This day, Yun Ye didn’t go anywhere. Since someone from the Ministry of War had come with the Empress yesterday, he didn’t need to personally handle the paperwork for returning to the capital. The military had its own regulations—as long as one followed the rules, no one would disturb him. Li Chengqian, Li Tai, Li Ke, Cheng Chumo, and Li Huairen hadn’t come either.

Only the stewards from Old Cheng’s and Old Niu’s households came to the estate to convey the old masters’ wishes—tomorrow come eat at their home, bring wife and children, their own people closing the door to enjoy themselves.

Yun Ye spent the entire day playing with the two babies still in swaddling clothes, along with Yun Baobao and Yun Mu. Fortunately, two wet nurses accompanied them, otherwise Yun Ye’s life would have been demanded by the four children.

Picking fruits, knocking down green persimmons—even the few pomegranates remaining on the trees didn’t escape their clutches and were all knocked down. These pomegranates were actually deliberately left by the tenant farmers, representing the meaning of having surplus year after year, used for honoring heaven. However, this set of practices was completely useless in front of Yun Ye. As long as he saw them, it was one pole strike after another, with two howling children waiting below.

The small pond at home had just been planted with some lotus vegetables. On the water surface were only a few lonely small lotus seed pods. Yun Mu pointed at the lotus pods, wanting them. This naturally wasn’t a problem. Finding a huge wooden basin, Yun Ye sat in it. Didn’t all the young ladies from Jiangnan pick lotus roots this way?

The servants watched with trepidation as the Marquis swayed back and forth, paddling the wooden basin to pick lotus pods one by one. It was already September now—if he accidentally fell in the water, he’d catch a cold. Fortunately, the Marquis’s skills were superb. Under the admiring gazes of his son and daughter, he picked all the lotus pods in the pond in one go. The two little people each carried two or three lotus pods to report their achievement to their mother.

Xinyue spent the entire day doing accounts. After her husband returned home, the household had another sum of income. This year, the income from the grasslands would definitely decrease. Na Rimu had run back home midway, without a managing master present. The profits were destined to be affected. The border troops gave face to Madam Yun, but there was no reason to give face to the Yun family stewards. Having this sum of money to fill the deficit wasn’t bad.

Na Rimu spent the entire day making herself fragrant. Tonight, her husband would sleep in her room. She could pull down her face to squeeze into one bed with Xinyue, but Xinyue couldn’t pull down her face to fight for her bed. Thinking of this made her happy. Being a concubine also had its advantages.

It was very late, and Yun Mu was already asleep, yet her husband hadn’t come. The foot-washing water had already cooled. Where had he gone? Na Rimu quietly crept to Xinyue’s window to look inside. Her husband wasn’t there—only Xinyue doing accounts. Unable to hold back for a moment, she entered the room to ask Xinyue.

“Sister, where has husband gone? It’s so late and he still hasn’t returned.”

Xinyue smiled happily, showing her white teeth. She walked up to Na Rimu, leaned on her neck to sniff, then laughed so hard she doubled over, clapping her hands and saying, “What a resentful woman! You’re destined to guard an empty room tonight. Old Jiang and the others had business with husband. Just as it got dark, he rode off on his horse. He left word saying he might not return tonight. Hahaha! You’re killing me with laughter. That’s what you get for playing tricks. Tonight, sleep hugging your bamboo wife.” Having finished speaking, she pushed Na Rimu out and banged the door shut. Even after Na Rimu had walked to the moon gate, she could still hear Xinyue’s laughter.

Huan Niang had just coaxed Yun Mu to sleep when she saw Na Rimu walk back alone. The Marquis hadn’t come with her. What happened? Had this foolish woman provoked the Marquis again?

After hearing Na Rimu’s explanation, Huan Niang finally breathed a sigh of relief. She was still hoping Na Rimu would give birth to another boy who could inherit the grasslands in the future. Placing Yun Mu, a daughter, on the wilderness was truly too cruel. Since the Marquis had gone out on business and didn’t detest Na Rimu, then there was no problem. The Marquis was a good man who valued loyalty. Just now, she had been overthinking.

A group of six fine horses galloped swiftly along the official road. Soon they reached Xiliu Camp. From a distance, they could see the Tubo people’s camp situated in that low-lying area full of willow trees—the coolest place in this land. The autumn days of Chang’an still made the Tubo people feel unbearably hot.

Coming behind that earthen mound, Old Jiang pulled away the wild grass, and a dark cave entrance appeared. He shouted into it. Before long, a figure carrying a glass lamp walked out from inside. The shadowy silhouette made one’s hair stand on end. Yun Ye barely restrained himself from running. When the shadow drew near, he discovered it was Huang Shu. This bastard’s ugly face was illuminated ghastly white by the lamplight—emerging from an underground cave, he could scare people to death.

“Marquis, this humble one has already found where the Tubo people hide their treasures. We can make our move tomorrow night.” Seeing Yun Ye arrive, Huang Shu was very excited. Since the Marquis could come, it meant the Marquis also agreed to do this job.

“Doing one job isn’t a problem, but are the loose ends clean? If caught by the authorities, it would be disgraceful.” Yun Ye quietly asked Huang Shu. This fellow was an old thief—better ask for professional advice.

“Marquis, this humble one has been staying underground these past days. I’ve discovered those Tubo people only inspect the rooms storing goods once in the morning and once in the evening. Other times they don’t allow anyone near those two rooms. They don’t like living in houses—they prefer tents. Some fellows just lie down directly on the grass to sleep. This humble one has half a night’s time to clean up loose ends.”

“No good. The Hundred Cavalry Bureau has many experts. Some have excellent tracking techniques. To be completely undetected, we can only thoroughly destroy the scene. Didn’t you say before that you could make this place collapse? Do it that way. No matter who comes, they’ll only think it was a natural disaster, not man-made.”

“Marquis, if we need to make this place collapse, this humble one alone isn’t enough. What if the Tubo people plan to enter the city? Our calculations would come to nothing.”

“Tell me, if this cave were filled with water, what would be the result?”

“Marquis, this is all loess soil. It’s already very dangerous inside, just supported by two large stone pillars. If it were filled with water and the tomb walls softened, this humble one only needs to topple those two pillars, and this entire large area will collapse. Those Tubo people might not survive.”

“Behind the mound is a mountain stream with considerable water flow. We just need to divert the water over.”

“That won’t work, Marquis. If we artificially divert the mountain stream, won’t everyone know someone harmed the Tubo people? In all of Chang’an, only our family has a feud with the Tubo people. Even an idiot would know our family did it.”

“Do your own job well. Who said anything about diverting the mountain stream? Do you think that just because there’s a mound between us, I have no way to bring water over? You just need to camouflage the cave entrance well. Remember, fallen grass must be stood back up, broken grass stems must be handled. If there’s no time to handle them, steal a few sheep from nearby households and release them here to mess up the scene.”

Although Huang Shu didn’t know how to bring water over from seven or eight zhang away, he always had confidence in the Marquis. Since the Marquis said water could be brought when the time came, he had no reason not to believe it.

After instructing Huang Shu to be extremely careful and leaving him a household retainer, he hurriedly rushed home. Tonight, the Yun family had very important matters to attend to.

Returning home, he had Old Qian take out the household’s cowhide overnight and asked those old soldiers to work through the night at the wine workshop cutting them into rectangles. Finally, they were rolled into leather tubes, supported inside with bamboo strips, connected one to another, and finally all air leaks were sealed with lacquer. By the time dawn was breaking, two leather pipes seven or eight zhang long were completed. The rolled leather tubes were thick enough for a head to fit through. Two water pipes this thick—one day’s time was enough to fill that tomb completely.

They selected a place for testing. The results were excellent. After filling the leather pipes with water and lowering the pipes over the high embankment, the ropes blocking both ends were released together. As a result, the pipes began gushing water. The old soldiers then used bamboo strips to round out both ends, and the water flowed even more smoothly. Everything was ready—they just had to wait until evening to act. They had to try to pour the maximum amount of water into the tomb before the Tubo people’s second inspection of the treasures.

Old Jiang wouldn’t allow Yun Ye to personally do these things. Once discovered and the family head was caught, there would be no room for negotiation at all. A dignified marquis going out to be a thief was truly too shocking to hear.

If Old Jiang went himself, there would be no problem. At worst, he’d say he was tempted by greed and did this behind the family head’s back. Taking all the blame upon himself, the Marquis would at most bear the charge of lax supervision of subordinates—it wouldn’t amount to much. Among the wealthy and powerful households in Chang’an, which family’s retainers didn’t take the blame for several crimes for their masters? Someone as clean as himself was truly rare.

Yun Ye deeply agreed. For him, a hereditary marquis, to do what only Huang Shu could do was too disgraceful. If caught, his great name would spread far and wide. Who knew how the history books would slander him? The reputation of a “thief marquis” would be inescapable. Li Er merely brought his sister-in-law and younger brothers’ wives into the rear palace, yet those who wrote history books wrote about it as filthy and unbearable. “Han Confucian studies, Jin idle talk, Tang cuckolds, Song sniveling, Yuan confusion, Qing slovenliness”—this was the three-character summary that later generations concluded from reading history books. When it came to Li Er’s family, what a big cuckold indeed! The Li family men all wore green hats.

When it came to himself, it would be strange if those historians didn’t write with brilliant flourishes. Therefore, extracting himself from this was a necessary step—he absolutely couldn’t muddle-headedly fall into it.

Seeing the time was still early, he lay down in the wine workshop to sleep for two hours. Not until the sun was high in the sky did he wake up. Opening his eyes, the old soldiers had all disappeared. Yun Ye didn’t ask either and directly took Liu Jinbao home. Liu Jinbao desperately wanted to join the seniors in being a great thief once, but was soundly scolded by Old Jiang.

The household was already prepared. Na Rimu, pouting her little mouth aggrievedly, helped her husband change clothes. Yun Ye casually coaxed her a bit and it passed. Na Rimu had always been carefree—daughters of the grasslands hadn’t yet learned to give their men attitude.

Four carriages carried Yun Ye’s entire family in grand procession toward the Cheng family estate. In two hours, they arrived at the Cheng family estate. Watching Cheng Yaojin stroking his beard and laughing heartily warmed Yun Ye’s heart. Cheng Chumo now also had a big beard. He grabbed his brother in a hug and vigorously pounded his back.

Taking the two children who could walk and bow, they properly paid respects to Old Cheng and his wife. Yun Baobao was commonly seen, but Yun Mu wearing small leather armor and riding a big dog was what Old Cheng liked. He most loved children with a bandit air. Children as refined as Yun Baobao always felt unlike children from a military family.