The Grand Secretary has no heir? His concubine gives birth to triplets.

Three long knocks and two short knocks came from outside.

Xiao San stood by the door, first peeking through the crack before raising his hand to unscrew the door.

As soon as the door opened, the night wind swept in withered leaves, causing the candle flame to flicker.

The newcomer was quite tall, dressed in an inconspicuous blue robe, and wore a wide-brimmed bamboo hat, with half of his face hidden in the shadows.

He didn't rush to take off his hat after entering; instead, he closed the door tightly behind him and said in a low voice:

What is written in the fifth line of Volume One of the *Wujing Zongyao*?

Jiang Guo'er clenched her fists, suppressing the slight tremor of her tongue, and blurted out:

"Whenever an enemy comes, we must first plan before we act. Our response must also be to first plan before we fight."

She had recited this sentence countless times when she was a child, playing with her brother.

The person who came froze on the spot.

The next moment, he suddenly threw off his bamboo hat, casually placed it on the table, and strode towards Jiang Guo'er.

The candlelight illuminated his travel-worn face.

His brow bone was strong, his nose was straight, and his eyes held a coldness honed by the years, but at this moment, only disbelief remained in his eyes.

"Brother Lu..."

Jiang Guo'er had barely uttered three words when Lu Yunzheng stopped in his tracks.

He looked at her as if he were trying to identify a dream he dared not wake up from.

A moment later, he raised his hand, his fingertips hovering half an inch from her temple, hesitating to strike.

Jiang Guo'er felt a lump in her throat and gently tucked her hair behind her ear.

On the inside of the right earlobe, there is a very shallow crescent-shaped scar.

That was left when she was six years old, when she insisted on climbing a tree with Murong Sheng to raid bird nests, broke a branch, and fell down.

At that time, her brother bandaged her up while scolding her for being audacious.

To appease her, Lu Yunzheng gave her all the pine nut candies he had saved up for half a month.

Lu Yunzheng stared at that spot for a long time, his Adam's apple bobbing heavily.

"It really is you..."

His voice choked with emotion, his hands trembled slightly as he lifted her up and pulled her forcefully into his arms, his eyes reddening slightly.

"Shunshun, you're still alive."

Jiang Guo'er froze.

After entering the Pei household, she learned to bow her head, to smile obsequiously, and to live her life as a proper servant.

She thought she was already used to it.

But that one "Shun Shun" shattered the hard shell she had built in her heart.

She was not some lowly concubine Jiang, but the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Dingyuan's mansion—Murong Shunshun!

The tears came suddenly and fiercely, instantly soaking Lu Yunzheng's shoulder.

Pei Yan sat on the armchair to the side, his eyes deep and dark.

His fingers gripped the wooden handrail, and the veins on the back of his hands throbbed.

No matter what her name is, she's his woman!

Why should she be held in another man's arms? Not even if it's someone she grew up with!

Just as he was about to interrupt, Jiang Guo'er's thoughts clearly reached his ears.

If my brother were still here... he would hug me like this too.

Pei Yan paused.

He looked at Jiang Guo'er's thin, trembling shoulders, his back teeth clenched tightly, and he swallowed back the rebuke.

She suffered so much.

Her entire family was slaughtered, and she cruelly sold herself into the Pei family. Although she was the legitimate daughter of a marquis, she had to pretend to be a lowly concubine.

It's good to have someone from the past to lean on and cry with...

He tried to comfort himself, but his heart was still heavy.

After hugging for a moment, Lu Yunzheng let go and wiped his face haphazardly.

Only then did he begin to look Jiang Guo'er up and down, from her face and neck, finally settling on her body.

A lotus-root-colored gauze shirt, and a bamboo-green silk skirt.

It looks nice, but this is the color that concubines or even maids often wore!

"Why are you dressed like this?"

Lu Yunzheng whirled around, glaring at Pei Yan, who sat in the main seat, his anger practically flaring up. "Did he force you? Did this Pei guy coerce you?"

Lu Yunzheng's face was full of vigilance, and every word he spoke was laced with hostility:

"The Grand Secretary, taking advantage of someone's misfortune, forces the daughter of a loyal official to become his concubine. Have you no shame?"

Pei Yan sneered and dusted off non-existent dust from his sleeve.

"Since Lord Lu has just entered the Censorate, does he see everyone as a criminal?"

Lu Yunzheng, enraged, laughed coldly and retorted sarcastically:

"Everyone knows that Grand Secretary Pei is a man of few desires and doesn't even allow a female mosquito to come within three feet of him."

"How powerful you are, keeping the innocent daughter of the Marquis of Dingyuan as a concubine in the inner quarters!"

"You're more than ten years older than her, practically half your life is over, how can you be so shameless? At your age, aren't you afraid of breaking your teeth trying to seduce a younger woman!"

Pei Yan's body temperature dropped sharply.

Old age?

He's only twenty-nine this year!

"Lord Lu is young, so naturally he looks down on someone as old as me."

Pei Yan picked up the celadon teacup on the table and took a small sip.

"But Lord Lu already has a fiancée, why hasn't he married her all these years, delaying her marriage until now?"

"Could it be that she has ulterior motives and intends to abandon me after starting something?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yunzheng's expression changed.

He clenched his fists, the veins on the back of his hands bulging, and he couldn't speak for a long time.

His reluctance to marry naturally stemmed from reasons he couldn't reveal to outsiders.

He couldn't let that girl get hurt.

Jiang Guo'er was caught in the middle, her head throbbing from the tense atmosphere.

[One is the Grand Secretary, the other is the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate; how come they look like street cockfighting when they meet?]

"Alright!" She quickly stepped forward and stood between the two of them.

"Second Brother Lu, you've misunderstood the Prime Minister."

"He didn't force me. I concealed my identity and infiltrated the Pei residence, hoping to use the Prime Minister's power to overturn the verdict against my father and brothers!"

Lu Yunzheng looked at her, his brows still furrowed.

Jiang Guo'er lowered her eyes and gently tugged at her sleeve with her fingertips.

"The Prime Minister was initially unaware of this."

"Now that he has agreed to help, he's in the same boat as us. I beg you, please don't hold a grudge against him because of me, okay?"

Pei Yan's fingers, which were holding the tea lid, paused slightly.

The burning, aching sensation that had just made his heart and liver ache suddenly dissipated by more than half.

She was speaking up for him.

Even if it's just for the sake of investigating the case, even if it's just to avoid Lu Yunzheng misunderstanding...

That's enough.

Pei Yan lifted his eyelids and glanced at Lu Yunzheng indifferently, his expression perfectly composed.

Lu Yunzheng was so angry at his appearance that his teeth itched.

This guy surnamed Pei is clearly smug.

"OK."

Lu Yunzheng suppressed his anger and pulled out a chair to sit down.

"Since it was Shunshun's own choice, I won't hold it against you for now."

"Let's get down to business. What have you found?"

Although Pei Yan was disgusted by Lu Yunzheng's past relationship with Jiang Guo'er, he also knew that Lu Yunzheng's actions over the years could be considered upright and trustworthy.

Now is not the time to dwell on personal feelings.

He explained in detail the incident of the Salera clan being intercepted and killed by the Eastern Palace Guards, the mark of the Ordnance Bureau on the arrowheads, the traces of the bamboo tube secret letter being opened and resealed, and the dark red wax seal on the charred and tattered letter.

The more Lu Yunzheng listened, the lower his brows became.

He took out a rolled-up piece of thin paper from his pocket and unfolded it on the table.

"This is the list of officials in the Ministry of War who have been unusually promoted in the past year, which I found."

"As luck would have it, I've also gotten to know Liu Quan, the former head of the Ministry of War in Baoding Prefecture."

"This person was just a minor official three years ago, with no notable achievements, yet he was promoted several times in the past two years. It's really strange."

Lu Yunzheng tapped the paper with his index finger.

"I'm figuring out how to make a move against him."

Jiang Guo'er immediately added:

"Back in the day, when my father and brother were delivering military reports, they would affix a small, soybean-sized personal seal after certain phrases to prevent interception."

"This might help you distinguish the authenticity of those old military reports."

Once the intelligence from all three parties was gathered, the situation on the table finally became clearer.

Lu Yunzheng had his own plans regarding how to deal with the former head of the Ministry of War in Baoding Prefecture.

"If you ask me, there's no need to follow any rules when dealing with a spineless wretch like Liu Quan."

Lu Yunzheng leaned back in his chair and gave a cold laugh.

"Get a few brothers to disguise themselves as bandits and, under cover of darkness, tie up that guy surnamed Liu in a sack."

"After a few cuts, are you worried he won't write down and sign off on the truth about forging military reports back then?"

Pei Yan flatly rejected it: "A foolish and dull act."

He turned the tourmaline ring on his ring finger, his voice steady.

"Confessions obtained through torture cannot be presented in the courtroom of the Dali Temple."

"If he discovers this, he might accuse you of using torture to extract a confession, and the Crown Prince could then easily dismiss him and accuse the Censorate of abusing its power."

"Furthermore, if this person is indeed secretly having an affair with the Crown Prince, if you take action against him today, the Eastern Palace will receive the news tomorrow."

Lu Yunzheng kept a sullen face and did not immediately refute.

He knew Pei Yan was right.

But when he thought of the injustice done to the entire Murong family, he couldn't suppress his anger.

"This won't work, that won't work, are we just going to stand by and watch him live a carefree life?"

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Guo'er suddenly spoke up: "Since a head-on confrontation would easily alert the enemy, it would be better to lure them out of their hole."