"Won’t you let little sister come with us, Mom?"
Yun Wanyao circled around to Lady Yun’s side, gently shaking her arm and acting coy. Lady Yun nodded in agreement with a helpless sigh.
"Fine, fine, but just you and Ye’er aren’t enough."
"At the time, go ask your father for a couple more people, make sure you watch Xiao Si carefully, nothing must go wrong."
Hearing this, the two sisters immediately beamed with joy.
[Great, great, Mom agreed, I can go out, I can go see the excitement, hehe!]
"Yes, I will definitely look after little sister, please don’t worry, Mom."
Study room.
Yun Zheng was dealing with some matters concerning the military camp at Cangyun Ridge when suddenly a servant appeared at the open door.
"Reporting to the master, the second young master requests to see you."
"Let him in."
"Yes."
Soon, footsteps approached. A youth in a flowing dark gold robe walked in with a casual gait.
"Hey, Dad, busy with something?"
Yun Wanye craned his neck, looking toward the desk.
Yun Zheng was writing and drawing on documents, not lifting his head. "Say what you came for and get lost if you’re done."
Yun Wanye: "..."
"Dad, I’m your son after all, can’t you be a bit more kind to me?"
"Ha!"
Yun Zheng let out a cold laugh, mercilessly saying, "I’ve always been strict with you, given how you’ve turned out, if I were to be any kinder, who knows how crooked you’d become."
"The family business I risked my life to build, I don’t want it all ruined in your hands."
Yun Wanye: "..."
Was he really that bad?
He felt he wasn’t that bad, was he?
Why, in Dad’s mind, was he this kind of image?
"Dad, did you forget I put in a lot of effort to help you with something a few days ago? When I was handling things for you, you weren’t saying this about me then."
"Back then, you were full of praise for my extraordinary abilities, saying the student surpasses the master, how come just a few days later you call me a wastrel, crooked?"
Yun Zheng placed the pen on the pen holder, picked up the document and blew on it a few times, casually saying, "Is doing a task for you the same as now?"
"If I don’t praise you a bit, how do I make you work hard?"
"But you kid, don’t you have any awareness of who you really are?"
Yun Wanye: "..."
So, only being useful made him worthy of praise and a few nice words?
"Alright, alright Dad, I don’t want to argue with you about this, I came to ask how things went at court today? Did it achieve the expected outcome?"
These days, he was busy collecting tokens from the guards at the Su Mansion, busy forging evidence, busy scheming among the big aristocratic families, stirring up strife between them.
After all this effort, today they finally gathered the net, hoping all this hard work wasn’t in vain.
"Not bad, you did very well on this matter."
Yun Zheng closed the document, finally saying something human.
Upon hearing this, Yun Wanye could already guess that the results were likely even better than he imagined.
Instantly, his mood brightened, and he lifted the corners of his mouth.
Such an old scoundrel, Su Jian, really had grown tired of living, daring to make a move on the Princess and even splash dirt on the Yun Family.
If so, then don’t blame him for returning the favor.
Of course, this is just the beginning; there will be many interesting happenings awaiting that old scoundrel.
"That’s good, Dad, after that old scoundrel regains his strength, he’ll likely retaliate against us, so why not strike while the iron is hot and finish him?"
Yun Wanye lowered his voice, a dark glint flashing quickly in his eyes.
"No."
Yun Zheng waved to stop him, "Currently, in the court, the Prime Minister’s faction and the Grand Commandant’s faction stand in opposition, the situation is very balanced."
"If anything were to happen to Su Jian, the Emperor’s balancing skill would be disrupted, and at that time, your father might be implicated."
"Throughout history, the relationship between ruler and minister is like a spring; when the ruler is strong, the minister is weak, when the minister is strong, the ruler is weak. Whether the Emperor holds supreme power or the ministers become too powerful, it’s not a good thing for officials."
"In this current state, is when I feel most comfortable."
If the Emperor’s power is too strong, he would disregard ministers, killing them at will; but if the ministers’ power is too strong, there is the risk of chaos in the court, considering treating the Emperor as a puppet, and usurping power.
Thus, this current tri-part balance is the most stable and comfortable.
The late Emperor had shown him great favor, Yun Zheng had no desire to become a powerful minister, nor did he want anything to really happen to Su Jian, just causing him timely trouble would suffice.
Yun Wanye: "..."
Dad really lacks ambition, as a dignified Duke Ning, he doesn’t seek to be second only to the Emperor but only seeks comfort and stability.