After leaving Li Yuan’s palace, Li Chengqian asked Yun Ye, “Ye Zi, are you truly going to avenge that songstress?”

Yun Ye stopped in his tracks and stroked the pillar of the great hall as he spoke to Chengqian: “I’m not avenging Lüzhu. I just want to seek justice for the wronged souls who died miserably in this mortal world. Confucians always speak of benevolence and forgiveness. Old Man Dou must also like benevolence and forgiveness, except he only applies this noble virtue to himself. Toward others, there is only cruelty. There was once an essay called ‘Song of Righteous Spirit’ that I could never understand, but now I suddenly comprehend it. Those noble people, when they first did these things, originally all had a sense of injustice in their hearts that made them toss and turn, unable to sleep peacefully. Only by accomplishing these tasks could they eat well and sleep soundly.”

He pounded the pillars of the Eastern Palace with his fists one after another, as if wanting to completely release the melancholy in his heart.

Li Chengqian was determined to understand clearly: “What ‘Song of Righteous Spirit’? I’ve never heard of it. Is this essay the same kind as that ‘Youth’s Declaration’ you recited before?”

“Yes, the same kind of essay, the same kind of passion. Chengqian, after you become emperor in the future, you must never forget those common people living at the very bottom. Even if you cannot make their lives better, please do not harm them. They are the most fragile group of people in this world and cannot withstand storms.”

Li Chengqian nodded very earnestly in agreement and whispered a long string of words into Yun Ye’s ear. After hearing Chengqian’s words, Yun Ye’s expression relaxed slightly.

Yun Ye recalled his life in the later world—peaceful and happy were the main themes. He would shed tears when seeing the world’s tragedies, but back then he could excuse himself by saying it was beyond his capabilities. Now that he was a marquis, could he still use the excuse of being powerless? Must one become emperor before being able to resolve all the world’s problems? Li Yuan was the Grand Emperor, yet even he could only avoid the situation, which showed that emperors were not omnipotent. There was no way out. If he wanted peace of mind, he needed to do it himself.

Laozi was a sage of this world. This kind of work that no one dared to do—if this old man didn’t do it, who would?

Yun Ye fetched paper and brush. The causes and consequences of the matter were already very clear. Soon, a complaint was written. Without exaggeration, without obscurity, not even using classical language—just this straightforward complaint now lay before Li Chengqian.

“Ye Zi, it seems you’re serious this time,” Li Chengqian said to Yun Ye after reading the complaint.

“How can you tell?”

“Earlier, in your anger, you even forgot to take the gold. That’s not like you, so I say you’re serious. At least this matter is more important to you than that pile of gold.”

“I saw you take the gold. Chengqian, that gold is to ask you to carve this complaint into printing blocks and print one or two hundred thousand copies. I want everyone in all the prefectures and counties of Great Tang’s Chang’an to know about the Dou family’s bestial behavior. Start by distributing fifty thousand copies in Chang’an.”

Li Chengqian’s face turned pale as a sheet and he swayed unsteadily. Thirty taels of gold could complete this task? This would require at least one hundred taels of gold. He was a pauper, and doing this would make him even poorer. Besides, there wasn’t enough time—carving these several thousand characters would take at least half a month.

“I want large characters, only about a hundred characters per page. Find a dozen or so carvers to start work immediately. The characters don’t need to be beautiful—as long as they’re legible. No relief carving either—intaglio is fine. I imagine it won’t take you more than one night to get this done. The Yun family’s craftsmen can also do it. I want this plastered all over Chang’an market tomorrow.”

Li Chengqian said nothing, only dispatched people to find everyone in the Eastern Palace who could write to copy Yun Ye’s complaint. Stewards also searched the entire city for carvers to prepare the woodblock printing.

The Dou family members continuously went in and out of prominent noble households. After years of marriage alliances, Old Man Dou had countless relatives and countless disciples. Surely tomorrow’s morning court would see memorials impeaching Yun Ye piled high on Emperor Li Er’s dragon desk.

Assassination wouldn’t occur in Great Tang. Although the Dou family hated Yun Ye to death, they dared not act rashly in Chang’an. Once they made a move, they would become the mortal enemy of all Chang’an nobility. The shadow left by the Han Dynasty’s street murders of officials was too great, and no one wanted to live those days when everyone felt endangered.

However, the Yun family’s business was finished. Old Grandmother sent Old Zhuang to guard Yun Ye, accompanied by thirty retired veterans. Old Grandmother didn’t know what had happened in Chang’an; she only knew that all the major households who had originally ordered Yun family goods had canceled their orders. Even forfeiting their deposits, they wanted to sever relations with the Yun family. Some even wanted to take the opportunity to blackmail the Yun family. Old Grandmother decisively stopped all Yun family business, and the entire Yun family was in a state of alert.

Old Zhuang brought only one message: “If the matter cannot succeed, fleeing is best.” Grandmother had no other words, fearing that saying too much would make her grandson reluctant to leave, delaying his escape. In Grandmother’s narrow-minded heart, her grandson was most important; everyone else, including herself, was insignificant.

After sending Old Zhuang away, Yun Ye closed the door and sat before his desk, hands supporting his chin, staring blankly at the lamplight. The desk was piled with the Yun family’s most valuable possessions. Grandmother had specially exchanged several strings of brand new Kaiyuan Tongbao coins, along with some loose silver. The gold leaves weighed a full two catties, and even his armor had been sent over by Grandmother.

Stroking the newly braided armor ties, Yun Ye let out a bitter laugh and muttered to himself: “Grandmother, your grandson also wants to flee, but where can we flee to? The emperor has long since set the trap. Your grandson is the bait in the trap. The emperor doesn’t trust the court ministers. Our family has no connections with any of the powerful clans, so only our family is the most suitable bait. We were already招人忌 (招人忌 needs context – likely “attracting envy/resentment”), and the emperor poured oil on top. How could one or two cups of water extinguish such a great fire? If the Crown Prince hadn’t told me the whereabouts of those brave generals in the capital, your grandson would have almost reconciled with the Dou family. This is what’s most frightening. Old Cheng and Old Niu must be going crazy with worry, afraid I’ll choose the wrong side. Guanlong must be in an uproar now. Cheng Yaojin is in Longyou, Zhangsun Wuji is in Guanzhong, Yuchi Jingde is in the capital, Zhang Liang is in Hebei, Duan Zhixuan is in Shandong, Zhang Shigui is in Luoyang. My Imperial Majesty, what are you trying to do?”

The Yun family’s old residence in the capital appeared somewhat desolate due to the small number of people. Green grass stubbornly grew from the cracks between stones. In the dark shadows at the wall corners, Yun family guards stood motionless. Occasionally, the cold gleam of weapons flashed, telling Yun Ye just how dire his current situation was.

“My lord, please go back and sleep for a while. It’s already the fourth watch, and you still have to go to the county yamen tomorrow,” Old Zhuang emerged from somewhere, softly comforting Yun Ye.

“Old Zhuang, you haven’t left my side for two years. Tell me, am I truly a bastard? For a songstress whose name I don’t even know, I might accidentally risk the lives of my entire family. Is it worth it?”

“My lord, this humble one hasn’t studied, but this humble one has a human heart. On the grasslands, when you saw that Na Rimu was going to be made into a drinking cup, your expression at that time was extremely terrifying. This humble one knows that you actually don’t care about a few deaths—whether they die in battle or from illness, you actually don’t care. People will always die; dying early or late is just how it is. This humble one feels that what you care about is that the songstress was made into a candle. This is the important reason the Dou family offended you—they touched your reverse scale, so naturally you won’t let them have an easy time.”

Yun Ye was startled with alarm, discovering that this rough and bold man was actually a rare person of careful observation. He patted Old Zhuang’s arm and said: “When I was in Longyou, an elder told me that people can be killed—cut to death, burned to death, strangled to death—basically dying in any way is acceptable. The only thing that cannot happen is being starved to death.”

“I actually think starving to death isn’t so bad. There’s never enough grain in this world. If you don’t starve to death, someone else will always starve to death. That elder’s relatives all starved to death, so his view is somewhat extreme.”

“Your lord here is different. The reason people are called people is because they’ve transcended beasts. Respecting others’ lives means respecting our own lives. Beasts eat beasts because of hunger and will eat them completely clean, not using corpses for other purposes. Only humans, this strange animal, will kill for various chaotic and confused reasons. Some who go too far are those fellows who cannot be called human—only they would think of using living people’s skulls as drinking cups, only they would think of using human corpses to make candles. Therefore, they all deserve to die.”

Old Zhuang nodded with half understanding. Seeing that Yun Ye had no intention of sleeping, he stopped trying to persuade him. He was also clear that the lord would have no interest in sleeping tonight.

Pushing open the east wing room, the interior was brightly lit. The people the Yun family had found were all rapidly copying Yun Ye’s complaint. No one looked up—they had long since memorized these thousand-plus characters. On the desk by the door, there was already quite a large stack.

As a person from the later world, how could Yun Ye not understand the powerful effect of public opinion? He hadn’t thrown dirty water on the Dou family—he just told the Chang’an citizens that the Dou family liked to make people into candles, that the candles currently burning in their home were still candles made from the body of a pitiful woman named Lüzhu. He wanted the Chang’an citizens to be careful not to easily defy the Dou family; the consequence of defying the Dou family was possibly being turned into a candle and lit by them.

Yun Ye didn’t believe the Chang’an common people wouldn’t be interested. People who would spread gossip about someone’s death during sex until it was the talk of the town—when encountering such a terrifying matter, would they remain indifferent? Picking up one of his great works, Yun Ye read it through once and muttered with satisfaction: “What fine literary talent.”

Didn’t all the great clans desperately accumulate reputation? Yun Ye didn’t believe that with the label of “candle-making family” pinned on the Dou family’s head, Old Man Dou would remain indifferent. Several thousand years of reputation? Bah! Let the Dou family experience the power of big-character posters and let them feel what’s called propaganda bombardment. After three days, if all the people of Chang’an don’t avoid the Dou family when they see them, I’ll take the Dou family’s surname.

Tomorrow, the Crown Prince would surely find some families whose members had gone missing. Just randomly find some people and tell those families that their people might be gone, that the Dou family so loved making people into candles—one Lüzhu couldn’t be enough, perhaps they’d all been turned into candles and lit by the Dou family, and so on.

The method was somewhat unscrupulous. Li Chengqian looked alarmed yet went to handle the matter with great enthusiasm. His mother had long ago told Yun Ye that if there was any inconvenient matter, he could ask the Crown Prince for help. How could he not use such a good policy thoroughly and completely?

Yun Ye firmly believed that the omnipotent dragon in the imperial palace was currently observing all the movements in Chang’an with great interest. The dragon claws hidden beneath its belly were probably already eager to strike.