Hou Junji’s residence had already been sealed. The spirit tablet could only be placed outside the Hou residence. Hou Jie, dressed in heavy mourning, prostrated himself before his father’s spirit tablet wailing loudly. Lady Hou, on the contrary, was relatively composed, properly thanking each old general who came to pay respects.
From afar, Cheng Yaojin saw Yun Ye approaching and pulled him aside, asking in a low voice, “His Majesty won’t go back on his word, will he?”
“He won’t. This matter ends here. His Majesty has shut himself in the quiet chamber, probably also memorializing Uncle Hou. The Empress isn’t present—who knows where she went. His Majesty nearly smashed me with a flail. If your nephew hadn’t been clever, my legs would have been broken.”
Cheng Yaojin let out a long breath and brought Yun Ye before Hou Junji’s spirit. After Yun Ye finished offering incense, he yanked up the weeping Hou Jie and shouted loudly, “Shut up! Your father is dead—what’s there to cry about? Now you should be thinking about your mother’s and younger siblings’ future days. Taking good care of them is your greatest filial piety!”
Seeing Hou Jie stop crying, Lady Hou also walked over. Yun Ye said coldly to Hou Jie, “The academy taught you all these years—you should have the ability to care for your mother and younger siblings, right?”
Hou Jie said through gritted teeth, “Yes! This revenge…” Having just spoken two words, his mother gave him a hard slap that forced him to swallow the rest. Lady Hou said to Hou Jie word by word, “Your father’s death is no one’s fault but his own—he brought calamity upon himself and cannot live. From now on, if I hear even half a word about revenge, your mother will immediately commit suicide and take your younger brothers and sisters with me. That way you can seek revenge without any attachments. If you don’t want your mother to die and don’t want your siblings to die, then prick up your ears and listen to every single word Xiao Ye says.”
Yun Ye lifted the kneeling Hou Jie up again and said in a low voice, “Do you know that to save you, the military families lost ten percent of their weapons? Do you know that to save you, how many benefits the Xiao, Han, and Pei families extracted from the military families? Do you know that to save you, I was nearly beaten to death by His Majesty with a flail just now?”
Hou Jie said through tears, “Then why did you save me? You should have let me die together with my father. Spending such a great cost just to save a useless废 waste like me isn’t worth it! How can the Hou family ever repay this?”
“Who asked you to repay? We military families are branches of the same tree, mutually supporting and complementing each other. We cannot do without a single family. Listen carefully—remember in your heart what Xiao Ye says. When you go to Lingnan, you’re not going to waste away waiting for death. There are very important matters requiring you to do. Not just you, but also Hou Ying and Xiao Hu. Gradually, some other military family children will join in. You’re not a good-for-nothing—you have great use.”
After Old Qin finished his instructions, he used his body to block others’ sight lines, leaving the space to Yun Ye and Hou Jie.
“After you go to Lingnan, your aunt and younger siblings will naturally have people looking after them—you needn’t worry. Someone will bring you and Xiao Ying aboard ship and send you to a place called Java. There are still some people I left there. What you need to do is lead these people to carve out a territory there, establish cities. Later, some people will gradually go over. Remember this—the place where you’ll stay is our military families’ final refuge. The storms in the court hall are becoming increasingly dangerous. In the future, perhaps we’ll all go there.”
“Now properly see to Uncle’s burial. After the seventh day, set out immediately. In the South Seas, there’s a place for you to display your talents. Past events are like passing clouds before the eyes—a great man simply starts over again.”
Hou Jie was so astonished his mouth hung open. He could never have imagined that he would actually be going to manage a retreat path for the military families.
“What’s strange about it? The cunning rabbit has three burrows. Your father’s misfortune was in not preparing. We don’t want to rebel, but we also can’t just sit here waiting to be captured, right? Managing overseas territories is reasonable, legal, and appropriate—no one can say anything wrong about it. Will you do it or not?”
Hou Jie nodded. Only then did Lady Hou breathe a sigh of relief. As long as Hou Jie didn’t seek revenge against the Emperor, that was enough. As for going to the battlefield, she had long been accustomed to it—this was the military families’ destiny.
Having a goal, Hou Jie became much more settled. Kneeling at the spirit tablet’s side, together with his mother, he thanked those who came to offer condolences. Their family was still criminals, so not many people came. Yun Ye, Old Qin, and the others also shouldn’t stay long. After handling matters, they each took their leave.
Night was deep and dark. The long street was extremely quiet. Only the two white candles in the mourning hall flickered with dying light. A gust of strong wind blew through, and the candles were extinguished. Hou Jie rose once again to relight the candles. The autumn wind rustled bleakly. This action had already been repeated many times, yet Hou Jie showed not the slightest trace of annoyance. The storms he would face in the future were far more than just bleak autumn winds…
Xinyue had been scolded and returned home in a temper. Of so many noblewomen at the riverbank, Zhangsun had singled her out for a thorough scolding.
“Husband, do you think I have a human head and pig brain? Our family’s land was taken away, and we can only plant some worthless miscellaneous trees. The Empress didn’t give any reason at all. There were so many noblewomen at the riverbank—why did she have to scold only me?”
“Who else would she find if not you? Of all those the Empress could easily pick on, you’re the only one. When making an example of someone, who else would you strike if not the closest person? You’ve only been scolded once—your husband has already endured over ten years of abuse.”
No wonder Zhangsun couldn’t be seen—she had gone to the riverbank. The nobles used their women to oppose the government, so the Emperor had the Empress come forward to deal with these profit-seeking noblewomen. Without going to the scene, Yun Ye knew that when Zhangsun, this golden phoenix, descended upon the riverbank, those sparrow-like noblewomen would immediately behave. Then Zhangsun, glowing with golden light, would pull out Xinyue for a thorough scolding. The only way out for those domestic-hen-like noblewomen was to scatter like birds and beasts.
“You didn’t see—that county official’s nostrils were practically reaching to the sky. The moment the Empress left, he ordered the land re-measured and compensated our family with twenty acres of wasteland covered in alkaline salt. I’m so angry!”
“That’s not right. Didn’t our family’s riverbank land amount to a full eighty acres? How come they only compensated twenty acres? Where did the other sixty acres go? This is too much bullying.”
Xinyue said somewhat awkwardly, “Originally it was twenty acres. The later sixty acres were land we leveled ourselves.”
Hearing this, Yun Ye understood. His own family had occupied sixty acres of riverbank land. So they hadn’t gotten the advantage after all and were beaten back to their original form. No wonder Xinyue was so angry.
Early in the morning, hearing the pattering rain outside the window, he really didn’t want to get up. The cold rain of deep autumn was colder than snow. In such damp, miserable weather, no one wanted to go out. Yun Ye mumbled and hugged Na Rimu tighter. Her body was not only soft and smooth but most importantly very warm. He planned to gather his spirits and have a good sleep. Since returning to Chang’an, there hadn’t been a moment’s peace. He needed good rest. During continuous rainy days, sleeping was the best choice.
Just as he was getting drowsy, Yun Mu burst in and put a wet rabbit into the covers. Na Rimu shrieked and sat up, frantically fishing a rabbit out from under the quilt. Shouting loudly, she asked Yun Mu why she did that.
Seeing his daughter’s aggrieved appearance, Yun Ye couldn’t bear it. He pulled his daughter into his own covers and asked gently what happened. Seven or eight-year-old children were at precisely the age when even chickens dislike and dogs detest them—being a bit mischievous was no problem.
“Wang Cai bit the rabbit.” His daughter answered with sobs. Yun Ye took the rabbit from Na Rimu’s hands and shook it, discovering the rabbit wasn’t just bitten—it had been bitten to death. The rabbit’s head could turn a full circle.
“Papa, let’s go find Grandfather Sun and ask him to heal the rabbit, okay?” Looking at his daughter who was about to cry, Yun Ye sighed. At this time, the one to find should be the King of Hell, not Old Sun.
“Daughter, this rabbit has already been bitten to death. How about Papa gets up and braises this rabbit in red sauce for you to eat, okay? Papa’s braised rabbit is delicious. Actually, stir-frying it is also very good. Do you want it braised in red sauce or stir-fried?”
Yun Mu was a bit hesitant. She knew Papa’s cooked rabbit was very delicious, but just now she had only thought about saving the rabbit, not eating it. Why had it now become choosing an answer between stir-frying and braising in red sauce?
When Yun Ye talked with Yun Mu, Na Rimu never interrupted. Pouting, she huffily dressed herself. By the time father and daughter reached an agreement on braised rabbit, she had already finished dressing.
After Yun Ye swung Yun Mu in a circle above his head, the father and daughter decided that after skinning and cleaning that rabbit, with Yun Mu as helper, they would together make a fragrant braised rabbit dish to send to Grandmother.
Watching Yun Mu hopping and skipping away, Yun Ye’s heart filled with happiness. What a good child—she knew to honor her grandmother. After dressing, on this morning that could wring out water, Yun Ye and his daughter skinned the rabbit together.
Yun Shou walked over carrying a scroll of books. Seeing his father skinning a rabbit, he stood to the side watching. After making a circular cut on the rabbit, Yun Ye grabbed a piece of skin, and with a ripping sound, peeled off a complete rabbit skin. Yun Shou and Yun Mu loudly applauded. Lingdang covered her eyes and dragged the two children away to wash up. She believed young children shouldn’t watch such things.
At mealtime, there appeared a plate of rabbit meat before them. Yun Mu first gave the rabbit meat to Grandmother. Grandmother didn’t eat it but kissed her granddaughter, saying that having this thoughtfulness already made Grandmother full. In any case, the rabbit meat made a circle and returned to Yun Mu’s presence. Poor Yun Shou, under his mother’s strict order, was currently prohibited from eating meat. Biting into a vegetable bun, he looked at his mother aggrievedly. As a result, Xinyue pretended not to see and added another large chopstick-full of green vegetables to his plate. She believed Yun Shou was too fat precisely because he only ate meat and not vegetables.
Yun Mu was very perceptive. Seeing her brother about to explode, she put a rabbit leg on her brother’s plate. Xinyue was about to speak but was glared at by Yun Ye, so she could only eat resentfully.
Yun Shou picked up the rabbit leg and smelled it. Sadly, he placed it in younger brother Yun Huan’s plate. He himself fiercely took a large bite of green vegetables, then randomly stuffed the bun into his mouth, washed it down with thin porridge, put down his bowl and chopsticks, and went out.
After the children all left, Xinyue immediately said, “I’m petty-minded. I made a mistake. Shou’er is a good child with willpower. I shouldn’t have forced him to do things.”
Yun Ye angrily wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, and with hands clasped behind his back, also left home.