Xiao Wu really enjoyed it when her master punished her. When she was little and she and Xiao Ya made mistakes, their master would place them on his knee and spank their bottoms with a bamboo paddle. After she turned twelve, this treatment stopped. Now that she was a grown young lady, naturally there would be no more such crude corporal punishment—it was replaced with confinement. This disappointed Xiao Wu for a long time. Watching her master unscrupulously beat Di Renjie until he squealed and cried out, she actually discovered that she was extremely envious of Di Renjie.

When her chest first began to develop, she hated it terribly. She would tightly bind her body with cloth strips. How could girls of the Great Tang not know what menstruation was? The first time it came, she should have told her master’s wife, but she was possessed by some strange impulse to tell her master instead. Seeing her master at a complete loss, she was extremely delighted.

This was the feeling of being valued, of being cared for, wasn’t it? Thinking of her master hurrying off to find his wife to figure out a solution, Xiao Wu felt extremely joyful. The matter in Jiannan originally didn’t need to be told to her master. Xiao An had also written saying he had handled it perfectly and flawlessly. Even if the matter came to light, it was he who had done it. The Prince of Shu killing a commoner wasn’t considered any great matter. Xiao Wu just wanted to get more care from her master, even if it was punishment.

Master was actually a very soft-hearted person, and moreover, someone without great ambitions. When they were in Lingnan, Xiao Wu had even thought her master planned to carve out territory and become king. As it turned out, he had only forcefully conquered the Southern Seas. Attacking those native monkeys held not half a bit of difficulty, and establishing a country would have had not half a bit of difficulty either.

Xiao Wu had secretly drafted an embryonic nation with Tang people as primary and natives as secondary, and had even quietly formulated a plan to eliminate Li Tai. If her master had such ambitions, Xiao Wu felt she had the ability to coordinate with Teacher Liu Fang to force Feng Ang into rebellion.

Eliminating the five Captains of the Lingnan Navy was extremely simple. Those simple-minded military men could die silently and without a trace under the coordination of Dongyu and the man-bear.

If Lingnan could be held, they would hold it; if not, they would retreat to the Southern Seas. With the Lingnan Navy in hand, the Great Tang’s other warships would be no match. The only drawback was that many people would die—extremely, extremely many people. When Xiao Wu listed out the first sacrifice roster on paper, she determined that her master absolutely would not rebel, would not rebel no matter what, because the first person on the roster was Cheng Yaojin, and the second was Niu Jinda. Yun Shou wouldn’t have any trouble—the strange Teacher Lishi would definitely bring Yun Shou back to Lingnan safely.

So after Xiao Wu had formulated the plan, she had secretly burned it. Di Renjie didn’t know that during a certain period, Xiao Wu had even entertained thoughts of abandoning his parents.

When her master hurriedly rushed toward Liaodong with the warships, Xiao Wu muttered resentfully under her breath those three words: “rotten good person.” For the sake of emotions, he didn’t even want royal ambitions and hegemonic enterprise. However, the more this was so, the more Xiao Wu respected her master. This was a clever person who lived by emotions—or perhaps a fool.

Elder sister was too stupid. If back then at Yushan she had interacted more with their master, she might have been able to plant a shadow in his heart. Once there was this shadow, she could have borrowed the power of the Yun Family without any scruples. Her brothers absolutely wouldn’t dare harm her in the slightest, and becoming a concubine would have been perfectly natural and logical.

Stupid woman! Being their master’s concubine would receive more care than being the mistress of another family’s household. Now that she was no longer a virgin, where could there be any more opportunities? It was just empty talk now. Na Rimu, a crude woman who carried the smell of mutton, with no virtues except being somewhat good-looking—yet it was precisely the grassland people’s daring to love and hate nature that allowed her to truly become one of the mistresses of the Yun Family.

Lingdang was even stranger. Just because the drunk master had held and embraced her for one night, she became a concubine. Who knows if that woman was playing tricks? Xiao Wu always looked at that woman, as timid as a rabbit, with suspicious eyes. Sometimes, a woman only needs to be brave once to have lifetime happiness. Lingdang must have done exactly that.

Rotten good person! Beyond saving! He didn’t want royal ambitions and hegemonic enterprise, and seemingly didn’t like gold, jade, or beautiful women either. A lifetime of effort just to seek ease and leisure. The military authority that others racked their brains and refused to relinquish—when everyone was arguing endlessly, they just brought out their master to fill the gap, because as long as they argued out a result, just by giving a heads-up, their master would happily go home. Only he treated the Ministry of War position as work to do, rather than a tool for seeking benefits for his family clan.

Xiao Wu criticized her master’s shortcomings in her heart, yet cheerfully followed behind her master walking home, listening to her master’s rambling reminders to watch her step. Her whole body felt comfortable. A father’s back should look exactly like this—it didn’t need to be particularly broad, as long as he could walk in front when it was time to block wind and rain.

That damned Wang Cai was biting her skirt again. Where did he learn this foul habit of lifting women’s skirts? Xiao Wu turned back and slapped him across his long face, then watched this fellow blink his eyes and go past her to complain to their master. Xiao Wu secretly laughed. Her master and this strange horse really were a perfect match.

Returning home, Zhangsun was sitting with Xinyue and the others on cushions in the great hall, sewing air bladders. The silk cloth was extremely dense, and the long needles had great difficulty piercing through it. Zhangsun very elegantly scratched the needle on her head, then laboriously threaded it through. Doing this work was actually very arduous—every woman’s hands were wrapped in hemp cloth, with blood still seeping out. As for Xiao Ya, she cried out in pain from time to time.

Although Zhangsun’s movements were elegant, two blood blisters still appeared on her fingers. It looked like she had been working for quite some time. This was stupidity beyond measure! Didn’t she know to wear a thimble?

Seeing a roomful of women all looking at him with complete bewilderment, Yun Ye knew this thing probably hadn’t appeared in the Great Tang yet. He didn’t explain to them either, and went directly to his blacksmith, requesting the forging of several dozen iron pieces. Then, using a chisel, countless small pits should be chiseled onto the iron pieces—they mustn’t pierce through—and then bent into rings that could fit on fingers.

“My lord, iron rings are only used by leather workers with this thing, and they only have one pit,” the blacksmith worried that the lord didn’t know, and hastily told him the origin of this thing.

“What business is it of yours what I use it for? If I tell you to do it, just do it. Where do you get all this nonsense?” Yun Ye was too lazy to explain. Old Qian also kicked the blacksmith’s bottom, telling him to shut his mouth and quickly get to work according to the lord’s instructions—that was the proper thing to do.

The Yun Family was like this—kicking bottoms was already quite severe punishment. The blacksmith also knew he had spoken out of turn. He gave an honest laugh and hurriedly began working. The man was simple, but his craftsmanship wasn’t simple at all. Before long, several dozen iron rings had been manufactured by him and his apprentice. After he polished off the burrs, Yun Ye tried one on his finger—very good! It would definitely improve the women’s work efficiency. Most importantly, their hands wouldn’t have those calluses anymore. Even the most beautiful women, when you grasped their hands, would have thick layers of calluses on their index fingers and thumbs—not comfortable at all. Some families choosing brides specifically picked girls with thick calluses on their fingers, saying such girls were diligent.

He had no intention of making a gold one for Zhangsun. Having an iron one to muddle through work was fine. If she wanted a gold one, she could make it herself. She had already plagiarized his designs for the baby bottle and baby carriage—the thimble would probably also be hard to escape her clutches. Zhangsun paid extremely close attention to these small items. If she could get her hands on them, she absolutely wouldn’t let them flow outside.

Returning to the great hall again, he tossed the handful of thimbles onto the silk cloth and gestured for them to try them on. Xiao Ya picked one up but didn’t know where to wear it. If it was jewelry, it was pitch black and not good-looking at all.

Zhangsun picked up a thimble and studied it carefully. Suddenly her eyes brightened. She put the thimble on her middle finger, then sewed the silk cloth again. The needle’s tail pressed against the thimble—with just a slight effort, the long needle pierced through the silk cloth. It saved so much more effort than before, she couldn’t even count how many times over.

She raised her head, looked at Yun Ye with a smile and said: “I don’t know how your mind grows. You can casually make women’s items too. Don’t look at how small this thing is—its usefulness is not small at all.”

“Leather workers have been using this thing for how many years, yet they don’t know to casually modify it to make their work easier. Each one’s fingers are poked by needles until they’re a rotten mess, yet it’s become a symbol of diligence. I don’t know how to evaluate this.”

Just as the words left his mouth, Zhangsun pointed at the main gate and said to Yun Ye: “Get out! Make us some gold ones and bring them here.”

At the Yun Family home, Zhangsun was even more at ease than in the imperial palace. She could do whatever she wanted and say whatever she wanted. Throughout the year she always had to come to the Yun Family to throw her weight around a few times. Having been driven out by others, he told Old Qian to find a silversmith—must be from their own household—to urgently manufacture a batch of gold thimbles to match for the masters of the house. Then manufacture some silver ones—every maid in the household would get one. Consider it a benefit.

Di Renjie specifically came over to apologize to his master. His fiancée had been confined by their master for three months—this must be because she had made a major mistake. When he asked Xiao Wu, she wouldn’t say clearly, only saying that their master was dissatisfied with her way and method of handling Wu Family affairs. Many matters had been personally handled with Di Renjie’s help, so how could he not know why their master was angry?

“Watch your wife well. Don’t be careless in the future. If she gets crooked ideas, ordinary people can’t withstand it. Tell your family to treat Xiao Wu like an ancestor—there’s nothing wrong with that. If you do, your Di Family’s prosperity will be just around the corner. If you offend her, it would be strange if the Di Family doesn’t have chickens flying and dogs jumping over walls. Speaking of arranging your engagement, I always feel I’ve wronged your parents.”

Di Renjie said with a bitter smile: “My parents already treat her like an ancestor. You don’t know—she hasn’t even entered the family yet, but matters of the inner chambers are already decided by Xiao Wu. My mother willingly handed over her authority to Xiao Wu, and she admires to the point of complete prostration Xiao Wu’s ability to reasonably and legitimately obtain six thousand silver coins for the family in just a few short months. Now, Xiao Wu is more favored in the family than I am.”

“Don’t be too arrogant. This business of exchanging copper coins for silver coins won’t last more than a few months. Once the heavy snow melts, humph humph humph, when His Majesty the big spender suddenly withdraws, the value of copper coins will drop to the lowest point. At that time, you’ll cry without tears.”

Di Renjie gave a crafty laugh and said monkey-like to Yun Ye: “Xiao Wu said she plans to advance and retreat together with Her Majesty. This way she can eat up every last bit of profit. Money that comes free—if you don’t take it, you’re a fool.”