What I loved most was lying in a rope-woven hammock, feeling the falling leaves drift down. Though there was a slight chill in the air, the palm-sized plane tree leaves kept landing on my body, and before long, they had piled up into a thick layer. “A single jade-green pillar stands upright, a thousand leaves form verdant clouds.” I couldn’t remember who said these words; I only remembered that this poem had made me suffer greatly.
Damn Feng Zikai! Damn his beautiful essay “The Plane Tree”! Back then, to please my literature-loving wife, I had forced myself to memorize that article, then pretended I had written it myself and recited it to her.
The result was obvious. The article was too famous—so famous that even my wife knew where it came from. I was thoroughly embarrassed and mocked to boot.
Compared to that, Xinyue was much better. Holding her pregnant belly, she sat contentedly beneath Yun Ye’s hammock, occasionally giving it a push. Watching her husband swing back and forth in the air, she couldn’t hide the joy in her heart.
Whatever poetry came from Yun Ye’s mouth, she stubbornly believed was composed by her own husband. Even if someone else had just recited it, it was still her husband’s work. If they didn’t believe it, she’d have Old Jiang go ask who really composed it.
Li Jing had been persistently asking about Xi Tong’s whereabouts. He knew he couldn’t get the truth from Yun Ye’s mouth; he could only work on Xi Tong directly.
No matter. Xi Tong’s identity had already been laundered. When Li Jing’s people went, they could bring some gifts along and conveniently bring back a letter or two.
Li Er flew into a rage in the court, furiously rebuking officials for their lack of ambition and corrupt living during these unsettled times. Setting an example himself, he first donated two glass eagles to be sold to foreign merchants to raise funds for relieving the women and children of Hebei.
Zhangsun also donated a set of glass jewelry. The Crown Prince donated a glass orb. Li Tai and Li Ke also donated their glass items, and even Changle donated a glass ornament.
The signal was clear: His Majesty of the Great Tang Dynasty did not wish to see luxury goods spreading throughout the Tang. So those families who had purchased glass items had no choice but to donate them.
The foreign merchants had large appetites and refused no fine glass items, buying everything at high prices.
If one were to name the most valuable thing merchants took from the Great Tang in the fifth year of Zhenguan, it would be none other than glass.
After selling the glass items, Li Er discovered he had quite a bit of money, so he returned to the officials the capital they had spent purchasing Yun Ye’s glass items. As for those who concealed items and didn’t hand them over, he pretended not to know and let them secretly rejoice.
Yun Ye didn’t know whether to be grateful or angry. His revenge plan had been completely ruined by this move, but the future troubles that would inevitably have arisen had also been nipped in the bud.
Wei Zheng had accepted the Yun family’s bribe but remained impartially stern. He calculated the Yun family’s auction proceeds down to the last wen, so the commercial taxes owed were also calculated to the last wen, leaving the Yun family no room for maneuvering.
After the auction, many wealthy households began voluntarily paying taxes. Great families no longer concealed their business dealings, and Chang’an’s night curfew was extended by one hour later than before.
The Yun family had accumulated countless copper coins. Upon seeing this, Li Gang immediately demanded a second expansion of the academy. Zhao Yanling, who was versed in astronomy and calendrics, unceremoniously submitted a request for three thousand strings of cash, saying he wanted to establish his own astronomical chart at the academy. To display it intuitively, he planned to embed stars on a large arched ceiling, leaving evidence to see whether the three inauspicious stars—Greedy Wolf, Army Breaker, and Seven Killings—showed any changes. If they did change, he could warn the court and prepare for potential chaos in the realm.
Yun Ye didn’t know what relationship these three fixed stars had with the world’s situation, but seeing Zhao Yanling’s ferocious expression of unwavering determination, he approved the three thousand strings without hesitation. Who knew what else he might discover while observing the stars? Scientific research was really no different from buying lottery tickets.
Perhaps while researching the length of pigs’ tails, one might discover why cows have four stomachs. The wonder in this, ordinary people couldn’t understand. Of course, Yun Ye didn’t understand either. He only thought that when a man full of learning suddenly stopped researching tea and switched to studying his area of greatest expertise, this was a kind of progress.
The plane tree leaves continued falling, falling quickly. At first they fell quite poetically, but later they dropped layer upon layer. Even Xinyue’s feet were buried in the leaves. Xinyue removed two large leaves covering Yun Ye’s face and tossed them aside, saying to him: “Just now they were falling slowly and beautifully, but now they’re dropping like a dog is chasing them. There’s no more atmosphere. Ye-zi, let’s go back. If you fall asleep, you’ll catch a chill.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Yun Ye sneezed twice very loudly, with snot coming out. He quickly grabbed a leaf to wipe it away before saying to Xinyue: “Why do I have this feeling that danger is approaching? This feeling is very unpleasant.”
The couple pondered deeply for a long time but couldn’t figure out what danger they might face.
Finally Xinyue said: “You’re sick. You’ve caught a cold. Your whole body is cold and shivering—these are the symptoms.”
Wang Cai ran in from outside and snuggled up to Yun Ye, unwilling to leave. Could it be that it too sensed danger? It kept nudging Yun Ye with its head, as if wanting to do something.
Being pushed by Wang Cai, Yun Ye came to the stable. There he saw Wang Cai biting and chewing continuously on a wooden bar, as if it had something good to share with Yun Ye. Walking into the stable, Yun Ye clutched his head and squatted on the ground, feeling his entire consciousness collapse. On the oak wood bar specially provided for Wang Cai to gnaw on, wood ear mushrooms had actually grown! In other words, Wang Cai had cultivated wood ear mushrooms with its saliva.
When lingzhi mushrooms grew on a household’s roof beams, it was a great auspicious sign that had to be reported to the court. Yun Ye had always believed that mushrooms growing on beams only indicated one problem: the beams were rotten and the house was about to collapse. But this still couldn’t stop those literary scholars who loved singing praises from boasting and eulogizing everywhere.
Now Wang Cai had cultivated wood ear mushrooms—this was truly a good thing. Xinyue kissed Wang Cai’s long face, holding her big belly with one hand while scratching Wang Cai’s belly with the other. As she scratched, she said to Yun Ye: “Our family is truly blessed. Husband, don’t speak of any impending disaster. Look, even Wang Cai can grow wood ear mushrooms, this superior medicinal supplement. What bad thing could befall the Yun family?”
Yun Qi, who specially cared for Wang Cai, ran howling into the back courtyard, vividly describing to Old Madam the legendary tale of Wang Cai growing good things. In an instant, the Yun manor was thrown into an uproar.
Old Qian collapsed on the ground crying loudly, as if this were a tremendous honor that required a good cry to adequately express his inner pride.
Old Madam knocked her head loudly at the place where the Yun family worshipped their ancestors, repeatedly saying this was the ancestors’ blessing—the Yun family was meant to prosper!
The first thing she did after emerging from the ancestral hall was warn Dan Ying that from now on he must not bully Wang Cai. Whatever it wanted to do, it should do. Looking fat and plump was auspicious—what diet was needed? Didn’t that fat old man on the estate who just died also live to eighty? Who said thin people all lived long? Did looking like a skeletal wraith make one handsome and long-lived? Not necessarily!
After carefully examining the oak wood bar and confirming it wasn’t something Yun Ye had brought from elsewhere to fool him, Dan Ying stared at Wang Cai from top to bottom, trying to see how it had managed to cultivate wood ear mushrooms, such high-grade goods.
Whenever Dan Ying appeared, Wang Cai immediately hid behind Yun Ye. Later, discovering that hiding behind Yun Ye wasn’t safe, it stuck its big head behind Old Madam, not caring whether its enormous rump was exposed outside.
Such an auspicious sign had to be reported to the authorities. The County Magistrate of Lantian personally inspected the auspicious location and, after carefully discussing with Yun Ye the possibility that Wang Cai might be a divine horse, hurried back to the county office. Before long, a fast horse left Lantian County, galloping toward Chang’an.
That Wang Cai had grown wood ear mushrooms was fact, but Yun Ye strongly denied the possibility that Wang Cai was a divine horse. What if Li Er wanted to use some part of a divine horse as a medicinal ingredient—should he give it or not?
Li Gang, along with the academy’s various masters, stayed in the horse pen for over an hour, after which several masters composed poetry and prose on the spot.
“From origin to end, never investigating the budding signs. Thus the sage feels what has not yet begun, establishing words to capture images, setting up images to reveal events. Events already hanging in existence can be known through images; images have proliferation, proliferation thus generates numbers. Numbers can be recorded, images can be formed. What can be formed and recorded, therefore their principle can be borrowed and known. Now there is a male horse nurturing treasure, building wood to bring forth spring…”
The several old masters all swayed their heads chanting, completely immersed in the beautiful prose.
Seeing the plump wood ear mushrooms, Yun Ye planned to pick one to taste, but his hand was slapped away by his grandmother as he reached out.
“Dear grandson, if you want to eat wood ear mushrooms, have Yun Qi go weigh some at the medicine shop. These auspicious signs cannot be wasted.” After saying this, she looked again at the bar full of wood ear mushrooms, beside herself with joy.
By noon, the Yun manor immediately became a noisy venue. Li Chengqian brought eunuchs specifically to examine the auspicious sign. He had originally thought Yun Ye was up to something and came with an attitude of watching a show.
After carefully listening to Yun Ye’s introduction and then hearing Old Madam’s account, he finally believed Wang Cai had truly grown wood ear mushrooms. After inspecting the horse pen, he looked at Yun Ye with complete bewilderment.
Cheng Yaojin also came. After viewing the auspicious sign, he said casually: “The last caravan from the grasslands is about to arrive in Chang’an. That Turkic concubine of yours is also coming. She’ll reach Chang’an tomorrow. Send someone to welcome her. She rendered meritorious service to the family—don’t let the main wife casually abuse her. Such women are rare.”
Only then did Yun Ye understand why he had that feeling of impending disaster. That damned girl had quietly come from the grasslands to Chang’an without saying anything in advance. Now, caught in this surprise attack, Yun Ye had no preparation whatsoever.
Xinyue still had several months before giving birth. Right now was when she needed to be in good spirits. If something went wrong at this time, Yun Ye would burn down the entire Yun manor.
“Husband, you look quite troubled. What happened?” Seeing her husband return from outside in seemingly low spirits, Xinyue put down her needlework and asked Yun Ye.
“Nothing, I just don’t like them poking and prodding Wang Cai. I feel stifled.” Yun Ye had to find an excuse to brush it off.
“Ye-zi, there’s something I need to tell you. Don’t be angry. Uncle Cheng came today, and I’m afraid we can’t hide it anymore. I summoned younger sister Na Rimu back to Chang’an from the grasslands.”