
Looking at Pei Zhaolin, her heart was pounding wildly at this moment.
She probably... guessed what he would say tomorrow.
Cui Jintang couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth and nodded at him. "Okay."
"I'll wait for you."
Fa Cai in her arms was dissatisfied because it had been waiting for a long time for the second piece of fish from its mistress.
It gently patted the back of its mistress's hand with its furry paw.
When there was no response, it patted the hand of the male master next to her.
Its cute cat paw was slapped away.
"Meow!"
Fa Cai was hungry and angry.
It jumped out of Cui Jintang's arms and into Zhu San's arms, constantly meowing to complain.
Zhu San had an expression of "I understand everything".
He held the cat, snatched the plate of fish on the table cursingly, and walked out while feeding it.
He kept sighing, "The morals of the world are declining!"
---
In the Pei Mansion.
Luo Xiang calmly put down the teacup in her hand.
Compared with the gloomy Pei Mansion, Luo Xiang was in a very good mood at the moment.
Two days had passed, and there was still no sign of Cui Jintang. Luo Xiang was sure that she must be dead!
"Has the old madam seen clearly? Did I forge this imperial edict?"
The hand of Old Madam Pei holding the imperial edict was shaking.
Luo Xiang stood up with a smile and slowly walked towards Old Madam Pei.
"As this imperial edict says, after I marry Zhaolin, his official position will be promoted to Grand Protector."
"From the second - rank official directly to the first - rank official, the meaning behind this, the old madam should understand better than anyone else."
The smile on Luo Xiang's face became even brighter.
If they accepted the imperial edict, Pei Zhaolin would soon become the first - rank Grand Protector, second only to the Grand Tutor.
If they disobeyed the imperial edict, the Pei family might suffer a disastrous end!
Any smart person would know what to choose.
Pei Ying was extremely frightened and quickly pulled on Old Madam Pei's sleeve. "Grandmother?"
But Old Madam Pei smiled faintly and returned the imperial edict to the imperial eunuch who announced the edict.
"I'm afraid I can't comply."