Since they already had the idea and money in hand, turning the idea into reality was easy. Wei Chunpeng, accustomed to making jelly, naturally quickly mastered how to knead the starch into the required dough—just add alum. Lan Yushu took the money to Zhaoguo Ward, and in one afternoon had the equipment made. For secrecy purposes, Lan Yushu himself took a chisel and bit by bit punched small holes in the three thin iron plates, arranging them neatly from coarse to fine.

Old Master Yan also came to observe this invention. The old man was full of curiosity about new things. He stated beforehand that once the equipment the students created was usable, the Yun Family couldn’t purchase it cheaply. The old man pondered for a long time and gave a price of three hundred strings. In his view, this was already a remarkably high price.

The crushed potato pieces thrown into the stone mill’s eye were quickly ground into pulp, flowing down along the millstone. After filtering more than ten times through two layers of gauze, a large bucket full of pulp finally yielded about twenty percent starch. The remaining procedures no one could see—Wei Chunpeng and Lan Yushu hid in a room to complete it alone.

When Yun Ye was smiling and watching Lan Yushu hang vermicelli to dry on bamboo poles, Yan Zhitui had already pinched off a bit and put it in his mouth to taste. After eating several strands, he said: “This is indeed a good thing. More chewy than noodles. With seasonings, it’s a good meal. Ten catties yielding two catties—very good. Young man, how long can this thing be stored?”

“After drying, as long as it doesn’t get moldy or worm-eaten, two or three years should be fine.”

“A good deed benefiting the nation and people. Young man, don’t think about making money all day long. Too much of that stuff is useless and instead becomes a source of disaster. Ten catties of potatoes yield two catties of vermicelli—you should sell it at the price of fifteen catties of potatoes. Don’t sell it too expensive and force a good deed into a bad one.”

“Young people always have no restraint in their actions, always thinking more is better. Little do they know, human capacity has limits. As wealth increases, troubles also multiply. Back then, how many of those extravagant types met good ends? Only when people throughout the realm become prosperous will you not appear special in the middle. Maintaining moderation is best.”

“Old Master Yan’s teachings—naturally Yun Ye bows his head to receive instruction. Whatever the old sir says is correct. After passing one hundred years old, even defecating in the Golden Palace is permitted. Lecturing juniors a few sentences doesn’t count as anything. This isn’t nonsense—it’s specifically recorded in the Book of Rites. How does that phrase go? ‘No taboos regarding excrement and urine.’ Receiving instruction is receiving instruction, but such boring matters as one catty of starch making two or three catties of vermicelli—the old sir need not know.”

The blacksmith of Zhaoguo Ward became busy once again. All the millstones on the Yun Family estate were grinding potato pulp. Xinyue and Li Anlan both set up millstones in the courtyard to work personally. Two women wearing floral headscarves, ceaselessly busy—just looking at them brought joy. Lingdang most liked pressing vermicelli into the boiling water pot. Aunty was busy scooping out the vermicelli that had passed through boiling water, hanging them strand by strand on the bamboo poles that had been set up. The garden was already full of them. Now it wasn’t just the Yun Family garden filled with white vermicelli—even the estate was covered with various thick, thin, and flat vermicelli. Just looking at them made one happy from the bottom of their heart.

“Lend me a few sets of your equipment too. My household has over a million catties of potatoes. If we don’t deal with several hundred thousand catties, it won’t do. As for potatoes, keeping tens of thousands of catties is enough.”

“Dream on. These things all cost me a high price to buy from the Academy. If you want them, you go buy them too.”

Ever since the Yun Family started pressing vermicelli, Xinyue was most proud. Those old folks who had called her “Potato Wife” just days ago had been running to the house non-stop these past days. Watching Xinyue and Li Anlan lead the household servants all pressing vermicelli, they were nearly dying of envy and jealousy. Aside from sending some equipment to the Cheng Family, Niu Family, Qin Family, and Yuchi Family, anyone else who wanted them could only negotiate usage fees with the Academy. Xu Jingzong these days walked so proudly he only looked at the sky. He was extremely proud of himself for not selling the rights.

Li Tai’s newly married wife came to the house once, and immediately after, Li Tai came. Finding Yun Ye sleeping in a chair, he demanded the equipment quite righteously. Seeing Yun Ye wouldn’t give it, he sat astride a crooked-neck tree in front of Yun Ye and spoke again.

“I asked—that killer Xu Jingzong insists on forty percent from my household. This matter is non-negotiable. My wife already said, they’re just a few broken iron pieces. She told me to go home and make them myself. I just looked—those trashy things, can’t this prince make them?”

“If you have the ability, go make them. After you finish making them, I’ll immediately make your wool-weaving machine all over the Great Tang. Do you believe it or not? If you want benefits, obediently go buy them. I can’t control others, but someone like you must follow the rules. Once you break the rules, it’s more frightening than a thousand commoners breaking the rules. If you want such useful tools to appear again in the future, it’ll be difficult.”

“The Ministry of Works also went to the Academy, wanting this thing. I heard they were prepared to give fifteen strings—this is the Great Tang’s highest reward. Xu Jingzong smiled and said nothing. Master Li Gang jumped out and told that Ministry of Works minor official to take his fifteen strings and scram quickly. If you want to seek benefits for the common people, first settle the Academy’s patent fee clearly—two thousand strings, no second price. You can’t expect me to also pay out two thousand strings to buy a broken iron tool. No matter how you look at it, it feels like a loss. One million catties of potatoes aren’t worth that price.”

“Haven’t you heard the story of buying horse bones for a thousand gold pieces? The Academy doesn’t care about that bit of money. What the Academy cares about is this research spirit. Whoever researches benefits. You researched the wool-weaving machine—do you know what that means? The Great Tang gains an additional craft, an additional trade that can feed families. Not to mention its restraining effect on the grasslands—just speaking purely of economic benefits, we have an additional garment material called wool fabric besides hemp, silk cloth, and silk. The benefits can be passed down for thousands of generations. Tell me, over a thousand years, how much wealth can your invented wool-weaving machine create?”

“His Majesty said it very correctly—the people are water, the ruler is the boat. I want to expand on that—the people are water, the ruler is the boat, and thought is the sail. The common people compose the nation, the monarch controls the nation, but only constantly pioneering and progressive thought can allow this boat to ride the wind and waves and continuously advance. Where does thought come from? It comes from elite people of all our strata. Only by constantly breaking old frameworks can we always lead among the forests of the world, better and more abundantly occupy this world’s resources, and make them serve us.”

“People are all profit-driven creatures. If you want them to have initiative, just talking won’t work. You must produce actual gold and silver, or give them lofty status. Watch—once this atmosphere becomes prevalent, aren’t people always complaining that grain yields are low? Someone will produce methods to increase yields. Aren’t people always grumbling that copper and iron aren’t enough? Someone will find these things and exchange them with the court for merit and wealth. In the future, all kinds of ingenious ideas will let us see a new world. Qingque, do you still think two thousand strings is a lot? The Ministry of Works producing fifteen strings—who were they insulting? I wasn’t there at the time. If I had been, I would have smashed those fifteen strings of cash in that official’s face. This is what Old Master Yan meant about forcibly ruining a good deed benefiting the nation and people.”

After hearing Yun Ye’s words, Li Tai thought for a moment, then had the guard who came with him return home to get two thousand strings to go to the Academy to purchase patent usage rights. Seeing Li Tai take it seriously, Yun Ye said with a smile: “I just wanted you to understand this principle, not to make you spend more money. If His Majesty were here, I would explain in more detail—if you want everyone in the realm to follow rules, the imperial family must lead by example.”

“Keep talking. I’m here. In this hot summer, listening to your nonsense isn’t bad either. Consider it cooling off and relieving boredom.”

Hearing Li Er’s voice, Yun Ye shot up from the reclining chair with a whoosh. Li Tai, who was sitting astride the crooked-neck tree, also jumped down. They saw Li Er waving a fan, accompanied by Duan Hong, walking in through the moon gate. Old Qian followed far behind, not even daring to raise his head. When Li Er entered the Yun Family, there was never any announcement—he’d just walk right in and wouldn’t allow anyone to announce him either.

Perhaps he had walked a long way. Li Er’s forehead was covered with beads of sweat. In a few steps he reached the reclining chair and sat down with a thump, unbuttoned his collar to cool himself a bit, then pointed at the teapot, closed his eyes, and enjoyed the coolness.

Yun Ye poured cool tea for Li Er and also gave Duan Hong a cup. Li Tai took a new towel from the rack, soaked it in the ice-cold well water, wrung it dry, and wiped sweat for his old man. Li Er took the towel and completely covered his face with it. Through the towel he said: “Continue speaking. Just now I didn’t hear clearly from outside. Obviously the Academy wants to swindle money, yet you can connect it to great principles of serving the nation and people. This counts as one of your skills. Keep swindling. If you can swindle me into believing it, letting you succeed once—so what?”

“Your Majesty, today’s weather is too hot. Everyone is irritable and restless. Why don’t I specifically prepare a memorial about this matter? Right now in haste, I can’t explain it clearly either. This is a truly great principle that needs deliberation before being reported to Your Majesty.”

“That’s fine too. After all, you’ve grown older, passed the age of spouting nonsense, and know to deliberate. Good, good. I’ll wait for your memorial. Today accompanying the Empress to escape the heat, I’m somewhat hungry. You just prepare some light appetizing snacks to make me comfortable. For the Empress’s food, you also make it refreshing. The weather is too hot—big fish and meat are hard to digest.”

The Northwest people’s summer heat-relief snack naturally ranked liang pi first. Ever since Yun Ye created this thing, with many women in the household, they couldn’t go a day without it. The secret recipe was kept with Xinyue, and she had only copied one portion for Li Anlan. Now that the Emperor wanted to eat something, this would be it.

For the Emperor’s food, Yun Ye didn’t dare entrust it to others. He personally cut a large plateful, added shredded cucumber, gluten, poured on vinegar, chili oil, mustard, garlic paste and other seasonings, and carried it over to Li Er.

Generally Li Er didn’t question things Yun Ye made. Taking it, he sat in the chair and ate. After one bite, he nodded and continued eating. Only after finishing did he say to Yun Ye: “This thing is good. Turn the recipe over to the imperial kitchen later. Tomorrow I still plan to eat it.”

Li Tai let out a suppressed laugh. He had also asked Yun Ye for it and received lots of liang pi, but not the recipe. He really wanted to see how Yun Ye would handle the situation before him.