Chapter 42

In early July, Lin Que and Li Mu finally found the perfect day to boating on the lake. This month, lychees and bayberries are out of the question, but fortunately, there are still melons, longans, and plums sent from the south. They were chilled with ice and placed in the boat’s canopy with cool drinks.

It was just the two of them on the small boat. At first, Li Mu was quite scared, sitting still in the canopy and not daring to move. As the boat drifted further from the shore and into the lotus flowers, she gradually adapted. Lin Que helped her out of the canopy and taught her how to pick lotus pods and peel lotus seeds.

Li Mu discovered that fresh lotus seeds aren’t bitter even if you don’t remove the core.

While eating, drinking, and playing with the water, Li Mu didn’t forget to ask Lin Que about the Yian Sect, which he had mentioned earlier: “So, the Yian Sect is only temporarily gone?”

During the late emperor’s reign, the Yian Sect was already classified as a heterodox sect and banned by law. Early last year, when Lin Que’s health improved, he revised this law, increasing the penalties. Leaders were sentenced to death by strangulation, and followers were flogged and exiled. Additionally, he sent people to infiltrate the Yian Sect across various regions, exploiting the ambitions of King Yi Heir. Over a year, they dismantled the sect from within, severely weakening it.

Earlier this summer, the Yian Sect’s branch leaders gathered in Luoyang for a conference. King Yi Heir’s heir intended to use the opportunity to consolidate the followers and eliminate dissenters. However, his true identity was exposed in public. Coincidentally, Luoyang was not only the birthplace of the Yian Sect but also King Yi’s former fief, where the old followers who hated King Yi the most were concentrated. After discovering his identity and reflecting on the changes in the Yian Sect over the past few years, it became clear that he was using the sect for personal revenge. As a result, he bore the accumulated resentment and anger of the Yian Sect members over the past year and was ultimately cooked and eaten by the enraged followers.

Considering that Li Mu was eating fruit, Lin Que omitted the details, simply stating that King Yi’s heir died at the hands of the Yian Sect followers. Since then, the sect had fallen apart, and within two months, it was completely defeated.

Lin Que knew he could have eradicated them all at that moment, but he chose not to.

“If, in another hundred years, we find ourselves in a situation where the lords are wealthy, and the common people and the national treasury are penniless, having them rise again might not be a bad thing,” Lin Que said with a smile, uttering a statement that would be shocking to the ruling class of this era.

Li Mu suddenly understood why Lin Que had never taken swift and effective measures to eliminate the Yian Sect before discovering King Yi Heir’s manipulation.

Later, the sun came out, and Li Mu opened the umbrella that had been prepared in the boat’s canopy. With her hands full, holding lotus leaves, flowers, and pods, and occasionally peeling lotus seeds or eating fruit, Li Mu placed the umbrella on her shoulder and hooked it on her arm. Lin Que had to crouch down to share the shade.

Seeing his discomfort, Li Mu picked a large lotus leaf with its stem and handed it to him for shade.

Lin Que took it but didn’t use it. Instead, he took Li Mu’s umbrella, held it himself, and stood close to her, ensuring the umbrella’s shadow covered them both. “I’m not trying to block the sun,” he said.

Li Mu: “?”

“I’m looking for an excuse to be closer to you.”

The downside of boating was that there were always people on the shore ready to rescue them in case of a capsize. With so many eyes watching, any intimate gesture from Lin Que made Li Mu embarrassed, and she would deliberately avoid him.

Hearing Lin Que’s words, Li Mu’s first reaction was to look at the distant shore.

Lin Que gently turned her face back towards him. “Why look at them? Look at me.”

Li Mu found herself gazing into Lin Que’s eyes. Perhaps it was the bright sunlight making his eyes look even more beautiful, or maybe it was the joy of boating and picking lotus pods or the fact that their position was well-shaded by tall lotus leaves and flowers.

Li Mu, almost instinctively, said, “Lower the umbrella a bit.”

Though puzzled, Lin Que complied.

“Lower it a bit more,” Li Mu said.

He lowered it further.

With the shore out of sight, Li Mu quickly leaned in and kissed Lin Que on the lips. Her heart raced, and she pulled back immediately. But the umbrella tilted, exposing them to the shore. Lin Que pulled her closer, and they hid behind the umbrella, basking in the sunlight and sharing a passionate kiss.

Except for the moment when Li Mu’s hair accessory got caught on the umbrella’s frame, the entire boating trip was very relaxing and enjoyable.

In the end, it was His Highness King Yan who personally used the pole to push the small boat back to the shore.

When Li Mu got off the boat, she was so used to the swaying sensation on the water that she felt unsteady on solid ground. Both of their clothes were damp from the lake water, so they went back to change. Lin Yan’an came to see Lin Que.

Upon sitting down, Lin Que immediately said, “Don’t even think about it.”

Lin Yan’an, exasperated, replied, “Father, I haven’t even said anything yet.”

Lin Que picked up his teacup and said, “If you want to kill Gu Yuwen, I don’t care. If you can kill him, that’s your own skill. But your mother has been looking forward to the fleet going to sea for a long time, and it won’t be the only time. If a young prince dies at sea, causing the fleet to return early and affecting subsequent voyages, do you think I won’t beat you?”

Lin Yan’an finally lowered his head. “Understood, Father. I’ll just tell the Seventh Prince that I couldn’t convince you.”

After quashing Lin Yan’an’s idea, Lin Que was curious. “What did he do to offend you?”

You’ve tried to kill him several times without success, and now you’ve switched to a more subtle method, enticing him with the allure of going to sea. Even grown men might not survive a sea voyage, let alone a pampered fifteen-year-old like Gu Yuwen. Lin Que didn’t need to analyze to guess what Lin Yan’an was planning.

Lin Yan’an, adopting Li Mu’s expressionless face, said, “Everything.”

After Lin Yan’an left, Lin Que went back to complain to Li Mu. “I understand that child less and less.”

Li Mu calculated Lin Yan’an’s age and wondered if he was going through adolescence. After all, with Lin Que still alive, Lin Yan’an’s personality had become increasingly sunny and cheerful. Even if he was the antagonist in the story, having a rebellious phase during adolescence didn’t seem too strange.

That was until Li Mu heard Lin Que reveal Lin Yan’an’s plan.

Li Mu: What a ruthless adolescence!

So, in the story, the male and female protagonists are destined to meet, and the antagonist is destined to want to kill the male protagonist?

But Gu Yuwen’s fate was truly resilient. No matter what methods Lin Yan’an used, Gu Yuwen always managed to survive through various coincidences, truly living up to his role as the male protagonist.

What’s going on? The original male protagonist doesn’t want the throne; he wants to conquer the vast ocean? To go to sea, he even sought Lin Que’s help through Lin Yan’an?

Li Mu was bewildered, but Lin Que wasn’t surprised. “Last year, he alleviated the famine, and this year, he saved the drought-stricken areas. With foreign goods being so useful, it’s no wonder he’s interested in overseas exploration.”

In fact, astute merchants had already started moving, resulting in many traders joining the fleet. In late July, the fleet set sail, stopping in Fujian to wait for favorable winds. In August, regions affected by the drought began to spread a rumor: why was everything fine in previous years, but this year, after the emperor personally plowed the fields, the heavens stopped sending rain? Did the emperor do something wrong to anger the heavens?

Such rumors spread widely, but thanks to the timely disaster relief efforts by the court, they didn’t cause much upheaval.

Meanwhile, Lin Que found an excuse to release a few young princes and heirs from confinement in the capital, allowing them to engage in state affairs. This created a sense of impending change among the court officials, and Emperor Gu Youxun was nearly driven mad with fear.

Lin Que didn’t need to do anything further; the court was already in turmoil.

Everyone believed Lin Que was dissatisfied with Gu Youxun and wanted to replace him with a more obedient emperor. The young princes and heirs tried their best to impress Lin Que and Grand Princess Zhaoming, some pretending to be diligent, some feigning incompetence, and others not pretending at all, just trying to curry favor. Each of the young princes and heirs displayed their unique talents, like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each showing their own special abilities.

Li Mu noticed King Qi—one of the major forces in the book alongside Grand Princess Zhaoming and Prime Minister Pei Siyuan. King Qi was the tallest among the short ones, inherently incompetent but skilled at pretending to be wise and ambitious. Therefore, those who didn’t want to support a foolish emperor or submit to Grand Princess Zhaoming’s capable people turned to King Qi. In the later stages, King Qi’s continuous failures led to the dispersal of his supporters—many of whom ended up benefiting the male protagonist, Gu Yuwen—resulting in his elimination.

Just as in the book, the current King Qi had no real abilities but was good at pretending, winning over many hearts.

The emperor wasn’t idle either. Before Pei Siyuan taught him, he always wanted to kill Lin Que. Now, he shifted his focus, trying to kill whoever was in the spotlight, naively believing that if they all died, he could continue to sit on the throne.

Li Mu read the news from the pigeon loft every day, always muttering, “So insidious, too insidious.”

Lin Que was nurturing their ambitions, letting them kill each other.

When Li Mu thought this chaos would last until next year, Lin Que suddenly took action. He used King Qi’s rebellion as an excuse to initiate a major purge, even imprisoning some princes and heirs who hadn’t been released, along with many court officials. They were arrested in batches, terrifying the entire court. They finally remembered that King Yan was a madman who even killed his blood relatives. His thoughts were beyond their comprehension.

From the beginning, King Yan had planned to kill these people. By the time they wanted to stop him, it was too late. The emperor, who had been trembling with fear for months, saw the potential threats being imprisoned and lost his sanity, wanting to execute them all immediately.

Li Mu thought this had nothing to do with her until one day after class, the Minister of Revenue, Lou Qin, stopped her.

Li Mu froze behind the bamboo curtain. Why does this involve me?

Li Yunxi, guessing why Lou Qin was looking for Li Mu, warmly suggested, “If Mr. Lou has something to say to my sister, why not speak directly to my brother-in-law?”

Lin Qiwu also stepped in front of the bamboo curtain, blocking Lou Qin from Li Mu, and coldly said, “If Mr. Lou doesn’t know where my elder brother is, I can take you to him.”

Li Mu, protected by the two children: So touched!

Lou Qin had no choice but to bow respectfully to Li Mu behind the bamboo curtain and then explain a lot of principles, hoping that as King Yan’s wife, she could persuade King Yan not to initiate a major purge for his own good.

Li Yunxi refuted Lou Qin’s words one by one based on logic and law.

Lou Qin knew Li Yunxi was smart but hadn’t expected a twelve-year-old girl to be so sharp-tongued.

Li Mu listened to their debate for a while, thinking she could slip away, then stood up, bowed slightly behind the bamboo curtain, and left.

“Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Lou,” Li Yunxi also bowed to Lou Qin and, with Lin Qiwu, caught up with the departing Li Mu.

Lou Qin: “…”

When interests clash, people turn their backs on each other, but when the conflict is avoided, they can still maintain polite smiles. Although it seems absurd, Lou Qin indeed saw some traits of seasoned bureaucrats in Li Yunxi.

Lou Qin didn’t expect to leave unscathed after saying those words. Surprisingly, King Yan didn’t punish him and even allowed him to continue teaching at the prince’s mansion.

Li Yunxi and Lin Qiwu treated him the same as before—Lin Qiwu never liked attending classes and always looked at him with disdain.

Most importantly, his advice actually had an effect: the result of his debate with Li Yunxi that day was that the implicated princes and heirs shouldn’t be easily pardoned. Among the arrested officials, some indeed deserved death, but others did not. Those who could be spared, as long as Lou Qin had provided reasons to Li Yunxi, escaped death. Some officials he hadn’t mentioned were either acquitted and sent home or exiled. This made him realize that Li Mu had listened to his words and, indeed, had the ability to influence King Yan.

As this news spread, the rumors about Li Mu brought back by the pigeon loft became increasingly mystical.

Holding the news from the pigeon loft, Li Mu looked weary: “Clearly, you planned this all along, and it has nothing to do with me.”

Li Mu felt anxious about her strong presence: “I always feel like I’ve been turned into a chain holding back a mad dog.”

Realizing that comparing Lin Que to a dog wasn’t very nice, she was about to apologize when she heard King Yan laugh indifferently and casually say, “Then, consort must keep this king tightly chained, so I don’t go out and bite people.”

Li Mu: “…”

I admire your ability to calmly accept being called a dog.