“Old Grandpa, this fellow is always yelling. It’s annoying to listen to. Why not just knock him out with a club? I’m also soaking in medicinal water, and you don’t see me yelling.”
“Young man, you’re soaking in tonic medicine. I’m soaking in poison. Can these two be compared?” Hearing Li Dayin bickering with a child, Xiao Wu laughed strangely and burrowed into the room on the left.
Immediately, a series of screams came from the room. Yun Shou shouted for Xiao Wu to get out. Yun Ye drilled into the room to take a look and couldn’t help but laugh. He saw his son sitting stark naked in a large wooden tub, using a towel to protect his vital parts. Xiao Wu was grinning and leaning on the edge of the wooden tub, looking at Yun Shou, still trying to snatch away Yun Shou’s towel.
The medicinal water in the wooden tub had already drained out, and a medicine man was refilling Yun Shou’s tub with water. Yun Ye chased away Xiao Wu, who was intent on teasing his son, and after wiping his son’s back a couple of times with a towel, quietly asked: “You haven’t been home these past few days and even ran to Teacher Sun’s place to soak in medicinal water. Were you injured? Who hit you? Father respects your right to revenge, but you need to tell Father who could beat you so badly that you need to soak in medicinal water?”
“A true man takes responsibility for his own actions. Father, rest assured, if I’ve suffered a loss, I’ll get back at them. They just happened to have numbers on their side and caught me right in the corridor where I couldn’t dodge. Otherwise, I would have pounded them to death.”
Yun Ye irritably smacked his son’s head and said: “Since Her Majesty wants to personally educate you, our family has no way to refuse. Those dragon sons and dragon grandsons—not one of them is any good. When you beat them up, don’t use too much force. Just teach them a lesson. They’re all a bunch of good-for-nothings. If they get beaten to death and you have to pay with your life, our family would suffer a huge loss. Trading our family’s treasure for their worthless trash—our family doesn’t do that kind of losing business.”
“Your child knows. That’s why I only go for their eye sockets, noses, and bellies—these soft places. Even if they get a bit of advantage on my body, when they return home all black and blue, they’ll be punished again by their own elders. This is a victory their families are giving me for free. You’ll see, as long as we fight two more times like this, no one will fight with me anymore.”
After drying his son’s body and carrying him to the bamboo bed to dress, looking at the faint blue bruises appearing on his son’s body, the anger in his heart suddenly surged outward. More than a dozen princes and commandery princes had surrounded his son alone and beaten him. Li Xiang had actually hidden to the side watching, not daring to intervene—he didn’t even have as much courage as his sister Yan Rong.
What was Li Chengqian doing? He couldn’t even handle his own wife’s affairs, causing Yun Shou to always get implicated. This wouldn’t do. If this continued, how many good patches of skin would be left on his son’s body for them to torment?
Sun Simiao had good treasures here, and the Yun Family armory also had good treasures. He would equip his son with all these things. He didn’t believe his fat son would always suffer losses. Still worried that his mother would be upset seeing him covered in wounds, his son had specially run to Teacher Sun’s place to heal his injuries before going home. Yun Shou’s eye sockets were still somewhat blue—the injuries hadn’t healed thoroughly. If Xinyue saw this, she wouldn’t be able to bear it.
After dressing his son neatly, he deliberately let down two locks of hair from the top of his head to cover the bruises at the corners of his eyes. The father and son then went to Li Dayin’s room.
Sun Simiao was holding a small brush, cleaning the formic acid from the completely naked Li Dayin’s body. Just by looking at the red bumps all over his body, one could tell how terrifying the pain he had just endured was.
“Marquis Yun, that Li Yifu—we at the Water Bureau have claimed him. Heh heh heh, shameless yet with meticulous thinking, he’s the best kind of spy. What’s most rare is that this fellow can sense danger coming, and it’s not the result of thought—it’s completely instinctive. That’s what’s precious. At that time, if he had taken one step out of Chang’an City, there would have been no way to turn back. Today, even if he grew a hundred mouths, he couldn’t explain it clearly.”
“That Pang Yuhai is also not bad. He’ll grow into a standard government official. People like that should be left in the imperial court. We who hide in the darkness don’t need his calculations. Ruthlessness, viciousness, and baseness are what we need.”
Yun Ye said strangely: “You’re suffering here, yet you also know about the academy’s affairs? What kind of place do you think the academy is? You’d better not act recklessly. Someone like me understands your difficulties, but don’t expect those teachers to also understand your difficulties. If they discover that you’re actually monitoring the academy, I tell you, His Majesty may only be able to take your head to quell their anger. Li Yifu is indeed excellent, but I hope you can control him. If you slack off even slightly, I tell you, you won’t even know how you died. This cat-like person has great abilities, poisonous thoughts, and many tricks. You’ll have plenty to worry about.”
Li Dayin laughed and carefully placed his leg, which was bound with splints, in a suitable position. Only then did he say to Yun Ye: “The Water Bureau is different from the Bai Qi Si. Ever since His Majesty decided to place the surveillance department under broad daylight, I, Li Dayin, have been hoping day and night for talented people to join. If you could come, that would be best. But the Water Bureau’s temple is too small to accommodate a great Buddha like you. Since you’ve used such a strange method to help the Water Bureau select candidates, how could I, Old Li, have any reason to let it pass?”
“By the way, about the young master getting beaten—it looks like you don’t plan to let it go peacefully, right?”
“Eh? I just made this decision—how do you already know? Could it be you’ve grown clairvoyant eyes and wind-following ears?” Yun Ye was very surprised and pulled at Li Dayin’s head a couple of times to see if there was anything different.
“I smell raw lacquer on you. You don’t need such things yourself, so it can only be prepared for your young master. Please show mercy and don’t truly injure those noble persons.”
“Fortune and misfortune have no gate—people bring them upon themselves. If they don’t bully my son, naturally they’ll be safe and sound. Since they want to humiliate my son, why should we still be polite to them? I’ve restrained my temper a lot these two years. Do they really think I’m made of clay?” The more Yun Ye spoke, the angrier he became. Right before his eyes was an imperial lapdog—perfect for venting. There was a bowl of something black on the table. He casually knocked it over. The black liquid splashed on Li Dayin’s chest and abdomen and began to bubble. Thus, Li Dayin screamed out once again.
Yun Ye slowly walked home with Yun Shou and Xiao Wu. Seeing that her master had walked some distance away, Xiao Wu mysteriously took out a small bottle from her sleeve, waved it in front of Yun Shou, and said quietly: “Little fatty, lend your face to sister for a pinch, and I’ll give you this bottle of medicine. I begged this from Grandfather Sun! With it, absolutely no one will dare bully you anymore.”
“No need. A good man conquers the world with bare fists—that’s real ability. What ability is it to borrow medicinal substances?” Yun Shou was very magnanimous.
Xiao Wu rolled her eyes and said: “You’re planning to use the raw lacquer that Master prepared for you, right? Let me tell you, it’s not good at all. That pungent smell can be detected by anyone. It’s not as good as the bottle in sister’s hand. If others get it on them, it will only take effect after half an hour—a good opportunity for you to clear your name. How about it? Do you agree or not? Just one pinch.”
Yun Ye couldn’t be bothered with their sibling nonsense. He stood lost in thought, looking at the roaring Dongyang River before him. The usually quiet and virgin-like Dongyang River had now become a giant beast. The melting snow water had given it countless strength, and it poured downstream with bared fangs and claws. People were constantly patrolling the riverbank. In another two feet, the river water would overflow the banks.
Not only was the Dongyang River like this, but all the large and small rivers in Guanzhong were the same. The accumulated snow had to find an outlet when it melted. It was said that places downstream with slightly lower terrain had already suffered disasters.
The advantages of the Yun Family estate were very obvious. The terrain was high, and the Dongyang River was in the middle of a mountain valley. As long as they raised a small section of the riverbank, they would be safe and sound. Several minor officials sat in a shelter drinking tea, their demeanor leisurely. This was already the time when the Dongyang River’s water level was at its highest. In another seven or eight days, the water level would return to normal.
Worrying about the country and people had now become a habit for Yun Ye. Whether or not it fell under his jurisdiction, he had to worry first, and then he could eat dinner with satisfaction. All officials were like this.
Shedding tears while lamenting the hardships of people’s livelihood on one hand, while stuffing delicacies into one’s mouth with the other—this was a realm. The heart that worried about the country and people combined with eating, drinking, and playing—it appeared incomparably harmonious.
Government affairs were a mess. No matter whose government affairs they were, they were all a mess. Handling government affairs was also far from as difficult as Yun Ye had imagined. Those considerate subordinates had long ago drafted documents and thought of solutions. He only needed to feel they were feasible and make a grand stroke to approve. Talk about officials working hard mentally and physically was pure nonsense. Those who worked hard mentally and physically were those minor officials who scurried about like ants.
Having refused the Zhangsun Family’s song and dance evening banquet, Yun Ye planned to worry about the country at home for a while. Always taking salary without working—that wasn’t good either. At least on the surface, he had to consider the country a bit.
“Husband, it seems you don’t like the Zhangsun Family?” Xinyue sat under the candlelight pretending to be diligent while embroidering. The money spent on candles was worth more than her embroidery.
“The Zhangsun Family’s enterprising spirit is too vigorous. What our family needs now is to not think of advancement. Actually, I can’t understand why the Zhangsun Family would fully support Ludongzan, causing me to be unable to move against them even now. And there’s Li Jing—I don’t know what he’s thinking either. He’s also fully supporting Zhang Zhongjian. I heard that Feng Ang in Lingnan also has many allies recently. Now the court’s view of the Goguryeo people is also changing. Isn’t it just because they’ve taken a fancy to the mountain goats in the sea?”
“The memorial I submitted requesting to suppress pirates disappeared without a trace once it reached the Secretariat. When I asked Old Fang what was going on, he actually said: ‘When the world is at peace, lay down swords and weapons, give the people of the world a chance to catch their breath and enjoy two years of being human.’ What kind of talk is that? Are pirates also among the people of the world? Without the seal stamped by the Secretariat and His Majesty’s vermillion approval, the Lingnan fleet cannot cross the strait even one step. What I thought would be an easily achieved goal has now been made extremely difficult by these old fellows.”
“If we wait until the Lingnan naval forces suffer a great defeat, by the time we want to wake up, it will be too late. The situation at sea changes in an instant. In just three short years, the pirates’ warships have already been upgraded three generations, especially those pirates in the west—their rate of progress is astonishing.”
“When I saw the Dongyang River water today, I couldn’t help but think of the officers and soldiers drifting on the great sea. If possible, I want to strangle these maritime powers before they’ve grown up.”