In a study room, a seemingly clever fox and a seemingly foolish crow faced each other, discussing matters. Who was actually more formidable—each had their own reckoning in their hearts.

“Yuan Cheng, I have another portion of sincerity, but you must first settle this silver for buying lumber with me. Otherwise, I won’t give it.” With him, no need to beat around the bush too much—wasting her brain cells one way or another, not his.

Yuan Cheng looked again at that list. Three types of wood, two hundred taels of silver. Thus he said, “Not expensive.”

“That’s because I know how to haggle.” If it’s not expensive, then payment should be swift. Mo Zi smiled amiably.

“But this is a study, not an accounting room. I don’t have any silver on hand right now.” Yuan Cheng’s ink-dark eyes reflected Mo Zi’s image. “After we finish talking, I’ll have Ming Nian accompany you to make a trip to the accounting room.”

Mo Zi thought about it—he was right. Scholarly officials’ studies wouldn’t contain filthy lucre, only antiques and treasures that could be exchanged for lots of filthy lucre. But just as she was about to say fine, Yuan Cheng spoke again.

“Wait, you owe me ten gold, I owe you two hundred taels. No need for me to give you silver—just deduct it from the ten gold.” Ten gold pieces, according to Great Zhou’s standard gold price, should be worth a thousand taels of silver. “Though you say you won’t pay, I can’t not collect it. You and I became sworn brothers, but this ten gold was from before the oath—I can’t very well not settle accounts clearly with you. Otherwise, gold and silver will say I’m playing favorites.”

Hearing this, Mo Zi thought—he still has the nerve to mention it? Who begged to become sworn brothers with them, calling each other brothers, making her neither male nor female? Wearing men’s clothing was one thing, but the sworn brotherhood document written in black and white with heaven and earth as witness was another matter entirely. A month had already passed, during which several incidents occurred where being Mo San was actually quite convenient, so by now she could only go with it. Also, since when did this Yuan Cheng care about gold and silver’s opinions? He was clearly just fooling her.

Others also became sworn brothers, and she did too. Others had deep brotherhood, dying on the same year, same month, same day—these three fought and competed with each other, with impure motives and their own agendas. “Big brother” and “little brother” were just called when they were in a good mood.

“If I’d seen those two lines on your ladder earlier, I’d rather have broken my leg than use it.” Mo Zi stopped smiling, narrowing her eyes and gritting her teeth. “Yuan Cheng, I think you should abandon officialdom for commerce. A treacherous minister harms the country, a treacherous merchant harms fools—the disaster level is smaller. That way, when you die in the future, at least people won’t curse at your grave.”

“Is Second Brother scolding me or feeling sorry for me?” Yuan Cheng’s handsome eyebrows rose.

What had she just said? Big brother and little brother were called when feeling happy. Feel sorry for him? Clearly she was saying he was more cunning than a merchant. Where did he hear any feeling of sympathy?

“Just forget about this ten gold. When I become prosperous later, I’ll offer up a hundred or a thousand gold with both hands.” Look at the long term—she was absolutely a good investment target.

Yuan Cheng restrained his smile and fixed his gaze on her.

Mo Zi suddenly felt a bit nervous under his scrutiny, uncomfortable all over.

When he didn’t smile, his features were like distant mountains and remote waters. The jade-like gentle color carried some coolness that chilled to the bone, always tinged with a mocking awareness of worldly affairs. The desolation in his ink-dark eyes didn’t match his age, yet carried a different kind of handsomeness. He was born into high nobility, but the family destruction and deaths he experienced had worn away his innate aristocratic bearing, giving him the worldly cunning and false benevolence that those second and third generation aristocrats lacked. He was a nobleman by birth, an orphan by circumstances, and later a powerful official—every object had to be obtained by his own hand, every matter had to be planned by himself. It wasn’t that his luck was good, but that he worked harder and more diligently than everyone else. It’s just that ordinary people couldn’t see it, couldn’t understand it, couldn’t penetrate it, thinking his youthful success and smooth sailing in official circles required no effort at all.

“Yuan Cheng, you should smile anyway. Even if it’s fake, it doesn’t matter.” She thought him pitiable, as pitiable as herself. But at least she still had the ship. And him? Beyond revenge, he seemed utterly bored with everything.

Yuan Cheng frowned and pressed his lips together, and that vicissitude faded. “Do I often give you fake smiles?”

Mo Zi grinned an oily smile.

“Every time you put on this oily act, you’re trying to fool someone, so you might as well stop.” Yuan Cheng shook his head slightly, then spoke of serious matters. “When will you bring people into the estate to start work?”

“After Mid-Autumn Festival. Recently there are some thorny matters inside the wall. I’m afraid of being implicated, making it inconvenient to come and go for the time being. However, I’ve already selected the people—they can be trusted. Moreover, the final step, I’ll handle alone. It takes some effort, but can ensure this matter is known only to you and me.” Mo Zi also stopped her oily smile and spoke seriously.

The two discussed the project plans in detail, covering about seventy to eighty percent.

“Yuan Cheng, do you think the emperor truly wants to employ you?” This doubt had been suppressed in her heart for a long time. “Although it was his father who did that terrible thing, destroying your entire family, isn’t he afraid you’ll take revenge on him? Also, you stirred up wind and waves in Nande—you must have disrupted quite a few schemes between the two countries. Doesn’t he blame you? He stationed Qianniu Guards by your side, clearly maintaining some wariness toward you.”

Yuan Cheng had grown accustomed to Mo Zi’s straightforward manner of speaking, and replied thus: “Back when I was in the heavenly prison, I already told the emperor that I only sought to restore my grandfather’s and father’s innocence, only sought to find the true culprit who framed the Yuan clan and have them pay with their lives. When I served as an official in Nande, it was each serving their own master. I harbored private grievances but maintained boundaries—blaming me would be of no help. Since I’m a fugitive minister from Nande, and the Yuan family’s crime of treason hasn’t yet been cleared, receiving the emperor’s protection is already beyond national law. Assigning Qianniu Guards to follow me is also within reason.”

Mo Zi nodded repeatedly. “This emperor seems quite reasonable. No wonder Great Zhou’s people call him wise and enlightened.”

But Yuan Cheng seemed less convinced. “Although this Great Zhou emperor is not bad, unfortunately his temperament is too soft. As an emperor, his heart should care for all the people under heaven—he should be compassionate. But toward his ministers he should be firm in will and capable of decisive action, balancing hardness and softness. He clearly knows my Yuan clan was wronged, yet for so many years he’s tolerated and appeased the treacherous, not daring to move against the late emperor’s old ministers and imperial relatives—this shows his imperial authority isn’t威严; in his reign, he only maintains without pioneering or reforming—this shows he lacks capable ministers to assist him effectively; in the struggle between new and old factions, he wavers left and right, always wanting to have the best of both worlds—this shows he knows benevolence but not its drawbacks; externally, national policy follows the previous dynasty, ignoring Nande’s corruption and Daqu’s ambitions, yet still wants to uphold the hundred-year pact among the Four Peaceful Nations—this shows pedantic naivety.”

“For any great nation, after a long period of peace and prosperity, there’s this kind of drawback—complacency in stagnation, I suppose.” Although Mo Zi was a soldier, she was a peacetime soldier, and in military engineering at that, without much ambition. But having no ambition herself didn’t mean she couldn’t see the current situation clearly. Moreover, the scales in her heart had already tilted—she deeply hated Daqu. “Great Zhou could completely use Daqu’s violation of the agreement as justification to send troops to Yuling, resolving the nation’s crisis while actually controlling it, then using the name of justice to declare war on Daqu. Nande has been weak for a long time—after stabilizing the north, move south to take it. The realm would then be settled. Though it can’t be accomplished in a single day, actively preparing for war is better than passively waiting to be attacked.”

This was the first time Yuan Cheng discussed national affairs with a woman. Although this woman had long ago displayed exceptional wisdom and courage, her commentary on the current situation once again made his eyes light up.

“Well said—’complacency in stagnation,’ ‘actively preparing for war.'” He really couldn’t help but praise her. “If Brother Mo were an official, you could also wield power over the court.”

Mo Zi shook her head. “As if. Speaking like this, I’d somehow get my head chopped off by the emperor without even knowing why.”

“Before the emperor, Brother Mo naturally wouldn’t speak this way, yet no matter what, you’d still be able to achieve your own goals.” To be an official required being like Mo Zi—methods smooth as honey mixed with oil, neither hasty nor impatient, not showing your hand unless necessary, always amiable with others. One mouth that could discern the moment, speaking just right, but actually a person extremely strong inside who didn’t yield easily. No matter how many detours taken or how far off course, she always had a way to circle back in a successful posture. If she had been born a hundred years earlier, she might have become a female prime minister like Shangguan Wan’er.

Mo Zi shrugged. “Who can’t engage in armchair strategizing? Others aren’t fools either.”

The light in Yuan Cheng’s eyes grew even stronger. This was this woman’s wisdom that placed her above anyone else—no wonder Daqu would rather destroy her. He naturally didn’t know that Mo Zi’s current state came from dying twice, having even her soul wrung dry, transforming into someone impervious to all poisons.

“From what you’re saying, could Great Zhou’s prosperous peace also be ending soon?” Mo Zi, after all, wasn’t familiar with Great Zhou’s officialdom, so she could only analyze the national situation.

“Look at my banquets and you’ll know—wherever there’s wine, they must attend; wherever there’s beauty, they must celebrate. Conducting business through gift-giving and personal favors—how is that different from Nande?” Yuan Cheng laughed coldly. “Once these things become common practice, they’re difficult to change unless there’s a dynastic change.”

“What’s long united must divide, what’s long divided must unite. It just depends on who can first comply with this river of history and expand for a thousand miles. It’s just that the common people under heaven will suffer the chaos of war.” Four nations had already become three. If war truly broke out, what should she do? She thought she’d transmigrated quite well, settling into a moderately well-off family, yet within a few years found herself entangled in schemes both open and hidden. Coming to Great Zhou, she thought it was a prosperous and powerful nation where she could get by, never expecting that signs of impending chaos were already beginning to appear.

Ai— She sighed. What great luck in two lifetimes!

“Brother Mo sighs—are you afraid that once war breaks out, you’ll have nowhere to establish yourself?” Yuan Cheng’s eyes were bright as snow.

“Yes.” Mo Zi didn’t hide her worries.

“Brother Mo’s mistress is Third Mistress Xiao San. The Xiao family is a strong shield the emperor relies on, commanding Great Zhou’s water fortresses and a million troops. What does Brother Mo have to worry about?” Yuan Cheng only smiled, deliberately saying this.

“In national wars, even emperors can become prisoners. Moreover, the more you’re on the front lines, the faster you die. When the time comes, a household full of widows—where could they avoid disaster?” In ordinary times, each one in the household was ruthless and vicious in their scheming. The Xiao family women were not the same type as the wives of the Yang family generals.

“Mo Zi.” Yuan Cheng suddenly called her name, eyes lowered, his true thoughts unknown.

“Mm.” Mo Zi responded, feeling his next words would be important.

“When that time comes, you can follow me.” He said.

A very short sentence. Even his expression was indifferent, as if casually tossed out on a whim, like giving to a puppy or kitten.

But Mo Zi’s eyes reddened.

Since she escaped from Yuling, surviving in the cracks, who had given her such a promise to protect her completely, so she wouldn’t have to worry alone anymore?

No one.

Only him.

Moreover, this time she was certain—this person was trustworthy. Although many people said he was no good; although he never showed himself to be kind-hearted, she just trusted him.

Such a person, because of selfishness, wouldn’t make promises lightly. Once spoken, they were as heavy as life itself.

She bit her lip, steeled her heart, took another piece of paper from her pack, and presented it with both hands. “Yuan Cheng, my sincerity.”

Yuan Cheng accepted it, his eyes flickering.

“What about your return gift?” She grinned, white teeth gleaming.

“Flying in the sky.” Yuan Cheng shook that thing. “Because this sincerity of yours—I’m completely unsatisfied.”