Yun Ye returned home clean and proper with Liu Jinbao. Seeing his two sons rocking back and forth on wooden horses, the dark thoughts in his heart were immediately cast aside. He didn’t allow such filthy matters to appear in this household. Stepping on the front of the wooden horse, it immediately stopped moving. Li Rong hugged his father’s arm, trying to push it away but unable to do so. Just as he was about to cry, he discovered the wooden horse could move again. He immediately forgot the recent unpleasantness and continued racing horses with his younger brother.
The child Shishi had been very odd these past few days, as if she always had something to say to him. Several times he’d given her opportunities, but after opening her mouth for ages, Shishi would eventually turn and run away. What was this about?
Watching the child’s running figure, Yun Ye finally noticed this child had nearly grown to his shoulder height. His heart stirred. With a bitter smile, he decided to have Xinyue go ask. Some matters were difficult for girls to discuss with their master.
Sure enough, it was happy news—Shishi had come of age with her hairpin ceremony. This was indeed great news. Previously, with Daya and the others, Grandmother had managed things, so Yun Ye hadn’t paid attention. Now it was Shishi’s turn. This silly girl, experiencing her first monthly cycle, thought she’d contracted an illness and had been sad for two days. Only after Xinyue explained women’s matters to her did she feel at ease.
Xiao Wu grabbed the reluctant-to-speak Shishi, insisting on figuring out what was going on—why would the mistress announce that Shishi’s allowance would double? Since this wasn’t her own home, Xiao Wu was extremely demanding about fairness.
After the mistress explained it clearly to her, she became very dissatisfied with her own body. She was only one year younger than Shishi—why would Shishi be considered a young lady while she still had to wear the silly hairstyle of little girls along with Xiao Ya? Shishi could already wear hairpins. The mistress had also prepared a golden walking hairpin for her. Why could she only use fragrant wood hairpins? And aunts and relatives had sent so many silk garments. Why? Just because she bled?
Usually everything was hers first priority, but this time Shishi had taken precedence. Xiao Wu was very dissatisfied. However, seeing that Xiao Ya, Di Renjie, and Dongnan-Xibei were like her with no increased allowances, she confirmed this was related to physical development and had nothing to do with Master’s favoritism. Therefore, she very much hoped to immediately become a young lady. The peony-patterned garment Auntie gave Shishi was really beautiful.
Yun Ye had no time to deal with Xiao Wu’s little thoughts. Coming to the front courtyard, the only female resident in the front courtyard was Consort Ronghua. During this period, she’d lived very peacefully. Yun Ye never sought her out, nor did Xinyue. Aside from the steward delivering five strings of copper monthly, no one entered. In the Yun household, she was destined to be a forgotten person. She liked it this way. Apart from walking around the courtyard daily, she never stepped outside the gate, living a simple and quiet life with two Korean maidservants.
“Ronghua, let me tell you some good news—Gae Suwen has arrived in Chang’an. He’s come looking for you.” Yun Ye stood outside the courtyard, smiling at Consort Ronghua.
Supporting her belly, Consort Ronghua’s legs went soft and she nearly collapsed to the ground. Her maidservants quickly steadied her, nervously watching Yun Ye outside the courtyard with his smiling face.
Ronghua wiped her face and stood up again. Walking to the gate, she asked Yun Ye coldly: “Has he also fallen into your hands? I want to see him. Whether he’s dead or alive, I want to see him. My child probably won’t have a chance to see his father. Seeing the corpse would be good too.”
“You guessed wrong. This time Gae Suwen learned to be clever. He came to Chang’an with the status of an envoy. Bound by national law, I have no way to finish him off. Yesterday in the palace he’s already demanded that I hand you over. No choice—I’ll have to deliver you to Korea.”
Consort Ronghua’s face instantly turned deathly pale. Yun Ye spoke very clearly—he didn’t plan to hand her over to Gae Suwen, but rather planned to deliver her to Gao Jianwu. Now with her pregnant belly, how could she face Gao Jianwu?
“You’re so vicious!” Consort Ronghua clenched her fists, her nails once again digging into her flesh. For the first time, she had thoughts of death. Her affair with Gae Suwen didn’t matter, but once Great Tang openly sent a pregnant woman to the Korean royal city, neither she nor Gae Suwen would have any way to survive. Her own death didn’t matter, but the child in her belly might be Suwen’s only offspring. No matter what, there couldn’t be the slightest mishap.
“Yun Ye, what exactly do you want? If I can do it, I’ll definitely comply with your wishes.”
“Look, I’m a good person. Gae Suwen is my enemy. Now he’s even slandering me in the palace—he desperately wants me dead. But toward you, and toward the child in your belly, I’ve never caused harm. The allowance you receive in the Yun household is the same as my sister’s. This doesn’t count as insulting you, right? I haven’t even restricted your freedom—it’s just that you yourself don’t want to go out. As an enemy, doing this much, I’m pretty remarkable, aren’t I?”
“As a noble, you have grace. Speak—what exactly do you want me to do? As long as it protects the child, I’ll do it.” Ronghua calmed down, performed a courtesy to Yun Ye, and said composedly.
“In this world, the guilty ones are us—either despicable or noble, either deceived or clear-minded. Deception is an ability we’re all born with. Now I’d like to ask you to display your ability. Can you personally tell Gae Suwen that you don’t want to return to Korea? Say you’re living very happily now. Let him go back by himself, alright? In other words, you don’t love him anymore. You’ve fallen in love with someone else and are pregnant with his child. This someone else can be anyone, just not me. I’d like to recommend my household’s Chengxin in friendship—he’s so beautiful, saying this would be more convincing.”
Hearing these words, Ronghua immediately lost all hope. Grasping her maidservant’s arm to barely keep from collapsing, she said weakly: “What exactly are you trying to do? You’ve already destroyed his capital as a man, and now you want to destroy his pride as a man too?”
“I said, the guilt is mine. We’re all sinners. Gae Suwen is the adulterer, you’re the adulteress, and I’m the damn procurer. None of us count as good people. However, in this incident there’s one innocent person—the child in your womb. I’ll give you a guarantee: when this child is five years old, I’ll release you and the child back to Korea. I’ll definitely send you back safely. If there’s half a false word, may both humans and gods condemn me.”
“Think clearly—this child is Gae Suwen’s only offspring. For the child’s sake, us as parents suffering a bit is completely reasonable. You wouldn’t want Gae Suwen to have no one to worship him in the future, would you?”
“Aren’t you afraid this child will dismember you in the future?” Consort Ronghua’s face had already twisted into a demonic appearance, uttering oath-like words one by one.
Yun Ye laughed, rubbing his brow and saying: “You won’t bear to. You know what kind of person I am. You won’t bear to have him come to his death. Moreover, a child without power endures countless hardships and finally avenges his never-seen father—don’t you think that’s an extremely unreasonable story? The correct story should be like this: that child wants revenge, but ends up killed by his powerful enemy. That’s the correct and reasonable story.”
“Raising your child, watching him have children and grandchildren, continuing the bloodline—that’s correct. I’m giving you one night to consider. Tomorrow before my morning court, if I don’t hear your definite and accurate answer, I’ll immediately dispatch people to send you back to Korea overnight, deliver you to Gao Jianwu. Believe me, Gae Suwen’s speed definitely won’t be as fast as mine.”
Having finished speaking, Yun Ye very politely helped her close the courtyard gate. With his hands clasped behind his head, he walked cheerfully toward the rear courtyard. Sometimes being a bad person was pretty good too. He didn’t believe that a despairing Gae Suwen in this state still wouldn’t go back and rebel. At this time, the only thing that could fill his empty, lonely heart was probably the throne. Korea needed a large-scale internal strife. In history, Gae Suwen had plenty of time to prepare, which is why he could rebel without harming the nation. Now the timeline had been greatly advanced—could he still achieve such perfection?
Facts proved that Chengxin was the best actor and also a shameless person. After hearing the task Yun Ye arranged for him, not only did he show no unease, but he was eager to try. He was prepared not to sleep all night to thoroughly work out every aspect of tomorrow’s performance. This fellow was born to do this work.
“Don’t reveal your effeminate side. Tomorrow you must act like an adulterer full of sunny vitality. You can’t let people see through the flaw. If you’re exposed, go clean out the pigsty for a month.”
Chengxin, whose obsession with cleanliness far exceeded Yun Ye’s, upon hearing the words “pigsty,” covered his mouth and rushed headlong into the bamboo grove. Immediately, heart-wrenching retching sounds echoed from the bamboo grove.
Returning to his study, Yun Ye began writing his memorial. He needed to tell Li Er the facts before everyone began denouncing him. The rest would depend on Li Er’s perfect cooperation. No need to worry the Emperor would be unhappy—the recently bored Emperor would definitely be very happy to see this great performance. No one hoped more than him for the Koreans to kill each other.
While Yun Ye wrote furiously, Gae Suwen was chatting idly with Takayama Yoko at the Bureau of Receptions. He had to admit that the current Takayama Yoko exuded infinite charm throughout her body. Between every frown and smile, that intoxicating allure filled the entire room. When her robe sleeves danced, fragrant breezes came in waves. This wasn’t the scent of powder—it emanated from her skin. Takayama Yoko’s transformation left Gae Suwen extremely astonished.
“Princess Yoko, not having seen you for many days, Your Highness’s charm surpasses the past. This is truly cause for congratulations.”
Takayama Yoko shook her head bitterly and said: “No matter what changes I have, in the Tang nation, no one considers me a princess anymore. They all think I’m a singing girl who performs erotic dances. I’ve completely lost face for the Land of the Rising Sun.”
“Why is this? Didn’t Your Highness come to the Tang nation precisely to promote the formation of the envoy system, to draw sufficient nourishment from this nation to feed back to your country? Why have you fallen to such circumstances?”
Takayama Yoko didn’t speak. Instead, she took out a scroll from the brocade box behind her. The scroll depicted a man in blue robes sitting behind a low table, appreciating the “Heavenly Demon Dance,” the corners of his mouth bearing a mocking smile while his eyes shot out cruel, cold light.