At home, Yun Ye slept for an entire day without eating or drinking. Grandmother came to check on him no fewer than ten times. In his dazed state, Yun Ye knew Grandmother had come, but he couldn’t open his eyes. These past days he’d had no real rest. His mind was overused, and even in his dreams he worried about assassins coming to the door. Now he felt at ease. Once his mind relaxed, physical and mental exhaustion swept over him together. He needed deep sleep to recover.

He heard Grandmother’s sighs and his sisters’ soft weeping. Grandmother gently stroked Yun Ye’s face, saying over and over: “My poor grandson, my poor grandson…”

The rooster had only crowed once when Yun Ye jumped up, extremely energetic and extremely hungry. Aunt, who had been dozing beside Yun Ye, was startled awake by the commotion of his rising. Rubbing her eyes and seeing Yun Ye awake, she was very pleased. While loudly ordering the maids to prepare food for the Marquis, she helped Yun Ye dress. After washing up and having his hair combed, Yun Ye made a trip to the toilet. Upon coming out, he felt completely emptied, especially his stomach—with one breath inward, his front could touch his back.

The golden millet porridge was just right for his appetite. A basin of porridge in his belly, paired with several small steamed buns and some pickled vegetables, made Yun Ye feel he could now go up the mountain and hunt tigers without any problem.

He loosened his joints on the horizontal bar at home. Though he could only writhe a few times like a maggot, at least it counted as exercise. Who would have thought that with a little force, the porridge he’d just drunk would surge upward? Good food couldn’t be wasted—he forcefully suppressed it. When his chest and abdomen stopped churning, Yun Ye’s face was covered in tears. He didn’t understand why stopping vomit would make him cry. Too embarrassing—he quickly washed his face again.

At dawn, a light rain began to fall. This might be the last apricot blossom rain on the Guanzhong plain this year, so it fell especially tenderly. The fine rain threads were scattered by the mountain wind, more like mist than rain.

“Wind on the face does not chill when willows sway, rain wets the clothes when apricot blossoms fall”—both were Yun Ye’s favorites. In fact, whatever fell from the sky, Yun Ye liked it, including hail. He remembered when he was small, the village suffered a hail disaster. The largest hailstones were the size of dove eggs, densely covering the fields. Adults wore gloomy faces, constantly cursing the damned thieving heavens. The wheat that had just formed ears was completely ruined.

Only Yun Ye cheered and leaped, running to the wild fields to pick up hailstones that hadn’t yet melted, and when no one was watching, secretly stuffed a few in his mouth. The consequence of doing this was predictable—a sound beating from his mother made Yun Ye thoroughly remember that hail wasn’t a good thing. But boys being boys, after taking the beating, lying in bed with tears flowing, what he reminisced about was that cool, refreshing feeling of hail in his mouth.

The countryside had no disturbing street-clearing drums, only early-rising birds singing among the tree branches. For the first time he discovered that the earliest-rising birds were actually gray sparrows, constantly scratching their feathers with little orange claws. They too needed to tidy their appearance to greet this beautiful morning.

He held up an umbrella, not to block the rain, but for the mood.

A scholar in blue robes holding an oil-paper umbrella thus leisurely merged into this ink-wash painting.

The household guards had all been changed. Ever since Old Zhuang climbed out of the sewage ditch last time, scraped all over with bloody marks from the iron spikes on the fence, and more terrifyingly, his wounds hadn’t received timely treatment and became infected, Yun Ye used large amounts of anti-inflammatory medicine to stabilize his condition. Now somewhat improved, he was ordered by Grandmother to recuperate at home. Though his news had caused the Yun family a false alarm, everyone in the Yun household was extremely grateful. As Grandmother said, such guards were worth more than a thousand in gold.

Behind Yun Ye were guards over fifty years old, all battle-tested veterans. After retiring with Yun Ye from the Left Militant Guard, they settled at the Yun family estate, regarding themselves as retainers. Two years of leisurely life hadn’t diminished their iron-blooded nature. Their movements still showed a soldier’s character. Thirty years of warfare—the army’s brand on them was too deep.

The Yun family’s most formidable people weren’t Old Zhuang and Liu Jinbao, but these seemingly wooden-faced old men. Thirty-jin chain hammers in their hands were like grass stalks. Ordinary horizontal sabers had long been wielded with divine skill. Once serious, Liu Jinbao before them was like a quail.

They rarely associated with the tenant farmers, all settling their homes on a hillock to the left of the Yun estate. The Yun family built an extremely large compound there. The thirty-some men and their families lived in the compound. Even their children’s marriages were resolved among those thirty-some families. This generation didn’t matter, but Yun Ye worried greatly for their descendants. In just a few generations, the bloodlines would homogenize. Yun Ye very much didn’t want that compound filled entirely with fools in the future.

He’d advised them many times—living on that hillock was inconvenient for everything. Getting water required walking far to carry it, and it was far from the fields. The Yun estate was so vast, yet he couldn’t understand why they chose that particular spot.

When Old Niu wandered around the Yun estate and glanced at the hillock, he told Yun Ye that the old soldiers’ choice wasn’t wrong. That hillock was the strategic pivot point of this land belonging to the Yun family. They could attack when advancing, defend when retreating. If the Yun family ever faced great upheaval in the future, this would be the position that must be defended.

Only then did Yun Ye understand why the old soldiers chose this place. They couldn’t articulate Old Niu’s reasoning, but battle-tested veterans’ instinct made them unconsciously select the environment most advantageous to them.

The entire Yun household immediately fell silent and found the best well-drilling craftsmen within ten li around. They nearly drilled through the hillock before striking water. Who would have thought the well water’s quality was surprisingly excellent? Zhao Yanling, whenever he wanted to brew tea, would use nothing but water from that well.

Originally thought to be a money-losing proposition, who knew it was actually a treasure? The Yun family’s distillery was established in the large compound, using water from there to brew and distill liquor. Yun Ye even personally taught the old soldiers how to brew liquor. This way, the old soldiers and their children no longer needed to work the fields—they only needed to brew liquor according to the master family’s requirements. Each month they received substantial wages. Then they opened a small plot on the hillside as a vegetable garden. The old soldiers’ lives were extremely comfortable.

They had Great Tang’s highest quality liquor to drink, and when idle could train the youngsters on the estate, releasing the violent energy accumulated from many days without killing. Such days were beyond even their dreams before.

Old Grandmother went up the hillock yesterday and told the old soldiers about the Yun family possibly being attacked by assassins. Naturally this enraged the old soldiers, who declared that after two years without killing, all sorts of cats and dogs were emerging. They told the old lady to rest assured—with them there, the Yun family would have no problems.

As soon as Old Grandmother returned home, the old soldiers in full battle gear took over the Yun family’s defense, and incidentally gave all those useless youngsters a thorough beating. The old soldiers truly liked this young marquis from the bottom of their hearts—no airs, easygoing, sincere toward those around him. To have such fortune in their old age made all that blood and fire to preserve this old life worth it, to enjoy these blessings in old age.

The Marquis was the guarantee of the whole family’s happy life. As long as the Marquis lived well, three generations of descendants would continue enjoying such good days. For their own sake too, they must preserve the Marquis’s life. As for themselves—damn it, they should have died long ago. Having killed so many people, even now enjoying blessings felt uneasy. It would be best if all the sins were borne by them alone, leaving descendants to enjoy blessings with clear consciences.

“Uncle Jiang, I’m only going to the Academy. There’s no need to make such a big fuss, is there?” Following Old Grandmother’s instructions, everyone in the Yun household honored these old men as elders.

“Marquis, you’re wrong about that. Yesterday after hearing from the old lady that you took down the Dou family, the job just wasn’t done clean—you left survivors. With such a great enmity, how could the Dou family remnants not seek revenge? This old man survived the battlefield by being cautious, never daring to be careless. Marquis, next time you have this kind of work, just hand it to us brothers. We guarantee no future troubles will remain. Those idiots at the Bai Qi Si are becoming increasingly useless.”

He knew he couldn’t discuss these things with them. Killing had almost become their instinct. Their only means of resolving matters was to speak with blades. This time acting for Lü Zhu, Yun Ye had no regrets. Whether standing on the moral high ground or from his own heart, there was no need for regret. Dou Yanshan threatened the safety of his family relatives. When necessary, Yun Ye wouldn’t mind extinguishing even the last bit of the Dou family’s bloodline.

The old soldiers surrounded Yun Ye as they walked up the mountain, constantly commenting on Yushan’s beautiful scenery, yet their hands never left more than three inches from their weapons.

The smoke-wreathed main peak appeared and disappeared. The waterfall with tremendous force crashed down heavily. A water wheel made of steel spun rapidly. The iron axle mounted on the iron frame was smoking. Without bearings, without lubrication, this water wheel couldn’t last long. The iron axle would either seize up or wear through—there was no third possibility.

The only one who could do such a thing was Li Tai. He had so much money with nowhere to use it that he invented various ways to create machinery. The success of pulleys greatly increased Li Tai’s confidence. He was always pondering how to harness natural forces for his own use.

Industrial matters required constant investment and constant improvement to be beneficial—very suitable for Li Tai to undertake. A fellow who was foolish with lots of money, whose brain was one-track minded—if not him, then who?

Just like now, Yun Ye clearly knew the answer but deliberately didn’t tell him. Things obtained easily wouldn’t be treasured. Li Tai’s joy after succeeding would also be reduced by half. Since he was just one step away from the goal, let him figure it out himself.

Before he’d even rounded the foot of the mountain, he heard the sound of the iron frame collapsing with a crash. Yun Ye paused his steps slightly, then continued walking toward the Academy.

Li Tai rushed over with his guards. This iron frame had already held up for a full three days. The water wheel’s rotating shaft was made of hundred-refined steel specially crafted by skilled hands. If it could just hold up two more days, this water wheel could be connected to the heavy hammer on shore, replacing blacksmiths in forging iron. This way, steel quality could be raised another grade—extremely significant for Great Tang. Father Emperor also strongly approved. Last time when Mother Empress came to the Academy, she specifically watched the water wheel operate with him for a whole day. Though that time the water wheel only lasted one day before collapsing, Mother Empress greatly praised this matter, which filled Li Tai’s heart with confidence.