Yun Ye sat alone under the eaves, holding two corn cobs in his hands, diligently shelling the corn. Golden corn kernels fell into the winnowing basket as the two cobs rubbed together. Yun Baobao sat in his walking cart, running here and there, causing Wang Cai to constantly dodge. The child was now at the age of practicing his teeth—he bit whatever he caught. Wang Cai’s legs had already taken several bites.
Now Wang Cai was about to become a father too. Two of the four Arabian horses had successfully become pregnant. However, besides sowing seeds, this fellow washed his hands of all other matters. When the pregnant mares wanted to eat a few bites of fine feed from his trough, it became a pipe dream—they were kicked and bitten by their heartless husband and driven out of his shed before the matter was settled.
Wang Cai no longer went to the market much these days. Like Yun Ye, he expressed serious dissatisfaction with the Great Tang’s material supply. The food items were just those same few things over and over—they’d long grown tired of them.
Yun Ye had just secretly fed Wang Cai a large handful of corn kernels and was poked several times in the back by Grandmother’s cane. Ever since eating green corn last time, Grandmother had strictly forbidden the household from eating it again. She had personally given the guards in the fields a deadly order—no one was permitted to touch the crops in the cornfield.
Now that the corn stalks had turned withered and yellow and the large corn ears hung down their heads, Grandmother finally allowed the household steward to personally lead people to break off the corn and transport it home. Scooping up a handful of corn kernels from the winnowing basket, Grandmother smiled like a Milefo Buddha, squinting her eyes and saying cheerfully: “Good grandson, look at this—what a fine crop! These kernels are much larger than wheat, rice, sorghum, and millet. One stalk produces such a large ear of grain—truly a good thing. Only our family has this. When the time comes, we’ll have all the tenant farmers plant such good crops. This is merit that surpasses building a pagoda!”
Seeing the old lady holding corn in her hand and thinking it was for him, Wang Cai quickly brought his head over, preparing to lick the corn in the old lady’s hand. As a result, he got slapped on the forehead and had to walk away resentfully, preparing to go to the market to recover some self-respect.
“Your grandson’s wife is busy drying silver coins. Why don’t you go watch that instead of watching me shell corn? The gift for the Emperor—just have the servants do it. Why grab me to do this hard labor?”
“Oh my, foolish grandson, what’s so interesting about your wife drying silver? Cold and icy—what’s there to see? I don’t know where she got the enthusiasm to turn out all the silver from the innermost part of the storehouse. The strings of copper coins have all broken, and now she wants to string them one by one, insisting on only stringing nine hundred cash. She tells Grandmother that one tael of silver exchanges for these copper coins, and stringing more causes the family to lose money. This doesn’t seem like a Yun family daughter-in-law. Which of our family’s daughters-in-law is this greedy for money?”
The words had barely left her mouth when Na Rimu sneaked out from the neighboring courtyard, her belly area bulging as if she were pregnant again. Seeing the old ancestress and her husband in the courtyard, she shuffled forward on her heels to pay respects. Grandmother smiled kindly, while Yun Ye was quite embarrassed. With a dark face he said: “Since you’ve stolen silver, hide it well. Otherwise, when you’re caught later and cry and wail, you know that woman has gone crazy—she can’t stand anyone touching money now.”
Na Rimu, blushing, gave Grandmother a big smile and dove back into her own room. This woman previously didn’t know the importance of silver. No matter how much Xinyue gave her, she would happily accept it. Now, after living at home for two years, she’d finally learned to spend money, and silver wasn’t enough. Taking two pieces from Yun Ye’s money pouch for emergencies was a common occurrence.
It wasn’t that Xinyue didn’t give her money—after giving it, it would be gone in a few days. Fifty strings of cash were enough for a small household to eat and use for ten years, but in her hands it definitely wouldn’t last ten days. If what she bought back was useful, that would be fine, but she always bought many iron pots, iron shovels, and hauled inferior knives home relentlessly. Those who understood knew these were to be transported to the grasslands; those who didn’t thought the Yun family was planning rebellion.
Peaceful days were passed like this, full of trivial matters. When Xinyue came chasing with a feather duster, Grandmother looked very unhappy. Na Rimu ran out from the room and hid behind Grandmother, pretending to be filial while pounding her back, making it difficult for Xinyue to strike. Gritting her teeth, after performing a courtesy to Grandmother, she returned to the front in a fury to continue being a miser. Who knows, maybe Xiao Ya wasn’t behaving properly either.
Yun Baobao pushed his walking cart over to his great-grandmother again, immediately making the old lady beam with joy. Since this little meatball was born, her spendthrift grandson’s status had obviously plummeted. The great-grandson immediately filled this void. Climbing on the table to grab food from plates earned cheerful indulgence. Taking vegetables stuck to Yun Baobao’s feet and putting them in her mouth without thinking to avoid waste was nothing unusual. As for placing the finest porcelain vase on the bed as a toy to roll back and forth—that went without saying.
Finally, by sunset, one dou of corn had been shelled. Yun Ye felt his hands were about done for—even making a fist was difficult. Old Grandmother carefully spread out the corn and picked out the bad seeds by lamplight. On the Double Ninth Festival, the Emperor would hold a grand assembly at South Mountain. It was said that over three hundred envoys would come. Though it wouldn’t achieve the ideal of “ten thousand nations coming to pay tribute,” even Xie Li living at the Honglu Temple and the Crown Prince of Gaochang were counted in, prepared to dance gracefully when the time came to congratulate His Majesty the Emperor on his boundless longevity.
The South Mountain military drilling ground had long been tightly surrounded by thirty thousand troops. The Bai Qi Si had probably visited even the homes of mice living in holes. Chang’an’s markets had been under martial law for three full days before opening. When residents came out from the wards, they discovered that all of Chang’an had become a red ocean. The organizer of this ceremony was the Honglu Temple, plus the Ministry of Rites. Though they clearly had yellow sand, they refused to use it. Fine red sand crushed from North Mountain’s red sandstone covered Chang’an’s streets. From the red sand, Yun Ye discovered the presence of cinnabar. These spendthrifts, thinking the red sand wasn’t red enough, had specifically added cinnabar in proportion. Who knows which family member of someone in the Ministry of Rites was selling cinnabar.
He felt some regret. Why give the Emperor so much corn? Now he had to walk the mountain path carrying a pole. On one end of the pole were tied over a dozen corn cobs; on the other end were golden corn kernels, all wrapped in red silk. Though it looked like only about thirty catties, walking from the Xiannong Altar all the way to South Mountain was killing. Only the Grand Emperor, the Emperor, the Empress, and the Crown Prince had carriages and horses. Others didn’t have such good fortune. Even the most honored guest, Yan Zhitui, could only sit in a four-wheeled cart pushed by his grandson. Li Gang’s four-wheeled cart accompanied him. As for people like Yun Ye, they could only carry their gifts and walk on foot to South Mountain. A full thirty li of road!
However, the scenery wasn’t bad. On the women’s side, there were rows of uniform conical hats and veils. Various colors of imperially appointed attire created a colorful display. If wind blew past, one could secretly guess which plump noblewoman was whose wife.
The Grand Emperor’s carriage passed by. Chirping sounds of women came from inside the carriage. This old lecher attending the grand ceremony was Li Er’s misfortune. For some unknown reason, the old fellow had become even more enthusiastic about procreation. In two years, he’d created three more brothers and sisters for Li Er. Their mothers were all under sixteen years old.
Zhangsun Chong also carried a pole with various grains on it—very heavy. At the very front was tied a five-grain tree. These were all fine grains selected long ago, with plump kernels and grain ears half a chi long that hung heavily—looking at them brought joy. His father walked slowly with the procession, waving a folding fan, so this fellow had to carry the pole and follow behind.
Cheng Chumo also followed behind his father. He was more miserable—with Niu Jianhu gone to Haizhou, he had to carry a pole loaded very high. This was the gift from the Niu and Cheng families.
The Emperor’s carriage passed by, the Empress’s phoenix carriage also passed by. Finally swaying over was the Crown Prince’s carriage. Li Chengqian sat upright in the carriage, his face rigid. His younger brothers and sisters all carried poles walking behind, while he alone sat in the carriage. This feeling must be very uncomfortable, especially since his pregnant wife also walked in the crowd of women. Sitting in the carriage now probably wouldn’t be too comfortable.
Taking advantage of no one paying attention, Yun Ye threw his pole onto the carriage. He also liberated Hou Lian’er, who was supporting the Crown Princess while carrying a pole, throwing her pole onto the carriage too. Looking back at Lan Ling carrying two small flower baskets, he casually threw her and her pole together into the carriage. The guard driving the carriage wanted to call out but was fiercely glared back by Li Chengqian.
Sitting among the gifts, Li Chengqian was obviously much more relaxed. Imperial rules were like this—what’s yours is yours. You can’t snatch it, can’t seize it, unless you’re strong enough to disregard all this.
He couldn’t see Xinyue in the women’s crowd. She had to take care of Grandmother and didn’t know if they could walk to the front. Sometimes one might not encounter a grand ceremony in an entire lifetime. It was unlucky to run into such bad luck now. The perverse ritual officials kept correcting clothing, gait, and bearing. Go to hell—Yun Ye was once again told he should tighten his waist belt, or it would be recorded once.
Thirty li of mountain road! Usually everyone traveled by carriage and horse—who would run thirty li of mountain road for no reason? Just as Yun Ye was on the verge of exploding, he saw Grandmother being supported by Xinyue, chatting and laughing as they came over. Beside them was Hypatia. The two supported Grandmother as she walked, looking quite relaxed. This was reassuring. This tall Western woman had extraordinarily good stamina. She had a large bundle on her back that didn’t seem to hinder her progress at all, though she looked rather pitiful—exactly like a refugee.
Zhangsun Chong kept winking at Yun Ye. It seemed he also wanted Yun Ye to throw his pole onto the carriage. Yun Ye nodded, turned around, and picked the heaviest grain sack from Fang Yi’ai’s pole beside them and put it into Zhangsun Chong’s pole. Fang Yi’ai grinned broadly with a hey-hey laugh. Just as Zhangsun Chong was about to speak, his father struck him on the forehead with a fan, and he had to quicken his pace to follow.
Who knows which mindless person picked the time—specifically starting the mountain climb when the sun was most fierce. To prevent assassins, the large trees on both sides of the road had been specially cleared. Now with no cover or shade, it was truly life-threatening.
The dogwood inserted in the forehead emitted a pungent smell. The realgar powder on the chest was now being sublimated into arsenic by body temperature, with waves of smell drilling straight into the nose…