In the past, Wei Yuan had merely felt that the summit of Qingming's main peak was not very large, but now it seemed positively tiny. Originally, the courtyards everyone lived in were already petite and compact, and with Xu Henshui, Sun Yu, and the others occupying their own residences, they already took up most of the summit.
When Consort Yuan arrived, there was simply nowhere to house her. Zhike Town's defenses were weak, so Wei Yuan had no choice but to clear out the meeting hall where the cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning held their discussions and give it to her. However, Consort Yuan had not only brought young Prince Chu with her on this journey, but Prince Fu as well.
At early morning, Wei Yuan walked into the courtyard to pay his respects to Consort Yuan according to court etiquette. Just as he stepped through the courtyard gate, he heard a loud smash from a wing room—a bowl was shattered to pieces.
Wei Yuan walked over. Sweeping with his divine sense, he saw a porridge bowl smashed on the floor, white porridge splattered everywhere.
Young Prince Fu was throwing a temper tantrum. "What kind of garbage did you bring me? Even dogs wouldn't eat this! Bring Wei Yuan here! I want to ask him what his intentions are—is he trying to starve this prince to death?!"
Young Prince Fu was tall for his age, looking around ten or eleven, though he was not yet ten. But his little face already bore some adult airs.
Seeing that the Dao Foundation cultivator who had delivered the food stood motionless with a blank expression, young Prince Fu grew even more furious and shrieked, "I told you to get Wei Yuan! Are you deaf?! If your ears are useless, I'll cut them off for you!"
He drew a short sword from the bed and slashed at the Dao Foundation cultivator. The cultivator merely stepped back to dodge the strike, still not saying a word.
At that moment, Wei Yuan pushed open the door and entered. "Why is Prince Fu so angry?"
Upon seeing Wei Yuan, Prince Fu's eyes flared with anger, and he shouted, "Insolent! Why do you not kneel before this prince?!"
Wei Yuan naturally deflected such a petty challenge with ease: "A general in the field is not bound by every imperial decree. In my armor, it is inconvenient to kneel even before the King."
A vicious look flashed across young Prince Fu's eyes. "Then you still must salute! Bow down! Your body must be parallel to the ground!"
Wei Yuan replied with unperturbed mildness, "Is today's breakfast not to your liking?"
Young Prince Fu snapped sharply, "I told you to bow! Are you deaf?! Are you trying to rebel?!"
Wei Yuan asked once more, "Is today's breakfast not to your liking?"
When he asked this second time, his tone was gentle and the smile on his face had not shifted in the slightest, as if time had simply rewound.
Young Prince Fu's face flushed crimson with rage. Gritting his teeth, he was just about to speak when the door pushed open and Consort Yuan stepped inside. "Lord Military Commissioner asked you a question. Why do you not answer?"
"Mother Consort, I—"
Before young Prince Fu could finish, Consort Yuan commanded, "Clean up the floor!"
Young Prince Fu was stunned. Tears welled in his eyes, and he grit his teeth and screamed, "I won't!"
*Smack!* Consort Yuan swung her hand and struck him across the face!
She struck with considerable force; a distinct handprint rapidly welled across young Prince Fu's cheek. Clutching his face, tears streamed down, yet he did not dare cry out loud.
Consort Yuan said coldly, "Your food for today is only what was brought this morning. Furthermore, you are not permitted to take a single step outside! No one is allowed to come in and clean up for him—let him clean up this mess himself! Wei Yuan, withdraw your man as well."
Wei Yuan nodded, and the Dao Foundation cultivator walked out.
Consort Yuan then left the room, pulling the door shut firmly behind her.
From within the room immediately came stifled weeping muffled under the quilt, along with a barely audible voice: "...Damn you, Wei Yuan! You disgraced my mother! This feud is irreconcilable! When I ascend the throne, I will tear you into ten thousand pieces, salt and slice your lower half, and feed it to the dogs..."
Though the voice was faint, Wei Yuan and Consort Yuan both possessed dharma idols and their divine senses remained inside the room. They could have heard two mosquitoes whispering distinctly, so naturally every word fell right into their ears.
Just as Wei Yuan thought to pretend he had not heard, he noticed Consort Yuan's bright eyes fixed intently on him. Knowing he could not dodge it, he smiled faintly. "Prince Fu is ambitious. That's quite good."
Consort Yuan said, "If I told you this child would change in the future, you certainly wouldn't believe it. I wouldn't believe it either."
Wei Yuan said, "It is only human nature."
Consort Yuan sighed softly. "Once this matter is concluded, I will dismiss all his tutors and let him spend his days in Body Casting cultivation, horseback riding, and archery—letting him fool around as he pleases."
Wei Yuan froze in surprise. "Without any restraint? Wouldn't that ruin the boy completely?"
Consort Yuan rolled her eyes at Wei Yuan. "If I don't ruin him, I fear he won't die a natural death."
Wei Yuan felt a bit awkward. "Hardly, hardly. Besides, as for the throne, he's only daydreaming—"
Wei Yuan did not finish, but his meaning was clear. Before the throne stood the Crown Prince and Prince Wei, and at worst there was also young Prince Chu. It would never fall to Prince Fu under any circumstances unless Consort Yuan exerted all her influence to orchestrate it. Yet she could barely protect herself right now, so how could she have the spare energy to contest the throne?
Consort Yuan said, "If this issue isn't settled, there will always be a thorn between you and me, keeping us from growing close."
"Does the King know you came to Qingming?"
"Of course he knows."
Wei Yuan found this exceedingly bizarre. "He knew, and yet he let you come?"
"What else could he do, even if he didn't want to? Watch helplessly as the children and I die in the palace? The situation would truly be out of hand then."
"Are the royal palace inner guards purely decorative?" Wei Yuan grumbled, though having personally witnessed the caliber of the assassins, he knew the ordinary palace defenses truly were nothing more than decorative.
Consort Yuan sighed. "The King cannot act freely either. Sitting upon that throne, what he can and cannot do has long been bound by established rules; he cannot cross the line by even half a fraction. Aside from his personal safety, the rest of the palace's defenses can only remain at this level. If any Scenery Command expert dared to accept the royal payroll for such a post, they would surely meet a violent death."
Wei Yuan knew royal authority was constrained at every turn, but he had never imagined the King of Jin could be stifled to such an extent.
"So, knowing he could not protect me, the King could only acquiesce to letting me leave to seek refuge. Otherwise, Zhao Tong would not be by my side."
Only now did Wei Yuan notice that just one maidservant followed behind Consort Yuan; the other was nowhere to be seen. In the past, the two maidservants had been inseparable, standing watch even when Wei Yuan was forced to fulfill his subject's duties in Chunhua Hall.
"Where is the other maidservant?"
"When leaving the capital, she covered our retreat."
Wei Yuan fell silent.
Consort Yuan said suddenly, "Prince Fu is an ignorant child. Don't take it to heart; I will handle him exactly as I just promised. Beyond that, I have another apology to make—"
The courtyard was not large, and just as the two of them happened to walk past the woodshed, Consort Yuan abruptly shoved Wei Yuan inside.
The tiny woodshed was cluttered with odds and ends, barely leaving room for the two of them to turn around.
Shocked, Wei Yuan was just about to speak when Consort Yuan covered his mouth. She pulled a hairpin from her hair and thrust it into the wall. Instantly, a flowing, water-like curtain of light enveloped the entire woodshed.
She whispered softly, "There. Now the Feng girl can't peer in with either her physical body or divine consciousness."
With that, the woodshed door shut.
A short while later, Wei Yuan walked out of the courtyard gate, Consort Yuan seeing him off.
Wei Yuan suddenly remembered something and asked, "Since you can deliberately ruin Prince Fu today, will you do the same to Prince Chu in the future?"
Consort Yuan laughed. "That's truly hard to say. So, you'll have to work hard!"
***
By late morning, sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating Feng Tingyu's chubby little face.
She stretched lazily and finally woke up. Glancing at the sun, she exclaimed, "How did I sleep for so long?"
Consort Yuan sat by the window reading a popular storybook. Hearing her, she chuckled, "You've already eaten breakfast."
"Eaten breakfast?" Feng Tingyu was shocked. She patted her bulging little tummy and immediately showed an aggrieved look. "How outrageous! They ate without calling me!"
Consort Yuan hid her smile behind her hand, finding the girl thoroughly amusing.
Feng Tingyu, however, looked at her suspiciously and said, "Why are you suddenly smiling so prettily? Even prettier than yesterday. Something's not right!"
Consort Yuan said nonchalantly, "How could that be? It's probably because having your company finally allowed me to get a good night's sleep."
"All right then! I'll sleep with you every day from now on."
For the first time in her life, Consort Yuan regretted talking too much.
Feng Tingyu hopped down from the bed and said, "I have to go cultivate now. I'll come back to keep you company tonight."
***
Wei Yuan sat in his study, writing furiously. At this moment, inspiration flowed like a spring, his brush flying across the page. In the blink of an eye, he had filled nearly half a sheet of jade paper—flowing profusely with several tens of thousands of words.
Once he finished this section, Wei Yuan felt thoroughly satisfied. Just as he was about to anonymously deposit it into the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, Zhu Yuanjin's voice rang out behind him: "Well written!"
Startled, Wei Yuan turned around and saw Zhu Yuanjin standing behind him, having no idea how long she had been there.
She reached out, took the jade paper, and read through it carefully. A smile appeared on her face as she praised, "The two sections where he becomes a cult leader and dodges powerful enemies in a woodshed are exceptionally well done! Truly worth my long wait. Well, the woodshed is one thing, but how did you come up with the cult leader part?"
Wei Yuan naturally could not admit he had written down all the things Dream Eater used to tempt him, so he answered vaguely, "Just a sudden spark of inspiration."
Zhu Yuanjin glanced at him. "Truly? And what about the woodshed?"
"Well..." Wei Yuan knew that if Patriarch Yuanjin asked like this, there had to be a reason. As the thoughts raced through his mind, cold sweat began to drip.
Zhu Yuanjin said, "A woodshed is indeed a fine place. People always seem fond of hiding inside."
Wei Yuan lamented inwardly. Sure enough, this patriarch had been watching from the shadows the entire time. Once again, he felt the urgent need to advance his cultivation.
Zhu Yuanjin added, "I wasn't talking about you, so don't overthink it."
Wei Yuan thought: *That remark was utterly unnecessary.*
Then Zhu Yuanjin continued, "However, someone entered the woodshed earlier and carelessly dropped a wisp of sword qi."
Wei Yuan's heart leaped straight into his throat!
Then Zhu Yuanjin said, "...Seeing that someone dropped something, I picked it up on a whim. Later, thinking she might come back looking for it, I put it back where it was."
Wei Yuan's heart plummeted back down with a clatter.
With such wild ups and downs, his poor heart could hardly bear it, and he wished he could be anywhere else.
Wei Yuan stood up and bowed deeply. "My thanks to Patriarch!"
Zhu Yuanjin said, "In *The Romantic History of Three Men*, it says: 'Zhuge was cautious his entire life.' You are an adult now; naturally no one will police what you do. But while you still cannot wipe your tracks completely clean, you ought to do less of such things, lest things become awkward for everyone. Once your abilities grow in the future, you can naturally do whatever you please."
Wei Yuan bowed in deep gratitude once more.
Zhu Yuanjin said, "If you truly want to thank me, give me something practical! You can write more stories like the woodshed scene—feel free to include all those affairs of yours. Storybooks written with one's body like this are by far the most thrilling."
Wei Yuan could only agree, while praying in his heart for some real business to show up quickly.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, Zhu Yuanjin produced a military dispatch and said, "It seems someone is massing troops and seizing territory around the periphery of Qingming. I thought this was a rather big deal, so I brought the battle report over for you."
"Finally, someone is picking a fight!" Wei Yuan rejoiced.
Chapter 664