After being forced into a marriage with a wealthy family, the virtuous wife caused a huge uproar.

"Not at the moment. However, Gu Ce feels that our Rong family can't raise a daughter like me, but he didn't ask any further questions." Rong Yingluo had long noticed that Gu Ce had some doubts, but she hadn't asked any questions, so she just assumed he didn't know anything.

"Sister, I heard you went to the Royal Racecourse in the outskirts of Beijing to compete in horse racing?" It's been three days, and Rong Zhixiu only heard about it today when he went out.

He went on a long trip a few days ago.

"Yes, the Crown Prince wanted my life, but I managed to thwart it," Rong Yingluo said casually.

"What did you say?" Both father and son stared in astonishment.

"Yingluo, you were in such great danger, why didn't you tell us?" Rong Zhengqing slammed his fist on the table in anger.

"Father, I'm perfectly fine, aren't I?" Rong Yingluo stepped forward and hugged her father affectionately.

"Sigh!" The father and son could only let out a long sigh.

"Sister, tell me in detail what happened three days ago, without hiding any details." Rong Zhixiu wanted to know the whole story.

Seeing her brother so serious, Rong Yingluo had no choice but to explain the whole story in detail.

The father and son were terrified.

"Sister, you said last time that you had a way to leave the Gu family mansion. When can you leave? What method will you use to leave?" Rong Zhixiu didn't want his sister to stay in the Gu family mansion any longer.

"Don't worry, brother. I've signed an agreement with Gu Ce. As long as I fulfill the few requirements he set, he will petition the Emperor to grant us a divorce." This was the first time Rong Yingluo had spoken about this matter in front of her family.

"What agreement?" Rong Zhengqing was taken aback.

Rong Yingluo then recounted how the two had signed the agreement on the second day of their marriage.

The father and son looked at each other in bewilderment.

"So, you and Gu Ce didn't consummate your marriage?" Rong Zhixiu concluded.

"Of course not. I am a cultivator, how could I possibly consummate my marriage with him?" Rong Yingluo had never thought of spending her life with any man, so how could she possibly do that?

Her relationship with Gu Ce was one of cooperation.

It's just that the two of them spent a lot of time together and developed a tacit understanding.

The father and son exchanged a glance.

"Yingluo, have you considered that you're now in the thick of it all, and it might not be easy for you to extricate yourself?" Rong Zhengqing saw through it all.

Gu Ce was a favorite minister of the emperor, but also a dagger in his hand. The emperor would not allow such a person to divorce his wife or get a divorce.

If they divorce, Gu Ce will have a stain on his record and will find it difficult to maintain his position in the court.

Divorce is not only harmful to women, but also to men, especially high-ranking officials in the court.

"It's alright. At worst, I'll fulfill my promise. If he can't get the imperial decree for divorce, I'll fake my death and escape. My master is already sixty-five years old and needs someone to take care of him. I'm his only disciple, and I can't abandon him." Rong Yingluo had already planned her escape route.

The father and son shook their heads helplessly; Rong Yingluo was too capable and too resourceful.

"Zhixiu, you know your sister's current situation. In the future, provide her with more useful information."

"Since Gu Ce is going against the Crown Prince, our Rong family must pay close attention to the Crown Prince's actions. We will lend your sister a hand when necessary." Rong Zhengqing quickly made his decision.

"Father, you should not get involved in politics. We are businessmen. The Crown Prince wants to build connections or establish his own power outside the court, which will inevitably require a lot of money. You just need to keep an eye on what businesses he owns, especially those that are not publicly known."

"I'll think of a way with Gu Ce to cut off his source of income and see how he can achieve his ambitions then." Rong Yingluo was very confident.

"Leave this to your older brother and me," Rong Zhengqing assured him.

The Rong family has been operating in the capital for many years, so it shouldn't be a problem for them to investigate the Crown Prince's businesses.

"Father, you must be careful. The Crown Prince is no pushover; he has many capable men under his command. You'd better avoid a direct confrontation with him," Rong Yingluo cautioned.

After chatting for a while, Madam Rong sent someone to invite them to dinner.

To celebrate Rong Yingluo surviving for a month, Madam Rong ordered the kitchen to turn up the heat and prepare her best dishes.

Rong Yingluo ate until she was completely full.

"It's so nice to be at home." She let out a satisfied burp.

"By the way, Mother, when are Second Brother and Third Brother coming back?" Rong Yingluo hadn't seen them for a long time.

"They went directly to Qingyun Temple in Liaocheng. They'll come back after your eldest sister's wedding is over." Madam Rong had already wronged her second daughter, and she didn't want to wrong her eldest daughter as well. She wrote to her two sons to go to Liaocheng first to prepare a dowry for her eldest daughter. The original dowry had been taken to the Gu family by her second daughter, and everything had to be prepared anew.

"Master, a letter has arrived." At that moment, the butler entered with a letter.

Rong Zhengqing took it and immediately recognized the handwriting: "It was written by Liuli."

"Big sister? Father, look!" Rong Yingluo said anxiously.

Rong Zhengqing pulled out the letters and found that there were two, one of which was addressed to Rong Yingluo alone.

Rong Yingluo took it.

The letter was full of her elder sister's worries, fearing that she wouldn't live more than a month. She also said that after getting married, she would definitely return to Beijing to see her, otherwise her elder sister would never feel at ease.

She also said that her master was in good health and didn't need to worry about her, as her older sister was taking good care of him. She had already made several sets of clothes for her master, which he particularly liked.

Reading the trivial things my older sister wrote about warmed my heart and made me want to cry.

Her family is really good; with such a family, she would do anything for them.

The villa of the Liao Prince's Mansion.

This is the residence of the Liao Prince's Palace in the capital.

The old Liao prince spent his old age here and passed away three years ago.

After leaving the teahouse, Li Xuanye returned to his villa.

"Young Master, why were you out for so long today? Are you feeling alright?" Pan Zhenming, the steward of the villa, asked with concern.

"Uncle Pan, come with me to the study," Li Xuanye said in a deep voice.

The two went to the study and sat down.

"What do you think of Gu Ce?" Li Xuanye asked directly.

He had been in the capital for a year, and apart from looking for someone to cure his poison, he rarely cared about anything else. Only after meeting the young Taoist priest today did he realize how much time he had wasted in the past year.

He knew the imperial physicians weren't doing their best to detoxify him. He had also sought out many folk healers himself. The capital was so vast, and after a year, he still hadn't found a doctor capable of detoxifying him.

He's still too lazy.

If he had put in more effort, how could he not have known that the Rong family member who married Gu Ce was the girl he had been longing for for nine years?

"Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel?" Pan Zhenming was taken aback.

Young Master rarely cares about officials in the court, so why is he suddenly asking about Gu Ce today?

"right."

"Gu Ce himself is fine, but the Gu family has a lot of problems." As the manager of the Liao Prince's Mansion in the capital, Pan Zhenming naturally had to send messages to the Liao Prince's Mansion on the border from time to time, so that the Liao Prince would be well aware of the important information in the capital.

Tell me in detail.

"The Duke of Zhenguo has been guarding the border for many years. Logically, he should have taken Gu Shizi to the border to gain experience, but he did not do so. Instead, he let Gu Ce take the imperial examination, enter the court as an official, and take the path of a civil official."

Gu Ce lived up to expectations, becoming the top scholar in the imperial examination five years ago.

It was already rare enough for a military family to produce a top-ranking scholar. What was even stranger was his meteoric rise in his official career, becoming the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in just five years. His subordinates couldn't figure out why the Emperor trusted him so much.

Gu Ce's ability to handle official duties is beyond doubt, but he doesn't have many people at his disposal. He's like a poor scholar entering officialdom, relying entirely on himself.

On the surface, the second wife of the Duke of Zhenguo treated Gu Ce very well, but in reality, she was always trying to kill Gu Ce, but Gu Ce always managed to escape.

All four of his brides died mysteriously, and his subordinates suspected that it was all the work of the Duchess of Zhenguo. But since it had nothing to do with us, his subordinates didn't pay much attention to it." Pan Zhenming told them everything he knew.

"So, according to you, isn't the woman he married now in great danger?" Li Xuanye's heart skipped a beat.