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

Jiang Guo'er unconsciously stepped forward, wanting to hear more clearly.

But Pei Yan's voice abruptly stopped at that moment.

His thin lips moved twice, but he didn't make a sound.

She frowned and tentatively called out softly, "...Prime Minister?"

Pei Yan tilted his head back and leaned heavily against the back of the chair.

The hand that had been gripping the armrest just moments before fell limply to its side.

Jiang Guo'er stood there anxiously for a full ten breaths.

Only then did he carefully move his feet and walk around to the front of the official's hat chair.

Pei Yan's eyelashes were lowered, his cheeks were flushed, his brows were slightly furrowed, and his breathing was long and heavy.

—Asleep.

Jiang Guo'er suppressed her anger, wishing she could grab his collar, shake him awake, and frantically question him.

What exactly is going on with the Ministry of War's transfer order?

Is it a forgery?

Was her elder brother, Murong Sheng, framed when he went to Chifeng?

But she couldn't.

What if... Pei Yan is also involved...?

Jiang Guo'er felt the blood in her throat surge and then subside, surge and then subside repeatedly.

It took him a while to recover before he covered Pei Yan with a cloak.

He stirred the brazier, added two pieces of silver-thread charcoal, pushed open the study door, and whispered to the servant waiting in the corridor:

"The Prime Minister is tired after drinking and is resting. Go quickly to the main kitchen and tell them to prepare a bowl of hangover soup."

"Cook another pot of porridge and prepare some light side dishes, so that the Prime Minister can use them when he wakes up."

The servant quickly responded and ran off.

Jiang Guo'er turned around and sat down on the stool.

Pei Yan's few drunken words, though fragmented, were the only clue she had managed to find since she was lost.

What if he talks in his sleep again?

She has to stay here.

The room was quiet, with only the occasional soft crackling of the charcoal fire.

I don't know how much time passed, but the sky outside the window darkened.

Suddenly there was a muffled thud, as if something had been knocked over.

Pei Yan had somehow gotten up from his official chair, his cloak slipping to the ground.

The person was leaning precariously against the desk, one hand propping up the corner of the table.

Those eyes, usually so cold as if covered in frost, were now misty and unfocused, as if looking at someone through a layer of water.

"come over."

Jiang Guo'er approached hesitantly.

Her wrist was suddenly grabbed, and she slammed into his chest, her nose hitting his collarbone, causing her to feel a sharp pain that made her vision blur.

Before she could even feel the pain, an arm like an iron clamp was already wrapped around her waist, making it hard for her to breathe.

Pei Yan stared down at her, his eyes blurry with drunkenness.

"What... exactly are you?!"

"A...monster?" he murmured to himself, his voice muffled, as if he were talking in a dream.

Jiang Guo'er was terrified. "Prime Minister, you are drunk."

Pei Yan ignored her and pinched her cheek with one hand, deliberately squeezing it into a ball.

Looking left and right, scrutinizing it from all angles.

"Women of the Wujiang tribe...have a special bloodline..." He frowned, muttering unhappily, "Born to be highly fertile?"

"Is he a complete liar, secretly casting some kind of witchcraft on his true form?!"

Jiang Guo'er's face turned deathly pale instantly, and cold sweat poured down her back.

Did he realize he was an imposter?

No, not possible!

Her cheeks were trembling with pain when Pei Yan released her and began to grope her body haphazardly.

"Prime Minister!" She reached out to block him.

But Pei Yan's strength was not to be defied. He tugged at her clothes, pulled at her sleeves, and finally ripped open her undergarment.

He stared at the doll for a few moments, then reached out, pulled it out, and threw it hard on the ground.

What's wrong with that bastard now?

Just as Jiang Guo'er was about to bend down to pick it up, Pei Yan grabbed her shoulder and pressed her back to her original position.

"The truth is right before your eyes."

His voice was low and hoarse, yet it carried an inexplicable annoyance.

"Why are you still holding that piece of junk? Didn't you say... you admired me?!"

This unexpected interrogation made Jiang Guo'er choke up.

Before she could answer, Pei Yan pulled her arm in, rested his chin on her head, and closed his eyes again.

Who would have thought that the usually decisive and ruthless chief minister would behave like this when drunk?

Jiang Guo'er was both amused and exasperated. She struggled a few times but couldn't break free, so she had no choice but to let him be.

"Okay, okay... I won't hold it."

"Prime Minister, may you sit down first? Standing is tiring."

She coaxed the human-shaped iron tower back onto the official's hat chair, patting and pulling it like she was coaxing a child.

Even after Pei Yan sat down, he didn't let go, using her as a pillow to hold her in his arms. His breathing gradually became long and even, and he fell into a deep sleep again.

Jiang Guo'er was encircled by him, her whole body stiff.

The man was like a furnace, and there was charcoal burning in the room. Before long, she was drenched in sweat, feeling sticky and uncomfortable.

I closed my eyes, intending to rest for just a short while.

She didn't know how much time had passed when a violent shoving made her suddenly open her eyes.

Pei Yan had regained most of his senses and was looking down at her with an expression that was hard to decipher—it was a mixture of indifference and disgust.

"What are you doing?"

Jiang Guo'er then realized that she was still leaning against his chest, her head resting on his shoulder.

And at some point, her hand was gripping the front of his undergarment.

She immediately sprang to her feet, "I..."

"Taking advantage of my drunkenness, you're trying to seduce me again? I've already favored you twice, isn't that enough?"

Pei Yan coldly pushed her off his lap.

Jiang Guo'er stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

I steadied myself by holding onto the corner of the table with both hands, and the breath I was holding in my chest almost caught in my throat.

You were the one who wouldn't let go!

But he took a deep breath and swallowed the words back.

Trying to reason with a drunkard is like asking if you have too much time on your hands.

"Your Excellency is right, it's all my fault."

"You've sobered up quite a bit. It's time for some hangover soup and dinner. I'll have someone bring them over right away."

The hangover soup and dinner were quickly delivered to the study.

Kudzu flower soup to relieve hangovers, a big, steaming bowl of it.

Other dishes include white rice porridge, pickled winter bamboo shoots, roasted mutton, and a dish of pickled quail.

Pei Yan sat behind the desk, drinking soup with an unhappy expression.

Jiang Guo'er sat on a small stool at the lower end, holding a bowl and silently eating her rice.

She was so hungry; she had been feeling full since that bowl of chicken soup at noon, and her stomach was rumbling loudly.

He picked up a piece of roasted mutton, and his breath hitched from the heat, his eyes reddening.

Pei Yan's gaze swept over them imperceptibly, then quickly looked away.

Jiang Guo'er ate until she was about 80% full, then put down her chopsticks and wiped her mouth.

After hesitating for a moment, she took out the few scraps of cloth she had found on the second floor of the embroidery room during the day from her sleeve, paired them up, and arranged them in a row on the corner of the table.

Crab shell green paired with lotus root pink, carmine red paired with mouse gray, tea brown paired with honey yellow, indigo paired with raven blue.

She pointed to those color schemes, speaking in a businesslike manner.

"Your Excellency, take a look at these colors, which ones do you find pleasing to the eye?"

Pei Yan glanced at it casually, then his gaze suddenly stopped on the two pieces of fabric, one in rouge red and the other in mouse gray.

He remained silent for a long time.

At that time, his mother was still alive. On a whim, she made him a spring shirt with mouse-gray trim and crimson lining.

He was ten years old that year, sitting under the pomegranate tree in the backyard reading. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, scattering golden fragments all over the ground.

Later, my mother passed away, and then my father passed away too.

He bore the heavy responsibility of his clan and needed to be dignified and proper at all times, so he never wore such a color again.

He never even mentioned this thought to the old lady.

Pei Yan broke out in a layer of white sweat on his back.

Besides being highly fertile, could the Wu Jiang people also read minds?!

When he looked up at Jiang Guo'er again, his expression was as calm as if nothing had happened.

"Underwear is worn underneath everything, so what color doesn't matter?"

He curled his index finger and lightly touched the mouse gray and carmine red. "These two colors are good for making a few more sets."

Didn't I tell her before to put more effort into color matching?

This person is so unpredictable!

With the color finally settled, Jiang Guo'er breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"This servant has one more thing to report."

She sat up straight.

"Ten sets in three days, complete for all four seasons, but the embroidery workshop's fabric... isn't enough."

"This servant would like to borrow the key to the cloth room. Please grant me permission, Your Excellency."