Chapter 72: Under The Power Struggles Of Noble Clans, All Are Nothing But Ants

Li Rong returned to the residence, wrote a memorial, and then took a break, drinking tea in her room while waiting for someone.

Pei Wenxuan first went to the office to handle official duties. In the evening, he had dinner with Li Rong. Seeing that she was still dressed formally, he couldn’t help but say, “You should rest. They might not have even seen your memorial yet.”

“What if they have and come over in the middle of the night? If I’m not dressed properly, wouldn’t that seem lacking in presence?”

Li Rong flipped a page in her book, lifted her chin, and said, “If you’re tired, go ahead and sleep.”

“I just finished eating,” Pei Wenxuan sat across from her and pulled the book from her hands. As Li Rong followed his movement with her eyes, he smiled and said, “We’re just waiting anyway. Your Highness, why not talk with me for a bit?”

When Li Rong heard this, her gaze swept from Pei Wenxuan’s face down to his waist, then back up again.

Pei Wenxuan had just taken a bath. Even though it was winter, he wore only a thin shirt. His freshly dried hair hung loosely behind him, and his collar was slightly open, revealing part of his collarbone. Despite clearly being a proper and upright man, somehow, he exuded an indescribable allure.

Realizing this, Li Rong forcibly looked away, snatched her book back, and said without looking up, “Not talking.”

Pei Wenxuan noticed her seemingly avoiding him and couldn’t help but laugh. Leaning closer, he said, “Your Highness seems a bit afraid of me?”

“Aren’t you cold?”

Li Rong frowned, stood up, took his robe from the side, and tossed it at him. She said bluntly, “Put it on.”

“There’s a brazier in the room,” Pei Wenxuan smiled with eyes crinkling. “I don’t feel cold.”

Li Rong was about to order someone to remove the brazier when she saw Pei Wenxuan leisurely put on the outer robe, toss his hair back with an elegant motion, and say in a gentle tone, “But since Your Highness bestowed the robe, no matter how hot I am, I must wear it.”

As he said this, Pei Wenxuan raised his head, opened his arms, and smiled, “What does Your Highness think?”

The way he wore the robe didn’t seem much different from usual, but it was those subtle details—the slightly looser collar, the smile at the corners of his eyes and brows, and the open-arm gesture as if waiting for her to fall into his embrace—that made him appear unusually captivating.

Li Rong felt a bit hot but didn’t show it on her face. She simply nodded and said, “Not bad.”

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside, followed by Jinglan’s respectful voice from beyond the door: “Your Highness, Lord Shangguan has arrived.”

Hearing this was like receiving a pardon. Li Rong quickly said, “Uncle is here.”

Pei Wenxuan stood up, nodded, and said to Li Rong, “I’ll go with Your Highness.”

“You should change—”

Before she could finish, she watched Pei Wenxuan pull up his collar, straighten his clothes, and tie up his hair with a ribbon, instantly transforming into a proper and dignified figure.

Pei Wenxuan turned to see Li Rong’s shocked face. Knowing exactly what surprised her, he tucked his hands into his sleeves and feigned ignorance: “What is Your Highness looking at?”

He was doing it on purpose!

Li Rong was well aware, but she couldn’t say anything or ask. She knew that if she asked, Pei Wenxuan would take the chance to say even more suggestive things.

So, she had to shut it down.

She smiled, pretending to admire him. “I still think you look best like this, Consort.”

“Oh?” Pei Wenxuan raised an eyebrow. “Truly?”

Li Rong nodded sincerely. Pei Wenxuan sighed with a bit of regret. “As Your Highness ages, your tastes have certainly changed. I remember when you were younger, you weren’t like this.”

“Time changes people.” Li Rong sighed and raised a fan to her chest. “For example, now I only like decent, honest men. Flashy ones? No thanks.”

Pei Wenxuan choked on his words. Li Rong strode out without giving him a chance to reply. “Let’s go. Uncle is waiting outside.”

Li Rong made her way to the main hall. Shangguan Xu had already been waiting there. He looked quite tired. Shangguan Ya sat beside him. When Li Rong entered, they both stood up and saluted her.

“Greetings, Your Highness.”

“No need for such formality, Uncle.”

Li Rong helped Shangguan Xu up and asked in a hurry, “It’s so late, Uncle. Why have you come to my residence at this hour?”

“It’s truly improper to disturb Your Highness so late.”

Shangguan Xu sighed, raised his eyes to look at Li Rong, and said, “It’s just that some matters could not wait. I hope Your Highness can forgive me.”

“Uncle jests,” Li Rong smiled. “No matter when you come, I will always receive you.”

“It brings this old minister great comfort that Your Highness still values our bond,” Shangguan Xu said with deeper meaning, then turned to look at Pei Wenxuan. “This old minister would like to have a private word with Your Highness. Might the Prince Consort be willing to excuse us?”

Pei Wenxuan, upon hearing this, looked to Li Rong. She smiled at him and said simply, “You may go rest first. I’ll speak with Uncle for a while.”

Pei Wenxuan pretended to hesitate for a moment. Then he smiled and said, “The Princess and I are family. Since Uncle is here, how could I not play host? What’s the harm in discussing matters as a family? I’ll sit and serve tea to Uncle.”

Li Rong instinctively glanced at Shangguan Xu. Pei Wenxuan, with a slightly aggrieved look, said, “Could it be that Your Highness doesn’t trust me?”

“Of course not,” Li Rong gave a wry smile and motioned for him to sit. “Then stay.”

She turned to Shangguan Xu and said, “Uncle, we’re all family. Whatever you have to say, Wenxuan won’t speak of it to outsiders.”

Shangguan Xu didn’t look too pleased, but since Li Rong had already spoken, he had no choice but to comply.

Li Rong invited Shangguan Xu to sit. Pei Wenxuan poured tea for him. Li Rong hesitated briefly, then spoke in a soft voice, “Uncle, you look very tired. You should really get more rest.”

“Thank you for your concern, Your Highness.” Shangguan Xu sighed and said quietly, “It’s just that I’m getting older. Even a single day of running around exhausts me.”

“Then Uncle should rest earlier.” Since Shangguan Xu hadn’t brought up the main issue, Li Rong simply made small talk. When he saw she wasn’t taking the bait, he fell silent for a while before finally speaking.

“Your Highness, this old minister doesn’t have many years left.”

“Uncle, you’re just reaching the age of knowing destiny. You still have a long life ahead.”

“What I mean is, my days in court won’t last much longer.”

Shangguan Xu sighed again and said in a low voice, “You know well that your grandfather retired from his post at this same age, which allowed me to inherit his position. I won’t stay much longer either. In a few years, the court will belong to your generation.”

Li Rong said nothing, raising her tea cup. Shangguan Xu turned his head and looked out the window at the gently swaying branches in the wind.

“In a few years, when the Crown Prince ascends the throne, I will be content and will no longer involve myself. Your Highness should continue to refine your skills. Whatever you wish to do, you’ll still have time.”

Hearing this, Li Rong let out a light chuckle. “Uncle, why don’t you just say it? What do you think I want to do?”

“Your Highness,” Shangguan Xu raised his eyes to look at her, “this old minister knows that you’ve grown up and want to hold some real power in your hands. Establishing the Supervisory Bureau was just your way of gaining a firm foothold in court.”

Li Rong lowered her gaze, listening as Shangguan Xu continued, “Your intentions have already been relayed to me by Her Majesty the Empress. I’ve thought about it for a long time, and I have to admit, Your Highness is not wrong.”

“The Shangguan family is too big. I can no longer control it. Now that we’ve made a mistake, this old minister has come tonight to beg Your Highness.” As he spoke, Shangguan Xu took a step back, bowed deeply, and performed a grand salute. “Please let the case of the Qin family end here.”

Li Rong didn’t respond. She held her teacup, while Shangguan Xu knelt before her, silently waiting for her answer.

Li Rong took a sip of tea and softly said, “Uncle, there’s no need for this. Please rise first.”

“If Your Highness does not agree, this old minister dares not rise.”

“Uncle,” Li Rong sighed, “the Qin family is currently involved in two cases: the military funds case and the false accusation against the Qin clan. May I ask, are you aware of these two cases?”

Shangguan Xu remained silent. Li Rong looked toward Shangguan Ya. Shangguan Ya bowed and said, “Reporting to the Princess, my father is unaware of the details of these two cases. To be frank with Your Highness, by the time the Qin case reached my father, it was already a case with ‘conclusive evidence.’ While Father may have personal motives, he is not someone who confuses right and wrong. I hope Your Highness can see the truth clearly.”

“Then what happened?”

Li Rong sipped her tea. Shangguan Ya glanced at Shangguan Xu, still kneeling on the floor, and explained:

“The power struggle over the Northwest Army—His Majesty favors Lord Xiao. My father, fearing the Emperor might believe slander, sent people to investigate the Qin family. His intention was that if there were faults, they would be corrected, and if not, the matter would be dropped.”

But in officialdom, there are few without faults—whether major or minor, there will always be something.

“But by the time the order passed down the line, it became a directive to find faults with the Qin family. The Ministry of War investigated for a long time and found nothing. So, to satisfy the task, they tore pages from the marching logs and submitted them to the Censorate, hoping to fabricate an issue and consider the task done.

“The Censorate found it suspicious and assumed guilt. They didn’t intentionally wish to harm the Qin family—but Yang Quan had committed treason and betrayal, and the Qin family served under him. In the siege, both sides had 3,000 troops, but the Qin family surrendered without a fight—it all looked suspicious.”

“So the Censorate had no evidence and manufactured it, forging this witness, Luo Juan?”

“Yes,” Shangguan Ya continued. “And Luo Juan’s testimony alone wasn’t enough to convict the Qin family when it reached the Ministry of Justice. But the ministry believed Father wanted a thorough investigation, and the Qin family indeed looked guilty. So they added more ‘evidence’—gold and forged letters planted during the search—tied it together with Luo Juan’s testimony, and presented a complete chain of evidence. By the time Father saw the case, the ‘proof’ was overwhelming.”

“And then Lord Shangguan believed His Majesty had gone too far and should be warned, so he decided to carry the case through without close scrutiny. And now that it’s reached this point, no one dares to take responsibility. So they all stayed silent. When I began investigating, they tried desperately to cover things up. And Lord Shangguan assumed I was being used and misled, didn’t he?”

“Your Highness,” Shangguan Xu said respectfully, “things have come to this point. This old minister does not wish to argue—only hopes Your Highness will stop and not let this go further.”

He lifted his head to look at Li Rong and said earnestly, “Your memorial, this old minister has seen it—and understands Your Highness’s resolve. But please consider carefully: if you insist on pressing this matter, you’ll be destroying the foundation of the Shangguan family. And the Shangguan family is also your foundation—and the Crown Prince’s.”

“Foundation?”

Li Rong chuckled softly. “Uncle, a group of people you can’t even control—who cause you constant trouble—you still call them a foundation?”

Shangguan Xu stiffened slightly. Li Rong put down her tea and calmly said, “Do you not see it yourself, Uncle? You’re just a shield for them now, sheltering them from the storm. Outwardly they call you their superior, but secretly, they use you as cover to commit misdeeds. In the Qin family’s case—even if the person who first submitted the altered logs didn’t know what it meant for the Qin family—do you think the ones forging the evidence didn’t?”

As she spoke with Shangguan Xu, Xun Chuan hurried in from outside. As soon as she entered the residence, a servant greeted her.

“My lord.”

“Has Her Highness returned?”

Xun Chuan was breathless, visibly anxious. The servant respectfully replied, “She has. Is there an urgent matter?”

“I heard the Qin case has been transferred to the Ministry of Justice.”

As she spoke, she strode forward. “I must speak to Her Highness. This case cannot be transferred.”

Just as the words left her lips and the two reached the courtyard, they heard Li Rong shouting:

“They knew! Yet they still gave you the forged evidence! Even if the entire Qin family were to be executed, they would still stand by and watch! And you—?!”

Li Rong slammed her folding fan down hard on the table and shouted, “Even when you found out, you could do nothing but bury the truth and wait for some future excuse to punish them!”

“Why are they so brazen? Because they know you’ll protect them! That’s why they dare to frame loyal officials, embezzle military funds—behind your back, what won’t they dare to do?”

As Shangguan Xu listened to Li Rong’s scolding, he slowly straightened up. “Then, Your Highness, tell me—what should be done?”

Li Rong fell silent at his words. Shangguan Xu looked at her.

“Do you know who they are? They are relatives, in-laws, kin. If I don’t protect them, what do you think I am, Your Highness? In the future court, who will support this old minister?”

“If I have no one to rely on—just a lone Left Assistant Minister—what of the Crown Prince then? Now that Prince Su is eyeing the throne and His Majesty has promoted Su Ronghua to be his personal tutor—don’t you understand what that means? You are a mere Princess, yet His Majesty entrusted you with the Supervisory Bureau—what do you think that is based on?”

“It’s simply because you are the Crown Prince’s elder sister, because you are a Princess of the Shangguan clan! You think you can cast off the Shangguan family—what would you and I be then?”

Shangguan Xu stared at Li Rong. “We would be nothing.”

“Whether it is me, or the Princess,” his voice now hoarse, “under the crushing weight of these great clans—we’re nothing but ants.”

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