Dou Yanshan stood with his hands clasped behind his back, facing the fierce wind in the river valley. His hair was blown up by the wind, giving him an otherworldly air.

Life was a person’s best teacher. Two years of hardship and suffering had completely matured Dou Yanshan. Strike once and flee a thousand miles if unsuccessful—this time, having inadvertently obtained Yun Ye in the capital, he immediately abandoned his original plan and returned to Nanzhao without a moment’s delay, because he believed his goal had already been achieved.

From the initial bone-deep hatred to his gradual composure later, he knew very clearly what he needed. Yun Ye bore the name of God of Wealth, which was something he desperately required.

The Dou family’s wealth had already been confiscated by the court. The remaining clan members who hadn’t been affected had already attached themselves to Dou Zhong’s banner. After several contacts, apart from providing small amounts of financial support, there was nothing else. On several occasions, if Dou Yanshan hadn’t discovered something amiss in advance and arranged an escape route, he would have already been captured by his own clansmen and delivered to Li Er to claim merit.

Now, looking at the magnificent waterfall, ambition arose spontaneously. As long as he could subdue Yun Ye, the Dou family would certainly carve out a foothold in the chaotic Nanzhao.

Several people had died mysteriously along the way. He was very clear this was Yun Ye’s handiwork. Although he didn’t understand how Yun Ye had managed it, he was certain it was definitely Yun Ye who did it.

A few deaths weren’t a big deal. What Dou Yanshan lacked least right now was people. Not everyone in this world liked the Li family’s rule—he had countless allies.

If Yun Ye couldn’t even kill a few people without anyone noticing, that would disappoint Dou Yanshan.

Hatred could be set aside—this was no problem. If Yun Ye sincerely pledged allegiance and they jointly pursued great undertakings, the two becoming close friends wasn’t impossible either.

Perhaps only enemies were the people in this world who understood you best. Yun Ye had no great ambitions, yet was exceptionally talented. There was only one person with such a strange character. Dou Yanshan urgently hoped Yun Ye could join his camp. He called this process “taming an eagle.”

When he was young, he had raised an eagle—a tenth birthday gift from his grandfather. It was a young sparrowhawk approaching maturity. His grandfather told him that unless he subdued the sparrowhawk, the eagle would be his; otherwise, he would kill the eagle.

Dou Yanshan spent two months subduing this eagle. Although his hands and shoulders were repeatedly scratched by the eagle, and his eyes were nearly pecked out, when he took the eagle hunting for the first time, heard its loud cry, watched it soar and circle in the sky, and saw it swoop down on prey like an arrow, he was moved to tears.

In his eyes, Yun Ye was his new sparrowhawk.

If Li Er knew Dou Yanshan’s thoughts, he would surely burst into thunderous laughter. Yun Ye wasn’t any sparrowhawk—he was a copper pea that couldn’t be cooked, couldn’t be steamed, couldn’t be smashed, resoundingly solid. This was the refined way to put it. If Li Er had to provide another description, “stubborn scoundrel” would probably be an appropriate term.

Zhangsun had already given up on instructing Yun Ye. After spending a long time with him, she discovered that she could only control Yun Ye by using even more shameless and despicable methods. This was the point that always troubled Zhangsun—her gentle and virtuous nature had been ruined by Yun Ye.

Li Jing had now also begun a new round of disciplining. Although his military achievements were outstanding, he discovered that he and Yun Ye were growing increasingly distant—the disciplining was about to turn them into enemies.

Facing the waterfall, Dou Yanshan’s heart surged with emotion, unable to contain himself. His subordinates looked up at their young master’s heroic bearing, utterly admiring. But Yun Ye had already removed his shoes early on and stood in the shallow water washing his feet. He had also brought Wang Cai down and was cupping water in his hands to wash the sweat stains from his body.

Reaching Huangguoshu Waterfall meant he had arrived at what would be Anshun in Guizhou in later generations. There was a river there that seemed to connect to the Pearl River. If he went downstream, he would see Li Anlan. He had promised Lingdang he would go see her, and incidentally check whether his child was healthy and lively.

Having formed this plan, his mood immediately lightened. Recalling when he had come to Huangguoshu to see the waterfall before and had been ripped off fifty yuan for a bowl of rice noodles, then looking at Dou Yanshan standing there in the wind, old grudges added new resentment.

Damn it, if I ever gain power, I’ll definitely block up this cursed waterfall and make it flow somewhere else. Just because there’s a waterfall nearby doesn’t mean you can charge me fifty yuan for a bowl of rice noodles. I’ll cut off your livelihood and make you hide in the mountains growing corn for the rest of your life.

After venting his frustration, Yun Ye contentedly came down from the rocks, probably quite frozen—his body was trembling.

The group continued their journey. Dou Yanshan suddenly became much better to Yun Ye, returning his knife to him and replenishing his food supplies. Wang Cai no longer needed to walk carrying heavy grain bags either.

Instead, Dou Yanshan himself took the lead in shouldering a bag of grain, huffing and puffing as he hurried along the road. Apart from being despised by Yun Ye, all the other attendants were greatly invigorated, wishing they could carry two bags themselves.

Dou Yanshan now wasn’t the least bit worried that Yun Ye would escape. Along the way, they had encountered countless tigers, leopards, jackals, and wolves. A single person in such mountain forests couldn’t survive more than two days. Once, Yun Ye had even seen a panda chasing down a leopard, extremely enraged and extraordinarily fierce. No matter what, he couldn’t believe this was the same kind of creature that hid in panda pavilions making a living by acting cute.

The homes of the Nanzhao savages were all located in river valleys. Only here could there be a bit of land for them to conduct their pitiful agriculture. Now people could already be seen working in the fields.

It was very simple—they poked holes in the ground with wooden sticks, then scattered a few grains of rice inside, and stepped on it once with their feet. Yun Ye confirmed they were planting rice, not corn.

Good heavens, shouldn’t rice be planted by transplanting seedlings? He had never seen anyone sow seeds—he had only seen transplanting. Would this damn method even yield a harvest?

“Ridiculous, isn’t it, Marquis Yun? You’re a great expert at farming. Have you ever seen rice planted this way?”

Dou Yanshan wiped away some sweat. Seeing Yun Ye’s astonishment, he stopped to chat with him.

“Old Dou, will planting rice this way yield a harvest?” He continued watching those women with animal skins around their waists and exposed, shriveled breasts planting rice.

Dou Yanshan quite enjoyed this form of address “Old Dou.” Of course, only Yun Ye could call him this—in all of Nanzhao, Yun Ye was the only person whose status matched his own.

“Plant a gourd and harvest two ladles—that’s all. People starve to death every year. There’s simply not enough food. Why did I shamelessly extort five hundred taels of gold from you? Because there’s no grain. I nearly starved to death last winter. Do you know, when I returned to Han territory, the first thing I did was go to a restaurant and order a whole table of meat dishes. I ate for a full hour and was so stuffed I couldn’t sleep all night.”

Recalling his miserable experiences, Dou Yanshan still felt somewhat gloomy.

Whether Dou Yanshan was miserable or not didn’t concern Yun Ye. If he hadn’t made people into candles, such things wouldn’t have happened. He would still be his young master, enjoying a carefree and happy life.

Li Er had eliminated many people. Yun Ye could feel it—familiar faces were constantly disappearing from the court, which was saddening. But the Dou family—he felt they should disappear. Li Er hadn’t done wrong. Evil wolves hiding among the crowd—if you didn’t quickly kill them, were you supposed to keep them around to harm more people?

Those laboring in the small patches of fields were all women and children. Small children with distended bellies followed behind their mothers, practicing poking holes in the ground. More than once, Yun Ye saw those children dig out seeds from the ground and stuff them into their mouths along with the dirt. Naturally, this would invite beatings. After being beaten, they wouldn’t cry—they would just look for the next opportunity to steal seeds to eat.

The distended bellies were definitely not from eating too much. Yun Ye knew what was going on. He took out a rice ball wrapped in bamboo leaves from his chest, placed it in front of a child, and turned to leave. He didn’t want to see how the child ate—it would sadden him. But he was wrong. Not seeing was even more heartbreaking than seeing. The sound of eating from behind—whimpering sounds—was like wild dogs fighting over food, eating while making threatening sounds to protect their meal.

“Old Dou, don’t tell me you killed all the men here. If that’s the case, I’ll look down on you.”

“I’ve heard that Marquis Yun has always been decisive in killing. Are a few mere savages worth your great anger? I don’t like killing people either. Killing is the last resort, and a sign of incompetence. I have good things that all men like. Once they’ve tasted it, they’ll never forget it for life.”

Yun Ye looked up in shock. In an instant, he knew what method Dou Yanshan had used. The words turned in his throat for a long time before he said hoarsely: “Dou Yanshan, you can’t possibly not know what the Worry-Forgetting Grass is. Aren’t you afraid retribution will descend upon you again?”

“Kindness is a very expensive thing. When I was a young master in the capital, I was always kind-hearted. I would give alms when I saw beggars, and I would pity weak women. Whether you believe it or not, no one in my family told me about the human candle incident. It was a decision my third uncle made in great anger. By the time I knew about it, that human candle had already been lit. You protected Pei Ying—otherwise, he would have been the second one. My Dou family wasn’t the only one doing such things. Other families did too. Servants who defied their superiors would be torn apart by five horses. Some would be roasted over fire, and the cooked meat would be stuffed down their throats with sticks, making them eat their own flesh. Marquis Yun, do you know which family did this?”

Yun Ye covered his ears, not wanting to hear. He had known about such things from stories before—those were stories, or movies. Now that such things were appearing in real life, it completely destroyed his understanding of human nature.

“Marquis Yun, I’m certain that when you loudly denounced the Dou family before Li Yuan, it truly came from your heart. You have the right to denounce us, and you can do so. At your worst, you merely turned a guy into a eunuch. But the Li family—the Li family’s evil deeds exceed the Dou family’s a hundredfold. By what right do they stand on the moral high ground accusing others? The Dou family’s viciousness was all learned from the Li family. A man who imprisoned his father and killed his brothers—by what right does he receive your loyalty? Just because after committing evil deeds, he also did good things? If I can achieve my goals, I’ll certainly be even more brilliant and benevolent than him. Yun Ye, do you believe it or not?”