War isn’t something that can start immediately at will. Although areas outside the Northwest were once again showing signs of rising smoke and flames, people within the Northwestern borders still lived their peaceful lives in tranquility. Because they believed that with the Mo family army present, the fires of war would never ignite in their homeland.

But the officials and commanders of the Prince of Ding’s household all knew clearly that the current peace wouldn’t last long. They were all secretly preparing themselves.

In the Prince’s mansion, Mo Xiuyao seemed unhurried about the external situation. After the military exercise ended, he rewarded the deserving soldiers appropriately, sent those who needed discipline for correction to certain places and returned to being a peaceful prince in his mansion. Every day, besides handling numerous governmental affairs, he spent his time pestering Ye Li and teasing Mo Xiaobao, quite leisurely.

On this day, Mo Xiaobao, who had rarely gotten a holiday from Master Qingyun, was once again bullied by his unscrupulous father until his eyes were wet with tears, looking at his mother with extreme grievance.

Ye Li couldn’t help but sigh helplessly – this father and son seemed unable to get along peacefully for even an hour. Mo Xiaobao was still young and lacked fighting power, often being bullied until he couldn’t fight back. If it were anyone else, they would probably stay as far away from Mo Xiuyao as possible.

But Mo Xiaobao would approach even when there was no trouble, and if there wasn’t any trouble, he would create it – repeatedly defeated but never giving up.

Seeing Mo Xiaobao playing pitiful, his unscrupulous father, reclining on the couch, snorted disdainfully. Playing pitiful? That’s all tricks the prince had already worn out. Of course, the Prince of Ding would never admit that it was because compared to Mo Xiaobao’s round, tender, watery, pure, and harmless appearance, his pitiful act would fall far short.

Besides, how proper was it for a father to compete with his son in acting pitiful? It was too undignified. So the Prince of Ding firmly abandoned this technique. Though speaking of propriety, Your Highness, is it any more proper for a father to compete with his son for attention and bully a five-year-old child using his age advantage?

Later, when young Mo Xiaobao would self-learn to develop this skill of acting pitiful to its peak, eventually evolving into a flashy little white cat with a pure exterior but an extremely black-bellied and cunning interior, giving Mo Xiuyao stomach aches for quite a while – that wasn’t something he could predict now.

Bending down to pick up her teary-eyed son, Ye Li gently rubbed his little head and said, “Be good, Xiaobao. Mother will take you out to play. We won’t play with Father Prince anymore.”

Mo Xiaobao immediately wrapped his arms around Ye Li’s neck, smiling brilliantly, “Mother is the best, Xiaobao loves Mother the most.”

Ye Li was speechless – she knew this little rascal was acting. But even if it was acting, few people could resist such a pitiful little appearance. Sometimes Ye Li couldn’t help but wonder whose personality this child took after. Neither she nor Mo Xiuyao were people who would show their emotions in front of others. Although Mo Xiuyao occasionally liked to act, Ye Li would bet that even young Mo Xiuyao hadn’t reached this level of crying on command with tears coming and going at will. If this lively personality somewhat resembled Xu Qingyan, even Xu Qingyan at five years old probably didn’t have as many tricks as one of Mo Xiaobao’s little fingers.

“Xiaobao, come down, Father has something to tell you.” From the couch, Mo Xiuyao slightly narrowed his eyes, smiling extremely kindly as he beckoned to Mo Xiaobao.

Mo Xiaobao instinctively felt something was wrong and tightened his grip around Ye Li’s neck, shaking his head repeatedly and simply burying his little face in the crook of Ye Li’s neck. Mo Xiuyao wasn’t angry and said with a smile, “Really don’t want to listen? You won’t regret it? Ah… don’t say later that I, as your father, don’t care about you and didn’t warn you.”

Mo Xiaobao secretly perked up his ears, extremely conflicted as he secretly glanced back at Mo Xiuyao, who still lay on the couch with his eyes closed, resting. Then Mo Xiuyao seemed to mutter to himself, “Speaking of which, I almost grew up to look like Zhang Qilan. If it weren’t for your grandfather, my royal father, warning me, our Prince of Ding’s household’s handsome looks would have ended right there.”

Mo Xiaobao was shocked – grow up to look like General Zhang?! The image of Zhang Qilan appeared in his mind, and Mo Xiaobao shook his head repeatedly to dispel this terrifying imagination. It wasn’t that Zhang Qilan was unsightly – the general had regular features, an upright figure, and an imposing presence befitting a military commander, deserving the description of dignified appearance wherever he went. But young Master Mo Xiaobao had especially high standards for himself. Even if he couldn’t grow up to look like his uncle, there were still Feng San and Han Mingshi, or he could take after his father. General Zhang’s appearance didn’t match young Mo Xiaobao’s aesthetic standards.

So, for the sake of his future beauty, young Mo Xiaobao kicked his little feet to let Ye Li put him down, and stood very cautiously before Mo Xiuyao.

After waiting for quite a while, Mo Xiuyao lazily opened his eyes, and looked askance at Mo Xiaobao for a long time before slowly reaching out to pinch Mo Xiaobao’s round little face… pinch! Rub! Squeeze!

Young Mo Xiaobao angrily glared at his father while making muffled sounds. Although it didn’t hurt much, this represented another loss to this man in front of his mother. Mo Xiuyao sat up, leaned close to Mo Xiaobao, and carefully examined the little face he had pinched red, grinning fiercely, “Do you know you’re very fat? You still dare to ask your mother to carry you – one day your mother will be exhausted by you, you little fatty. Look how chubby you are, and you still dare to eat meat every day. When I was five years old, I wasn’t even half as fat as you. Tell me, won’t you grow up to be even fatter than Zhang Qilan? I think we shouldn’t call you Mo Xiaobao anymore – how about changing your name to Mo Dapang (Big Fatty Mo)?”

Hearing this, young Mo Xiaobao looked down at his round, tender little hands, and finally had his fragile little heart shattered by the imagination in his mind. He shot Mo Xiuyao a grieved look and ran away in tears. Wuwu… Uncle, Father is bullying me…

“Xiuyao!” Ye Li frowned, looking disapprovingly at the man laughing heartily on the couch.

How could he talk to a child like that? It could easily hurt a child’s self-esteem. Besides, Xiaobao wasn’t as exaggerated as he said – he was just well-cared for by Master Qingyun who doted on him. He just looked slightly more robust than other children, and it was good for children to be a bit chubby.

Mo Xiuyao humphed, “I’m doing this for his good. He’s about to formally start martial arts training – if he’s too fat, he’ll be the one suffering. From now on, Ali should make more vegetarian dishes when he comes back.” Ye Li rubbed her temples – it all came down to how last night she had personally cooked all the meat dishes that their son liked, slightly neglecting someone. Who made young Mo Xiaobao refuse to eat without meat, while Mo Xiuyao preferred vegetarian dishes?

“I understand. When Xiaobao goes back to the academy, I’ll personally cook your favorite dishes, alright?” Ye Li said. Compared to other wives who cooked for their husbands, Ye Li rarely cooked. Mo Xiuyao finally nodded satisfactorily and said, “Cook only for me.”

Ye Li nodded, and warned in passing, “Don’t bully Xiaobao!” Mo Xiuyao waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry, that kid is like a cockroach – he’ll happily run back by himself in no time.” Ye Li was speechless. A flash of sharpness appeared in her water-like eyes as she reached out and pinched his waist hard. Meeting Mo Xiuyao’s puzzled gaze, Ye Li grinned viciously and said, “If Xiaobao is like a cockroach, what are you like?”

“…”

Sure enough, within half an hour, young Mo Xiaobao happily appeared before Ye Li again. He looked at Ye Li shyly, seeming to want to speak but holding back. Ye Li held back her smile and asked her son, “What does Xiaobao want to say?”

Mo Xiaobao said shyly, “Uncle said… even if Xiaobao grows up to look like General Zhang, even if everyone in the world dislikes Xiaobao, Mother won’t dislike Xiaobao, right?”

Ye Li secretly glared at Mo Xiuyao and smiled, “Of course. No matter what Xiaobao becomes, you’ll always be Mother’s treasure. No mother in the world would dislike her child.” Mo Xiaobao’s eyes brightened, and he nodded firmly, “Your child understands. Your child… won’t eat meat anymore.” Ye Li stroked her son’s little face and said, “You still need to eat meat, but you should eat both meat and vegetables. You can’t be picky like yesterday, understand?”

“Your child understands. Then…” young Mo Xiaobao became shy, “Can Mother still carry me?”

Mo Xiuyao’s teeth ached – who exactly had this little rascal learned from? The Prince of Ding’s household had never produced such a strange breed from ancient times to now. Was that shy appearance acceptable to look at? Xu Qingchen! It must be he who corrupted Mo Xiaobao – just wait!

Ye Li smiled and said, “Of course you can.”

Mo Xiaobao nodded solemnly, “When Xiaobao grows up, he won’t need Mother to carry him anymore – Xiaobao can carry Mother instead. But now Xiaobao is still small, so Mother carrying…” He was so thoughtful and filial that Ye Li’s heart softened like clouds in the sky. She bent down to pick up Mo Xiaobao and set him on her knee, lowering her head to kiss him, “Mother will remember Xiaobao’s words.”

Although they had agreed to take Mo Xiaobao out to play, they were followed by the Prince of Ding who neglected his duties and insisted on coming along under the pretense of protecting his wife and child. In the carriage, Mo Xiaobao lay on his mother’s knee, expressing his uncle’s disdain for his father.

Mo Xiuyao was completely unbothered and raised an eyebrow with a smile, “Kid, what do you know? This is called making the best use of talent and resources. You could also call it knowing how to use people well. Since your grand-uncle and uncle are so capable, why should I exhaust myself from dealing with those miscellaneous matters? In the Northwest, I, your father, am the highest authority. I only need to set the direction and goals, and naturally, there will be countless people below who will work hard to achieve these goals.”

“Lazy! Uncle says emperors who are lazy and neglect state affairs are incompetent rulers, so princes who are lazy and don’t handle government affairs are also incompetent!” The small, tender dumpling sat on Ye Li’s knee, seriously discussing the matter of diligent governance.

“Please say that I am skilled at managing subordinates, thank you,” Mo Xiuyao said lazily, looking pitifully at his son who wanted to argue his point. Silly boy, you don’t even know you’ve been tricked by your uncle. He’s afraid that when you grow up, you’ll be like your father and not do anything, burdening him again.

However, your father won’t let you become like me, because I’m still waiting for you to grow up and take over my position. Then I can take Ali and run away, holding my wife, living the dream. The little dumpling, unaware of being tricked by both his father and uncle, widened his eyes, “That’s not true! Uncle said being diligent in government affairs makes a good emperor!” Everything Uncle says is right.

“Thanks for the reminder, but your father isn’t an emperor,” Mo Xiuyao said with waning interest.

Although he had learned many things, a five-year-old dumpling might not fully understand the vast difference between the terms prince and emperor. Moreover, in the Northwest region, the difference between emperor and prince wasn’t that great.

Young Mo Xiaobao’s understanding was that other places had many princes, so princes had to listen to the emperor. But in the Northwest, there was only his father as a prince, and he didn’t have to listen to the emperor. Therefore, his father was a unique prince, and also the greatest prince in the world. What was so great about being an emperor? Xi Ling had one, Da Chu had one, and Northern Rong and Nanzhao each had one too. With so many emperors, they weren’t worth much anymore. But there was only one Prince of Ding, so if you were going to be something, you should be the most unique and valuable one. Mo Xiaobao’s peculiar view directly led to the establishment of an empire being delayed by many, many years.

Unable to argue with his father, Mo Xiaobao turned his head proudly and lay in his mother’s arms, humming. Mo Xiuyao ignored him and smiled at him saying, “Son, your grand-tutor must have taught you much history. In history, some emperors held court only once every ten days or half a month, yet their countries remained peaceful and prosperous. Some emperors rose at dawn and slept at midnight, yet still lost their countries. So whether an emperor is good or bad isn’t directly related to whether they’re diligent in government affairs.”

Mo Xiaobao thought for a moment and climbed out of his mother’s embrace, nodding, “I know, it’s also related to being smart. The fool Father mentioned who rose at dawn and slept at midnight is the current foolish emperor of Da Chu.” After speaking, Mo Xiaobao nodded heavily to confirm his thoughts.

Seeing him so serious, Mo Xiuyao couldn’t help but laugh, saying, “How do you know it’s that fool? He hasn’t lost his country yet.”

Mo Jingqi did indeed rise at dawn and sleep at midnight, but it wasn’t necessarily due to diligence in government affairs. Mo Xiuyao felt it was more because he was suspicious of this and that, unable to sleep. Mo Xiaobao said seriously, “He’s a fool. He drove Father away, he drove Grand-uncle and Uncle away, he likes the worst, most evil Chancellor Liu’s family, and doesn’t like Sister Wuyou’s mother. Even his own Empress Mother and brother don’t like him, and Sister Wuyou doesn’t like him anymore either. Big Uncle says this is called self-destruction, and Feng San says this is called asking for death.”

Ye Li, who had been listening with interest, didn’t know whether to laugh or cry – what kind of messy things had he been learning?

Time passed quickly with their chatting and laughing along the way, and before they knew it, it was already noon. The carriage carrying the group stopped in front of a mountain. The rest of the journey would have to be made on foot. Mo Xiuyao naturally couldn’t let Ye Li carry Mo Xiaobao, who was trending toward becoming chubby, for such a long distance, so he had to carry him himself. Mo Xiaobao seemed completely at ease in his father’s arms, contentedly lying there while curiously looking at everything around him and asking, “Mother, where are we going?”

Ye Li smiled faintly and said, “You’ll know when we get there.” The relationship between this father and son wasn’t that bad. Although they often quarreled, it was clear that Mo Xiaobao didn’t have any grudges against his inconsiderate father. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so comfortably lying in his father’s arms.

The group walked into the mountain, and after less than five li, the guards gradually became more numerous. The further in they went, the stricter the security became, with soldiers stationed along the way bowing to them. Until they were stopped at a checkpoint, “Token and password!”

Mo Xiuyao had known about this place before, but since he had left it entirely to Ye Li to handle, he had never actually been here. Hearing this, he was slightly startled and smiled, “Even I need a token and password?”

The guards at the checkpoint were completely unmoved, “Token and password.”

Mo Xiuyao raised an eyebrow and looked at Ye Li, his keen senses naturally detecting at least hundreds of arrows aimed in their direction. If they didn’t have the so-called token and password, Mo Xiuyao had no doubt these soldiers would shoot. Ye Li took out a distinctively styled token and passed it over, saying calmly, “Military Soul, respond.” The soldier checked the token to verify its authenticity before returning it to her and answering, “Fearless. Please enter, Princess Consort.”

After entering, they passed through three or four similar checkpoints along the way. The password at each checkpoint was completely different and combined with the advantageous terrain and such defenses, even Mo Xiuyao wasn’t confident he could break in unscathed.

“Ali, I’m becoming more and more curious about what’s inside here.”

This mysterious place wasn’t far from Li City, but no one could have imagined that this previously unremarkable location was the true imperial tomb, or rather the treasure house, of the previous dynasty’s founding emperor.

This tomb wasn’t as magnificent as those of ordinary emperors and was even far less grand than the empty tomb near Hong Prefecture. It was barely just a vast underground palace built into the mountain. There were no ornate marble carvings and decorations, no gold, silver, jewels, or rare treasures – it was just an ordinary-seeming underground palace. Anyone coming to search for treasure would be extremely disappointed.

Now, many people were bustling about inside. Mo Xiuyao watched with curiosity as these people busily forged oddly shaped iron implements. Especially in the innermost area, many people gathered to study a hollow bronze cylinder as thick as a person mounted on a small cart. Although he didn’t know what it was, looking at that hollow bronze cylinder, Mo Xiuyao instinctively felt a hint of danger.

Quietly moving himself away from the cylinder’s opening, Mo Xiuyao turned to look at Ye Li with raised eyebrows and said, “Ali, is this what was left behind by the founding emperor of the previous dynasty? To be honest, I don’t understand what these things are.”

Ye Li looked at him and sighed softly, “Actually, I’m not sure if doing this is good or bad either.”

When she first came here, seeing the things left behind by the previous dynasty’s founding emperor did shock her. She also hesitated – was it really good to rashly make the cold weapon era directly enter the hot weapon era without natural development? Perhaps that predecessor had also hesitated and thus never actually used this place, which is why things that shouldn’t have appeared in this era were never seen in the previous dynasty’s history.

“So… has Ali figured it out now?” Mo Xiuyao asked with a smile.

Ye Li smiled faintly and said, “Let nature take its course.”