When Xinyue heard the news of Han Shi’s visit, tears flowed down her face. Back when they hadn’t yet left Shu, the Han family had been frequent guests of the Xin family. Now hearing that an old friend had come to visit, how could she sit still? She stuffed the child into Yun Ye’s arms, then thought better of it and took him back. Looking Yun Ye up and down, even more tears flowed. She casually tossed the child to Na Rimu, then pounced forward with bared fangs and brandished claws to tear at Yun Ye’s clothes. She felt so embarrassed she could barely go on living.
There was no reasoning with a woman at such times. He could only stand there and let her have her way. The hemp garment he’d only worn for one day was torn with a large hole and trampled twice. Thinking from her perspective, it made sense—her close friend from her maiden days had arrived. This should have been a perfect opportunity to show off her marquis husband and captain son, but who would have expected her husband to be dressed like a beggar, still wearing a blackened mouth ring, the very picture of a country bumpkin? And to be seen by her close friend—how could she show off now?
“Alright, alright, I changed my underwear this morning—you’re not taking them off! If you keep this up, believe it or not, tomorrow I’ll carry a basket on my back and go pick up horse manure in the streets. It’s just a woman visiting—is it really necessary to torment me to death?”
Xinyue said nothing, but gritted her teeth as she transformed Yun Ye from a country bumpkin back into a Great Tang marquis. The hot towel was hot enough to remove pig bristles as it constantly attended to Yun Ye’s face. After attending to the big one, she checked the little one, looking at her son’s chubby little face, then checking his bottom. Finding no wet spots—very clean, the little stinker—she lovingly kissed his bottom and then hurried off carrying her son to show Han Shi the fruits of her labor.
Na Rimu was a good wife. She picked up the hemp garment from the floor and looked regretfully at the large tear. Setting her daughter beside her husband, she took out needle and thread, preparing to sew up the hole. Na Rimu’s sewing clearly carried the rough and ready style of the grasslands—with thick needle and coarse thread, she finished in just a few moves. Satisfied, she put it away, the very picture of a virtuous wife, quite endearing. Only the garment was even worse than before the mending. This outfit was thoroughly ruined at the hands of his two wives.
Wearing a purple-gold crown tied beneath his chin with red silk ribbon, dressed in a silk green robe, feet in soft deerskin boots, a crystalline white jade pendant at his waist, holding a volume of the *Classic of the Great Wilderness*. His gaze was piercing, his expression solemn. His measured gait was steady, his back straight as a green pine—quite the bearing of an important court minister.
Di Renjie, who had just recovered, really wanted to cry again. Originally he’d wanted to lodge a complaint before Sister Xin to soothe his young heart that had been deceived. Who knew that the person before him, as imposing as a great mountain, would bring him such tremendous pressure that he couldn’t utter a single word of complaint.
“You are Di Zhixun’s eldest son, Di Renjie. How old are you this year?” Yun Ye set down the book in his hands and glanced at the small child standing below.
“In response to Your Lordship, Renjie is already seven years old this year. It’s just that this child doesn’t eat properly, so his body is somewhat thin and weak. My husband is stationed in Bashu and cannot easily leave his post. With no other choice, I’ve brought Renjie here to take a master. Please, Marquis Yun, for Master Xin’s sake, accept my inferior son. The entire Di family will be eternally grateful.”
“At such a tender age to leave home and travel a thousand li to study is indeed not easy. If I refuse, it would be lacking in human feeling. Very well, I’ll accept this child. My father-in-law’s and Master Yang Shou’s face must still be preserved.”
Han Shi quickly knelt with Di Renjie in prostration—this was the necessary etiquette for taking a master. Yun Ye sat in his chair and received Di Renjie’s three bows, then said to him in grave, weighty tones: “Entering my tutelage, strictly observe the virtues of proper conduct: practice diligence, honor frugality, maintain modesty and prudence, show respect and forgiveness, reject greed, remove selfishness, focus singularly, and persist with constancy. Have you memorized these eight virtues?”
Di Renjie knelt on the ground and answered emphatically: “This disciple has memorized them.”
“Very good. Before you, your master already had two disciples. However, they are girls. You must be loving toward them, mutually respectful, mutually encouraging, and study diligently. You must not fool around. Have you remembered this?”
Actually, Yun Ye very much wanted to see how the mischievous Little Wu and her legendary haughty prime minister persona would clash. Just imagining such a scene was amusing.
“Shishi, Little Wu, come out and meet your junior disciple.” Following Yun Ye’s call, Shishi and Little Wu walked in from outside, properly greeting Yun Ye and Xinyue, as well as Han Shi. Under Xinyue’s rigorous training, these two children lacked nothing in appearance or etiquette. Han Shi’s eyes lit up as she watched, examining the two girls with the gaze of someone appraising potential daughters-in-law. Their looks were impeccable, their learning probably wouldn’t be lacking either. Family upbringing? Growing up in a marquis’s household, how could they lack proper upbringing?
The more she looked, the more satisfied she became. In her excitement, she pulled a pair of white jade bracelets from her arms and placed one on each girl’s wrist, completely disregarding that this was the Yun household, not the Di household in Shu.
The senior disciples and junior disciple greeted each other properly. Yun Ye also bestowed upon Di Renjie a set of brush and ink along with a green robe. Little Wu’s mouth immediately turned down when she saw this. When she took a master, she hadn’t received any such things. The brush and ink Master gave Di Renjie were clearly high-quality goods. Thinking of the old writing implements she and Shishi used, she was quite unhappy. Before, Master only had herself and Shishi as disciples. Shishi came first, so there was nothing to be done about that. But Master already had such a clever disciple as herself—why did he need to accept a smelly boy? His shifty eyes looked like nothing good.
After accepting his disciple, Yun Ye departed, leaving only Xinyue to accompany Han Shi. The two women actually ordered wine and food, preparing to have a good drink. This had nothing to do with Yun Ye. Han Shi couldn’t stay at the Yun household overnight anyway—she had to lodge at Master Yushan’s place.
Just as he left the rear courtyard and passed by the bamboo grove, he faintly heard Little Wu speaking. He quickly stopped and listened carefully. He heard Little Wu viciously threatening Di Renjie: “Boy, I just told you our rules. Now to add one more point: Shishi is the eldest senior disciple. You saw her skills just now—if you’re not convinced, she’ll beat you up. I’m the second senior disciple, and you must constantly show me respect. For example, your brush and ink are very nice, but since Master gave them to you, I won’t take them. However, when I want to borrow them, you’re not allowed to refuse.”
“My mother already gave you bracelets. What more do you want? My mother has always loved that pair of bracelets. She said she was keeping them for my wife. I don’t know why she gave them to you two.”
Yun Ye sighed. This confused boy really didn’t know how to speak. Saying such things—where was his way out? Let the little monsters resolve things among themselves. He shook his head as if he hadn’t heard Di Renjie’s pitiful screams.
He pondered what animal the kui ox recorded in the *Classic of the Great Wilderness* was based on. Its appearance was dragon-like, which could be explained as the ancients combining an ox head, deer antlers, horse face, snake body, and fish scales to create a dragon. Its voice like thunder was an exaggeration—perhaps they heard something calling while creating the kui ox and attributed these characteristics to it. But having only one foot was really too much. Worried that the created monster was too terrifying, they specifically said it only had one foot so that if this thing jumped out, they could escape?
The ancients were really too invested. To deceive others, they first deceived themselves. Indeed, to deceive others you must first deceive yourself. If you don’t believe it yourself, how can you deceive others?
During this period, Yun Ye had been deeply researching the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*. That bizarre and fantastical world was truly astounding. A war drum made from kui ox hide could shake for five hundred li with one beat, continuously shake for three thousand eight hundred li—this was too exaggerated. Even sonic weapons weren’t this powerful. If a person beat this drum, they’d be shocked to death long ago.
Were the ancients just bragging? That didn’t make sense. He sat alone on the swing frame, thinking randomly without any particular purpose, just needing his brain to think about something to keep it from rusting shut.
Xiao Ya was most afraid of her brother sitting on the swing frame thinking. Last time he thought for a whole day and night—such a thing must never happen again! She quickly came over to push her brother, making the swing sway.
“Xiao Ya, what’s wrong?” As the swing swung forward, Yun Ye pulled Xiao Ya into his embrace. The siblings swung together. Seeing that her brother hadn’t fallen into deep thought, Xiao Ya giggled happily without saying anything.
The little girl’s yellow hair had finally disappeared, replaced by a head of thick black hair. She cherished her hair greatly. Before, she always disliked soap’s smell, but after discovering soap’s superior cleaning ability, she came to love it. Now held in his arms, she carried a fresh soap scent. Xiao Ya didn’t like using perfume, saying the smell made her nauseous. People in the Yun household all seemed to dislike perfume. Only Chengxin, who hid in the underground chamber and never came out, always made herself fragrant, which was quite pitiful.
Little Wu led Di Renjie by the hand out of the bamboo grove very lovingly. Together they bowed to Yun Ye, saying they were going to Senior Disciple Shishi’s place to look at Little Wu’s new paintings.
Yun Ye smiled as he sent them off. Only from behind could he see that Di Renjie’s ears were bright red, and Little Wu’s hand kept pinching the soft flesh at his waist. Whenever he slowed down, she pinched again. Di Renjie must have found this walk extremely arduous.
“Brother, your new disciple is silly. Can I bully him a little? Whenever Little Wu gets bullied, she always screams loudly, which gets me punished by Mother and Sister-in-law every time. Last time I only said I’d pull her hair bun and she sat on the ground crying, getting her robe all dirty. Then Mother came and beat me. She’s very annoying, nothing like Sister Shishi, who doesn’t cry even when falling from a wall or scraping her knee. I like Sister Shishi. I don’t like Little Wu.”
The Yun family members’ natural abilities were all rather mediocre. They couldn’t out-study Little Wu or out-fight Shishi. Xiao Ya had already asked Yun Ye several times for smart medicine. She’d heard people say that Brother became so clever by taking smart medicine, and she wanted some too. Children’s pressure was really great—it drove even Xiao Ya, who most disliked taking medicine, to prepare to willingly suffer.
“Brother, I’m not as clever as Little Wu, and not as pretty either. Will you still like me as much as before?”
This question made Yun Ye’s heart ache. He hugged Xiao Ya and kissed her forehead, smiling as he said: “Brother loves Xiao Ya the most. It was like this before, it’s like this now, and it will be like this in the future.”