The royal entourage bound for the imperial hunting grounds was quickly assembled and ready to depart.
Noble Consort Liu was engrossed in a "waste-to-hero" cultivation novel, while Yun Chuhuan was chattering away with Yun Shu like a student on their very first field trip, excitement bubbling over with every topic.
But once the carriages left the city and traveled a bit further, Noble Consort Liu finally lowered her book. Yun Chuhuan retracted his chin from the window ledge where he'd been leaning, and Yun Shu quietly closed her eyes for a brief rest.
All three of them, in perfect unison, wore an expression of shared suffering.
"This road is full of pits!"
Yun Chuhuan clutched his chin, which had just taken a hard knock. His luxurious carriage, which he'd once believed could solve all problems, had betrayed him.
"Can't they just smooth it out completely?"
"Repairing roads costs a great deal of money," Noble Consort Liu replied, examining his chin with a mother's worry. She opened a fine jar of medicinal salve and gently dabbed at the bruise.
"It's already turning blue. Does it hurt? Don't lean your head or chin against the carriage again. What if you bump yourself silly?"
"I just wanted to see the scenery!"
Yun Chuhuan's initial excitement about his first autumn hunt lasted no more than an hour. By now, he was full of regret.
"Sitting here getting jostled around is so boring. If I'd known, I wouldn't have come at all."
"If you truly don't wish to join next year's autumn hunt, I'll find you an excuse," Noble Consort Liu said, coaxing him gently. "Your Fifth Sister gave us such an entertaining storybook, and yet I'm not even reading it now. Isn't it nice that I'm spending time chatting with you both?"
"But it's really boring!" Yun Chuhuan whined. "It's not five hours, it's five days! How can anyone chat that long?"
"Still, it's not—"
"Do you want to play cards?" Yun Shu interjected suddenly.
That got Yun Chuhuan's attention. He shot upright in his seat, no longer slumping pitifully in his mother's arms.
"Cards? What's that? How do you play?"
"It's simple," Yun Shu replied. She turned and pulled out a small, nondescript wooden box from her bundle. Inside was the prototype of a card game she'd made just the day before—an ancient-style version of poker.
Since this dynasty had neither Arabic numerals nor letters, she had replaced the card faces with characters and simple symbols to make them easy to recognize.
"Look," she explained, "Three is the smallest. This big flower here is the highest card. And if you combine the big flower with the small one, that's a trump pair…"
The basic rules of Dou Dizhu weren't hard to pick up. After a quick explanation, both Noble Consort Liu and Yun Chuhuan were eagerly playing—and just as quickly, they became completely hooked.
So when the autumn hunting convoy made camp for a rest and Emperor Xuanwu, suddenly remembering his supposedly delicate daughter, sent Li Dehai to check on her...
Before Li Dehai even reached their carriage, he could already hear Noble Consort Liu's excited voice echoing from a distance:
"Trump pair! And then I'll play a double threes!"
"I fold, I fold!" came Yun Chuhuan's frustrated voice. "Why are my cards always so terrible? Either it's three-four-five-six with no seven, or I can't match anything when it counts!"
Strangely, Noble Consort Liu—who usually doted on her son to the point where even a frown would have her fussing over his mood—showed no sign of offering comfort. In fact, she sounded even more enthusiastic.
"Then I'll throw down a pair of tens! Do you want it? I only have one card left! I—"
"Wait." Yun Shu, who had remained silent until now, calmly interrupted.
"Four eights. Full blast."
The carriage erupted in another round of dramatic gasps.
Li Dehai didn't understand a single word of what they were saying, but he had no trouble realizing that the Fifth Princess was far from the fragile, unwell creature His Majesty had imagined. She was thriving.
He quietly questioned a nearby guard, confirmed the situation, then promptly returned to report to Emperor Xuanwu.
Upon learning that not only was Yun Shu thoroughly enjoying herself, but had also won nearly one thousand taels of silver from Noble Consort Liu and Yun Chuhuan over the course of a single morning...
Emperor Xuanwu: "…"
Well then.
He had originally hoped Noble Consort Liu could knock some sense into his foolish sixth son. Maybe teach him how to be a little sharper when dealing with his clever Fifth Sister.
Now it seemed even the noble consort had been dragged into the scheme!
That little rascal—she really dared to hustle anyone!
Faced with Yun Shu's outrageous display of cunning, Emperor Xuanwu found himself torn between exasperation and amusement.
"Go," he ordered, lips twitching. "Fetch Yun Shu to Us. Bring her here at once."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Li Dehai answered, grinning as he trotted off again. It was obvious the Emperor wasn't truly angry.
Soon, Yun Shu arrived, cradling the small wooden box in her arms.
"Father Emperor, you summoned me?"
"What's that in your hands?"
Emperor Xuanwu's gaze flicked to the little box in her arms. One brow lifted.
"A gift for Us?"
"It is indeed for Father Emperor!" Yun Shu replied with a bright smile, presenting the box.
"This is called playing cards. If Your Majesty ever has free time, you can find two companions and play a few rounds to relax."
"Playing cards," the Emperor repeated, letting out a soft chuckle. "You mean to say this is the thing you used to cheat a thousand taels of silver out of Noble Consort Liu and the boy?"
"How could you call that cheating?"
Yun Shu frowned slightly at the word. "It's just like playing chess—there's winning and losing. We were only using silver as a wager to make it more exciting. Every tael I won, I earned with skill."
"You always have an explanation, don't you?"
Emperor Xuanwu opened the box, picking up a card to inspect it. His smile deepened, half bemused, half indulgent.
"If We recall correctly, this silver-patterned bamboo paper—one tael per sheet—is the same material you asked for recently. Said you needed it for papermaking research."
In this era, papermaking was monopolized by the Cai and Wu clans. Their families had guarded the craft for over seven centuries. Even the Emperor couldn't simply demand such closely-held knowledge without causing political unrest.
In the original timeline, the tyrant Yun Chuhuan had brazenly tried to seize it by force after ascending the throne, which had immediately led to open rebellion. The aristocratic clans knew well: if the Emperor dared strike the Cai and Wu families today, he could strike the rest of them tomorrow.
Yun Shu, blessed with access to modern knowledge through her villa, could easily search papermaking methods online. But appearances mattered. She had to at least make a show of experimenting—comparing papers, conducting tests.
Of course, since some of the paper types were obscenely expensive, she had simply gone straight to Emperor Xuanwu and requested them directly.
She hadn't expected her scheme to boomerang quite like this.
Thankfully, her mind was quick.
By the next breath, she already had an excuse ready to go.