A Kindhearted Wife

General Wuwei's Mansion.

Wang Li rushed home. Tense and ignoring the servants who greeted him, he ran straight to the courtyard where his sister lived.

"Big Sis! Big Sis!"

"What has you in such a panic?"

Wang Xuan gathered the hair hanging over her shoulders, lazily picked up her paintbrush, and continued painting the courtyard's rockery.

Wang Li snatched the brush from her hand and said urgently, "Stop painting! Something terrible has happened!"

"What terrible thing?"

Wang Xuan furrowed her brows slightly and shot her younger brother an annoyed look.

Wang Li rubbed his head. "I heard that this morning, Qin Muye brought the Brocade Guard and blocked the Prime Minister's Mansion gates. They stayed there for a whole hour."

"What!"

Wang Xuan jumped in fright. "But Uncle is the Prime Minister. How could he let Qin Muye run wild like that?"

Wang Li said irritably, "How should I know? I went out to ask again just now, and apparently Qin Muye went back to block the Prime Minister's Mansion this afternoon. Sis, do you think Uncle really had Qin Muye kidnapped?"

"Absolutely not. How could Uncle do something so foolish?"

Wang Xuan shook her head again and again. Her uncle had been Prime Minister for twenty years and had long since reached the pinnacle of power. He could get away with causing plenty of trouble, but having the Heir to the Marquis of Southern Suppression assassinated was certainly not among them.

Who was Qin Kaijiang?

The greatest general of the past hundred years!

A founding supporter of the new emperor.

An invincible marshal who, in a time of crisis, had single-handedly guarded Great Gan's northern frontier.

And now, the Marquis of Southern Suppression, whose very presence held the tribes of the Southwest in check.

Going after Qin Muye was no different from destroying the foundations of the dynasty.

Even the Capital's young wastrels knew they could tease Qin Muye, but they absolutely must never hurt him.

How could her uncle, the Prime Minister, not know that?

"But if Uncle wasn't behind it, why would Qin Muye have the nerve to block the gates?"

Wang Li wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Sis! If Uncle really was involved, this will drag us down with him. You know how you treated Qin Muye back then... And it was because of you that he boarded the boat two days ago. That good-for-nothing holds a grudge like nobody else. He definitely won't let us off."

"Enough!"

Wang Xuan's face tightened. When Shen Jin had approached her, hoping she would toy with Qin Muye by leading him on, she had initially refused.

But then she'd reconsidered. She was unhappy with her own engagement anyway. Besides, her father had once been berated like a dog by Qin Kaijiang, a fellow military man, and even now he couldn't hold his head up in the Capital.

In a fit of spite, she'd agreed to toy with Qin Muye and spread the news of his physical affliction.

Watching him grow embarrassed and fall apart had seemed like its own kind of fun.

But who could have guessed the consequences would be so serious?

Wang Xuan was starting to panic.

Just then, Shen Jin's anxious voice came from outside the courtyard.

"Cousin! Cousin!"

"Shen Jin!?"

Wang Xuan hurried out to meet him. "What exactly is going on at the Prime Minister's Mansion? Has the Brocade Guard found anything?"

Shen Jin was so heartbroken he could barely breathe. "My household was ransacked!"

"What!"

Wang Xuan's face instantly turned deathly pale. She staggered, nearly fainting.

Ransacked? The Prime Minister's Mansion had been ransacked?

Would the Wang family be next?

Shen Jin was startled and quickly explained, "It's not the kind of ransacking you're thinking of. Here's what happened..."

He told her everything that had taken place at the Prime Minister's Mansion.

Only then did some color return to Wang Xuan's face. She shot him an exasperated look. "Could you stop leaving such a long pause before finishing your sentences? You nearly scared me to death!"

Shen Jin rubbed his head. "My father's saying that Qin Muye's birthday is in a few days, so everyone should prepare a gift. Don't pinch pennies; it should be worth at least three thousand taels. Otherwise, if you make Qin Muye unhappy, he might bring the Brocade Guard to surround your home for days.

"You might not care about the common people gossiping behind your backs, but there are plenty of heroes out there who admire Qin Kaijiang. One day, they might just sneak up and knock you over the head. I've delivered the message. I'm off to warn the others!"

Wang Xuan panicked. "Wait! Your uncle has been out of office for years. How could our family possibly come up with three thousand taels? Dear cousin, I only got involved because I was helping you. You have to help me!"

Shen Jin groaned. "Qin Muye already had my household ransacked. What could I possibly do to help you? My father also said he can't help you this time. Everyone needs to learn a lesson."

With that, he made a run for it.

Wang Li's face was as pale as paper. "Sis, what do we do?"

Wang Xuan thought it over, then suddenly gave a light laugh. "Go prepare any old jade pendant! That little wastrel still has feelings for me. At worst, I'll let him slobber all over my face again. Disgusting as it is, it's still better than having the Brocade Guard surround our home.

"There were plenty of promising young demons from the Great Sage Temple on the Flower Boat that day, besides us.

"Qin Muye is taking advantage of being the victim to extort even them. He'll pay for it one day!"

Southern Pacification Mansion.

Bai Yuji's eyes widened as she watched Qin Muye pull out one treasure after another. "Did you extort all of these?"

She was badly short of money, but she had once been a princess, after all. She could still estimate their general value, and none of these items were treasures. They didn't help with cultivation, either.

At most, they were collectibles for wastrels or ordinary wealthy households to play with.

But all together, they had to be worth at least twenty thousand taels.

That would be enough to support her Nanzhao Remnants for a long time.

Bai Yuji clenched her teeth, thinking that Gan was truly rotten. It had driven the people of Nanzhao from their homes, yet the Prime Minister's youngest son had so many private treasures.

"There'll be even more in a few days!"

Qin Muye happily put the items away. Seeing her eyes practically glow green, he grinned. "If you want one, I can give you one."

Bai Yuji gave a cold laugh. "If I wanted one, I could just take it myself!"

Qin Muye curled his lip. "I made quite a scene this time. If these things turn up through the wrong channels, we'll both be dead. You're sulking, so here, take this."

He pulled out a white jade seal and pressed it into Bai Yuji's hand. "This is our token of affection. You can't sell it."

"Who said it was a token of affection?"

Bai Yuji had no intention of accepting his gesture.

She was about to give it back when she saw that the seal was carved into the shape of an elegant, slender chicken.

Qin Muye smiled. "A white jade chicken for Bai Yuji. It's a perfect match."

"Ridiculous!"

Bai Yuji rolled her eyes at him, but still put the seal away. She studied Qin Muye thoughtfully. "You've been acting so brazenly this time. Aren't you afraid of getting yourself into trouble?"

Qin Muye scoffed. "Apart from you, what trouble would I be afraid of? My life's in your hands. Shouldn't I make some money and enjoy myself while I can?"

He had thought it through. Almost everyone had a stake in keeping him alive.

But not one of them could help him—not even Qin Yanying, who had no power to act.

If he wanted to fight back against Bai Yuji, he had to rely on himself.

Thinking it over, as a hostage, the last thing the emperor wanted was for him to build alliances.

Making enemies left and right, on the other hand, was exactly what the emperor expected of him.

In other words, as long as he didn't cross the emperor's bottom line, he could do whatever he pleased.

He'd spent the whole day making trouble at the Prime Minister's Mansion, and the emperor hadn't sent anyone to stop him. That proved it.

If he picked on someone he could afford to offend, even if he slapped them hard across the face in the middle of the street, they couldn't hit him back.

So why not go all out?

With the Thread-Crafter, a top-tier puppet technique, in his hands, he already had a rough plan. First, he needed to get his starting capital.

Seeing how unconcerned he looked, Bai Yuji suddenly felt that the whole thing was absurd.

She was the victim.

Yet her way of taking revenge was to hurt another innocent person who had already suffered enough.

Meanwhile, Shen Kui and Li Hong, who had urged and ordered the slaughter of Nanzhao, and Qin Kaijiang, who had personally attacked Nanzhao—she couldn't lay a finger on any of them.

"Qin Muye!"

"What?"

"Go fetch your aunt. I'll have my 'master' come tonight."

"So soon?"

Qin Muye was surprised.

Bai Yuji nodded. "Yes. That way, you won't have to drink that bitter medicine tomorrow."

Qin Muye: "..."

This was bad!

This little minx was getting much better at playing with men's feelings.

This morning, she'd been clumsier than a dog, but by the end of a single day, she was already playing the feelings card so naturally?

If I weren't so alert, I really might not have caught on.