Xinyue had been terribly frightened these past few days, always staying close to Yun Ye and refusing to leave his side. Whenever she couldn’t see her husband, she would anxiously pace in circles and even cry out loudly.

Yun Ye knew what she was afraid of, so he tried his best not to leave the house. Whenever he had the chance, he would hold her hand, letting her feel his presence. The matter of Duke Liang, An Xinggui, had scared her badly. A fine old family from Guzang had collapsed in just an instant. Yun Ye had never wanted to associate with the An family in the first place—it was Xinyue who had insisted on befriending them. When Li Er searched the An residence, he found a large number of letters, including correspondence between the Yun family and the An family. Although these were merely business correspondence and courtesy letters, being discovered at this time was extremely serious.

An Xinggui and his younger brother An Xiuren were charged by Li Er with “harboring resentment and discontent.” As a result, their titles were completely stripped, their fiefdoms were confiscated, and only their original private property was retained. The families of Yuwen Shiji, Qian Jiulong, and Li Mengchang were implicated as well, all having their titles reduced and their fiefdoms redistributed, with a good portion of it becoming official land.

“Husband, how about… how about… how about you divorce me? That way our family won’t be dragged down by me.” Xinyue cried so hard she nearly fainted. No matter what Yun Ye said to her, it was useless. To be honest, Yun Ye had long since stopped caring about this worthless title—only Xinyue still treasured it like a precious jewel. The problem was that even if Li Er stripped anyone else’s title, he wouldn’t strip the Yun family’s. Everyone had noticed Yun Ye’s indifference during this period. If he lost his title, Yun Ye would immediately move his family to Yuezhou, or perhaps even to Lingnan. The ocean was Yun Ye’s true home—he could just board a ship and sail away, and the one left feeling the loss would be Li Er. Zhangsun had already scolded Yun Ye several times, telling him to pull himself together and not muddle through his days in a daze.

Yun Ye stood up and draped an outer robe over Xinyue. Not knowing what her husband intended to do, Xinyue thought he was really going to take her to the authorities to process a divorce, so she cried even louder.

“Shut up! People who don’t know better will think I’m beating you. They’re just a few broken letters—what’s the big deal? I’m taking you to the Court of Judicial Review right now to get them back from Dai Zhou. If he won’t give them, I’ll just ask him when the Yun family’s title is going to be revoked so we can get busy moving. We only lived in our new house in Yuezhou for a month. If they won’t even let us keep the house in Yuezhou, I’ll just take you all overseas to pioneer new lands. Divorce my wife? I, Yun Ye, would never do something so disgraceful.”

“But you just finished scolding Dai Zhou not long ago over Hou Junji’s matter. What if he refuses to help?” Xinyue asked between sobs, clutching Yun Ye’s hand.

“We’ll know when we get there. Such a trivial matter, yet you spend all day crying and turning the whole family into lunatics.” After scolding Xinyue, Yun Ye dragged her onto the carriage and headed straight for Chang’an.

Sitting in the carriage, Xinyue stayed at a distance from Yun Ye with an apologetic smile on her face: “Husband, I’ve been troubling you these past few days. Why don’t you let Lingdang attend to you for a few days? Na Rimu won’t do.”

Yun Ye irritably pulled Xinyue into his embrace and said: “You are my wife. Ever since you cut off your hair and put it in a pouch for me to wear, I haven’t been separated from that pouch for a single day. From that moment on, our lives have been bound together. Whether enjoying fortune or enduring hardship, we must be together. You are the lady of the house, the senior wife. Show some spirit and don’t let such a small matter frighten you. Don’t worry, the sky won’t fall. And if it does, it doesn’t matter—I’m taller than you, so I’ll bear the weight.”

Xinyue comfortably burrowed her head into her husband’s embrace, and half her worries were already relieved. Just as her husband said, at worst they would endure some hardship together. Her husband was so clever, he would surely find a way.

As they approached Chang’an, Xinyue deliberately wiped her face with a hot towel and touched up her makeup. She couldn’t embarrass her husband—after all, she was the wife of a fourth-rank marquis.

“Oh my, it’s rare for Marquis Yun to visit my Court of Judicial Review, very rare indeed! And you’ve brought your lady wife as well—what could this mean? Surely you haven’t seen a better wife and want to divorce this one? That won’t do, Brother Yun. You can arrange someone in an outer residence, but you cannot divorce your lady wife. She holds an imperial mandate—the law forbids it.”

The current Junior Minister of the Court of Judicial Review was Ma Jiuhu, the eldest son of Ma Sanbao. He had inherited his father’s title two years ago and was one of the wastrel brothers who had grown up with Yun Ye in Chang’an. He was a decent person, just with a foul mouth. With such people, you shouldn’t be polite—just curse at them. The fiercer you curse, the happier they get. He was the despicable type among wastrels.

“Shut your stinking mouth. I’m the unlucky one here. I heard that everyone who had correspondence with the An family has to come confess their crimes, right? Well, to save the court some trouble, I’ve brought my wife along. Old Ma, arrange a clean cell for us later and lock my wife and me in together. Don’t think I don’t know about those filthy practices in your Court of Judicial Review. I’ve never heard of any woman who entered your cells and kept her virtue intact. If anything happens to my wife, I’ll pour all the fire oil that the Lingnan Navy has stored in Chang’an over your Court of Judicial Review and set it ablaze. You believe me?”

After hearing Yun Ye’s words, Ma Jiuhu’s face twitched. He knew Yun Ye’s temperament—he seemed mild-mannered, but when he went crazy, he really could burn the Court of Judicial Review to ashes.

“Oh my, dear brother, the An family matter has nothing to do with you—not even remotely connected. Those few letters were just ordinary greetings. Every family has three or five relatives and friends. If it were like this, there wouldn’t be many noble families left in Chang’an.”

As soon as these words came out, Yun Ye’s anger flared up. How would he know those were ordinary greeting letters without having read them? This proved that these people had indeed opened and read them. He stepped forward and grabbed Ma Jiuhu by the collar, saying viciously: “You dog, you still opened and read them! Ma Jiuhu, I’m going to turn you into a real donkey.”

Ma Jiuhu was naturally small and thin, and being grabbed by Yun Ye, he struggled frantically. While they were wrestling, a deep voice came through: “Marquis Yun shows great official authority. This is the Court of Judicial Review, not your Lingnan Navy camp.”

Yun Ye released Ma Jiuhu and laughed coldly: “Dai Zhou, Minister Dai, my business with Ma Jiuhu is just a beating between brothers—afterward we’re still brothers. But you secretly opened the Yun family’s correspondence with the intention of framing us. You’d better explain this clearly to me. Have you become addicted to chopping off the heads of nobles? Every now and then you have to pull someone out to establish your authority. People say your Court of Judicial Review is now the Palace of the King of Hell. I think that’s about right.”

Dai Zhou trembled with rage, his beard and hair bristling. Xinyue worriedly tugged at her husband’s sleeve, afraid he would cause real trouble. After a long while, Dai Zhou finally calmed down and said with a bitter laugh: “Very well, this old man will resign from office and return to seclusion tomorrow. Marquis Yun, are you satisfied with that?”

“Old Man Dai, if you resign, it’s because you can’t take it anymore. Don’t blame it on me. Whether you remain in office or not has nothing to do with me. You’ve looked at the Yun family’s letters long enough, haven’t you? If there are no words about conspiring in rebellion or committing great treason in them, how about returning them to me? If my wife’s private letters fall into the hands of petty clerks and get altered, that would be troublesome. I hear your Court of Judicial Review is very skilled at that sort of thing.”

Every word from Yun Ye struck at the heart. To Dai Zhou’s ears, they sounded like thunderclaps. Yun Ye was clearly conveying a message: that the nobles were extremely dissatisfied with him. The tides of the ocean always rise and fall. After Li Er had dealt with the sixteen families who were old subordinates of Li Yuan, that was high tide. What must inevitably follow was a large-scale appeasement of the nobles—that would be low tide. After all, he still needed the support of these people to govern the realm. And now was the time for Li Er to make concessions. “Kill ten thousand enemies, lose three thousand of your own” applied to the court as well.

Yun Ye had made it very clear: the An family matter had nothing to do with him, and Dai Zhou becoming a scapegoat also had nothing to do with the Yun family. Return the Yun family’s correspondence, and he would go home to sleep. He wouldn’t kick Dai Zhou while he was down, but he wouldn’t help him up either.

In official circles, showing anger at someone doesn’t necessarily mean you’re truly angry—perhaps you’re preparing to reward them. Cursing someone doesn’t necessarily mean you’re cursing them—perhaps you’re offering well-intentioned advice. Yun Ye hadn’t learned much else over these years, but he had mastered this technique. Xu Jingzong was truly an excellent teacher and friend. These things were beyond what Teacher Li Gang could teach.

Under Ma Jiuhu’s astonished gaze, Dai Zhou, who normally feared no powerful person, actually ordered him to retrieve the Yun family’s correspondence and return it to Yun Ye. What had happened to the old man? Could it be that Yun Ye had some terrifying aspect unknown to others that even Dai Zhou dared not offend? He fetched the letters from the back hall and handed them to Yun Ye, his eyes flickering with suspicion the entire time.

Xinyue looked at the letters and nodded to her husband. Yun Ye chuckled and cupped his hands toward Dai Zhou, saying: “Minister Dai, the roads are long and the mountains high and waters distant. We shall surely meet again. Take care.” With that, he dragged Xinyue out of the Court of Judicial Review.

Ma Jiuhu saw the Yun couple off. After holding it in for a long time, he finally managed to ask: “Brother Yun, what does ‘turn you into a real donkey’ mean?” Yun Ye looked at Ma Jiuhu strangely and said: “Just be a good donkey and don’t think too much.”

The Yun family carriage traveled down Zhuque Street. Ma Jiuhu shook his head despondently and muttered to himself: “Still no place for me in this, but I hope the new superior won’t be too difficult to serve.”

Xinyue’s face bloomed with smiles. As soon as she got on the carriage, she couldn’t wait to tear those letters to shreds and throw them into the small stove in the carriage. She carefully used the fire poker to crush all the ashes to powder, and only then did she let out a long breath. She didn’t know how she had endured these past few days. Fortunately, her husband had been by her side the whole time, or that feeling of dread would have driven her mad. From now on, she would obediently listen to her husband—the imperial court truly was no place for women to involve themselves.

Once again, Xinyue contentedly nestled in her husband’s embrace. Her hand slipped inside her husband’s collar and grasped that familiar pouch. Her heart felt as comfortable as if it had melted. She looked up at that not particularly handsome face and felt she could never look at it enough.

But Yun Ye’s heart was sighing. This imperial court that changed like a revolving lantern—when would it finally settle down? Wouldn’t it be better if everyone just lived peacefully? The An family had already been docile as a lapdog these past years—why couldn’t they be given a morsel of food to eat?