Ever since discussing the western expedition at the Cheng house, Yun Ye hadn’t mentioned the western expedition again. Old Cheng had also given his three sons a gag order, so the matter of the western expedition was only known to a limited number of people. Old Cheng had already begun placing Cheng Chumo into the Right Martial Guard. Once the court began supporting the Turks, the Right Martial Guard would definitely be the most suitable force.
Yun Ye was very reluctant to go to Li Jing’s house. The main reason was Qiu Ran Ke. This bastard would definitely put on the airs of an elder and make things difficult for him. But seeing that the Lantern Festival was approaching, not going would truly be too discourteous. Yun Ye went alone to Li Jing’s house, planning to sit for a while and then leave.
Li Jing wore casual home attire, wearing a tall hat to look like a scholar. Hong Funv also wore a robe with clustered flower patterns. The two looked more like country gentry than like knights-errant or great generals.
“I thought your eyes had grown to the top of your head and you looked down on small households like the Li family. It seems you still know how to write the two characters for ‘propriety.’ Since you’ve come, let’s begin the feast.” Li Jing didn’t waste words and directly invited Yun Ye to the flower hall to eat. Among the Great Tang’s noble families, nowadays if one didn’t arrange one or two verdant rooms in one’s home during winter, one would be embarrassed to see people.
The flower hall didn’t have particularly precious flowers and plants. Instead, there were many vegetables. A row of chili pepper plants grew on the windowsill. A few peppers had already turned red, adding a bit of bright color to the pavilion.
Not seeing Qiu Ran Ke, Yun Ye felt somewhat strange. Li Jing sat in the seat of honor and, seeing Yun Ye looking around, said, “Although Zhongjian is an acquaintance, it’s not appropriate to meet today. You came bearing a visiting card—that’s the principle. When this old man is receiving an imperial marquis, I cannot introduce you to a pirate from the distant seas. Since the rules have been established, they must be followed. If everyone acted chaotically, the world would become chaotic too.”
Yun Ye stood up and poured wine for Li Jing and Hong Funv. Sighing, he said, “Excessive courtesy toward others must mean one has a request. Uncle, please speak directly. Otherwise, this meal won’t sit well.”
Li Jing drained his cup in one gulp and stared at Yun Ye, saying word by word, “Zhongjian’s power is exhausted and his strength is failing. Can he retreat into the strait to take shelter temporarily?”
“No. If he dares to enter the strait, I’ll use his head to consecrate my banner. Outside the strait, including the strait itself, is the empire’s internal sea and cannot be defiled. This is also Yun Ye’s responsibility. Official ships can enter, merchant ships can enter, but pirates cannot enter!” Yun Ye spoke very decisively.
Hong Funv suddenly stood up, seemingly very angry, but was pulled back by Li Jing. He dropped the matter of Qiu Ran Ke. The two passed cups back and forth, continuously drinking, as if the earlier dispute didn’t exist.
After three rounds of wine and five courses of dishes, Yun Ye rose to take his leave. Li Jing very courteously saw Yun Ye to the door and watched him leave by carriage before going back inside.
Hong Funv angrily pointed in the direction Yun Ye had left and said loudly to Li Jing, “Such an ungrateful little brat—why must you be so courteous to him? He can’t even agree to such a small matter. You shouldn’t have passed your military treatises to him, resulting in your being unable to control him today.”
Li Jing looked at Hong Funv strangely and said, “What more do you want from him? He’s a great general of the empire, holding military power over the South Sea, guarding the gates for the empire. With such grave responsibilities on his shoulders, how can he act selfishly? Removing the fact that Zhongjian is our brother, if it were me, I would have answered even more ruthlessly. Moreover, he’s already given Zhongjian a way to live. This is already the best result I predicted. Don’t speak nonsense.”
“He’s going to use Zhongjian’s head to consecrate his banner, and you still say he gave Zhongjian a way to live?” Hong Funv’s anger intensified.
“You don’t understand the dialogue between officials, so don’t interrupt. You only need to remember that Yun Ye has given Zhongjian a way to live.” Li Jing didn’t explain to Hong Funv. Words between officials, in many cases, only need to leave one person’s mouth and enter another’s ears. That window paper really cannot be punctured.
Yun Ye’s carriage left the city and circuitously came to Yan Zhitui’s grave. Liu Jinbao took out offerings from the carriage and placed them on the offering table. This old friend left too hastily, too quickly, to the point that Yun Ye hadn’t emerged from the shadow of his death for a long time. What a witty old man, what a wise old man—how could he be lying underground now?
Declining the incense and candles the tomb keeper brought over—the old man definitely wouldn’t like these things. Sweet and sour fruit syrup was what the old man loved most, along with a small plate of fried beans that Yun Ye had selected one by one. Fried together with sand, they were most crisp and fragrant. When alive, he would always beg Yun Ye to fry him a plateful. The old man had said that the more teeth one lost, the more one liked eating hard things. This was consistent with his temperament—growing stronger with age!
Yan Zishan heard the tomb keeper’s report and hurried over. Seeing Yun Ye sitting in front of the tombstone speaking softly to the grave, he didn’t come over but stood in the distance waiting for Yun Ye to finish speaking. He was clear that Yun Ye and his father were friends.
Yun Ye’s conversation seemed very pleasant. When it ended, he bowed to the grave, greeted Yan Zishan briefly, and left by carriage.
On the road to Yushan, traffic rolled continuously, mixed with fragrant clothes and elegant figures. Nowadays, the best place to go for the Lantern Festival wasn’t the flower fair in Chang’an marketplace, nor the lantern mountain on Vermillion Bird Street, nor flying Kongming lanterns on Longshou Plain. Those rough men blowing whistles and dancing with large fish lanterns and dragon lanterns had nothing to watch. What Chang’an nobles most liked now was to go see the ice lanterns on Yushan’s Dongyang River. That was where distinguished people should go.
Due to the high terrain, the entire Dongyang River was frozen solid. Previously, because of the large water volume, only half the river could freeze in winter. Now more and more people lived on Yushan. During winter, water needed to be stored in that huge reservoir, so the water in Dongyang River gradually decreased. When the weather was coldest, the entire Dongyang River became a world of ice.
Meddlesome academy students extracted large blocks of ice from the river and, according to their imagination, carved them into all sorts of strange things. They also melted their leftover candle stubs from daily life, reformed them into new thick candles, and stuffed them into their sculptures. The effect was surprisingly good. After inviting academy teachers to view them, all were greatly amazed.
So the leader among the students conceived the idea of making a big profit. This time it wasn’t random carving but hiring experienced stonemasons and sculptors. Thus the river became filled with dragons, phoenixes, lions, tigers, and all kinds of divine beasts. They took advantage of the waterfall on Dongyang River and carved it into a Thousand-Armed Guanyin. For this, Pang Yuhai specially sought out the Grand Monk Daoxin, believing the cost of this statue should be borne by them. After Daoxin viewed the ice sculpture, he immediately satisfied Pang Yuhai’s request and told him that if they could carve out all five hundred Arhats, he would not only be willing to pay the sculptors’ fees but even the students’ expenses could all be paid by the temple.
Pang Yuhai refused Daoxin’s request. After extorting a large sum of money, he believed Daoist immortal statues should also appear on Dongyang River. If Yuan Tiangang and the others didn’t agree, he would just randomly carve a few Daoist statues and place them beside that magnificent Thousand-Armed Guanyin statue… This might collect even more money.
This year was already the third year. Pang Yuhai was very proud because, for such activities, he didn’t need to spend a single copper coin—monks and Daoists competed to send him large amounts of money. So during the ice lantern festival, don’t be surprised to see academy students spending lavishly. This was all money they earned. The remaining money would become meal subsidies for the students.
An admission fee of one silver coin kept the farmers who planned to visit on Lantern Festival day outside the gates. This day belonged to nobles and wealthy merchants. If farmers wanted to see it, they only needed to wait two more days. The ice sculptures on Dongyang River would then be open for free.
At the very front was Zhangsun’s carriage. Yang Fei and Yin Fei were also there. Shouldn’t they be celebrating with the people together with Li Er tonight? Seeing Duan Hong sitting in Zhangsun’s carriage, Yun Ye wasn’t surprised. Needless to say, the one celebrating with the people tonight would definitely be the Great Tang’s Crown Prince Li Chengqian. The Emperor had run to Yushan to see the legendary Milky Way.
This year’s scale was frighteningly large. Ice sculptures stretched for a full five li. There were no fewer than four to five hundred various statues. Some floral sculptures even specially used colored ice, making them look even more colorful and brilliant.
Pandas were also used to make money. These round-headed, round-brained fellows, for their food, had no choice but to humiliatingly wear harnesses, pulling sleds with tourists back and forth to earn money while also managing to fill their own bellies.
Eagle’s Beak Cliff was the best place to view the lanterns. Standing here, beneath one’s feet was a magnificent Milky Way. After the lamplight reflected off the ice sculptures, it sparkled brilliantly like a celestial marketplace. The crowds coming and going seemed to stroll through a crystal palace. Nobles and wealthy merchants who had seen the ice lanterns last year all believed that single silver coin was well spent.
How could there be fools in the Yun Family estate? Using their own porcelain kiln, they fired dozens of various small ceramic molds, got some pigment, poured it into water and stirred it evenly, left it in the courtyard overnight, knocked out the ice inside, then tied the rope frozen in the ice to bamboo poles. Finally, they stuffed candle stubs inside and lit them, creating little ice lanterns that could be carried in hand. There were lotus lanterns, carp lanterns, and various animal shapes—all looking very cute.
The children went to sell the lanterns while adults hid in the shadows watching. The little children drilled through the crowds peddling everywhere. In two days, they made quite a bit of money.
Li Er didn’t know what madness had seized him. He wouldn’t stay in his own palace on Yushan but insisted on stopping his carriage at the Yun Family’s door. With his disruption, how could the Yun Family entertain their own relatives and friends tonight?
Originally wanting to dawdle and not go home for the time being—acting like a kowtowing insect was very boring. Now it was the new year. Upon seeing elders, one had to perform elaborate ceremonies without exception. Not doing so would result in being accused of having no family upbringing.
What the hell! Duan Hong walked straight over, his face full of smiles, saying, “His Majesty is in very high spirits today. Originally planning to go to the palace, he stopped his carriage when passing your house, preparing to rest a moment and wait until it gets dark before going to view the lantern festival.”
Yun Ye blurted out, “How can this be? Climbing Eagle’s Beak Cliff at night is very dangerous!”
For the first time, Duan Hong saw someone who didn’t welcome the Emperor to his home. His mouth gaped open like a hippopotamus.