 Empress Dowager Wu became more suspicious, and when the official Cui Cha (崔詧) heard this, he submitted a petition accusing Pei of treason.Empress Dowager Wu had Pei arrested and had him interrogated by the imperial censors Qian Weidao (騫味道) and Yu Chengye (魚承曄).Pei, even while under interrogation, did not humble himself before his interrogators, and when someone encouraged him to be humbler, he responded, "Once a chancellor is arrested, how can he still survive?"