After the greetings were completed, Xiao Ya flew into her brother’s arms like a cannonball, hugging him and crying loudly. Between sobs, she told her brother that she had eavesdropped on Grandmother and sister-in-law’s conversation and learned that her brother had been kidnapped these past days—kidnapped by the family’s greatest enemy. She had searched all of Yushan but couldn’t find her brother.

Wiping the snot and tears from Xiao Ya, who was like a little kitten, he held her and said, “You know how capable your brother is. The main reason I was kidnapped was because I wanted to eliminate all these villains. Now it’s all good—they’ve all been eliminated by your brother. From now on, Xiao Ya can go play in the marketplace again.”

Xiao Ya nodded with a smile, blowing snot bubbles, hugging her brother and unwilling to get down from him. Only when Grandmother smiled and scolded her for not acting like a proper young lady did she very reluctantly slide down from her brother. Shishi and Xiao Wu watched enviously—now only Xiao Ya could get away with such coquettish behavior.

Yun Ye held his son, preparing to take a bath. At least now those serving him weren’t those elders. Xinyue followed her husband into the bathhouse with her head lowered, looking very shy. Na Rimu boldly pulled her mouth into a grin and walked in as well. Grandmother gave orders that today the Yun household would close its doors and decline all visitors—only family would eat and drink together.

Steward Old Qian specially posted red paper outside the main gate with the words: “Family celebration, visitors declined.” He instructed the guards at the entrance that except for the other three families with whom they had close relations who could be announced, all other people were to be refused entry.

After arranging the gate guards, he began organizing the banquet. The servants bustled about with beaming faces, slaughtering pigs and sheep, catching fish, chasing chickens, and selecting aged wines with good flavor from the cellar. The maids began decorating the guest hall, hanging lanterns, moving tables and chairs, and washing dishes.

In this era of the Great Tang that lacked entertainment, the way to express joy was to eat a meal. If one felt extremely joyful, then eat a big meal. Upon encountering such great happy news as the Marquis safely returning home, eat a feast. Though this method seemed somewhat vulgar, Yun Ye liked it, and it seemed the whole family liked it. They liked it so much that another ox in the family’s cattle pen had fallen to its death.

Old Qian looked at the old ox that had just been eating grass and was now lying motionless on the ground. He said sorrowfully to the steward, “Our family’s ox has fallen to its death. Go to the yamen right now to report it. Tell those officials that our family is preparing to bury the ox, and don’t let them come to our door to look—the household is celebrating.”

The steward immediately put away his happy expression, replaced it with a grief-stricken look, and left through the side door. Mounting a horse, he went to inform the authorities of this terrible news.

The Yun family bathhouse was beautiful, designed in the shape of a lotus flower. A person lying in the petal sections could sleep perfectly. Just as he removed his clothes, Xinyue and Na Rimu couldn’t stop laughing. Yun Ye looked down at his pale, tender body and then at his sun-darkened limbs. He found himself ridiculous too—looking just like a panda.

He pulled Xinyue over and smacked her bottom twice, checking the feel. Not bad—good elasticity. He couldn’t help but smack twice more. As for Na Rimu, forget it—he didn’t dare provoke a pregnant woman.

Ignoring the women, he stripped his son naked in three quick moves and jumped into the pool with a splash, holding the child. The water temperature was just right—so comfortable! He placed his son on his chest, letting him kick his chubby little legs and splash water, while he half-closed his eyes and reclined in the groove to rest. He had been rushing about outside for a full eight months, nearly exhausting all his mental energy. His own home was still the most comfortable. He didn’t have to constantly think about what his next step should be or whether he really needed to eliminate that damned fellow. Even if Feng Ang had the ability to mate with the heavens, he couldn’t reach Chang’an. Today he would just relax properly and not worry about anything.

These words were spoken too soon. As soon as Xinyue removed her clothes, Yun Ye immediately forgot his plan to relax properly. Her body had been well-rounded before, but now it was extraordinary. After giving birth, her figure was even more impressive. What relaxation? He had to be tense, absolutely had to be tense. His nose was about to bleed.

That’s how men are—once they have the child’s mother, they don’t want the child. He tossed the chubby baby to Na Rimu, letting them go play in the small pool in the outer room. Here, only the child’s mother needed to remain.

Na Rimu, holding Yun Baobao and Yun Shou whose eyes were darting around, laughed merrily as she took the children to the outer room. She was very considerate and lowered the curtain.

Xinyue reproachfully slapped Yun Ye, still somewhat embarrassed to enter the water. Yun Ye exerted force with both arms and pulled Xinyue into the pool.

Once in the pool, Xinyue kept batting away her husband’s mischievous hands, using a towel to scrub his body. Bathing was bathing—you wash me, I wash you. Washing and washing, they washed up a fire…

Na Rimu was looking after the splashing Yun Baobao in the outer room, but her ears were stretched long, listening to the lascivious sounds inside. She laughed from time to time, and her own body felt somewhat heated. She spat lightly toward the inner room, then wrapped Yun Baobao in a towel and left the bathhouse, returning to the rear hall to dress him.

Heaven’s thunder stirred earth’s fire. After the wildfire swept through, only deathly stillness remained. The two people squeezed into one flower petal, filling it completely, not moving at all.

“My leg is numb,” Yun Ye said to Xinyue in his arms.

Xinyue twisted her body but didn’t move, burying her head in Yun Ye’s chest and making cat-like purring sounds.

“Stinking woman, my leg is cramping!” Yun Ye suddenly jumped up, bouncing around everywhere with his bare bottom. The earlier movements had been too intense, causing a cramp. He stomped his feet hard on the ground several times before the tendons loosened.

Xinyue nearly laughed herself into convulsions in the bathhouse. She knew about Yun Ye’s problem and had deliberately done that to retaliate for his roughness. As an old married couple, they knew each other’s bodies thoroughly. Their daily movements had all become habits—for example, Yun Ye liked to sleep with his head elevated, and Xinyue liked to drape her leg over Yun Ye’s waist. These were all small details of life, including sexual matters. This was a process of mutual pleasure. The tender feelings within couldn’t be experienced by spending a few taels of silver to visit a brothel.

Yun Ye lay on the bamboo bed while Xinyue scrubbed his back. Seeing those newly healed wounds on his shoulders and back, she shed tears. Her husband didn’t know how much suffering he had endured outside, but upon returning home, he was always cheerful, as if nothing in this world could trouble him. The confrontation between him and Dou Yanshan absolutely couldn’t have been as mundane as described in his letters. Yet he had just said one sentence: he found an opportunity and got Dou Yanshan killed.

She loved listening to her husband boast. She always felt her husband should be exactly like this. Being knocked unconscious by a yellow croaker fish—her husband had described this incident as a joke in his letter, but Liu Jinbao, who had arrived home first, didn’t tell it that way.

According to his account, Heaven itself had tried to take people’s lives. The Marquis had tied himself to the mast, holding a knife, prepared to commit suicide if swept up by the tornado. He had a rope tied around his waist and was blown by the wind to float in the sky. If Hong Cheng and the others hadn’t held onto the rope, he would have ascended to heaven. Everything was falling from the sky—wood, branches, old turtles, dead people, sharks, and that kind of yellow croaker fish that knocked the Marquis unconscious. There was also a kind of fish that would impale itself into people’s bodies when it fell, and an eight-tentacled fish that would stick to people and not let go, leaving red spots all over the body after being removed.

Ordinary small branches that seemed insignificant in daily life were as fierce as whips in the wind, shredding clothes to tatters. Fish weighing several hundred pounds were sucked up from the water, their mouths still opening and closing in midair. Over a hundred Japanese were swept up into the sky by the tornado, and in the end, only one complete buttock was found. A whale weighing tens of thousands of pounds was carried to shore by the tornado and battered to death on the rocks. If the Marquis hadn’t discovered it early and their ship hadn’t been large, they would have been finished.

Thinking of these things, Xinyue trembled with fear. This man was the pillar of this household. Without him, there would be no more laughter in the home. Grandmother spent all day chanting sutras in the Buddhist hall. Several aunts stopped playing mahjong and ran around like headless flies searching temples, Taoist monasteries, and nunneries, begging all the gods and Buddhas in heaven for protection. Xiao Ya and Shishi paired up with family guards and searched all over Yushan. Though they knew there was no hope, they never stopped for a moment. Na Rimu’s eyes flashed with fierce light as she whipped the grassland servants she had brought, her gaze as frightening as a wolf’s.

“What are you thinking about? Hurry up and scrub my back. Get me clean so I can go to the ancestral hall to offer incense. Grandmother is still waiting. If we go out late, we’ll be laughed at again.”

Xinyue slapped Yun Ye’s bottom and said angrily, “Every time, isn’t it because you act recklessly that I get laughed at by the elders? Last time, Auntie even said that young couples shouldn’t indulge in pleasure—life is long. She said men’s essence is limited and shouldn’t be depleted excessively. She made me sound like a fox spirit. Little does she know how much was lost in Lingnan, but in the end, I have to take the blame.”

After scrubbing himself clean all over, he felt much lighter. The soft undergarments had been specially beaten soft with mallets by the maids before being sent over. Very comfortable, though not very durable. Now all the Yun family’s undergarments were treated this way.

The sky-blue academy outer robe was so comfortable—not tying the waist sash, loose and baggy, breezy everywhere.

Xinyue followed behind Yun Ye with a flushed face to pay respects to Grandmother. He didn’t know what she had done, but when they left the bathhouse just moments ago, they had been chatting and laughing. In an instant, her face turned as red as if she’d been drinking, yet her eyes showed not a trace of embarrassment. She even knew to chase Na Rimu away—what business did a concubine have entering the ancestral hall?

Grandmother didn’t care about such matters. Only five people in the Yun family were qualified to enter the ancestral hall: Grandmother, Yun Ye, Xinyue, Yun Baobao, and of course that one called Li Rong. Thinking of this name made Xinyue uncomfortable. Fortunately, that child was destined to become king of the Liao people and couldn’t return home, so she magnanimously ignored his existence.

Grandmother lit the incense, and Yun Ye received it. After kowtowing three times, he respectfully inserted the incense into the incense burner. Grandmother prayed in a low voice to the ancestors, thanking them for their protection, for her grandson’s safe return, and for the family’s prosperity that was within sight. She asked the ancestors to continue protecting the Yun family with peace and safety, and to multiply their descendants.