No matter how long the night, it always passes. When dawn arrived, frost flowers covered the armor of the two door gods. Li Chengqian paced back and forth continuously on the small path, anxious to know whether his father had fully recovered.

Rising early, Empress Zhangsun saw Yun Ye, Li Tai, and Li Ke huddled inside their cloaks. She covered her mouth and smiled, then went forward to thank Qin Qiong and Yuchi for their hard work throughout the night.

Squinting at the rising red sun, the two old marshals took their leave from Empress Zhangsun and left the palace with weary bodies.

Last night, Yun Ye had heated a stone slab with red-hot charcoal, so the cold posed no threat to him. However, after Li Tai and Li Ke burrowed in, the hard armor plates poked him painfully all over.

“His Majesty slept very well last night and hasn’t awakened yet. The Grand Emperor is the same.”

Hearing Empress Zhangsun say this, Yun Ye immediately had Li Chengqian arrange a carriage for him. He wanted to go home—he wasn’t planning to get up again until he’d slept for two days and two nights.

Treating others’ illnesses at most expended some mental effort, but treating the Li family required risking one’s life. That damned Yuan Tiangang would have another advantage to exploit this time. Asking him for a scroll of the “Yellow Court Classic” really wasn’t excessive.

Returning to Yushan, the war between Xinyue and Na Rimu ended with Xinyue’s victory. The imposing presence of a pregnant young lady from a great family was not something Na Rimu, a shepherdess, could resist. She obediently stuck up her bottom and let Xinyue give her two hard swats with a feather duster.

Of course, it wasn’t without reward. Xinyue gave Na Rimu a large box of jewelry she no longer wore. Xinyue was extremely practiced at this game of giving a slap followed by a sweet treat.

The foolish Na Rimu, upon seeing the jewelry box, actually forgot the hatred of just being beaten by Xinyue and asked energetically whether she could get more jewelry if she received a few more swats.

Xinyue rolled her eyes so far they showed white. Her supposedly effective disciplinary methods had no effect whatsoever in the face of Na Rimu’s ignorance.

Seeing there was no more jewelry to be had, Na Rimu undressed before Yun Ye prepared to sleep, wanting to show Yun Ye the evidence of Xinyue’s abuse.

She couldn’t very well beat a pregnant woman with a big belly, so Xinyue could only scold verbally. Seeing the two people lying lovingly together on the blanket, her temper flared.

She domineeringly lay down between the two of them, pushing the completely naked Na Rimu out, saying something about carrying on in broad daylight and not fearing retribution.

What a harmonious family atmosphere! Extremely drowsy, Yun Ye groped Xinyue’s sensitive areas a couple of times and happily fell asleep.

When he woke again, it was already evening. Orange firelight shone through the gaps, warm and cozy. Too lazy to open his eyes, he heard Na Rimu and Xinyue talking in low voices.

“There aren’t just the two of us women in this household. There’s also a shameless one who even drugged our husband with underhanded methods. Now she’s even had a child.”

“Shouldn’t such women all be drowned? Huan Niang told me about this. Why wasn’t she drowned?”

“She’s the Emperor’s daughter. Not one of that family is clean. Fortunately, she’s far away, and our husband doesn’t care for her either. If she were in the capital, life would be unbearable.”

“She should be sent far away. Farther than the grasslands?”

“Of course. It takes you a month to get home, but she has to travel three months. You were carried in through the side gate as a proper concubine with an eighth-rank imperial mandate. You’re the legitimate Second Madam of this household. Though she’s a princess, she has no name or status, and carries the title of widow. When she arrives at the household, even the dogs ignore her.”

“What about the child? It’s our husband’s child. Should we take the child away? On the grasslands, women that men don’t want can’t take their children with them.”

“The child is naturally part of the Yun family. Our family isn’t prosperous—there’s only our husband as the sole male. I don’t even know if what’s in my belly is a boy or girl. That wicked woman is fortunate though. Heaven actually gave her a son. It’s truly blind.”

“What’s in sister’s belly is definitely a boy. When my mother was pregnant with my little brother, I said it was a boy, and it really was a boy.”

“Mm, I also think it’s a boy. You need to work harder and have another one. Our family has such a large estate—one child can’t manage it all. In the future, the child in my belly will need several helpers.”

“Once you’ve sorted out the grasslands, come back. You’re a proper madam of a marquis household, yet you’re herding sheep. Stay home and let the servants wait on you and enjoy your fortune.”

“I also want children, but my belly never shows any movement.”

“Silly girl, if you want children, you should do this…”

He couldn’t listen anymore. When two women got together gossiping, nothing good came of it. Na Rimu, once a simple grassland girl, had now been corrupted by Xinyue and even knew to bully the maids. Just looking at the maid massaging her legs, you could tell life wasn’t easy—the massage had to be forceful yet rhythmic, without shaking loose all the hairpins in her head.

From Yun Ye’s increasingly heavy breathing, Xinyue knew he was awake and handed him a damp cloth to wipe his face.

“Find hot water to heat the cloth and hold it against my face. I slept in the cold wind for two hours last night. My face is numb.” Na Rimu jumped off the kang, calling out loudly to prepare hot water and food. The maids were sent running in circles by her commands.

Having slept most of the day, his drowsiness was completely swept away. He wanted nothing else but a bowl of noodle slices. After eating it, he felt life was so wonderful.

Putting on his shoes, he shuffled out of the bedroom. He was home, but hadn’t yet gone to pay his respects to Grandmother.

Grandmother no longer had the enthusiasm of two years ago when she rode around in a carriage inspecting the Yun family’s various enterprises. Now she was very interested in Buddha. She’d left her footprints at temples all around Chang’an and was not stingy with donations, especially at Ci’an Temple in Chang’an city. Having heard that the old matriarch of the Yun family had prayed here and obtained a marquis title for the family, the temple’s incense offerings had been extremely prosperous these past two years. If Buddha granted everyone’s wishes one by one, the Great Tang would definitely be crawling with marquises.

The old lady’s evening devotions were indispensable. She knelt in the Buddhist hall, striking a wooden fish, counting the seven-colored prayer beads that Yun Ye had obtained from the great monk Daoxin, her expression devout with a hint of compassion showing through.

After the old matriarch finished chanting sutras, Yun Ye walked in and pulled a scroll from his sleeve, handing it to her.

“Grandmother, this is a Daoist treasure, the ‘Yellow Court Classic,’ hand-copied by Wang Xizhi. There’s only one in the world. Keep it safe—it’s our family heirloom.”

The old matriarch took the “Yellow Court Classic” and touched a spot on the Buddhist hall pillar. A hole opened in the middle of the pillar. She re-wrapped the “Yellow Court Classic” before placing it inside the hole, then touched the carved pillar again, and the opening automatically closed. It was quite miraculous.

Seeing Yun Ye’s curiosity, the old matriarch said, “This treasure vault was specially made for our family by Master Gongshu. It’s fireproof and waterproof, a fine mechanism. Even thieves couldn’t find where the mechanism is.”

Shaking her head, the old matriarch still kept the blueprints Yun Ye had drawn two years ago. The treasure vault actually contained no money—just the Yun family’s identity tokens, some blueprints, secret formulas, and now the “Yellow Court Classic” that had just been placed inside. She stubbornly believed these were the foundation of the Yun family.

Supporting the old matriarch back to her bedroom, he chatted with her for a while before withdrawing. He looked in on his younger sisters’ rooms one by one. They were all grown young ladies now and he couldn’t casually push open their doors to check inside. He only called out a few reminders through the windows to be careful of the fires in their rooms.

Then he turned to the front courtyard. Dan Ying’s room was empty—he’d already returned to Luoyang. Several hundred elderly, weak, women and children had tied him firmly to Luoyang city, unable to move. According to the steward, Dan Ying spent each day going between the match workshop and construction sites, never idle.

Old Qian was also making rounds carrying a lantern. He met Yun Ye at the moon gate and raised his lantern to light the way for the master. The master and servant strolled together through the estate, talking as they went.

“Is everything at home still peaceful?”

“Replying to the Marquis, our home has always been peaceful. It’s just that too many people have been dispatched out. Our household is short-handed, especially guards. After this deployment to the eldest young master in Lingnan is complete, our household will only have thirty guards left. Once they’re posted to the important locations, the other places in the household really can’t be covered.”

“If we’re short-handed, find more people. Choose those with known backgrounds from good families. Don’t look for people with good martial arts but poor character to make up the numbers.”

“The Marquis doesn’t know—there are countless wandering martial artists who want to join our household, all of them hotheads. This old man doesn’t even glance at them. Those people are all after our household’s wages, not a good one among them. It’s better to find people from the families of former soldiers, or young men from our estates. They’re all easy to train when they come to the household.”

Old Qian’s standards were now very high. Wandering martial artists had too bad a reputation, and he felt bringing them back would disgrace the Yun family’s reputation. He most trusted the veterans Yun Ye brought back and people from their own estates, always believing others weren’t worthy of their family’s spotless good name.

“You handle it then. When spring arrives, the Second Madam will return to the grasslands. We can’t have her without our own people around her. Don’t let the household be left with no one to dispatch when the time comes.”

“The Marquis can rest assured. Tomorrow this old servant will notify the veterans and estate families, saying those recruited this time are going to the grasslands. If no one signs up, this old servant will go find other retired veterans. Though they’re getting on in years, each one is skilled. As long as they hear our family needs people, many will surely come. Not to mention there’s a whole group of auxiliary soldiers waiting to enter our household.”

“How many are being released from servitude this year?”

Mentioning this matter, Old Qian’s face was full of pride. “The Marquis doesn’t know—this is a great merit of setting lives free! Other families, hearing of such good fortune, would definitely fight tooth and nail to get in. Everyone wants to be free people, not servants. Our family is the opposite. You give ten places every year. This old servant told the servants about this matter a few days ago. So far, only one person has told this old servant they want to leave servitude, and that’s only because their child studies well and they don’t want to delay the child’s prospects. Even then, he asked this old servant if just the child alone could be released while the couple still wanted to serve in the household. This old servant spat in his face.” Speaking of this, Old Qian chuckled with delight.

This was good. There was nothing in the household that required Yun Ye’s concern. Only when the family is harmonious can all matters prosper. He wondered if the wealthy old men in Chang’an city had all had their brains kicked by donkeys. The common people of the Great Tang were simple and kind. If you just showed them a little kindness, they would remember it for a lifetime and repay you with their lives at critical moments, without any sense of right or wrong. Just look at Dou Yanshan—that fellow was still at large to this day, enjoying himself somewhere unknown. All this was thanks to his large group of utterly loyal servants.

Even though the Dou family had fallen, they still remained loyal unto death. Such human hearts couldn’t be bought even with gold.