When Li You left the palace, he deliberately looked at Wanmin Palace in the autumn wind. Countless plane tree leaves were swept up by the strong wind from behind the great hall, rustling down before the palace. Wanmin Palace was extremely deep and secluded—even during daylight it required lamplight. At this moment, Father Emperor was not inside. Only two half-bright, half-dim lanterns hung inside, and several eunuchs on duty stood like clay sculptures holding whisks and leaning against the wall. The main gate was wide open. Occasionally one or two fallen leaves would be blown by the wind into the great hall, and would immediately be swept out by the eunuchs’ whisks. This great hall was just like Father Emperor—forever keeping people at a distance of a thousand li.

Xiao Ya tugged at the dazed Li You, finally rousing him from his trance. There was no need to tell Xiao Ya about his thoughts just now. Li You shook his sleeves, brushing away a few fallen leaves, and holding Xiao Ya’s hand, turned past the spirit wall, planning to pass through the corridor and leave the palace to return to the Yun Family estate.

“Li You, wait a moment. I have something to ask you.” Li You and Yun Ya turned around—it turned out to be Gao Yang calling to him. Behind Gao Yang followed Li Zhen and Li Xiao, while Li Zhi walked far behind. Li You habitually started to go over, but was blocked by Yun Ya. Yun Ya said to Gao Yang, word by word: “Try calling your Fifth Brother’s name so casually again and see what happens.”

Gao Yang pursed her lips and said: “This is the imperial palace, not the academy. The academy is your family’s territory. I don’t believe you dare run wild in the imperial palace. You haven’t even married Li You yet.”

Xiao Ya had always had a fiery temper. She was still carrying the rouge and face powder Consort Yin had gifted her. When her temper flared up, how could she care about so much? She smashed the large paper package right on Gao Yang’s head. The rouge and face powder covered Gao Yang all over. If Li You hadn’t pulled her away quickly, she would have rushed up to continue beating Gao Yang.

If it had been someone else, Gao Yang definitely wouldn’t have let it go, but she had no way of dealing with Yun Ya. In the academy, the two of them fighting wasn’t just once or twice. Every time, Gao Yang was no match for Yun Ya. Only when she was beaten until she cried loudly would Yun Ya let her go. Seeing that Li You had restrained Yun Ya, only then did Gao Yang resentfully wipe her face with a handkerchief and say: “Vulgar! Only Li You would want you. Anyone else—who would want a crazy woman like you? You’ve completely lost face for the imperial family.”

Yun Ya laughed and pointed at Gao Yang, saying: “Even if I, Yun Ya, lose face, it’s just beating you up. Not like you—you’ve gone crazy grabbing money, even wanting to get your hands on your Fifth Brother’s business in Chang’an. These past few days I’ve been checking the accounts. The account books everywhere else are correct—only the accounts with you don’t match up. I’m giving you three days to straighten out the accounts for me. Otherwise, don’t blame me for ruining the Fang Family’s business along with yours.”

“I forgot to tell you—the Yun Family’s business in Qi Province is all my dowry. If you want good hides from Liaodong, if the Fang Family wants medicinal materials from Liaodong, you can’t get around me. Your husband is also serving in the military in Liaodong—you watch how I deal with him.”

“You dare!” Gao Yang shouted loudly like a chicken being grabbed by the neck.

“You watch whether I dare or not. What you said is right—I, Yun Ya, only have Ayou who wants me. So as long as it’s Ayou’s things, you won’t get even one wen worth of advantage. If you don’t believe me, we’ll just wait and see. Three days—I’m only giving three days. On the fourth day I’ll send people to cut off your supply sources. This young mistress of the Yun Family’s words—let’s see which of those hide sellers dares not to listen.”

Having said this, she dragged the embarrassed Li You away from the corridor. As they walked, she said to Li You: “Ayou, if you step forward in these matters, it’s very shameful. But if I step forward, it doesn’t matter. It’s the same principle as my sister-in-law going to cry at the riverbank land this morning. In the future we’ll still have a large family—what’s ours, we’re not giving to anyone.”

Li You laughed heartily and said: “Today I’ve finally witnessed the style of Second Young Lady Yun. Before, when others told me you had beaten up Gao Yang at the academy, I stubbornly didn’t believe it. Seeing it today, indeed your reputation is well-deserved. Gao Yang’s temperament among us siblings is famously explosive, yet today she was so obedient she didn’t dare talk back. The soft fears the hard—the ancients truly do not deceive me. This wife I married is so worth it, ha ha ha!”

Yun Ya shyly and annoyedly punched Li You once, then turned and ran. Li You laughed merrily as he chased after Xiao Ya…

Gao Yang, bringing the wooden puppet-like Li Zhen and Li Xiao, didn’t even wipe the rouge and face powder on her head, and was going to Liangyi Palace to complain to Father. Li Zhi took quite a while to pull his finger out of his mouth. Turning around, he said to his attendant official Zhang Jianzhi: “Lord Meng, what do you think about me marrying a woman like Yun Ya as my primary consort in the future?”

Zhang Jianzhi shook his head and said: “It’s impossible now. The legitimate daughters of the Yun Family of this generation have all been married off—you don’t have a share. Other families can’t produce daughters like this. Although Yun Ya has a violent temperament, she’s actually extremely kind—kinder than most people. Your Fifth Brother has good fortune and has already married her. As for other families, forget it. Not only are they willful and unreasonable, their temperaments are also vicious. I don’t know what’s going on. If you marry a consort like that, your whole life will be finished. With your temperament, you’d definitely be angered to death.”

Li Zhi nodded dejectedly, then took Zhang Jianzhi to Wude Palace, planning to go see Fourth Brother and scrounge some benefits. Damn it, the Jinyang area had suffered frost damage again. Next year’s grain definitely wouldn’t be enough to eat. Li Zhi was so depressed he just wanted to yell loudly.

In Liangyi Palace, Li’er was playing chess with Zhangsun. Just as Zhangsun’s large dragon was about to be captured by him, Gao Yang rushed in tempestuously. Zhangsun looked up at the colorfully decorated Gao Yang, grabbed a handful of chess pieces and placed them on the board to indicate surrender. Li’er swept the chess game into disarray and said irritably: “Right when we’re getting to the exciting part, you surrender. Where has your chess etiquette gone?”

Zhangsun said smugly: “Your daughter has been bullied. If you can guess who bullied her, how about we play another game? We absolutely won’t stop until the endgame.”

“Who else could it be besides Yun Ya? Gao Yang has always been domineering. In this lifetime she’s only suffered losses at Yun Ya’s hands. I heard that Consort Yin entertained her son and daughter-in-law at Renshou Palace today. Calculating the time, they should be leaving the palace about now. Running into Gao Yang and having a verbal dispute is very normal. Gao Yang can’t beat Yun Ya—she’s definitely suffered a loss.”

Zhangsun laughed loudly and asked Gao Yang what happened. Then she listened to Gao Yang add embellishments as she recounted the course of events. Zhangsun stood up, took a handkerchief, and wiped the rouge and face powder from Gao Yang’s face, then said: “When there’s nothing going on, don’t go provoking that scoundrel pauper. In the future just avoid her. This matter—Empress Mother has no way to help you vent your anger. Even if I helped you vent your anger, it wouldn’t be worth it. If by chance it provoked that petty-minded Yun Ye’s anger and he prepared to set a trap for you, your fate would be even worse.”

Zhangsun finally managed to persuade Gao Yang to leave, when Consort Yin hurriedly rushed over. As soon as she entered, she apologized to the Emperor and Empress, saying she had failed in her supervision and asked them to forgive Yun Ya’s transgression.

Li’er chuckled and said: “A woman like Yun Ya isn’t someone you could have supervised. She has a brother who loves and dotes on her—you don’t need to worry much. If something happens, I’ll just hold Yun Ye accountable.”

Zhangsun held Consort Yin’s hand and said: “What good fortune you have! Yun Ya paired with You’er is indeed an excellent match. You’er is naturally taciturn and yields in matters, while Yun Ya has a crab-like temperament. This isn’t the first time she’s beaten up Gao Yang either. However, you can’t blame Yun Ya for this—it was Gao Yang who was unreasonable to You’er first. Learning a lesson isn’t a bad thing. We sisters haven’t seen each other for some days—it’s perfect timing to talk.”

Consort Yin smiled and thanked the Emperor and Empress. From the basket she brought out a small plate of bee pupae and placed it on Li’er’s table. She also took out a pot of wine and invited Li’er to taste the bee pupae.

“You’er said these are the bee pupae of the academy’s man-killing bees, extremely precious. After being fried in oil, they’re extraordinarily delicious when eaten. Yun Ya stole them from Yun Ye’s study—one doesn’t often get to see them.”

Li’er, who had originally been frowning, immediately became interested upon hearing Consort Yin’s explanation. Things that even Yun Ye considered delicious would definitely not taste too bad. After eating one, he knew Consort Yin wasn’t exaggerating. He indicated that the Empress should also try some.

“Your Majesty, the maze forest has already become a famous forbidden zone in Chang’an. For many years, no outsider has been able to step inside even once. It’s said to be the academy’s critical area. The imperial family only knows one aspect of the maze forest, not the other. Should we send people to investigate?” After Consort Yin left, Zhangsun put down her chopsticks and asked Li’er.

“The maze formation, the maze forest—I have been there. Security is indeed tight, but it doesn’t rely on manpower—rather, it relies on mechanisms and poisonous creatures. The imperial family has no need to pay attention. Individuals have absolutely no way of dealing with the maze forest and maze formation, but this definitely doesn’t include me. If I wanted to destroy those two forbidden zones, it would only take a snap of the fingers. The Empress need not worry.”

“Duan Hong said he saw the expert who killed people—it was actually a woman in green. He also said that if that woman had harbored murderous intent toward him, he absolutely couldn’t have returned alive. He hopes I will cease pursuing this matter. That woman came to the capital city to proclaim her reputation. Now that her goal has been achieved, she has already left.”

“I’ve thought back and forth and feel something’s not right. I always feel this matter should be related to Yun Ye. If I wanted to help Li You, the first thing to do would also be to kill these treacherous people. Yun Ye isn’t a person who likes to give up halfway through tasks. Those four people will die at his hands sooner or later—it’s just that someone has taken the labor upon themselves for him.”

“The academy has plenty of extraordinary people and unusual scholars. Since these forces belong to the Great Tang, they ought to be constrained by the Great Tang. Xu Jingzong would rather not serve as Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat and instead return to the academy—this makes me very curious. Could the academy have already become a refuge for the Great Tang? Power that cannot be constrained by imperial authority cannot be counted as our own power.”

Zhangsun looked at the Emperor and said: “Your Majesty, what plan do you have? With Old Li Gang there, other scholars cannot control the academy—their status is always three degrees inferior. If you forcibly insert someone, it might provoke a backlash. At that time it would be ugly.”

“Why replace anyone? Li Gang’s virtue and trustworthiness are manifest—he wouldn’t use underhanded tricks. So the academy cannot be moved right now. Others don’t have the ability to control it. If the academy were destroyed, that would truly be my disaster. These years, students who have graduated from the academy are already spread throughout the Great Tang. This year, among the county magistrates evaluated as excellent, there were over a hundred. Among those Fang Xuanling annotated in red ink on top as academy graduates, they accounted for more than seventy percent. If I want to control officials in the future, I inevitably must first control the academy.”

“Back then, Yun Ye said that the position of academy president could only be filled by the Emperor. At that time I thought it was a joke. Looking at it now, Yun Ye still had foresight. Such an enormous force can only be placed in the hands of imperial authority.”

“If I take the great power of the academy into my hands, that would definitely exceed the limits of what I can control. Heh heh, I never imagined my authority would be so much I couldn’t manage it all.”