Chapter Sixteen: Unaware of Imperial Authority

  I turned back desolately, and the Jade North Studio was now just a small dot in the distance. It had once been a place I dreamed of going to, but now it was unbearable to look back on. I sat up straight again, wiping away another tear. Su Hui looked at me, not teasing me as usual, but instead sighing like a little adult and reciting: "The water drifts, the flowers flow, a kind of longing, two places idle sorrow, this feeling cannot be dispelled, only to lower one's eyebrows, yet it rises to the heart."

  Huh? I stopped wiping away tears with my hand, this is Li Qingzhao's "A Sprig of Plum Blossoms"! I copied it into my Western-style poetry collection (I), how would Xiao Qingdou know?

  "How did you know this 'Yi Jian Mei'?" I asked in surprise.

  "What's wrong with that? The other day there was a thief, Grandpa couldn't go out, and every day at home he just kept repeating this sentence, I've heard it so many times my ears are numb."

  "Third Master, where did you get this poem from?"

  Su Hui finally realized that he had misspoken, looking at me, stuttering for half a day. To be honest, I wasn't surprised that Yuan Fei knew about my relationship with Song Erge from the start. However, not only did he know the specific time and place of my date with Yuan Fei, but he also knew every single poem in the poetry collection I gave to Yuan Fei. So when Biying brought over the poem on the green jade case that day, he saw it and I lied saying I wrote it for fun, but he destroyed it with a stern face. It turned out he had known all along, he had known all along.

  This damn Ke Gebo, this perverted bastard, I increasingly feel like I'm Sun Wukong in his palm, no matter what I do or think, he actually knows everything, but pretends to know nothing. He must have known long ago that Fei Ge likes me, and that I helped Su Hui with her homework, so why did he snatch me away from Fei Ge's hands? And what about the way he treated me yesterday? And that heartless original Fei Ge, and that original Hou Ye who had an affair with Jin Xiu...

  I'm getting more and more annoyed, and finally came to a conclusion that the men in our family are all self-righteous, playing with people's emotions, bastards.

  A sudden horseshoe sound came from behind, Su Hui vigilantly covered her hand to look back, while I was immersed in the infinite depression and scolding of the Yuan family man, not taking it seriously at all.

  "Wooden head..." A familiar yet unfamiliar voice came, and my heart inexplicably stirred...

  It's him! He's here, he's here, he's here......

  All the gloom in my heart was swept away, I jumped off the horse cart and hurried Su Hui: "Mu Ya Tou, don't be like this, think about what I told you, if San Ye finds out, you'll be in trouble."

  Unfortunately, I didn't hear what he said, and all I saw was a figure emerging from the rolling dust and smoke. It was a handsome young man, dressed in black, sitting tall on a majestic black horse, with his red hair flowing freely in the wind, looking like a celestial being. He was Yuan Fei, the one I had been thinking about day and night. I lifted my skirt and walked towards him...

  Just as I was running up with excitement, he was still shouting "Wooden Head" three hundred meters away from me, and then he suddenly turned left and went into the western forest...

  ……

  Ugh, I'm so angry...

  Mugwort, mugwort, at the critical moment you can forget that Yuan Fei is a TMD weak sight, and at the same time regret not speaking out to bring him over earlier. My heart sank to the bottom of the sea again, unable to float up anymore. I sat down on the ground in despair, crying bitterly with a heart full of sorrow.

  Su Hui sighed and came over to help me up, pulling me back to the carriage with a strong grip as I sobbed. The carriage swayed back and forth on the bumpy road, I sniffled and snuffled, my mind repeating that sentence over and over again: Searching for him in the crowd of thousands, suddenly turning around, he was there, in the midst of the lanterns...

  No, I can no longer find Fei Ge, and Fei Ge can no longer find me...

  I closed my eyes and silently shed tears in the dark carriage. After a while, the horse-drawn carriage stopped.

  I think I've arrived at Xi Feng's place, so I lazily shifted my body and lifted the curtain to come out.

  A tall and majestic black horse with a red-haired young man on its back, his clothes tattered and worn out, his face covered in sweat, stared at me with an expression of surprise and excitement: "I've caught up to you, Mu Ya Tou."

  I stood there, not daring to believe that I could see him again, but he suddenly swept me up onto his big black horse and galloped away. At first, Su Hui was shouting loudly from behind: "Mu Ya Tou, come back quickly, San Ye knows, you're finished!" Later, it gradually changed to: "Mu Ya Tou, come quickly and save me!" I turned my head to look, and found that Amir and a group of young men had surrounded him.

  Yu Fei finally stopped his horse, right in the cherry forest, unfortunately, the cherries have all withered and fallen...

  He put me down on the ground, holding me tightly: "Mù yā tóu, Mù yā tóu, you almost killed me. That despicable San Cuīzi, he just wouldn't let me see you."

  He whispered in my ear, and I burst into tears again. With a mix of joy and sorrow, I stretched out my arms to hug him, but then remembered Biying and felt a pang in my heart, so I put them down: "You already have Biying, why are you still thinking about me?"

  He pulled me away and asked in confusion: "Ying Yaotou? What's wrong with Ying Yaotou? What does she have to do with us?"

  Still pretending? My tears flowed even more fiercely: "Didn't you already take Biying as your concubine? Now she's become your official wife, and yet you still dare to deceive me. You're not satisfied with having Biying, now you want to cheat me again. Your deceit is too much, it's really too much."

  I broke free from his embrace, sobbing pitifully. I rarely cry so hard in front of others, let alone in front of Yuan Fei. At first, he was extremely flustered, but later finally understood my meaning, his face flushing bright red: "I, I, where did I take her in? You, you, what evidence do you have?"

  You scoundrel, do you want me to take pictures of the two of you as evidence? I pointed at him with a broken heart: "You scoundrel, do you need me to testify for you after doing such a thing? The hickey on Biying's neck wasn't made by you, who else could it be?"

  Yu Fei stared at me with wide eyes, his face red and his neck thick, choking there for half a day. Just when I thought he was guilty and couldn't speak, he asked me very seriously: "What is a kiss mark?"

  In that room, I was holding Si Juan who was crying so hard, and when I heard this, I stared at him blankly. This scoundrel still doesn't know what a hickey is, isn't this going too far?...

  Suddenly, a burst of laughter came, and five young men fell from the tree. Yuan Fei's face was quite embarrassed, just about to get angry, Amil ran over, whispered in his ear, his face suspiciously turned red, and asked: "Is this thing called a kiss mark?"

  Amir suppressed a smile, nodded with a twitching face, and jumped back to his original position. He stood in a line with the four young men, three steps away from us. Yuan Fei thought for a moment, then said coldly, "Take off your clothes."

  I immediately hugged myself and took three steps back, saying angrily: "You scoundrel!"

  Yu Fei Hong's face turned red as she glanced at me: "I wasn't talking about you, Wooden Head."

  He turned around and roared: "Amir, take off your clothes for Xi."

  Amir slowly walked over with a smile: "Master, why do you want me to take off my clothes?"

  "Take off your clothes when I tell you to, don't talk so much nonsense."

  "Master, Mu Girl is a notorious demon, you know." Amir said cautiously as he looked at me.

  Good grief! Dead kid.

  "What are you talking about? The iron token is here, hurry up and take it off!" Yuan Fei was anxious, took out an iron plaque from his bosom, on which were written some Turkic characters that I couldn't recognize. That Amir immediately stripped himself naked, with a red face, his hands clasped over his chest, under Yuan Fei's order, he reluctantly put down his hands, revealing a sturdy and flat youthful body with not much muscle, while glaring at me with annoyance.

  What are you looking at? You're not a kid, what's there to show off about? And your figure is just like a rack of ribs, nothing worth looking at. And with some red marks as embellishments, huh? Red marks?

  I feel something is off, looking at Yuan Fei Bai, he pointed to the "specimen" with an expressionless face. Amir explained: "Han Xiuzhu that old scoundrel raised Jingu and Qixinghe as a protective array, while my Yubei Studio has thirteen people including Amir in a battle formation. Recently, Guo Ren is experimenting with the Jade Needle Bee, which is not easy to deal with, sometimes it will even sting its own people, causing unbearable itching. If there's no antidote, one would die from poisoning within three hours. That's why I destroyed all the needle bees the other day. Everyone in Yubei Studio has that kind of mark on their body, including me." He paused and looked into my eyes with a bit of stiffness: "Do you want me to take off my clothes to show you?"

  I clenched my fists, feeling ashamed and having no place to hide, clenched my fists again, and said in a low voice: "No, no, no need, I was wrong to suspect you and Biying."

  Looking over, Yuan Fei was still expressionless as he stared at me. This was the first time I saw him so serious, was he really angry?

  A gust of wind blew by, and everyone fell silent. Amir, who had been exposing his chest, finally couldn't bear it anymore and asked in a self-composed tone, "Master, may I put on my clothes now?"

  "Put it on, all of you step back!" Yuan Fei Jiao nodded coldly, ignoring Amir, and walked towards me, gently taking my hand. He recited: "The misty veil has not yet lifted at dawn. The lamp in the lonely pavilion is left to eternal sorrow. On the wutong leaves, the third watch rain, another worry in the mortal world. Sleep is impossible, dreams are also useless. Too much sorrow, too much illness, what's the point? True love is a thread of bitter entanglement, just below the eyebrows, right above the heart."

  My tears flowed again, but my heart was filled with sweet intoxication. I looked at his wine glass and said: "The red lotus is broken, the jade flute is autumnal. Lightly untie your silk clothes, alone ascend the orchid boat. Who sends a brocade letter from the clouds? The geese return when the moon is full in the western tower. Drifting away on the water, drifting away with the current. One kind of longing, two places of idle sorrow. This love has no way to dispel it, just as I lower my eyebrows, but raise my heart.

  Yu Fei's face was filled with wild joy, his drunken eyes sparkling with extreme excitement: "Mù Yāo Tóu, do you know how much I've missed you?"

  The two of us were tightly embracing, when a cold and ancient voice came: "Young Master, the Imperial Sacred Iron Token is for summoning troops in times of life and death, but you used it to easily reveal yourself for just one person. I'm truly disappointed."

  Yu Fei let go of me: "Guo Er Ren, I've made up my mind. Didn't you say before that Mu Ya Tou would be mine sooner or later?"

  Guo Erren's face was as cold as a thousand-year-old frost: "Young Master, times are different now. This wooden girl is now the darling of Xifeng Wan, and Third Master dotes on her excessively. Young Master, don't you know that nowadays, if Wooden Girl wants a feather, Treading Snow Gentleman would rush to order his door guests to search far and wide for rare birds with beautiful feathers to present to her in an instant, just to make her smile?"

  Yu Fei's face turned pale, looking at me, and I was shocked. Yu Fei really ordered his door guests to collect rare birds' feathers for me to make a pen, and why did he want everyone in the world to know about this? Isn't this putting me on the fire?

  Yu Fei coldly smiled: "What's that got to do with anything? Whatever he can give, I can also give to Mu Yaotou."

  Guo Erren said coldly, "The young master is the future emperor of the Great Turkic Empire. When he ascends to the throne, power will be at his fingertips. Why must he be infatuated with someone like you?" He glanced at me, as if also wanting me to understand this myself, and continued without hesitation, "Mu Gu Niang may also be a decent person, but how does her appearance, temperament, and character compare to our own Bi Ying? Moreover, the young master's eyes are not good now, and his mind has not fully recovered. Wait until he has made great progress in martial arts, and he will no longer be so infatuated. When he sees through everyone in the world, how can Mu Gu Niang take care of herself if the young master has no interest in her?"

  I finally understand the problem with Yuan Fei's eyes and the so-called foolish child, it turns out that it was caused by practicing martial arts. What kind of strange martial art would make him practice at the cost of sacrificing his clarity and wisdom?

  Na Ge Er Ren again reminded me word by word, sentence by sentence, he wanted Bi Ying to be Yuan Fei's pillow companion.

  Yes, in terms of looks, Biying is much prettier than me;

  As for temperament, Bi Ying is much more gentle and obedient than me;

  Discussing moral integrity, Bi Ying sacrificed herself by crashing into a wall to save me...

  And the secret of Yuan Fei's martial arts must be a secret that Yu Bei Zhai did not pass on, and now you're saying it out loud, are you trying to trap me in this garden? My heart tightened up, slowly loosening my grip on Yuan Fei's hand.

  Unexpectedly, Yuan Fei grabbed my hand and chuckled: "Mu Yaotou, are you trying to get rid of me?"

  Tears streamed down my face, how did he know what was on my mind? Wasn't he blind and deaf? But then he looked into my eyes and said firmly, "Remember, Mu Ya, don't even think about leaving me behind, not even in death."

  He smiled at me with a warm smile, like sunshine, and gently wiped away my tears with his other hand. He pulled me towards Guo Er Ren and said quietly: "Guo Er Ren, what you said makes perfect sense. In order to practice the Tearless Scripture, I've indeed become unable to recognize anything clearly, only barely able to make out the outlines of things. Sometimes I lose control when doing things, and thinking back on it now, it's really absurd and laughable."

  My heart skipped a beat, I really didn't expect that the Wu Lei Jing which made Nanzhao and Youming Cult go crazy searching for was actually in Yuan Fei's hands, and they almost succeeded in cultivating it!

  The Duke of Zhou smiled and said, "When one leads the people, he should think about his own shortcomings when he sees what is good, so as to be cautious. When he wants to do something, he should think about stopping in time, so as to bring peace to the people. When he thinks about being high and noble, he should think about being humble and prudent, so as to cultivate himself. When he fears being full and overflowing, he should think about the rivers and seas, and how they flow downward into the valleys. When he enjoys pleasure and leisure, he should think about the three drives of virtue, so as to set a standard for himself. When he is afraid of becoming lazy, he should think about being careful at the beginning and respectful at the end. When he worries about being obstructed, he should think about being open-minded and receptive to others. When he thinks about evil and wickedness, he should think about uprightness and integrity, so as to eliminate what is bad. When favors are bestowed upon him, he should think about not rejoicing without cause, so as to avoid mistakenly rewarding those who do not deserve it. When punishments are meted out, he should think about not being angry without cause, so as to avoid wrongly punishing the innocent. In general, these ten thoughts encompass nine virtues: simplicity and ability, choosing what is good and following it. Then the wise will exhaust their plans, the brave will expend their strength, the benevolent will spread their kindness, and the faithful will fulfill their loyalty. The civil and military officials will strive to excel each other, the ruler and his ministers will have no difficulties, and they can enjoy the pleasure of traveling ahead of time, cultivate a long and healthy life like the pine and cypress trees, play the zither and hold the jade tablet, and transform others without speaking. Why must one exhaust his spirit and thoughts, take on the duties of his subordinates, wear out his ears and eyes with cleverness, and depart from the great Way of non-action?

  He paused for a moment and looked at Gao Juren: "You are a famous minister of the Turks, assisting two generations of monarchs, with extensive knowledge and experience. What do you think?"

  Guo Erren had been stunned for half a day, and excitedly said: "The young master is wise and knowledgeable, what he just said, even I couldn't understand its wisdom. If the previous king had such vision, why would the treacherous officials and sons have divided the country into two parts, east and west? Until now, we can't take back the eastern court. I am overjoyed, how lucky for Tuyuhun! The young master will surely become a great ruler in the future."

  But I was stunned, wasn't this the Ten Thoughts Memorial that Wei Zheng presented to Emperor Taizong?

  This was a long, long time ago, when I was still with Biying at De Xinju. Once, Yuan Fei got lost and ended up here again. I was washing clothes by the river, and he came over, laughing and chattering away with me as we squatted together on the riverbank. I don't remember what we were talking about, but somehow we started discussing monarchies. He was spouting nonsense, saying something about unifying the Eastern and Western Turks, then swallowing up the Eastern Court, and after that, marching into Nanzhao to make Yuan Bai his groom and Han Xiuzhu his sweeper. At the time, I thought to myself, "Let him brag, it's not like it's going to cost him anything," but my mouth couldn't help asking: "If Fourth Master Yuan really achieves all this, what will he do after the world is at peace?"

  At that time, thirteen-year-old Yuan Fei was taken aback: "Naturally, it's to continue expanding the territory?"

  "This war maniac," I said with a smile, "the country is in constant turmoil, the people are exhausted, and they will surely rebel in the end."

  He tilted his head and thought for a while: "Well, then I'll just guard the industry."

  "How can you guard your business?"

  He twisted his fingers for half a day, and finally stammered out a reduction in taxes. I was proud of myself at the time, so I recited the Ten Thoughts Memorial to Emperor Taizong. At that moment, he stood there with his mouth agape for half a day, and I laughed and went back to my room. When I turned around, he was still squatting there, staring at me in a daze. Who would have thought? Who would have thought? That Yuan Fei was actually the best actor, the most terrifying person in the Purple Bamboo Mountain Villa.

  I fantasize about using Oscar's little bronze man to knock him down heavily...

  I glared at him indignantly, and he smiled awkwardly at me before turning his head to say with a straight face: "Guo Erren, you're wrong. The brilliant argument just now wasn't mine, but rather this wooden puppet's in front of you who you think is ordinary-looking yet cunning and has a city accent."

  Guo Erren looked at me suspiciously, while Yuan Fei continued: "Ying Yaotou sacrificed herself to save Yi, and I have always admired her greatly. That's why I treated her with extra respect. However, Mu Yaotou, in order to take care of Ying Yaotou, hid in that dilapidated De Xin Residence for six whole years, working diligently. What a noble deed! As for me, Yuan Fei, I think it's just an illusion, a fleeting dream. Having met someone like Mu Yaotou, who is as ingenious and broad-minded as the universe itself, I can die without regrets."

  He was speaking softly there, I raised my head to look up at him, he also turned his head around, gave me a faint smile, the sunlight shone on his handsome face, reflecting a golden halo, only then did I feel that I had never discovered how tall and majestic he was, and his slender figure emitted an aura of awe-inspiring grandeur, involuntarily making people feel reverence and worship.

  I think that's what they call the aura of an emperor.