Aristocratic bearing isn’t learned – at least Yun Ye had concrete experience of this himself. After he and Li Tai pummeled each other, they became pig-headed men. Everyone who saw them laughed. When Yun Ye looked at himself in the mirror, he wished he could find a bag to cover his head.
Li Tai, on the other hand, strutted through the marketplace without a care, sporting his pig head. Even when mocked by Hypatia, his expression didn’t change. He left behind one statement: when Hypatia could understand that these facial wounds were glory rather than shame, she could become a true Tang person. The prerequisite, naturally, was that she couldn’t run around wearing those skin-revealing clothes.
Han Zhe handled it even more magnificently. After sleeping one night, his two eyes the next day looked like a panda’s, but sitting at the dining table, he remained imposingly heroic. The millet porridge was excellent – bring him a bowl. The deep-fried buns were also excellent. The cilantro cut so finely must have taken the cook great effort. This was his first time eating fermented tofu. Though the smell wasn’t pleasant, after one bite he discovered it was an incomparable delicacy.
His white robe was spotlessly clean. The maid who served him in the morning helped him comb his hair, and Yun Ye discovered that maid had already developed thoughts of pledging herself to him.
The lord’s rice bowl had been empty for quite a while with no one caring, but if a single fly landed near Han Zhe, the maids wished they could hunt it to death before resting. Especially after hearing that Han Zhe’s black eyes were caused by their own lord’s beating, they looked at their lord with incomparable resentment. Even the bun they brought him was broken.
Han Zhe found the boldness of the Yun household servants quite strange. He quietly asked, “Brother Yun, this is not the way to manage subordinates. The servants have no fear of you whatsoever. Trouble will inevitably arise in the future.”
“Nonsense! My household has been like this for ten years. Go to Chang’an and ask around – whose servants are more loyal than my household’s servants? They’re all good daughters and young men from decent families who came to the manor to make a living, not to suffer. Being lenient makes everyone comfortable. If you shout at them and they all cower like quails, that’s no fun.”
He Tianshang came out, looking terrible. His two eyes were swollen like eggs. At least he wasn’t crying anymore. Squinting his eyes, he had servants bring him food. Sitting down in front of Han Zhe, his bearing didn’t lose out in the slightest.
Though quite curious about Han Zhe’s black eye circles, he still didn’t ask a single question. He picked up his porridge bowl and with a clang shoved it into his mouth. Who knew if the scalding hot millet porridge burned him or not.
Han Zhe’s demeanor was indeed impeccable. He leaned back, crossed his legs, and the snobbish maid quickly spread a napkin on his lap – if the snow-white shirt got soiled, it wouldn’t be easy to wash.
Yun Ye and Gou Zi treated those two people as if they were air, busying themselves with handling their own breakfast. There was much to do today. The tenant farmers who stayed still needed to completely lease all the main family’s land, which required Yun Ye’s personal appearance to express thanks. They couldn’t be neglected.
Gou Zi’s head was now full of troubles. His father-in-law had occupied his residence with the whole family. If Gou Zi dared return home, powerful crossbows would greet him. Hong Cheng could no longer defeat Gou Zi in a fight, but the old fellow, eyes red with fury, fought desperately, forcing Gou Zi to flee in panic. Being married was even more miserable than being unmarried. As for Wu She, he didn’t care at all. Every day he trained his female disciple Xiao Miao, and in his leisure time held the little tiger head born to Hong Guo’er, grinning foolishly. He completely ignored Hong Cheng’s eye-rolling.
There were many strange people in the household, but the Yun family servants had long since become accustomed to oddities. The Yun family had seen all kinds of characters appear – Han Zhe and He Tianshang were far from reaching the standard of strange.
The two ultimately didn’t come to blows. After He Tianshang ate and drank his fill, he asked the steward for two more jars of strong liquor, tucked them under his arms, and went straight back to the guest room where he was staying. He’d probably get drunk again today.
“I thought half the night and still couldn’t figure out what the jade tokens mean, but I did figure out why you want to flee with your whole family. Taking the whole family out to travel is nonsense, right? I see your whole family in a major operation, looking like you’re moving everything out of the house. I know you plan to settle your family in Yuezhou. That place is a vital junction between north and south. Your family can observe the winds there, watch the great trends of the realm. If the north is in chaos, you can advance deeper into the south. If the south isn’t viable, you can return to the north. Staying in Yuezhou is truly an excellent idea of being able to attack when advancing and defend when retreating. Especially since Yuezhou City was entirely your doing, you must have plans in your heart for how to respond to various situations. Tell me, have you even dug escape tunnels?”
“I just scolded someone a few days ago for their mouse-like short-sightedness and lack of ambition. Now I have to scold you too. As a divine person, that’s all the ambition you have. Look at the Western Pope – if he wants to burn someone in a basket, he burns them. If he wants women to strip naked and fight lions, they fight. Look at Muhammad – one hand holding a sword, the other holding the Quran. Those who believe in me are my brothers, those who don’t are my enemies. How impressive! Though he’s already dead, his successors have swept through the Two Rivers region and are now attacking Persia’s remnants. Before long, a massive empire will emerge.”
“Look at you lot hiding in the shadows scheming and plotting, living like rats. Where’s the domineering spirit of divine people?”
“Don’t talk about me – you’re also a descendant of divine people. Now when you encounter a bit of trouble, don’t you also run around like a dog? Oh, I spoke wrongly – you’re not even as good as a dog. You still have to bring a whole household of people to run together.”
Hearing Han Zhe’s vicious counterattack, Yun Ye brought him to the study and pulled out a very large map. Rather than calling it a map, it would be better to call it a sea chart. Pressing it on the table, he said to Han Zhe, “Today I’ll let you, this sparrow, see what swan’s ambition looks like. Do you see this map? Can you read it?”
Han Zhe squinted at it for a long time before raising his head to say, “This isn’t the Central Plains. This is a chart of the Lingnan seas. Let me see where the farthest place is. Oh, it’s Lion Country? What are you planning to do?”
Yun Ye pulled an eye patch from the drawer and put it on, laughing sinisterly. “Where do I have time to waste? Taking the whole family on a long journey, walking from the Central Plains to Lingnan, touring mountains and waters along the way, fully satisfying my family’s wishes. Once we reach Lingnan – heh heh – Han Zhe, believe it or not, I can do whatever I want. Do you think I’ve been commander of the navy all these years for nothing?”
“What exactly are you planning? Give me a reason. If you’re going to rebel and you can convince me, I’ll help you. It just depends on your chances of success.” Han Zhe’s eyes finally gleamed. He thought Yun Ye was planning to control Lingnan and then rebel like others had. He was very interested in this. The world was too peaceful – no one had rebelled recently, which depressed him greatly.
“Han Zhe, can’t you take your mind off the dead-end road of rebellion? Think about what real men should do. Imagine this – on the vast ocean, fierce winds rolling up dark clouds, a great ship rising and falling in shocking waves, countless men with bare upper bodies struggling against the sea. After the wind and waves pass, the ship still exists. Though the sails are torn and many men are gone, with no food or water, they’ve nearly fallen into desperate straits.”
“Heh heh, then another ship appears on the sea surface, loaded with spices, jewels, and beautiful female slaves. The brave men shout and charge over, grabbing ropes and swinging onto that ship, using their own swords to fight for food, water, wealth, and women.”
“Imagine it – your whole body covered in blood, having just bitten to death the most ferocious fellow, your body wrapped in gold pearls and treasures, a golden-haired beauty on your shoulder, holding a massive oak barrel in your hands, filled with deep red grape wine. You stab the barrel open with your blade, and amid the woman’s screams, you drink the grape wine to your heart’s content – how satisfying would that be!”
“Imagine it – you lead a group of desperadoes and conquer a city, dragging your long blade and laughing heartily as you walk on stone-paved streets. The buildings on both sides are ablaze with roaring fires. Countless weak people flee in all directions before you, like rabbits who’ve seen a tiger.”
“Han Zhe, Tang people look exactly like us – it’s hard to strike at them. But out on the ocean, all the laws and regulations of the land lose their binding force. Only there can you fully vent your bestial nature. My teacher said at birth, human nature is fundamentally good. But in my view, at birth, human nature is fundamentally evil. Bestial nature needs to be vented, Han Zhe.”
“Just thinking about it makes me envy Qiu Ran Ke! That fellow is already doing this now, leading a gang of brothers, taking whatever he wants on the ocean. You probably don’t know – there are many prosperous cities in the West, ferocious warriors. They need opponents, and that opponent is us. Hahaha, Han Zhe, look at this!”
Laughing loudly, Yun Ye unfurled a piece of black silk. On it was painted a white, fierce-looking skull with two leg bones crossed beneath it. The skull’s dark eye sockets seemed to be summoning Han Zhe. Han Zhe felt strangely that this skull seemed to be smiling at him.
Han Zhe struggled to calm himself down, rubbing his temples. “I finally know why I was defeated by you. You’re not only more shameless than me, but also more vicious. I can’t match you in two important virtues, so defeat was inevitable.”
Yun Ye removed the eye patch and placed it on Han Zhe’s eyes, whispering, “Feel it. This is my dream – to become a pirate who commits every evil. I want to become the nightmare of all nations near the sea. I want them to obediently offer up treasures and beauties the moment they see this flag. I want them to remember my face even in hell. Don’t you want to come, Han Zhe? Being a pirate is so joyful – struggling with heaven, with the sea, with people brings endless pleasure! Come, brother, don’t study those three broken stones. We have more important things to do. The Great Tang is now so peaceful it’s driving people mad.”
Han Zhe closed his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking. But from his heavy breathing, Yun Ye knew this fellow was tempted. These three years he could only wander outside – might as well tie this guy to his belt. That would be good for everyone. As for whether he’d go mad after becoming a pirate, who cared? Yun Ye himself wanted to go mad.
The window was suddenly pushed open. He Tianshang said hoarsely, “Remember to call me when you leave. I’m coming too.”