Old Qian took He Tianshang to find Tao Sibao’s family. Yun Ye shook his head—going at this time was probably already too late. The likelihood of that family still being alive wasn’t very high. He could already imagine how things had unfolded: someone had approached the greedy Tao Sibao, asking him to smear wild beast urine on the stone lions. Tao Sibao had completed the task perfectly, but unfortunately, he himself had been stained with the scent of wild beasts, resulting in an attack by the dog Wang Cai.
Having had this conflict with the Yun family, how could those who hired him allow him to continue living? Not only could they silence him, but they could also stir up public outrage, keeping the Yun family in a constant state of exhaustion, unable to pay attention to the abnormalities on the stone lions. This way, not only would the Yun family’s people be tense, but the animals would be tense too, and this tension would gradually seep into the inner residence as time progressed.
The next step they would take would be to enter the Yun residence—bribing or threatening the servants? That was one approach, but doing so could very likely expose themselves. The Yun family’s servants seemed quite difficult to bribe. However, there would always be a way. From now on, every single person who entered the Yun household would be highly suspicious.
There’s a saying about a thief operating for a thousand days, but no one can guard against thieves for a thousand days. The Yun family couldn’t possibly remain vigilant at all times. How could they live their lives if everything was filled with fear and anxiety? If they treated every guest who came to their home like a thief, would any guest dare to visit the Yun family in the long run? Once a great family had no more guests, what kind of great family would it still be? The back-and-forth exchange of social courtesies was a process of mutual understanding and trust. Even old friends who hadn’t seen each other for twenty years would develop estrangement. The saying “A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near” was merely Wang Bo’s naive understanding of worldly affairs.
Yun Ye sat in his study without lighting candles, his entire being immersed in darkness. Xinyue sat beside him. When Yun Ye didn’t speak, she didn’t move either. From her husband’s solemn attitude, she sensed the existence of a crisis. She stayed by his side, waiting for her husband’s final decision. She believed that as long as her husband had thought things through, whatever decision he made would definitely be the best one. She had this confidence.
“Those bastards! Can’t I even have a few days of peace? They just have to rush forward to their deaths! They’re all dogs, every one of them. They say dogs can’t stop eating shit—does that make me that pile of shit?”
Sitting in the darkness, Yun Ye slapped the desk and stood up. The pitch blackness was very uncomfortable. There were matches on the desk—Dan Ying’s workshop manufactured these things quite large, a full half-foot long. When struck, they would burst into a large ball of flame with a great amount of smoke, so much so that Yun Ye was very dissatisfied with holding what amounted to a torch to light candles. Only after lighting the candle did he see Xinyue’s eyes sparkling as she looked at him.
Reluctant to extinguish the torch, he held it in his hand until it had burned down enough, then threw it into the brush washer. Yun Ye rarely used calligraphy brushes at home, so this item could only be reduced to serving as an ashtray.
“Has husband made a decision?” Xinyue stood up and asked. “Who are the people opposing our family? The Tubo people? Na Rimu is so distressed she can barely go on living, thinking she’s brought calamity upon the household.”
“It’s not the Tubo people. It’s my old friends—some people who think they can fly, live for millions of years without dying, and move mountains and overturn seas. Over the years, these ideas have been worn down considerably. Now they can only manage petty thievery. Next time I see Han Zhe, I’ll mock him. Alright, don’t worry about this matter. Just take good care of the children. Now get me something to eat. Don’t you know I can’t stand being hungry?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Na Rimu walked in carrying a wooden tray with a large bowl of noodles on it. There was no steam rising from the noodles—they must have clumped together. The foolish woman had just been standing stupidly at the door holding the tray. She must have been terrified, afraid that there would no longer be a place for her in this household.
Yun Ye generally didn’t eat cold noodles, much less clumped-together noodles, but today he said nothing. Taking the noodles, he slurped them down completely. It wasn’t to comfort Na Rimu’s heart—he genuinely had no appetite to eat such food.
Xinyue felt very proud. Her husband was the best man in the world. When a married couple had been together long enough, they felt each other’s care through these small things, even when it was directed at Na Rimu.
Na Rimu stared blankly as her husband finished that bowl of noodles, then suddenly burst into tears. She never concealed her feelings, sobbing as she said: “I am a calamity… and the child I bore is too.”
“Who said that?” Yun Ye embraced the tearful Na Rimu, gently patting her shoulder and back.
“Huan Niang said it. She said it’s all my fault. The family was living well, but I insisted on going to the grasslands, always bringing trouble to the household, each time bigger than the last, each time more troublesome.”
“Don’t listen to Huan Niang’s nonsense. Even if you are a calamity, you’re your husband’s calamity—what business is it of theirs? Besides, your husband likes calamities. A calamity as beautiful as you is something one couldn’t even obtain if they begged for it. No matter who comes looking for trouble, just watch from the side how your husband takes care of all of them. Once they’re all eliminated, no one will come looking for trouble anymore. The only reason those beautiful women in the past were called calamities was because their husbands were all stupid pigs.”
“Husband is the most formidable person.” Na Rimu still had the temperament of a child. Hearing Yun Ye boast so impressively, she immediately broke into a smile through her tears. If she weren’t by her husband’s side, Na Rimu might be strong and clever, but as long as her husband was present, these good qualities that daughters of the grasslands should possess vanished without a trace.
“Alright, stop being so clingy. You’re an old married couple now—don’t make people nauseous.” Seeing the two of them entwined together like taffy, with Na Rimu’s face flushed and breathing heavily, if this continued they would turn the study into a battlefield. Xinyue irritably used her handkerchief to swat Na Rimu’s head, pulling her off her husband’s waist and straightening her collar. If servants came in, it wouldn’t look good. No matter what, the Yun family should maintain the tradition of being a family of poetry and propriety.
Yun Ye only told Xinyue to have the household servants pay attention to strangers recently, especially those with peculiar behavior who should be observed more carefully. Everything else should proceed as usual—there was no need to make the household tense over this matter. Xinyue deeply agreed; being internally vigilant while externally relaxed was the way to maintain guard.
Steward Qian and He Tianshang returned. Sure enough, that family had disappeared. Coming along with them was also the county captain from Lantian County. The entire family of Tao Sibao from Wuli Slope had vanished without a trace. After leaving the Yun family, no one had seen them again.
“My lord, this matter is suspicious. This humble official is also from Wuli Slope. The mysterious disappearance of Tao Sibao’s entire family is truly strange. According to what this official knows, they had very few relatives. Originally they were refugees from the Qinling Mountains. Two years ago, when His Majesty granted a general amnesty, they emerged from the Qinling Mountains and settled in Wuli Slope. They were usually quite well-behaved. Although he liked to take small advantages, there are plenty of such people in the countryside—nothing special. Now suddenly the entire family has disappeared. This official has already reported it to the county magistrate.”
“That’s natural. Tao Sibao was a subject under your jurisdiction. Naturally, you can’t let his entire family die in obscurity. Do your duty well. Report as you should report, neither concealing nor exaggerating. Just tell the truth. You needn’t be concerned about me. I believe their family’s corpses will definitely be discovered very soon.”
Yun Ye drank his tea, giving bland instructions to the county captain.
“Does this mean Lord Yun has already guessed the whereabouts of Tao Sibao’s entire family?” He Tianshang seemed to have discovered something.
“Stop trying to trap me with words. Someone is trying to frame me, and you keep scheming against me relentlessly. Even an idiot would know that the only place where their entire family could be buried would be on my Yun family’s land—probably in the orchard. You know about the case at Li Shentong’s family, right? They’re learning from that case to frame me. Old Qian, mobilize the tenant farmers to search our family’s land, the orchard, and the woods. They’ll definitely find them. They won’t hide the corpses—they should be easy to find.”
The steward left with the county captain. He Tianshang set down his teacup and said: “How did you kill those Tubo people? I know clearly, plainly, and definitely that you killed them, but I just can’t find evidence. Originally there was some evidence, but then you sprinkled salt water and led cattle and sheep over, destroying everything completely. What’s most infuriating is that a shepherd boy insists that he killed those Tubo people by hitting them with a single stone. Ludongzan asks me about progress every day. How am I supposed to tell him when I know nothing?”
“Are you an idiot, or am I an idiot? If I were the one who did it to those Tubo people, do you think I’d tell you? So you could take me and hand me over to the Tubo people for beheading? If you have the skill to guess who the criminal is, hurry up and guess who’s framing me, so I can go capture him and dismember his corpse. Use your thoughts where they’re actually useful!”
“I’m a marquis of the Great Tang, framed by someone with grievances I can’t voice, losing both money and reputation. Yet here you are with nothing better to do, helping the Tubo people seek redress while disregarding whether I live or die. What’s the logic in that?”
“Actually, whether or not we investigate the Tubo people’s case doesn’t matter that much. We lost over three hundred men too. Wei Tianjue’s body was hung on the city walls of Luoyang—don’t you know how humiliating that is? How did it feel to strangle Wei Tianjue with your own hands?”
The veins on He Tianshang’s forehead throbbed wildly, wounded deeply by Yun Ye’s vicious tongue. From their names alone—one called Wei Tianjue, one called He Tianshang—both from the great clans of Jinyang, Yun Ye didn’t believe they had no connection.
“Yun Ye, you knew the opponent was extremely dangerous. Why didn’t you warn him beforehand? Even if you had brought them along with you on the return journey, how could such a tragedy have occurred? I even suspect that you anticipated the outcome and did it deliberately. Wei Tianjue was a bastard who deserved to die, but those soldiers who followed him died too unjustly.”
Yun Ye set down his teacup and said: “You know very well how rule-abiding I am. In the past, my temperament was too loose and carefree, doing whatever I pleased. After eating countless bitter lessons, I finally forced myself to follow the Great Tang’s rules, which is how I gradually integrated into Great Tang society. Would I casually change that for Wei Tianjue, someone who looked down on everyone? Is that even possible?”
“Wei Tianjue was from our…” He Tianshang was about to reveal his relationship with Wei Tianjue in his grief, but was stopped by Yun Ye: “I shouldn’t know about the relationship between you two, and I have no interest in knowing. His Majesty wouldn’t allow you to speak carelessly either. Shut your mouth!”
“You are a ruthless person, Yun Ye. You truly are a ruthless person.” He Tianshang pointed at Yun Ye and roared, then picked up his sword and walked out of the hall.