People pray to heaven for good fortune to descend upon them—such hopes are generally never realized. They pray for calamity not to fall upon themselves—such prayers are also often unfulfilled. The more one prays, the more calamity will visit.

Heaven does not like to do what people hope for, and heaven’s son, Li Er, was the same way.

Yun Ye clearly hoped that Li Er would forget about him at this time, but the great Emperor stood right before him.

“Come back to the palace with me.”

“This subject is sixteen this year—it’s not appropriate to enter the inner palace anymore, is it?”

“You’ve grown up indeed, knowing how to trample other people’s residences with horses, and even conspiring with Li Gang to write me a terrible poem that made my heart ache. You don’t have the ability to write poetry. Tell me honestly, who wrote it? Li Gang? Or Xin Yushan?”

“Your Majesty’s eyes are as penetrating as torches—you saw at a glance that this poem did not come from this subject’s hand. This subject also doesn’t know which of the several teachers wrote it.”

Bang! His leg received a kick. “What skill! In less than three months together, you’ve mixed your friendship with those four great scholars to such a degree. Li Gang is famously an isolated official—apart from a few scholarly friends, he never associates with court officials. To receive his plea memorial on your behalf, the face given is no small matter. Even if you had committed a crime, I would still, in consideration of his lifetime of toil for the Great Tang, exempt you from criminal responsibility.”

Yun Ye didn’t care about wealth, but he valued sincere hearts as much as life itself. He had merely presented them with trifles, yet Li Gang and the others repaid him with precious jade. For his small trouble, they broke their many years of self-imposed rules—their caring hearts were unmistakably revealed.

A strange scene appeared in the imperial palace: Yun Ye was being escorted by the Emperor to the Empress. Whenever he walked even slightly slower, Li Er would kick Yun Ye’s bottom with his large foot. The palace attendants found it both amusing and shocking. Upon witnessing this scene, everyone lowered their heads and hurried away.

Zhangsun came out from afar to welcome the Emperor. Seeing this strange spectacle, she couldn’t help but cover her mouth and laugh.

“This subject pays respects to Your Majesty the Empress.” Yun Ye breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the Empress appear.

“This audacious and reckless youngster is now entrusted to the Empress for disposal.” Then turning his head to say to Yun Ye in an ominous tone: “Hehe, in another year, you’ll fall into my hands. Pray for your own fortune.” After teasing Yun Ye with a couple of remarks, he proceeded directly into the palace hall.

“Stand here and reflect properly.” The Empress didn’t acknowledge him either, merely punishing him with standing.

Quietly shuffling two steps toward the shaded area, looking left and right and finding no one, he leaned his body against the railing to rest for a moment.

Having slept too late last night and risen too early today, with the warm sun shining overhead, he unknowingly fell asleep.

Yun Ye was sleeping soundly when he was awakened by some chattering voices. His heart suddenly startled—this was the imperial palace, how could he have fallen asleep? It seemed he had just been punished by the Empress to stand.

First keep eyes closed, don’t open them—assess the situation before acting.

“Elder sister, look, he’s drooling. How disgusting.” This voice was somewhat familiar—a little girl’s voice.

“Teacher said only horses sleep standing up. Is he a horse?” Eh? Another little girl.

“Marquis Yun, wake up, Marquis Yun, wake up. This isn’t a place for sleeping.” Yet another gentle voice.

Opening his eyes, he saw several young girls standing before him, ranging from ten to five years old. Looking up at the sky, it was already noon. The imperial princes and princesses in the palace were all dismissed from their studies at this time. The oldest one before him was his former classmate Princess Xiangcheng. She was busy stopping her younger sisters from harassing Yun Ye, especially the five-year-old Princess Lanling, who had just been holding a flower branch ready to tickle Yun Ye’s nostrils.

“Yun Ye pays respects to the princesses.” They were old acquaintances—there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

“Why is Marquis Yun drowsing outside Mother Empress’s hall? What is the reason?” Xiangcheng had always been gentle. Even her speech was soft. Seeing her, Yun Ye couldn’t help but think of that woman who had nearly cost him his life. They were both Li Er’s daughters, yet the difference was too great—one gentle as water, the other fierce as fire.

Shaking his head to dismiss the chaotic thoughts in his mind, he smiled at Xiangcheng: “I accidentally made a mistake and was punished by Her Majesty the Empress to stand.”

Lanling looked Yun Ye up and down. Seeing no food on him, she pouted and said: “Mother Empress punished you to stand? You were clearly sleeping. I’m going to report to Mother Empress and have her punish you severely, unless you agree to bring me those bones from last time.”

Lanling’s words resonated with her sisters. They all stared with wide eyes waiting for Yun Ye’s answer.

For some reason, Li Er’s entire family were pure carnivores. Last time when he brought a large pot of braised spare ribs for Cheng Qian, he hadn’t eaten many pieces before they were all devoured by his sisters.

Truly worthy of being a family named after dragons. Right now, Yun Ye felt that surrounding him were not adorable little lolis, but drooling juvenile carnivorous dinosaurs from the Jurassic period. Xiangcheng felt somewhat embarrassed and changed the subject to ask: “What exactly did Marquis Yun do wrong to provoke Mother Empress’s anger?”

“Nothing much, just led a few dozen people on horses and smashed someone’s home to pieces.”

Oh? Several young girls showed faces full of admiration. Too valiant! This was something they had never tried. They kept pressing for the reason.

Yun Ye recounted the cause and effect from beginning to end, especially highlighting his noble sentiments of not fearing the powerful and seeking revenge for the weak old man. Using embellished techniques, he described how he personally wielded a great iron hammer, breaking open the evil merchant’s main gate with one strike, then how he battled the evil merchant for three hundred rounds, finally breaking the evil merchant’s thigh with one hammer blow, venting anger for the weak and small of the world.

Xiangcheng’s expression showed disdain yet she said nothing. Lanling’s eyes widened as she fell into fantasy. Nanping’s little mouth opened and closed as if there were countless admiring words to express.

“So not only should I not punish you, but I should reward you instead. Is that right?”

“Yes, yes, someone like me, a young hero…” When did the Empress come out? These little girls didn’t make a sound either. Looking again at their gloating smiles, how could Yun Ye not understand he’d been trapped again?

“At your young age, whenever you take action, you’re extremely ruthless. Last time it was ruffians, this time it’s an evil merchant, and it even involves the Duke of Jiang. Your audacity grows greater and greater. Next time who knows what trouble you’ll cause.” The Empress was angry. Yun Ye sensed that the Empress was truly angry this time—her words carried heavy tones of disappointment at his failure to meet expectations.

“For the sake of momentary satisfaction, giving no thought to consequences. If Li Wenji hadn’t pleaded for you this time and explained the truth of the matter, you would have suffered greatly.”

“Your Majesty, please permit me to speak. Since this subject was granted a noble title by His Majesty, I naturally cherish it well. It’s just that I truly cannot bear to see vermin that damages the interests of our Great Tang.”

“I’m afraid you cannot bear to see the farmers on your estate suffer losses. This protective nature of yours—you’ve learned it thoroughly from Cheng Zhijie.” Pausing, she continued: “I heard from Qingque that you have a money-making plan. Is this true?”

“In response to Your Majesty, it was merely a joke. This subject has a stipend and doesn’t need to go about scrounging for money.” He quickly distanced himself. He had only casually mentioned it to Li Tai, yet he actually told his mother.

“It’s best if there isn’t. You’re overly clever. Once you set your mind on something, there will be changes that astound people, making them unable to guard against it. So you must be cautious and not go too far. Managing Yushan Academy well and making a group of people as intelligent as you—that’s your way to establish yourself. Otherwise, a tree that stands out in the forest will surely be destroyed by the wind. You understand this principle.” Empress Zhangsun spoke with deep earnestness.

Perhaps it was a problem brought from the later world—Yun Ye was not skilled at dealing with women, especially not skilled at dealing with beautiful women. Before Li Er, he could still resist a bit, even mount small counterattacks. Before Zhangsun, he could only surrender.

This was perhaps the reason Li Er had the Empress handle Yun Ye.

Yun Ye walked on the road out of the palace, his mind still replaying the Empress’s words: A tree that stands out in the forest, a tree that stands out in the forest?

Yes, I’m different from every person in the Great Tang, as obvious as a wild boar mixed into a flock of sheep. Many people think Marquis Yun is clever, but whether I’m clever or not, only I know. Stripping away the extra knowledge, would I be cleverer than anyone else? Thinking of this, his heart filled with dejection.

Ling Dang saw Yun Ye walking over from afar and was very happy, her rabbit teeth showing. She prepared to hide behind the artificial mountain to startle him, only to discover that Yun Ye wasn’t coming toward Tingtao Pavilion, but was walking straight toward the road leading out of the palace.

She felt somewhat disappointed, then somewhat wronged. Large tears welled up in her eyes, yet she stubbornly didn’t let them fall.