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

Seeing that they were both looking at her, Jiang Guo'er composed herself and said:

"Why don't we forge a fake relic of the Marquis of Dingyuan, and spread the word that it contains irrefutable evidence proving my father and brothers' innocence?"

"Those behind the scenes who have done wrong will definitely try to send people to rob them."

She raised her eyes, her gaze clear and bright.

"If we set up an ambush and follow the clues, we can naturally find out who these people are taking orders from."

Pei Yan's eyes flickered slightly.

"feasible."

"The relics will be made by the Xiaowei. The private seal, sealing habits, and common patterns of the Dingyuan Marquis's residence must all be correct."

"The message must not be sent out of the Pei residence. It must be passed out layer by layer through secondhand shops, pawnshops, and the descendants of the former subordinates of the Marquis of Dingyuan."

"Only when truth and falsehood are mixed together can people believe it."

Pei Yan immediately set out a plan: "Lord Lu's men should continue to keep a close eye on the Ministry of War, especially Liu Quan."

Lu Yunzheng nodded: "Leave this person to me."

"On the surface, we go our separate ways, but in secret we work together. No matter how suspicious the Crown Prince is, he would never suspect that we have already been communicating with each other."

Jiang Guo'er felt relieved.

She then remembered something else, "Also, we should change the way we send messages in the future."

"We can use Xue Tao paper to write some poems exchanged between women in their boudoirs, and then write the message we want to convey inside using an acrostic poem."

"Outsiders would only see it as romantic verses; who would suspect that it contains secrets of the imperial court?"

Lu Yunzheng immediately got goosebumps.

"Love, love poems? Me and him writing them?"

Lu Yunzheng pointed at Pei Yan's nose, his face full of disgust, "I'm afraid I'll have to throw up everything I ate last night."

"In urgent situations, one must act expediently." Pei Yan leaned back in his chair, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"If Lord Lu feels wronged, he doesn't have to write it."

Lu Yunzheng retorted through gritted teeth, "Fine, I'll write it! I'll disgust you to death!"

After a few words of bickering, Lu Yunzheng dropped his carefree attitude.

He lowered his voice and dropped an even more shocking bombshell.

"There's one more thing. That Consort Yu in the palace has been frequently presenting His Majesty with elixirs lately, which has restored his virility."

"But my people found out that Consort Yu has been in close contact with the eunuchs of the Eastern Palace in private. Recently, the Crown Prince has also been looking ruddy and abnormally excited."

He paused, his tone tinged with amusement.

"Nominally, Consort Yu was recommended to the palace by the Empress, but now it seems that the Crown Prince may have supplied her with these elixirs..."

"It's interesting to see which side Consort Yu is on."

Pei Yan tapped the table with his fingers.

"But where did the elixir formula come from? Who was refining it? And through whose hands did the medicinal herbs enter the palace? Every detail must be verifiable. Otherwise, if a charge of framing the imperial family were to fall upon us, no one could bear the burden."

He looked at Xiao San.

"Try to get the prescriptions and medicine purchase lists that have recently leaked from the palace, and I'll take them to see Master Longchuan."

"Yes," Xiao San replied, clasping his hands in a fist salute.

Upon hearing the words "elixir," a thought suddenly flashed through Jiang Guo'er's mind.

"You say..." Her breathing tightened slightly, "Could it be that the people from the Eastern Palace intercepting the Western Regions caravan weren't actually after money?"

The two people inside the room both turned their gazes toward her.

Jiang Guo'er clenched her fingers.

"It doesn't make sense to go to such lengths to mobilize the Crown Prince's guards to handle a bandit deal."

"Unless... the caravan is carrying a certain medicine that is extremely rare in making elixirs."

"Salara's people happened to witness this, or perhaps they were abandoned by the prince. The extermination of the entire clan was to silence witnesses."

The candlelight flickered in the room, casting different expressions on the three people's faces.

The Dingyuan Marquis's family's treason case, the Shalaila clan's extermination case, and the harem elixir scandal—these seemingly unrelated clues suddenly become intertwined.

The end of the knot pointed straight towards the East Palace.

Pei Yan stared at Jiang Guo'er, remaining silent for a long time.

He suddenly remembered that night at the Xue residence.

The night was deep. She stood on the veranda, her face veiled, watching Zhao Yuanzhe being carried into Xue Lingfang's room.

Her bright little face was pale from the night wind, but her eyes shone with a faint light.

At that moment, he stood on the roof, feeling as if his chest was on fire.

It's not disgust.

It's not about being afraid or apprehensive.

It was an excitement he couldn't describe.

The more intelligent she was, the less she would allow herself to be manipulated, and the more fascinated he became.

Pei Yan took a slow breath.

"If that's the case, we can completely pinpoint the Crown Prince's residence by simply following the trail of medicinal herbs used to enter the Crown Prince's residence."

"Shunshun is really amazing, he even thought of this."

He had barely finished praising Lu Yunzheng when Lu Yunzheng gave an inappropriate snort, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"What? Doesn't Grand Secretary Pei know? Our Shunshun has been intelligent since childhood. She is not only well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics, but she has also thoroughly studied the military books, local chronicles, and official gazettes in her brother's room."

"She knows a lot of things."

Pei Yan's initial joy was instantly extinguished.

Lu Yunzheng knew about those years he hadn't been a part of.

Lu Yunzheng knew more about her than he did about what she was good at, what she liked, and what books she had read in her childhood.

Her husband seems to be more like a decoration!

My mood suddenly plummeted, and a chill emanated from my body.

Jiang Guo'er sensed that the atmosphere around her was off and felt a chill run down her spine.

She quickly glared at Lu Yunzheng, signaling him to say less.

Pei Yan's face turned cold.

"She is my person. Even if the Crown Prince has his eye on her, I will protect her. There is no need for an outsider like Lord Lu to worry about her."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yunzheng stood up abruptly.

"The Crown Prince has his eye on her? What's going on? Shunshun, why didn't you tell me?"

"No!" he shouted urgently. "Shunshun must come with me immediately. I have a very secluded manor outside the city; hiding her there will be no problem!"

"What a joke." Pei Yan sat still, but his voice was even colder.

"If she disappears from the mansion without any reason, the Crown Prince will only become more suspicious that something is amiss in the Pei household."

"By then, not only her, but the entire Pei family will be implicated."

"Keeping him in the mansion and placing him under my watchful eye is currently the safest course of action."

"Safe my ass!" Lu Yunzheng slammed his hand on the table.

"You are in the open, while the Crown Prince is in the shadows. Even if you have a thousand eyes, there will always be times when you can't see everything!"

"If anything happens to her, how will you compensate her?"

"Brother Lu, the Prime Minister is right." Jiang Guo'er quickly acted as a peacemaker, grabbing Lu Yunzheng's sleeve.

"Salara is still covering for me, he hasn't fully become suspicious yet, don't act rashly."

Lu Yunzheng looked down and saw her hand clutching his sleeve.

Those hands should have been used for painting, playing music, and burning incense, but now they have to rely on the protection of others to survive and to overturn a verdict.

He felt a dull pain in his chest, and the more he looked at Pei Yan, the more he disliked him, and the more he felt that Pei Yan was not good enough for Shunshun.

Lu Yunzheng curled his lips: "Since you say you can protect her, I'll only ask you one thing."

"Aunt Murong left Shun Shun a set of kingfisher feather and pearl jewelry, which was originally intended as her dowry. Unfortunately, after the family was raided, it ended up in someone else's hands."

"It's already a great injustice to make her a concubine. You should get back what rightfully belongs to her."

[It's just a set of jewelry; it's gone, so be it. Brother Lu using this to test the Prime Minister was really unnecessary.]

She tried to convince herself of this, but her eyelashes trembled uncontrollably.

Pei Yan understood these words clearly, and his eyes darkened.

He did not argue with Lu Yunzheng, but turned his head to look at Jiang Guo'er.

"What style of headdress is it?"

Jiang Guo'er paused for a moment, then replied softly, "The style... I can't describe it clearly, I can only draw it for you."

She picked up her brush and began to paint. In a short while, she had painted the head and face clearly.

Kingfisher wings, pearl tassels, and filigree flowers and leaves inlaid with gemstones.

"Okay, I've got it."

Pei Yan's tone was calm, conveying the strength of a promise: "Within a month, I will definitely deliver it to you."

Lu Yunzheng raised an eyebrow, wanting to say a few more sarcastic remarks to him.

The heavy curtain was lifted, and Xiao Si rushed in with a gust of wind.

"Master! Something terrible has happened!"

"I don't know what went wrong with the Crown Prince's Palace. They suddenly sent imperial physicians and eunuchs, under the guise of caring for the women of the Prime Minister's residence, specifically requesting to treat Consort Jiang's tinea capitis."

"The person has already crossed the long street."

"It will take at most fifteen minutes to reach the gate of the Prime Minister's residence."