At the mention of this, Qi Cheng’s body straightened up a bit. Even though he was bound with his limbs tied together upside down, he still struggled to raise his head, wanting to see Yun Ye’s appearance and know into whose hands he had fallen.
Street thugs and ruffians were a group that understood fate best. When there was still a shred of hope, even if rolling in mud, they would still seek to survive. But once they knew they had absolutely no chance of escape, they would also lower their heads to receive that blade without crying injustice.
“My learning was taught by my mother. Unfortunately, she only taught me for a year before dying of illness. Young master, now that Qi Cheng has fallen into your hands, whether you kill or flay me is up to you. I only pity my foolish brother—confused and muddled, he followed me to see the King of Hell. Ma Ci, hang in there! You must not die!”
“Your mother actually knew how to read? Then she couldn’t have come from a small household—at the very least she was a daughter from a scholarly family. Qi Cheng, if you just tell me where you got that trick of deceiving people with wooden weapons, I might just let you brothers go.”
Among the various heroes during the chaos of the Sui and Tang transition, the ones Yun Ye actually liked most were those two heroes who went around scaring people with hammers made of paper. He didn’t know what connection Qi Guoyuan had with this fellow. If there was a connection, given Dan Ying’s intense and righteous character, he definitely wouldn’t stand by and watch them die. This way, there was much that could be done here.
“My mother told it as a joke. My mother was a young lady from an official’s family. My father kidnapped her to the mountain to be his wife. At first my mother didn’t agree, and my father didn’t force her. Later, when chaos came, my maternal family was wiped out completely by defeated soldiers. My mother then married my father and they lived together. The trick of scaring people with wooden hammers was also taught to my father by my mother.”
The story was absurd, but Yun Ye didn’t laugh. When one’s own strength was insufficient, appropriately borrowing external force was acceptable. In the animal kingdom, such things were common. Pufferfish and toads were examples—when encountering danger, they inflated their bodies to scare enemies. It was a means of preserving life. When preserving life, using any means wasn’t excessive.
“Don’t tell me your father is Qi Guoyuan. There’s no such coincidence in this world.” Yun Ye didn’t care anymore and even used leading questions. Whether he admitted his father was called Qi Guoyuan or not, Yun Ye planned to make Qi Guoyuan his father. This kind of thing—Old Jiang was most skilled at handling it.
Qi Cheng was stunned. He turned his body to lie on his side looking at Yun Ye. He didn’t understand why this young master in brocade, who clearly was a nobleman, would know his father. Guoyuan was his old father’s courtesy name, given by his mother. Otherwise, the name Qi Erlengzi really didn’t sound very good.
“Why do you know my father’s courtesy name? You’re young—you couldn’t possibly know my father.”
Yun Ye was momentarily stunned, then immediately beamed with joy. He shouted loudly at Dan Ying, who was exercising Wangcai, “Little Ying! Little Ying! Come over here! I’ll introduce you to your brother!”
This was a grammatically awkward sentence, but Dan Ying took it seriously. In a few leaping strides he was there, saying to Yun Ye, “Don’t lie to me. Who is my brother?”
Yun Ye pointed at Qi Cheng, who was blinking his eyes ingratiatingly at him, and said, “This is him.”
Dan Ying flew into a rage, grabbing Yun Ye’s collar and saying, “You’re humiliating me.”
Yun Ye was lifted up, but his expression remained unchanged. He smiled and said, “Dan Ying, you have no choice in this matter. Your father and his father were life-and-death brothers. His father never wronged your Dan family. On the contrary, the fact that he’s become like this now is because of your father’s doing. You had a master and family servants to escort you, but he didn’t. He and his mother suffered all kinds of scorn in Luoyang. Now, are you still not prepared to acknowledge this unfortunate brother of yours? Oh, you’re a great expert now, so naturally you look down on a brother who’s like mud. How about I do it for you and cut him down with one blade? That would settle everything, wouldn’t it?”
Yun Ye’s venomous tongue spewed poison. Each sentence was like cutting into Dan Ying’s heart. He released Yun Ye and asked in a hoarse voice, “Who is his father? When did my father owe his family a debt? Speak clearly, or don’t blame me for turning hostile.”
“If your mother never told you the name Qi Guoyuan, then consider me talking nonsense. Of the last two brothers remaining by your father’s side, one was his father Qi Guoyuan. Your Dan family owes this debt big time. So what do you say—should I cut him down?”
When Qin Qiong received Yun Ye’s notification that Dan Xiongxin still had descendants, he had already told Yun Ye the details of that matter in full. Qi Guoyuan was Dan Xiongxin’s last brother. He died in battle in the final campaign and never regretted following Dan Xiongxin until his death.
Dan Ying had been lonely since childhood and valued kinship most of all. This bastard was one of those legendary bastard men who viewed brothers as limbs and women as clothing. From the bottom of his heart, Yun Ye was unwilling to use Daya as a thread to tie down Dan Ying. Besides, this thread wasn’t necessarily reliable. Now that Qi Cheng had fallen from the sky, for Yun Ye it was even more delightful than Sister Lin falling from heaven. If the thread of women could only tie down one of his fingers, then the thread of brotherhood was a rawhide rope that could bind Dan Ying immobile.
To Dan Ying, wealth and glory were nothing—within easy reach. But for Qi Cheng, it probably wasn’t that way, was it? Yun Ye happily wanted to sing another verse of “Orchid Flower” to express his mood. However, seeing Dan Ying’s pained yet joyful expression, he forcibly suppressed his desire to sing. He pushed Dan Ying to Qi Cheng’s side and walked away with his hands behind his back, happily going to find Xinyue. He didn’t know if she had finished making her specialty carved-paste rice.
Cheng Chumo and Niu Jianhu each held a large bowl of rice piled high with braised pork. Very lacking in aristocratic bearing, they sat on stones eating. Seeing Yun Ye come over, they asked, “Did you drive Dan Ying crazy? Look how happy he is, hugging that bandit and crying.”
“Chumo, if you count it up, that bandit is also your brother. His father is Qi Guoyuan.” After speaking, he went into the tent to get himself food, leaving Cheng Chumo and Niu Jianhu, who had completely lost their appetite, standing stupefied outside the tent.
The Yun family had a kind of magic—the kind that corrupted people. The three noblewomen in the tent also each held a bowl bigger than their heads, eating. Their appetites were all quite good. Even the delicate Jiuyi had already eaten half a bowl. These days the activity level was high, and they were all seventeen or eighteen years old—just at the age when they could really eat. Having such appetites wasn’t strange.
A few days ago they were still a bit shy and embarrassed to eat too much. Now they didn’t care anymore. Seeing Yun Ye enter, Xinyue put down her bowl, filled a bowl of rice for Yun Ye, ladled quite a bit of braised pork on top, and after handing it to Yun Ye, sat back down to continue eating and chatting with the other two women.
Holding his rice bowl, he left the tent and found Cheng Chumo and Niu Jianhu staring blankly at Dan Ying, who was crying and laughing. Their rice bowls were set aside—they seemed to have lost even the thought of eating.
Yun Ye shoveled a big mouthful of rice and nodded. Xinyue’s cooking skills were getting better and better. The smooth and soft carved-paste rice paired with the oily braised pork was simply a perfect match, even better than northwestern porridge. In a good mood, his appetite naturally opened wide. Moreover, there was a tragic drama of brothers reuniting to watch. In the blink of an eye, the bowl of rice disappeared. He couldn’t eat more—if he ate more, he’d be uncomfortable tonight. Xinyue brought out the teapot for Yun Ye. The temperature was just right. Marrying a considerate woman was wonderful.
The tragic drama continued, but Qi Cheng was clearly not in the right state. He kept sneaking glances at the meat chunks in the Yun family servants’ bowls. You had to know that from early morning until now, he hadn’t eaten a single bite of rice. He couldn’t even remember when he had eaten yesterday. Now watching others eat delicious food, his stomach cramped painfully.
Actually, Yun Ye had always found it strange—the people of the Great Tang all valued their ancestors’ agreements as more important than their lives. After arranged marriages from the womb, there was rarely any possibility of reneging. Those who scorned the poor and loved the rich were extremely rare examples, which is why they could be compiled into stories that circulated.
When two people made an agreement to help each other become wealthy, the one who drew the short lot would wholeheartedly help the other person. The entire process ranged from ten to twenty years. After the one who drew the long lot became wealthy, you didn’t need to worry that he would kick down the ladder—he would definitely help the other person also become wealthy before stopping. Only then would their agreement be considered complete.
This seemed absurd to Yun Ye, but it happened around him all the time, making him increasingly look down on himself from his heart. These two people who had never met, after explaining the situation clearly, immediately became life-and-death brothers. Even Cheng Chumo and Niu Jianhu were eager to try.
The ashen color on Niu Jianhu’s face—Yun Ye understood the reason very well. He patted Niu Jianhu’s shoulder and said, “Back then, Uncle Niu killed all of Dan Xiongxin’s former subordinates in a single night. I already knew about this in Longyou. The other people all lacked responsibility. Uncle Niu’s decisive action—little brother admires it immensely.”
“Ye-zi, do you think what my father did back then was right? Killing his own brothers was also right?” This question had troubled Niu Jianhu for many years. It had just been buried in his heart. Today he finally asked it.
Yun Ye fiercely slapped Niu Jianhu across the face, greatly startling Cheng Chumo beside him. He looked at Yun Ye uncomprehendingly. You had to know that no matter what mistakes they made, Yun Ye had never flown into a rage. But now his eyes were red as if he wanted to eat someone.
Niu Jianhu knew what he had just said. Yun Ye’s slap actually made him feel much better inside. He didn’t even wipe the blood flowing from his nose. He raised his head and laughed, saying to Yun Ye, “Ye-zi, that slap was well deserved. I shouldn’t have questioned my father’s actions. I should trust my father. If he did this, there must have been unavoidable reasons. I’m his son. Even if everyone in the world thinks he’s cold and heartless, that he’s an utterly evil villain, I should still stand on his side and oppose the entire world.”
“Niu Jianhu, you remember this—this is the last time I’ll hear you question Uncle Niu. If there’s a next time, I’ll immediately sever our friendship. With your intelligence, what reason do you have to question Uncle Niu’s decisions? If Uncle Niu hadn’t acted decisively then, don’t think a single person from the Qin family, Cheng family, Li Ji’s family, or your Niu family would have survived. Once you’ve chosen sides, you must stand firm. Don’t have regrets. Wavering back and forth is the greatest taboo. Do you think Prince Qin didn’t leave himself a backup plan back then? Your four families had just surrendered. Dan Xiongxin was the touchstone Prince Qin used to test your positions.”
“At that time, the unification of the realm was already a foregone conclusion. Dan Xiongxin didn’t know how to read the times. For the sake of a Three Armies Commander position, he insisted on opposing the entire world, completely disregarding the suffering of the common people, elevating his own personal happiness above others’ pain. Don’t you know what kind of person Wang Shichong, whom he served, was? Killing him was not excessive at all. Uncle Niu spent his entire life working toward the grand goal of no one in the world starving to death. For the sake of potatoes, he apologized to me, a green youth, with the dignity of a great general. What does killing a few obstinate people matter? They were disasters for a peaceful world. Do you know that at the end of the Sui Dynasty there were over seven million households in the realm? Now there are only three million households. Where did those over four million households go? They all died. The eighteen rebel kings, the thirty-two bands of brigands—these were all man-eating beasts. They devoured those four million households completely. To reduce deaths, shouldn’t those disasters have died? Do you think I painstakingly schemed to control Dan Ying for what? If he shows any sign of rebellion, I’ll kill him without hesitation.”