The Empress chased Yun Ye out of the palace twice, but neither time succeeded. He’d made up his mind to recuperate from his injuries in the Eastern Palace before returning. Otherwise, the tooth mark on his buttocks couldn’t be explained. Xinyue might not make a fuss—the Great Tang’s environment was like that—but Yun Ye felt terribly guilty. If this were the later era, Xinyue would have long chased him out of the house bare-bottomed to fend for himself.
These past days, Li Er had assembled many people—Li Jing, Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and also Zhang Liang, Feng Ang, and even a few sneaky fellows wearing black cloaks covering their faces with only their eyeballs showing, sinister and frightening. Yun Ye just stood to the side watching, not permitted to speak. Li Er instructed him to only bring his ears, not his mouth.
Compared to Yun Ye’s crude plan, several big shots in the court formulated a super plan in just a few words. Officials would voluntarily invest shares—however much money they put in determined how many shares they’d get. Yun Ye’s grand plan for nobles to make fortunes died in the womb.
The private plan became a court strategy. Li Er’s vigorous ambition was revealed completely. The development of Lingnan was a full hundred years earlier than in history. Yun Ye secretly chuckled to himself. Land had no use to him whatsoever. What was useful was one small port. As long as this small port existed, money would continuously be transported in. As for the rice that could be planted three times a year—let the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture worry about that.
“Your Majesty, look at this skirt you’re wearing—it already has frayed edges. The gold thread on it is already missing quite a bit. The peony flowers have lost their stamens. Where did the butterflies go? Flowers without butterflies—it’s truly a failed skirt.”
Zhangsun held Princess Si in front, speaking incomprehensible alien language. Mother and daughter—one speaking, one responding—very pleased with themselves. Li Chengqian and Yun Ye followed behind. The Crown Prince didn’t speak, just single-mindedly picking fresh flowers from the garden for his mother, preparing to show them off in a vase. Yun Ye chattered endlessly commenting on the Empress’s clothing, just wanting to arouse the Empress’s love of beauty. Who knew Zhangsun simply ignored him, amusing herself by playing with her daughter.
“Your Majesty, the gemstone hairpin on your head truly doesn’t match your status as mother of a nation. It’s only as big as a grain of rice—if it fell on the ground you couldn’t find it. Talk to His Majesty and have this youngster get you a fist-sized sapphire from Lingnan. That would truly manifest your status. Your garments matched with sapphire would look best.”
Possibly unable to endure Yun Ye’s nagging, Zhangsun said with pursed lips: “Country bumpkin, peonies have no fragrance and don’t attract butterflies. Do you think it would be proper for me to wear a robe with butterflies playing among peonies? Furthermore, I should go discuss this with His Majesty? You get me a fist-sized sapphire—could I hold it on my head? I know you well enough. Give you a small crack and you’ll bore through a hole. When the time comes, if you give me a large gemstone, you’ll dig out all the sapphires in Lingnan. What will descendants use?”
What descendants would use, Yun Ye didn’t care. In his past life, he’d only seen Sri Lankan sapphires once or twice in high-end shopping centers. A tiny bit still sold for an outrageous price. Diamonds hadn’t yet been accepted by people. At most now they were used as tools to cut other gemstones. Various colored gems were in great vogue, especially sapphires—most sought after. Xinyue had spent a large sum to get one back, and Grandmother had pointed at her forehead and scolded her as a spendthrift. If he didn’t get several gemstones comparable to the Heart of the Ocean, Yun Ye would die unsatisfied.
“This humble subject will just send a few small boats to look for gemstones. How would I bring back all the gemstones? Moreover, the spices there are all over the mountains and plains. They flourish in spring and wither in autumn—wasted for nothing. Yet our Great Tang’s spices are scarce to death. Without those things, food can’t be preserved well. Now the whole world has favorable weather—not even a locust uprising. The little locust powder accumulated the past two years has all been eaten by border army officers and soldiers. They’re clamoring for more, saying without that stuff food doesn’t taste good. I wanted to raise some locusts. As soon as I mentioned it to His Majesty, he nearly cursed me to death. If it weren’t for my old injuries not yet healed, it might have been another beating.”
Zhangsun seemed to remember her appearance eating locusts and dry-heaved twice, patting her chest. She glared fiercely at Yun Ye: “During the last locust disaster, every single official and commoner in Guanzhong was unlucky. Some even lost their lives over locusts. Only your Yun family made a fortune from national calamity. Quickly extinguish your thoughts of raising locusts. Just thinking about it is frightening. With that effort, you could raise more cattle and sheep. Even pigs would work.”
“Your Majesty, cattle, sheep, and pigs—if you raise too many without spices, how can everyone bear to eat them? Just that muddy sheep dish in the palace—you can’t make it without two jin of spices. A few days ago, our Great Tang’s prime minister wanted to entertain guests but couldn’t buy spices. It was only after this humble subject supported him with five jin that the guests were satisfied. The spice money is all earned by foreigners. Don’t You feel heartache?”
After Yun Ye finished speaking, he pinched Li Chengqian’s back, signaling him to also say some good words. Who would like someone who ate for free? When it was time to be useful, one had to be useful.
“Mother Empress, what Ye Zi says also makes sense. Why can’t we look for some spices together with him to sell? Every year Imperial Father rewards ministers with lots of spices. This money is all earned by foreigners. It’s too improper.” Li Chengqian grinned and quickly beat the side drum. There was always his share in the money Yun Ye earned. Always being inactive wasn’t good. This kind of favor unrelated to national dignity or people’s livelihood definitely had to be helped.
“The matter of pulling two boats of spices—it’s a family matter. There’s no need for your Imperial Father to speak. Mother Empress can make the decision. It’s agreed—only this one time, not next time. Wasting people’s resources and wealth without doing proper business—you only know how to drill into money holes.”
Zhangsun finally agreed. Her heart was still a bit uneasy, preparing to admonish them two more sentences. But when she turned around, she discovered no one was there. The two fellows were running toward the Eastern Palace like they were flying. It looked like they were going to make preparations.
“Ai, who knows whether agreeing to let them do this is a good thing or a bad thing.” Zhangsun had just frowned when the daughter in her arms burst into loud crying, making her focus her thoughts on her daughter again. As for what schemes Yun Ye and the Crown Prince were up to—that had been thrown to the back of her mind.
The two left the palace and got on a carriage, rushing all the way in panic toward Li Xiaogong’s house. Today they’d agreed to hold a shareholder meeting. Meritorious nobles from all quarters were waiting there to hear news from Yun Ye and the Crown Prince. Whether they could make a fortune depended on this trip.
No one cared about Lingnan’s land. Even if it was given to them, how much could it produce? What they cared about were the large gemstones and spices Yun Ye had mentioned. The great hall was quiet. Everyone held their breath, anxiously waiting for good news.
The carriage arrived at the prince’s mansion. The main gate had long been opened and the carriage drove straight to the front hall. Only then did Li Chengqian help Yun Ye down from the carriage. That burst of rushing just now—the wound seemed to have split open again. The pants were bloody all over like a woman’s.
All the people stood at the entrance waiting for the two of them to speak. Li Chengqian excitedly nodded. Everyone immediately beamed with joy. Li Xiaogong punched his palm with a fist, gave a pleased sound, turned his head and went back to the great hall. A huge map had long been hung on the wall. According to the previous distribution, five people—Li Jing, Li Xiaogong, Yuchi Gong, Qin Qiong, and Li Daliang—surrounded it. As fingers continuously extended on the map, household heads of military families continuously cupped their hands and walked out. The entire routine was like rebellion. For wealth, they burst forth with tremendous enthusiasm.
In the back hall, Yun Ye lay sprawled on a low couch, striving to cover his buttocks. But under everyone’s gaze, that damned doctor deliberately lifted up the covers and said: “My lord has suffered rod sores. Absolutely don’t cover them. They need more exposure to sunlight to heal.”
Five old perverts carefully looked at the injury. Qin Qiong said: “No problem, minor injury. It’ll heal in two or three days. But why is there a tooth mark on it? Who bit you? Such a vicious bite.”
Qin Qiong was honest, only thinking Yun Ye had suffered inhuman torture. He felt indignant on his behalf. Li Jing was disgusted—it seemed his wife always did this, very practiced. He glanced once and said: “This is a romantic debt. The tooth mark was left by a woman.” After speaking, he even slapped Yun Ye on the head: “Not learning anything good.”
Li Xiaogong chuckled: “His Yun family’s population isn’t prosperous. Incurring more romantic debts is also human nature. His family’s old ancestor is probably already anxious waiting for great-grandchildren. My old wife even said this Yun family having no heir makes people uneasy. Grandmother Yun’s eyes turn red looking at my grandson. Hehehe.”
“Boy, Old Li is right. Marry a few more. Relying on one woman—how many heirs can she leave? Men toiling outside—don’t they just hope to leave blessings for descendants? Without heirs, what’s the point of worrying about anything? Might as well squander it all.”
Behind them, Niu Jianhu and Cheng Chumo didn’t dare say much. They grinned and laughed secretly. Thinking of how Yun Ye and Cheng Chumo had teased him, then seeing Yun Ye’s miserable state with his buttocks blooming, Niu Jianhu’s heart felt very comfortable.
“Speak up, boy. With your slippery nature, getting beaten so miserably this time—there must be a reason. Tell us old folks the details.” Li Daliang was meticulous and discovered something amiss.
“This youngster saw some illegal matters and reported them to His Majesty. Didn’t expect the principal culprit to be extremely fierce. Couldn’t win the accusation and got beaten instead.”
Thinking of this unjust beating, Yun Ye’s anger rose. The very day Li Er received the report, he dispatched Inner Palace officials to thoroughly investigate. The hard laborers in the coal mine were all dismissed and even compensated with copper coins. Those who deserved punishment received no pity. The two managers at the coal mine received promotions, while the manager of the cement workshop was replaced. The new manager purchased dust-proof tools from the Yun family and strictly supervised the kiln workers, requiring them to wear them. Those who didn’t wear them would be chased home. The matter was resolved. Yun Ye’s beating was taken—it counted as a lesson for his careless work.
“Boy, who did you accuse again? Now you’re a big shot who can walk sideways in Chang’an. Who would still dare provoke you?” Li Jing was very curious. Yun Ye would never do things without benefit. How could he be so rash? Even more outrageous was that he actually didn’t win the accusation.
Li Chengqian smiled bitterly and said: “He Shao, Ye Zi, and I—the three of us are accomplices. The principal culprits are my Imperial Father and Mother Empress. The reason was randomly arresting people in the coal kiln and disregarding others’ lives in the cement kiln. General Li, do you think the three of us could win the accusation? Each person took a beating.”
Several old generals all sucked in a breath of cold air together. This kind of thing could generally only be done by Wei Zheng. Now happening to Yun Ye made people feel it was fantastic and bizarre. Several people all looked at Yun Ye uncomprehendingly, wanting to hear his explanation.
“Honored uncles, no need to feel strange. This nephew has always couldn’t bear to see common people suffer. So seeing evil deeds and concealing them without reporting—my conscience truly couldn’t bear it. I just want to earn money with peace of mind. That’s all.”
“What fine words—’earn money with peace of mind!'” Someone outside the door loudly praised.