"Mo Xiu Yao, you are mistreating woman?" Feng Zhi Yao's voice suddenly went up inside the quiet practice ground and those secret guards who were on duty almost fell from their hidden places with their mouth twitched.
Feng Zhi Yao walked over at leisure while waving a fan. Looking at Ye Li who was in the practice ground and then at Mo Xiu Yao who sat silently by the side, he clicked his tongue. Shaking his head, he sighed: "Ah Yao, that is your wife, not your enemy. I haven't thought you've become so heartless over the years."
Mo Xiu Yao looked up and glanced at him without a word. He didn't feel good seeing Ye Li fall over and over.
Having been ignored, Feng Zhi Yao rubbed his nose and stood by the side quietly. After a good while he asked a little confusedly: "What is she doing?"
"Practicing flying skills." Mo Xiu Yao said.
Feng Zhi Yao's face turned distorted and his chin was nearly stabbed by his fan. "Flying skills? Well… isn't she afraid to die from the falls?"
Those men such as Mo Xiu Yao, grew up learning martial arts. Feng Zhi Yao, on the contrary, hadn't learned from a master himself but he had not seen any practice like Ye Li's either. Are women more likely to risk their lives than men during his time? However, after he had said that, he felt a piercing look on him. Feng Zhi Yao looked at Mo Xiu Yao who didn't seem happy and smiled apologetically then stepped aside and watched Ye Li practice with him.
Ye Li didn't know how many times on earth she fell in total. She only felt torn apart as if she was beaten up by the time she was finally able to land successfully. However, she felt a considerable relief and was happier than ever since she came to this world.
"Clap, clap, clap…" Outside the practice ground, Feng Zhi Yao applauded Ye Li and raised his brows at her with admiration.
Qing Luan and Qing Shuang rushed towards her in a second. Qing Shuang's watery eyes were already red and swollen. Not caring that they weren't alone, she hugged Ye Li and started to cry while calling Ye Li "Miss".
Ye Li looked at herself in a mess and patted the maid in her arms amusingly, telling her to stand straight then walked to Mo Xiu Yao. "Mr. Feng, good to see you again."
Feng Zhi Yao sighed: "My Lady, you really surprised me today."
Ye Li had no choice but to say: "It's easier for others and only hard for me so naturally I have to spend more time on it if I want to master it."
Mo Xiu Yao smiled slightly: "Ah Li, let's call it a day. You can go back and freshen up, then go see the doctor. I'll be in the study with Feng San."
Ye Li nodded and smiled: "It's nothing serious, really. I just feel a little pain because of the falls. I'll head back first. Mr. Feng, see you."
Seeing Ye Li leave with Qing Luan and Qing Shuang, Feng Zhi Yao turned around and asked: "Ah Yao, what on earth are you doing? The secret guards and Hidden Could Soldiers are surely enough to protect the hostess of Prince Ding's Manor. Does she need to learn martial arts and protect herself?"
"Mr. Feng, it's the princess who wants to learn marital arts so His Highness taught her." Ah Jin said. He hadn't seen any other person who was more stubborn or persistent than the princess. If His Highness didn't allow her to learn flying skills, he thought she could break her neck while practicing in secret.
"It's more a.s.suring that she could protect herself instead of being protected." Mo Xiu Yao said indifferently. There was no maximum protection in this world. Even the secret guards of Prince Ding's Manor couldn't eliminate all the dangers. She could be safer when she was stronger.
Feng Zhi Yao shook his head and sighed: "Few men could compare to her in terms of perseverance and courage. I'm very curious how Ye Family has such a daughter? Even if it's Xu Family…" Even Xu Family couldn't have brought up such a daughter. The daughters of Xu Family were talented and wise but none of them was like Ye Li.
Mo Xiu Yao turned his wheelchair and went towards the study. "I didn't ask you here to talk about her."
Feng Zhi Yao stopped for a second. Looking at the man that was leaving, he raised his brows with a laughter. "You are not jealous, are you, Ah Yao?"
Mo Xiu Yao had been moved into the yard which was for the newly-wed a long time ago. It was specially prepared for Prince and Princess Ding which took the largest area in the whole manor with an independent study building. After he moved in, the couple had re-planned the rooms of the building. The second floor of the two-story building was a library and the first floor was divided into two parts, one used as a study for Ye Li, the other a study for Mo Xiu Yao. Therefore, Mo Xiu Yao wasn't surprised to see Ye Li who had already changed reading behind the table when Feng Zhi Yao and him walked into the study.
He simply asked: "Ah Li, why don't you rest longer?"
Ye Li waved the book in her hand and said: "It's bad to lie down immediately after practicing martial arts so I'm here to read for a while. Do you want to be left alone?"
Mo Xiu Yao shook his head: "Since you are not tired yet, come here for a talk."
Feng Zhi Yao looked at the decoration of the study. Hearing what Mo Xiu Yao said, he didn't say anything in return, only raising his brows in surprise.
Ye Li thought about it then walked over and sat down again with the book in her hand.
Feng Zhi Yao looked at it with curiosity. "Mm? You are reading, My Lady?"
In Ye Li's hand was a copy of The Art of Military Strategy. Ye Li looked down at the book and said: "I don't have anything to do so I divert myself with books."
Reading books on the arts of war as a diversion, what an odd hobby. Feng Zhi Yao criticized in his mind while acting interested. "How do you like it?"
"Not bad." Ye Li answered.
Feng Zhi Yao wasn't sure what she meant by "not bad". He glanced at Mo Xiu Yao briefly.
Mo Xiu Yao ignored him and asked with a smile: "Which part do you think isn't bad?"
Ye Li hesitated for a moment before she said: "The military strategies aren't bad but the tactics…" Perhaps it was due to the difference between modern and ancient warfare, Ye Li felt that many tactics in this book weren't reasonable at all, even to the extent of wild fantasies. She wasn't saying that tactics shouldn't be imaginative. In fact, the most brilliant commanders were usually imaginative. But what the book had… In fact, Ye Li found it more suitable to be in the category of novels. This author had definitely never gone to the battlefield before. Ye Li thought to herself.
"Military strategies? Tactics?" Feng Zhi Yao raised his brows.
Ye Li felt a little annoyed but remained calm on the surface. She looked at Mo Xiu Yao and said: "Military strategies mean the overall plan and strategies of a war."
Mo Xiu Yao glanced at Feng Zhi Yao and said after Ye Li at ease: "Tactics mean the specific approaches that help achieve the goals of strategies. It's the approach of deployment and strategy that wins a war. Understood?"
Feng Zhi Yao looked at the calm and collected couple in front of him in frustration. Are they looking down on him because he lacks learning?
"What do you think about its tactics, Ah Li?" Ignoring Feng Zhi Yao's expression, Mo Xiu Yao asked Ye Li.
Ye Li shrugged. "It feels more like a novel comparing to Military Strategies of the Founding Emperor."
"Ahhh… You've read Military Strategies of the Founding Emperor?" Feng Zhi Yao cried out.
Ye Li looked at him with a strange expression and said: "Both my uncle and grandpa have the Military Strategies of the Founding Emperor. How is it odd that I've read it? My first uncle taught me that." She wasn't lying. Her first uncle did teach her about military strategies. But it was less than a month so they didn't cover the whole book. That explained why she knew so much about the military. The Military Strategies of the Founding Emperor was indeed one of the best books on the art of war she had ever read in this world.
Feng Zhi Yao felt sorry for her silently. How come she was born to Ye Family and Xu Family? If she was born in Murong Family and given how General Murong treated his daughter, she might have become a female general.
The Military Strategies of the Founding Emperor wasn't one book. It contained 29 scrolls with the records of the founding emperor going war against 17 famous generals which was commented on by the late Prince Ding Mo Lan Yun himself. It was a must read for all the generals of Great Chu.
"There are many books on the art of war in the front yard. You can have them as you like, Ah Li." Mo Xiu Yao said. Since this yard wasn't the place where they talked about proper business, many books here were poetry or cla.s.sics. There were a few ones on the art of war but not the best ones.
Hearing that, Ye Li's eyes lighted up. There were indeed a lot of books in this study, but there were only books on history, geography or travel notes except those poetries which she didn't like. She was not interested in history or inside stories of any dynasty so she had read through history before she was married. Now she could only read something on geography or travel notes which was about sceneries and customs she couldn't experience herself which upset her.
This couple… I do admire you! Feng Zhi Yao felt his heart twitched and rolled his eyes.
Getting down to business, Feng Zhi Yao looked more serious and pleasing to the eye. He looked at Mo Xiu Yao a little apologetically and said: "Ah Yao, I'm sorry I've overlooked some things over the years."
Mo Xiu Yao raised his eyes at him: "What is it? Is there any news about Prince Li's Manor?"
Feng Zhi Yao nodded and said: "Princess Ling Yun thought herself clever that she has set Mo Jing Li up. I'm afraid she didn't know she was the one that was set up."
"How's that?"
"I've heard that Prince Li's Manor has found out that the incense in Princess Qi Xia's room was put there under Princess Ling Yun's order. Princess Qi Xia was also let in by Princess Ling Yun's men. But… My Lady has said that the first one to rush into Princess Qi Xia's room that day was neither Princess Qi Xia nor Princess Ling Yun's maid but… a maid brought out from the palace by Consort Xian Zhao." Feng Zhi Yao said with a grave expression.
Ye Li asked with a frown: "That maid…"
Feng Zhi Yao answered: "She was secretly condemned death that very afternoon. I've sent men to watch Prince Li's Manor and Princess Zhao Yang's Manor. There was no maid by Princess Qi Xia's side when she was taken back. Only by midnight was a body of a maid brought out from the back door and disposed of at the unmarked burial-mounds outside the capital. However, that maid was disfigured before she died and carried no evidence of who she was."
"Then how do you know she was one of Consort Xian Zhao's maids?" Ye Li was curious.
Pleased with himself, Feng Zhi Yao laughed and said: "My men found some jasmine-scented oil in her nails and on her hair which was said to be made by the best perfume shop in the capital. It was very expensive, a little tin of which costs tens of Liang of silver. Besides, in the past three months the shop only sold five tins of that oil, two of which were bought by Consort Xian Zhao. So I guess that maid worked for Consort Xian Zhao and combed her hair. What's more, Consort Xian Zhao changed a new hairstyle yesterday morning. According to the men I sent who were extremely familiar with hairstyles, it was no way made by the same maid."
Ye Li nodded admiringly and said: "In a word, Princess Ling Yun wasn't willing to marry Prince Li so she schemed to help Princess Qi Xia into Prince Li's Manor so that she could break her pledge justly and honorably while Consort Xian Zhao wasn't happy to have Princess Ling Yun as her daughter-in-law so she let Princess Ling Yun play her game in order for Princess Qi Xia to take her place? But… that's not reasonable."
"What's not reasonable?" Feng Zhi Yao was stumped by her question.
Ye Li said: "Unless Lei Teng Feng was in it, too or if he had not taken Princess Ling Yun away with such an uncompromising stand, she had no choice but to get married in the end no matter how much trouble she made. If so, not only didn't her plan work, she would have one more opponent in Prince Li's Manor as well. On a second thought, if she just wanted to have a handle against Prince Li and Princess Qi Xia so that she could blackmail them, she couldn't get away with it even though she was the princess of Xi Ling if Prince Li and Princess Qi Xia would rather fight at the risk of mutual destruction and told His Majesty her scheme."
"Ah Li, what do you think it is that let Lei Teng Feng leave in such a hurry?" Mo Xiu Yao asked softly.
Ye Li thought about it and said: "Lei Teng Feng found out that Princess Ling Yun was set up?"
Feng Zhi Yao nodded and said: "If Princess Ling Yun is still in the capital, His Majesty couldn't not punish her when that comes out. However, since she isn't here anymore, His Majesty could only pretend that nothing happened if he doesn't want to harm the relation between two countries. He couldn't start war with Xi Ling over that. But with that happened, Lei Teng Feng gets nothing out of his visit." Lei Teng Feng must have been furious since his plan to form an alliance by marriage was destroyed by that fool Princess Ling Yun.
Ye Li sighed. She turned to Mo Xiu Yao and asked: "Am I supposed to feel lucky since I wasn't important enough to be set up?"
Mo Xiu Yao smiled: "Indeed. After all these years… Jing Li does impress me."
Feng Zhi Yao curled his lips and said: "I think otherwise. The one that's difficult to deal with is the one beside him. If he was so clever how could he abandon… and marry Ye Ying?"
Mo Xiu Yao smiled: "Princess Li is the legitimate daughter of the Minister and the blood sister of Lady Ye of Bright Deportment."
Feng Zhi Yao said with disdain: "My Lady is the legitimate daughter of the Minister as well and the granddaughter of Master Qing Yun."
"Feng San, do you know why His Majesty let me marry Ah Li without any worry?" Mo Xiu Yao asked.
Feng Zhi Yao raised his brows.
Mo Xiu Yao said: "Xu Family won't stand by any man, nor will it help anyone take the throne, which His Majesty and I know well, therefore, Mo Jing Li knows that, too. He can't get any help from Xu Family. On the contrary, if he plans to start a coup or betray His Majesty while endangering the commons, Xu Family might even become an obstacle for him." The forefathers of Xu Family killed an emperor and a.s.sisted several emperors of Great Chu wasn't merely a story. But Mo Jing Li probably thought Xu Family was dead loyal only to the emperor. After all, those secret tales only pa.s.sed on among the emperor, Prince Ding and the master of Xu Family of each generation.
"Even if that was the case and putting Xu Family aside, in terms of both legitimate daughters of Minister Ye, it was more proper to choose the third miss since the marriage was sanctioned by the late emperor." Feng Zhi Yao said.
Ye Li's lips curved in a smile and said: "I have an idea about that."
Both men looked at her. She lowered her eyes and said: "My father… probably works for the Empress dowager. He should have known what Prince Li and the Empress dowager wanted. But if I was the one that Prince Li married, he probably thought it would be Xu Family instead of Ye Family that Prince Li would value. But forth sister's mother doesn't have a same powerful background. If forth sister becomes Princess Li… the future would be totally different. Ye Family would enjoy instant success. At the moment, there's a legitimate empress – Her Majesty, a favored consort – n.o.ble Consort Liu who has given birth to a son. If my father does work for the Empress dowager, he definitely knows that second sister isn't favored. So given that… there's little chance that my second sister's kid could… Besides, it's still in the dark whether she could give birth to a son successfully."
Thinking back, Ye Li almost started to admire her father. Everyone had thought he married Ye Ying to Prince Li in order to help Lady Ye of Bright Deportment in the palace and didn't know that Lady Ye of Bright Deportment was in fact the backup plan. How well had her father pretended to advance along one path while secretly going along another only that he had chosen the wrong person for his plan, Ye Ying. If there were two girls like Ye Yue, his plan might have worked. In fact, those people of this time weren't stupid, it was her who looked down on them that was stupid. Given the shrewdness of Old Lady Ye and carefulness of Minister Ye who achieved success at court, the two of them wouldn't be carried away only because of Lady Ye of Bright Deportment's pregnancy.
"What a surprise." Feng Zhi Yao looked at Ye Li while saying: "My Lady, why do you think Minister Ye works for the Empress dowager?" Even the one that sat on the throne might not have thought about it but Princess Ding guessed right.
Ye Li said, detached: "My father would act unhappily towards Prince Li from time to time but in fact he hasn't done one thing that affected Prince Li. Then why does he act that way since he has let his most valuable daughter marry him? It seems that he's just putting up a show to fool someone. Last time, when Princess Ling Yun was ordered to marry Prince Li which both the Empress dowager and Prince Li weren't happy about, my father was very tough on that one as well. I believe he was worried about forth sister, too. This time I think he knew Princess Qi Xia is going to marry Prince Li as well, though in another ident.i.ty, she would be in high ranks in Prince Li's Manor in the future. However, my father didn't voice any concern about that and sent forth sister back the same day she returned to the manor. Forth sister told me that he prepared to send fifth sister as a concubine to Prince Li's Manor hoping to help forth sister with her position in fear that Princess Qi Xia will be more favorable in the future."
Mo Xiu Yao looked at Ye Li with a faint smile: "You are right, Ah Li. Minister Ye… does have something to do with the Empress dowager being able to a.s.sume the position of minister at such a young age. But I believe he is more of a double-dealer."
Ye Li blinked her eyes and said: "Do you mean that my father wants to see which side has a bigger chance of winning then he will go with that side?"
"His Majesty is more suspicious than anyone could understand and won't believe Minister Ye if he doesn't show enough loyalty."
Though she thought she had got a lot of matters clear, Ye Li was still shocked. It was to say that father of hers who looked sly and was indeed sly who played a fool at home was in fact a double-faced spy?
"But what is it that's between the Empress dowager and His Majesty?" Ye Li asked.
Feng Zhi Yao sneered: "What else? Our Empress dowager is called a woman of distinction, a female legend. In the past she was in control when she supported His Majesty as the emperor while he was young. But His Majesty wasn't easy to handle and in less than three years he had taken control himself while asking the Empress dowager to enjoy her later years in the imperial harem. But power…it's nothing when one hasn't tasted it but something one couldn't refrain from once experienced. His Majesty and the Empress dowager have remained friendly in appearance but estranged at heart for a long time of which the n.o.bles of the capital have a tacit mutual understanding. Though the throne doesn't change, but the one that sits on it could."
"So, the one with the ambition isn't Mo Jing Li but the Empress dowager instead?"
"Mo Jing Li does have his ambition but he is left without any chance. He couldn't not cooperate once a chance comes his way. Prince Li's Manor belongs to him. Without his permission, it wouldn't be that easy for Consort Xian Zhao to do whatever she wanted."
Ye Li was left speechless. No wonder the Empress dowager didn't mind the quarrel between her two sons. She turned out the one who wanted her sons to fight to the bitter end.
"Is power… that important?"
Feng Zhi Yao stopped for a second and said a little gloomily: "Probably more important to some." After that brief gloominess, he returned to his old self, chuckling and blinking at Mo Xiu Yao while saying: "What do you think, Your Highness? Are we going to join the game since the two in the palace have already played their cards? Or… do we take them at once?"
"Take them at once?" Mo Xiu Yao glanced at him: "Then are you the one to wrap things up? Will you take the responsibility while blood was splashed both inside and outside the palace and put down revolts in each region? Will you stand against Bei Rong when it invades? If Xi Ling takes part in this confusion, will you protect the borders?"
Well… Feng Zhi Yao rubbed his nose awkwardly. It is easy to kill a few men but great trouble awaits after their deaths.