Li Tai seemed extremely fatigued. Following Yun Ye back to the Ministry of War main hall, he threw his plump body onto a reclining chair and planned to sleep by the warm stove.

Yun Ye tossed over a blanket and began handling his own official business. After working for not very long, he saw Li Tai sitting bolt upright, staring blankly at the stove with both eyes. Yun Ye originally didn’t want to say anything, but seeing him in this state, he picked up the teapot and sat down across from him, saying, “Performing like a colorful clown to entertain your parents—tired? A good son isn’t pretended like this.”

Li Tai shook his head and said, “No need. My mother doesn’t need it at all. She and my father would only feel sad and distressed if they had no opponents. If they have opponents, they don’t need me to comfort them at all.”

Yun Ye nodded. It was indeed exactly as Li Tai said—their entire lives lived with extreme danger and excitement.

“I just suddenly realized that steam engines aren’t much different from your stove. The farther steam is transmitted, the more power is lost. Just now I had a new idea. These days, whether you have business or not, don’t come looking for me. I also have an idea about high-temperature sealing that must be tested again.”

Having finished speaking without giving Yun Ye any chance to respond, he pushed open the door and walked out.

This was escape. Li Tai planned to shut himself in his small building to create his own world, no longer caring about the storms outside. Just moments ago, it wasn’t only Yun Ye who sensed the Empress’s intense vigilance—Li Tai had felt it too. Li Tai didn’t care if others acted this way, but when his mother did so, it made him feel he had suffered great hurt.

Yun Ye sat down and continued working until the bright moon rose, finally finishing all his official duties.

Li Yifu walked over carrying a pot of congee. From the East Pavilion to here wasn’t a short distance. The outside of the clay pot was wrapped in a thick small cotton quilt. This fellow seemed very familiar with this routine.

“Teacher, your disciple has cooked a pot of thin congee. Glutinous rice, when cooked long, becomes most viscous. You’ll surely like it.”

Yun Ye looked with a smile at Li Yifu’s skilled technique as he took out two silver bowls and two spoons. His method of serving the rice congee carried an aesthetic quality. This fellow could make even daily life poetic—truly a talented person.

The rice congee was indeed cooked well. Some rice grains had just bloomed open, while another portion had completely dissolved, so it possessed both the sensation of rich fragrance and chewy texture.

Eating it with the academy’s famous pickled radish strips, one bowl of congee warmed the entire body.

“Teacher, as you know, your disciple is currently writing the ‘Book of Sui.’ I’m somewhat uncertain about the final judgment on Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang. I’ve heard that Teacher has other views on Yang Guang’s merits and faults, so your disciple has specifically taken the liberty of coming to seek instruction.”

Yun Ye smiled slightly. Indeed, the world had many criticisms of Yang Guang. Greed, luxury, and debauchery became the theme. The eastern expedition against Goguryeo became an enormous crime. Opening the Grand Canal became bringing disaster to the country and calamity to the people. The only thing not seen was the significance of the eastern expedition and opening the Grand Canal. Perhaps it wasn’t that they couldn’t see it, but rather deliberately ignored it…

Just as Yun Ye was organizing his thoughts and preparing to lecture, his gaze inadvertently swept across Li Yifu’s face. This fellow’s appearance of a delighted and eager-to-learn good student immediately made Yun Ye become vigilant. This bastard was called Li Yifu, nicknamed “Human Cat”…

“Get lost!” Yun Ye found a toothpick and picked at his teeth. Tonight’s radish strips were somewhat woody.

Li Yifu burst into laughter. Who knows what was so funny, but it actually made him slide from his chair to the floor, lying face-up on the ground, clapping his hands while also kicking his legs up twice. Finally settling down with difficulty, he laughed until tears came out.

Struggling to climb up by the table, he said to Yun Ye, “Worthy of being my teacher—much stronger than Zhangsun Wuji! However, this student must still ask for instruction. This student’s expression was practiced hard while facing a mirror. The words to be said were also pondered over and refined countless times. There should be no artificial components. As for sincerity, Teacher taught your student about this in early years. This student believes he grasped the essence of it. The rice congee was also made after humbly consulting countless master chefs and countless old grannies. Combining the essence of both resulted in this current pot of congee. With Zhangsun Wuji, it has been unfailingly successful. Why did it show its true form with Teacher? You drank the congee and took advantage, yet with one word ‘get lost,’ it was simply a stroke of genius, turning all your disciple’s efforts into flowing water. Why?”

Yun Ye threw down the toothpick in his hand and said solemnly to Li Yifu, “Your schemes are too deep. This is detrimental to your lifespan. These words are actually not about you, but rather old Master Yan Zhitui’s evaluation of me once—truly golden and jade words of wisdom. Tonight, for the sake of this pot of congee, I’m passing them on to you. Remember them well.”

Seeing Yun Ye speak so seriously, Li Yifu quickly stood up, arranged his clothes properly, and bowed to receive instruction.

“The first time I saw you, you were still a youth—arrogant and unrestrained, high-spirited, standing before the Yun residence entrance, cupping your fists toward me saying: ‘Disciple Li Yifu greets Teacher!’ Behind you followed your old father, old mother, and your simple honest elder brother. Your brother was holding a rooster in his hands that was still flapping its wings…”

“You took first place in the academy examination. You didn’t want Yushan Teacher’s calligraphy rubbing or Lishi Teacher’s paintings. You uniquely requested to eat a meal personally cooked by a Great Tang National Marquis! A proud youth’s heart desiring to stand equal with lords and marquises in plain clothes was already abundantly clear.”

“The reason I initially established that reward condition was to inspire youthful vigor. You achieved it. In the academy there were those with better talent than you, and those with deeper stratagems than you. Where are they now?”

“Great waves wash away the sand! At the Hanshui ferry crossing, I saw Wang Xuance and his entire family about to be escorted onto ships, banished far away to distant Jiaozhi. As his teacher, my heart was filled with sorrow.”

“Ma Zhou’s petition to me could be described as every word written in blood and tears. Zhang Jianzhi’s plea to me made my heart ache as if cut by knives. Thinking back to those years, how high-spirited they were when at the academy!”

“Ma Zhou occupies a high position yet lives in constant anxiety, because he’s a person without foundation. As an expelled student of the academy, without His Majesty’s support, he would have long since been smashed to pieces. Now he’s fallen to the point where eating a chicken requires His Majesty to personally make a note of it. Li Yifu, do you think this is worth it?”

“So, Li Yifu, don’t reveal your talents too early, especially not now. Retract your plumage, withdraw your claws, lower your head. Don’t be impatient, don’t advance rashly, don’t covet merit. When an official reaches fourth rank or above, what’s contested is no longer high office and noble titles, but who remains in position the longest. As long as you maintain your original heart and advance slowly, even without remarkable achievements, by the time you’re fifty years old, you’ll naturally enter the group of chief ministers, and no one will speak ill of you. Remember—don’t covet merit. Better to lack ambition than to covet merit and advance rashly. Wang Xuance and Zhang Jianzhi are recent examples!”

Li Yifu quietly savored these words. With a long sigh, he prostrated himself on the ground to perform a great bow to Yun Ye, then said, “This student understands. It’s just that sometimes, one’s body cannot help itself!”

Yun Ye smiled and said, “The reason you’re entangled is because your virtue is lacking. Whether you can shake off the entanglement depends on yourself. That person is also very formidable.”

Li Yifu started in alarm and urgently asked, “This disciple suffers greatly from entanglement. Please, Teacher, clarify.”

“Fortune and misfortune have no gates—people bring them upon themselves. You coveted advantage back then, so suffering its harm now is only fair. That person I also can’t afford to provoke and don’t wish to provoke. Take care of yourself!”

Li Yifu carried the clay pot out of Yun Ye’s hall. After closing the door properly, he looked at the stars in the sky in deep contemplation. His heart was so anxious it was about to burst. Previously he thought the person holding his strings was Teacher, but now he realized it wasn’t. Who the hell was it? Were there many people in Great Tang that even Teacher was unwilling to provoke?

Xiao Wu couldn’t hear Li Yifu’s curses. Even if she heard them, she would only take them as singing. In an extremely pleasant mood, she connected the several red strings under Li Yifu’s name one by one to their proper positions. Looking at the few remaining red strings on the entire map, she sighed. Teacher didn’t permit the Ashina family to see the light of day again.

So she removed the Ashina family from the large map and transferred them to another map. This map’s name was completely different from that “Complete Map of Great Tang,” because the title of that map prominently displayed three blood-red characters: “Jade Capital.”

Di Renjie sat to one side, flipping through a large quantity of letters. Seemingly seeing something amiss, he pulled out that letter. After carefully reading it once, he said to Xiao Wu, “Han Zhe plans to enter Chang’an. This is the first time in all these years he’s actively activated the Divine Men. Those people are asking us how to respond. Such a reply must be quick, because Han Zhe has already reached Hexi!”

Xiao Wu took that letter and smiled slightly, saying, “Back then it was he himself who abandoned the Divine Men. Now he regrets it? Things thrown away—what logic is there in picking them back up again? The White Stone Palace pattern has already been discarded. Originally this would be the time to attack him, but for Master’s sake, we’ll spare him.”

Di Renjie said helplessly, “Speak properly! What do you mean ‘for Master’s sake we’ll spare him’? He has four Hannu by his side. These four Hannu possess some intelligence—they’re not like those fools from before. Even if you sent people to kill Han Zhe, they probably wouldn’t be enough for the Hannu’s iron chains to sweep away.”

Xiao Wu looked up at the ceiling of the underground passage and suddenly asked Di Renjie, “Husband, what if we also started manufacturing Hannu? Do you think it would still be in time?”

Di Renjie put down the papers in his hands and said to Xiao Wu word by word, “The reason I help you is because you want to play the Jade Capital game. This is harmless—adding some fun to life isn’t anything remarkable. Jade Capital even now remains more game-like than practical, manipulating human hearts. Even if you ultimately truly create a Jade Capital, I would welcome it.”

“But you cannot violate heaven and reason. If you truly plan to manufacture Hannu, I’ll be the first who won’t let you off. You and I as husband and wife share a common fate. If you do wrong, we’ll repay it together with our lives!”