Poisonous Goddess: I'm just lazing around in the mortal realm.

"Do you have any plans?"

Gu Changzhe paused slightly and looked at Pei Zhiheng.

Pei Zhiheng clenched his fist and slapped it against his thigh. After a moment of contemplation, he slowly spoke.

"You need to tell me what Shi Ning's plan is first, so I can know how to plan for the future of my Pei family."

He looked up and met Gu Changzhe's probing gaze. This matter concerned the future of his Pei family, and he originally did not want to get involved, but now that the Gu family's Eagle Guards were hiding in his Pei residence, he had no choice but to intervene.

Gu Changzhe nodded, then activated the mechanism behind him, and a small drawer popped out from the bottom of the table.

He opened the drawer, inside which was a slightly yellowed folded book.

"This is the list of the Gu family's Eagle Guards hidden in your residence."

He handed the memorial to Pei Zhiheng.

Pei Zhiheng unfolded the folded document. The somewhat yellowed and worn paper was covered with names. He paused, unable to resist saying…

"You scoundrel, how many people did you stuff into my fold?"

He suddenly felt that the thing around his neck was too heavy. If it were to break apart while he wasn't paying attention, he probably wouldn't even know why.

Gu Changzhe slightly pursed his lips, and though he rarely remained silent, he naturally knew that he had let his dear friend down.

Seeing Pei Zhiheng's venomous gaze, he quickly changed the subject.

“Someone in the capital wanted to poison my daughter. She used the Gu family's Eagle Guard as leverage to gain the Second Prince's protection and wanted to find out who was behind the poisoning.”

"Poisoning? At this time, daring to touch your Gu family... it can't be the Third Prince's faction, could it be the Crown Prince?"

Pei Zhiheng frowned, closed the folded document, and put it into his pocket.

"It's hard to say for sure who it is, but the Second Prince, who clearly has no interest in interfering in court affairs, actually agreed to this matter."

"Did he agree to Shi Ning's conditions?"

Pei Zhiheng was somewhat surprised, because he had initially thought that the Second Prince was stronger than the Third Prince. Unfortunately, the Second Prince had no intention of getting involved in this struggle because his mother had passed away early.

"It can be considered an agreement, but Shi Ning's original intention was to hand over the Gu Family Eagle Guard in your residence to the Second Prince, in order to prevent the Emperor from investigating your Pei family in the future."

Gu Changzhe's hand on the armrest tightened involuntarily. He never expected that his daughter would propose such a plan, shifting the blame onto the Second Prince.

"Then... how did someone from my Pei family become part of the Gu family?"

Pei Zhiheng hesitated, after all, this matter was of great importance, and he was not in the capital. If anything went wrong, the heavy responsibility would fall on Pei Nanyue alone.

"That's the key to her plan."

Gu Changzhe composed himself and looked at Pei Zhiheng with a solemn expression.

"what?"

“Bury up your Pei residence and arrange for Pei Nanyue to fake her death and leave the capital. That way, the predicament between our two families can be resolved.”

……

On the carriage back to the city

Pei Zhiheng's face was somewhat pale, clearly still not recovered from his conversation with Gu Changzhe.

At this moment, Thirteen, dressed as a maid, was sitting in the carriage, her gaze falling on Pei Zhiheng, who looked flustered and at a loss.

"Prime Minister Pei, has something happened?" She was immediately alarmed, thinking that Prime Minister Pei had encountered some trouble again.

Pei Zhiheng slowly sat down in the carriage and quickly ordered someone to drive away from the Gu residence.

After the carriage had traveled some distance from the Gu residence, he slowly began to speak.

"The Gu family wants my Yue'er to fake her death and escape from that troublesome place in the capital."

Thirteen was somewhat surprised, but she quickly understood Gu Changzhe's meaning and hurriedly spoke up.

"Prime Minister Pei, do you mean that by faking the death of the eldest daughter of the Pei family, the only person the Crown Prince can restrain you with is the second daughter?"

"So I'm hesitant. Right now, the two of them are like weights tied at both ends. If one of them leaves... I'm afraid I won't even be able to save my life on the other side."

Pei Zhiheng's concerns were valid. If the Crown Prince learned of the sudden misfortune befalling the Pei family in the capital, all his attention would fall on Pei Suisui.

In that case, he would probably find it even harder to save his youngest daughter.

"But I also remember you saying that everyone in the capital is watching the Pei family. If trouble breaks out in the capital at this time, it would indeed be a way to break the deadlock."

Thirteen's expression was solemn. She clearly understood that both sides were equally important to Pei Xiang, and choosing either side would be cruel to him.

"That's what I thought, and I had no choice but to do it."

Pei Zhiheng sighed, took out the folded document he had just put away, and handed it to Thirteen.

"This is?"

Thirteen looked at the names on the memorial; there were over a hundred.

"These are the Eagle Guards that the Gu family hid in my Pei residence. They plotted to make my Yue'er fake her death so that they and their hundred or so men could escape from the Pei family."

"Who are the Gu Family Eagle Guards?"

Thirteen frowned; clearly, she had never heard this story before.

Pei Zhiheng glanced at her wistfully, then slowly leaned back, sinking into the soft couch, as if only in this way could he calm his mind.

After a long silence, he slowly spoke.

"The Gu Family Eagle Guard is the most valiant unit among the Gu Family Army, which has a distinguished military record. Back when His Majesty was still the Eighth Prince, it was with this Eagle Guard, which numbered less than a thousand, that he managed to escape unscathed from the Crown Prince's 30,000 personal guards."

"Doesn't that mean the Gu family saved the Emperor's life back then?"

Thirteen immediately felt a deep respect for the old general. If it weren't for the Gu family, the current emperor would probably be the former crown prince.

Pei Zhiheng nodded and put the memorial back on his own.

"The Emperor owes us more than just this one life-saving grace. It's just that later, fearing that his achievements would overshadow the Emperor and arouse his suspicion, Marquis Gu suddenly disbanded the Eagle Guard and requested permission to guard the border himself."

"This... is something His Majesty would do."

Thirteen frowned slightly; she wasn't surprised by the outcome.

"So all these years the Emperor has been secretly searching for this Eagle Guard, but I never expected that the Eagle Guard would be hidden in my Pei family by that old man."

Pei Zhiheng slowly raised his head and met Thirteen's gaze.

"You mean the Eagle Guards are in your hands?"

"To be precise, I knew about this only half an hour earlier than you. When Lord Gu left the capital, he said he was leaving me with some trusted confidants who could protect the safety of my Pei family. I didn't think much of it and simply stayed with the Pei family."

"You mean those people we sent to monitor the eldest and second young ladies?"

Thirteen composed herself slightly. She had naturally seen them before, but since those people were always taking care of the safety of the two young ladies of the Pei family not far away, she simply pretended not to notice.

"I never expected that this old fox would dare to hide these people in my mansion! Now that the Emperor has investigated, he was afraid of implicating me, so he told me the truth."

Pei Zhiheng gritted his teeth and pounded his thigh again. If he were given a knife now, he would probably really stab his friend to death!

As soon as he arrived in Philadelphia, he began to make numerous plans, all in order to ensure that Lord Gu could successfully complete the campaign against the Southern Barbarians with the Crown Prince.