Young widow in her boudoir

"go out!"

Xie Rutang was frightened.

I don't know what I did to offend him.

But seeing Pei Zhiheng's fickle face, his eyes churning with a mix of emotions, Xie Rutang took a half step back, finally able to breathe smoothly again.

Without further hesitation, he turned and left.

The commotion inside the house reached even the village women outside, who were terrified and uneasy, wondering what kind of conflict had arisen between her and Lord Pei.

Why did Lord Pei fly into a rage?

……

For the next half hour, Xie Rutang had no chance to see Pei Zhiheng again.

The village women were sent to inquire, and they only learned that he was busy, but they didn't know what he was busy with. The door was always closed, and occasionally a clerk would come in and out carrying a thick stack of files.

Xie Rutang sat in the temporary room where she was settled, her heart filled with unease.

She wondered what she would do if the Second Master really forgot about her, finished his urgent business, and left the city, leaving her alone here.

I don't know how much time passed.

The village woman came over and said, "Madam, you may set off now."

The official road was dusty. Xie Rutang put on a veil, the thin gauze falling to her shoulders and covering half of her face, and was then helped into a carriage.

As soon as she got on the bus, she froze.

The room was quiet and solemn.

Pei Zhiheng was also inside. His official robes could not conceal his imposing and authoritative presence. The low table was piled high with official documents, indicating that he held the power of life and death.

He didn't look up; his fingertips were simply slowly twirling a vermilion pen as he lowered his eyes to review the case files. His refined and elegant demeanor completely ignored her.

When Xie Rutang saw his judgment pen, his legs went weak. With a single elegant stroke, he could confiscate a mansion and exterminate a clan. Countless people had died at his hands.

"Second Master."

She lowered her head and looked down.

After the woman finished bowing, she lingered there, her delicate eyebrows as graceful as if she had stepped out of a painting of court ladies.

Pei Zhiheng slowly put down his pen, glanced at her, and said with an air of authority, "What are you standing there for? Are you afraid I'll eat you?"

He looked up, his pupils as dark as an unfathomable pool. "Do I look scary?"

It's scary.

Xie Rutang bit her lip, hesitating to speak. In the capital, every household privately said that as long as a portrait of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review was posted on the door, evil spirits would not dare to approach. Even she believed it to be true.

But she didn't dare say it out loud.

Xie Rutang slowly sat down, utterly at a loss for words. The despair she felt was that she would have to spend the entire next day in this carriage with him.

The coachman cracked his whip, and the carriage swayed slowly.

Pei Zhiheng sat upright, his long eyelashes drooping gently, his features noble and handsome. "Have you had a hard time in the manor these past few years?"

When I close my eyes, all I can hear is her sobbing from the next room last night.

She desperately needs a man to cherish her.

Xie Rutang's shoulders trembled slightly upon hearing this. The coldness and warmth of the mansion, a thousand emotions choked in her throat, and she didn't know where to begin. "This concubine dares not."

Xie Rutang's face is usually dignified and serene. Only when she smiles does her eyes narrow at the corners, making her look somewhat alluring. However, she is completely unaware of this and thinks she is elegant and graceful.

A barely perceptible shadow crossed Pei Zhiheng's eyes as he recalled the previous night, when he hadn't slept a wink, and the culprit remained completely unaware.

"Does Madam have a habit of talking in her sleep at night?"

She suddenly looked up, her eyes flashing slightly. "How did Second Master know?"

Pei Zhiheng remained silent this time, not telling her that there was a hole in the wall of the Zhang family's mud house.

Xie Rutang, however, was preoccupied with the matter of her elder brother Xie Huai, who was still imprisoned and whose fate was unknown.

Zhang Qingci lied to her; Pei Zhiheng is her only lifeline now, and if she misses this opportunity...

Xie Rutang tried his best to lower his posture, "Second Master, about my brother..."

Before she could finish speaking, her eyes were already wet.

Pei Zhiheng's deep gaze fell on her slender figure, and he rejected her, "I have already settled the case regarding the Zhang family mother and son's deliberate kidnapping of you, plotting to steal your money, and defaming your reputation. The two of them cannot escape their crimes, and from now on, no one will dare to bully you who are all alone and helpless."

She didn't mention a word about helping her brother.

Xie Rutang pinched her palm.

She let go, having given up.

She was also very tired during this period, living a humble life of begging for help every day, and she felt like a beggar.

She knew all along that Pei Zhiheng was incorruptible, so she shouldn't have had any hope in the first place...

But people always think they will be the one who is unexpected.

Reality slapped us in the face cruelly.

Pei Zhiheng looked at her quietly, seeing that she was still kept in the dark. "Xie Huai's imprisonment was not due to Wu Xuming's framing. Your beloved brother was just jealous of Wu Xuming's wife and fought with him in public. In addition, the charge of harassing a woman was confirmed. The two charges were combined, which is why he ended up in prison."

These words struck Xie Rutang like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.

"impossible!"

Her fingertips turned white.

Her older brother took care of her when she was young. Her stepmother used to mistreat her, even deliberately ignoring her first period. It was her brother who stormed into the front yard and smashed the Buddha statue that her stepmother had been worshipping. After that, her stepmother never dared to treat her any disrespectfully again.

Xie Rutang's knuckles turned blue as he tried to suppress his emotions. "My brother is honest and upright by nature, and he is definitely not such a frivolous and dissolute person! It must be Wu Xuming who holds a high position and power, deliberately fabricating charges against him, and using his power to distort the truth and forcefully pin these accusations on him."

She simply couldn't believe that her brother was the kind of person Pei Zhiheng described.

Pei Zhiheng's dark eyes were deep as he watched her deceive herself.

Given such biased and selfish nature, it is somewhat understandable.

However, her continued clinging to such false hopes makes her seem both laughable and pathetic.

She bowed her head, a widowed woman, all alone and helpless. Her loneliness was clearly seen by him, as if she were a delicate flower that anyone could pluck.

Pei Zhiheng remained silent for a moment before abruptly shifting his gaze back to the open dossier. For the rest of the journey, he did not utter another word to her.

After finishing reading the case file, the man put the wolf-hair brush back on the inkstone and closed his eyes to doze off.

The carriage moved slowly, and the woman thought he was asleep, so she huddled in the corner of the carriage and wept silently, leaving two dark water stains on her sleeves.

Pei Zhiheng heard her delicate and pitiful cries.

Extremely light, as if afraid of disturbing him, like a very fine thread wrapped around his heart, even the slightest tug would cause pain.

Pei Zhiheng's eyelashes fluttered, but he didn't open them.

In the afternoon, the carriage drove through the side gate of the Shen residence without disturbing anyone.

The carriage wheels landed, and a maid stepped forward to lift the curtain.

After Xie Rutang finished fixing her tear-stained makeup, she lifted her skirt and stepped out of the car, only to see Jin Yue with red and swollen eyes.

"lady!"

Jin Yue was already terrified.

Xie Rutang lowered her eyelashes, concealing all the darkness in her eyes, just as she was about to be helped out of the car.

A deep, mellow, and aloof voice came from inside the carriage, its meaning unclear.

He stared intently at her, his gaze unfathomable.

"If you want offspring, then behave well."

Xie Rutang gripped the silk curtain tightly, looked up in shock, and didn't react for a moment.

What exactly does he mean?

Didn't he meet with the Crown Princess the day before yesterday?

Why would you say something like that now?

Xie Rutang got out of the car, her lips slightly parted, about to say something, but the curtain had already been drawn, blocking her view.

The carriage of the Dali Temple officials sped away, leaving her alone standing by the secluded side gate.

Xie Rutang disguised herself as a maid and returned to Cuiwu Courtyard without incident.

As soon as she entered the main room, Jin Yue's eyes turned bright red from crying, and she choked out, "Madam, you're finally back safe and sound! You scared me to death!"

"Yesterday, Scholar Zhang delivered a letter, intending to send it to the Shen residence. The letter fabricated lies that you were secretly communicating with him and that you had planned to elope. Fortunately, the Second Master's men were quick-witted and intercepted the letter halfway. Now the letter is safely in the Second Master's hands and has not been leaked at all, thus protecting the Madam's reputation."

"Also, no one knows about Madam's disappearance last night. The old lady has been unwell recently and hasn't gone out. Fortunately, Madam had a high fever the day before yesterday, so Second Master used this as an excuse to tell everyone that Madam was resting quietly in Cuiwu Courtyard and was not seeing any guests, keeping it a complete secret."

Xie Rutang stood there stunned, then suddenly realized.

It turns out that what Zhang and her son said yesterday was all just to scare her!

Her affair was not widely known at all!

Why did Pei Zhiheng still search her body?

Xie Rutang's cheeks flushed crimson, and she trembled with anger.