After Master Yang had eaten his fill and slept for a while, he went to see Yuxi in high spirits. As soon as he entered the room, his eyes fell on Zaozao in Yuxi's arms. Looking at Zaozao, Master Yang frowned and asked, "Why has Zaozao lost so much weight?" Zaozao was not only Huo Changqing's favourite, but Master Yang was also very fond of this little one.
Yuxi replied, "She accidentally caught a cold a few days ago, and her appetite wasn't very good, so she lost some weight." Children could easily catch colds, and it was hard to prevent them. Fortunately, Mama Lan was experienced, so Yuxi didn't have her hands busy and her feet confused1.
Master Yang walked over and stretched out his hands to Zaozao, saying, "Come, let Grandpa hug you." This child was adorable when she was still chubby and plump, and his heart ached to see her like this.
Zaozao blinked her big black eyes and looked at Master Yang for a moment. Then she grabbed Yuxi's lapel and started making incoherent noises. Yuxi patted Zaozao gently a few times and whispered something to her before turning to Master Yang and explaining, "After this child got sick, only Mama Lan could hold her besides me and the General. She doesn't want anyone else." Not even Huo Changqing.
Master Yang felt that this child was still the closest to her parents after all.
Yuxi asked, "Master Yang, why are you back so late?" Travelling there and back should only take half a month, but she hadn't expected him to be gone for over a month.
Master Yang had a thought of his own: "If I come back too soon, I'm afraid people will be suspicious. Han girl, I heard on the road that the Imperial Court will suppress the bandits. Is that true?"
Yuxi answered, "That is true. The Imperial Court has been saying that they will eliminate bandits year after year, but bandits are still rampant." In the past, when the Imperial Court said that they would eliminate bandits, they were just going through the motions, but this time was different. They were going to get serious.
Master Yang asked, "Han girl, tell me the truth. Why did you kill Cao De?" It definitely wasn't for personal revenge; if it was just personal revenge, Yuxi's way of thinking would be too petty.
Yuxi hesitated momentarily before answering, "Killing Cao De is only a trigger, and I can't predict what will happen next." Killing Cao De would make the northwest unstable, but Yuxi didn't know how chaotic it would become. Many things could be planned, but some were useless no matter how carefully you planned them because there were too many variables.
Master Yang felt that Yuxi's words were too superficial and asked again, "Tell me, what is your purpose in killing Cao De?"
Yuxi asked, "Why does Master Yang need to know about this?" Master Yang wasn't one to dig down to the roots and ask at the bottom2!
Master Yang remarked, "If something happens in the future, even if I die, I'll understand what happened. Otherwise, it would be too unfair to die without knowing how I died." Even as a ghost, he should strive to be an enlightened ghost.
Yuxi, who had experienced rebirth, did not like to hear words associated with death or misfortune: "Didn't you say that the other person is reliable? Are you afraid that this person might be untrustworthy and betray you?" If so, it would be wise to take precautions in advance.
Master Yang said, "There is no problem this time, but what about next time or the time after that? They may not notice it once, but it will eventually expose us if you do it too often." Yuxi definitely wouldn't stop here, and she would make them do more tiring and dangerous tasks in the future.
Zaozao grabbed Yuxi's hair and babbled incoherently. Yuxi stood up and comforted her, "Be good. It's cold outside; you can't go out and play!" She couldn't even sit still at such a young age; she would definitely be a handful when she grew up.
Unable to handle the situation, Yuxi had no choice but to call Mama Lan to carry Zaozao out. "Take her to Uncle Huo's place!" Huo Changqing, who had also been cooped up all day and unable to go out, was happy to accompany Zaozao, this endlessly energetic little one.
As soon as the child was taken out, the room suddenly fell silent. Yuxi asked, "Master Yang, do you really need to know?" In fact, it was just an idea of hers, and she wasn't sure if it could be realised.
Master Yang replied, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He simply wanted to know what Yuxi was planning so that he could be prepared.
Yuxi naturally trusted Master Yang not to reveal any secrets; otherwise, she wouldn't have entrusted him with the task of killing Cao De. "The Imperial Court is incompetent, and we can't rely on them to supply the ten thousand troops in Yu City. We have to find our own solutions."
Master Yang was a bit puzzled, "What does this have to do with killing Cao De?"
Yuxi said quietly, "If the General can become the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu, not to mention the supply of ten thousand troops, even the supply of two hundred thousand troops would be no problem." What Yuxi meant by making Yun Qing the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu wasn't just to have him in control of the military affairs and provisions for the two provinces. Her goal was to make him the ruler of the Northwest, what the common people called a 'local tyrant', at which point even the Imperial Court couldn't do anything to them. Only then would their family not be like lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
Master Yang gaped, then smiled and said, "Han girl, you really dare to imagine, don't you? It's just a pity that you're a woman, so you can only hide behind the scenes." Heroes were born in chaotic times; if Yuxi weren't a woman, she might be a great hero who saved the world.
Yuxi knew what Master Yang was thinking and smiled. "I don't want to be a hero; I just want my family to live well, not to have our life and death decided by others." The experience of being forced into a desperate situation and unable to resist once was enough, and there must never be a second time.
Master Yang said, "I thought you didn't mind the arranged marriage back then!" Seeing how calm Yuxi was back then, he really thought she had let go of everything in the capital.
Yuxi chuckled softly. "It's not that I didn't mind, but that I didn't have the right to mind back then. In their eyes, I was just a mole and an ant3, and I could die at any moment if they wanted to. But I didn't want to die." If she didn't want to die, she had to play dumb and pretend she didn't care.
After a long pause, Master Yang said, "To make Yun Qing the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu, you can only resort to extraordinary means. And if there's the slightest mistake, your whole family will die without a burial place. Aren't you afraid?"
Yuxi gently put her hand down and said, "How can I not be afraid? But being afraid won't help. There's still a way forward, but if we stay put, it's a dead end." Others wouldn't show mercy just because you were afraid. If she didn't strike first, when the Crown Prince, the Yu family, and the Song family joined forces against them, it would be the end of their family.
Master Yang also understood that Yuxi and Yun Qing were in a very dangerous situation; otherwise, he would not have agreed to help. "How confident are you that you can make Yun Qing the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu?"
Yuxi replied, "Thirty per cent." This was a conservative estimate.
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Master Yang laughed out loud upon hearing this and then spoke in a lowered voice, "You dare to kill the Imperial Commissioner with only a 30% chance of success? You must have eaten a bear's heart and a leopard's gall4." In his youth, he was called 'Daring Yang', but compared to Yuxi, that was simply child's play5!
Yuxi smiled. When forced into a corner with no way out, one could only find a way out for oneself.
After learning Yuxi's true intentions, Master Yang immediately changed the subject: "In a few days, the two children will get married. Where will the bridal chamber be set up?"
Yuxi chuckled and said, "The house next door has been bought, and the wedding hall and bridal chamber are all set up over there." Thinking back to when Zijin first came to her side, she was small, thin, and very timid. In the blink of an eye, she was about to be married. Time really did fly.
Seeing that Yuxi had arranged everything properly, Master Yang asked no further questions.
As the wedding day approached, Zijin became increasingly restless. She asked, "Madam, why do women have to get married? I think it's all right not to get married!"
Yuxi was checking the accounts when she heard this. Without even raising her head, she said, "If you don't want to get married, then discuss it with Yu Zhi. If he agrees, I have no objection." Yu Zhi had been like a Maitreya Buddha these past few days, smiling all day. If he knew that Zijin didn't want to get married, he would definitely cry.
Zijin was suddenly discouraged. If she told Yu Zhi that she didn't want to get married, he would definitely get angry. Although Yu Zhi was usually easy to talk to, when he got angry, he was terrifying. Zijin would not dare to provoke Yu Zhi.
Yuxi shook her head with a smile. "Oh, you. You are just a paper tiger6." Still, it was good that Yu Zhi could control Zijin.
The day before Zijin's wedding, Zisu returned from the estate.
Yuxi looked at the way Zisu was walking and the joy on her face. She asked, "Are you pregnant?" Looking at the way Zijin walked with her back straight, it was very likely that she was.
Zisu's expression was very gentle as she spoke softly, "Yes, two months. The physician said the foetus was very stable, so the head of our family allowed me to attend Zijin's wedding." As it was not good to spread the news before three months, Zisu had not yet sent any news to the residence.
How could Yuxi find fault with that? She smiled and asked, "Guo Xun must be thrilled, right?" Having a child made his life more stable.
A smile appeared at the corner of Zisu's mouth as she told Yuxi: "When the head of the family found out about this, he was so happy that he fell asleep and woke up laughing." When Zisu realised that she hadn't been able to conceive a child back then, her husband was even more worried than she was.
The physician said that Zisu's body was fine, so maybe the reason she couldn't conceive a child was because of Guo Xun. After all, he had suffered such a severe injury, and it might have left some consequences. Therefore, when they found out that Zisu was pregnant, Guo Xun was even happier than she was.
Yuxi was a person of vast experience. It was unusual for someone to be so happy that they woke up laughing. However, since this was a matter between husband and wife, she didn't ask. "Then you take good care of your pregnancy." When she let Zisu follow Guo Xun to the estate on that day, she seemed to be telling Zisu to help Guo Xun manage the estate affairs. In fact, Zisu didn't need to get involved in the estate's affairs. The real reason why Yuxi let Zisu follow Guo Xun to the estate was simply in the hope that the couple would live together and conceive a child sooner. With a child, both Guo Xun and Zisu would be able to settle down.
Zisu smiled and said, "After the head of the family found out I was pregnant, he didn't let me do anything. He just let me rest and take care of the baby." It was also because she was deeply attached to Zijin that she insisted on coming. Guo Zhuan couldn't talk her out of it, so he agreed.
On the eve of a wedding, it was usually the mother who taught the young woman about male-female relationships. Although Yuxi had already given birth to a child, she was still too embarrassed to discuss these matters with Zijin. In the end, this difficult task fell on Mama Lan.
Mama Lan was a bit embarrassed. She still had to teach people how to make love at her age. However, Yuxi was the master, and the master's orders could not be disobeyed. All she could do was carry a book of er*tic pictures and enter Zijin's room.
Half a shichen7 later, Mama Lan came out empty-handed and went to see Yuxi. She reported, "Madam, don't worry, I've taught her everything she needs to know." She also handed the book to Zijin, believing that Zijin would study it carefully.
Yuxi pursed her lips and said, "That's good."
Footnotes Full List
- Chinese idiom: flustered, overwhelmed, and unable to think clearly
- Chinese idiom: a thorough and relentless pursuit of knowledge or understanding
- fig. tiny individuals with no power
- Chinese idiom: bold; daring; foolhardy
- an insignificant thing; a thing of little value
- Chinese metaphor: something or someone that appears powerful or threatening but is actually weak and harmless
- 2 hours
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The Rebirth of Han Yuxi