From the book: Yu Wu Xiang

Lin Hao knew that playing clever tricks before someone like Sage Mingxin was inadvisable, so she admitted quite readily: “I saw the posted notice and thought of Master.”

“To report this old man for the reward money?” Sage Mingxin’s expression was half-smiling.

“Master jests.”

Sage Mingxin took a sip of tea: “Then this old man cannot understand.”

Lin Hao’s eyelids lowered halfway, her gaze falling on the white porcelain teacup holding jade-green tea. Her voice was light as flying snow: “In the dream, Master ultimately supported the current Son of Heaven as Emperor.”

“Nonsense!” The consistently composed Sage Mingxin suddenly flew into a rage, setting his teacup heavily on the table.

He was truly somewhat angry, his gaze burning as he stared at Lin Hao: “Little girl, taking such a roundabout path to disturb this old man’s resolve is indeed a rare cleverness.”

Lin Hao’s eyes were bright, her face earnest: “This student is dull-witted and dares not deceive Teacher. I merely speak truthfully of what I saw in the dream.”

“What student and teacher?” Sage Mingxin huffed. “Don’t presume relationships.”

“Then—” Lin Hao pressed her lips together. “Should I still call you Master?”

Sage Mingxin forcefully suppressed the impulse to fling his sleeves and leave, coldly grunting acknowledgment.

“Master has the world in your heart and extraordinary wisdom. You don’t need a junior like me to be verbose—you know very clearly in your heart what’s best for Great Zhou’s people.”

Sage Mingxin smiled slightly: “Little girl, you should understand that what’s best doesn’t necessarily represent what will be chosen.”

“I’ve heard that Master’s assistance to the old Emperor was entrusted by the Great Ancestor.”

Sage Mingxin showed no reaction.

Lin Hao wasn’t discouraged and asked softly: “I wonder whether what the Great Ancestor entrusted to Master was the old Emperor, or the realm and state?”

Sage Mingxin glanced at her sideways, his tone mild: “Naturally both.”

Lin Hao asked again: “Then which weighs heavier?”

Sage Mingxin fell silent.

If speaking his true thoughts, naturally the state weighed heavier.

“Besides the late Emperor’s entrustment, Master has a third concern in your heart—the common people.”

Sage Mingxin’s eyes changed slightly.

He didn’t know why this little girl was so certain, but he couldn’t deny she was right.

Could she perceive the human heart? Or was there truly such an inconceivable dream…

Having reached Sage Mingxin’s level, he wouldn’t blindly reject mysterious matters. In fact, the more he learned, the more he felt heaven and earth’s mysteriousness.

“In Master’s view, in the common people’s hearts, which weighs heavier—the old Emperor or the current Sage?”

Three questions in succession—Sage Mingxin looked at Lin Hao with increasingly profound eyes.

“In little girl’s heart, how do you see it?” Sage Mingxin countered.

Lin Hao slightly raised her chin and answered without hesitation: “For me, peace and stability, not suffering foreign tribe bullying—that matters most.”

The implication being that to the people, who served as Emperor made no difference. The key was who could let the common folk live well.

Sage Mingxin was silent for a long while before slowly saying: “Little girl, if even one word of what you’ve said were to spread, it would be high treason.”

Lin Hao smiled gracefully: “If I feared such things, this meeting with Master wouldn’t have happened.”

Sage Mingxin fell silent again.

Lin Hao picked up the teapot to add tea for him.

Tea fragrance curled upward, refreshing the heart and mind.

Lin Hao looked into those profound, wise eyes: “Master, you know—the old Emperor is no enlightened ruler.”

“Nonsense!” Sage Mingxin huffed again.

The young lady smiled: “Yes, I speak nonsense.”

“You little girl—” Sage Mingxin glared, but ultimately his imposing manner deflated, his heart bitter.

The facts were there. Whether denying or concealing, they wouldn’t change.

Just as the wavering in his heart—whether denying or concealing, he couldn’t deceive himself.

Finally, he still asked: “You know their purpose in seeking this old man?”

Lin Hao nodded: “I know. They want to obtain the method to break the formation from Master, to quell internal chaos in the shortest time.”

“How do you know this?” Sage Mingxin’s eyes narrowed slightly, inwardly amazed.

Though this little girl was quite famous in the capital, she was ultimately just a young lady of the inner chambers. How could she know such things?

“Also learned in a dream?” Sage Mingxin made a joke.

“No, Grand Commander Cheng told me.”

Sage Mingxin’s hand holding the teacup wavered, nearly spilling the tea.

The dignified Commander of the Jinlin Guard—his mouth was so unreliable?

Lin Hao smiled: “I told him the person in the portrait looked familiar, and I asked it out of him.”

Sage Mingxin: “…” Suddenly felt a trace of sympathy for Grand Commander Cheng.

“So your purpose in luring this old man to meet was to persuade me to reveal my identity to the current Sage.”

“No.”

Now Sage Mingxin was truly stunned: “No?”

Lin Hao looked at Sage Mingxin, her face candid: “Master’s identity is special. If you rashly reveal your identity, the Sage’s heart is difficult to fathom—I fear there would be danger.”

Sage Mingxin’s eyes flickered slightly, his tone changing somewhat: “Then what is your purpose in seeing this old man?”

Lin Hao’s eyes curved into crescents, holding sincere laughter: “Master, would you be willing to teach me the method to break the formation?”

She already had some foundation. With Teacher imparting the key points, she thought she could give it a try.

“Ridiculous!”

Lin Hao gazed hopefully at Sage Mingxin without making a sound.

Sage Mingxin frowned: “Do you know that formation was laid down by this old man personally, with myriad variations? Forget whether you can master it in a short time—even if you truly learn it, what reason would make the current sovereign believe you and thus entrust you with important tasks?”

Lin Hao had naturally considered this and answered without hesitation: “If they cannot find Master for a long time, His Majesty will definitely summon others who understand formations. In desperation, perhaps he’d be willing to let me try.”

“But have you thought about how to explain it?”

A young lady of the inner chambers actually knowing how to break formations—this wouldn’t inspire admiration but terror, even connecting it to ghosts and spirits.

“Master doesn’t know—I’ve been unable to speak since birth, different from ordinary people. If asked the reason, I’ll claim that in childhood I happened to encounter an old immortal who taught me the method to break formations, saying that when I mastered it would be when I could speak. Now seeing the Imperial Family summoning those proficient in formations, I wanted to try and do my part.”

When she, a mute, first spoke, rumors had already flown wildly with a mysterious air. Adding this explanation would be acceptable.

“Silver-tongued.” Sage Mingxin shook his head slightly.

This explanation might temporarily allow this little girl to get the opportunity to break the formation as she wished, but looking long-term, it would do her no good whatsoever.

Even if the current Son of Heaven believed it, in the future he would still fear such mysterious matters.

“Acting this way, what do you seek?”

In current times, marrying into a high family was viewed as a woman’s greatest success. Yet this little girl was already the heir’s consort, a future princess consort—one could say she’d achieved her ambitions and life’s pleasures. Why do this thankless task?

Lin Hao straightened her back slightly, yet her tone remained natural and casual: “I seek only peace and stability, not suffering foreign tribe bullying.”

Sage Mingxin abruptly fell silent.

Seeing Sage Mingxin like this, Lin Hao gained some confidence in persuading Teacher and asked with a beaming smile: “Is Master willing to teach me?”

Sage Mingxin silently watched the smiling young lady awaiting his reply. After a long while, he uttered two words: “It won’t work.”