The Yun household exploded into chaos. When the old grandmother heard that Yun Ye wanted to become a farmer, she couldn’t catch her breath and fainted on the spot. After waking up, she burst into wailing tears, saying she had failed her ancestors—their dignified marquis refusing his title, the Yun family’s only male descendant going off to farm!

While crying, she stole glances at Yun Ye. This was her time-tested, never-failing supreme method for dealing with her grandson: small matters warranted small crying, big matters big crying, and medium matters required assessing the situation before crying. Now she’d even resorted to fainting—she simply didn’t believe her grandson would persist in his stubbornness.

Yun Ye’s head was now as big as a bushel. What he feared most was his grandmother crying. First, he worried it would harm her health. Second, ever since Yun Ye had returned home, the old grandmother’s self-reliant toughness—that resilience of Guanzhong women—had vanished without a trace. She had decided to stay close to her grandson, letting him provide for her in her old age, her temperament reverting to how it was during the Yun family’s prosperous days.

All day long she led a group of cronies around the world showing off. Today she’d discuss with Madam Cheng about the workshop issues in Zhaoguo Ward, tomorrow she’d accompany Madam Niu to Ci’en Temple to burn incense. The old lady now only recognized this particular temple—the old abbot had used Yun family money to renovate the temple, and it was said that just the gold lacquer on Buddha’s body alone used eight taels of gold powder.

Massaging his grandmother’s legs stroke by stroke, seeing her convulsions weren’t too severe anymore, he spoke gently: “You’re overthinking this, Grandmother. Your grandson isn’t abandoning the marquis title, but rather giving the suffering people of this world something to hope for—a hope that they can escape poverty and live good lives. I want them to know that good days can be earned this way. Just facing the yellow earth with their backs to the sky, scraping food from the soil—they could do that for ten thousand years and still never eat meat.”

“These past few days, your grandson walked around the estate and saw them squatting in corners drinking thin gruel, and my heart ached. These are all hardworking, kindhearted good people—why should they only be able to drink thin gruel? Don’t they know meat tastes good? It’s because they have no way to eat meat. Your grandson wants to teach them how to eat meat.”

“When our family fell on hard times, Xiao Ya didn’t even have thin gruel to drink. Who pitied us then?” The old grandmother felt somewhat resentful.

“That’s not how to look at it, Grandmother. Precisely because you’ve been kindhearted all your life, Heaven didn’t let your grandson suffer one bit—everywhere there were benefactors helping. Think about it—if Teacher hadn’t discovered your grandson back then, what would the situation have been?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the old grandmother covered his mouth, not letting him continue, her whole body trembling with fear. She didn’t dare imagine the scene of her infant grandson crying in the cold wind.

“Don’t speak recklessly, you mustn’t speak recklessly. As long as you’re well, Grandmother would willingly drink thin gruel.”

“Your grandson will be a farmer for a period of time, pointing other farmers toward a path to good lives. Think about it—how much virtue that will accumulate! If the Yun family is to have a thousand-year legacy, without such good virtue there’s no way to last a thousand years. Gold, silver, and jewels are just a pile of useless garbage before time, and they easily invite disaster. Only accumulating virtue can guarantee three generations of descendants’ safety.”

“Ye’er, Grandmother doesn’t have your long-term vision. As long as you think it’s good, go do it. Grandmother just feels sorry for you, afraid you’ll suffer. You’ve never suffered hardship since childhood—how could you endure a farming family’s hard life?” The old grandmother said to Yun Ye while wiping away tears.

“A farming household’s hard life? Your grandson is going to be a farmer, but I never said I’d suffer hardship. If I were to live the same life as farming households, you might as well just take a knife and hack me to death.”

One sentence made Grandmother laugh. This grandson of hers had cleverness that ordinary people lacked, and kind thoughts others didn’t have—he was almost a perfectly flawless child. Just one thing: he absolutely couldn’t endure hardship. But if even such a good child had to suffer, Heaven would truly be blind. My grandson is destined for a life of wealth and honor.

Having settled matters at home made Yun Ye breathe a long sigh of relief. These people were the ones he cared about most—he didn’t want to make them sad, so explaining became very troublesome. The more you care about someone, the more you need to make them understand your thoughts. Human feelings are established through this back-and-forth exchange.

As for others? Would Yun Ye care about their thoughts? What a joke!

Li Tai carefully calculated the volume of earth in the earthen prison. For this, he specifically had the Yun family’s carpenter nail together a three-chi square box for him. He filled it with earth, compressed it firmly, then weighed it. He was very meticulous—possibly a Li family tradition. Unable to find a suitable large scale, he used a small scale to weigh out the earth’s weight bit by bit, recording the process and results in detail. He paid it no mind, but Yun Ye knew this was a proper scientific experiment record. Perhaps a thousand years later, this would become scientists’ most primitive reference material for studying density.

Recalculating Li Tai’s assignment, it was correct. It seemed he had already mastered the key points of simple geometry.

Yun Ye sank into contemplation. Perhaps it might be a good idea to cultivate Li Tai into a mathematics fanatic.

He just didn’t know how great power’s attraction really was for him. Thinking of those abnormal mathematics masters of later generations, which one had shown extremely strong desire for power? It seemed none had. They all immersed themselves in their own mathematical kingdoms doing as they pleased, probably too busy to bother with those scheming power games.

Li Tai currently had no time to worry about whether Yun Ye was going to be a farmer or not. He was addicted to the battle-of-wits game with the ground squirrels and couldn’t extricate himself. Li Ke was somewhat more gossipy, specifically running over to ask Yun Ye: “Brother Ye, are you really going to be a farmer?”

“I already made a threefold pledge with Teacher Li Gang. Do you think I’d go back on my word?” Yun Ye answered impatiently. Compared to Li Chengqian and Li Tai, this guy lacked a measure of magnanimity and had an extra two measures of effeminacy. He seemed to look down on others from his very roots—stemming from his own more noble bloodline than anyone else’s? He didn’t know what his mother, Imperial Consort Yang, had taught him, what things she’d instilled in him. If this continued, being killed by Zhangsun Wuji wouldn’t be strange at all.

“Why does Marquis Yun debase his status by mixing with mud-legged peasants? It damages our gentlemen’s dignity.”

“His Majesty goes barefoot into the fields to plow every year, and Her Majesty the Empress personally feeds silkworms. What reason makes you think farming is a lowly labor?” Yun Ye was somewhat angry.

“Father Emperor and Mother Empress only do these things annually for the Heaven-worship ceremony. They don’t do them other times.” Li Ke said somewhat aggrieved.

Yun Ye’s heart softened. After all, he was just a child. To say the Emperor and Empress were merely putting on a show—how could such treasonous words come from his mouth?

Knowing that Li Ke didn’t have much guard up around him—he trusted him, which was why he spoke without thinking things through. Since he was trusted by someone, he needed to fulfill the responsibility of a teacher and elder. As for future matters, he’d deal with them later. At least now, he was still a naive youth.

Yun Ye pulled Li Ke outside. The two stood on the lawn at the academy entrance. Patting Li Ke’s shoulder, he asked him, “Tell me, what is a gentleman, and what is a petty person?”

“Teacher Song said the benevolent have no worries, the wise have no doubts, the brave have no fears—these are gentlemen. Petty persons are everyone besides gentlemen.”

Some small cleverness there. Yun Ye laughed a bit, lightly tapping his head and saying: “Taking shortcuts.”

Li Ke rather liked this small gesture of Yun Ye’s. Looking at Yun Ye sideways, he asked: “What does Brother Ye think a gentleman is? Could it be a farmer?”

“Little Ke, remember this—I don’t know what a gentleman is either. For several thousand years there have been countless interpretations. What you just said is one kind. I always feel a person’s nobility should be nobility of the soul, not nobility of status. Anyone who completes their responsibility in coming to this mortal world, I consider them all noble—seeing off the parents who raised them, raising the children they bring up, having affection for their wife, having trust in others, being helpful to the world we live in—that makes a complete person. Regardless of what position they occupy, they are noble.” Yun Ye shared his understanding with Li Ke. As for how much he could absorb, that depended on his fortune.

His bloodline was his most dangerous enemy. If he couldn’t blur this concept, no matter who became emperor, he would find it hard to escape death. Even if Zhangsun Wuji didn’t make a move, there would be Li Wuji, Wang Wuji, and the like jumping out to eliminate him. After all, the entire court was filled with his maternal grandfather’s rebels.