“Father, ever since Yun Ye returned to Chang’an, he hasn’t stepped out of his residence even once!”

“Doing so is correct. Gossip and slander are the ugliest existence beneath the firmament. Only time can wash away these stains. Although Yun Ye is not old, his grasp of people’s hearts is undoubtedly more profound than many old men’s understanding. At the New Year’s Day ceremony, all the generals received rewards—only Yun Ye alone received nothing. Heh heh, His Majesty truly dotes on his blessed general.”

“Dotes on? Father, right now it’s widely rumored throughout Chang’an that Yun Ye has already lost the Emperor’s favor and will soon face great calamity. Yun Ye is probably staying behind closed doors because of this, isn’t he?”

Zhangsun Wuji put down the teacup in his hand, looked at his son, and sighed: “You are my son. Among all my children, I have the highest expectations for you. Now it seems you’re still not as good as Yun Ye. I’m just curious—from where do you see that the Yun Family faces great calamity?”

“Why does your father only see that the Yun Family will prosper eternally because of this?”

“Is it because he rashly provoked border conflicts? Or because he forced Prince Huo to death? Or because of those things he did at Xingxing Gorge? You couldn’t have made this judgment just because you think Yun Ye inherited Hou Junji’s official position, could you?”

“You’re merely a Silver Blue Glory and Emolument Grandee, while he’s already Minister of War, Acting Minister of Personnel, participating in court deliberations. Especially those last four characters ‘participating in court deliberations’—haven’t you properly interpreted them? This is a power only prime ministers possess.”

“Since our Great Tang was founded, have you ever seen anyone punished for winning battles? If Yun Ye had lost his battle against the Arabs, His Majesty would naturally hold him accountable for rashly provoking border conflicts. Now that he’s won, and moreover with a rare victory, at this time who would question such a general about why he went abroad to wage war? Even the most thoughtless censorial official wouldn’t ask.”

“As for Prince Huo, Chong’er, don’t you know that ever since those imperial princes insisted on establishing their own states in the Western Regions, they had already severed themselves from our Great Tang? Whether out of ambition or heroic aspirations, they are equivalent to the word ‘traitor.’ A rebellious subject who attacked the Great Tang’s military forces—could Marquis Lantian, Protector-General of Beiting, Yun Ye, not execute him? If this matter had been in Father’s hands, Father’s actions would definitely have been even more intense than Yun Ye’s.”

“As for the Xingxing Gorge affair—what does that amount to? Moreover, that old rascal Li Jing personally submitted a memorial telling the Emperor this was at his own invitation that Yun Ye set fire to Xingxing Gorge. By all accounts, there was merit but no fault!”

“Courage and boldness are innate qualities. Chong’er, you lack both. Recently, you’d better not go out making a fool of yourself either. Stay properly at the residence and help your mother manage household affairs.”

Zhangsun Chong was severely rebuked by his father. In his heart, he couldn’t help but deeply resent Cheng Chumo. That bastard—with his own father absent and no one to guide him—seeing that the Yun Family had recently been in turbulent waters, had pressed him to go ask Father. Now being scolded as an idiot by Father—it was truly infuriating.

Just as Zhangsun Chong was about to leave, Zhangsun Wuji said softly again: “Having brotherly affection naturally makes one feel nobler in spirit, but you mustn’t forget—you’re still a son of a great family. If you can look after the family, you can’t look after brotherly affection. On this point, you must grasp the proper measure. Our family’s interests conflict with those of their several families. Alas! Be careful.”

Zhangsun Wuji himself didn’t know how to educate his son on this issue. Many principles he had insisted on in his early years seemed not quite right when applied to Yun Ye. Now things had become so muddled that right and wrong simply couldn’t be distinguished.

Many people were asking their fathers the same question. Different perspectives yielded different answers. Whether a family could continue sometimes didn’t depend on strength—it needed a bit of luck even more.

Yun Ye left his residence. It wasn’t as outsiders said—that he didn’t step out the main gate or the second gate. At least he had cut some good pork at the market, bought some yellow chives, and a large bundle of sugarcane.

The furnace fire in Dan Ying’s small house burned warmly. The family sat around the large kang waiting for the household head to peel the sugarcane. There wasn’t a single servant here. When Yun Ye finished peeling the last sugarcane and inserted it into a small hole, Wang Cai’s large head leaned over, crunching on the sugarcane.

The New Year had already passed, but Yun Ye still wanted to eat dumplings. Making dumplings was most interesting when done by oneself. Yun Shou wielded his knife chopping the meat filling. He himself kneaded the dough. Xinyue pretended to look very hardworking as she watched the water. Na Rimu held her little daughter like presenting treasure, playing empress dowager. Lingdang was the most practical—she swept the small courtyard inside and out once again.

This was Xiao Miao’s first time participating in such a family activity. She was curious about everything. She couldn’t imagine at all that her husband could actually knead dough.

When wrapping dumplings, Yun Ye sighed deeply. His own wrapping was the best. Next came Yun Shou surprisingly. Yan Rong simply couldn’t get the dumpling filling and wrapper together at all, so she could only specifically be responsible for praising Yun Shou’s craftsmanship.

As usual, Yun Mu wouldn’t lift a hand. Previously, she’d always thought raising sons poor and daughters rich was correct. Now it seemed there were problems—all her daughters were foodies, including his four wives.

“Yun Family men are just clever.” Xinyue, covered in sweat, finally pinched together a misshapen dumpling. Not even having time to wipe the flour off her face, she began learning from Li Yan Rong.

Originally, she’d wanted to take the whole family to escape to a deserted island. Now it seemed impractical. These women’s life skills had already degenerated. If there were no cooks to make meals or maids to wash clothes and fold bedding, they could only starve to death on the deserted island.

The dumplings were cooked. The very large pot boiled them twice. After Yun Mu gave Wang Cai a plate of hot dumplings, she ran back quickly to wait to eat. Xinyue glanced sideways at Yun Mu and said: “Does Wang Cai have hands to eat dumplings? You even served him hot dumplings. Look how anxious you’ve made him. Blow on them to cool them before feeding him.”

The only horse in the whole world who liked eating dumplings was Wang Cai. His taste was similar to Yun Ye’s—most fond of yellow chive and pork filling dumplings, hating sauerkraut dumplings. Very picky.

After eating the dumplings, Wang Cai wagged his tail and walked to the courtyard, found a sunny spot, lay down, and lazily dozed off, napping bit by bit to pass the time.

Playing cards was the Yun Family’s untransmitted secret. After Xiao Miao’s cheeks were covered with paper strips, she flared up at Yun Mu because she had just seen Yun Mu exchanging cards with Yun Huan.

“You’re my little mother. You’d better start letting me win now.” One sentence from Yun Mu fundamentally transformed Xiao Miao’s attitude. She cleared her throat lightly and sat up properly. Even if Yun Mu and Yun Huan continued cheating, she turned a blind eye.

Xinyue and Lingdang were washing dishes. Although she didn’t understand why the household had over a hundred servants but she and her sister still had to wash dishes themselves, seeing her husband sitting on the kang talking with Yun Shou and Yun Mu, she didn’t feel aggrieved either. They were all family—serving the men was appropriate. As for Na Rimu, dragging along a child, she seemed glued to the kang.

The sound of cartwheels crushing the road came over. The earth seemed to tremble. The section of road in front of the Yun Family gate was paved—the wheels bounced and jumped, rolling on the road surface. Tiny sounds gathered together became enormous noise.

This sound continued for the time of one incense stick before ending. Yun Ye, whose brain ached from the shaking, turned his gaze toward Xinyue.

“This isn’t something our household can manage. They’re all military carts, coming out from the back mountain. Each one is deadly heavy. When passing before our gate, they even seal off the road. I don’t know which great general is so imposing.”

“Isn’t there a road in the back mountain? How can they parade through the streets with these things? Are all the people at the Armaments Bureau brainless? Knowing full well those things are extremely dangerous, they still dare transport them like this. Tell Old Qian—from now on, don’t let them pass in front of our gate. If something happens, it will be a major disaster. That these people have lived until now is entirely due to ancestral blessings.”

Xinyue carefully glanced outside the gate and said softly: “They didn’t used to pass in front of our gate. Ever since thunder rumbled in the mountain valley last month, these people started passing in front of our gate. A colonel from the Ministry of War came specifically to our household requesting that we not spread word everywhere.”

So there was an accident. Once gunpowder exploded, there would be a chain reaction. The soldiers escorting the carts probably couldn’t have survived. The road must have been blown up too—otherwise these people wouldn’t travel this bustling road past the Yun Family.

“That stuff is too dangerous. Transportation is a big problem. If something happened on this section of road in front of our gate, casualties would definitely be severe. Our section of road is all stone slabs. Iron wheels hitting stone slabs—heh heh, this alone increases the danger by at least thirty percent. Whether others die or not isn’t my concern. Tell them to stop bringing calamity to my neighbors.” Yun Ye was somewhat angry. Why didn’t these people learn any lessons? It exploded in the mountains—don’t they worry it will also explode in the downtown area?

“They’re all official people. I’m afraid it’s not appropriate for our household to step forward. Husband, you’re the minister who manages these rank-and-file soldiers. Just issue an order. Why make a big fuss? From the meaning in your words, these things all seem to be important military instruments of state. Arbitrarily blocking the convoy will get you impeached by those long-tongued censorial officials.”

Xinyue was now very afraid that Yun Ye would stir up more trouble. Chang’an City was very strange now. Many families were avoiding the Yun Family. When the second young master of the Yongding Marquis household got married, the residence didn’t even receive an invitation. When their eldest son married, the Yun Family had been honored guests. Fortunately, Xinyue had long witnessed these people’s ungrateful wolf characteristics, so she didn’t take it to heart.

Her husband was right. From now on, just manage their own small plot of land well. Let others ruin their own fields as they please. Living behind closed doors like today was also acceptable—at least seeking peace and quiet.

“Your husband isn’t well-regarded now. A new official taking office needs at least two months’ preparation period. After your husband takes office, then I’ll go find trouble with them. Those broken carts will have exploded eight times over by then. Forget it—better to build another dirt road from the Back Sand Gully side and have them go that way. If we can’t provoke them, then we’ll just avoid them.”

Xinyue frowned and agreed. The Back Sand Gully area was the Yun Family’s sand quarry. The sand there was valuable. Why should their own family build roads for the court? However, this was her husband’s arrangement. If it was built, so be it. As long as her husband didn’t get into trouble, no amount of money mattered.