“That won’t do, Jingwen. You know Old Grandmother wants to go to Lingnan to see her grandson. She’ll scold whoever tries to stop her. This younger brother can only let Grandmother rest in Yangzhou for a few days. When the wind comes, we’ll have to set sail and cross the sea, heading straight for Guangzhou.”

The nobles of Chang’an all knew about the affair between Yun Ye and Li Anlan. While envious, many had no good feelings toward imperial princesses, but they were quite interested in the widowed princess, hoping they too could be like Yun Ye and obtain a commandery prince title for their sons.

Zheng Shuang nodded and said: “Since that’s the case, rest well these days. When the sea wind rises, I’ll come see you off again. During this time I won’t disturb you. If you need anything, just order the steward. If furniture or porcelain isn’t sufficient, have someone go to my house to fetch them. We’re brothers—don’t stand on ceremony. Tomorrow evening, this younger brother will host a banquet for Brother Yun on the pleasure boat at Deyue Tower. The governor and his assistant will also come—elder brother mustn’t forget.”

With such thoughtful arrangements, how could Yun Ye have any reason to refuse? He expressed his thanks repeatedly, making clear he would definitely go tomorrow and dared not disappoint Jingwen’s kind intentions.

Xiao Wu really liked the pond of lotus flowers in the back courtyard. The seventh month lotus blooms were in full splendor, and the huge lotus leaves covered the small pond completely. Xiao Wu didn’t like lotus flowers growing in the pond at all—she liked lotus flowers she could hold in her hands. She dragged Di Renjie to pick lotus flowers for her, even making gestures that if he didn’t pick lotus flowers for her, she would push him into the pond. This frightened Di Renjie into crying out—lotus stems had many barbs that hurt when they pricked your hand. Xiao Wu was afraid of pain, which was why she forced him to pick them. How could he do such a thing? He wouldn’t go even if beaten to death.

Han Zhe, who was admiring the lotus flowers, had long grown accustomed to the Yun family’s coarseness. With a wave of his hand, he threw out a dagger. The dagger spun and cut several lotus stems emerging from the water. Before the lotus flowers fell into the water, he used a shiny black whip to coil around those stems. With a light flick of his wrist, the lotus flowers were brought up. At this moment, the blade also spun back. Han Zhe reached out to catch it, and in a few strokes scraped off all the barbs on the lotus flowers, then handed them to Xiao Wu.

“Who asked you to meddle? I only like the ones Di Renjie picks. I don’t want the ones you picked!” No one expected that at this moment Xiao Wu would actually throw a tantrum, tears welling up as if about to cry.

Di Renjie quickly took the lotus flowers from Han Zhe’s hands, rearranged the order of the stems, picked some unknown grass leaves from beside the pond, and swiftly transformed the bunch of lotus flowers into a vivid floral arrangement. He placed it in his own hat and presented it to Xiao Wu, his manner extremely fawning. Han Zhe shook his head and left—he couldn’t bear to watch.

Xiao Wu’s aggrieved appearance with tears about to fall vanished in an instant, and even her tears quickly disappeared. She took Di Renjie’s hat, stomped hard on his foot, and ran off.

Di Renjie hopped in place holding his foot—it really hurt! Xiao Wu’s shoe soles had a blade—this was a birthday gift from the Gongshu family to Xiao Wu. As long as the big toe pressed a trigger, a blade would spring out. It was a gift Xiao Wu loved very much. For this trip, Xiao Wu had specially worn these shoes. Di Renjie took off his shoe and sock to inspect his toe—fortunately, no problem, just very painful. Knowing full well that Xiao Wu was difficult to deal with, why did he still approach her? Wouldn’t it be better to properly listen to Grandpa Liu Fang explain military strategy? He was asking for suffering.

“Husband, your female disciple looks very hard to marry off. Even the good-tempered Xiao Jie can’t stand her—who else could tolerate her? Marquis Jie is out of the question—Xiao Wu doesn’t think anything of him at all. With her standards so high she can’t succeed and won’t settle for less, how long do you plan to support her?”

Through the gauze curtain blocking mosquitoes and flies, Yun Ye and Xinyue saw the scene by the lotus pond clearly. Xinyue, waving her beauty fan, became unhappy seeing Xiao Wu bully Xiao Jie.

Of her husband’s three disciples, Xinyue liked Di Renjie the most. Though she also liked Shishi and Xiao Wu, they couldn’t compare to Di Renjie. But it was because there were too many girls in the household, Xinyue always said this.

“Let me tell you, of the three children, if we’re talking about achievements, Xiao Wu will definitely be the highest. If this child were a man, there would be no limit to what she could accomplish. Since she was born female, she’s destined for a restless life. I really want to betroth her to Xiao Jie—perhaps only by marrying Xiao Jie could she be happy for life. For other men to control her would be too difficult. But doing so would make Xiao Jie suffer. Xiao Wu’s restless nature is truly troublesome.”

“It’s not my place to say, but if you’re teaching disciples, just properly teach the two males. In the future, our household’s children would at least have a few older brothers to look after them. But you had to teach two girls. Shishi benefited the imperial family. When I entered the palace, Consort Yang looked at Shishi with a smile so wide her mouth was crooked. She couldn’t wait to immediately marry Shishi into the palace. That useless son of hers—how could he be worthy of our Shishi?”

“As for Xiao Wu, you’ve also taught her well. In academy examinations, she scores even higher than Xiao Jie. Several teachers all say it’s a pity—she was born into the wrong body. If born male, she’d be another living version of you.”

Yun Ye stretched his back and turned to Xinyue saying: “Less flattery. The old teachers have never looked at me favorably. Whoever sees me lectures me—the empress is the same. Count it—before there were four old teachers, then it became Old Master Yan Zhitui, then those three who came down from Mount Tai, and finally Old Master Yao Silian. This one was most direct—when I said something wrong, he broke a pot over my head.”

“Wife, tell me—how much must I be hated to live like this? Li Tai said others couldn’t bear to see the best sandalwood split open to make a chamber pot, so they all tried hard to rescue it. In the end, they discovered it could only be a chamber pot and gave up. Tell me, is that bastard right or wrong?”

“Complete nonsense! He’s the chamber pot. My husband is rare excellent jade. Everyone wanted to carve you according to their wishes into a priceless treasure, but finally discovered the original form was best. They’re not angry at you—they’re angry at themselves. My grandfather said this personally—it can’t be wrong.” Xinyue thrust out her full bosom and spoke these words forcefully and resonantly, filled with pride.

Yun Ye nodded saying: “I also think he’s wrong. Looks like Grandfather has better judgment after all. In the future, whenever you hear such praise for me, you must tell me.”

If Han Zhe heard the couple’s self-praise like this, he would surely vomit. But here there were only a few frogs crouching on lotus leaves bathing in the evening breeze and singing—croaking their strong agreement.

Right or wrong aside, people always need companions. The reason people seek wives is actually to find their most devoted allies. Otherwise, living muddleheaded for decades alone, accidentally killing someone without even one person to speak well of you—that would be too tragic. Even Qin Hui had Lady Wang at home to show him warm concern.

The world is too big, too complex. We’re not silver coins—we can’t make everyone like us. So we should try hard to find a wife who, even if we kill someone, will help us keep watch. Such a wife, even without looks or money—don’t hesitate at all, quickly marry her home and worship her like a bodhisattva. This lifetime you’ve struck gold.

Perhaps because he’d lived two lifetimes, Yun Ye had long since stopped pursuing vigorous, passionate love. He only wanted to find someone devoted, who when he had nightmares, would have a warm embrace he could burrow into.

Xinyue unconsciously nestled in her husband’s embrace, languidly fanning the fan. She felt very beautiful. She dealt with families of princes and high ministers all day long—she knew very clearly what their back courtyards were like. Wives and concubines wished each other dead. Her own household was different. To care for everyone’s feelings, her husband had been working hard to maintain harmony. He truly cared about each person, including that shameless Li Anlan. He made himself like a spinning top—just didn’t know which day he would spin dizzy.

The night before her husband went on campaign, knowing he wouldn’t see Na Rimu and the child after returning, he held the child and walked around the room the entire night. She had told her husband that if he couldn’t bear it, he shouldn’t let Na Rimu mother and daughter leave. Her husband said that keeping Na Rimu shut up in Chang’an would cause this beautiful prairie wildflower to wither, so he’d rather grieve himself than let go and allow Na Rimu to live her own life.

In a tranquil environment, time always passes quickly. Jiangnan’s gentle mountains and waters easily make people daydream. Dream water towns, old Jiangnan—Jiangnan is most suitable for reminiscing, especially when the misty drizzle comes at will. Even in summer, those rain threads slant and weave densely together like a great net, sweeping up all your sorrowful thoughts.

Yun Ye wanted to go to stone-paved alleys to find girls like lilac flowers—not for beautiful feminine charms, but to seek that trace of tenderness in his heart. Unfortunately, Tang people were fierce, north and south alike. Doing so would risk being beaten to death as a villain. Even if not beaten to death, he’d be exiled five hundred li. Yun Ye knew Tang law well.

Xinyue took a long breath, as if just waking from a dream. That moment of comfortable feeling was enough for her to remember for a lifetime. She was greedy and wanted more. Her eyes watery, she tugged her husband’s sleeve, indicating it was getting late and they needed to change clothes and retire early—perhaps that soul-stirring feeling would return…

Yun Ye didn’t understand why he was lying on the bed. Just now they’d clearly been discussing several disciples. Seeing Xinyue’s plump ivory-colored body, he smiled mutely. So-called “beauty doesn’t seduce people, people seduce themselves”—this was it.

The feeling of leisurely wandering was truly good. Not needing to think about anything, living muddleheaded like this for a lifetime wouldn’t be bad either. Leave Chang’an for Li Chengqian to worry about, leave Yuezhou for Guan Tinglong to labor over. He himself would wander among mountains and waters—that was also fine. Thinking about how he would soon wear an eyepatch and command wind and rain on the great seas, Yun Ye trembled with excitement.

Trembling wasn’t exactly good though, because Xinyue turned her body back over, looking at Yun Ye like a little cat…