Heavy snow began falling again. Yun Ye stood beneath the Yun family’s memorial archway, looking at the endless road where not a single person could be seen. He shook his head and led Wang Cai toward the wilderness.
After it snowed, Wang Cai refused to go out for walks, burrowing into the hay pile all day to lie there. This wouldn’t do. If a horse didn’t like to walk or run, it would quickly be finished.
But the stable hands had tried every method and couldn’t get Wang Cai out of the house. Even coaxing him with warm fermented rice wine didn’t work. Usually, Wang Cai would drink his fill of the wine, then burrow back into the hay pile to sleep. Even the stable hands kneeling and kowtowing was useless.
With no other choice, Yun Ye had to take action himself, grabbing Wang Cai’s ear and scolding him. Only this way would Wang Cai lazily follow Yun Ye outside. Once outside and feeling the cold, he wanted to burrow back into the stable, but was lightly slapped twice on the neck by Yun Ye. He could only walk outside with extreme reluctance, and even then, he needed Yun Ye to use his head to push forward, helping block the wind for him.
The weather was too cold. The originally gentle snowflakes had turned into ice shards that hurt sharply when they struck the face. Wang Cai was shivering, thick jets of white breath spurting from his large nostrils. To help Wang Cai feel warm, Yun Ye could only slowly start jogging. This way, Wang Cai could also run a couple steps. Sleeping all day without activity—never mind a horse, even a person couldn’t stand it.
Cold air drilled into his lungs, stinging his chest cavity painfully. However, after running for a while, he couldn’t feel it anymore. Wang Cai’s body also loosened up. Without needing Yun Ye to run alongside, he began frolicking on his own in the wild field.
Watching Wang Cai run faster and faster, Yun Ye’s heart finally settled. Wang Cai’s instinct to run was still there—this was good. Live well—this old man hasn’t died yet, so if you want to torment yourself to death, no way! Since the two brothers came out from the mountains together, they should go back together. Leaving either one alone in this world would be wrong.
“I’ve been watching you for a long time. This is truly rare—watching a horse and shedding tears. Is this still the iron-blooded great general who ran rampant in the northern desert? Tell me truthfully, were you waiting for me, or taking the horse for a walk?”
Yun Ye used his sleeve to wipe the reddened corners of his eyes, ignoring the person behind him and continuing to watch Wang Cai frolic. Seeing the white breath from Wang Cai’s nostrils becoming increasingly rapid, he finally blew a whistle. Already tired from running, Wang Cai immediately ran back, bringing his drool-covered large mouth toward Yun Ye’s face.
“Actually, I feel the only thing you care about in this world is this horse. Tell me, does your White Jade Capital only ever trust livestock? Looking at how tightly you guard against people, isn’t that a bit too boring?”
Han Zhe had become even more handsome, or rather even more bewitching. Two eyebrows slanting into his temples, paired with a short beard—no matter how you looked at it, he didn’t seem like a good person.
“Tonight you’ll sleep in Dan Ying’s room!” Yun Ye helped Wang Cai brush off the snow from his body and said simply to Han Zhe.
“Why? I nearly froze to death on the plateau. Hurry up and let me warm up at your home.”
“Looking and dressing like a lecher—the Yun family has many beautiful women and doesn’t welcome you.”
Han Zhe burst into loud laughter, pointing at Yun Ye and saying, “Still that petty appearance. Han Zhe doesn’t need to be a lecher to get women. My little sister, such a beauty, is living at your home and I haven’t said anything, yet you’re still guarding against me?”
“Your sister moved into the Yun family to make it convenient to fight with Xiao Wu. They’ve already fought three times these past days. Not bad—no clear winner. I heard you’ve been torturing people to death on the plateau. How do you have time to come to Guanzhong?”
“I’m building a city in the sky! The plateau is too lonely under blue skies and white clouds, lacking a magnificent palace. I want to live in the place closest to the Heavenly Palace, as the Heavenly Immortals’ neighbor. This way, I can hear their whispers. I also want to know why they treat me so cruelly.”
“Heaven and earth are not benevolent and treat all things as straw dogs. I have sufficient military force, so I can command the world. Han Zhe came naked into this world and doesn’t want to leave naked. After you die, your children will remember you. After I die, let the people of the world remember me.”
“The three-hundred-li Epang Palace—where is it now? Writing names in stone, I worry the stone will rot faster than corpses.”
Han Zhe burst into loud laughter, laughing with extreme desolation, pointing at Yun Ye and saying, “The people you killed in the Western Regions are probably many times more than I killed, right? You also said something: ‘After I die, let the floods surge to the heavens.’ That statement was marvelously put.”
“That was angry talk I said when my emotions were low or when I was furious. Look at me now—am I not wholeheartedly serving the country and the people? Every day I enter the government hall, open those memorials, and seeing news of the common people living in peace and contentment makes me happy for them. Seeing human cruelty, I shed tears of sympathy for them. Between pen and ink, I punish evil and promote good, praise and criticize loyalty and virtue—harmoniously and joyfully.”
“I’ve now basically achieved worrying before the world worries, rejoicing after the world rejoices. My entire person has been thoroughly elevated. You and I are no longer on the same spiritual level. The so-called ‘befriend worthy people, distance petty people’ is a life attitude I’ve been diligently pursuing recently. Just thinking about it, I feel incredibly noble.”
Han Zhe’s face turned green. Helplessly, he said to Yun Ye, “Who have you been with recently? How did you become like this?”
Yun Ye sighed worriedly, “No choice. This is an edict handed down by the Emperor. The old man believes I’m rather skilled at confounding right and wrong and wants me to work with others to transform his Xuanwu Gate Incident into an event that future descendants can sing praises about. So I accidentally became like this.”
“Indeed difficult—not easy to change. He imprisoned his father, killed his older and younger brothers, made his brothers’ wives into his own wives. I also heard he wouldn’t even let go of Emperor Yang of Sui’s wife. Just short of raping his daughter-in-law. If he’d done that, he’d possess all five poisons. If you didn’t say his name, anyone would think the person who did these things was definitely the scum you speak of.”
“You’re truly put in a difficult position. How did you accept such a shameless assignment?”
“I wanted to give this credit to Zhangsun Wuji, but Zhangsun Wuji said he was old and weak and couldn’t handle such a great responsibility. I also wanted to give this assignment to the new Minister of Revenue, Dugu Mou, but that fellow said he was inadequately talented and learned and really couldn’t smooth this matter over. Finally, it landed in my hands. However, I recently couldn’t stand it either and gave the assignment to Xu Jingzong. This fellow was wildly delighted. I heard he’s now almost finished, just waiting for the Emperor to nod approval before finally writing this matter into the Court Diary.”
Han Zhe asked thoughtfully, “The Court Diary’s recording work should be completed by court historians. The Yan family are all stubborn mules—I’m afraid it won’t work. Your Majesty is thinking too simply.”
“The one recording the Court Diary now is Li Yifu. You should have an impression of this person. Old Man Yan was sent to compile the Historical Records Sequel, so I need to tell my family’s descendants that it’s better not to read these years’ Imperial Annals. Even wild histories record more accurately than official histories. What I’m doing is truly poisoning humanity!”
The two men chatted and laughed as they returned to the Yun family estate. In the heavy snow, the marketplace was still bustling. The New Year was approaching, and everywhere were common people purchasing New Year goods. Their simple faces had all been frozen by the cold wind into the appearance of red persimmons, but their smiles weren’t diminished one bit. White breath spraying from their mouths, they laughed and joked with neighbors. The baskets on their arms invariably held a large piece of pork, a fish, a bottle of wine, a large package of milk candy. Now they were lined up at the Yun family’s side gate waiting to receive a bundle of fresh chives.
The Yun family’s greenhouse production was very abundant, especially chives. One greenhouse was planted entirely with this item. Originally they had wanted to sell what the family couldn’t finish eating at the market, but Xinyue later discovered this was very shameful. So before the New Year, they would cut all these chives, and as long as neighbors wanted to eat chives, they could come to the Yun family to get them. Now it had already become a tradition.
Whenever a family wanted to eat chive dumplings, they’d send children to the Yun family to ask. Everyone was already very accustomed to it. Today, arriving at the New Year’s eve, there were many people wanting chives.
Old Qian never passed up such opportunities. Already quite advanced in years, wearing fur robes and a cotton cap, hands tucked in his sleeves, he smiled and bantered with the farmers, calling them lazy good-for-nothings who didn’t know to build their own greenhouses and only knew to beg from the master’s household. Next year’s chives would need new roots—they should all go eat dog feces.
The farmers weren’t intimidated by this marquis household’s great steward either. Opening their mouths in the scolding tone unique to Guanzhong people, they said when they ate dog feces, they definitely wouldn’t forget to save a mouthful for Old Qian.
Old Qian just had this mean habit. Even being cursed at didn’t anger him. He raised his voice shouting at the household servants, telling them to hurry up—didn’t they see the neighbors all standing in the snow waiting? He kept complaining to the neighbors, saying today’s young fellows weren’t as hardworking as the old fellows, eating enough for three but when working not worth a fart. All spoiled by the family head. Not feeding them for three days would definitely make them diligent.
These words immediately earned agreement from several elderly men. Without prior arrangement, they reminisced about their youth, saying they themselves carried hundreds of thousands of pounds of things in one day, then went home and could still plow a hundred acres of land…
Han Zhe stood in the road watching this scene, unwilling to move his feet. Finally, he heaved a long sigh and said, “This is the human world. Indeed more lively and more pleasing to watch than the Heavenly Palace. What’s most abundant in the Heavenly Palace are only cold stones. Whether carved or uncarved, they cannot escape stone’s nature—cold and icy.”
Yun Ye said impatiently, “I live in the human world. You plan to live as an immortal, so naturally there will be great differences. Your sister wants to live happily. These days she’s been running around the Academy like a child, deliberately teasing the Academy’s silly young men. Those silly young men have been frequently punished recently. In the dead of winter they still have to pile artificial mountains—looking quite miserable.”
Han Zhe laughed. Yun Ye saw tears in the corners of this fellow’s eyes. After sliding down his face, they fell on his beard and quickly turned into crystalline ice beads.