Exile? A mad, wicked woman empties the national treasury to escape famine.

"I was bored in my room and couldn't sleep anyway, so I thought I'd come out and see what everyone's doing. Is everyone asleep?"

Actually, she wasn't having trouble sleeping; rather, she felt uneasy and wanted to go out and check things out before going to bed.

Xie Moyao was delighted to see Ji Yunshu, but when he thought of the situation outside, his smile faded, and he sighed softly, "Chu Jingrui is here."

Ji Yunshu raised an eyebrow: "He's quick on his feet, arriving so soon. I thought it would take until tomorrow at the earliest."

"You knew he was here?" Xie Moyao asked, puzzled. How did Ji Yunshu know?

Ji Yunshu nodded lightly: "Yes, I know."

Then, Ji Yunshu recounted to Xie Moyao everything that happened when she went back to find Xie Mohuan and Xie Mu, as well as what happened between the two on their journey.

Xie Moyao became increasingly alarmed as he listened, and couldn't help but curse Xie Mohuan and Xie Mu in his heart.

Two idiots.

They left them so many hidden weapons for self-defense, yet they were still captured and almost lost their lives. If it weren't for his wife's quick death...

Xie Moyao didn't dare to think any further.

"No wonder..." he muttered to himself.

"No wonder what?"

Xie Moyao pursed his lips, his expression turning serious as he recalled Chu Jingrui's earlier probing.

"No wonder the Second Prince came to me before to test Mo Huan's whereabouts. He said he met Mo Huan with a strange man on the way. I guessed at the time that the strange man he was talking about was Xie Mu."

"By the way, you said Mo Huan and Xie Mu were captured by the Second Prince. What about your things? Did they fall into his hands?"

When Chu Jingrui approached him, he didn't mention this matter at all.

At the time, he wasn't sure what the situation was, so he didn't bring up the topic.

Ji Yunshu shook her head, indicating that he should not worry.

"Don't worry, after I brought Mo Huan and Xie Mu into the space, I went out and put all those things back into the space. No one will notice."

Besides my things, I also took everything from the Second Prince's carriage—

If I hadn't disliked the Second Prince's carriage, I would have bought it along with the carriage.

She had a large carriage in her space, and when she went to find Xie Mohuan and Xie Mu before, she remembered her two carriages on the way and went to collect them as well. At this moment, the two carriages were lying quietly in her space.

Hearing this, Xie Moyao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Those things cannot be released to the public yet, at least not until they are able to protect themselves.

Especially when it was obtained by members of the royal family—

Given the emperor's despicable nature, he will definitely try every means to uncover the truth about those things, and Ji Yunshu will be in great danger.

Xie Moyao used to only think about protecting himself, and even after arriving in the Northwest, he only thought about living a peaceful life. But now that things have developed, that seems impossible.

You must have the ability to protect yourself; you can't just cower like a turtle.

"Yun Shu, if I said that I don't want to just live a peaceful life anymore, and I want to build up my own power, what do you think?"

Ji Yunshu's eyes lit up, and she excitedly moved closer to him: "Really, really? Are you serious? Are you planning to raise a private army to rebel?"

She looked at Xie Moyao with bright, sparkling eyes, which left Xie Moyao somewhat puzzled, so he could only nod blankly.

"Yes, I want to raise my own private army."

He said it with great difficulty.

In the past, he only knew to be loyal to the court and repay the emperor's favor. He would consider it a great act of treason to even mention things like raising a private army or rebelling.

But now that he has said it himself, it's unclear whether Ji Yunshu will support him.

Ji Yunshu blinked, looking at Xie Moyao in front of her incredulously, searching her mind for the contents of the original book.

The original book states that Xie Moyao was loyal to the Dongling Kingdom and its royal court throughout his life. Even when his family was raided and he was exiled, he only thought it was a misunderstanding and believed that the emperor would eventually overturn the case and clear his name. He never knew until his death who fabricated the charge of treason against the Wang family.

But now, Xie Moyao actually has the idea of ​​raising a private army, something that the Xie Moyao in the original book would never have said.

Ji Yunshu was somewhat puzzled. Could it be that her time travel had rewritten the plot of the book? So Xie Moyao had also changed his personality?

Thinking about it, it seems like that's possible—

After all, because of his appearance, not a single person in the Prince's mansion has died so far, which should indirectly rewrite the plot.

In addition, he had whispered some things in Xie Moyao's ear. This man was so smart that he must have deduced the reason why the Wang family was raided and exiled.

It seems like a normal practice to want to cultivate influence nowadays.

If Xie Moyao remained unmoved, then she should start to wonder if he had lost his mind.

"Yunshu, what's wrong? Do you disagree?"

After not receiving a reply from Ji Yunshu for a while, and seeing her sitting there blankly, Xie Moyao assumed she disagreed and waved his hand in front of her.

This idea is indeed dangerous. If the words "keeping a private army" were to be revealed, it would be a capital offense. If the emperor and the eldest and second princes found out, the people in the Prince's mansion would certainly be wiped out. It is perfectly normal for Ji Yunshu to disagree.

Just as he was thinking about whether to take back his words and talk to Ji Yunshu about it later, he saw Ji Yunshu's eyes light up, and she leaned close to him, her face full of excitement.

"Great! Raising a private army must be so exciting! You're going to train them in martial arts, right? Can I learn along with them? Oh, right, you said you'd teach me qinggong (lightness skill) once your foot is healed."

"Here's what we'll do. From now on, you teach your soldiers martial arts, and you can teach me lightness skills while you're at it. Then, I'll take care of your soldiers' armor and weapons—I have a lot of weapons in my storage space, all of them are super powerful. They can take down a whole bunch of people without even having to fight them in close combat..."

Ji Yunshu rattled off a long string of words, and Xie Moyao turned his head to look at her constantly moving mouth, his eyes full of tenderness.

He didn't expect Ji Yunshu to agree so readily. He didn't hear most of what Ji Yunshu said afterward, his eyes were fixed on her.

"You agree?"

Ji Yunshu blinked: "Why wouldn't I agree?"

She had wanted to persuade Xie Moyao to do this for a long time, but she was worried that her words would be too radical. In addition, the current situation was not right. She originally wanted to wait until they arrived in the Northwest before slowly revealing and instilling these ideas.

Unexpectedly, before they even reached the Northwest, Xie Moyao suddenly realized his mistake.

"I thought you would say that what I said was outrageous."

Anyone would be afraid of rebellion, but Ji Yunshu seemed excited, which left Xie Moyao somewhat at a loss.

He hesitated for a long time before saying these words, but judging from his wife's expression, she seemed extremely excited, as if she had been waiting for him to say them.