[Good grief, great host, you actually made use of every circumstance you could and filled every hole in your lies.] The little system grumbled in Zhou Ye's mind. [You're almost making me believe you really want to become regent!]
[The imperial court, power struggles, ambition-isn't it all the same old stuff? Read a few more novels and you'll know all about it. It's not hard.]
Seeing that Wei Mingxiu had accepted his suggestion, Zhou Ye smiled.
He took the silver hairpin from his sleeve and offered it back to Wei Mingxiu. "Since Your Highness has accepted my suggestion, here's to a pleasant partnership from now on~"
Wei Mingxiu looked at the silver hairpin but did not take it. Instead, he pushed it back toward Zhou Ye.
"This hairpin was left to me by my mother. Please keep it for me from now on, General. If a day comes when I dare break my word, you may use it to kill me. I will never fight back."
Zhou Ye was taken aback.
After all, those words really did not sound like something someone who would become a tyrant would say.
Sure enough, not everyone was a villain from childhood.
The boy looked quite lovable now.
With that thought, Zhou Ye could not resist patting Wei Mingxiu on the head. Smiling, he said, "All right, Your Highness. I'll remember what you said."
Zhou Ye's palm was burning hot.
The warmth passed through the bloodstained bandages to Wei Mingxiu.
It sent tremor after tremor through the young man's heart.
Since his mother had died, no one had made such an affectionate gesture toward him again.
At that moment, he seemed to suddenly relax after being on edge for so long, and his dark eyes could not help reddening.
Zhou Ye did not notice the expression hidden beneath his disheveled hair. He simply ruffled his hair a few more times, then rose to leave.
Xiao Wu had his hand on the door, and Zhou Ye glanced at him.
Xiao Wu immediately said, "Rest assured, General. This servant swears to serve the Sixth Prince until death. If I breathe a word of what happened today, may I die ten thousand deaths and never be reborn."
The little system had already told Zhou Ye that Xiao Wu would become the person Wei Mingxiu trusted most. He would stay by his side for decades, and even when the male lead conquered the imperial city at the end, he would never leave Wei Mingxiu's side.
So Zhou Ye did not mind that he had heard their conversation.
He nodded, then remembered something and turned back to Wei Mingxiu. "Oh, right, Your Highness, take my advice: impatience in small matters ruins great plans.
"After what happened today, I hope that no matter how much others provoke or humiliate you in the future, you will never again lose your composure and fall into a trap.
"Only then can you gain a foothold in this palace and keep those important to you safe."
Wei Mingxiu came back to his senses.
He hurriedly raised a hand to rub his reddened eyes and seriously reflected on his behavior that day.
He realized that he really had been too impulsive.
Despairing of Wei Zhao, he had lost control of his emotions and defied him, thinking only of ending his life and leaving Wei Zhao with the infamy of murdering his own son.
Back then, he had not feared life or death or cared about leaving himself a way out, and that had been fine.
But from now on, with General Zhou behind him, he would have to be cautious in everything he did. He must never let General Zhou suffer because of his foolish actions.
With that thought, Wei Mingxiu replied, "Thank you for your guidance, General."
Zhou Ye was just about to open the door when he suddenly heard Wei Mingxiu call out to him again.
"General! When will I see you again?"
Wei Mingxiu was still young and had not been granted the title of prince. He still lived deep within the palace, while Zhou Ye was a court official who rarely had an opportunity to enter the inner palace. Once they parted, there was no telling when they would meet again.
But Zhou Ye had already thought this through. He gave Wei Mingxiu a faint smile.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. We'll see each other again within ten days."
With that, he tucked the silver hairpin away, pushed open the door, and left.
As he went out, he looked up at the peach tree and realized that the flower on the silver hairpin was shaped like a peach blossom.
Just like Wei Mingxiu's exquisite, beautiful peach-blossom eyes.
Though they belonged in the filthy, gloomy depths of the palace and had endured endless suffering, they had never been tainted.
When he looked at Zhou Ye, they were clear and intent.
Stirring the heart.
"You were gone quite a while, General Zhou." There was no telling from Li Dehai's voice whether he was pleased or displeased.
Zhou Ye pinched the bridge of his nose, feigning exhaustion. "Eunuch Li, you have no idea. The Sixth Prince kept holding on to me, telling me how he'd been wronged, crying until his eyes were red. As his subject, I simply couldn't get away."
"Next time something like this happens, I won't dare say another word. Not only did I falsely accuse the Third Prince, but I didn't get any thanks from the Sixth Prince either. It was truly exhausting. No wonder His Majesty was angry at the time."
Li Dehai heard the impatience in his voice.
He smiled slightly, reassured.
He was not only Wei Zhao's man, but also had dealings with Noble Consort Shu.
Seeing that Zhou Ye had not taken Wei Mingxiu's side, he was naturally pleased.
"Indeed. His Majesty has countless affairs to attend to each day, and Her Majesty the Empress is in poor health. Noble Consort Shu now holds authority over the inner palace. Her Grace handles matters fairly, and the Third Prince is her son, so he would never do anything excessive. In the future, General Zhou, you should also take care to understand what happened and not misspeak again."
Zhou Ye narrowed his eyes slightly.
He replied to Li Dehai, "I've spent too long on the northern frontier and don't understand these matters. I'll have to ask you for more guidance in the future, Eunuch Li."
But he now understood that Li Dehai was Noble Consort Shu's man.
Noble Consort Shu now held unrivaled power in the inner palace.
If he wanted Wei Mingxiu to gain a foothold, he had to establish a counterbalance.
At the very least, he had to ensure Wei Mingxiu's basic safety.
Li Dehai was gratified to hear it. The two chatted a little longer, and when they reached the Elegant Music Palace, Li Dehai tactfully withdrew and let Zhou Ye go in to see Zhou Ya on his own.
"Xiao Ye!" Zhou Ya wore a cyan palace dress and only a touch of makeup, but it could hardly conceal her beauty.
Unlike the graceful, dainty women usually found in the inner palace, she walked with long, confident strides, her skirts fluttering in the breeze, looking heroic and spirited.
"You brat, you're finally back!" Someone must have told Zhou Ya in advance that Zhou Ye was coming, for she had already prepared a table full of tea and pastries. She pulled him down to sit. "Come, come, try these almond pastries, walnut pastries, and osmanthus cakes. They were all your favorites when you were little. It's bitterly cold on the northern frontier, and you couldn't get any delicate pastries there. Now that you're back, you must eat plenty."
"You don't have to go to all this trouble, Sis." Before transmigrating, Zhou Ye had been all alone. After arriving in this world, he had spent most of his time fighting on the battlefield and had hardly seen the original owner's family.
Seeing Zhou Ya so welcoming now, he could not help feeling a little moved.
The little system had said that the original owner had died prematurely on the battlefield, which was how he had come to transmigrate.
In other words, if he had not transmigrated here, the original owner's family would probably have been receiving a cold corpse right now...
It really was as the saying went: generals died after a hundred battles, while warriors returned after ten years.
The years he had now were as good as stolen from the original owner.
So he would take good care of this family in the original owner's place.
After all, according to the plot, supporting Wei Mingxiu would also preserve the general's household in the future.
In the novel, Wei Mingxiu committed many brutal acts against the officials, but the Marquis of Zhenbei's Household alone was treated well by him from beginning to end.
"Now that I'm back, I expect I'll be staying for a long time. I won't be returning to the northern frontier for the time being."
"You're not going back?" Pleasant surprise flashed in Zhou Ya's eyes. "Is it because of the great victory at Tianxia Pass?"
Zhou Ye ate a walnut pastry and nodded. "At Tianxia Pass, I devised a plan to wipe out an army of 150,000 from the Hu People, dealing them a devastating blow. I don't expect there will be any more fighting on the northern frontier for the next five or six years."
He smiled at Zhou Ya. "After all these years fighting away from home, now that I've returned to the capital, I'll finally have time to spend with Father and Mother."
At the same time, he could also take good care of Wei Mingxiu.