After seeing off Feng Zhiyong, Li Anlan felt her legs going weak. It turned out Yun Ye didn’t care nothing for her and her son—he was personally traveling thousands of miles to Lingnan to see her and the child. Although she felt the possibility of Yun Ye coming to see the child was a thousand times greater than coming to see her, she simply refused to acknowledge this point, stubbornly believing that Yun Ye was coming to see her.
No matter how obsessed she was with power and freedom, it still couldn’t change the fact that she was a woman. Thinking of that incident in the imperial palace corridor, her face flushed with shame. Seduced by those damned old eunuchs and old palace maids, she had done such an absurd thing, yet she didn’t regret it—not one bit. The moment Yun Ye entered her body, she had even felt excited.
Now he was coming—traveling thousands of miles to see me. What kind of attitude should I use to face him? Should I be cold and aloof, or gentle and tender? I wonder if he’ll stay the night?
The red dress won’t do. He likes wearing sky-blue—he definitely doesn’t like bright colors. Black? I’m not actually a widow. Purple? Too noble—he doesn’t like that. White? The color of mourning clothes—I’d look like a ghost wearing it…
Lingdang stared wide-eyed as the Princess rummaged through trunks and cabinets looking for clothes. The floor was covered with scattered dresses and skirts. The Princess wore only her undergarments, her legs bare, trying on one piece here, another there. Even after trying on an entire wardrobe of clothes, she hadn’t found a single suitable one. She sat dejectedly in the pile of clothes, her eyes full of colorful garments, yet not knowing which one was appropriate.
“Princess, are you looking for clothes?” Lingdang stood there asking Li Anlan. The Princess never cared what she wore—sometimes she even wore men’s clothes, tying her hair in a ponytail and could go about all day like that. What was different today? Her face blooming like peach blossoms, spring emotions rippling. When Lingdang herself had been thinking of Yun Ye in the ship’s cabin, the Princess had described it exactly this way. Now wasn’t she the same?
Li Anlan threw her arms around Lingdang, her full breasts pressing against Lingdang’s chest. Lingdang’s face turned red, her nose catching the faint scent of milk, and she tried to break free in embarrassment.
“Silly girl, still embarrassed? Do you know that heartless man is coming? This time he at least has a conscience, knowing to come see us.”
“Who? Who’s coming to see us? We have no friends.” Lingdang very much hoped it was Yun Ye, but thinking of his status, she knew he didn’t have the freedom to run around everywhere. As for anyone else, she didn’t care in the slightest—whoever came had nothing to do with her.
“Silly girl, we have just one friend, or perhaps he counts as a lover. He and I even unluckily produced a child together. What’s wrong with him coming to see us? Who was it standing by the ship’s rail shouting? ‘Big Brother Yun’—you called it so much my heart turned sour. Who was it that said in her dreams, ‘Big Brother Yun, don’t, don’t’? You tell me, what did he do to you in that dream?”
Lingdang couldn’t survive this. Her face was red enough to drip blood. When Li Anlan kissed her earlobe, her whole body went soft. Li Anlan laughed wantonly and released Lingdang, who was now like mud. This child was just that sensitive—still shy?
After picking and choosing, she finally found a satisfactory outfit. Just as she put it on, she froze. Yun Ye hadn’t arrived yet. If Liu Jinbao and the others knew, they should have received word by now. The journey from Chang’an to Lingnan took three months—he couldn’t arrive for a while yet.
She looked sorrowfully at Lingdang, who was applying her eyebrows, her heart turning sour. Silly girl, she didn’t know how to apply eyebrows—the more she drew, the uglier they became. Now they looked like two worms crawling on her face.
She wiped off Lingdang’s makeup and redrew it. Last time, Yun Ye had also wiped off her own makeup that looked like a monkey’s bottom. She had worked hard on this skill now. In no time, she had drawn Lingdang’s eyebrows properly. She selected a flame-patterned flower ornament from her cosmetic box and carefully affixed it for her, then held Lingdang gently and said softly: “Silly girl, even if he’s coming, it’s still three months away. We got excited too early.”
The excited Lingdang immediately stopped and hung her head, tears falling. “Princess, I really miss Big Brother Yun. In this world, only he treats me the best. When I stole his chicken leg, not only was he not angry, he even covered for me. When I stole the Crown Prince’s food, he said he was the one who ate it. When the puppy got stuck in the bushes, he had someone rescue it. He even stood on the riverbank to see us off, had Jinbao come protect us, and killed that local chieftain for us—otherwise I definitely wouldn’t have survived. Seeing Big Brother Yun standing alone on that rock, I wanted so badly to jump down and swim to his side, but I can’t swim. If I drowned, Big Brother Yun would be even more heartbroken. Princess, I miss him so much, wuu wuu.”
Li Anlan was stunned. It turned out Yun Ye had already done so many things for her, and there were many more that Lingdang didn’t know about. If she were to count them, she could name even more. That she could now freely enjoy her life was all thanks to that man, while she had only hurt and deceived him. Having such a man protecting her from behind, Li Anlan felt herself incredibly powerful—nothing could obstruct her vision anymore. No wonder Xinyue fought desperately to protect her man. He was different from everyone else, different from all Great Tang men—tender, patient, multi-talented, even mastering culinary arts that ordinary people considered lowly to a master level. With such a man’s protection, Li Anlan felt for the first time that Heaven seemed quite fair to her after all, that it hadn’t abandoned her—she was the one who had abandoned Heaven.
The two women embraced each other and talked, starting from the day they met Yun Ye. Li Anlan spoke of how she had given Yun Ye black eyes and couldn’t stop laughing. When she spoke of how Yun Ye had framed her before their teacher, she ground her teeth in anger. Lingdang only remembered that Yun Ye had made countless delicious foods—that period of time seemed like heaven itself.
Liu Jinbao carried the young master to the innermost room. Yun Ye immediately took his son in his arms. The little fellow couldn’t speak yet, but seeing that person who smelled so good coming to hold him again, he bounced happily in Yun Ye’s embrace, hopping up and down, lively as a little tiger.
The first moment Yun Ye saw this child, he was certain—this was undoubtedly Yun Family blood. He looked too much like himself as a child, too much like his son from his past life. He could even sketch what this child would look like from age one to fifteen. There was no mystery—he simply had photos on his phone.
Seeing this child, he felt his life continuing. Before, it had all been just a dream. Now, with the child’s bouncing, those vague emotions were finally cleared from his mind.
Liu Jinbao wiped away tears and pulled open the door to leave. He dared not imagine how much suffering the Marquis had endured in the jungle. He clearly could have suffered less, yet he chose to come to Lingnan. The words that cripple spoke—weren’t they likely the Marquis’s own experiences?
Now father and son were reunited, which could be considered Heaven’s compensation to the Marquis. Coming to the stable, the fat Wang Cai had become spirited and vigorous, the muscles on his body clearly defined. Standing up, he was a head taller than other warhorses, yet he still preferred lying down. His four bowl-sized hooves kicked occasionally. Except for his layers of fat being gone, Wang Cai was still the same old character. Seeing Liu Jinbao enter and discovering he wasn’t carrying a fermented rice bowl, he laid his head back on the hay and rubbed it around. The humid climate here made him very uncomfortable.
Wang Cai now ate even osmanthus cakes, which he never used to eat, with relish. One could see how much he had suffered. The Marquis always said he hadn’t suffered, but the calluses on his hands couldn’t deceive anyone. When Madam He attended to the Marquis’s bath, she had deliberately checked his whole body. There were no scars, but thick calluses had formed even on his feet. Who knew how far he had walked to end up like this.
The young master had been taken away by Madam He. Seeing the Marquis’s reluctant expression, Liu Jinbao’s anger blazed. Those damned bastards outside—they made it so the Marquis couldn’t even spend an extra moment with his own child now. Why didn’t he just go out tonight and chop down all those scoundrels?
“Jinbao, rein in your killing intent a bit. Don’t go looking for trouble with those people. Tomorrow will definitely be even livelier. Just watch the show properly. If our family’s people only know how to hack and kill, then that would be too disappointing.”
“Marquis, all our people have been withdrawn. Big Brother Hong Cheng will be back soon too. What are you concerned about? Chop them down, and I don’t believe anyone would dare bring trouble to our family. This land is the young master’s land. Letting these scum run rampant everywhere—this subordinate’s heart aches watching it. What difference is there between this place and our estate?”
“I told you to read more books, but you never listen. If killing could solve problems, would I need you to tell me? I don’t want to leave future troubles for the people of this land. From the people of Meng Family Stockade alone, we know they’re all good people. There aren’t any who are irredeemably bad—at most they’re just strongmen who want their stockades to have enough to eat. They have no systematic concept of nation, no standard concept of whom to serve. They’re all people who revere freedom and love joy. Such people actually can’t be called savages anymore. They already possess the qualifications to integrate into the Great Tang family. So patience and education cannot be lacking. They need guidance, need to see that joining Great Tang will make them safer and more prosperous. Only this way can we truly control this land. Once we gain their loyalty, they’ll be wholehearted without second thoughts. So people can be killed, but we must choose targets. Take it slow—let them be happy for a few more days. For some people who are going to die, we might as well be magnanimous.”
Liu Jinbao responded affirmatively and went out to patrol. From his vigorous and powerful stride, Yun Ye knew his words just now had been spoken in vain.
The express messengers had already been gone three days. Without urging, they would still rush along without stopping. Yun Ye had deliberately had them bring a small basket of lychees. He didn’t know if they would spoil by the time they reached Chang’an. “Through crimson dust the courier rides, while the concubine smiles—no one knows it’s lychees that arrive.” He wanted to test whether his family’s efficiency could be faster than Emperor Xuanzong’s couriers. Arriving in Chang’an one day earlier meant Grandmother and the others would have peace of mind one day sooner, and Xinyue wouldn’t have to live so hard. During this time, things at home must not be peaceful. There were many ill-intentioned nobles in Chang’an. He hoped Xinyue could cope with them. Simple weakness wouldn’t do.