"Nan Yu clearly understood Lord He's words, but the imperial court is currently in need of capable individuals, so I just want to try my best one more time."
After a moment of thought, he added: "I'm sure Lord He has also noticed that Father Emperor has yet to grant me a princedom title. He plans to establish me as the Crown Prince once the situation stabilizes."
What he said was subtle - Emperor Shunwu had actually told him that once the situation stabilized, he would pass the throne to Nan Yu.
The entire country of Da Shun would eventually belong to him. How could he possibly bear to lose talents like Mo Jiuye and the courageous yet loyal men of the Mo Family?
Minister Hao knew there was no use in saying these things, as Nan Yu was bound to meet with Mo Jiuye regardless.
As for how Mo Jiuye would respond, that was not something he could control.
The two continued their conversation as they arrived at the residence of Minister Hao.
Upon reaching the residence, Nan Yu eagerly pulled Mo Jiuye into Minister Hao's study.
Mo Jiuye knew that Nan Yu's urgency in seeking him out must be related to affairs of the imperial court.
Regardless of the matter's scale, he was accustomed to not keeping secrets from He Zhiran. Since she was present at the time, Mo Jiuye saw no need to consider Nan Yu's wishes and brought his wife into the study with him.
Nan Yu was well aware of the relationship between Mo Jiuye and his wife, so he was not surprised by this.
With He Zhiran present, it might even work in his favor. If Mo Jiuye was unwilling, perhaps his wife would agree, which could help sway Mo Jiuye's decision.
The matter was urgent, so this time Nan Yu did not beat around the bush with Mo Jiuye and his wife, cutting straight to the point.
He first bowed respectfully to Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran.
"Ninth Young Master, Madam Ninth, Nan Yu hopes the Mo Family will return to the imperial court to share my burdens."
He said "share my burdens", rather than the country's or Emperor Shunwu's, expressing his wish for Mo Jiuye to help him out of their friendship.
Mo Jiuye had thought his stance was clear to Nan Yu, and that Nan Yu understood him.
Now that he had made this request, Mo Jiuye's first instinct was to refuse.
Listening from the side, He Zhiran had a different idea in mind.
Before Mo Jiuye could voice his refusal, He Zhiran tugged on his sleeve, signaling with her eyes for him to temporarily hold his tongue.
Mo Jiuye swallowed the words he was about to say, looking at He Zhiran with some confusion.
Although He Zhiran had her own thoughts, she did not intend to voice them without Mo Jiuye's approval.
"The Third Prince, you also know of the Mo Family's suffering and the injustices we endured. Now that my Mo Family has finally settled down in the northwest, we've never thought of getting involved in the turbulent waters of the imperial court again."
Logically, if He Zhiran wanted to refuse Nan Yu, she should have directly said they would no longer participate in court affairs.
However, she changed "no longer participate" to "never thought of", implying that it was not entirely out of the question.
If the listener was receptive, they would understand that there was still room for change regarding this matter.
As intelligent as Nan Yu was, how could he fail to catch the implication in He Zhiran's words?
"If that's the case, Ninth Young Master and Madam Ninth may want to reconsider this matter. I can promise you today that if the Mo Family is willing to return to the imperial court, I will recommend to the Father Emperor that you be granted a princedom. How about that?
Of course, I also know that the Mo Family has lost interest in such things, but don't you need to consider your descendants as well?"
In fact, when He Zhiran spoke earlier, it was not because she craved titles or had considered the matter of descendants.
The Mo Family's current life in the northwest, though comfortable, was still that of commoners.
After resolving the affairs in the capital, she planned to properly develop the family's businesses upon returning to the northwest.
Every business she ran could be considered unique in this era.
Although all their businesses involved cooperating with Tang Mingrui, acting behind the scenes rather than as public merchants, there are no walls that can block the wind entirely.
Once their operations caught the attention of interested parties, they would surely investigate the source of these goods. If they encountered unscrupulous merchants like Boss Jin who would stop at nothing for profit, it could bring trouble to the family once again.
Boss Jin was not a major figure, so he could not truly harm the Mo Family.
However, Tang Mingrui's business would undoubtedly grow larger, potentially spanning the entire Da Shun Dynasty and neighboring smaller countries.
As it expanded, those eyeing the Mo Family's production would no longer be small merchants like Boss Jin, but could be high-ranking officials or powerful forces.
The Mo Family had trained many private soldiers, so they did not need to worry about others targeting them. But who would dislike living in peace and comfort?
In any case, to thoroughly eliminate such potential future troubles, the best solution was for the family to hold a certain degree of power.
In plain terms, others might covet them, but would not dare to act, forced to merely look on helplessly.
This was the effect He Zhiran desired.
Of course, she personally did not wish for the Mo Family to become entangled in court affairs again. Although the future Da Shun would belong to the diligent and benevolent Nan Yu, bringing benefits to the common people, there was no obvious appeal for the Mo Family in returning to the imperial court.
What He Zhiran wanted was for the Mo Family to have their own territory - nominally under the rule of Da Shun, but truly their own dominion.
She harbored no thoughts of rebellion or defiance, only wishing to create a prosperous and developed region through her own efforts.
For example, like the modern Da Xie Country allowing certain regions to become wealthy first after its founding, she wished to build such an area here.
Nan Yu had just voluntarily offered to grant the Mo Family a princedom. He Zhiran guessed that Nan Yu must have sounded out Emperor Shunwu's opinion beforehand - otherwise, given his cautious nature, he would not have mentioned something so uncertain.
Therefore, she could be certain that as long as the Mo Family agreed to return to the imperial court, obtaining this princedom was a sure thing.
She also understood that in name only, many non-imperial princedoms throughout history held no real power.
Simply put, it was a way for emperors to reward meritorious officials by granting them an estate in the capital to live out their days in comfort, with less authority than an average official.
This was not the effect He Zhiran desired - she did not want the Mo Family to so easily return to the imperial court. In addition to the princedom title, there must be other concessions, which was her true intent in leaving Nan Yu a glimmer of hope.
Nan Yu, eager for Mo Jiuye's return to the imperial court, did not hurry to leave Minister Hao's residence upon seeing this hope. Instead, he remained to discuss the situation at court with Minister Hao, hoping to receive a satisfactory answer from Mo Jiuye and his wife by the end of the day.
