Zhangsun’s words made Yun Ye utterly ashamed. He had been cherished by Zhangsun his entire life. If the realm fell into chaos because of him, whether he could face Li Chengqian didn’t matter—he was the Emperor and had already prepared mentally in various ways. Whatever he did would be reasonable in Li Chengqian’s view. To become Emperor, betraying brothers really wasn’t much of an issue.

But with Zhangsun it was different. A junior she had loved his entire life suddenly wanting to rebel when she was about to die of old age, and even planning to kill her own biological son—for Zhangsun, this was the most terrifying nightmare in the mortal world. Living, she would have no face to see her children and grandchildren; dead, she would have no face to see the Li family’s ancestors.

“Set your mind at ease. Nobody plans to rebel. I was just suffocating and went out for some air. Yesterday I even promised Qing Que to let him build bridges across the Yangtze—three bridges at once, all iron bridges. As long as North and South begin large-scale exchanges, estrangement will always be broken. Our Great Tang has different dialects every ten li, different customs every three li—ultimately it’s all caused by lack of understanding.”

“In recent years, the South has earned some money through trade, and some people think they’ve become very wealthy and look down on others. Yet they can’t see the great smokestacks standing throughout the North, can’t see the North’s robust industrial strength, can’t see that Yushan Academy is in the North, and that the most elite troops are all in the North—these facts. They blindly believe that with money they can accomplish anything. Too foolish.”

“When real war comes, wealth is just one standard, not the main factor determining war’s progression. No matter who leads Southerners in rebellion, it’s a dead end. Even if they could succeed temporarily, if war drags on, the South will inevitably lose!”

“Chengqian sees this point, which is why he does things so domineeringly. He knows that no matter what he does, he can’t possibly win Southern approval, so he acts without restraint. His mindset is wrong—both North and South are Great Tang’s territory. How can they be treated differently? Artificially creating rifts is something the wise would not choose.”

“Your Majesty, Chengqian falls far short compared to His Majesty. Just in breadth of mind alone, the gap cannot be measured in distance. During His Majesty’s time, no matter how much commotion I stirred up in the South, people throughout the realm would only say Southerners were impressive—who would associate it with rebellion? In Chengqian’s era, I merely leave the capital once and it becomes a crisis with everyone on edge—this is the gap.”

Yun Ye simply explained the North and South’s relative strengths and weaknesses to Zhangsun, mainly telling her there was completely no need to worry—chaos couldn’t arise under heaven.

After hearing Yun Ye’s words, Zhangsun gradually calmed down. She looked at Yun Ye and sighed, “Have you noticed? Until now you actually haven’t regarded Chengqian as Emperor. The only ‘His Majesty’ in your mouth is the Late Emperor alone. This won’t do. The Late Emperor was magnificent and heroic, already the model for emperors throughout ten thousand generations. You cannot hold Chengqian to the Late Emperor’s standards—this is unfair to him.”

“Natural talent cannot be forced. The Late Emperor set the imperial standard too high, making it difficult for descendants. Chengqian works so desperately precisely because he doesn’t want to be overshadowed by the Late Emperor’s brilliance.”

“I know my son. From childhood, the mortal world placed enormous hopes on him. Forty years as Crown Prince is unheard of. Without your help, I even felt he couldn’t endure until enthronement day. Chengqian knows this too, so he wants to accomplish great deeds for all of us to see.”

“Now he’s worn himself down to skin and bones. Take pity on him—lower your head first and go see him. Tell him your true thoughts, tell him not to work himself to death like this. I feel he has almost no life left to exhaust…”

Zhangsun began crying again as she spoke. Yun Ye paced irritably back and forth in the hall. Honestly, he really detested seeing Li Chengqian now. A perfectly good person completely changed once becoming Emperor. Could that position really transform a person from head to toe?

At some point, Xinyue had also emerged from the inner quarters. She said gently to Yun Ye, “Go, husband. Go to the palace and see Chengqian. Your Majesty speaks correctly. During spring plowing, I went to the palace to observe the Empress’s sericulture ceremony and saw His Majesty. His dragon robe hung loose on his body—the man has wasted away beyond recognition. You and he are lifelong friends. You cannot become strangers due to lack of communication—it benefits neither you, His Majesty, nor the nation.”

“You’ll come with me. We’ll go now!” Zhangsun brooked no refusal from Yun Ye. She immediately ordered her personal palace maids to prepare her carriage—she would enter the palace at once.

Wang Cai sauntered into the hall. Seeing Zhangsun, he turned to leave, but was attracted by a cucumber in Zhangsun’s hand. He slowly approached her, curling his lips and standing as far away as possible while stretching his mouth toward the cucumber in her hand. After succeeding, he joyfully discovered that the palace maids beside Zhangsun had a whole basket of the same vegetables.

After carefully weighing matters, Yun Ye sighed and agreed with Zhangsun’s opinion. He would enter the palace to see Li Chengqian, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Because this was a formal audience, Zhangsun’s carriage led while Yun Ye’s entourage followed. Liu Jinbao tied the cloud-character commander’s banner to his back—the wind made it flutter loudly. Forty-eight household guards in bright helmets and gleaming armor escorted Yun Ye on horseback into the city.

Today was deliberately for others to see. Zhangsun intentionally kept the pace very slow—even Wang Cai felt bored and yawned with mouth agape.

The long-absent Yun family head finally appeared on Chang’an’s streets!

After hearing this news, Zhangsun Chong painfully closed his eyes and ordered family members in Zhaozhou to slowly withdraw from Zhaozhou. He had Li Mosheng, the Regional Inspector of Liaodong, submit a memorial requesting retirement and return home. Yun Ye’s gesture had been made—if the Zhangsun family couldn’t demonstrate its own attitude, the Emperor would likely move against them with lethal intent.

Upon hearing news of Yun Ye entering the palace, Dugu Mou took down that enormous map of Guanlong from the wall, went alone to the garden, and burned it completely in one fire.

The envoy from the Caliphate saw Yun Ye enter the palace and walked sorrowfully into a barbarian-owned tavern. On a piece of paper, he wrote: “The True Lord has no more opportunity to descend upon this blessed land.”

A sharp-eyed woman with a blue cloth head wrap saw Yun Ye enter the palace. After reporting to a white-haired old woman, the old woman shook her head painfully, looked at Yuan Gaesuwen’s memorial tablet, and said softly, “Ronghua has come to find you.” Then she closed her eyes and never woke again…

That day, countless people in Chang’an saw Yun Ye enter the palace. With different feelings, they carefully concealed their true emotions—some with heartfelt smiles, others with forced smiles—and conversed with each other about Great Tang’s future.

Standing in a wine tower, Du Wei watched Yun Ye’s entourage pass along Zhuque Street outside the wall. He laughed wildly, raised his cup, and shouted loudly, “Brother Zizheng, Brother Zhonglei, my prediction has become reality! Drain the wine in your cups—I’ll take my leave now and rush back to Yuezhou at full speed. My time for grand accomplishments has arrived! Ha ha ha ha!”

Wang Cai discovered he had entered a familiar place again. Before Yun Ye could react, he took the initiative and entered the Imperial City. Ignoring the Emperor who was preparing to welcome the Empress Dowager back to the palace at the main gate, he silently slipped through the side gate and sauntered into the Imperial Garden—there seemed to be quite a lot of good food there.

Zhangsun looked at Chengqian with a smile, said some comforting words, then voluntarily departed, saying she missed her Liangyi Hall and didn’t need Li Chengqian’s accompaniment—only Empress Zhao should accompany her.

Not only did Zhangsun leave, but under Zhangsun’s knife-sharp gaze, all the palace maids, eunuchs, and guards ran off until none remained visible. Only Wang Wei, who recorded the imperial daily records, remained, watching these two people with excitement. An important moment in Great Tang history was about to arrive—would they completely release past grievances or stand in sharp opposition? Either way would stir up storms across Great Tang’s territory.

The two men who had been hunched over almost simultaneously straightened their backs. Li Chengqian looked at Yun Ye and said, “If Mother hadn’t forced you, would you have planned never to see me again in this lifetime?”

Yun Ye didn’t respond. After circling Li Chengqian once, he finally said, “What are you trying to accomplish by making yourself look like this? Not seeing you for a lifetime is impossible. I simply don’t want to see you in this condition. Flushed complexion—heart problems. Rapid breathing—your asthma never healed. I can still have a satisfying sex life. How long has it been since you’ve had sex?”

Li Chengqian closed his eyes and tried hard to calm himself. After quite a while, he said, “I can now handle two women in one night without problem!”

Yun Ye chuckled, “Keep boasting. Since giving birth to Li Jue, your harem has had no more happy news, and I haven’t heard of you selecting palace women either. Handle two women in one night? Look at your physique! You’re not someone who would use aphrodisiacs. When urinating, as long as you don’t wet your shoes, that’s probably your greatest wish.”

“Take these—premium Six-Flavor Rehmannia Pills, excellent medicine for nourishing kidneys and replenishing vital energy. Not aphrodisiacs. There’s also medicine specifically for supplementing bones—the kind Wang Cai eats. You’ve seen the effects. I estimate you won’t eat it—an emperor’s dignity is more important than his old life. However, I coated those pills with honey and put them in beautiful boxes, making them look much more upscale. Xinyue would rather die than eat them before, but now she eats them daily. I said I stole them from Shaolin Temple’s Scripture Repository—very precious. That foolish woman doesn’t even think—where would there be medicine pills in a Scripture Repository?”

Li Chengqian smiled, “You’re always so self-righteous. How do you know Xinyue doesn’t know? She just doesn’t want to embarrass you—she’s giving you face. Master Sun also prescribed Six-Flavor Rehmannia Pills for me, though they don’t seem as refined as what you brought.”

“My medicinal ingredients all come from famous mountains and great rivers. I have many students who know I just love conjugal activities, so they exhaust the world’s resources to not disappoint their teacher. This is a teacher’s benefit. You, as Emperor, can’t enjoy this. That mine are more refined than your inner palace tribute goods is only natural.”

Li Chengqian walked with hands clasped behind his back, holding two boxes of Six-Flavor Rehmannia Pills, chatting and laughing with Yun Ye as they strolled. The two conversed cheerfully, but left Wang Wei behind them—holding pencil and notebook for shorthand—dumbfounded.

He had thought it would surely be a sharp confrontation of words, but who knew these two disrespectful old fellows couldn’t say a sentence without mentioning women? Their style was bold—now they had begun discussing the merits and flaws of women’s bodies. Especially Duke Chu—every word from his mouth concerned the realm’s ten greatest physical attributes…