Having seen all the various states of the world, Yun Ye also began self-examination. Bai Yujing had completely become a huge problem. There were always people you couldn’t anticipate coming to cause trouble. Counting on his fingers, not one was easy to deal with—both civil and military approaches had been used. Ding Yanping, lying in bed half-dead, still harbored treacherous thoughts about the jade token even at this stage.

Time and again forcing Dan Ying to steal the jade token. He couldn’t understand Tang people’s thinking—having already tried to kill his own disciple, why was he still so persistent in ordering him around? The proud Dan Ying actually didn’t refuse either. Several times he came before Yun Ye hemming and hawing, wanting to say something but too embarrassed. Always stopping halfway and going out with a red face.

When Qiu Ran Ke left, he gave Yun Ye another jade token. These two jade tokens were clearly cut from the same piece of jade. If you placed the two tokens side by side, even the grain patterns on them could connect.

He’d looked at it under sunlight—nothing special. He’d looked at it under moonlight too—also no reaction. Even using strong light had no effect. A jade token was just a jade token, nothing extraordinary about it.

Yun Ye remembered the jade token he’d forged two years ago and wondered how it was doing now. At the time, he’d been bored and recalled the techniques used by counterfeit antique makers in his past life, so he’d conducted an experiment. He didn’t know how it had turned out.

Under that peony in the garden, Yun Ye covered his nose with a sweat towel and with considerable effort dug up a sheep’s skeleton. After searching for a long time in the skeleton, he finally found a piece of jade wrapped in mud. After retrieving it, he buried the skeleton again. Although peonies bloomed enthusiastically, they were actually flesh-eating flowers. If anyone buried a dead sheep, dead ox, dead dog, or dead person beneath one, that peony would bloom vigorously the following year.

When admiring peonies in the imperial palace, he had inexplicably said something at the time that made Zhangsun furiously angry. She even drove him out of the palace and forbade him from going near peonies afterward. If he violated this, he would be immediately chopped up as flower fertilizer.

All he’d done was ask whether the flowers bloomed so vigorously because they’d eaten a lot of human flesh. Anyone hearing this would know it was praising the peonies for blooming gorgeously. Did Zhangsun need to get so angry? Unless she had a guilty conscience, there was no other explanation.

Returning to his study, he closed the door and hid alone inside to clean the jade pendant. It was ancient jade to begin with—he’d only re-carved some strokes. This wasn’t much different from the original jade pendant. The shape, material quality, and craftsmanship showed no flaws. It was just that Yun Ye had made some harmless modifications to the patterns on it. For example, adding two strokes in blank areas and reducing a few lines in densely patterned areas. This way it would have balanced density and spacing, more in line with Yun Ye’s aesthetic taste.

The jade pendant always had a faint fishy stench. When Uncle Lishi carved it and brought it over at the time, it didn’t have this smell. But when Yun Ye thought about this jade having spent two years in a dead sheep’s belly, he felt relieved. The Yun Family had properly mixed ambergris. He asked Chengxin for a bottle, put the jade pendant in it, and didn’t believe the strong fragrance couldn’t cover up that bit of stench on the jade token.

Three days later, Yun Ye took out the jade token. Sure enough, the jade token was fragrant. He had Chengxin’s dog nose specially smell it—he didn’t detect any other strange odor on the jade pendant. He just kept saying what a pity about that priceless ambergris.

Since those two jade pendants showed nothing remarkable, he stopped bothering with them. He dug a pit in front of the ant nest at the academy, buried the small box containing the jade pendants inside. Yun Ye couldn’t think of anyone who could retrieve the box. As for Li Tai, he’d played with the two jade tokens for two days. His final conclusion was they were just two pieces of jade. Once he lost interest in something, he would never look at it again.

Li’er’s grand ceremony finally ended. It had taken a full two months, even delaying the major examinations that should have been held in autumn. He didn’t have the ability to balance the academy and other students, so he had to bite the bullet and move the examinations to next year. He was already considering Yun Ye’s suggestion of major examinations every three years.

The jade pendant Yun Ye hung at his bedside finally disappeared. This greatly delighted Yun Ye. Needless to say, Ding Yanping had also disappeared. Dan Ying must have disappeared with him. This fellow who valued loyalty more than his own life ultimately couldn’t withstand Ding Yanping’s persistent pestering and helped his master steal the jade pendant.

Snow was falling outside. This was the result of a night of north wind. In such weather, Dan Ying taking a cripple with only one leg couldn’t get far. Better to wait a bit more and let them run farther. Yun Ye felt he was definitely a very loyal person.

Yun Baobao dragged his father to go roll in the snow. He’d just done this and received two hard slaps on the bottom from his mother. Two-and-a-half-year-old Yun Baobao could already discern who in this family truly had the final say. As long as Father took him along, even if they poked a hole in the sky, no one would interfere.

The first snow in Guanzhong was always annoying. When snow fell to the ground, it became water and would quickly mix with soil to become mud. Since his son liked stomping in the mud, what reason did a father have not to stomp together? The snow on the garden wall had accumulated a thick layer. One snowball each, father and son chased after Liu Jinbao throwing them—most delightful.

“My lord, Dan Ying disappeared last night. This humble one went to check—Ding Yanping is also gone. Was he rescued by Dan Ying? Please don’t blame Dan Ying. He’s just someone who values loyalty too much.”

“Are you trying to say that since Dan Ying ran off with his master, our family should pretend not to see? Do you know he also stole the family’s most important jade pendant—that jade pendant Xi Tong gave me?”

Liu Jinbao’s face immediately flushed bright red. Dan Ying running away with his master, he considered understandable. But stealing the family’s most valuable possession—that was unforgivable.

Yun Ye continued playing with his son, stomping back and forth in the mud. The front courtyard was already filled with shouting men and neighing horses. The first to rush out was the fast horse going to report to the authorities. Liu Jinbao, fully armed, led forty-some household generals and five or six hunting dogs racing down the main road. For Dan Ying to take a distant route, he must have a carriage.

They sealed off the area within ten li of Yun Family Village—no news. Dan Ying had long since escaped that distance. Liu Jinbao wanted to draw a fifty-li circle but was slapped on the head by Old Zhuang. Who had the guts to include Chang’an in that?

Manpower was severely insufficient. Old Lai and the others from the naval camp also received Yun Ye’s written order. Yun Ye had the authority to mobilize a three-hundred-man personal guard. When armored warriors were everywhere searching for Dan Ying and Ding Yanping, all of Chang’an was guessing what exactly had been stolen from the Yun Family to make them so relentless.

The boat guild east of the city had already received Yun Ye’s letter, telling them to closely watch for a person missing one foot. As long as such a person wanted to board a boat, they must accept identification by the Yun Family. Regarding Yun Ye, this new waterway boss, the boat guild immediately operated with high efficiency.

Chang’an’s small gangs and local ruffians, upon hearing the Yun Family was offering a thousand strings of cash as reward, also immediately sprang into rapid action. Brothels, inns—not a single place was overlooked.

The Cheng, Niu, Qin, and Yuchi families, upon receiving news, also had their household generals join the pursuit. He Tianshang, learning the news, as holder of the golden authority arrow, also immediately posted wanted posters throughout Guanzhong’s various strongholds.

After venting his anger in the front courtyard, Yun Ye returned to the rear courtyard. Just as he was about to adjust his facial expression, he saw Daya kneeling stiffly in the muddy ground, crying like a spotted cat. Her eyes weren’t good to begin with—if she kept crying like this, she’d cry herself blind.

Grabbing Daya around the waist and tucking her under his arm, he placed her on a chair before saying, “I’m pursuing Ding Yanping, that old man. It has nothing to do with Dan Ying. As long as the jade pendant is recovered, everything else can be overlooked. Men’s business—why are you worrying about it? Go back and have a good sleep. When you wake up, it’ll be fine.”

Daya, head lowered, pulled out a letter from her bosom and handed it to her brother, lowering her head even further.

Yun Ye barely suppressed his laughter as he finished reading Dan Ying’s farewell letter. It said he’d been raised by his master since childhood. Although his master now wanted to kill him, he couldn’t forget the kindness of being raised and must help his master this once. As long as he sent his master to a safe place, he would return on his own and commit suicide to apologize.

“Hmm, not bad. At least we didn’t raise an ungrateful wolf. Valuing loyalty is good, but taking our family treasure is excessive. I can overlook him, but that jade pendant must be recovered.”

Daya untied a small bundle from her back and carefully pushed it toward her brother. When Yun Ye opened it, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The bundle was full of jewelry he’d given Daya over the years, plus what Grandmother, Xinyue, Na Rimu, Auntie, and Aunt had given her. She wanted to repay Dan Ying’s debt.

“What kind of logic is this? These things are also our family’s. You’re using our family’s things to repay that wastrel’s debt? Take them back. These are your dowry. Put them away properly.”

Seeing her brother refuse, Daya immediately burst into tears, hugging Yun Ye’s leg and begging him to spare Dan Ying. Over these years, her understanding of her brother was that he was omnipotent—nothing in the world could stump him. Since he was going to catch Dan Ying, he would definitely catch him. Earlier she’d also seen many soldiers dispatched, each one looking fierce and menacing. If by chance there was an accident, Dan Ying wouldn’t survive.

“Husband, if it’s just one treasure, you should agree for Daya’s sake. Our family doesn’t lack treasures—one more or less doesn’t matter. Consider it part of Daya’s dowry.” Xinyue couldn’t bear to watch and carefully pleaded for Daya.

“If it were just a trinket, would I care? That jade pendant records the route and map to Bai Yujing. Once it gets out, who knows how many people will die? So it must be recovered.”

Hearing her husband say this, Xinyue immediately fell silent. She still knew about Bai Yujing. Too many things were entangled in it—it definitely wasn’t as simple as just a jade pendant.

“Daya, don’t worry. Brother will definitely bring Dan Ying back safely for you. But the jade pendant must be recovered.”

Hearing her brother make this promise, Daya’s heart finally settled. She knew if it were just some treasure, her brother wouldn’t care. He loved her so much—he wouldn’t be heartbroken over any treasure. She couldn’t help but secretly blame Dan Ying. Couldn’t he have taken something else? Why did he have to take that damned jade pendant?