Li Er sat on the chair Duan Hong had brought over and sighed, saying, “It really is so! One is born in worry and dies in comfort! I’ve only slackened for a few years, yet unexpectedly I’ve become completely out of step with Great Tang society. It truly is time to study. Youngster, I’ll let you be smug for a few days. After I thoroughly understand these changes, you’ll have plenty to suffer.”

“Governing the realm is nothing more than governing people. No matter how you all change in myriad ways, you cannot depart from this fundamental principle. Since I don’t have the mental energy to know and control all matters in the world, then just keeping a good watch on you all is enough. You shepherd the people, and I shepherd you—that’s sufficient.”

After serving Li Er tea and seeing him sit there drinking tea water contentedly, seeming to have truly understood something, Li Tai put on his robe and habitually stood behind Li Er, only to be yanked over by Li Er, who said, “Your heat rash hasn’t healed yet. Don’t wear clothes—being bare is better. Why isn’t Hypatia serving you? Does she have no consciousness of being a wife at all?”

“Father Emperor, your son and Hypatia are just cooperating to have a child. Your son won’t take her as a consort.”

Li Er looked at Li Tai in astonishment, not knowing what to say. He had never heard such a theory as cooperating to have a child. Suddenly, he slapped Yun Ye’s bare back and cursed furiously, “It’s all because of you, this bastard! You walked the path crooked at the front, so that Qing Que also learned your ways. This is my greatest regret. You and Anlan acted wantonly and willfully, with the result that you’ve now become the laughingstock of Chang’an streets.”

Yun Ye grimaced in pain and glared at the snickering Li Tai. This bastard was definitely doing it on purpose. Knowing his own matter wasn’t good to talk about, he alluded to the old affair of Yun Ye and Li Anlan having Li Rong.

Li Er, whose mood had just improved, saw his expression collapse again. Seeing the red handprint on Yun Ye’s back, he couldn’t bring himself to strike again. He straightened his robe and said angrily to Duan Hong, “I’m so angry! Not a single one of them is worth anything. Return to the palace!”

After sending Li Er out the door, Yun Ye said to Li Tai, “Stick out your bare back and let me slap you once. I came to Yuezhou with a thousand precautions and ten thousand defenses, yet I never expected you’d strike at me with poison. Look at my back—this bloody mark won’t go away for three to five days.”

“My whole body is covered with bumps. Be gentle—it’s no good if you break the pustules.” Li Tai’s mouth spoke pitifully, but his spirits were extremely vigorous. Today, no matter what, he had finally resolved the issue between himself and Hypatia. Hypatia wanted freedom for herself and also needed descendants to inherit her aspirations. Now both were achieved—naturally, everyone was happy.

These past few days, Xinyue had been bringing Yun Shou to receive visits from various stewards of the Yun family. At such a young age, he had to sit upright in a chair and accept the grand ceremony from a group of old men, which made him very depressed. This was the first meeting. According to ancient rites, the stewards confirmed the distinction between master and servant. The ritual was astonishingly complicated. Yun Ye only showed his face before everyone, then excused himself on grounds of being busy with official duties and turned to leave. Taking Yun Mu, Yun Lu, and Yun Huan, he went out to stroll the streets. Yun Shou very much hoped he could also follow Father together, but seeing his mother’s stern gaze, he continued to sit properly like a clay bodhisattva.

Not seeing Father and his younger siblings all day, when the sky was nearly dark, he finally saw Father carrying the sleeping Yun Lu back home. All four of them had become mud monkeys. Father had a very large fish basket at his waist—who knew what it contained?

“Don’t be distracted. Properly memorize all these people’s names—they’ll be of great use in the future. They’re all old hands in the family. You’re not allowed to call him Zhao Mengtian, Zhao Mengtian randomly. From now on, you must call him Grandpa Zhao. You’re not allowed to give people attitude just because you’re the master family. Have you remembered?”

When Yun Ye entered the door, the Xinyue mother and son were sitting on the kang, gathered around a small table looking at a name list. Yun Ye put Yun Lu on the kang, took off the fish basket, and threw his dirty clothes at Xinyue, saying, “Not doing proper business, all day just being petty-minded. What’s wrong with calling Old Zhao ‘Zhao Mengtian’? A name is just a code. Parents gave it for people to call.”

Xinyue collected the dirty clothes and said aggrievedly, “If Shou’er calls you ‘Yun Ye,’ you try it.”

“If he calls it, he calls it. Let me tell you, it’s precisely these rules that make children unknowingly believe that those grandfathers’, fathers’, and uncles’ words cannot be disobeyed. Shou’er will be our family’s pillar in the future. Unruly and untamed should be this child’s character. Look at which great family has trained their eldest son to be an honest person? Aren’t they all taught as harshly as possible? Our family doesn’t need to teach the child to be harsh, nor do we need to teach him kindness. We only need to teach the child self-reliance.”

Xinyue saw Yun Shou carrying the fish basket out and only then said quietly, “Your concubine comes from a small family with shallow knowledge. Please don’t be angry, but if we don’t teach the child this way, how else should we teach him?”

“Zhangsun Chong sent his eldest son to a hunter’s family to temper his wild nature. Cheng Chumo mixed in military camps from childhood. Those commanders on the grasslands early on divided their own pastures into several blocks and their subordinates into several parts, watching their sons mutually slaughter each other without asking or caring. Liu Hongji is an old lecher who lets other children run wild, but when his eldest went to a gambling house just once, he forcibly cut off one of his fingers. When these people come out, not one is easy to deal with—they’re all like wolves. Do you plan to raise Shou’er into a sheep? To be slaughtered by others in the future?”

Yun Ye had only gradually understood the cruelty of great families these past few years. When Zhangsun Chong spoke of his childhood, he would sigh deeply and just drink alcohol. Cheng Chumo said he didn’t remember how many things from when he was small, only remembering he was either on horseback or practicing martial arts. Training in the depths of winter, training in the height of summer—this wasn’t just talk, but truly doing so.

When Liu Hongji’s eldest drank with Yun Ye, even when drunk to incoherence, he never once did anything out of line—he hadn’t even done small things like stepping on the threshold.

Everyone was trained into abnormality. Chai Lingwu was considered the most unpromising guy among the legitimate eldest grandsons. Even someone like him, when facing a master like Qiu Ran Ke back then, showed not half a trace of cowardice. Even if illegitimate sons created the biggest laughingstocks, everyone would just laugh it off. But if a legitimate son did the same shameful thing, the entire family couldn’t hold up their heads.

“As long as my family’s children are self-confident, self-reliant, and self-improving, they’re qualified. Knowing when to defend, also knowing when to attack, and even knowing when to play the bear—these things you can’t teach, and I can’t teach either. They need time to slowly temper. From now on, regarding the child’s coursework, you can only ask whether he’s completed it. You cannot ask what the teacher taught.”

Xinyue sat aggrievedly on the kang, watching her husband speak in the darkness about things she couldn’t understand, not knowing how to respond. The Xin family was just a middle-level family that passed down poetry and ritual. They thought being modest and courteous, erudite and literate was good, yet didn’t know that shaping a person’s character was most important.

Yun Ye sighed and sat on the kang, holding Xinyue and saying, “If I hadn’t been ambitious back then, you wouldn’t need to work so hard today. They’re clearly your own children, yet you no longer have the qualification to educate them. Nobody would be happy about this. The Yun family is now very large. We’ve almost abandoned the grasslands, but on the grasslands, that pasture is still our family’s. You calculate—the grasslands, Lingnan, Yangzhou, Yizhou, Dengzhou, and the base I’m preparing in the Nanyang—the family head’s authority probably isn’t much less than that of the King of Goguryeo. Tens of thousands of people follow us to earn their living. How dare we be careless?”

“Look at the bloody mark on my back—His Majesty struck it. He’s not just angry about my affair with Li Anlan. It’s also a kind of warning to me. Although the Yun family has restrained itself considerably in Yuezhou, it still makes the Emperor wary. The person with the least sense of security in this world is the Emperor. No matter how much he trusts you, his third eye will firmly fix upon you.”

“Do you think the Great Emperor was a toy I created? Everyone says the Great Emperor’s martial prowess is peerless under heaven, not something a subject can control. Actually, I released this rumor. Only when the Emperor grasps absolute advantage will he not care about our slightly out-of-line small methods. If you don’t believe it, try building a second Great Emperor—I dare guarantee that thunder and violent rain will descend upon our family in an instant.”

“After returning to Chang’an this time, we won’t do anything else. We’ll just indulge and luxuriate. We need to let everyone under heaven know that the Yun family has lost its enterprising spirit. We need to crazily manufacture luxury goods, expanding the luxury we can enjoy to the extreme. Only this way will Shou’er and the others have their own space for development.”

Some words can be said to friends, some words can be said to wives, some words can only be said to ghosts and gods, and some other words are best said to strangers in dreams after death. Yun Ye felt he had said too much today. Things he should say and shouldn’t say—he’d said them all. For Xinyue to relax in the future wouldn’t be easy. These should have been his own responsibilities.

Xinyue hugged her knees and sat back-to-back with her husband on the kang without saying a word. She didn’t know what to say. Previously, she always thought her husband managed the entire family’s prosperity and development with daily laughter and joking. Only now did she discover that it couldn’t be spoken—when spoken, it was all blood and tears.

The noblewomen in Chang’an all envied Xinyue for finding a good-tempered husband. Not only was his temperament good, but his conduct was also proper. Even now, the family had only three women. As for romantic affairs with the Princess, in the circle of women, that was a fine tale. Marrying a princess wasn’t a good thing—once you married one home, the mistress had no way to live. But having a private affair with a princess was an excellent thing. You could enjoy the imperial family’s favor without suffering the imperial family’s punishment. Nothing could be better. Moreover, Yun Ye had the opportunity to marry a princess home, yet chose Xinyue as his legal wife. This was incredible! Yun Ye pampered Xinyue to the heavens. Every noblewoman fantasized that her own husband would also be like this…

Xinyue rested her head on her husband’s shoulder, feeling the momentary warmth of intimate closeness. Only at such times did she feel that husband and wife’s hearts were connected.

That Na Rimu who lit the candles was a scoundrel! The innocent Na Rimu was pressed down on the kang by Xinyue and soundly spanked several times on the bottom. Only then did she place the food from the plates on the table and serve her lord his meal.

Na Rimu carefully examined Xinyue’s and her lord’s garments—both were intact, not even disheveled. What were the two of them doing in that pitch-black room? She very much wanted to know.