The Powerful Minister I Forcefully Married Won't Warm Up; After Rebirth, I Give Up the Chase - Chapter 39

The position of Hanlin Academician was esteemed and pure, a close minister to the Emperor. Trusted officials drafted confidential imperial edicts and strategized within the inner court. In his previous life, this was how Pei Jian stepped onto his path of upward mobility.

It was also why Qin Lang’s father insisted that Qin Lang join the Hanlin Academy to build his experience.

But in this life, he would re-ascend to the peak in a more convenient and faster way.

The day after Princess Wenshuo’s accident, he was summoned by the Crown Prince at the Eastern Palace.

After the formal greeting, Pei Jian bowed and asked, “Does Your Highness still consider this an accident?”

Crown Prince Xiao Heng was a benevolent man. Compared to Prince Jing, his personality lacked decisiveness and ruthlessness. Pei Jian had warned him at the very beginning of the burning pleasure boat incident.

However, because Nian Xi had inadvertently saved the Princess, the Crown Prince was more inclined to believe it was an accident.

But the horses at the arena were all carefully selected by the Imperial stable, mounts supplied to the Royal Family. They wouldn’t go mad without reason.

Xiao Heng was puzzled. “Why Wenshuo? If there was harm intended, it should have been directed at me. She is merely a Princess and has no perceived influence on the overall situation.”

Pei Jian had dealt with this benevolent and indecisive Crown Prince for several years in his previous life, knowing his nature well. He did not beat around the bush and stated plainly, “After the former Empress passed away, His Majesty mourned deeply, which is why he raised Your Highness personally from a young age. Later, Consort Shu and the Empress successively entered the palace and gave birth to Princesses and Princes. May I ask Your Highness, does His Majesty treat you as he did in the past?”

“If things were truly as they were, of the seven Royal Princesses, why do you exclusively favor Wenshuo?”

Ultimately, Xiao Heng had lost his mother’s protection. Consort Shu had no Prince to rely on. Thus, the two formed an alliance, hoping for a future together.

Xiao Heng dropped the smile on his lips, revealing the solemnity and authority of a nation’s Crown Prince. He sternly rebuked, “Pei Shizhang, you are bold!”

He and Consort Shu, the Crown Prince and the favored Consort, had always maintained a respectful distance, never showing their alliance publicly.

How did this Pei Jian know?

Pei Jian’s eyes were clear and dark, his face composed, like snow on a high mountain, possessing an air of transcendent composure that commanded trust.

He replied without being humble or arrogant, “This subject can see it, and others naturally can as well. And they think deeper and further than I do. Your Highness, consider this: given Consort Shu’s love for Princess Wenshuo, what will happen if the Princess is harmed? If Consort Shu also falls ill, and the Empress’s faction dominates the Inner Palace, what will be Your Highness’s position?”

It was a common saying that the Inner Palace should not interfere in politics.

But this saying entirely depended on the Emperor himself. The fortunes of the Outer Court and the Inner Palace rested completely on Imperial grace.

And what the women of the Inner Palace fought for was that subtle favor from the Emperor.

The Empress and Prince Jing’s faction was powerful. Once Consort Shu died of grief, Crown Prince Xiao Heng would lose all powerful support in the Inner Palace. Furthermore, as the Crown Prince grew stronger and the Emperor aged, suspicion would naturally arise.

The Crown Prince’s position seemed supremely noble, yet it was fraught with peril.

The Emperor was currently in the prime of his life, but over a decade later, on the very day Nian Xi died, a secret rumor spread in the palace that the Emperor was critically ill…

His years of strategizing with the Crown Prince were focused precisely on that moment!

When he had arranged everything, finally pushing the Crown Prince onto that supreme throne, and his own life was about to reach its peak, full of ambition, he was hit by a devastating blow—

His wife, Nian Xi, died of illness.

Pei Jian closed his eyes, suppressing the myriad emotions in his heart. No matter who it was, in this lifetime, he would find the person who killed Nian Xi and reduce them to ashes.

Xiao Heng was filled with alarm and doubt. “You mean… this person is harming Wenshuo to strike at me?”

Pei Jian affirmed this.

Xiao Heng was a benevolent man, and such calculating maneuvers involving the human heart were not his strong suit. He fell silent, looking at Pei Jian.

Pei Jian bowed again. “Your Highness’s high regard is difficult for this humble subject to repay. I request to be assigned to the Three Judicial Offices. Please grant my permission.”

The Three Judicial Offices (San Fasi) were the Ministries of Personnel, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review.

Xiao Heng asked, “Why the Three Judicial Offices? Which department do you wish to join? Isn’t the Hanlin Academy better?”

He could still scheme within the Inner Court there.

Now, Xiao Heng placed great trust in Pei Jian.

“The Censorate (Duchayuan) investigates all officials, oversees various circuits, gathers intelligence, and rectifies discipline.”

Pei Jian’s voice was low and cool, his peach-blossom eyes clear and crystalline. When looking at people, he appeared even more composed and trustworthy. “This subject is willing to strengthen discipline for Your Highness.”

Regarding his political rivals, no one knew their weaknesses and vital points better than Pei Jian. Joining the Censorate would be the most convenient and fastest route to strike with precision.

This was the only advantage his rebirth brought him.

“The cavalry under the Crown Prince of Northern Liang is valiant. The battle in the Northern Frontier must not be taken lightly. This subject suggests that the Western Circuit’s Provisional Government should move north and station troops at Shouling to prepare for support…”

Pei Jian was hunched over his desk, writing furiously.

Academician Zhang passed by him and patted his shoulder. “Young man, ambition is a good thing, but it’s the Qixi Festival today. Why are you still here alone? Even this old man is about to leave work and go home.”

Academician Zhang was an old Hanlin who genuinely dedicated himself to scholarly pursuits. Most people in the Hanlin Academy, including Pei Jian, used scholarship as a ladder to success, a stepping stone.

Academician Zhang was one of the few pure-minded ones.

Pei Jian always greatly respected people who could maintain their original integrity. “I’ll go to the West Market once I finish the work at hand.”

“The West Market?”

Academician Zhang, having lived in the capital for a long time, naturally knew that the West Market was the most bustling and lively area on Qixi Night every year. When the lamps were first lit, virtually all the beautiful women in the city would come out to enjoy the lantern festival.

Pei Jian’s temperament was definitely not that of someone who enjoyed crowds. Academician Zhang stroked his beard and smiled. “Is there a girl who has caught your fancy?”

He asked this because Academician Zhang’s wife was set on Pei Jian and wanted to arrange a match between him and their eldest daughter.

Academician Zhang couldn’t read properly because his wife kept pestering him at home, insisting that he ask about Pei Jian’s situation. Ideally, he should invite him home tonight.

Pei Jian offered a faint smile, neither confirming nor denying.

Academician Zhang breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. He felt that his eldest daughter and Pei Shizhang were not a good match, but his wife’s coercion left him with no choice.

After chatting a bit more, Academician Zhang smiled. “Since it’s a holiday, my wife started preparing the feast this morning. I’m heading home now. You should finish up quickly, too. Don’t let your lady love wait too long.”

Pei Jian knew that Academician Zhang and his wife were deeply devoted. In the Hanlin Academy, whenever he heard the Academician occasionally complain, it was always with a smiling shake of his head. “How is my wife different…”

Very much like Nian Xi’s parents.

He hesitated for a moment, then finally couldn’t help but ask, “When you and your respected wife interact, what do you give her?”

Nian Xi was clearly dissatisfied when he gave her the earrings that time. In the time since, apart from his official duties, Pei Jian had been thinking about one thing:

What did Nian Xi like?

What should he give her to please her?

In the past, Nian Xi loved him. No matter how angry she was, as long as he was willing to coax her, she would quickly forgive him and not make things difficult.

She had said, “Anything you give me, no matter what it is, I will love it.”

Now, she had forgotten the words she spoke. She had forgotten the fact that she loved him.

Pei Jian needed her to remember.

Academician Zhang, who had already stepped over the threshold, turned back.

He saw the usually composed, reserved, and mature-beyond-his-years Pei Shizhang waiting for his answer with a trace of apprehension.

Academician Zhang had been young once and instantly recognized the importance of this woman in Pei Jian’s heart.

He thought seriously for a moment. “It’s not that the more valuable it is, the better. It should ideally be something that holds memories for the two of you, or an object she has mentioned or liked.”

“The most important thing is the sincerity.”

“It must come from the heart.”