After asking three times, no one responded.

Li Gang’s eyes were about to bulge out. His anger had long surpassed the level of “hair standing on end with rage”—except the old man didn’t have many hairs on his head, and with the heavy Confucian cap he wore, he could only glare with fury.

Yun Ye instructed Huo Zhu to take good care of the old man. The academy still couldn’t do without him. He himself walked before the villagers and asked, “They won’t admit it, so can you identify the culprit? Don’t worry, I guarantee there will be no retaliation afterward.”

The villagers looked at each other and shook their heads. A broad-shouldered, thick-waisted man stepped forward and said, “Within ten li radius, we’re all native villagers. Everyone knows Sun Gou’er’s family donkey. Among neighbors, who would do such a thunder-struck, immoral thing? Only you are outsiders, and rich too. If you didn’t do it, who else would?”

The stubborn Guanzhong temperament! Without evidence or proof, you run here to accuse a group of officials’ sons of killing your donkey. Setting aside whether they actually killed the donkey—that’s still debatable—even if they did kill it, do you know what happens when commoners accuse officials? Before you even file the accusation, you’re already guilty! If it’s false accusation, exile three thousand li is the lightest punishment. A bunch of idiots who don’t think before acting.

“Someone, seize this scoundrel who intends to slander!” Yun Ye shouted loudly. Immediately estate guards stepped forward and in two or three moves had the strong man bound and thrown to the ground.

The fellow still howled on the ground, “I’m not slandering! I’m not slandering!” The villagers were indignant and wanted to come forward to rescue the strong man.

Li Gang spoke up. “All of you shut your mouths for this old fellow. Marquis Yun, if you don’t give this old fellow an explanation for today’s matter, this old fellow will memorialize to impeach you.”

The dandies watched the spectacle with giggles and laughs, while the poor people around all showed expressions of pain.

Yun Ye paid them no mind. He came to the side of the man who was still shouting “I’m not slandering,” patted his face and said, “According to what you just said, because my academy students are wealthy, they must have done the boring deed of killing a donkey for its hoof, correct?”

The man was quite tough and said loudly, “That’s right! Aside from them, no one else would do it. Even if you behead me today, I’ll become a ghost and won’t spare you. Don’t ruin my reputation.”

“Following your logic, let’s continue reasoning. Since having money means killing donkeys, then you carry a fornication tool on your body, so I believe you intend to rape women. What’s wrong with that?”

As soon as these words left his mouth, the academy immediately erupted in laughter. Li Gang was originally an upright person, but hearing this he couldn’t help showing a smile. He understood—Yun Ye wouldn’t do anything to the villagers; he was just trying to persuade them.

The big man lay on the ground stupefied, making no sound. Right, having money means killing donkeys? What kind of logic was that? Then having his own dick meant he could rape at any time? He couldn’t figure out how things had turned out this way.

A thin man in his thirties ran out and knelt on the ground, saying to Yun Ye, “This humble one will never dare again. The donkey wasn’t killed by academy students—this lowly person made a mistake. Your lordship is magnanimous and shouldn’t lower yourself to the level of us mud-legs. I beg you to release Brother Man. This lowly one is willing to accept any beating or punishment, only begging your lordship’s mercy.”

Yun Ye had someone release the strong man and said to him, “I never intended to do anything to you in the first place. It’s just that your reasoning was absurd. To make you remember this lesson and think before acting in the future—this academy is full of distinguished nobles. How can you falsely accuse them at random? Don’t you know what happens when commoners accuse officials?”

“Your lordship doesn’t know—right now spring plowing just passed, and it’s the lean season between crops. Sun Gou’er is weak, and his whole family of six depended on that black donkey to do odd jobs for others to survive. Without the donkey, how can his family live? So this humble one got anxious, thought academy students did it, and came making trouble. This humble one understands now and will never dare again.” Having said this, he prostrated himself and kowtowed twice, then made to leave.

“Wait! I haven’t finished speaking. Where are you running? Since his family’s donkey is gone and they have no way to live, I have a solution. See that vacant land in front of the academy gate?”

Yun Ye pointed at that wasteland overgrown with dry grass and wild trees. The academy must find a place for this group of hot-blooded fellows to vent their energy. Undoubtedly, rugby or football was best. Polo was too expensive—just pouring oil over the field once would cost a fortune. Building a turfed ball field was still feasible now. Labor was cheap anyway. Just plant some vigorous wild grass, hire a few people to regularly trim the lawn with scissors—wouldn’t that be a perfect sports field? Old Niu always complained about not having a suitable place to drill these lads. Now there’d be everything.

“Bring all the idle people from your village to level that field for me, then transplant some good hardy soft grass to plant. That Sun Gou’er has no livelihood? From now on, he’ll specialize in maintaining the academy’s lawn. Discuss wages with the steward—I don’t care.”

This time, a group of people prostrated themselves. Yun Ye paid no attention and supported Li Gang into the academy.

“Young fellow, this matter was handled magnificently. This old fellow finds you more and more pleasing to the eye.” Masters Yushan and Yuanzhang were standing inside the gate talking. Clearly they had witnessed the scene just now and greatly approved of Yun Ye’s method of handling things.

“The donkey-killing thief still has no leads. What’s there to praise?” Li Gang still somewhat doubted there was such a scoundrel among his disciples.

“Old Li! You’re just destined to worry pointlessly. Look at this young fellow with his air of having everything under control—he probably already has a clear idea. We’re getting old—cultivating character and health is what’s proper. Manage fewer troublesome matters. Oh right, young fellow, my wine jar is empty. Remember to have your steward fill it up. Going a day without wine, my body just doesn’t feel right. Your Yun family wine is strong—one sip warms the whole body, comfortable. Much better than Three-Ferment Brew or Jade-Freeze Spring. Remember!”

“Young fellow, you know who killed the donkey?” Li Gang was somewhat surprised.

“There are some clues, but not certain yet. I’ll know tonight. Teacher, I plan to find a capable scoundrel for the academy. What do you think?”

“That depends on how bad he is.”

“The kind with sores on his head and pus oozing from his soles.”

“How capable?”

“Digging through walls and drilling holes as if walking on flat ground, looking at mountains to know the terrain, observing water to understand the currents.”

“Such great talent can be used.”

“But he’s very bad.”

“No problem. Use his talent, not his character.”

“Then this young one will go arrange it. If nothing unexpected happens, you’ll see this person tonight.”

Under the cold moonlight, in a sparse forest, a solitary tombstone stood in the uninhabited wilderness. This was the tomb of a Sui Dynasty noble. From the toppled stone figures and stone beasts, one could vaguely deduce the master’s prominent position in life.

Time is the fastest killing blade in the world. Whether you’re a hereditary military commander or a peerless beauty, in the end you can’t escape this blade’s claim on your life. Withered bones and desolate tombs—who still remembers whether you were ugly or beautiful in life?

Still, someone would remember. He didn’t care about your beauty, didn’t care whether your reputation was loyal or treacherous. He only cared about how much treasure you put in your coffin before dying.

To satisfy this curiosity, he didn’t mind digging you up for careful study.

They too were an extremely pure group of people with faith and principles, carrying black donkey hooves, pocketing white glutinous rice, not touching gold when roosters crow or candles die out.

Ever since Cao Cao authorized the positions of Faqiu Lieutenant and Mojin Colonel, the tombs in Guanzhong had all been plundered empty. Shaanxi has a famous saying: “Henan has talented scholars, Hebei has generals, Guanzhong can only bury emperors.” So beneath the yellow earth, who knows how many princes and nobles were buried, also providing the possibility for Cao Cao to make use of waste. This was Boss Cao’s temporary measure, but unexpectedly it brought harm for ten thousand years. To avoid karmic retribution, legend says Cao Cao made seventy-two decoy tombs for himself, and his real tomb wasn’t discovered even a thousand years later.

Huang Shu had smooth going today. From the coffin he successfully felt out two pearls that emitted a ghastly green light in the pitch-black tomb. If Yun Ye saw this, he would immediately turn and run thirty li away. Damn it, treating radioactive ore as treasure—tired of living? When Japan’s nuclear power plant leaked, this lord ate half a month of expensive salt. Even that wasn’t reassuring—newly bought salt he ate himself, previously bought salt his wife and children ate, just afraid of a bit of radiation. And you’re licking it with your tongue?

The golden crown on the corpse’s head weighed a full jin. He didn’t dare take jade objects—if someone recognized them as burial goods, whether he could stay alive would be a problem.

Enough, satisfied. Today’s harvest was good. The candle still burned in the southeast corner. Looks like the tomb master had no objection to him taking the treasures. Eight generations of ancestors had been in this trade—he’d long been more familiar with dead people than living ones. He carefully dressed the corpse and offered a stick of incense, then slowly retreated from the tomb.

When he stuck his head out of the burial chamber planning to take a breath of air, he discovered a pair of bright eyes curiously watching him.

“Ha! You’re my first engineer. Finally found you.”