Chapter 01: The Desire to Leave Arises
At the Yun family ancestral shrine, colored clouds drifted low. Yun Ye hadn’t trimmed his beard in over two years, and the whiskers under his chin had grown a full half-foot long. Dressed in blue-gray clothes, he was using a hoe to maintain the burial grounds. The old ancestor had been laid to rest here for over two years now. Compared to the low, modest graves surrounding it, the tall burial mound appeared exceptionally grand. Behind Yun Ye stood three tiled houses—he had lived here for these past two years and had not taken a single step away.
“Your family’s old ancestor passed away two years ago, but the marriage between Yun Mu and my child is pressing and urgent! The girl is already twenty years old. If she doesn’t marry soon, it will look bad. Although we can say the great mourning period delayed things, at the end of the day, young Mu is only a great-great-grandson. Does Duke Chu need to take this so seriously?” Yan Shigu was also squatting nearby helping to pull weeds, but his mouth kept chattering away.
Yun Ye straightened up, added some soil to the grave mound, nodded and said: “Then let’s proceed with the arrangements. When a daughter is grown, she shouldn’t be kept at home—keep her too long and you might end up with resentment. The Yun family doesn’t have many particular rules, so just follow the Yan family’s protocols. As long as the children are happy, the old ancestor’s spirit in heaven won’t blame us.”
Yan Shigu laughed heartily: “Exactly right! When my family’s old ancestor passed away, he specifically left word that those in the clan who should marry should marry, those who should have children should have children—being lively and prosperous is what makes a family. Since Duke Chu has agreed, this old man will go back and make the arrangements. The protocols are somewhat complicated, but this is the principal wife for the heir—we cannot be negligent!”
Watching Yan Shigu depart with great satisfaction, Yun Ye put down his hoe and sat on a small chair, holding a teapot and drinking tea intermittently. Xiao Miao, her hair wrapped in a blue cloth handkerchief, walked over leading a young child. The child walked like a headless fly, spreading his arms wide and wanting Yun Ye to hold him.
Yun Ye quickly put down the teapot. The child crashed into his father’s embrace like a cannonball, reaching out his chubby hands to grab his father’s beard. Yun Ye kept shaking his head to prevent his son from catching his whiskers. This child had strong, powerful limbs and great strength in his hands—if he grabbed the beard, he would pull hard. Yun Ye had already lost more than just a strand or two of beard hair.
Although it was awkward, Yun Ye felt extremely happy. He had missed Yun Shou’s infancy, missed Yun Huan’s infancy, not to mention Li Rong’s infancy. As a father, he had been unqualified. Fortunately, heaven had given him a chance to make amends. From Yun Lei’s birth to when he slowly learned to walk and called out his first “Father,” he had been present for everything. He hadn’t missed a single moment.
Hearing the child’s laughter outside, Xinyue said to Lingdang and Na Rimu: “He’s finally recovering. This time, my husband suffered too great a blow. Someone who loved to laugh so much now basically doesn’t laugh anymore. His heart must be suffering terribly.”
Na Rimu rubbed her embroidery needle on her head and, while embroidering a peony, replied: “My husband just cannot bear to see old people pass away. Back when Old Master Yan, Master Li Gang, and Duke Yi passed away, he was despondent for a long time. This time when the old ancestor passed, being able to recover after two years is already quite remarkable.”
Lingdang sighed and said: “We sisters should die after our husband. If we were to pass away one by one, who knows what kind of pain he would have to endure. This younger sister would rather keep that pain for herself.”
Xinyue looked outside with worry. Na Rimu said lightly: “If my husband passes away first, I won’t suffer—life or death is just a matter of one stroke. When the time comes, I’ll be placed in the same coffin with him. That’s a hundred times better than being outside. You all will still have to weep at the grave then, haha…”
Na Rimu had barely laughed twice when Xinyue slapped her on the head, cutting off her laughter. Xinyue’s willow-leaf eyebrows stood upright, she was furious beyond measure, and said viciously: “I’m the principal wife! Even if we’re sharing a coffin, I go in first. What concubine gets to enter the family master’s coffin? My husband has spoiled you from childhood to old age—you have no sense of propriety left!”
“Then you have to leave me a crack, or drill a hole in the coffin wood so I can climb in later. You’ve always competed with me for the blankets anyway, so this time I want to compete once too—just once in my whole life.”
Xinyue put down her needlework and sighed softly: “In other households, concubines die early for an early rebirth, but our family is the opposite. Five women revolving around one man, and all completely devoted. Look at how decisively Jiu Yi died—caught a chill and was gone just like that.”
Na Rimu shook her head firmly: “I won’t do it. As long as my husband lives one more day, I’ll accompany him for that day. I haven’t had enough of such days. Don’t hope that I’ll die early. If my husband is gone, even if you beg me to keep living, I won’t.”
Lingdang looked at Na Rimu with envy—such words she dared not say to Xinyue.
Wang Cai had soaked up enough sun on the sunny slope and felt somewhat hungry. He looked down at the newly sprouted grass on the ground—it was still too short. He called out impatiently, and the seventy-something-year-old groom quickly emerged from the small house outside. The basket was filled with tender grass that the old groom had dug up by the roots—the white roots and stems were the most tender and plump, and also Wang Cai’s favorite.
After eating the entire basket, his stomach still wasn’t full. The groom brought some cooked wheat bran, but Wang Cai spat it out after two bites and threw a tantrum, trampling the basket on the ground into pieces. Only after the groom shouted at his two sons to go dig more grass in the wild fields did he quiet down. He strolled into the small courtyard, lay down beside Yun Ye, and continued his nap.
Yun Ye worriedly pried open Wang Cai’s mouth and was concerned to see the severely worn teeth—they were almost level with the gums. If this continued, Wang Cai wouldn’t be able to eat anything. Would he have to drink only thin porridge from now on?
He instructed the groom to choose soft food for Wang Cai from now on and absolutely forbid dry beans. The groom, having cared for Wang Cai his entire life, naturally knew what to do and told Yun Ye that Wang Cai hadn’t been fed dry feed since last year.
Yun Ye lifted Yun Lei, who was sprawled on Wang Cai’s belly, and handed him to Xiao Miao. He found a brush and helped Wang Cai groom his coat. Wang Cai was in good spirits this year—his full coat of date-red hair had grown well, soft and pleasant to touch.
Li Tai walked into the Yun estate carrying two bottles of wine. He jerked his chin toward Xiao Miao, who smiled and carried the child to Xinyue, then went to the kitchen herself. In no time, she brought out four plates of dishes, among which peanuts were indispensable.
This courtyard had no maids or servants—all matters required the masters to handle personally. Li Tai moved a small stool for himself and sat beside Yun Ye, saying: “The southern fleet has now appeared in the extreme north and plans to cross the ice sea while it’s still daylight all day long. This is the most dangerous time. Don’t you have anything to say?”
After Yun Ye finished grooming Wang Cai’s coat, seeing that Wang Cai didn’t want to move, he didn’t drive him away either. He washed his hands and came back before responding to Li Tai: “Icebergs—those things are very dangerous. If they get trapped there, it will be troublesome. By the way, is there any news from the northern fleet?”
“No. The places they went to are uninhabited wilderness, so no news can be sent back.”
“Wilderness is wilderness, but there must be quite a few people there, especially in the Sun God Nation. They also have a calendar and writing system. Their calendar is even better than ours, and their tall architectural complexes—in our Great Tang, only the Great Wall can compare. So don’t call them savages. They have history, a calendar, writing, and social division of labor—they are a nation. Don’t look down on them.”
Li Tai opened the wine bottle and took a swig directly from it, saying irritably: “It’s as if you’ve seen them yourself. I’m just waiting for that thing you mentioned called rubber to appear. Once we get it back, my steam engine can officially hit the road. Right now it’s very troublesome—after running for a while on the road, it falls apart. But this batch is quite durable. I’ve already modified them—no longer burning coal but burning oil instead. Oil heats water much better than coal. In a bit, we’ll drive it out and go for a ride like you said.”
“By the way, let me ask you something—why is your second son laying rail tracks between Chang’an and Luoyang? Does your Yun family have so much money you don’t know what to do with it? Iron rails two inches high, and you’re laying two of them, with fine timber underneath. Do you know how extravagant this is?”
Yun Ye said expressionlessly: “Mind your own business about what my Yun family plans to do. His Majesty already approved it—it’s none of your concern. Just consider it me having too much money to burn.”
When Yun Huan reported the rail-laying to the court, the explanation was that fast horses would pull carriages on the iron rails, and one could reach Luoyang from Chang’an in just one day. Previously, they had laid tracks covered with iron sheets, but they proved very non-durable. Now the Yun family was laying genuine iron rails, so the Ministry of Works generously gave the Yun family fifty years of toll collection rights. Others didn’t know about the profit involved, but Yun Ye understood it all too well. Li Tai’s steam engine was actually already quite mature—only the sealing was problematic. Once rubber was obtained and good sealing gaskets were made, a locomotive pulling seven or eight carriages running at fifty kilometers per hour—Yun Ye didn’t dare imagine how much profit would be involved.
Li Tai stared at Yun Ye carefully for a while and said: “No, I want to invest!”
Yun Ye smiled slightly. A smart person is a smart person indeed. He patted Li Tai’s hand and led him into an adjacent room. This was a prototype of the Chang’an to Luoyang railway that he had created on a sand table when he had nothing better to do.
Li Tai took one look and shouted that he’d been deceived, because lying on the railway was precisely the steam engine he had personally participated in making—the largest kind, the type that could run faster than horses for short periods!
Yun Ye ignored Li Tai’s loud protests. He grabbed small carriages from the side and connected them one by one to the locomotive, pushing it all the way from Chang’an to Luoyang. Then he said to Li Tai: “Four hours!”
Li Tai closed his eyes and calculated for a moment, then jumped up and said to Yun Ye: “You’re going to be truly wealthy enough to rival the nation!”
Yun Ye shook his head and said to Li Tai: “I need to build overseas bases. I need a lot of money, an enormous amount. So at this time, I want to earn as much as I can.”
“You’re preparing to leave?” Hearing this statement, Li Tai was even more shocked than when he’d heard about the money-making scheme earlier.
“If I leave now, we can preserve some feelings between us. I’m worried that if I leave too late, with everyone fighting over things, there will be no feelings left. You know me—I value feelings quite heavily.”