Snow besieged the sorrowful city. What’s more, Yun Ye inexplicably gained two more enemies—actually two grief-stricken old men who had lost their sons. One was Yuwen Shiji, the other was Gao Jifu. Both were important ministers. If they weren’t important ministers, they couldn’t have seized this opportunity that would allow their young sons to make a name for themselves and establish their reputations. As for the remaining passenger, people didn’t know his name even after he died. Perhaps only Li Er knew.

For the first time being accused by two old men of being a murderer, Yun Ye didn’t argue. There was no way to say they were sacrificial victims of the Emperor’s impatient quest for quick success. He could only remain silent. The people were already dead—any argument was completely meaningless.

They didn’t dare accuse Prince Wei Tai. They could only continuously pressure Yun Ye, wanting to obtain more compensation from the Emperor. Everyone was a sensible person, so Yun Ye didn’t argue or refute. He believed that when the entire matter settled like dust, he would definitely receive the most sincere apologies from the Yuwen family and the Gao family. Right now, he himself was just a tool. Other people’s sons had died—he would endure this breath of anger. In any case, the one at fault was the Emperor, not himself. They hoped to obtain compensation—Yun Ye believed this request was very reasonable.

The hot air balloon had been burned into ashes. The news was strictly sealed within the Imperial Palace. The Yuwen family and Gao family didn’t even have the opportunity to arrange funeral rites. Because the burning by the kerosene wasn’t thorough, Li Er ordered it to be burned again completely.

The Emperor prohibited those two families from seeking revenge against Yun Ye and issued them the most severe warning. The Yun family had to manufacture a new hot air balloon again in the shortest possible time, and it needed to be done secretly. The manpower that could be mobilized was still only the female family members of the inner residence of the Yun manor.

Yun Ye was going home, bringing Xinyue, Wang Cai, and four beauties. They had already been packaged and gifted by the Empress to Marquis of Lantian Yun Ye, who had established great merit.

Jia Yi, Jia Er, Jia San, Jia Si—these were the names of those four palace maids. If one knew the palace rules, upon hearing the names, one would know these four women were all beauties. Only the most beautiful women could be classified by Empress Zhangsun with the character “Jia.” The reason for giving them names like serial numbers was because the imperial family valued their beautiful bodies, not their other special talents.

They were extremely happy because the Yun family’s lenience was famous throughout all of Chang’an City. These women who could be sent out as prizes at any time would naturally carefully study the noble celebrities of Chang’an City, fantasizing that they could be given to the most graceful, most doting noble so they could safely live out their lives under the noble’s protection. As for those beautiful loves in theatrical performances—they really couldn’t dare to hope for such things.

Being given to the young and passionate Marquis Yun counted as winning the grand prize. Thinking that they had already escaped from that terrifying place called the Imperial Palace, they were so happy they wanted to fly. They didn’t see even the slightest bit of murderous intent in the eyes of the principal wife Xinyue—only some regret and pity. So even though they were happy, they still knelt properly and motionlessly at the tail of the carriage.

Marquis Yun’s appearance while reading books was very pleasant to watch. His face turned to the side, staring at the book without moving. Not seeing him turn the pages for quite some time, Jia Yi confirmed that Marquis Yun was spacing out, or perhaps thinking about matters. Short whiskers grew on his face. Not only did they fail to display some dignified effect, they actually made the entire person appear somewhat comical, because this face simply wasn’t suitable for growing a beard.

The lady very much liked Marquis Yun. She always gently used her hand to help Marquis Yun scratch his ears. The frostbitten ears had just formed scabs—at this time, they must be extremely itchy. One could see their husband-wife affection was very good.

Jia Yi didn’t dare connect this amiable man before her with the legendary great general whose meritorious achievements were brilliant. The legendary Marquis Yun should be a heroic and valiant great man—one battle caused a hundred thousand Goguryeo people to turn to ash and smoke. Penetrating deep into Goguryeo for a thousand li without a hair harmed—what kind of miraculous deed was that? Yet this person before her was spacing out. His eyes were hollow without focus. Jia Yi’s curiosity was immediately hooked up. Thinking of when Marquis Yun’s frozen hand moved randomly on her chest, she couldn’t help but feel her face grow hot. She wondered whether he would want her to attend the bedchamber tonight.

Xinyue saw her husband had already gone on a mental journey beyond the heavens. At this time, her husband had no awareness. So she turned her head back and said to the four palace maids: “The Marquis originally wanted to give you household registration, give you some money and wealth to let you live your own lives. However, looking at your appearances, I estimate that in the palace, besides learning some skills for serving men, you haven’t learned other means of making a living, right?”

“Better not listen to his words. Just make your living in the Yun family. Women like you—leaving the large mansion gate to go outside isn’t a good thing either. Listen well—the Yun family is just like what you’ve heard. Our household doesn’t have that business of harming people. So when you arrive at home, do what you should do. Even losing your temper is fine. Just don’t think about harming anyone. The Marquis most detests the household being filled with noxious fumes. He generally doesn’t lose his temper. Once he loses his temper, it’s very troublesome—he won’t give up until someone dies.”

“Nobody in the household will bully you either. Both concubines are very good people. You generally won’t see the Old Ancestress. The old person generally just chants sutras in the Buddhist hall in the back courtyard. When there’s nothing going on, don’t disturb the old person’s tranquility. The young mistress in the household—only Xiao Ya is somewhat difficult to serve. However, you don’t need to worry. She’s about to become a princess consort. In the future, she’ll go to Shandong. Your allowances will follow the steward’s allowances. I’ll give you four people one small courtyard. For unmarried young ladies to live in a large courtyard isn’t good either.”

The four people hurriedly kowtowed to Xinyue in gratitude. Xinyue sighed and continued saying: “Your appearances are all extremely good, your figures are also good. Originally, I wanted to keep you in the Marquis’s room to serve. But the Marquis doesn’t agree. He believes your bodily contact with him was in treating his injuries and illness, so it doesn’t count as intimate physical contact. Don’t look at me—I’m not a jealous woman. It’s the Marquis himself who is unwilling. He’s already complaining that he has too many wives. He’s gotten angry about this matter more than once or twice. Hmph hmph hmph, once you enter the manor, you’ll know.” Speaking to this point, Xinyue couldn’t help but cover her mouth and laugh lightly.

Yun Ye had beautifully spaced out for a while. He most liked that ethereal feeling of spacing out—not thinking about anything in his brain, just purely spacing out. As long as spacing out ended, he would immediately feel his spirits increase a hundredfold.

When he woke up, he discovered Xinyue was examining those four women’s needlework skills. What was this about? Could it be she wanted to keep them at home? As she wished. The household gaining four beauties with nothing to do—looking at them twice more was also good.

The carriage arrived home only to discover Empress Zhangsun was talking with the old grandmother. These past few days, she had been staying at Yushan Academy. Li Chengqian had gone to Sanyuan. Currently, the only roads that had been broken through were to Sanyuan and Lantian County.

Empress Zhangsun glanced at Yun Ye and said to the attending eunuch: “Bring over the marmot oil. Yun Ye’s ears haven’t completely recovered yet. The chilblains on his feet probably haven’t healed either. Hand them to Xinyue and let her take good care of him.”

Ever since the hot air balloon exploded, Empress Zhangsun hadn’t given Yun Ye any good expression. As soon as she thought about how Li Tai and Yun Ye had also nearly been burned alive, her heart felt wave after wave of cold. Although it was done out of necessity, one couldn’t risk one’s own life.

“Your Majesty, it’s already getting late. You should stay overnight in the traveling palace tonight. This student will go to the kitchen right now to make you a bowl of noodles to eat. In such severely cold weather, eating a bowl of sour soup noodles is more comfortable than any great dish.”

Yun Ye had long since become skilled at light and practiced at flattering Empress Zhangsun. Cupping his hands, he walked out, preparing to make several bowls of noodles. He most liked the noodles rolled out by his household’s kitchen lady—extremely exquisite. In the Imperial Palace for several days, he hadn’t eaten any—he was craving them terribly.

“Xinyue, what do you think of the four girls this palace bestowed to Yun Ye?” Empress Zhangsun sipped a mouthful of tea and asked Xinyue.

“Your Majesty, your painstaking care may very well be wasted. Those four girls are indeed all national beauties of heavenly fragrance. This concubine’s husband is just a block of wood. Don’t look at how he likes looking at beautiful women and also likes going to pleasure quarters. But this concubine knows he’s naturally born liking beautiful things. He very much likes those four beauties, but this kind of liking is just like how he likes beautiful flowers—it all belongs to appreciation, unrelated to romantic love between men and women. He even feels marrying us three was a loss—marrying just one would be suitable.”

“This concubine previously thought my husband said this only for the sake of saving face. As a result, I discovered it truly is so. My husband—as long as he marries a woman, he will divide a portion of his heart to that woman. If he cares about each and every one of his women, naturally he’ll feel extremely exhausted. This concubine extremely likes my husband’s temperament.” Xinyue raised her head and all at once spoke out all her innermost thoughts. The old grandmother also smiled and nodded. How could she not be familiar with her own grandson?

Empress Zhangsun shook her head and said: “In the world, there are still such strange people. You’ve certainly landed yourself someone with constant affection. So be it—those four girls have good fortune. Let them be happy in your Yun family as they please.”

“This palace will personally supervise the work of sewing the hot air balloon these next few days. We need to work day and night to complete it. You’ve also seen that the court hall has been turned upside down with arguing. Since this matter is what we womenfolk are good at, then let’s manufacture it with wholehearted dedication. I’ve already ordered the Academy to fully cooperate. We only need to complete the sewing of the balloon envelope.”

Xinyue curtsied to receive the order. She immediately arranged for servants to clear out the great hall, set up the fire stoves, go to the silk and satin storehouse to get materials. As for the fire-washed cloth, there wasn’t much remaining—she didn’t know if it would be enough.

Chang’an experiencing heavy snow and forming a white disaster—not everyone was worried. Among them, some people were extremely happy. For example, Lu Dongzan, who had just come from Tubo to Chang’an before the new year. When the heavy snow stopped on the evening of the sixth day, he resentfully smashed his fist on the door frame. Couldn’t this damned heavy snow have persisted a few more days? Not to mention too much—if the heavy snow had continued falling for three more days consecutively, the Chang’an people’s psychology would have collapsed. For Tubo, this could almost play the role of victory without battle.

Now whenever he thought of that giant beast flying in the air, a cold sensation extended from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. With this kind of thing, could Tubo’s strategically dangerous terrain still form an effective threat to the Tang state?

That supremely overbearing imperial decree from Li Er—Tubo ultimately still complied with its execution. The only thing that could be haggled over was merely who would provide the provisions and military equipment for Tubo’s dispatch of troops to attack Nanzhao Meng Shezhao in a pincer movement.

Li Daozong stationed troops at Shezhou without advancing, watching with his own eyes as the Tubo great army and Meng Shezhao fought fiercely at Songzhou, and afterward preparing to sit back and reap the fisherman’s profit. Could being powerful truly allow one to possess everything?