Yun Ye laughed dumbly. Empress Zhangsun frowned. Gao Yang’s excitement also subsided. The law couldn’t be challenged. Unless the official perverted the law, this old grandmother was definitely going to lose.
Li Ke continued speaking unhurriedly, “The official announced adjournment and returned to the back office to consider countermeasures. He searched through all the laws and couldn’t find any basis to follow. The Book of Rites and Regulations also provided no basis. He could only decide to resolve the current matter according to existing law—that is, let the merchant profit. After the verdict, he would earnestly persuade the merchant to see if he could give the grandmother’s family a bit more compensation.”
“Who knew that inadvertently, from the case files, he found a directive from my father in the third year of Zhenguan. It said: As subjects of Great Tang, do not bully the weak, do not fear the strong, do not deceive the ignorant, maintain filial piety and know propriety, respect the law and honor village customs, be harmonious as people, be brave against enemies without fearing death, and be benevolent internally, stepping back when needed.” Yun Ye touched his nose and smiled bitterly, saying, “I don’t know if the other parts were useful, but the clause about not deceiving the ignorant was definitely used to the fullest by this damned county magistrate.”
Empress Zhangsun laughed heartily. Gao Yang didn’t know why her mother was happy, but she knew her situation must have taken a turn for the better.
Li Ke smugly waved his fan and said, “That’s right. My father’s words are followed by law, his utterances become statutes. Although directives aren’t as great as laws, dealing with a petty unscrupulous merchant is sufficient!”
“That’s going too far. When you say unscrupulous merchant, why are you looking at me? You think you’ve already won?”
Li Ke covered his mouth with his fan and laughed loudly, “I just asked Gao Yang. First, she doesn’t know what hard costs are. Second, she doesn’t know her goods’ actual market value. Your family used Gao Yang’s ignorance to accumulate wealth—this violates my father’s decree. Not following my father’s command means you don’t count as a subject of our Great Tang. Believe it or not, I’ll lead the brothers of the Sixteen Guards to confiscate your family property?”
Gao Yang happily hugged Li Ke and jumped up. After being happy, she stretched out her hand long toward Yun Ye and said, “Give me the contract, or we’ll go confiscate your family property.”
Empress Zhangsun happily drank an entire cup of tea in one breath. She discovered that evil people still need evil people to grind them down.
“You’re happy too early. This case example applies to the old grandmother’s foolish son, but absolutely doesn’t apply to Gao Yang. Since you’re using His Majesty’s directive as law, don’t blame me for counterattacking.”
Empress Zhangsun looked at Yun Ye with contempt but said nothing. She wanted to see how Yun Ye would turn things around. Gao Yang awkwardly withdrew her hand, looking at her brother without confidence, wanting him to give her some assurance.
Li Ke closed his fan with a snap, cupped his hands with proper composure, and said, “Please instruct me.”
Yun Ye poured himself a cup of tea and only spoke after leisurely taking a sip: “When Gao Yang was born, I heard His Majesty praised her, saying she was intelligent. This is point one. When Gao Yang entered school at age six, Master Xiao Yu said she was quick and eager to learn. This is point two. When Gao Yang came of age, His Majesty praised her, saying the Fang family boy was fortunate to obtain such a clever and excellent daughter—this was due to his ancestors’ accumulated virtue. This is point three. With these three points, who dares say Gao Yang is a fool?”
Empress Zhangsun, seeming to have anticipated Yun Ye would say this, leisurely added a sentence, “His Majesty just said this morning that Gao Yang is a foolish girl. Do you want to go confront His Majesty right now?”
Gao Yang happily rolled her eyes, stuck out her tongue, and pretended to be foolish. Li Ke looked at Yun Ye with schadenfreude, continuously striking his palm with his fan. He seemed to be in a very pleasant mood.
The law was actually their family’s. What could Yun Ye say? Even if Li’er hadn’t said it, it wasn’t too late to say it now. Sighing, he pulled out a hair ornament from behind him and handed it to Gao Yang, saying, “Whenever I do something stupid, I wear this ornament and shut myself in my room for an entire day as punishment. Since you’re rolling your eyes and sticking out your tongue, then you must be a fool. You need to wear this thing and punish yourself. This time you have your brother, your mother, and your father to help you, so naturally you can succeed in everything. But in the future when you’re married, you won’t have such good fortune. If that fool Fang Yi’ai can’t protect you, your future will definitely be tragic. Remember, in this world, I’m not the only one who shows no mercy when I have reason. You won’t have the chance to escape every time.”
“Yun Ye, you’re doing this to teach me a lesson, to make me remember, aren’t you?”
Empress Zhangsun embraced Gao Yang and patted her head, saying, “You’re not completely foolish. Your mother and I were close friends. Before she died, she entrusted you to me, asking me to teach you well. Because you’re not my birth child, I’ve been somewhat indulgent with you, not as strict as with Changle and the others. Now, using this mistake of yours to learn a long lesson is good.”
Gao Yang emerged from Empress Zhangsun’s embrace, took the ornament from Yun Ye’s hand, and asked, “Are these rabbit ears?”
“No, these are a pair of donkey ears. People who do wrong things are stupid donkeys—there’s nothing to hide. If someone else had taken over your business, they would have already split up your order and sold it, made a fortune, and immediately withdrawn. At that time, could your brother’s strategy deal with all the nobles of Chang’an? The only person the imperial family could handle would be you.”
Gao Yang nodded, put the donkey ear ornament on her head, bowed to Empress Zhangsun, and said, “This child is foolish and knows her mistake. Please instruct me, Mother. I’ll go to the Imperial Clan Court to receive punishment.”
Seeing she was about to leave, Yun Ye returned the contract to her and said, “Here’s the contract. The wool fabric that was taken is still in the warehouse. What’s been used, don’t think about it—consider it your tuition. Send back the Yun Family’s money, not a single coin less. If you want to open up the wool fabric market, consult Lan Ling and Fang Yi’ai more. They’ll think of good solutions for you.”
Empress Zhangsun watched the departing Gao Yang and said thoughtfully, “Your family’s young ladies all seem more far-sighted than the princesses. Have you never considered marriage alliances with the imperial family?”
“Impossible, unless they’re willing themselves. Your unmarried sons all have prince status. The identities of the four girls—East, South, West, and North—aren’t sufficient. Xiao Ya? That would destroy the palace. You’d better let her stay home and plague me.”
“I mean your disciples. That Little Wu—this Palace thinks highly of her. Shishi is also good. Your personal disciples—in terms of status and position, they’re all sufficient. Especially Little Wu, this Palace regards her very highly.”
Yun Ye laughed so hard he could barely straighten up. Li Ke said to the Empress with a dark expression, “Mother, which younger brother do you plan to have live in dire straits? Little An? Or Little You? Which of them could be her match? They’d suffer their whole lives. However, Shishi is gentle and lovely—matching her with either of them would be sufficient. As for Little Wu, forget it. Having Qing Que as one monstrosity in our family is enough. We dare not have more.”
“Is being intelligent not good?” Empress Zhangsun was very surprised by their reactions.
“Mother, Little Wu’s temperament is exactly like Yun Ye’s. Although she’s beautiful and captivating, in her bones she thinks very highly of herself. Among Academy students, you can’t find many stronger than her. No matter which younger brother you betroth her to, this son guarantees that in that prince’s residence, the one whose words carry weight in the end will definitely be her. Marrying her to ordinary nobles is fine, but marrying into our family—problems will occur, and they’ll definitely be big problems. Little Wu—Mother, you needn’t consider her.”
“However, if Little An can marry Shishi, this son would very much approve. If Mother agrees, this son will go discuss this matter with my mother. Little An is already sixteen years old now—it’s time to consider marriage.”
“You’re Little An’s full brother, so naturally you wouldn’t harm him. If you think well of it, go discuss it with Yang Fei. Yun Ye, you won’t have a problem with this, will you?” Seeing that neither of them agreed to Little Wu marrying in, Empress Zhangsun gave up. However, regarding Shishi, Li Ke was still very enthusiastic.
“Hmph, my disciples—anyone who wants to marry them can, even burden carriers or woodcutters. The prerequisite is that she herself is willing. If Little An has the ability to win Shishi’s heart, I naturally won’t object. I just don’t know if he has that ability.”
Empress Zhangsun seemed very confident. She stood up and walked a few steps, saying without turning her head, “Then it’s settled. What nerve—being noticed by your family’s daughter is a tremendous honor, yet you still put on airs. The imperial family is definitely marrying Shishi. I don’t believe a dignified prince can’t handle a rustic village girl.”
Empress Zhangsun probably felt Li’er was about to wake up and hurried over to see if the medicine’s effects had worn off. Yun Ye and Li Ke left the palace together, preparing to return to Yushan to have a look.
Students who had already graduated could no longer live at Yushan. They had completed their studies and must move out of Yushan quickly. All along the road were an endless stream of carriages—not a single ox cart. Whether rich or poor, uniformly they were clusters of horse carriages. This was the imperial family’s expense. Courtyards in Lizheng Ward had all been prepared for them. They could live there free until their assignments came down. This time, the imperial family hadn’t rejected a single Academy student. Even the most incompetent one—the ministers all believed that after tempering for a few years in the Directorate of Construction, he would certainly become a useful talent. Yan Liben believed that assigning Academy students to departments other than the Ministry of Works was a waste.
In comparison, of the students who came up from provinces and counties, Li’er exceptionally accepted thirty-two people. This year’s examination—the scholars’ learning far exceeded previous years. Although complaints still continued without end, after those scholars studied the Academy students’ examination questions, they all wisely shut their mouths. One fellow even gave up his jinshi quota, preparing to enter the Academy and study another three years. When Yun Ye learned of this, he laughed very happily. Liu Rengui still hadn’t escaped his grasp.
At the Eighteen Li Inn, Gou Zi’s old mother still sold tea. However, there was always a graceful young lady wearing a veil helping. As soon as Gou Zi approached, he would be chased far away by his mother. With his heart itching unbearably, seeing Yun Ye and Li Ke get off their carriage to drink tea, he hurried over and quietly asked Yun Ye, “My Lord, who exactly is that woman? Do you know?”
“I don’t know. Didn’t your master go to propose marriage for you? Hasn’t your mother also met your in-laws? You must observe propriety. Wait until the wedding day and everything will be clear. If you dare act recklessly before that, I’ll send you to the palace to keep Duan Hong company.” Li Ke also glanced at that young lady and said to Gou Zi with a smile, “I see this young lady has a graceful figure. The few steps she walks produce lotus blossoms with each step. Inwardly charming yet dignified—she’s a rare excellent wife. Gou Zi has good fortune.” Hearing Li Ke’s praise, Gou Zi smiled so broadly his face contorted.