After becoming pregnant, the cold-hearted nobles all went mad.

Despite the Left Minister's anger, Pei Heng remained calm.

Once he reached the position of Left Grand Secretary, there were some things he no longer needed to do himself.

Xu Yanqing stepped forward and said, "The Left Minister's cousin is currently being held in the yamen. If you care about your younger relative, why not go and see him yourself?"

The Left Minister's face turned pale and then red. He wasn't lying; he was indeed not familiar with that cousin, but that didn't stop his family members from using his name to do whatever they wanted.

Normally, out of respect for his birth mother, he would turn a blind eye, but who knew that the Crown Prince would catch him red-handed and accuse him? Now it's difficult for him to argue back.

His face was ashen, and he had lost all his strength.

Pei Hengfa showed no mercy.

Although it wasn't Zuo Zhongtang who personally gave the order, it was still thanks to his prestige that the elimination of a royalist faction wouldn't significantly impact the imperial power, but it could also serve as a warning to the Zuo family.

The Left Grand Secretary was originally a second-rank official, but was demoted to a fourth-rank official and exiled to Yizhou as governor. Just then, Yizhou was hit by floods, so he went there to atone for his mistakes.

After the court session, Xu Yanqing requested an audience.

Upon first hearing Fuquan's words, the man raised an eyebrow in slight surprise, but remained unmoved: "Let him in."

Fu Quan then led the people in. Xu Yanqing walked into the Zichen Hall, which was the emperor's sleeping quarters. The outer room was where officials were received, and Pei Heng usually read memorials here as well.

"Your Majesty, I have a request to make." Xu Yanqing spoke, his tone cold and aloof.

There was never any deep father-son affection between this father and son.

Pei Heng was quite surprised by this. Xu Yanqing had been the crown prince for some time and had never asked for anything. "What is it, Your Highness? Just speak frankly."

"General Shen is unable to take charge of the spring hunt. May Your Majesty rescind your order?"

Pei Heng paused, put down his pen, and asked, "Why would you care about this?"

The man's gaze was like a sword, and Xu Yanqing almost couldn't withstand it.

He secretly wondered if Shen Lingyi was also avoiding Pei Heng for this reason, and this thought made him feel much better.

Pei Heng then saw the usually dignified and polite Crown Prince bow with dignity: "It is your son who pities the generals of our Great Wei. General Shen suffered from an old ailment in his early years of war. He suffers from unbearable pain whenever it rains in spring or when it is cold. He could not bear to refuse Your Majesty's request."

He added, "I would like to change the person in charge of the spring hunt so that General Shen can focus on recovering from his illness."

Pei Heng pondered for a long time, during which his gaze fell upon him with a heavy, unwavering intensity.

Fortunately, in the end, Xu Yanqing's request was granted.

As he left, Xu Yanqing glanced down at the scene, his fingertips trembling slightly. His expression was rather unpleasant, and he immediately pressed his fingers down.

After everyone left, Fuquan was called inside.

Pei Heng immediately said, "Bring forth the list of participants for the spring hunt, let me take a look."

Seeing that the General's Mansion was circled above, he returned the list and told Fuquan to announce it the next day.

Fuquan hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to mention that Shen Lingyi had entered the palace yesterday. He had only learned today that she had gone to the East Palace.

Xu Yanqing had just left, and judging from Pei Heng's expression, it seemed that the Crown Prince had asked for something he shouldn't have. There might be some connection between the two.

Pei Heng noticed the conflict on Fu Quan's face and said in a deep voice, "What, you're starting to hide things now?"

"This servant dares not." Fuquan knelt down with a thud and hurriedly explained what had happened. After he finished speaking, he carefully looked at the emperor.

Pei Heng showed no expression, simply replying, "I understand, you can leave now."

The candlelight flickered on the man's face as he pressed his thumb ring, pondering whether Xu Yanqing's visit was partly at Shen Lingyi's behest.

The fact that the two had a special relationship was common knowledge throughout the capital.

But he remembered Shen Lingyi's eyes filled with admiration as she nestled against him and said, "This subject is devoted to Your Majesty."

...

The removal of Zuo Zhongtang made it easier to implement the water conservancy map, and as a result, the name of the goddess once again resounded throughout the Great Wei.

The ministers could more or less sense that their emperor had a special feeling for this goddess, since they had never seen her face and were secretly wondering who she was.

However, the folk descriptions of this goddess are much more exaggerated.

Some say she descended to earth, others say she is a disciple of a hermit, and many others claim to have seen the goddess's true form, describing her as having three heads and six arms, resembling a god or ghost.

Meanwhile, the real goddess was still completing her final few days of lessons at the academy.

The end of coursework meant the spring hunt, and the students were visibly excited, not to mention Xie Chichun, who had been looking forward to the holiday since the beginning of the college year.

"I've been preparing for this spring hunt for a long time. I just bought my riding gear. I'm determined to show off my skills tomorrow."

Xie Chichun chattered away in my ear, then suddenly fell silent, and the surroundings went quiet, leaving only Shen Tingjiao's soft and charming voice: "Is my sister still blaming Grandmother?"

Shen Lingyi paused.

A strange look crossed her face. She hadn't seen Shen Tingjiao for many days, and she really did miss her.

She could feel more at ease if Shen Tingjiao was causing trouble, but she was afraid that she would do nothing.

"What do you mean by that, sister? Are you saying that I didn't care about Grandmother when she was sick?" Shen Lingyi's eyes shimmered with tears. "I thought that since Grandmother had you, she didn't want to see me anymore. Last time I delivered medicine to the courtyard, the nanny threw it away right afterward, which made me sad for a long time. I wondered if someone had gossiped about me to Grandmother."

She added, "Of course I don't doubt my sister's intentions. My sister went through so much trouble to escape from the Prince Su's mansion, how could she have the time to be a petty person who speaks ill of others behind their backs?"

Shen Tingjiao had intended to sow discord among the crowd, making them think that Shen Lingyi was an unfilial descendant who only cared about herself and disregarded her grandmother, but she was silenced as soon as she opened her mouth.

She stepped forward, her sleeve brushing against Shen Tingjiao's hand, tickling her, and the latter quickly pulled back.

Shen Tingjiao put on a tearful expression: "Does my sister dislike me that much and not want to have anything to do with me?"

Shen Lingyi looked at her pale face, her eyes quickly reddening, and clicked her tongue inwardly.

Long time no see, your skills have improved!

"Why do you think of me so much, little sister? I just wanted to ease the tension between you and Grandmother. After all, we're all family, and it's not good to keep Grandmother confined to the backyard all the time."

Shen Lingyi said with a half-smile, "Sister, that hat you threw at me almost killed me. If Grandmother is sick and you keep running around, won't that just worsen her condition?"

"The imperial physician's personal advice has ironically made me look bad. My sister's words have truly broken my heart."

Few of the people present were fools; after listening to this, they already knew who was right and who was wrong, and it was clear that the person who was at a disadvantage was in the wrong.

The reasons Shen Tingjiao gave were untenable from the start.

"Since my sister won't listen to my advice, I have nothing more to say."

Shen Tingjiao covered her face and ran away in tears. It has to be said that her running away made many of her supporters think that Shen Lingyi had angered her and made her run away.

Shen Lingyi ignored the angry looks from those people, packed her things, and went back to her residence.

Upon returning to the mansion, he was summoned to the study by Shen Su.