Yun Ye stared blankly at Li Chengqian with lifeless eyes, asking painfully, “You came to the Yun Family so early in the morning without even attending morning court just to ask me where that one coin went?”

“Yes, I didn’t sleep all night either, just wanting to figure out where that one coin went. As soon as the palace gates opened this morning, I came to find you.” Li Chengqian said very earnestly.

“Do you know that last night I worked until very late to build a free house for your family, and drank a lot of wine? My head hurts terribly right now and I desperately need sleep.”

“I know. Last night you found a large group of bad friends and danced wildly in celebration. You even did the Whirling Dance on a table with your outer robe off. I heard your butt twisted extremely seductively—you seemed very happy. Finally, when seeing them out, you all beat up the night patrol guards together. This morning I heard officials from the Five Cities Military Commission submitted a memorial impeaching you all. To avoid suspicion, I didn’t go to court and played hooky.”

Hearing Li Chengqian fill in the parts of last night he’d lost to memory, Yun Ye’s sleepiness vanished completely. Clutching his blanket, he sat up and asked Li Chengqian, “Do you know how His Majesty will deal with me?”

“I’m the one who came to deal with you. Father Emperor handed over the authority to deal with you all to me, saying you’re a bunch of wastrel troublemakers, telling me to teach you a good lesson. If I’m in a good mood, a scolding will suffice. If I’m in a bad mood, you’ll get the cane. If you prefer to choose confinement, I have no objection either—just four days each. Sleep through it and it’s over. Easy to handle.”

This child Li Chengqian had also learned bad habits now, knowing how to use the power in his hands to threaten people. To improve his mood, Yun Ye told him the answer: “Divide the boss’s money by three and calculate it—you’ll understand. Don’t push backward from the end. That way you’ll overlook numbers smaller than one.”

“My Father Emperor said this was just your little trick, using cleverness in mathematics to deceive people—just a sleight of hand. Pushing forward from the beginning, any reasoning must be based on existence as its foundation. What doesn’t exist is what you used mathematical blind spots to cover up. Now it seems this is indeed the case. In fact, we each paid nine point three coins, not nine coins, correct?”

“The Crown Prince is truly wise. This subject truly cannot match you even on horseback.”

“Yezi, please don’t hate my mother empress over this palace construction matter, okay?” Li Chengqian suddenly popped out with this sentence, making Yun Ye somewhat puzzled.

“Yezi, I’m an imperial prince. It’s not easy to make a friend, and even harder to make a friend like you. Whatever grievances you have, you can tell me. I’ll definitely help you. But please don’t hate my mother empress, okay?”

Yun Ye looked at the Crown Prince for a while and asked him, “Your dark circles aren’t from thinking about that one coin, but because you were worried I had complaints against Her Majesty, which is why you didn’t sleep well all night, correct?”

Li Chengqian hesitated, then nodded.

“Chengqian, let me tell you my impressions of Her Majesty. You judge from the side, how about that?”

A son should not listen to criticism of his father—this was Confucian teaching. Li Chengqian considered it, but still nodded.

“I first met Her Majesty at Niu Jianhu’s house. Cheng Chumo and I teased Niu Jianhu and were chased by him. Fleeing the Niu residence, we accidentally collided with the procession and were captured alive by palace guards, brought before Her Majesty to receive punishment. Her Majesty didn’t punish us—she only made us enter the palace to study. Actually, this wasn’t really punishment anymore—it should be called a reward.”

“Her Majesty gave me a very good impression. I always thought mothers should be like this. I’ve never seen my mother, but Her Majesty gave me a very warm feeling.”

“Later I met your sister. I won’t hide it from you—your sister’s appearance extremely resembles someone, practically identical. In that world, she should have been my wife, which is why I lost my composure. Unfortunately, though they look the same, their hearts are different. Your sister has the appearance of my closest person, but the soul inhabiting that body fills me with extreme disgust. That’s why I lost my reason and offended the Grand Emperor. Do you know, Chengqian, when Her Majesty knelt in the dust pleading for me, I swore I would never do anything to wrong Her Majesty in my lifetime. Just for that bow—it’s enough!”

“You know what happened afterward. Selling horseshoes—rather than saying Her Majesty wanted my copper coins, it’s better to say Her Majesty wanted to protect me. You know, that time we nearly caught all the court ministers in one net.”

“Because of Her Majesty’s protection, I only got the reputation as one of the Three Scourges of Chang’an without suffering substantial harm. Do you think I would resent Her Majesty? As for building the palace, this is a little game between Her Majesty and me. Actually, whether it gets built or not, I won’t be punished.”

“Chengqian, have you ever seen Her Majesty extort anyone besides me?”

“No, absolutely not. My mother is virtuous and kind—she would never do such things. Even when the palace was in dire straits, my mother didn’t even wear floor-length gowns and never reached out to anyone, not even my uncle.”

“Hahahaha!” Yun Ye laughed. After a long while he stopped and said to Li Chengqian again, “Chengqian, do you remember? Right after I sold the horseshoes and you also got some copper coins, you were extorted by His Majesty, and immediately after I was extorted by Her Majesty.”

“This shows Her Majesty doesn’t treat me as an outsider at all. She simply treats me as an ignorant nephew. Confiscating excess money from us is something every parent does. Her Majesty doesn’t consider this extortion at all—she only thinks it’s perfectly natural and right. Now, do you still think I harbor resentment toward Her Majesty?”

Li Chengqian also burst into laughter. All gloom dissipated. Yun Ye could see he was truly laughing with relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

Laughing and laughing, he suddenly stopped and said resentfully, “My sister is just an idiot. She doesn’t want a man like you—what kind does she want? If you became my brother-in-law, how wonderful that would be. Yezi, tell me, is the world you mentioned White Jade Capital? There’s someone who looks very much like my sister there, right? You really like her?”

Li Chengqian asked very nervously. He had always wanted to know whether there really was a place called White Jade Capital.

“Chengqian, what I tell you, just keep in your heart. Otherwise it will bring you fatal disaster. Yes, White Jade Capital exists. I’ve been there. The people there can fly to the ninth heaven above and descend to the ocean’s depths. Unfortunately, I can never return.”

Li Chengqian trembled all over with excitement from knowing such an enormous secret, asking with a quavering voice, “Why can’t you return? Let’s go see it together. I also want to look.”

“There’s a strange theory here. When a person runs faster than light, perhaps they can change time. Chengqian, tell me, how can we run faster than light?”

Li Chengqian’s jaw nearly dropped to the ground. After a long while he said, “How fast does light run? Who knows?”

“I know. If you divide one hour into seven thousand two hundred parts, in each part light can travel six hundred thousand li.” Yun Ye explained to Li Chengqian with a bitter smile.

“Then wouldn’t it be impossible forever? What if those people come over?”

“To come over also requires running faster than light. If someone can truly do that, they’re an immortal. If they’ve already become an immortal, who would care about being emperor or not? So put your mind at ease and give more consideration to the Xueyantuo, Tuyuhun, Goguryeo, Tubo, Nanzhao—these fellows are the real deal.”

“Yezi, I’ll ask one last question. After asking, I promise I’ll never ask again and won’t go around talking about it. I won’t even tell my Father Emperor. This is my guarantee.”

“Then ask. This is the last question. If you ask again afterward, I’ll beat you up.”

“Since the people there can fly, can they also live a long time?”

“Generally they live about seventy or eighty years. The oldest seemed to live one hundred twenty years. I haven’t heard of anyone older.” Yun Ye told the truth. Though people in his previous world generally lived longer than Tang Dynasty people, comparing extreme longevity, they might not live as long as Tang Dynasty people.

Li Chengqian was very disappointed with this answer, but he kept his oath and truly didn’t ask anymore.

Any secret kept in one’s heart for too long becomes a burden. Now that someone could share it—how wonderful! Yun Ye had originally thought he could carry this secret to the grave. Now it was different. Yun Ye had to give a positive answer—that he truly had been to White Jade Capital. Always speaking ambiguously would eventually arouse suspicion and even make people doubt his character.

Lies don’t have much staying power. Anyone would think about it. Rather than let them think in a bad direction, better to speak openly and magnanimously.

Li Chengqian’s guarantee didn’t have much credibility. For such a naive youth to be watertight before two thousand-year-old foxes like Li Er and Zhangsun—that was harder than a sow climbing a tree.

Moreover, his own loopholes were truly too many. If not patched up now, there would be no chance later.

“What about my sister? I heard she’s about to marry into Lingnan. It was her own request. This time with Lingnan clans submitting, many great families petitioned my Father Emperor for marriage, hoping imperial bloodlines could reach Lingnan, which would greatly benefit national stability. It’s still unknown which family my sister will choose.”

Hearing Li Chengqian say this, Yun Ye felt an inexplicable pain in his heart. But thinking he was also about to marry, he forcibly suppressed this feeling.

“When I was with your sister, she often urged me to become a pillar of the court. Originally I thought she was just urging me to advance. Now it seems she herself extremely likes power. She looks down on palace power—she wants to taste power’s flavor herself.”

“She wants to learn from the Former Han King of Huainan’s daughter who voluntarily married the Xiongnu King, wanting to control his power by currying favor with the Xiongnu King. Does my sister want to marry a Lingnan native king and then supplant him? No way—is she really that kind of person?”

“I’m afraid so. You only need to look at Li Anlan’s choice to know. As long as she chooses a family with sparse population but great power, it proves she really wants to do this. No wonder she hoped I’d stay far away—afraid I’d get hurt. So that’s how it is!”