By a twist of fate, the illegitimate son of the Marquis's family marries the county princess.

Pei Rujing felt terrible at the thought of Wen Zongji leaving for a month or two.

Wen Zongji hurriedly replied, "We're not sure exactly where we're going yet; we'll probably be back in less than a month."

That's what they say, but Wen Zongji thinks it's unlikely.

His intuition told him that the Crown Prince wouldn't send him on a business trip without a reason.

Pei Rujing bit her lip: "What's wrong with the Crown Prince? There are so many people in the court, why did he have to send you out?"

When she and Wen Zongji had their falling out, she felt she couldn't stand being separated for even a few days, let alone one or two months.

"I have always been in charge of the Capital Gazette Office, and it is directly under the jurisdiction of the Crown Prince and not under the jurisdiction of other government offices. Apart from the Crown Prince, only I am qualified to inspect it."

Pei Rujing pouted, then her eyes lit up, and she asked, "Then I'll go with you?"

"No!"

Wen Zongji sternly refused, refusing to give Pei Rujing any hope in this regard, otherwise Pei Rujing would dare to be so audacious as to secretly go.

Seeing his serious expression, Pei Rujing felt unhappy and turned her head away without saying a word.

Wen Zongji sighed and grasped Pei Rujing's hand: "My lady, since we are in the imperial court, it is perfectly normal for us to travel outside the capital on official business. I can't possibly make excuses the first time the Crown Prince asks me to go on official business. How can the Crown Prince trust me in the future?"

"...Then can't it be shorter?"

Pei Rujing didn't want to make a fuss.

Wen Zongji reached out and hugged her, saying softly, "When I come back, I'll bring you a gift."

Pei Rujing leaned against him and pursed her lips, saying, "You said you would pursue me, so you can't give up halfway. You have to write to me often."

Having been married for over a year, Pei Rujing knew very well what was important to Wen Zongji: her husband was a very ambitious, or rather, driven man.

She couldn't stop him from going on business trips.

No matter how much she throws a tantrum, you can't stop her.

This made Pei Rujing feel very uncomfortable, but she couldn't do anything about it.

Wen Zongji nodded: "Okay. I will write down everything I see and hear along the way, just like my wife is by my side."

Pei Rujing raised her hand and hugged Wen Zongji back, without saying anything more.

……

The next day, the Crown Prince

The palace servants of the Eastern Palace were taken aback when they saw Pei Rujing walk in. They quickly bowed and said, "This servant greets the County Princess... County Princess, the Crown Prince is currently observing state affairs at the Wenyuan Pavilion and is not here."

Pei Rujing walked into the main hall and sat down expressionlessly: "Go to Wenyuan Pavilion and tell the Crown Prince that I'm waiting for him here."

When the palace servants saw her expression, their hearts skipped a beat. They wondered who had offended this little princess again, and they quickly went to see the Crown Prince.

On the other side, the Crown Prince had just finished listening to the Grand Secretaries' meeting when he learned that Pei Rujing was waiting for him at the Eastern Palace.

The crown prince suddenly felt a headache coming on.

He didn't even need to think to know why Pei Rujing had come.

"Wen Zongji didn't handle things well; he failed to appease his cousin?"

A eunuch standing nearby asked, "Your Highness, are you going back to the Eastern Palace?"

The crown prince glanced at him: "You think you can escape this?"

But the Crown Prince did not remain idle. He instructed, "Tell Father about this matter and ask him to summon me to Linhua Palace in half an hour."

The Crown Prince cannot avoid seeing Pei Rujing; he needs to give her an outlet for her anger. However, the Crown Prince does not want to keep facing Pei Rujing, which is why Emperor Shun'an needs to save him.

Having made arrangements for his future, the Crown Prince returned to the Eastern Palace.

Pei Rujing was drinking tea and waiting for him.

The Crown Prince entered the main hall and said gently, "A rare guest indeed. How long has it been since my cousin last visited the Eastern Palace?"

Pei Rujing looked up at him, her bright face full of coldness: "If Your Highness wishes, I can come every day after my husband leaves the capital."

The Crown Prince paused, his expression unchanged: "I would naturally be happy for my cousin to come more often, but I am usually busy with official duties and I am afraid I will not have time to accompany her."

Pei Rujing ignored his hypocritical words and said, "We are cousins, so we should be closer. Since we have nothing else to do, Your Highness, why don't you play a game of chess with me?"

The crown prince's composed expression crumbled completely: "...Could we get another one?"

Pei Rujing simply looked at him without saying anything, and the meaning was clear—it was impossible.

The crown prince was dejected.

The crown prince suffers from aversion to stupidity and utterly detests playing chess with incompetent players.

As for Pei Rujing, describing her as a terrible chess player is an insult to that word.

The Crown Prince has only played chess with Pei Rujing once in his life, and that was arranged by the Eldest Princess.

The original intention was to embarrass Pei Rujing, to show her that her cousin, who was a few years younger than her, was better at chess than her, and to motivate Pei Rujing in this way.

As a result, Pei Rujing didn't care at all, and instead tormented the Crown Prince quite a bit.

From then on, the Crown Prince never played chess with Pei Rujing again.

Who could have imagined that this nightmare would repeat itself?

He would rather Pei Rujing make a huge fuss and smash up the entire East Palace, as long as she didn't play chess.

Unfortunately, things did not go according to the Crown Prince's wishes. The palace servants brought over a Go set, and his game with Pei Rujing began.

The Crown Prince absentmindedly let Pei Rujing play black first, secretly relieved that he had asked Emperor Shun'an for help beforehand.

Just endure for half an hour!

With this belief, the Crown Prince forcibly suppressed his aversion to stupidity and patiently played chess with Pei Rujing, even though every move she made seemed to be hitting his sore spots.

Most importantly, Pei Rujing took back her move.

The crown prince instinctively said, "Cousin, once a move is made, there's no going back."

Pei Rujing casually said, "We're playing chess with our own people, there's no need to be so formal."

Then the black pieces were moved to different positions.

The prince's lips twitched, and he opened his mouth as if to stop him, but then gave up in dejection.

But I felt even more uncomfortable all over.

The feeling is like putting a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder in a dirty and messy house.

The body was unharmed; the attack was purely psychological.

Father!

Help!

The Crown Prince felt like each day was an eternity. He was counting the time, and when he felt that half an hour had passed, he would look towards the door from time to time, waiting for his savior to appear.

To the prince's disappointment, his savior failed to appear.

Pei Rujing toyed with the black chess piece in her hand: "Who is the Crown Prince waiting for?"

The crown prince shook his head instinctively: "No, I'm not waiting for anyone."

Pei Rujing smiled knowingly: "That's good. I've already told my uncle that the two of us will go to Linhua Palace to have lunch with him later, so the Crown Prince shouldn't let the Eastern Palace cook."

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince stiffly raised his head and looked at Pei Rujing in disbelief.

No wonder!

No wonder he couldn't find a savior.

But why?

When did his loud and impulsive cousin become so thoughtful?

They actually blocked his escape route one step ahead.

……

Linhua Palace

Zhou Wangliang hesitated and asked, "Your Majesty, are you really not sending anyone to the Eastern Palace?"

After all, the Crown Prince had sent someone to ask for help.

Emperor Shun'an continued to review the memorials with his head down: "Who told Anhe to send me the message first? I can only blame the Crown Prince for arriving a step too late."

Emperor Shun'an stated that he was not biased and was not worried that Pei Rujing would vent her resentment on him if she failed to harm the Crown Prince; he was simply following the order of arrival.