Wang Cai, who had been deeply sniffing the kerosene barrel, was the first to sense the overwhelming murderous aura and alertly hid behind Yun Ye. Yun Ye looked at Wang Cai in puzzlement but saw Zhangsun and Li Er reflected in Wang Cai’s large eyes.

“Why doesn’t such a great talent go to the court to display his abilities? Putting all your energy into tinkering with this vehicle isn’t worth it.” Li Er spoke up. At this moment, Li Er’s state of mind seemed even more peaceful, his tone no longer hurried, with two parts more leisureliness added.

Yun Ye put down the muffler in his hand and bowed to Li Er, saying: “The court has already formed a new balance. Your subject is not suitable to join. Actually, the current situation is quite good. As Duke of Chu of the empire, the nation’s fate and your subject’s fate are intimately connected. Whatever words your subject should say, your subject won’t say one word less—it’s just missing some formalities, that’s all.”

After washing his grease-covered hands, Yun Ye pushed Li Er to the laboratory window where the air circulated and it was more comfortable. Chang’an in April had already become somewhat stifling.

Taking the teapot Yun Ye handed over, Li Er looked with interest at that colorfully decorated vehicle and said with a smile: “When the vehicle is finished, We shall also sit in it. Not for any other reason, but just to see what kind of existence this vehicle is—built by combining the wisdom of the Great Tang’s two smartest people.”

“Before coming here, We first went to the train manufacturing workshop you established. Very spectacular indeed! Do you really plan to have these iron lumps running all over the Great Tang?”

Yun Ye smiled and said: “This is inevitable. What currently obstructs the Great Tang’s development is transportation. Once the railways are completed, within twenty years they’ll inject a new vitality into the Great Tang’s social development. Just think—from Chang’an to Luoyang, four hours will be enough, and that’s only the initial speed. After trains are further developed, their speed will reach even higher standards. By then this time will be shortened further. Your subject believes that making one trip in two hours should be a reasonable timeframe.”

“The Crown Prince has also begun preparing the railway from Luoyang to Jinyang, and later will lay track from Jinyang to Zhuojun. At this pace of construction, after a hundred years or so, railways will replace water transport and become the Great Tang’s primary freight method. After natural barriers become thoroughfares, exchanges between regions will become closer, and will also shrink the Great Tang’s territory in people’s hearts, ultimately binding all territories firmly together into an indivisible whole. Such a whole should be invincible.”

“Heh heh heh…” Li Er chuckled lightly, gesturing for Yun Ye to push him over—he wanted to look at that vehicle. His legs were very troublesome now; wanting to get up and walk two steps was extremely bothersome.

The entire morning, Yun Ye spent introducing this vehicle to Li Er and Zhangsun. By the time he installed the muffler onto the exhaust pipe, the vehicle’s preliminary modifications were already complete. Now it just waited for the final decorations.

Li Er now finally had abundant free time. All day long he either appeared at Sun Simiao’s medicine cottage or at the Academy’s library. Sometimes he would even enter classrooms to attend lectures and discuss specific court politics with young people. However, he never inquired about matters in the court—this was a very positive attitude. Since he’d already handed over great power, not managing it or asking about it was good for everyone.

Li Er couldn’t possibly hold military authority over the Sixteen Guards for too long either. Military authority alone was rootless wood with no possibility of lasting. The generals of the Sixteen Guards also had an issue of choosing sides. Now that the situation was clear, even if Li Er held military authority, the threat to Li Chengqian was already very small. Yun Ye believed that when Li Er handed over military authority, it would certainly be when Li Er abdicated.

Finally came the day when Yun Mu married. Yun Ye’s vehicle was also already repaired. This beautiful vehicle, upon its debut, attracted countless astonished gazes. The current vehicle was long past the embarrassing appearance when Li Tai drove it all over the world. The entire vehicle shell was piled up with silver and gold. Although both were pressed very thin silver plates and gold foil, the weight was already considerable. Without needing paint, just polishing, the entire vehicle gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight. This was the Yun Family’s vehicle for marrying off their daughter.

When other families married off daughters, the daughters would cry their eyes out. Yun Mu wouldn’t. Seeing the vehicle, she ran over, hugged her father’s neck and acted coquettishly, hoping father would give this vehicle to her.

This wouldn’t do. Once given to Yun Mu, Li Tai would go mad. After her request wasn’t satisfied, only then did Yun Mu remember to cry. Who knew whether she was crying over not getting the vehicle or crying over having to marry.

Yun Huan drove the vehicle to the Yan Family. After delivering his sister to the Yan Family, he only stayed briefly for a short time, then drove the vehicle off to who knows where. Not until midnight did he return home drunk. As for the vehicle, it was dragged back by five horses. The young fellows who sent Yun Huan back saw Duke of Chu standing at the main gate with an angry expression and didn’t dare approach at all. After bowing from afar, they ran off.

This year’s sophora flowers bloomed luxuriantly. Yun Ye sat under the sophora tree drinking wine. Dan Ying had returned and, knowing his mood was bad after marrying off his daughter, sat opposite him silently keeping him company.

When Yun Ye’s mood improved slightly, Dan Ying took a sip of wine and said: “I saw Li Xiang appear at Dugu Mou’s home—not just once or twice, but very frequently, exceeding normal relationships.”

“Not strange. Dugu Mou wants to seize the initiative, trying to win over Li Xiang, hoping to control the situation after Chengqian. He’s preparing very early, but unfortunately got the wrong person. After His Majesty establishes as ancestral instruction the practice of helping the successor mount the horse and seeing him off a ways, Chengqian absolutely won’t establish an older descendant as heir apparent. He’ll only choose from three very young children. Dugu Mou doesn’t know about His Majesty establishing this ancestral instruction, which is why he’s placing his hopes on Li Xiang.”

“Zhangsun Chong probably knows. Empress Mother may have reminded him. Now we just sit down and watch Dugu Mou’s good show. After Chengqian truly becomes emperor, he’ll announce the establishment of an heir. At that time, who knows if Dugu Mou will rebel together with Li Xiang. These years Li Xiang has been very active indeed, truly winning over a group of people. Just keep watching—he can’t stir up big waves.”

Dan Ying now especially loved peanuts, especially roasted shelled peanuts. After gathering all the peanuts on the table into his sleeve, he went to find Wu She. He didn’t like listening to Yun Ye discuss court matters—as soon as he heard them, he’d find ways to leave.

Yun Ye scratched his hair. Dan Ying’s family rule forbidding children from entering officialdom was really bastardly. Daya very much hoped one child could enter Yushan Academy to study, then openly enter officialdom. But on this point Dan Ying was terribly stubborn. In other matters he was almost completely obedient to Daya, but on this one matter there was no room for discussion at all. Daya had complained countless times to him, her elder brother. Yet Dan Ying’s position never changed. As soon as it was mentioned, he would say: “Highwaymen’s descendants becoming officials—this is a joke!”

Speaking of which, it was very strange. In Yun Ye’s previous life he was merely an ordinary person. Although after coming to the Great Tang he’d been tempered considerably, he still discovered that whether lofty nobles or common people below, their thinking was actually quite similar. Wine, sex, wealth, and anger would similarly affect them. Their wisdom wasn’t necessarily much higher than others. The only thing broader than commoners was their horizons.

Horizons were something formed in later life, not innate. Yun Ye just couldn’t understand how Li Xiang, who had been cultivated for so long, no matter how he changed or how he studied, remained even now a fool who couldn’t see his future clearly.

Reading ten thousand books, traveling ten thousand miles—he’d done both of these. Aside from cultivating more ambition in him, there didn’t seem to be much progress. Perhaps he cared too much about that throne.

After the Li Zhi incident ended, the Imperial Clan Court’s supervision of the imperial clan could be called having reached the pinnacle. Whether it was Li Ke far away in the Wu region, Li An in Shu, or Li You in Qizhou—which one didn’t keep his tail tucked tightly while conducting himself? They might be extravagant, might be debauched, but absolutely wouldn’t actively threaten imperial authority. Being law-abiding and accomplishing nothing was a princely vassal’s greatest duty.

Why did he think the Ministry of Waterways and Imperial Clan Court would overlook him? Even the Yun Family had the Emperor’s spies—Yun Ye had known this long ago. But he’d never investigated, because not knowing who it was—discovering them would be the real trouble. Sometimes remaining deliberately ignorant was also a principle for staying alive.

He’d never heard of any noble family discovering the Emperor’s secret agents. Yun Ye had lived in the Imperial City so long and hadn’t heard of a single case. On this matter, whether Zhangsun Wuji, Yun Ye, or other nobles, all coincidentally chose to keep quiet.

The nine-hundred-day mourning period had long passed. Yun Ye stubbornly extended the time to three years, immediately attracting worldwide praise without a single discordant note. Filial piety was absolutely correct at any time. However, Yun Ye also wasn’t like before, not stepping outside his door even once. Instead, he began going to the Academy to teach. Teachers who could teach advanced mathematics at the Academy were truly pitifully few.

Walking out of the classroom holding his textbook, Yun Ye was filled with the pleasure of tormenting others. Those stupid students thought that having learned some simple mathematics and simple geometry, they could laugh proudly at the world. Professor Yun’s subject—they discovered they couldn’t understand a single word.

To understand what a function is, one must first understand that a function is a type of correspondence relationship occurring between non-empty number sets. Then, one must understand that there is more than one functional relationship occurring between A and B. Finally, one must focus on understanding the three elements of a function.

Not only were the students confused—Yun Ye’s own level could only barely understand it, not master it. What they were currently encountering was still the simplest part. As for the profound parts, they completely needed to explore on their own. Anyway, Yun Ye only planned to propose this concept, not tell the students exactly how to understand it.

The blackboard was covered with countless cross lines and many curved line segments. These things should extinguish these fellows’ desire to study, right? Yun Ye heard wailing sounds coming from the classroom behind him, making his mood even more pleasant.

This would eliminate many students unsuitable for studying advanced mathematics. But some freaks would always find the key to opening the door from within. For example, Zhang Gongjin’s posthumous son was one of them. Seeing this young fellow who’d researched mathematics until he was almost stupid, Yun Ye knew this guy was truly stupid. Nearly twenty years old, thin and weak like a bean sprout, both eyes already highly myopic, looking at everything blearily. However, Heaven always treated such people favorably. Thinking that the monk Yixing would be this fellow’s descendant, Yun Ye found him pleasing to look at no matter how he looked.