Seeing Duan Yunxiu, Yang Ziji was stunned for a few moments before he could react.
He had arrived so quickly!
From the capital to here, even pushing horses to their limits would take a month.
It had only been about twenty days now. Could it be that the Emperor rushed over the moment he received the secret letter?
The Barbarian Princess had never seen the Emperor of the Central Plains. Seeing this suddenly appearing man who was in no way inferior to Ye Shaohua, she took a wary step back. “Who are you?”
Duan Yunxiu didn’t even acknowledge her.
The Barbarian Princess wanted to say more, but at that moment, her brother’s face drastically changed.
Unnoticed by anyone, the area around them had already been surrounded by the troops Duan Yunxiu had brought.
Deputy Commander Xie, though stationed long-term at the frontier, also recognized the Emperor.
Watching himself transform from a prisoner into a victor, and listening to Duan Yunxiu issuing commands one after another, he finally realized this wasn’t a dream.
“Your Majesty? How… how did you appear so suddenly?” He half-knelt on the ground, his face a mix of excitement and bewilderment.
Duan Yunxiu waved a hand. “Deputy Commander Xie, you’ve worked hard. This was a plan between the Military Advisor and myself. It’s fortunate we weren’t late, otherwise the losses would have been great.”
“You can say that again,” Deputy Commander Xie grinned. “If you had been any later, Military Advisor would have become the Barbarian Prince’s royal consort.”
A Military Advisor who was both scholarly and martial, wise and resourceful—if the barbarians had snatched him, their loss would have been immense.
Deputy Commander Xie had completely forgotten how much he had despised Ye Shaohua at the beginning.
“Is that so,” Duan Yunxiu said lightly.
For some reason, Deputy Commander Xie could sense a sliver of icy chill within that light tone.
But they had achieved a great victory, reclaimed all lost territories, and subjugated the barbarian state, which wouldn’t have the provisions or military strength to return for at least ten years. What could the Emperor possibly be dissatisfied with?
Deputy Commander Xie felt he must be mistaken.
Duan Yunxiu looked at the bits of grass stuck in Ye Shaohua’s hair and couldn’t help but reach out to pick them off.
“You arrived quite early,” Ye Shaohua patted her sleeves, speaking leisurely. “I thought it would take at least three more days.”
Using such a tone when speaking to the Emperor was far too disrespectful, wasn’t it?
Deputy Commander Xie glanced sideways at Yang Ziji. He knew Young General Yang was very familiar with the Emperor, but even he wouldn’t dare speak to His Majesty so casually.
But then again, Yang Ziji was also very familiar with Military Advisor Ye. Thinking this, the straightforward Deputy Commander Xie didn’t dwell on it further.
That night, the military camp celebrated all night long.
Two days later, with the troops tallied and organized, they began their triumphant return to the capital.
Ye Shaohua knew the news of their defeat in the layered stratagem must have reached the Ye Mansion. Although she had left letters asking the manager of the Evergreen Teahouse and the people from the Xuan Pavilion to look after Lady Mei, she was still uneasy at heart.
She didn’t travel with the main army; a force of a hundred thousand moved too slowly.
Ye Shaohua, Duan Yunxiu, and Yang Ziji raced back with the messengers, pushing their horses to the limit.
Half a month later.
Ye Mansion, Pear Courtyard.
“Madame, please don’t go to the Dowager and the others anymore,” Liu’er pleaded, having watched Lady Mei grow haggard over this past month. “Even if you give them all your good things, they still won’t help you inquire about the Fourth Young Master’s news.”
It had been over a year since Ye Shaohua went off to war. During that year, she and Lady Mei, though not cared for by the household, had lived a leisurely life.
But ever since the news came a month ago that the great army had been defeated and all three armies’ generals captured, panic had spread through the capital.
Lady Mei, a woman of the inner chambers, had no way of knowing the situation outside.
She could only try to find people everywhere to ask for news of Ye Shaohua.
Today, Madam Ye’s maternal relatives had come to visit. Lady Mei took out her last valuable object—a beautiful glass lamp ornament that Yang Ziji had gifted her for her birthday.
In this technologically backward ancient era, glass was an extremely rare decorative item.
Only the Xuan Pavilion sold such precious objects, and only one piece per month. It was priceless, and that single piece each month was almost always offered as tribute to the palace.
Others, even if they wanted to buy it, couldn’t.
They could only go to see the glass object displayed in the center of the Xuan Pavilion.
Madam Ye’s maternal uncle was a wealthy merchant from Jiangnan. He had been at the Ye Mansion for over a month now.
Although in these times the social order was scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants—with merchants at the bottom—the wealthy were influential everywhere. Especially merchants who traveled frequently, their information networks were often more extensive than those of people in the capital.
“Lady Mei,” the Dowager was speaking with Madam Ye’s uncle. Seeing Lady Mei, a flash of displeasure crossed her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to pay my respects to the Honorable Uncle.” Lady Mei presented the carefully wrapped glass ornament to Madam Ye’s uncle.
Over this month, Lady Mei had produced so many precious items it had astonished the Ye household. No one had imagined Lady Mei could possess so many good things.
And now, she had even brought out a glass ornament.
Madam Ye’s uncle was stunned for quite a while.
“Honorable Uncle, about Shaohua’s matter, you…” Seeing the uncle accept the glass ornament, Lady Mei stepped forward to speak.
“Lady Mei,” Madam Ye covered the corner of her mouth with her handkerchief. “This matter cannot be rushed. After all, my brother also needs connections to inquire. When the Fourth Young Master was here, you still mattered. But now, with his fate unknown, Lady Mei, if you continue to bother my brother, you should find someone else to seek news!”
With no other news coming for over a month, Madam Ye and the others had long lost any hope for Ye Shaohua’s survival.
The Dowager also couldn’t be bothered with Lady Mei. “Where is Shaoming? He was promoted to the seventh rank a few days ago, and I haven’t seen him yet.”
Ye Shaohua had achieved the title of top scholar, yet held no official position and was even exiled to the frontier.
Just look at the second-place scholar who emerged alongside Ye Shaohua—he had already married a princess and become a fourth-rank official.
Mentioning Ye Shaoming, Madam Ye couldn’t help but smile.
The group chatted idly, quite happily deriding Lady Mei.
The matter of elevating Lady Mei to a wife of equal status, discussed a year ago, was never mentioned again by anyone in the Ye household.
And Ye Jin stood by Madam Ye’s side serving her, not even glancing at Lady Mei.
They say adversity reveals true hearts.
Lady Mei hadn’t understood before, but now she did, didn’t she?
Watching Lady Mei leave, the people in the main hall paid no mind, even cracking melon seeds and laughing.
Who would have thought the top scholar of over a year ago would end up like this?
The Honorable Uncle finally snapped out of his reverie over the glass ornament. He looked up at Madam Ye. “Little sister, this Lady Mei in your Ye household is no ordinary person.”
Madam Ye and the Dowager hadn’t seen glass ornaments before, but the uncle, having traveled so many places, truly knew the value of such an item.
“Of course she’s not ordinary,” Madam Ye sneered. “She came from the pleasure quarters back in the day.”
Seeing his sister’s dismissive tone, the uncle thought for a moment but didn’t say anything more. “I’ll have someone make inquiries.”
A fifteen-year-old top scholar—if the Emperor hadn’t capriciously sent him to the battlefield, he would likely have been a remarkably talented figure, right?
While these people were still talking, the head steward came scrambling in, his normally composed face now panicked. “Dowager! Dowager!”
The Honorable Uncle was present. The Dowager set down her teacup, displeased. “What’s all the panic? Can’t you see the Honorable Uncle is here?”
Hearing the Dowager, the steward’s terrified expression didn’t fade. He just shook his head, thinking of the Fourth Young Master he had just seen, full of chilling intent, and couldn’t help but shiver. “Dowager, the Fourth Young Master… the Fourth Young Master has returned!”
“What?” The Dowager, initially displeased, stood up in shock at these words. “Wasn’t he captured after being defeated?”
In their eyes, Ye Shaohua was merely a scholar, a feeble person who couldn’t even tie a chicken. Once captured by those barbarians, could he possibly have survived?
“Not only has the Fourth Young Master returned, he came back to the capital with His Majesty! The messengers outside say our great army achieved a complete victory, and the Fourth Young Master is credited with the greatest merit!” The steward relayed all the information he had gathered without missing a detail.
After a surge of pleasant surprise, the Dowager immediately said, “Come, let’s go to Lady Mei’s courtyard!”
Meanwhile, Madam Ye grabbed the steward, asking several times if this was true.
Ye Jin, who had been standing by Madam Ye’s side serving her, swayed upon hearing this.
“Third Young Lady, the Fourth Young Master has returned. Should we go to the Pear Courtyard to see?” Ye Jin’s personal maid, Chun’er, glanced at the doorway and asked cautiously.
Ye Jin pressed her lips together. “Let’s go, to the Pear Courtyard!”
Her mind was in complete turmoil. Just last month when the news came, she thought this fourth brother was surely dead. Who could have imagined not only did he not die, but he achieved a great victory!
Credited by His Majesty with the top merit! Right now, three imperial edicts were waiting outside!
Really… Ye Jin never knew her own brother, born of the same mother, had such good fortune!
This time, Ye Jin was truly anxious. She remembered all the cold, sarcastic remarks she had made to Lady Mei over the past half month, a cold sweat breaking out on her back. “It won’t be a problem. Auntie is my birth mother, and Fourth Brother is my own brother. Would he really disregard me?”
