Whether his aunt could raise colored silkworms wasn’t something Yun Ye needed to consider. He had seen elementary school students in his later life keep colored silkworms as pets—they were brightly colored and quite adorable. He’d heard they needed to be fed pigments, though he didn’t know exactly how. Who cares? He was just giving his aunt a direction to work toward, to keep her from being too lonely. If she focused her thoughts on research, she wouldn’t have time for melancholy sentimentality. Family was his greatest wealth. As for how many silkworms might die in the process—was that something Yun Ye needed to worry about?
He knew there weren’t many truly refined people in his household. Coming from a modest family background and having suffered years of humiliation, it was simply impossible for them to be magnanimous. Xiao Nan and Xiao Bei’s origins were extremely questionable, but as long as his young aunt said they were her children, there was no problem. Raising a few more younger sisters wasn’t a big issue for Yun Ye—it wasn’t as if he couldn’t afford it.
Just like how he handled Meng Butong’s situation—keep it simple, don’t complicate things. When you get to the bottom of anything, no one’s backside is clean. As the ancients said: rare is the blessing of confusion.
Master Li Gang was now adorably confused, seeming to have forgotten how furiously he used to rage when teaching Yuchi Baolin. Old Yuchi led Baolin in paying respects to the thin and frail Li Gang—it was like two bears saluting a monkey. Old Li, his face beaming with smiles, stood on tiptoe to pat Yuchi Baolin on the back of the head. Yuchi Baolin bent down to make it more comfortable for his teacher to pat him. As Old Li patted, he said to Old Yuchi, who stood beside them grinning: “I just love Baolin’s honest nature. As long as he puts in the effort, it won’t be difficult for him to become a pillar of talent.”
Yuchi Baolin went to the side and carried over an enormous pig’s hind leg for Old Li, saying that seeing the master’s weak health, he had spent the past couple of days hunting in the forest and killed a huge wild boar. He had specially selected the best cut to bring to his teacher, hoping the master would nourish his body well.
Old Li smiled even more broadly, his eyes disappearing in his grin. He instructed his old servant to put it away and have the Yun household cure it, so he could enjoy it with wine alongside several old friends. This scene left the other families who had brought gold, silver, and paintings only to be severely reprimanded standing there dumbfounded.
“Outrageous! What do you think my Yushan Academy is? You can swap students whenever you want? Can you compensate for this old man’s months of hard work with a few coins?” came the scolding voice of Master Lishi from the other side. Yun Ye excused himself from Li Xiaogong, with whom he had been exchanging pleasantries, and went to Master Lishi’s side. He heard the master loudly proclaim: “I told you from the beginning to carefully select which children would come study at the academy. You casually sent your good-for-nothing children, and now that you see they’ve made progress, you’ve developed sordid thoughts. Is this the proper conduct of parents?”
These were all prominent military bigwigs with considerable standing. How could they endure being scolded like this in broad daylight? Unfortunately, they were in the wrong. This master was qualified enough to teach imperial princes and grandsons—even the Emperor had to address him as “Master Lishi” and didn’t dare treat him as a mere subject. How could they dare be disrespectful?
Gao Jian’s son, Gao Ying, flushed red with embarrassment. He hadn’t expected the academy to be so unaccommodating. The dignified ducal residence had completely lost face. He was about to leave in a huff when Yun Ye smiled and greeted Gao Ying with proper courtesy: “Why is Marquis Gao so angry? Has the academy’s hospitality been lacking?”
“Marquis Yun, my son has benefited immensely at the academy. In just two short months, the changes have been astonishing. In the past at home, even with a rod I couldn’t make him settle down to study, but now he clamors to come to the academy. Only now do I realize that the academy’s methods of teaching knowledge are truly unfathomable. I intended to have my eldest son, Gao He, replace my unworthy youngest son at the academy, but unexpectedly, I was rebuked by Master Lishi. That’s why I’m leaving.” Gao Ying’s anger hadn’t diminished.
“Why should Marquis Gao be angry? Those several old masters are not people we can afford to offend. Even before His Majesty, have they ever shown the slightest hint of flattery? Gao Ling has made considerable progress at the academy—why not let him continue his studies instead of replacing him with Gao He? What’s wrong with having two sons from one family making progress?”
“Marquis Yun, please don’t mock me. You and I are both from newly risen great clans, inevitably lacking family foundation. We have no virtuous great scholars to instruct our younger generation. Seeking education elsewhere, we’re rejected by those old established families. It’s not easy! Now the best teachers are occupied by my good-for-nothing youngest son, while my honest eldest son has no way to pursue learning. This gives me such a headache.”
“Both our families are military households. Does Marquis Gao think I would let such a situation occur?”
“Oh? What’s your plan?”
“Next February, another fifty students will enter the academy to study. Does Marquis Gao understand?”
The two men exchanged smiles and bowed in farewell.
Yun Ye moved through the crowd like a fish in water. He seemed born to be a teacher. After the several old masters finished playing the bad cop, they sat in ox carts with their attendants and old servants—most importantly, bringing the outdoor barbecue stove Yun Ye had newly made—and went to the waterfall’s edge to drink. The first batch of chili peppers had been harvested. Yun Ye carefully saved the seeds, dried the red outer skins, then pounded them into powder with a stone mortar and stored them in small jars for use as needed.
Master Yushan was from Shu and Yun Ye thought the old gentleman would surely love spicy food, so he carefully prepared a dish of spicy chicken chunks for the master to taste. Unexpectedly, when it was delivered at noon, Master Yushan was still explaining to students the old affairs of the Sui Dynasty’s conquest of Goguryeo. The students were so stirred up with hot-blooded enthusiasm that he couldn’t return for a while.
As a result, Li Gang, Yuanzhang, and Lishi—the three masters—ate first. Their own food wasn’t bad either, but they sniffed the air and opened Master Yushan’s food box. Inside, that fragrant red chicken dish aroused the interest of all three.
Master Yushan had already been informed by Yun Ye that today there was a dish specially made for him with a rich flavor, though he didn’t know if it would suit his taste. Whatever Yun Ye produced was bound to be excellent. The old master might doubt Yun Ye’s scholarship, but he would absolutely never doubt his culinary skills.
After enthusiastically pacifying the hormone-erupting students, he came to the dining hall for meals and opened his food box. The other dishes were untouched, but only the dish with red seasoning had nothing left but remnants still giving off a rich aroma.
How could this be? The old masters had long stopped caring about worldly possessions—pearls and jade were like dirt to them. It was rare to find any pleasure at Yushan, which was the almost endless supply of delicious food. To retain the several old masters for a few more years, Yun Ye had deployed all his skills. Now someone had stolen his food—how disappointing! Not a shred of brotherly loyalty!
The only ones who dared steal his food at the academy were those three. Even Liu Xian, the supervisory official dispatched by the Emperor from the palace, didn’t have that audacity.
No one knew how the four masters reached a reconciliation agreement, but in any case, they all directed their criticism at Yun Ye, saying something about how ancient people had “two peaches kill three warriors,” and today there was Yun Ye’s “one dish kills four teachers”—truly worthy of Marquis Yun who shook the capital, and so on.
Taking this undeserved blame, Yun Ye could only look up at the sky speechless. Previously in the capital, he encountered nothing but bandits and highwaymen who beat him out of love and kicked him out of excessive affection. He had originally thought that escaping the capital meant leaving the tiger’s lair, but who knew—out of the tiger’s lair, straight into the wolf’s den.
This slander had more serious consequences than getting beaten. Chili peppers weren’t suitable for elderly people to consume in large quantities. He tried reasoning with them, but after just a few sentences, the four old masters left him speechless. They even brought up the matter of pufferfish—since there’s “risk death to eat pufferfish,” why couldn’t there be “dare death to eat chili peppers?” We’ve all passed our sixtieth year. Even if we eat ourselves to death, it would be a beautiful tale that could be passed down through the ages.
In future history books, when our names are mentioned and our manner of death recorded, dying from overindulging in delicious food would be thousands of times better than those who “died without illness” or “expired on their sickbed.” To die such a death in life—wouldn’t that be wonderful?
They weren’t going to die anytime soon, but Yun Ye felt he was about to die.
Liu Xian from the palace, who enjoyed drawing people’s blood, looked with pity at Yun Ye whose lips had turned blue and whose limbs were trembling. Brother Liu was very worried he might faint.
Life had to go on after all. Yun Ye used the excuse of recruiting another fifty students next year to send away the various bigwigs who were desperately trying to send their family’s children to the academy.
Meng Butong, Gao Ling, and other students who had nearly been replaced also stayed. It was just that overnight they seemed to have matured considerably.
New courses began. The academy had less impetuousness and more stability. Through this storm of student replacement, those wastrels gained a clearer understanding of the academy’s importance and finally were willing to bow their heads and study seriously.
As spring was about to pass, His Majesty the Great Tang Emperor, Li’er, finally bared his fangs. Within a single day, six imperial edicts were issued by the Central Secretariat. Li Jing, Chai Shao, and Xue Wanche were ordered to lead two hundred thousand Tang warriors to fight Jieli to the death. The conscription order was issued. The entire Guanzhong region erupted with clamor. Battalion after battalion of garrison troops assembled and then departed for the frontier.
Zhangsun Chong, Li Huairen, and Cheng Chumo were all on the conscription list. Only Yun Ye was not.
Even though he very much hoped to witness how Li Jing would chase the Turkic people until they fled in all directions.
“Why would you, a weak scholar, go meddling around in the military? Besides, the dynasty hasn’t yet reached the point of sending families’ only sons onto the battlefield.” Old Cheng couldn’t understand Yun Ye’s desire to go to war.
“But nephew is also a general. Didn’t I lead troops in Longyou?”
“Bullshit! You call that leading troops? Even a dog with two steamed buns tied to it could lead. At the time we just let you show off a bit—did you really think you were somebody important?”
The words were too vicious. Yun Ye wanted to die. He had come properly to see Cheng Chumo and that was all—why did his mouth itch, asking for abuse?
He would never expect to hear anything good from Cheng Yaojin’s mouth in this lifetime.