Volume 1, Chapter 20: Taking the Wife Along for a Kidnapping

Looking at his mother and his new bride, Li Jize wore an expression of awkwardness. Scratching his head, he chuckled sheepishly, "Mother! I still have some business to attend to here at the manor. Let's talk about going home later!"

"Huh?"

Hearing Li Jize refuse to go home, Huang Suqiu stopped dead in her tracks. She stood where she was, turned around, and looked at him in surprise.

"What are you saying, child? Do you have any idea how furious your father was when you didn't get up to pay your respects and serve tea this morning?"

Li Jize: "???"

Where did they pick up such nasty habits?

Getting up at the crack of dawn to pay respects and serve tea?

Who do you think you are? The Empress, that wretched woman?

Li Jize hadn't even settled the score with Li Jin for conspiring with the Empress to get his predecessor killed. And now they were starting to put on airs?

Seeing Li Jize standing motionless, Huang Suqiu, completely oblivious to her son's dissatisfaction, continued, "But you have a good wife! She managed to fool your father. Now, hurry up and buy some breakfast, then come home with me! We'll just say you went out early to get food but suddenly had a dizzy spell and forgot the way home, understand?"

In the interest of family harmony, his mother was actually teaching her son how to lie.

But Li Jize didn't care!

Not to mention that Li Jin had killed his predecessor, even if he were a staunch supporter of this corrupt dynasty, Li Jize was planning a rebellion! Sooner or later, they would be at odds.

However...

Hearing his mother suggest buying breakfast and claiming he had a dizzy spell to explain his absence, Li Jize’s eyes lit up!

Wasn’t the place he was heading toward a teahouse—a place to buy breakfast and drink morning tea?

Thinking of this, Li Jize stopped arguing and nodded in agreement.

While the mother and son were chatting, only the new bride, Wang Yuanya, was looking around the manor with keen interest.

She wanted to see...

What did the fief of the dignified Prince of Qin, the Great Qi’s General Tiance, look like?

Alas!

Her inspection left the young woman deeply disappointed. Not only was the land unimpressive, but there were hardly any houses. Everywhere she looked, there were only thatched huts and refugees in tattered, filthy rags...

"Let's go, daughter-in-law! We're off to get breakfast."

While Wang Yuanya was still observing the manor, her mother-in-law, Huang Suqiu, called out to her. Snapping back to reality, Wang Yuanya replied with an "Oh."

But it was this subconscious movement that caused her to inadvertently glance at one of the thatched huts.

It was just that one glance...

Wang Yuanya’s eyes widened, and her confusion deepened.

What was that?

She saw "sparks of iron" dancing inside that hut, and if she listened closely...

She could vaguely hear the sound of smithing!

Huh?

Wang Yuanya wondered if she had heard wrong.

Smithing? Why would there be the sound of smithing coming from a thatched hut on Li Jize’s fief?

One had to know that in this feudal society, the most taboo thing was for someone to privately forge weapons or armor. Anything of the sort was treated as "rebellion."

Li Jize had already lost his military command; what was he trying to do?

Could he be planning a rebellion?

But soon...

Wang Yuanya shook her head and looked at the "husband" walking ahead of her with a silly grin. With his mental state fluctuating like that, how could he possibly lead a rebellion?

If he were in a clear-headed state, leading soldiers for a coup, and then suddenly had a relapse and ran off to play with wood, what would happen then?

While the new bride Wang Yuanya was lost in her own doubts and wild thoughts, they had unknowingly been led by Li Jize to a restaurant.

Stopping in his tracks, Wang Yuanya looked up at the restaurant’s sign.

Tianxiang Pavilion!

She looked at Li Jize in surprise, while the latter pointed inside the restaurant with a grin, saying nonchalantly, "The breakfast at this place is delicious!"

And why wouldn't it be?

Tianxiang Pavilion was located on the golden route officials took to and from court, and both its flavors and prices were top-tier!

Thinking of the starving refugees outside, hungry enough to sell their children and trade their kin for food, while Li Jize...

This fool could spend more on a single casual meal than what those people lived on for days.

Wang Yuanya’s teeth itched with resentment. *While the mansions reek of wine and meat, the poor freeze to death on the roadside.* Such a court deserved to be overthrown! The Li family were no good people either!

Huang Suqiu didn't think much of it; as long as she could get her "silly son" to go home and apologize to Li Jin, and keep the family harmonious, what was a little money?

But she didn't know that Li Jize hadn't chosen Tianxiang Pavilion to buy the best breakfast for his father!

Rather...

It was because from here, perched high above, he could overlook the situation below, which would make his plan easier to carry out.

"Mother! What should we order to eat?"

As Li Jize scanned his surroundings, he spoke to Huang Suqiu as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

Huang Suqiu sighed helplessly, "Anything is fine! Let's just hurry up and get the breakfast so we can go back and report to your father!"

She didn't care what they ate. All she cared about was when the relationship between her son and his father would mend.

Who would have thought that Li Jize would push his luck and call the waiter directly?

"Brew a pot of your finest hot tea, and bring a plate of Jing Eight Treasures, Fengxiao pastries, and Dingsheng cakes!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Wang Yuanya, a "little foodie," couldn't help but swallow hard.

Jing Eight Treasures? Fengxiao pastries? Dingsheng cakes?

She had never even heard of them, let alone tasted them!

Was this the difference between a child from an elite official's family and her?

Huang Suqiu was also stunned. She widened her eyes and asked, confused, "What is this? Jize, we need to bring the breakfast back to your father as soon as possible! Why are you sitting down to slowly savor tea?"

Li Jize smiled faintly, "Mother! It’s been a long time since I tasted the pastries at Tianxiang Pavilion. I suddenly want some today! Why don't you sit down and have some with me?"

The tone held a hint of a spoiled child, leaving both Huang Suqiu and Wang Yuanya stunned...

Something was wrong! Was Li Jize having a relapse, and was his mind becoming unclear again?

Huang Suqiu’s heart skipped a beat, but she dared not provoke him further. She could only force a smile and say, "Alright, alright... eat whatever you like! But you have to promise me that once you've had your fill, you'll take the breakfast and go apologize to your father. Deal?"

Li Jize clasped his hands together, grinned, and revealed two rows of white teeth, "Let’s wait until I'm full!"

Wang Yuanya narrowed her eyes as she stared at her husband. Based on the medical knowledge she had learned from her father...

Li Jize didn't look like he was having a relapse at all; at the very least, his cognition seemed perfectly normal!

But for some reason, why did he feel like a completely different person?

No one noticed...

Li Jize kept his head low, rubbed his sword-like eyebrows, and glanced toward a certain direction outside the restaurant, a sinister smile creeping across his face.

Kidnapping operation! Beginning now!