“As they say, ‘Though we have no colorful phoenix wings to fly side by side, our hearts are connected as if by a magic rhinoceros horn.’ Chumo, you must properly teach me this skill of yours—coming at mealtime and always encountering delicious food. When I went to your house, I didn’t have such good fortune. I was dragged by Chengqian to a thatched cottage by the roadside where I drank sour wine all afternoon and ate a bellyful of mountain vegetables and wild greens that were salty but tasteless. I never had the kind of thing you have—coming to my house and immediately encountering a great feast.”

Cheng Chumo had no time to pay attention to Yun Ye. There were still five or six spicy pig trotters in the basin that hadn’t been eaten. With a grunt from his mouth, he started pulling out another pig trotter to continue his assault. The pile of pig bones in front of him was already quite large. Today he had come to discuss the betrothal matters between Huahua and Yun Huan. Previously, it had all been talk among the women. Unless the men spoke up, it didn’t really count. As for eating pig trotters, that was just an unexpected harvest.

Huahua was Cheng Chumo’s second daughter. Her mother was Princess Qinghe, and she embodied the advantages of both the Cheng family and the imperial family. However, there was a bit of an anomaly—perhaps something had gone wrong during the birthing process. The Cheng family’s straightforwardness and the imperial family’s magnanimous temperament seemed to have created a different reaction in her. They say two negatives make a positive, but this saying didn’t suit Huahua. What she hated most were effeminate men, yet Yun Huan happened to be the type who liked to burrow into groups of women. When he had nothing to do, he liked to smell the fragrance on young ladies’ bodies—these were the things Huahua detested most. So whenever she and Yun Huan were together, conflicts were inevitable.

It was already quite surprising for a young lady to personally attend her own betrothal ceremony, but having a small hatchet tucked at her waist was excessive, wasn’t it? Now Huahua was chasing and trying to kill Yun Huan with the hatchet in her hand, making him jump up and down.

“Your daughter will become part of our family. Tomorrow, load up several carts with gifts, pick some valuable ones. Qinghe cares about face—if the gifts are too light, it won’t look good.”

Cheng Chumo finally finished eating the pig trotters. He pulled out a piece of bone from his mouth, put it back in his mouth to rinse, then spat it out. He took a big drink of wine, then said with satisfaction to Yun Ye.

“That’s natural. If the gifts are too light, I’m worried that when the old master comes back, he’ll go to my family treasury and take things himself. It’s just that, brother, could you tell your daughter not to run around the inner residence brandishing an axe hacking at everything?”

Yun Ye said to Cheng Chumo with concern, looking at Yun Huan who was being ridden by Huahua and screaming wildly.

Cheng Chumo said indistinctly while picking his teeth: “Huahua has been spoiled since childhood by the old master and His Majesty. Although her temper is somewhat violent, her heart is the best. She’s filial to her elders and keeps herself pure—everything about her is an advantage. Her mother just worried that if she married into another family, she’d suffer losses, which is why she agreed to give her to Huan’er. In all of Chang’an, your family’s inner residence is the cleanest. The child can live comfortably at your house. As for her violent temper, in other families she could beat everyone in the inner residence, but at your house, little Sister Xiao Miao can control her completely with just one hand. Look—isn’t she being carried away by Xiao Miao holding her by the collar?”

Following Cheng Chumo’s pointing direction, Yun Ye saw Xiao Miao holding one child in each hand—he didn’t know which acupuncture points on their bodies she had grabbed, but both children were being carried motionlessly by Xiao Miao. Xinyue stood on the flower tower with one finger flipping up and down—needless to say, she was lecturing those two children.

“With Sister Xinyue here, why are you still worrying about the inner residence? Let my daughter live at your house first. Before they get married, I’ll take her back. The old master really has no way to leave Yizhou. There are too many sick and wounded in the army, all left at Jiamen to recuperate. His Majesty has agreed to this, allowing them to rest for three months before starting their journey home. I’m planning to make a trip to Shu. Do you have anything to say to the old master?”

Yun Ye shook his head and said: “No. The old master probably damaged his body quite badly this time. After he comes back, he should live at Yushan Hermitage and ask Master Sun to help carefully restore the old master’s health. Uncle Qin’s condition is very bad. Master Sun only said four words: ‘oil exhausted, lamp extinguished.’ I estimate his day of distant journey is in these next few days. I’ve already asked Li Chunfeng to help find a tomb site, but His Majesty hopes Uncle Qin will attend the imperial mausoleum, so I worried for nothing.”

“Uncle Qin lost too much blood in his early years. Being able to endure these extra years is already extraordinary. I went to see Uncle Qin yesterday and found the old man drinking wine and eating meat. He said since there’s no saving him, why not relax for a few days? It would be best to die drunk. Actually, among all our families, Uncle Qin’s heart is the most bitter. Not one of his descendants stands out. That Qin family fourth son you trained as a disciple—after he went to the military, his old habits resurfaced. Old Pei said if it weren’t for your sake, he would have been dismissed long ago. Twice he failed to report when the drum was beaten. Who does he think he is? Forget it, I’ll just transfer him to my Left Military Guard. Under my command, even if he’s a lump of mud, I’ll hammer him into steel.”

Whenever Cheng Chumo talked about the old Qin family’s affairs, he was full of anger. The old man wasn’t even dead yet, but they had already started coveting the Qin family’s properties in various places. Qin’s eldest son was just a muddy-natured person who married a domineering woman as his wife. She controlled everything. He himself had soft ears, no opinions of his own, and this time there was even news of dividing the family property. If this happened, the Qin family’s face would be completely lost.

If there was still one person worth looking at, it was Qin Yu in Luoyang. Over these years, he had grown step by step to become a Qinxun Yiwei Yulin Zhonglang General, which meant he had entered the ranks of high officials. Yun Ye’s sister Runniang was a capable woman. Over these years, relying on her maiden family’s business connections, she had managed her small household prosperously. She hadn’t come to Chang’an once in several years, except when the old master had a major birthday, when the Yun family’s daughters got married, or when the great-grandmother had a major birthday. She never left Luoyang. In fact, the family had already been divided.

The decline of great families always began with dividing the family. When people’s hearts scattered, the family also scattered. This was different from branching out—one was internal division, the other was the family’s autonomous separation. There was no comparison.

Old Master Qin saw all this but was helpless. Passing the family to the eldest son was already inevitable. No matter how bad Qin Ying was, as the legitimate son of the first branch, the Duke Yiguo title could only be passed to him, though it would quickly change from a commandery duke to a county duke. A county duke without influence and without real power might not make it to the next title ceremony.

The Niu Jinda family had no such problems at all. Niu Jianhu would soon return to the capital to be appointed as a fourth rank upper Huangmen Shilang. This was a prestigious position that only those with outstanding talent could obtain. After wandering in official posts outside for over ten years, he had finally borne fruit. Niu Jinda had been extremely happy during this period. Even when he himself was promoted for his merit to Duke of Langya Commandery, he wasn’t this happy. His ancestors had been civil officials, but in his generation, he had no choice but to tie his head to his belt and fight for his life. Now, returning to the orthodox path, the old master was very satisfied.

“Even a rough fellow like Baolin can become a high-ranking territorial official. Qin Ying has truly wasted a good appearance.” Cheng Chumo heavily pounded his fist on the table, indignant.

“Baolin is no fool. His eye for choosing a wife can be considered extremely shrewd. Huozhu’s sister grew up at the academy since childhood. Not only is she fairly pretty, but her intelligence is also not comparable to ordinary women. Moreover, she gave Baolin four sons in one go. The Yuchi family almost worships her like an ancestress. Aunt Bai went directly to Hebei to help her daughter-in-law take care of the children. What does this mean? It means Baolin’s wife needs to devote most of her energy to helping Baolin, which is to say, half of his position as Youzhou Regional Inspector is held by his wife.”

Cheng Chumo nodded heavily and said: “It seems marrying a good wife is very important. I was too hasty back then!”

Yun Ye gave Cheng Chumo a look and said: “Did you have a choice when you got married?”

Cheng Chumo laughed heartily, and the two men left the room. Outside, the spring scenery was bright and beautiful—staying inside was too stifling. Walking along the path into the garden, they saw two chairs placed in the pavilion with two people tied to them—one was Huahua, one was Yun Huan, sitting face to face. Xinyue sat to one side embroidering something unknown, unhurried and methodical, pretending not to see the two children making faces at each other. When Huahua saw her father and Uncle Yun coming over, she was delighted and was about to open her mouth to call out, only to find the two men laughing and chatting as they went elsewhere. She lowered her head somewhat aggrieved—Aunt Yun being difficult to talk to was famous among all the families.

“I don’t know why you carry that axe around all day. Is your martial arts very good? How come when you met Aunt Xiao Miao, it was completely useless? You should know about your Aunt Xiao Miao’s story, right? She led a large army to campaign across thousands of miles—a heroine among women. But when have you ever seen Aunt Xiao Miao carrying weapons around all day? When she practices martial arts, it’s all in the training room.”

“Our family is a military family. It’s fine for girls to like practicing martial arts—there’s nothing wrong with that. Your Sister Xiao Mu also practices martial arts and might even be stronger than you. So, if you want to practice martial arts, you can follow Aunt Xiao Miao in the training room. Xiao Mu also practices indoors. If you like martial arts, start tomorrow. Outside the training room, you must follow Meiji to learn proper behavior. It’s also very good for girls to dance. If I still see you carrying an axe on your person, even your mother won’t be able to save you! As for you beating up Yun Huan, Auntie doesn’t care, as long as you can beat him.”

Xinyue’s words made Huahua beam with joy while Yun Huan’s face fell with worry. Although the punishment time still had half an hour to go, the two people’s moods were as different as clouds and mud. Yun Huan watched Huahua sneer at him coldly and couldn’t help feeling even more miserable.

At this moment, Yun Ye and Cheng Chumo were looking at those bizarre large roosters. These roosters, when standing up, had their heads reaching Yun Ye’s waist. The roosters’ claws were fitted with iron talons, which made clanging sounds when they walked. They strutted with their heads held high like great generals.

Wang Cai had originally planned to go to the back garden to find some vegetables to his taste, but when he saw those roosters from afar, he turned his head and nonchalantly walked toward the main house. He couldn’t afford to provoke these domineering roosters.

“Everything in your household is very strange. We won’t talk about how smart Wang Cai is, but even these six large roosters aren’t something ordinary families could possess, right?”

“An aristocratic family always needs to have some foundation, doesn’t it?”