No one knew from when it started, but the household seemed to have two more people. When going out in the morning, he would always encounter the smiling Xinyue. Little Qiu’s bamboo basket always contained some mung bean cakes that Yun Ye loved. After hurriedly exchanging greetings, they’d each go their separate ways. Nothing seemed amiss.

At midday meals, the Yun family cooks always delivered food punctually. This was also an important time for the several old masters and Yun Ye to exchange ideas. After abandoning the ancient precept of not speaking during meals, the old masters always felt their appetites were increasing.

After finishing the meal and preparing for lofty discourse, a woman in a green robe would appear, serving everyone tea brewed to perfection, earning unanimous praise from all, then withdrawing while covering her face.

No one in the academy drank oil soup anymore, which wounded Zhao Yanling deeply. Only when alone would he brew a cup to savor the subtle pleasures of tea in his mouth.

Xinyue played ball-throwing games with Little Ya in the front courtyard—both very happy.

Xinyue discussed pastry-making with Auntie in the kitchen—the Yun residence’s pastry skills improved rapidly.

Xinyue made clothing with Sister-in-law in the garden, occasionally exchanging items. Thus Yun Ye acquired a gorgeous Shu embroidered outer robe, very eye-catching.

Xinyue accompanied Grandma in conversation in the back residence—who knows what they discussed, but it made Old Granny laugh from time to time. It seemed very harmonious.

Until one day Yun Ye discovered there was no tea water in his study. He called for Yi Niang to come change the hot water, but it was Xinyue who lifted the door curtain and entered. Blushing, she changed the tea water for the surprised Yun Ye and left. Through the bamboo screen, her beautiful silhouette could faintly be seen flashing through the courtyard, mingled with Yi Niang’s laughter.

Yun Ye wasn’t surprised that Xinyue had conquered all the women in the household, large and small. He was only surprised at how quickly she’d conquered them. It seemed the quality of the household women needed improvement. Where had Auntie’s difficult nature, Sister-in-law’s fierceness, and Grandma’s cunning scheming gone?

Yesterday he even saw her with Little Dong, pushing the swing vigorously. In the end, Little Dong secretly dug out snacks buried in the ground and invited Xinyue to eat. Being able to trick Little Dong into entrusting her with his hidden food—just this alone made Yun Ye feel the Yun residence was shrouded in a huge shadow shaped very much like Xinyue.

The dining table was hopeless. A roomful of women revolved around Xinyue—this one gave her a piece of chicken, that one ladled her a spoonful of soup. Yun Ye, who usually enjoyed this treatment, was furious. His bowl had been empty for ages and no one paid attention. Little Ya even put chicken bones in Yun Ye’s bowl saying they were too hard to bite, asking Brother to eat them. Putting down his bowl and chopsticks, the Marquis who firmly refused to eat food given in contempt planned to find something in the kitchen to fill his stomach. He didn’t expect the kitchen to also be very lively, full of servants and maids everywhere.

Little Qiu ate with the maids, each hugging a big bowl—the kind bigger than their heads—full of rice with vegetables heaping over the top. They buried their heads eating deliciously, looking completely at ease as if no one else existed, even more comfortable than at their own homes.

Couldn’t lose face like this! Rubbing his half-starved belly, Marquis Yun staggered toward the academy, his appearance pitiful.

Several old men with nothing to do enjoyed the cool under trees, each wearing short-sleeved shirts and shorts, feet in wooden-soled slippers, legs crossed lying in reclining chairs, hands waving cattail fans. Small teapots sat on low stools. When they talked too much, they’d grab the teapot spout and take a swig mouth-to-mouth. If they added a couple Beijing opera lines, Yun Ye would think he’d arrived in Beijing.

“Young people shouldn’t crowd around old folks. Go find your own fun.” Before he even got close, he was shooed away like a dog.

He came to find Sun Simiao. The old man still hadn’t agreed to settle at the academy. Taking advantage of having nothing to do, he’d chat with him and see if he could keep the old Daoist at the academy.

As the last rays of sunlight squeezed into Old Sun’s room, the medicinal smell inside was strong, stinging his eyes painfully. He’d just entered when he ran back out, not knowing what Old Sun was doing again. After waiting a moment, Huozhu also ran out, his tearful appearance quite pitiful. After waiting a long time, Old Sun finally walked out unhurriedly, muttering: “Failed again.”

“Daoist, what are you doing? Why such commotion?” Yun Ye asked curiously. It seemed even the academy was becoming incomprehensible to him now. Many people were acting strange. For example, Old Sun searched through all kinds of medicinal ingredients to formulate the white medicine Yun Ye possessed. According to him, he was close to success.

Master Lishi, whenever he had free time, carefully studied those big bones. Couldn’t ask about it—whoever asked, he’d get angry with them. Students had already reported that Master Lishi was secretly eating dragon bones and behind people’s backs secretly drawing various appearances of the bones, as if planning to ascend to heaven.

Master Yuanzhang had intentionally or unintentionally asked many times about Bai Yujing, even embarrassedly asking if he might possibly go to that place.

Yuchi Dasha single-handedly dug up the front slope completely, saying he wanted to build a city for deploying troops in formation, preparing for a fight to the death with Duan Meng here.

Li Tai now liked tying stones with cloth strips, throwing them skyward, then watching the cloth strips tied to the four corners slowly send the stones back to earth. At first just small stones, gradually becoming one jin, two jin, five jin stones. Yesterday he saw Li Tai’s guard carrying a hundred-some jin boulder laboriously climbing up Eagle’s Beak Cliff…

Old Sun didn’t hear Yun Ye’s question, or rather he simply didn’t want to pay attention to Yun Ye. Stamping his feet, he rushed back into the room.

This was bringing trouble on himself!

Fine that no one paid attention. Yun Ye ran to the academy kitchen, forcing the cook to hand over the best piece of mutton. Using the red clay small stove for brewing tea, he set up a small pot, preparing to make mutton hotpot himself—tofu, vegetables, and some wild mushrooms. He’d call no one, just himself alone. I’m not happy today, and I don’t believe I can’t finish these five jin of mutton.

Under the bed was hidden grape wine, stolen from Li Xiaogong’s house. A copper-skinned wine flask filled to the brim, soaking in well water—would be good to drink soon.

Not fond of white broth mutton hotpot, we’ll eat red oil. The cook delivered thinly sliced mutton. Spring onion threads cut fine as hair, emerald green vegetables arousing appetite, white tender tofu cut into strips, garlic paste and sauces complete—Marquis Yun planned to reward himself well.

The heavens have unforeseen storms. Just as Marquis Yun was about to eat, Li Ke burst through the door shouting: “Finished, finished!” His expression panicked.

In a blink he discovered the hotpot and immediately forgot his worries. Pulling silver chopsticks from his chest, he plunged them into the pot fishing wildly.

“What happened? Why such urgency?” Yun Ye worried something had gone wrong. After all, those rudimentary construction machines weren’t that reliable.

“No more bricks and tiles. Progress is too fast—bricks and tiles can’t keep up. That cement you’re firing is almost gone too. We’ve stacked all the stones, just lacking bricks, tiles and cement from the kiln. Cement is manageable—just crush and grind it fine. But bricks and tiles—there’s no solution. In three days we’ll have to stop work.” After eating two bites of mutton, Li Ke stuck out his tongue from the heat, sucking in cool air and speaking haltingly, though his eyes never left the rolling mutton in the pot.

The Yun family brick kiln—ever since that idiot kiln worker who accidentally fired glazed tiles last time received the master’s reward, shocking the kiln factory, from then on various strange things were often fired. The antique shelves in Yun Ye’s study were full of oddly shaped stones. There was one type of stone fired soft and crumbly that, after being crushed and mixed with water, hardened overnight. Yun Ye knew this should be cement. After retrying hundreds of times, he found the standard. Now mass-producing it, the follow-up work was complex—needing to crush large stones, then grind them fine on large millstones before use. Yun Ye’s confidence in building stone houses also came from this.

When Yun Ye came to his senses, he discovered Li Ke had eaten so much he couldn’t sit still and was loosening his belt. The mutton on the small table had disappeared by more than half, vegetables and tofu also more than half gone. Now gorging at the table was Li Tai.

“Just now seeing Cloud Marquis deep in thought, this Prince saw Little Tai hadn’t yet had dinner, so called him over to eat some delicacies together. This is eating! This Prince finally ate a real meal, not leftovers.” Li Ke unhurriedly explained, ignoring Yun Ye’s fire-spitting eyes.

Li Tai, fishing for mutton, even extended his thumb praising Third Brother’s selflessness.

Forget it. Today just wasn’t a good day for eating. After Li Tai eliminated the last piece of mutton, the three left the room. The evening cool breeze blew past, dispersing Yun Ye’s last bit of gloom. Standing on high ground, at his feet the East Sheep River glittered emerald, both banks lined with dozens of three-story buildings. Though only outlines, they were quite grand in scale, inspiring admiration. The noisy construction site had finally quieted down. Wisps of cooking smoke rose from the mountain hollow—the laborers making dinner. Presumably after laboring all day, when they picked up their rice bowls, they might temporarily forget that terrible disaster.

“Ye Zi, this is the most useful thing I’ve done in my life. Magnificent houses and halls rising from the ground one by one through my hands—you don’t know how happy I am. I even know exactly what materials each building needs, can predict when each building will be completed. Only I know how spectacular, how beautiful these houses will be when built. It’s settled—you must save me one. Yushan in autumn is most beautiful. Then I’ll bring my mother here to stay a few days and make her happy too.”

“Hmph, dream on! These houses all have purposes. Next year we’ll recruit on a large scale—students won’t be fewer than a thousand, and there’ll be a hundred teachers. I’m worried there won’t be enough houses—where would there be extras for you?”

“It’s just eating your food! Need to be so petty? I’ll pay, can’t I?” Li Ke shouted in exasperation.

Not caring about the little brat’s schemes, he grabbed Li Tai and headed back. The academy entrance was very lively. The Huang Shu couple was closing their stall, full of smiles—looked like they’d made quite a bit. The old masters also strolled back from the riverside, laughing and chatting along the way. Academy students frolicked and played at the entrance. Zhao Yanling and the academy’s teachers discussed the riverside buildings, full of anticipation. Yun Ye smiled as he passed through the crowd. Just as he was about to enter, he heard someone call: “Brother Yun!”

Turning back, it was Xinyue. She shyly held a food box, twisted and turned for ages before stuffing the food box into Yun Ye’s hands, saying sweetly: “You didn’t eat well at dinner. I specially made a few small dishes for you to try.” After speaking, she covered her face and ran off.

The academy students erupted in chaotic wolf howls. Several old masters also stroked their beards and nodded. The Huang Shu couple wore faces full of blessing.

“This is bad!” Yun Ye screamed inwardly. How did I forget that Shu girls are famously bold? After this scene, can I still marry anyone else?