Zhangsun was very nervous. Although the river surface here was wide and the current stable, the obviously drunk Li Er wanting to descend from the tall Great Emperor in pitch darkness posed some danger. She wanted to speak up to dissuade him, but saw that Duan Hong had already thrown over the mooring rope. Dongyu quickly caught it and tied it to a post, watching Li Er—who planned to slide over—with concern.

Fortunately, there were still a few fellows on the Great Emperor who hadn’t drunk themselves into a stupor. They held Li Er’s waist and wouldn’t permit him to slide. Finally, they asked Li Er to sit in the lifeboat, used the winch to lower the lifeboat with Li Er and several others to the water surface, and slowly rowed over.

As soon as Li Er boarded the boat, he saw Zhangsun with an ashen face kneeling in remonstrance: “Your Majesty, in order to cross boats to meet with this consort, you actually rowed a small boat on the great river at night. This consort appreciates this feeling and intention, but Your Majesty bears the weight of the entire Great Tang nation—how can you easily take such risks? This consort would rather die than see Your Majesty so careless.”

Fang Xuanling also bowed and said: “The ancients said: at night, don’t cross by boat; in anger, don’t raise troops. Your Majesty was truly reckless.”

“Ha ha ha! In my life, I’ve experienced countless hardships and difficulties. What difficulty is there in a small boat? However, the Empress and Minister Fang speak reasonably. Today I drank two extra cups of wine. Seeing the Empress on the small boat with Qing Que, Yun Ye, and Minister Xu composing poetry in harmony, carefree and content, while I was wrestling with a group of rough men—it would be a waste of this beautiful scenery and fine weather. In my heart’s yearning, I was inevitably careless. Next time, this will definitely not happen again.”

Seeing the Emperor admit his error and make a guarantee, everyone became happy. Xinyue led those female guards to bring new cushions again and also brought a soft couch for the Emperor. Only then did the night banquet begin.

Xu Jingzong recited to the several who came later the poems that the three of them had just composed. Li Er said: “In my view, the poem Yun Ye composed has a higher artistic conception. ‘If the east wind hadn’t favored Zhou Yu, the Bronze Sparrow would lock away the Two Qiaos in deep spring’—these truly are rare excellent lines. Warfare is full of chance occurrences. Who knew that in my first charge years ago, it wasn’t that I myself drove my horse forward, but that my lance accidentally touched my warhorse’s eye? I originally thought the unprepared charge would fail. Who could have imagined that my first battle would return in great victory, and Song Laosheng would also be trampled to powder by my horse’s hooves? Before the battle is fought, who knows victory or defeat—better to think about the beauties of four hundred years ago. That’s more interesting. Ha ha ha ha ha!”

Li Er was clearly drunk. Zhangsun attended to him by wiping his face with a hot towel. After patting his cheeks, Li Er said to Yun Ye: “Just now I was only concerned with drinking and didn’t eat much dinner. Bring up the good food. I know you’ve hidden some away. Quickly bring it up.” Yun Ye had just gotten the charcoal brazier burning brightly when he heard Li Er’s shouting. He sighed and had Li Tai bring them tea.

Li Er picked up the tea bowl and suddenly asked Yun Ye: “Is this for rinsing the mouth or for drinking? Speak clearly. Last time when entertaining Feng Ang, you made me accompany him drinking a basin of hand-washing tea water.”

As soon as these words came out, Zhangsun immediately burst out laughing with a snort. Fang Xuanling and his group laughed even harder, swaying back and forth. Li Er knew how to liven up the scene.

“Your Majesty’s insight is keen. This is indeed for rinsing the mouth. However, drinking it wouldn’t be improper either—it’s all high-quality tea water. It’s just to remove the alcohol smell from your mouth. Soon there will be delicacies presented to you. It’s just that you’ve already drunk much strong wine, which is somewhat regrettable. For such mountain rarities, if the taste in your mouth is confused and mixed, it’s difficult to savor their optimal flavor. What a pity, what a pity.”

With a gulping sound, Li Er drank a large mouthful of tea, then held another mouthful of tea and vigorously rinsed his mouth. When Yun Ye said there would soon be good things to eat, it would certainly not be wrong. Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Zhangsun Wuji, and Wang Gui all followed suit. Wei Zheng had an eye disease and was like a blind man at night, so he didn’t come over.

Li Tai took out two black spherical objects from the bamboo basket and used his small knife to slice them into thin pieces. Yun Ye placed a piece of fat on an iron plate, put those thin slices on the iron plate to fry, and as soon as they changed color slightly, immediately picked them out, sprinkled a tiny bit of salt on them, and presented them to Li Er and Zhangsun. The eunuch who wanted to taste-test on the side had just started to come over when Xu Jingzong pushed him aside. He took a slice himself and only felt his mouth full of delicious fragrance with an endless aftertaste. He closed his eyes to feel every change happening to his taste buds. After quite a while, he opened his eyes and said: “Exquisite! This item should not be eaten in large quantities. Eating too much shortens one’s lifespan.”

“Is that truly so?” Li Er picked up a slice and put it in his mouth, also closing his eyes to savor it. After eating one slice, he ate another. When he prepared to take a third chopstick’s worth, he discovered the plate was already empty. Yun Ye had only fried three slices just now.

Li Er regretfully put down his chopsticks and said: “What Xu Jingzong said is correct. This item truly should not be eaten in large quantities. Just now I ate two pieces in succession and was already so immersed I couldn’t extricate myself. One bite is richly fragrant, two bites have an endless aftertaste. This third bite—better not eaten. Yun Ye, prepare the rest and invite all the beloved ministers to taste. Just give me a bowl of filling food.”

Yun Ye nodded. Truffles were indeed not something to eat continuously. Eating one or two slices was enough. He didn’t continue frying truffles but instead took a rice ball and stir-fried a bowl of mixed fried rice with ham, eggs, corn kernels, green peas, peppers, and vegetables, then presented it. Only then did he begin to continue frying matsutake mushrooms.

Li Er took a bite of the fried rice and nodded continuously, saying to Fang Xuanling: “This bowl of rice uses ingredients that are just ordinary, but I dare say this is a kind of extravagance. People often say that even the Yun family’s flatbread tastes better than others’—I’ve finally witnessed it. It turns out extravagance also requires skill. You and I both lack this kind of skill.”

Fang Xuanling nodded in agreement. Who could say such extravagance was wrong? A bowl of leftover cold rice, once in this person’s hands, would become delicious food. It truly was incomparable.

Yun Ye counted heads and fried truffles, giving the Empress two slices. Each of the other people got one slice. He didn’t even leave out the guards, palace maids, and eunuchs. In short, one slice per person. He needed to use these people’s mouths to transmit a new way of life.

Li Tai personally stir-fried a bowl of fried rice for his mother. The rest was handed over to the Yun family’s cook. So many people couldn’t all enjoy the marquis’s and prince’s culinary skills.

The Yun family’s life excelled in refinement—this was something other families couldn’t compare to. Then the only thing they could bring out was lavishness. Great families and great clans desperately scraped money into their homes, only taking in and never giving out, just like the mythical creature Pixiu. Li Chengqian had already been tormented to exhaustion by the money shortage. The printing of vouchers had already seen ten silver coin denomination vouchers appear. If this continued, the flood beast of paper money would appear. If they waited until these people understood that as long as they continuously printed vouchers, the Great Tang would have inexhaustible wealth, then it would be finished. The Great Tang Bank would collapse with a thunderous crash. The miserable scene of common people selling sons and daughters in harvest years would appear. Then the complete ruin of the Great Tang court’s credibility would occur. The common people would never again believe a single word the Emperor said.

At that time, even with armies, they wouldn’t know whom to suppress, because vouchers would definitely be issued everywhere. Everyone could only return to the primitive society of bartering. They had to get the money from these landlords and wealthy people into the bank. Otherwise, the consequences would be very frightening. This secret—Yun Ye dared not tell anyone, including Li Chengqian.

After seriously finishing their meal, everyone casually made some barbecue. Xinyue busily grilled for Zhangsun. Yun Ye attended to the Emperor. The husband and wife got charcoal ash all over themselves. This reminded Yun Ye of later-era couples selling lamb skewers—it was exactly his current situation.

The bank was a disaster he himself had created. Originally, he only wanted to facilitate merchants throughout the realm so they wouldn’t have to travel everywhere with carts full of copper coins. Who knew that economics had its own inherent laws? As long as you pushed it a bit, it would advance along its inherent track. First deposits appeared, then loans naturally appeared. Slowly, people knew that grain prices varied in different places, and the ratios for exchanging currency also differed. Thus, fellows who speculated on vouchers appeared. If things fucking continued this way, the most primitive futures would appear, and then the devil of stocks would jump out.

Yun Ye was very worried that one day Li Chengqian would consult with him about establishing the Great Tang Stock Exchange. If that day arrived, Yun Ye would definitely take his whole family and run far away to live on a deserted island without people, because no one would mention to him stocks—that demon from his previous life that had devoured half his life’s savings.

Everyone else ate with high spirits. Li Er even personally grilled a corn cob for the Empress. Only Yun Ye’s heart was as cold as the river water. He had exhausted all his tricks. In his previous life, he was very unfamiliar with finance, but in this life, he had to guide the Great Tang’s economic construction. The little bit of goods in his belly had been completely emptied. If later-era economic experts knew of this situation, the despicable ones would laugh wildly while emptying every coin from the Great Tang natives. The kind ones would definitely immediately demand a return to the primitive society of bartering. Doing this would be a hundred times better than letting a fellow who understood nothing command randomly.

“The rolling Yangtze flows eastward, its waves washing away heroes. Right and wrong, success and failure—all turn to emptiness. The green mountains remain as before, how many times has the sunset turned red? White-haired fishermen and woodcutters on the river islet, accustomed to watching autumn moons and spring winds. A pot of turbid wine, happy to meet again. How many matters of past and present—all consigned to laughter and conversation.” Although he didn’t have Yang Hongji’s baritone voice, with the help of his desolate state of mind, Yun Ye still almost perfectly interpreted this “Linjiang Xian.” How many matters of past and present—all consigned to laughter and conversation. What a “all consigned to laughter and conversation.” Literary works could say this, but in practical application, it was almost impossible and they didn’t dare.

The later-era Taizong said “cross the river by feeling the stones.” Oh God, do you know how terrifying this phrase is? Fortunately, the old man succeeded in his exploration. Although he paid enough tuition and crossed the river with bumps and stumbles—what if by chance a flood came, or there was a big pit in the middle of the river? The consequences—the sky would collapse!

“Yun Ye, this tune is good, but why do I hear a strong sense of withdrawal from the world? This is not good. The Great Tang is now changing with each passing day and precisely needs talented ministers like you to assist me in turning the Great Tang into an unprecedented prosperous age. It’s not good to develop an old person’s thoughts at such a young age.”

Li Er praised Yun Ye’s song but didn’t like that old person’s flavor. Who could he blame? Yun Ye’s mood at this moment was definitely worse than Yang Shen’s mood when he was sent back home.

After the rugged path comes a smooth road.