Xinyue knew that her husband and son were secretly eating in that small room. When she turned around and didn’t see Wang Cai, she ground her teeth in frustration. There was nothing they couldn’t eat at home—why did they have to hide in the small courtyard to eat?
As a clever woman, Xinyue naturally knew it was best to play dumb. Her husband was such a smart person—how could he not know that his actions couldn’t be hidden from anyone? It was absurd. That small courtyard was cleaned daily by servants and maids she herself arranged. She was just a bit dissatisfied that her husband didn’t bring her along.
What a strange man. When Li Rong came, he had also been to that place several times. When Yun Huan grew to ten years old, he would probably go there too. In other words, that place belonged to the men. At least Yun Mu had never been there.
“There’s no need to arrange food for the Marquis and the young master. They’ve already eaten,” Xinyue instructed the maid.
Li Yuan’s death truly came at an inconvenient time. All marriages among the nobility were halted. Xiao Dong’s wedding was postponed. Xu Jingzong sent three matchmakers to explain that the Xu family very much wanted to bring the young lady Xiao Dong over, but encountering the national mourning period, they could only delay the date. The Xu family father and son were both officials, so this couldn’t be helped. They asked the Yun Family not to take it to heart.
Xiao Dong’s situation was manageable—just delay it until next year. But Xiao Ya’s was troublesome, pushed back by two whole years. This damned mourning period! Xiao Ya was already seventeen. In two years, she would be twenty. Xinyue was anxious, but Xiao Ya just laughed heartily. For her, this was great news. She didn’t want to go to that godforsaken place in Qi Province at all.
Li You’s behavior was different from others. He insisted on building a mourning hut and observing filial piety for his imperial grandfather for three years. This single act alone won him waves of praise from the entire court. His fief was expanded outward by another hundred li. Quan Wanji, for teaching Prince Qi so well, was promoted three ranks. Yin Fei also received a promotion of one rank as a reward.
After getting thoroughly drunk, Quan Wanji reported to the Emperor that Prince Qi You had become rule-abiding, observing proper etiquette and law, which meant his teaching had been successful. He no longer needed to continue instructing him and requested to return to the Hongwen Academy to continue teaching. The Emperor approved.
Within forty li surrounding the Xian Mausoleum was entirely the imperial tomb district. The households within the imperial tomb had the responsibility of guarding the mausoleum. Actually, their greatest benefit was that they didn’t have to pay taxes. No matter how much they harvested, it was all theirs. Moreover, the better and more abundant the harvest within the imperial tomb, the more it demonstrated the Great Tang’s prosperity. The imperial family would even reward them.
Li You understood that like Li Ke, his bloodline carried original sin. Wanting to obtain merit through regular channels was nearly impossible. To leave his descendants without future troubles, he had to work on the character of filial piety. Although being confined to the imperial tomb for three years would cause him considerable suffering, during these three years absolutely no one would think to impeach him. Questions about his bloodline couldn’t be asked. Even if the Yin Family had overwhelming crimes, as the fifth son of the Li Family currently observing filial piety at the imperial tomb, he could only be praised. Standing in an undefeatable position was what Li You most wanted to achieve, and now his goal was achieved. His fief had more than doubled, he didn’t have to leave Chang’an early, and his mother wouldn’t be alone either. This was already the best outcome.
As for taking Xiao Ya, who came to visit him, hunting in the imperial tomb district, that was purely a form of life’s pleasure. Only at this time did Xiao Ya see a completely new Li You. His swordsmanship was excellent—he alone could handle several household guards. His archery skills were even more frighteningly good. Birds flitting among tree branches couldn’t escape his sharp arrows. Unknowingly, Li You had fulfilled all of Xiao Ya’s fantasies about heroes. What’s more, this hero belonged only to her. So she went to the imperial tomb even more frequently, frightening Yin Fei until her beautiful face turned pale, fearing the two would cause a scandal at the imperial tomb. She specially sent Hong Gu to watch them closely. Whenever there was any breach of propriety, she would cough loudly or report some matter.
Today at the academy, Yun Ye had dealt with several outrageous students because they had been kicking a half-grown panda around like a ball. Although Yun Ye had done this before himself when he was angry, he would never normally do such a thing. The punishment was severe, to the point that Hong Cheng found it baffling. Yun Ye regarded pandas as national treasures, but in the Great Tang, pandas were definitely classified as wild beasts, with not much difference from wild boars running around the forests.
Princess Zhi safely grew to thirteen years old. Although her face was still shrouded with a deathly pallor and her body was frail, when she saw that panda that had been kicked around like a ball limping and circling around her, she became angry for the first time in her life.
Everyone in Chang’an knew that Princess Zhi was a fragile person who couldn’t be touched. If anything happened, she would be torn to pieces by her formidable father. The four fellows being punished by carrying water were very perceptive and squatted down holding their heads. The princess struck one flying with a bamboo rod, kicked another so hard he rolled up the slope, and the remaining two seemed so frightened by the princess’s formidable martial prowess that they rolled their eyes back, stuck out their tongues, and fainted.
Only after this did the fuming Princess Zhi contentedly take the panda to find food. As soon as she left, those four scoundrels immediately came back to life. This was the method the academy students had figured out for dealing with Princess Zhi’s anger.
There was no choice. Princess Zhi, disregarding her own health, insisted on attending classes at the academy. Other princesses could be ignored. When someone like Gao Yang got beaten up by Xiao Ya, it was cause for celebration. But Princess Zhi was different. Naturally kind people were liked everywhere. Add to that her poor health—she was as delicate as a little flower in the cold wind. The entire academy cherished her and hoped this little girl could live a bit longer.
The academy’s atmosphere was very suitable for Princess Zhi’s recuperation. To make her a bit happier, students going to Qinling for practicals would specially dig up new varieties of orchids from the mountains for her. When they found rare fruits, they would also bring some for her to taste. Those who considered themselves handsome and highly talented would from time to time write a couple of crooked poems praising Princess Zhi’s beauty.
Princess Zhi was a regular visitor to Sun Simiao’s medicine hut. Old Sun always wanted to first build up Princess Zhi’s body to make it strong, but discovered this approach wouldn’t work either. Princess Zhi’s heart was too fragile and couldn’t bear too much pressure. To have a healthy body, one first needed to have a strong body. If her weight increased, the total blood volume would increase, and her heart couldn’t bear it. Old Sun could only do the opposite—that is, control Princess Zhi’s weight. So far it seemed to be working well.
Final exam time had arrived, and the academy students immediately became tense. Every year after final exams, many terrible things happened. For instance, so-and-so was hung up and beaten with a belt by his father, so-and-so had a miserable winter break eating pig slop while reviewing books, so-and-so’s engagement fell through, and so on.
Yun Ye walked back and forth in the examination hall. He discovered that cheating was almost no different in the Great Tang than in later generations. Liberal arts were manageable—essays couldn’t be copied, and views couldn’t be copied. Mathematics was different. Students in the Great Tang found learning mathematics extremely difficult. Monsters like Li Tai couldn’t be counted.
The matter of two pipes, one incoming and one outgoing, had stumped these students so badly. At this time, some were gritting their teeth, some were gnashing their teeth, some were dejected, some were dumbstruck. At this moment, if that crazy water pool manager were here, they would strangle him alive.
Tang people viewed the world emotionally rather than rationally. From childhood, the education they received was to view the world emotionally. “White hair three thousand zhang long,” “flying cascade plunging three thousand feet,” “swallowing like a whale,” “a thousand cups without getting drunk”—these were illusions produced when emotion reached its extreme. Viewing the world microscopically was painful for them. They would rather see flowers through mist than accept cruel facts.
Yet mathematics was precisely something that couldn’t have those things. Approximately, possibly, perhaps—these words didn’t belong to mathematics. If matters weren’t clearly and distinctly divided, it wasn’t mathematics.
Yun Ye saw their suffering and felt worried. No wonder someone like him with half a bottle of knowledge could become a mathematics master in the Great Tang. There was nothing to be proud of about this—it was a tragedy. So his gaze toward these students became cold, and those students who wanted to cheat appeared even more helpless.
“Books, treatises, stele inscriptions, records, prefaces, memorials, biographies, eulogies, rhapsodies, proclamations, edicts, petitions—you can all master these literary forms skillfully. Why are you completely helpless against a water pool? Because those things are what you must use as officials, while mathematics is dispensable?”
“Let me tell you, you’re mistaken. In the future, when serving as officials, data will also be an important component. If you want to be muddled, incompetent officials, then don’t value mathematics, because mathematics is what will let you clearly understand the advantages and disadvantages of the places you’ll manage in the future. Now calm down and think carefully. These problems are the simplest.”
Teacher Li Gang saw this scene from outside the window, nodded with satisfaction, and left. That Yun Ye could settle down and properly teach made the old teacher very satisfied. No longer engaging in petty scheming to mix into the court—he believed this was reforming and turning toward righteousness. Education in the Great Tang was what everyone should value.
It wasn’t only the academy paying attention to the final exams. Li Er also attached great importance to them. Each time, he would personally review the final exam rankings and make important notations, especially the conduct column, which he would focus on particularly. The academy’s judgments were quite accurate. Whenever Li Er wanted to use an academy student, he would retrieve that student’s file from the academy. He wouldn’t just look at the surface—he needed to make a comprehensive understanding of the person he wanted to use. Now, the Great Tang’s archives building was under tense construction. In the future, officials’ records couldn’t possibly be left in the Ministry of Personnel to be eaten by insects and gnawed by rats.
He also wouldn’t easily abandon a person just because a student didn’t do well on one exam. He discovered that such forms were very practical. So the desks of the Great Tang’s officials gained another strange task—that was filling out forms.
When heavy snow scattered across the sky, the academy’s winter break finally arrived. Students from other regions continued to stay at the academy. Students who could travel home hurried on their way home. No matter how good the academy was, it ultimately wasn’t as warm as one’s own home.