“If you want to say His Majesty is a fool, then say it. Last time, Old Hao cursed His Majesty to his face, calling him an idiot and a spendthrift, yet His Majesty still bowed and said he was taught a lesson. If you want to say His Majesty doesn’t understand management, then say it. I’m the one who botched the seed matter. Who the hell would have known that high-yield grain wouldn’t taste good? Next year our family will switch back. If the wheat flour isn’t refined, can it still be called flour?”
“His Majesty opened the Ever-Normal Granary to store grain for disaster years. Even if Minister Fang had eight heads, he couldn’t have imagined someone would profit this way. What the law doesn’t prohibit is permitted. The farmers doing this really can’t be considered wrong—it’s reasonable and well-founded. If you can’t explain it clearly, even if it’s brought before the court, His Majesty would have nothing to say. One can only say that when the officials established the rules, they weren’t detailed enough. Old sir, if you want to exchange grain, hurry up. After I return, I’ll memorialize this matter. If you’re late, there won’t be such a bargain to take advantage of.”
The old man smiled cunningly. This simple-looking farmer actually revealed the temperament of a schemer: “You’re a censorial official, right? I can tell from your official robes—they’re not as nice as my Marquis’s crimson robe. You’re wearing a light green robe, so your rank must be below the seventh grade. It’s already late today. Even if you rush back to Chang’an, you couldn’t possibly meet with your superior. Even if you go to the granary, you won’t see the manager. And even if you do see the manager, he won’t give you face, because loading good grain into the granary is his achievement.”
“Our family’s grain has large, plump kernels, good color, and it’s new grain—the officials love it most. This old one hasn’t hidden this business from anyone. Do you think the granary manager doesn’t know? I enter and exit the granary at fair prices to exchange grain. The manager asked about it long ago. When he heard about it, he just laughed heartily and didn’t take it to heart. He even praised this old man for being clever and told me to bring more grain tomorrow to exchange with him. Tomorrow this old man will set out at the fourth watch and arrive at the Ever-Normal Granary at dawn. At that time, your superior will probably be attending morning court. After court ends and you go to report, this old man’s grain will have long been sold. If morning court has many matters and by the time you get a written order to the Ever-Normal Granary, this old man will have already returned home. Even if you issue another order, what does it have to do with this old man?”
“Of course, if you had my Marquis’s official rank, this old man would have to admit defeat. You could ride fast to the capital, pound on a high official’s residence to request a written order, and this old man would truly have no recourse. But would my Marquis help you?”
Huang Yu almost jumped up. That an illiterate old man understood the court’s administrative procedures so clearly was simply shocking. Even some educated people weren’t as clear about it as he was. He turned to look at Yun Ye to see what he would say.
Yun Ye said to Huang Yu with a pained expression: “Just now I don’t know if I ate something bad, but my stomach hurts. I need to rest quietly for a day.” After saying this, he and the old man both clutched their stomachs and laughed heartily.
Huang Yu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly smiled. The old man hadn’t done anything wrong, and there was no need to plug the leak. Moreover, as the old man said, he couldn’t make it in time. Besides, his proper business was inspecting the countryside.
The old man laughed with eyebrows dancing, extremely pleased with himself for accidentally discovering this money-making secret. His daughter-in-law brought out a huge plate of soybean pods, saying softly that these had salt added.
The old man watched his daughter-in-law enter the house and frowned: “A child from an outside village just has that petty manner. When guests come, you should add spices too. It’s just that all the girls from our village have married off. When Second Son left, he wasn’t satisfied with this marriage match. It was this old man who personally made the decision. Now looking at it, girls from outside villages are far inferior to girls from our village in managing the household. Well, things have come to this point, so let it be. When Second Son returns, we’ll teach her slowly.”
The three men sat around the table chatting idly. The bean pods were cooked soft with a salty fragrance—they tasted quite good. Huang Yu settled down and asked the old man about the harvests and household income over these years.
The old man was also straightforward. Seeing that the Marquis wouldn’t drink his inferior wine and the minor official declined saying he was on duty and couldn’t drink, only he himself savored it beautifully. After eating two bean pods, he said to the official: “You shouldn’t have come to Yushan. We all know what we should do. Yushan is a place that follows rules. The imperial laws are the greatest rules. What remains are the village rules, plus some old customs passed down from our ancestors. These are the things we need to observe. The rest depends on the farmers’ own intentions. Send off the elderly, raise the children well, feed and clothe our wives warmly—we’ve managed to do all that. What remains is to make our days more prosperous to be worthy of His Majesty’s grace in visiting the village every year.”
“The current days—five years ago we didn’t even dare to imagine them. The year before last, every family was still covering their bowls with a slice of meat to pretend to be wealthy. Now, who doesn’t eat fatty meat endlessly? The meat sellers now know to take the lean meat and bones to sell at the Yun Family village, and take the fat to sell in the city. Both sides fetch good prices.”
“The grain from the new seeds doesn’t taste good? Oh heavens! Who dared complain in previous years? An extra mouthful of food saved your life—who cared whether it was refined or not? We used to envy those living in Chang’an city. When a daughter married into the city, it was considered entering a blessed nest. Now, only a fool would abandon their family business to enter the city. Some city families want to marry their daughters here, but they have to see if the village lads are willing. Nowadays these young men are increasingly improper. When taking wives, they always want to marry from their own village. When there are no more, they send matchmakers running eighty or a hundred li specifically to find pretty girls to marry. They don’t marry capable ones—what has this become? In just a few years, this old man doesn’t dare think about the old days. It’s all the fortune the Marquis brought. Back then, when the Marquis forced everyone to raise pigs, he was even cursed…”
On the road back to the Yun residence, Huang Yu kept stealing glances at Yun Ye walking beside him. Upon learning that a farming household’s monthly income far exceeded his own as an official, he developed tremendous curiosity about Yun Ye. They were about the same age, but what he accomplished was far beyond Huang Yu’s reach. To become a minister and be enfeoffed as a marquis at such a young age was truly extraordinary.
Stepping into the Yun residence, he saw that wicked servant squatting at the gate eating crisp melons, with the steward standing beside him watching, occasionally kicking him. That fellow called Lord Bao didn’t resist. When it hurt from the kicking, he just scratched his buttocks and continued eating with his head lowered. From the melon seed shells scattered about, he had already eaten quite a lot.
“What happened to Liu Jinbao?” This scene was strange. Liu Jinbao didn’t particularly like eating fruit—he preferred eating meat. What was going on? One person eating a basket of crisp melons?
“Reporting to the Marquis, this damned dog didn’t live properly. He took his wages and ran to Chang’an to gamble. After losing everything, he came back. Remembering his wife wanted him to buy crisp melons for the child, but with no money in his pockets, this damned dog suddenly thought about saving face. He didn’t borrow from others, drank two cups of depressing wine, and ran to the market to buy on credit. That wouldn’t have been a problem, but the vendor’s words were somewhat caustic, so he knocked out one of the man’s teeth and smashed his stall too. The man’s parents came to the door. Madam was very angry. She compensated for the stall and the doctor’s medicine fees, bought a big basket of crisp melons, and had him eat his fill all at once. So shameful.”
Liu Jinbao was so embarrassed he almost stuffed his head into his pants. Yun Ye said with a smile: “Since he knows he was wrong, then let’s end it here. Punishing him by eating crisp melons is letting him off easy. Old Qian, watch him—he’s not allowed to drink alcohol for one month. Smashing a vendor deserves punishment. If you were going to smash something, you should have smashed the gambling den. Tomorrow, take people to smash the gambling den. The illegal gambling house in the West Market—Liu Jinbao, I don’t believe you can’t smash it?”
Only then did Liu Jinbao raise his head with a red face and say: “Marquis, you were under house arrest. This subordinate was afraid of causing you trouble. When the money was gone, it was gone. Coming back, because of the crisp melon matter, I couldn’t suppress my anger. This subordinate swears, I only gave that vendor a light punch, didn’t dare use heavy force. Since the Marquis says it’s fine, this subordinate will go smash that black-hearted gambling house tomorrow. It’s just that I heard that gambling house has Princess Lanling’s share. You and Princess Lanling have always been on good terms, so this subordinate held back.”
Yun Ye knew it—Liu Jinbao wasn’t the type who liked bullying the weak. But for Princess Lanling to know about running gambling dens at ten years old was truly bizarre. Li Er’s discipline of his daughters was too lax.
Huang Yu, seeing the wicked servant punished, no longer brought up the matter. But hearing that Princess Lanling privately opened a gambling house caught his attention. Just as he was about to say he would impeach her, Yun Ye sternly stopped him, saying: “Princess Lanling is only ten years old. These matters must be people around her using her name to intimidate others. Don’t take action. Doing so would do that child no good at all. The Empress’s discipline would certainly make Lanling suffer greatly. Just smash the gambling house. Smash them one by one—smash them until she stops opening them. No need to make a big fuss about it. There’s not half a bit of benefit in you getting involved. It doesn’t matter for me—if I smash it, I smash it. His Majesty and the Empress won’t harbor resentment. You probably don’t know yet, but Lanling is the little demon king of the palace—someone who remembers food but not beatings. If she sets her sights on you, you won’t have good days ahead.”
It took quite a bit of talking to dissuade the overly righteous Huang Yu. He instructed the steward to make some noodles with minced meat sauce for the two of them. Huang Yu had essentially been hungry all day. When the colorful noodles with minced meat sauce were brought up, he wasn’t polite—he slurped down three bowls. Finally, he set the bowl on the table with a thud and said with a smile: “Truly satisfying! Having eaten Marquis Yun’s bowl of noodles today, Huang Yu definitely won’t disappoint Marquis Yun’s painstaking efforts. I may never achieve flexible adaptability in this lifetime, but I will certainly investigate the ins and outs of every matter I impeach in the future before making the impeachment. Regarding Princess Lanling’s matter, please act quickly, Marquis Yun. Otherwise, on the day I return to the capital, I will impeach Lanling. I won’t let it go because she’s young, nor will I back down because she’s deeply favored by His Majesty and the Empress. Ten days from now, if there are still gambling houses flying the Princess’s banner, I will definitely remonstrate.” After saying these words, without taking his leave, he bowed to Yun Ye, turned around, and left.
Yun Ye was still holding half a bowl of rice. He slowly ate it mouthful by mouthful before putting down his bowl and chopsticks. He sighed and muttered to himself: “This is only the first one. When will this ever end?” No one could answer him. Old Qian always felt the Marquis was very dejected today but didn’t know why.
In the lotus vat at the east end of the courtyard, a pink lotus quietly poked out its head. The bud wasn’t large—only the size of Yun Baobao’s fist. Shy and timid, it leaned against the edge of the vat. Yun Ye wanted to move the bud to the center of the lotus vat. After trying twice without success, it still clung tightly to the edge of the vat…