“I wonder if my husband enjoyed himself at Hipatia’s menarche celebration?”

As soon as Yun Ye returned home, Xinyue came forward with a smile, unfastening her husband’s outer robe and carefully examining it inside and out. Just as she was about to cry out upon finding a long strand of hair, she stopped, because she discovered that strand of hair was black. Oh, this was her husband’s own hair. Embarrassed, she chuckled and was about to flee.

“Don’t be in such a hurry to leave. Take this little dog with you too.”

Yun Ye helplessly pointed to Na Rimu, who was sprawled on him sniffing here and sniffing there, and said to Xinyue. Xinyue pursed her lips and said: “You belong to her tonight. This humble wife shouldn’t linger here too long.”

Yun Ye picked up Na Rimu and gave her bottom a swat, only then did she giggle and cling to Yun Ye affectionately.

“Husband, tell me, what did you do at Hipatia’s place? This humble wife is curious, but wouldn’t dare interrogate my husband.” Having said she would leave, Xinyue turned back again, tilting her head up to ask Yun Ye.

“What could I do? At first I drank wine alone in the bamboo building. Later Qing Que came, so the two of us drank wine together. Then Hipatia, dressed as beautifully as a heavenly immortal, bowed in gratitude to us both for our care of her…”

“Heavens! She actually invited just you two? How shameless! And then what?”

“And then, after that, hehe…” Yun Ye deliberately stopped speaking. Xinyue’s eyes were already about to shoot fire. She clutched Yun Ye’s clothes tightly in her hands and even fiercely pinched Na Rimu.

“After that, Hipatia began arguing with Qing Que over the issue of air buoyancy. I mediated from the side while explaining the doubts they encountered. You wretched woman, interrogating your own husband like this—don’t you know this is taboo?”

Xinyue, breathing a sigh of relief, laughed coquettishly: “This humble wife willingly accepts punishment.” She even helped Na Rimu rub the place she had just pinched, and with an ingratiating smile, very diligently went to fetch water to help her husband wash his feet.

After the lamps were extinguished, listening to the pattering sound of rain outside the window, he said to Xinyue lying beside him: “She’s an unfortunate woman. Only after being cured by Mr. Sun did she begin to be a woman. However, looking at her situation, she plans to spend this life alone. Be more tolerant toward her. When you have nothing to do, go see her. Bearing the expectations of her teachers, and also bearing her own hopes—who knows if she can still carry on? Right now she hasn’t given up yet.”

“In the path of learning, wanting to reach the utmost depths of profundity is simply impossible. It can only be accumulated slowly by generation after generation of people. There’s absolutely no such thing as achieving it in one step. Qing Que also wants to walk this path. As he walks, he’ll discover that as his learning becomes increasingly profound, he’ll feel increasingly ignorant. Hipatia doesn’t have Qing Que’s advantages. Add to that being a woman, so her path will be even more tortuous. I don’t know what they’ll be like in the future, nor do I know whether they’ll regret it later—devoting a lifetime to searching for pearls in the boundless sea of learning. This work is even more arduous than pearl-diving women.”

Xinyue draped her arm over Yun Ye’s body and shifted twice—she had already fallen asleep long ago. Not only had she fallen asleep, but Na Rimu, who had stripped herself completely bare, had also fallen asleep, leaning against Yun Ye’s back sleeping very sweetly. These two women were both enjoying their sweet days, with an instinctive rejection of those bitter hardships. This was also good.

Upon waking in the morning, there was already no one beside him. Yun Mu stood at her father’s bedside biting into a bun and constantly blowing air. The six-year-old girl ate her bun while complaining that her father was sleeping in, saying they had agreed to go horseback riding today.

When the eldest miss commanded, how dare this father disobey? He leapt up, put on his clothes in a few moves, hastily washed up a bit, and saw Wang Cai run over. It drank a mouthful of Yun Ye’s washing water, probably felt it didn’t taste good because there was soap in it, bared its teeth and snorted twice, then went to its own trough to drink water. Yun Ye never allowed it to drink unboiled water. The water here wasn’t clean—drinking too much easily caused parasites. Not only Wang Cai, but even everyone in the Yun household, young and old, had to follow this rule. No matter how thirsty, they must drink boiled water, or at the very least cooled boiled water. People accustomed to drinking unboiled water felt very unaccustomed when they came to the Yun household.

Arriving at the training ground, Liu Jinbao was already training Li Rong in horseback riding. The eight-year-old was already riding the horse quite decently. Every time he wanted to make the horse run faster, he would be sternly stopped by Liu Jinbao. Small children couldn’t ride fast horses, much less when the Yun family’s horses were all fine breeds from the grasslands—tall and large, more than a full size bigger than the southern warhorses that resembled donkeys.

Wang Cai had specially been saddled today. Stamping its hooves, it was not at all settled. Yun Ye hadn’t ridden it for over a year. It very much wanted to run fast. When Yun Ye wasn’t around, it had no interest even in eating.

Yun Ye understood Wang Cai’s thoughts. He mounted the horse in one movement and handed Yun Mu over to Na Rimu. Xinyue could only ride sidesaddle, unlike Na Rimu who sat on horseback with heroic bearing.

Wang Cai whinnied proudly, suddenly reared up, kicked its two front hooves twice, and with its hind legs exerting force, immediately shot forward. This was its favorite way to start running. Not knowing its temperament, just this one move alone could throw someone half to death.

After running a hundred-some paces, Wang Cai began exerting force, running very fast around the training ground. Yun Ye could hear the whooshing wind by his ears, and also Xinyue’s faint screams. Ahead was a trench. Wang Cai, running wild with excitement, whinnied loudly and actually wanted to jump straight over. Yun Ye was nearly scared to death, but at this moment pulling the reins was too late. He only felt his body lighten, then heard thunderous cheering from the training ground. That damned Wang Cai, having jumped the trench, still wouldn’t slow down. Ahead was a row of chevaux-de-frise. It still wanted to jump over them. So be it—Wang Cai was rarely this happy, so let it be. The clever Wang Cai never did anything beyond its capabilities.

Having jumped over two rows of chevaux-de-frise in succession, only then did it satisfiedly run back. Returning to the starting point, Xinyue’s face had turned pale with fright. Na Rimu clapped her hands and loudly shouted approval. Wang Cai’s prowess was sufficient even for participating in goat-grabbing contests.

Li Rong, watching his father display such divine might, excitedly kicked the horse’s belly with his feet. He also wanted to run that fast, but beneath him was a mare with an extremely gentle temperament, and the reins were gripped tightly by Liu Jinbao. He could only cry out in frustration, so anxious his head was covered in sweat.

“Excellent! The divine horsemanship of our Great Tang men—Marquis Yun’s skill demonstrates this perfectly.” Feng Ang walked over from under the shade of trees. Passing by Li Rong, he affectionately tousled his head and said: “No rush. You’re still young. Sooner or later you’ll be like your father. Your father made his name in Liaodong. A city others spent half a year in battle unable to take, your father broke in three days. A tiger cub from a general’s family should be promising.”

“Lord Feng, you’re not afraid of spoiling the child with such words. Those last few sentences—you’ve spoiled even me!” Yun Ye jumped down from Wang Cai’s back, using a dry cloth to wipe off its sweat. On that short stretch of road, Wang Cai had run very satisfyingly.

Feng Ang also took a dry cloth and helped wipe Wang Cai. Military commanders bathing and wiping down their beloved warhorses had long been customary. As long as one had been on the battlefield, everyone had this habit.

“Lord Feng, I need to apologize to you. Zhiyong and the others fought their way back to Guangzhou, losing seven men. This was done deliberately by me. There’s no help for it—none of us have time. Wanting to master navigation techniques as early as possible, without filling it with human lives, it cannot be done.”

“Hahaha, you apologize? But I’ve come to thank you. You and I are both commanders who have long experienced the battlefield. We both understand the principle that elite troops aren’t trained but forged through killing. You had Zhiyong and them fight their way back while you stood by with folded arms, not intervening unless they faced annihilation. Excellent! For training troops, nothing surpasses the battlefield. Pirate ships are small and weak—perfect opponents for practice.”

“Sixty-eight men returned, and in the future they’ll be sixty-eight ship captains—enough for the Feng family to build a fleet. I know these men are still not ready for major tasks, but I inspected them in Guangzhou. Very good! One ship facing two ships of the Lingnan naval forces still didn’t fall behind. They fought with method and courage. What are seven dead men? Back when the Feng family ancestors pioneered Lingnan, the dead numbered seventy, seven hundred, even seven thousand!”

“The Feng family can bear this small loss. The Feng family has no anger toward you, only gratitude. You’re saving Feng family lives! Now one more death means ten fewer, a hundred fewer deaths in the future. The Feng family can calculate this account clearly. Whenever there’s battle at sea, Feng family sons and brothers will never fall behind others. Marquis Yun must never be softhearted.”

Seeing Feng Ang extend his palm to strike hands and swear an oath with him, he also raised his hand and heavily struck palms three times with Feng Ang. Then he watched as Feng Ang, laughing heartily and leaving behind trunks and boxes all over the ground, turned and departed. He was very satisfied with the training results of the Feng family sons and brothers.

Having run a large circle, Wang Cai nudged Yun Ye with its head, wanting thick wine to drink. This was also customary. A groom came over reeking of thick wine, carrying a large copper pot. He poured the thick wine into a copper basin and held it up to Wang Cai’s mouth. One wine belch caused Yun Ye to retreat two steps. This fellow—Wang Cai’s thick wine was probably always drunk by the two of them together.

Yun Ye sat in a chair watching Xinyue slowly stroll about on horseback, watching Na Rimu gallop wildly like the wind, watching Li Rong with a dark expression being led by Liu Jinbao on the horse at a slow trot. Naturally he also saw Yun Mu climbing onto Wang Cai’s back for a bit, pretending to ride twice, making her big dog Wang Cai stick out its tongue and crowd close to her. Yun Mu had long since stopped riding the dog.

Taking Wang Cai’s large copper pot and drinking a big mouthful of thick wine straight from the spout, the taste was indeed good. The wine actually even had dried fruit and sesame in it. Drinking it warm was very comfortable.

Days should be lived like this—staying far away from those dead people. Yun Ye hadn’t told Li Tai how miserably he and Li Chengqian had been tormented by his father emperor. He only recounted the happy matters. People were like this—happy is one day, unhappy is also one day. Why make oneself miserable and bitter?

Xiao Wu ultimately went with Di Renjie to the shipyard. Yun Ye deliberately pressed work as high as a mountain onto Di Renjie’s head, just to see whether Xiao Wu would have compassion. If not, Yun Ye would immediately laugh and say his previous betrothal of Xiao Wu to Di Renjie had been a joke. Two people without feelings living together was creating sin.

Now it was good. Although Xiao Wu grumbled endlessly that Di Renjie was stupid, when push came to shove, she packed up her belongings, found a lame excuse, and went to the seaside shipyard to help Di Renjie. This was very good.