“Elder brother speaks incorrectly. Contracts must be respected. Since a contract has been established and is legal, naturally not a single word can be changed. If you yield out of consideration for younger brother’s feelings like this, it will make younger brother extremely ashamed. Younger brother understands in his heart the sanctity of contracts.”
Li Ke waved his hand to call Gao Yang over. Their sibling relationship was the best. As soon as she came over, Gao Yang clutched Li Ke’s sleeve and wouldn’t let go. Li Ke pulled out an exquisite hairpin from his chest and inserted it in Gao Yang’s hair, smiling as he asked, “Little sister, do you know the actual price of wool fabric? That is, after removing costs, its market value.”
Gao Yang touched the hairpin and shook her head to indicate she didn’t know. Her manner was very innocent and charming. Li Ke smiled gently and continued asking, “Little sister, do you know the relationship between quantity and price?”
Gao Yang still shook her head. She had originally wanted to show off her achievements to her brother, but unexpectedly, as soon as her brother arrived, he asked her things she couldn’t understand. She felt somewhat wronged.
Li Ke rubbed his sister’s hair and had her lean against him, saying softly, “Look here, Gao Yang. You don’t understand any of these things, yet you easily established a contract with others. Do you know that your rash behavior has caused the imperial family losses of at least fifty thousand strings? The loss of money doesn’t matter—our imperial family doesn’t take that seriously.”
“But at the same time, we’ve lost three years of time. The wool weaving machine that Qing Que researched is the best thing in all of Great Tang, second to none. Because others don’t have it, Qing Que gained at least five years for the imperial family. You must know that for making money, these five years are the best time. You sold wool fabric at the lowest price—that doesn’t matter, after all you already considered the profit. But this contract shouldn’t have been established. Three years is too long. It gives these unscrupulous merchants three years to catch their breath, and they’ll desperately catch up. This is even more serious than losing money.”
Gao Yang’s mouth gaped wide open. She looked toward Empress Zhangsun as if seeking rescue. Seeing Empress Zhangsun nod helplessly, her small face instantly turned deathly pale and her whole body trembled. She wanted to open her mouth to beg Yun Ye to abandon the contract, but her pride wouldn’t allow her to do so. She struggled to straighten her body, saying nothing, keeping her small face taut, intending to let the Empress handle her as she would.
Yun Ye walked before Gao Yang and said with complete seriousness, “Gao Yang, personal feelings are personal feelings, business is business. If you want to ask me for fifty thousand strings to fill the gap, no problem. We grew up together from childhood—we must have this much affection. But if you want to void the contract, impossible.”
Gao Yang forcibly held back her tears and forced out three words from her mouth, “Why?”
“Why? Good question. Each of us is an independent individual. To survive in this world, we must rely on our own efforts and wisdom. Sometimes even the imperial family has moments when its reach exceeds its grasp, just like now. The imperial family’s credibility is greater than heaven, so the grievance can only be borne by you. When you do something wrong, sometimes there’s no way to compensate. Regarding the contract matter, you’re the party without reason. Now I have reason, so naturally when I have reason, I show no mercy!”
Gao Yang raised her head to look at Yun Ye and said, “I signed the contract, so of course it will be executed. I’ll bear responsibility for my mistake.”
“You can’t bear it, Gao Yang. Wool spinning is not only a new financial source for Great Tang, but also a policy principle for the court to control the steppe tribes. To domesticate those fierce and vicious tribes on the grasslands and bind them to Great Tang’s war chariot, wool is very important. This is a mutually beneficial good thing that has now been ruined by your rashness.”
“You must know that the grassland tribes’ wool will henceforth be the barbarians’ rice bowl. They’ll use wool to exchange with us for grain. This way, they won’t pick up swords and spears to come plunder the Central Plains. One year without plundering, two years without plundering—after a hundred and some years without plundering, they’ll no longer have the ability to plunder. The grasslands will no longer produce any warriors, only weak shepherds.”
“Due to your rashness, this process will be delayed by at least three years, because the Yun Family has stored up all the wool fabric. We only sell high-end goods. You only have my family as a customer, so you’ll be constrained by me. The wool fabric has no way to spread throughout Great Tang. After three years, perhaps the grassland people themselves will research weaving machines. They’ll weave wool into fabric on the grasslands and sell it to the Central Plains, making huge profits. Your labor costs more than theirs, your raw materials cost more than theirs, so naturally your price will also be higher than theirs. In the end, your wool fabric won’t sell, while theirs will sell throughout the world. Taking the money earned from the Central Plains, they’ll buy iron implements and grain, and finally, taking the swords we manufactured, they’ll come plunder the Central Plains. At that time, beacon fires will smoke everywhere along the frontier. Are you certain you can bear this responsibility?”
Gao Yang sat down hard on the ground, her gaze vacant, her whole body trembling. Her eyes seemed to already see the tragic aftermath of grassland cavalry’s rampage. Large, large tears welled up in her big eyes.
“Give me back the contract! I’ll give you whatever you want!” Gao Yang clutched Yun Ye’s robe and finally voiced her plea.
“Gao Yang, I said I have reason and show no mercy! The realm belongs to the imperial family. I’m just a subject. My duty is to earn enough money for my family, to let the Yun Family develop and grow strong, to pass it down generation after generation. Protecting the family and defending the country—fulfilling my duty is enough. Defending the frontier—that’s the imperial family’s responsibility. When His Majesty sends me to fight at the frontier, I’ll definitely fight with utter devotion, even dying in battle without frowning. But if you want to overturn the contract, impossible.”
Empress Zhangsun forcibly suppressed her amusement while putting on a worried appearance. Li Ke at the side sighed deeply, seeming very troubled about the incident’s future development.
“If you don’t return my contract, I’ll take poison and go to your house, eat your family’s things, then die. I don’t believe Father won’t hold you accountable.” Gao Yang’s face flushed red as she threatened. Whether it was good or not aside, Gao Yang had at least thought of a method.
“Not bad, not bad—a good method. But before you harm me, I’ll have already sold the contract to another person, such as Lord Lu. I get harmed, but the contract still has to be executed. Your death would be meaningless. This is the stupidest method—gambling with your own life doesn’t necessarily achieve good results. You might just die for nothing. His Majesty, Her Majesty, and your doting brothers will all be heartbroken. Your one oversight makes everyone suffer along with you. Innocently framing me—this is inhumanity. Making His Majesty and Her Majesty sad—this is unfilial piety. Causing trouble for the country—this is disloyalty. After something happens to you, that fool Fang Yi’ai will definitely seek revenge on me. In the end, still not being my match, he’ll be killed by me—this is unrighteousness.”
“I only committed a small error. Why does it become inhumane, unrighteous, disloyal, and unfilial? I didn’t think of it, didn’t think that far. I only wanted to quickly sell the wool fabric. Is doing this also wrong?”
Li Ke held Gao Yang, who was sitting on the ground crying, and said to her, “Making a mistake truly isn’t anything great. We’ve all made mistakes. As long as we don’t repeat them, it’s fine. From now on, when doing things, use your brain more. Head-on confrontation will only make you suffer greater losses. Hehe, we’re the imperial family, the most noble household under heaven. How could we possibly lose to Yun Ye? Even if he’s the world’s cleverest person, it won’t work. Stand up and watch your brother deal with him, making him obediently revise the contract. We won’t even pay him a single copper.”
Gao Yang had always believed in Li Tai and Li Ke’s wisdom. Hearing Li Ke say he had a method, she rolled right up to her feet, wiped away her tears, and glared viciously at Yun Ye, as if wanting to bite off a piece of flesh from him.
Yun Ye very arrogantly waved the contract in his hand back and forth. Gao Yang’s gaze followed the contract’s movement. Her appearance looked very much like she wanted to pounce and snatch it. Li Ke pulled his sister behind him, took out a folding fan from his waist, slowly waved it twice, and said, “Brother Yun says that today you have reason and show no mercy. Then younger brother will discuss with you who has reason.”
“Ha ha ha, Little Ke, even if you talk until the sky falls, I won’t change my mind. You’re definitely eating this loss. Unless you can make the words on the paper disappear, right now Chang’an is full of gods and Buddhas flying everywhere—you can pray and ask which immortal spirits will help you. It’s just unknown whether the spirits have time.”
“That’s not necessary. Our Great Tang has strict laws. With them present, why would I need to petition those wooden frames and clay sculptures? The Academy’s motto is that seeking help from others is inferior to seeking help from oneself. Do you think your contract has not the slightest flaw? This contract was signed by your lady and Gao Yang, so there will inevitably be loopholes. If you had signed it, I would directly give you money to buy back the contract without wasting effort. Since your lady signed it, there’s much that can be done here.” Yun Ye smiled, indicating Li Ke should continue speaking.
“Brother Yun, these past days I’ve been searching Chang’an County for precedents from many years, especially precedents regarding contracts. As a result, heaven doesn’t disappoint those with determination—I truly found one. Let me tell it to Brother Yun.”
Yun Ye was somewhat suspicious. Chang’an County’s precedents could be referenced. As long as there were ready-made precedents that hadn’t been overturned by judicial officials at both levels, when encountering the same case in the future, there would be the same ruling. There would absolutely be no exceptions. Hearing Li Ke speak so confidently, Empress Zhangsun also put down her teacup, preparing to listen carefully to how Li Ke would argue and ultimately overturn the contract in Yun Ye’s hands.
“In Chongning Ward there was an old grandmother whose family consisted only of her and a foolish son depending on each other for survival. Life was difficult. Although this son was somewhat foolish, according to Great Tang law, he was still the head of the household. One day, when there truly was no rice at home, the foolish son inadvertently found a jade pendant in the house and decided to sell it to a merchant to get some money to buy rice and return home to satisfy their hunger and get through the difficulty.”
“He encountered a merchant with a black heart. A jade pendant passed down from the Warring States period was sold for only three hundred copper coins. To secure the deal, the merchant specially signed a document of voluntary transaction with this half-wit. When the foolish son returned home and told his mother he had sold the jade pendant and obtained three hundred coins…”
“The old grandmother was greatly alarmed. This was an ancestral item—how could it be sold? Even if selling it, how could it sell for only three hundred coins when it was worth at least a hundred strings? But the jade pendant had already been sold by her foolish son. She sought out the merchant wanting to redeem it, but the merchant refused. He even produced the document and brought witnesses to testify, stating he had indeed spoken clearly and plainly at the time—there was no fraud.”
“The old grandmother, with no other recourse, embraced a final thread of hope and lodged a complaint with the authorities. The official was also in difficulty. The document in the merchant’s hands was genuine, and he hadn’t forced the fool to press his handprint. The fool was also the head of household. No matter how the case was judged, the merchant had done nothing wrong. But judging the case this way—legally there was no problem, but emotionally it was unjustifiable no matter what.”