“We’re juniors from families with close ties. It’s proper for us to pay respects to our elders, and bringing some delicacies as a gesture of filial piety—what impropriety is there in that? You’ve brought back so much kelp—how can you not sell it? I heard the naval soldiers are waiting for the kelp to be sold so they can receive their wages. This is a precedent set by your Lingnan Navy; other naval forces don’t have military pay like this. For their sake, even if it’s improper, we must make this trip. At worst, we’ll be teased by those women—it won’t cost us our lives.”

Li Ke was now a standard merchant. As long as there was profit, things like face could all be discarded. In his view, selling the kelp was the important matter. If even the imperial family didn’t eat kelp, how could you expect common people to buy it?

Two large food boxes, one for each person. Li Ke grabbed the kitchen steward and threatened him not to tell the men discussing where to make fortunes in the sand table room about the two of them going to the inner quarters. Otherwise, he’d be beaten with planks.

The prince and the marquis wanted to go to the inner quarters to curry favor with the Empress—others mustn’t know. That’s how the Li Xiaogong household’s steward understood it. His responsibility was the kitchen, not the inner quarters, so he nodded agreement with a grin. Yun Ye even specially rewarded him with a silver ingot.

Passing by the sand table room, they could still hear Li Xiaogong’s murderous words: “The Japanese have always been on good terms with Baekje. Although the Silla territory is sympathetic to our dynasty, they’re constantly held back by those Baekje people and cannot restrain Goguryeo. If you say there’s no shadow of the Japanese in this, I’ll be the first to disbelieve it. If the enemy situation weren’t unclear, I would lead a great army to flatten the Japanese, eliminating future troubles.”

Whether Li Xiaogong would go to Japan, Yun Ye didn’t know. But he definitely needed to go to the inner quarters to promote kelp—that was the real business. If a frontal assault didn’t work, couldn’t he take a roundabout approach?

The garden was lively, full of maids and old women coming and going. Of course, mixed in were quite a few annoying princesses and commandery princesses. For instance, Lan Ling was very annoying.

As soon as Yun Ye and Li Ke entered through the moon gate, she spotted them. Seeing the two large food boxes, her eyes lit up. Apart from the nauseating locusts, everything from the Yun Family was delicious. However, Mother Empress said that eating them was sharing the nation’s worries—eating a bit was no loss at all and was a great merit. Now that Yun Ye and Third Brother were carrying two such large food boxes, there must be many delicious things inside.

How annoying could a ten-year-old girl be? Yun Ye knew from deep experience. His own household had several—sharp-tongued, quick-witted, and intensely curious were their most prominent characteristics.

Tugging at the back of Yun Ye’s robe, chattering for food, she also wanted him to open the food box to let her see. He Pu, two years older, also followed. She wasn’t very interested in food; she was interested in Yun Ye.

“Marquis Yun, I heard you were knocked unconscious by a little fish this big hitting your face. Isn’t that a bit too delicate?”

Yun Ye glanced at the distance between her two fingers—less than an inch—and decided to ignore her. He had no time to explain to her how terrifying a fish over a foot long falling from high altitude would be under the effects of gravitational acceleration. This girl definitely hadn’t studied mathematics well—she’d been slacking off. Her teacher deserved a beating.

Seeing Yun Ye ignore her, Gao Yang also became upset and joined Lan Ling in tugging at his clothes. But how could two little girls match Marquis Yun’s strength? He still dragged them along, striding forward majestically.

“Yun Ye, this is the inner quarters. Can’t you be a bit more refined? Look, you’ve scared those girls so much they’ve all hidden behind trees.”

Hou Lian’er appeared before them with her almond-shaped eyes wide open. The group of princesses and commandery princesses who had just been reciting poetry at the pond’s lotus flowers were now all hiding behind paulownia trees. Hide if they must, but why cover half their faces with round fans while peeking over? Such petty behavior made one want to grab one right now and ravish her. What kind of people were these?

“Sister Lian’er, have mercy on me for the sake of the several hundred beatings I took at your house. His Highness the Crown Prince married you, and I got beaten the most. Is there no justice? Even now, thinking back, I’m still scared. I can’t afford to provoke anyone. Please, just deal with these two burdens behind me, and this little brother will be eternally grateful.”

Hou Lian’er covered her mouth with her fan and laughed, then quickly put on a stern face: “You’re a grown man bullying two little girls, and you think you’re right? If you dare come to the inner quarters, you must be prepared for bad luck. By the way, how is my brother doing at the academy?”

“Not bad. I heard he peeked at exam papers and was made by Master Li Gang to move stones. He has to pile up a rockery eight feet high before he’s done.”

Hou Lian’er immediately became anxious, saying in a shrill voice: “You’re his elder brother—can you bear to watch him suffer? My mother treats you like her own son, and this is how you act as an elder brother?”

“If I didn’t treat Hou Jie as a real brother, he wouldn’t suffer this way. A man does wrong and accepts punishment—that’s inevitable. Because I brought him in, his punishment was doubled. The academy shows no mercy in such matters, and I won’t plead for mercy either. Ask the Prince of Shu—when he was being beaten, did he ever ask me to plead for him?”

Other matters could be handled carelessly, but Yun Ye was never perfunctory about academy affairs. When Hou Lian’er thought of her brother carrying stones under the scorching sun, she looked ready to cry, finally showing a bit of feminine quality.

“Sister-in-law, once you enter the academy, there are no easy days. Your younger brother and Qing Que both endured through it. Look—as long as you make it to third grade, who isn’t first-rate talent? Little Jie will be too; he just needs tempering.”

“But he’s only fifteen, and his body is so frail. You gave him such heavy punishment—I’m going to tell Mother and have her deal with you.”

Watching Hou Lian’er run away with a graceful gait even while running, Li Ke quietly asked Yun Ye: “You made her angry. Will she ruin our plans later?”

“No. Educational matters cannot be treated carelessly, and your sister-in-law knows that. She just needed a way to save face. Hehe, I’m planning to open a girls’ class and get several of your sisters in, like Gao Yang and Lan Ling—they’d be perfect. The academy keeps some venomous snakes to extract venom. Having them write daily observation journals would be ideal.”

As soon as Yun Ye finished speaking, the two people behind him immediately released his robe. Lan Ling said with a dry laugh: “Brother Yun Ye, I’m going to look at butterflies. I’ll eat the delicious food next time.” She then pulled the deathly pale Gao Yang and ran off.

The two exchanged smiles and entered the rear hall with their food boxes.

The rear hall was full of noble ladies in magnificent attire. Empress Zhangsun and Li Xiaogong’s legitimate wife, Yang Shi, were surrounded in the center, gossiping about this family and that. Seeing Empress Zhangsun’s enthusiastic manner, who would have thought she’d also be interested in other people’s gossip? Meanwhile, Hou Lian’er was pulling her mother and constantly pointing at Yun Ye, seemingly very angry.

When Empress Zhangsun saw Yun Ye and Li Ke enter, she released Yang Shi’s hand and said to Yun Ye: “What’s this—you came today too? Your ears are sharp. You even know about the family’s happy occasion. What are you holding?”

The two paid respects to Empress Zhangsun and the roomful of elders before responding: “This junior happened to come at an opportune time. Arriving at the prince’s mansion empty-handed, I had no choice but to go to the kitchen and prepare some food to show filial respect to the elders. Truly improper of me.”

Yang Shi said with a smile: “That one bowl of longevity noodles was more than enough. Yet you insist on such formality. For a marquis to personally cook is quite a grand gesture. I’ve often heard the prince praise your culinary skills as equal to the ancient Yi Ya. After eating one bowl of noodles today, I feel his words are no exaggeration. I’d like to see your other dishes and let us womenfolk broaden our horizons.” Empress Zhangsun nodded with a smile beside her.

Maids immediately surged forward, arranging tables and chairs in the small hall. Now, few wealthy families in Chang’an used low tables anymore—they all used round or square tables custom-made by Convenient Workshop, though the habit of individual servings had been preserved.

Yang Shi invited the Empress and some noble ladies of status to be seated, while others of insufficient rank stood outside, prepared to see what exactly Yun Ye had made.

A plate of spicy kelp strips and a dish of garlic-flavored kelp immediately drew cheers. Yun Ye knew this was just courtesy. People who’d never seen kelp—how could they know if it was delicious? They were just being polite.

“This is sea vegetable this junior brought from the coast. Unfortunately, the local people don’t recognize it. They have such a delicacy yet are suffering famine. This junior researched several ways to eat it and taught them to the local people. Now everyone there is eating this.”

Empress Zhangsun nodded: “The common people have limited knowledge. They need guidance from knowledgeable people like Marquis Yun. One more type of grain and vegetable in the world lowers the possibility of famine. For this thoughtfulness alone, I must taste it.”

Empress Zhangsun picked up her chopsticks and took a bit. After eating, she nodded with satisfaction: “Not bad, truly delicious. All you elder sisters should try it too. When Yun Ye says something is delicious, it’s generally quite good.”

Only then did the noble ladies move their chopsticks. The servants had already placed a bit on everyone’s plates, and even those standing outside had a share. After eating the first two dishes, everyone’s confidence in kelp soared, and they all watched with bright eyes for Yun Ye’s next dishes.

As soon as the crispy kelp and kelp stewed with spare ribs were brought out, the maids distributed them to everyone. The crispy kelp coated in egg and flour had a faint fish flavor and was very palatable. The spare ribs stewed with kelp were truly heavenly delicacies.

Yun Ye served dishes selectively, trying to leave each one with a profound impression. Standing beside Empress Zhangsun, he used the gentlest language to introduce each dish’s advantages and disadvantages and its nutritional value, while instilling in the noble ladies concepts like kelp’s ability to reduce weight and beautify the complexion. Li Ke closely followed Yun Ye, learning this marvelous technique of turning garbage into gold, holding a small notebook and unwilling to miss a single word.

After each dish was tasted, Yun Ye asked the noble ladies to rinse their mouths before proceeding to taste the next dish. These country bumpkins who had never experienced such treatment felt immense enjoyment. Empress Zhangsun wasn’t experiencing this treatment for the first time. Seeing clear tea being served, she skillfully picked it up, rinsed her mouth, and turned to spit into a cup held up by a maid.

Those who had swallowed the tea immediately blushed with embarrassment. Yun Ye’s face showed not the slightest mockery. Instead, he explained the reasoning behind this practice in a pleasant voice, using the example of Feng Ang drinking hand-washing water while eating crab, immediately drawing roars of laughter.

Empress Zhangsun turned her head and said quietly to Yun Ye: “You are the greatest sycophant in this world. Doing such things beneath your status—don’t you find it embarrassing?”

“In response to Your Majesty, if you also had over ten thousand mouths waiting to be fed behind you, you too would do this perfectly.”

Empress Zhangsun nodded, deeply agreeing.