Wrapping his arms around her legs, he scooped up Na Rimu and hurried toward the room. Na Rimu kicked her little legs triumphantly and whispered in Yun Ye’s ear, asking if it was about… that…

Upon entering the main house, Xinyue sat under the lamplight keeping accounts. Seeing Yun Ye carrying Na Rimu inside, she spat and said: “So this is what spring fever looks like. After enduring three years of abstinence, you still can’t settle down these past few days.”

But when she saw clearly what Na Rimu was wearing, she immediately jumped up as if pricked by a needle and started searching everywhere for a feather duster. Na Rimu slithered out of Yun Ye’s embrace like a snake, jumped onto the bed, wrapped herself tightly in a blanket, then bounced out of the room like a hopping corpse. Yun Ye held Xinyue back, preventing her from chasing after Na Rimu, and said with a laugh: “This is the inner residence. That’s just her mischievous nature—it can’t be changed. It’s actually good this way. Living your thirties like you’re eighteen is a blessing.”

“You just like them young!” Whenever age was mentioned, Xinyue felt secretly hurt.

“I like you even though you’re so old. Didn’t we still carry on until midnight last night?”

Xinyue swatted away Yun Ye’s lustful hands and pulled him to the table, saying: “You never look at the household accounts anymore. Xiao Wu has taken away so much gold, pearls, and treasures—don’t you want to ask about it?” After years of marriage, Xinyue still couldn’t stand Yun Ye’s blatantly crude talk.

Yun Ye tossed the account book far away, held Xinyue and made her sit on his lap, saying: “We earn money to spend it. If Xiao Wu wants to create a White Jade Capital, let her. Moving the White Jade Capital from heaven to earth is quite an accomplishment. From now on, you shouldn’t worry about this money either. Living happily is better than anything else.”

“Our wealth is nothing more than what we’re leaving for the children. Haven’t you already divided up the fortunes for Rong’er, Shou’er, Huan’er, and Lei’er? What’s left is just for us husband and wife.”

“How much can we spend? In my view, when we die of old age, it’s best if we’ve spent all the family’s money. That would be the ideal state. I’ve said it before—money only has value when it’s spent. If you keep it without using it, it’s just a pile of dead objects.”

The weather was too hot, so the old married couple bathed together. The bath was completely devoid of passion. They were both just struggling with their long hair. After applying soap to their hair and rinsing it with clean water, it became terribly stiff. When they rubbed it with towels, it became as messy as a bird’s nest.

The weather was very hot. The skylight had been opened, and through the gauze window they could see the hazy moon. Xinyue was constantly restless, always thinking about the account book her husband had tossed into the corner. She propped herself up to look at it several times.

Yun Ye got up, picked up the account book from the corner, placed it in Xinyue’s hands, and complained: “You’ve been worrying for decades, and you’re still a miser. Those things—you can’t take them with you when you’re born or when you die. Are they worth losing sleep over?”

Xinyue mumbled a few times, buried her head under Yun Ye’s arm, and finally fell asleep peacefully…

Yun Ye woke up very early. Today was the day the Academy posted its results, and also the liveliest day in Yushan City. He had promised the Emperor to accompany him today to properly observe the grand spectacle—in the Emperor’s words, to witness the momentum of embracing all rivers.

Na Rimu walked over with pouting lips and sat beside Yun Ye. She neither ate nor spoke. Xinyue ignored her, while Lingdang and Xiao Miao just watched curiously without saying a word.

Yun Ye pushed the porridge bowl toward her and said with a smile: “If you like wearing those clothes in the future, we’ll wear them in our room. Don’t wander randomly around the courtyard. If outsiders see, I’ll be at a great disadvantage.”

Lingdang and Xiao Miao giggled, immediately understanding what had happened. Only Xinyue said resentfully: “If you dare to go out wearing something so revealing again, I’ll break your legs. What decent woman dresses like that? Have you no shame?”

“I saw those foreign dancing girls in the West Market dressed like that, and besides, when I attended the sisters’ gathering, the concubines of Prince Dao’s household also dressed that way…”

“Can’t you compare yourself to decent people? What’s your status, and what’s the status of those vixens? They dare to stand on stage singing without clothes, wearing just a large peony flower in their hair—why don’t you learn from them? In terms of official rank, you already hold the fifth grade. Don’t you know to respect yourself at all?”

Xinyue’s words nearly made Yun Ye spit out the porridge in his mouth. Could it be that the women of Chang’an City had become so liberated? Seeing her husband looking at her, Xinyue said with a dark expression: “Some days ago when the peonies bloomed brilliantly, Prince Dao’s household had the finest peonies in all of Chang’an. Princess Dao invited me to Prince Dao’s mansion to admire the peonies, saying there would also be the latest song and dance performances to watch—supposedly evolved from new Buddhist scriptures. Since our household has the Heavenly Demon Dance, I hadn’t planned to go watch.”

“Later I couldn’t resist Na Rimu’s insistence, so I took her along. As a result, I was nearly angered to death. We were having a perfectly pleasant time admiring peonies in the garden, drinking wine, playing mahjong—it was very comfortable. But Princess Dao insisted on erecting a stage in the garden, and told me this performance had a title called ‘Women More Beautiful Than Flowers.'”

“I was originally quite looking forward to it, thinking it would be like usual—young unmarried girls wearing peonies in their hair for us to see, which is a good way to find good mother-in-laws for young ladies. This has been popular in Chang’an City for many years.”

“But what came out were all naked vixens! Wearing just a peony flower in their hair and a large peony pasted over their navels, they dared to pose seductively. I thought they were some family’s young ladies, but after asking, I learned they were all concubines of wealthy families. This nearly angered me to death. That fool Na Rimu actually clapped and cheered—absolutely mortifying.”

Yun Ye smiled without speaking. The Tang Dynasty’s atmosphere of wealth and extravagance had nearly reached its peak. Some foreign song and dance customs were gradually spreading in as well. The wives and daughters of the Dashi people were actually wealth, the same as camels, cattle, and sheep. How many women one possessed had become a symbol of status. Now this trend was slowly entering the Great Tang, influencing Tang society and repeatedly challenging the concepts that Tang people rigidly upheld.

After Xuanzang returned from obtaining scriptures in the Western Regions, countless more monks borrowed routes through Tubo or took ships to the South Seas, finally reaching Tianzhu in very short time. With an attitude of learning, they transported all Tianzhu Buddhist scriptures back to Chang’an, regardless of quality. Now at the imperially-established Ci’en Temple, hundreds of monks were constantly translating scriptures year-round. When the monk Xuanzang visited Yun Ye, he had mentioned that there were great differences between Chinese Buddhism and Tianzhu Buddhism. The Brahmin caste system was prevalent in Tianzhu, but in the Central Plains, Buddhists were not the most noble group of people. Therefore, what they considered perfectly normal would seem incompatible in the Great Tang, and this could very likely become a disaster for Buddhism.

According to Xuanzang’s explanation, among them was a branch of Indian monks who specifically worshipped Kangiten. During the ancient period when Tianzhu was invaded by the ancestors of the Persians, many female heroes emerged among the native Tianzhu people who killed enemies. They used the unique spiritual beauty inherent to women to seduce enemies and capture them, widely praised by later generations, for which people created many mythological stories that circulated among the common folk. Later, after they adapted these legends, they became Kangiten, advocating the use of sexual desire to transcend the cruelty of reality.

Because the Dashi people had once again invaded Tianzhu, they had reached another critical moment of life and death. Therefore, they hoped to expand their sect and use another method to eliminate their enemies.

Yun Ye believed that unless all Tang men died out, there would be no possibility of sacrificing women’s beauty to kill enemies. Therefore, he made no comment on this matter. Such talk had no market whatsoever in the Great Tang, this nation of magnificent virility. He just hadn’t expected that the sacred lotus maidens would transform in the Great Tang into peony maidens for people’s lewd amusement.

Yun Ye put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and said to Xinyue: “There’s a reason for this. That kind of dance is actually considered a war dance of the Tianzhu people. Women use their own bodies as weapons to kill enemies. In the Great Tang, it has simply become distorted.”

“Have their men all died?” Xinyue glanced at her husband sideways. She thought her husband was speaking up for Na Rimu.

“Oh! No, their men can’t defeat others…” Yun Ye stood up, twisted Na Rimu’s highly-pouted lips, then left the house with a smile. Wang Cai had already been groomed beautifully by the grooms and was waiting at the main gate.

Seeing Yun Ye approaching, Wang Cai came over. Seeing the bows tied in Wang Cai’s mane, he knew this was his daughter’s handiwork. Seeing Yun Lu and Yun Xiang leaning against the gate watching him, he walked over, patted Yun Lu’s head, kissed Yun Xiang on the cheek, promised to return home soon, and only then left with Wang Cai.

Liu Jinbao held up a large umbrella to shade Yun Ye from the sun. Today’s sun was vicious—as soon as they went out, they were nearly driven back by the heat waves. Outside there weren’t just heat waves, but also waves of people, coming in surges with no end in sight.

When entering Yushan City, Yun Ye truly experienced the grand spectacle of precious horses and ornate carriages filling the roads with fragrance. Every year when the Academy recruited students was also when Chang’an’s genteel ladies went out together. All promising young men of the Great Tang would appear before the gates of Yushan Academy. If they couldn’t leap through this dragon gate, no matter how talented they were, they wouldn’t be acknowledged.

“A modest maiden is a good match for a gentleman”—this saying now worked in reverse as well.

When he saw Li Er, he discovered that Li Chengqian had also come, standing in the great hall receiving the Emperor’s hostile glares. Li Tai smiled like a Maitreya Buddha helping his elder brother make excuses, saying he had long found the Wude Hall displeasing and had long planned to demolish it. Now that his elder brother had demolished it, the timing was just right. He planned to construct a magnificent palace with bracket sets and flying eaves, and didn’t think much of the blueprints provided by the Ministry of Works.

“Your younger brother is magnanimous and speaks well of you. When Yun Ye came before me, he also spouted nonsense. Zhangsun Chong and Dugu Mou both said it was their fault, that they hadn’t paid attention to these details which led to this great disaster.”

“In short, those at fault are them, and the one who deserves death is Hei Chi Changzhi. Only you, Li Chengqian, are without fault. Reasonably speaking, I should be happy—my subjects are all admirable, covering up mistakes for their sovereign father. I just want to ask you: do they really interfere with your affairs by living in Taiji Palace?”

Li Chengqian helplessly knelt on the ground, requesting the Emperor’s punishment.

He couldn’t let Li Er speak. The words coming out of his mouth now were so venomous they were unbearable to hear, and he was like this to everyone.

“Your Majesty, I’ve thought of how to completely defeat Your strategy of ‘beacons everywhere.’ As long as I pull out Heluo with lightning speed, I can revitalize the entire situation.”

While Yun Ye strode forward with large steps, he spoke eagerly about his idea, rubbing his hands together, wishing he could battle Li Er on the sand table right now…