This time, writing the advertisement board had a profound impact on Xu Jingzong. He realized that people could be shameless to such an extent. Looking back at his previous actions, they seemed so insignificant. He no longer felt grief or anger, nor did he curse anymore—not because he had suddenly achieved enlightenment, but because he had begun running a high fever. His whole body burned alarmingly hot, blisters formed on his lips, and with a flushed face, Xu Jingzong burrowed into his blankets and shivered. His old servant cried in distress.
Sun Simiao came and gave him acupuncture, then prescribed several doses of medicine for the old servant to administer. After sleeping through the night, his body was no longer scorching hot. He woke up, drank a small bowl of thin porridge, then fell back into a drowsy sleep.
During this time, Yun Ye came to check on him twice, even leaving behind some nourishing medicinal herbs. Seeing him asleep, he didn’t disturb him, only having Old Zhuang bring two more blankets to cover Xu Jingzong. He gave the old servant a small pot of wine, instructing that if Xu Jingzong’s fever returned at night, he should dip cloth in the wine and wipe his body with it—this would quickly dissipate the heat.
Yun Ye was busy teaching first aid knowledge to officers of all ranks. Only after finishing even the application of splints did he let these people settle down. Among the military men in the camp, not many were literate. In the past, asking them to read books was worse than killing them with a single stroke. Now, sitting in the classroom, they listened without blinking, because learning a few more phrases and techniques meant fewer of their brothers would die in battle. Although compassion has no place in military command, hearts are made of flesh—people have sympathy for others, let alone brothers they spend day and night with.
Speaking of brothers, Cheng Chumo was somewhat excessive. He didn’t come himself but sent his deputy to attend the lectures, while he took the opportunity to sleep soundly in Yun Ye’s room. He always believed he didn’t need to learn these things, that when the time came, his brothers would surely help him.
Seeing Cheng Chumo sleeping so soundly, fire rose in Yun Ye’s heart. He was going to the battlefield—he absolutely had to know some basic first aid knowledge. If trouble arose, being able to perform simple treatment on himself might save his life. When fighting breaks out on the battlefield, who has time to care for whom? This was no time to slack off.
Pulling Cheng Chumo from the bed, he soaked a cloth in cold water and wiped his face to drive away his drowsiness. The cold water worked. Cheng Chumo shivered, completely awake now, glaring angrily at Yun Ye while muttering under his breath.
Ignoring him, Yun Ye began teaching him one-on-one how to perform self-rescue, demonstrating on his body first. After finishing the demonstration, he had Cheng Chumo practice on him. Before long, Cheng Chumo grew impatient, threw down the bandage in his hand, and lay down again facing the wall.
He had the temperament of a small child. Rather than calling them brothers, Yun Ye’s feelings toward him were more like those of an elder toward a junior. Turning his face back around, he continued teaching. Today, Yun Ye had no intention of giving up until he learned it. Unable to out-stubborn Yun Ye, Cheng Chumo had to continue.
“Ye Zi, with a great physician like you nearby, do I really need to learn these things?” After finishing the lesson, the two brothers sat by the stove eating and chatting.
“How could it be useless? I can’t go onto the battlefield. You know better than I do what dangers exist there. In that environment, the one thing that’s never lacking is accidents. The earlier you treat injuries, the better—being earlier by even a quarter hour might save a life. You can’t be careless. Not everyone buried in the grave mounds is old, you know? Some days ago, I did a statistical analysis. Do you know that the average lifespan of Great Tang citizens is less than thirty years? Hearing this news, do you still dare be careless?”
This had been an arithmetic problem requiring students to learn how to make statistical tables. Yun Ye had casually assigned students to investigate the average lifespan of Chang’an County citizens. Unexpectedly, when the assignments came in, Yun Ye was shocked—only thirty-five years! How was that possible?
He repeatedly asked students whether they had calculated incorrectly, whether the data they collected was flawed. It couldn’t be that people in the Zhenguan era only lived to thirty-five years.
Fang Yi’ai said with a mournful face that there was no mistake, because he had done his assignment together with his father. They had specifically reviewed the population records of three counties near Chang’an and arrived at this answer. They also reviewed three remote counties for comparison and found a difference of seven or eight years. Finally, synthesizing everything, they concluded that the average lifespan was less than thirty years.
According to Fang Yi’ai, his father had sat in his study all night, then went to court early the next morning. As for the reaction at court, he didn’t know—he only knew his father had been in a very bad mood those days.
“Thirty years? That can’t be right. Why do I feel like everyone around me is an old man?” Cheng Chumo asked in surprise, setting down his bowl and staring wide-eyed at Yun Ye.
“Why would I deceive you? When you finish this battle and the militia troops return to their units, you’ll still have to continue studying at the academy. Then you can conduct the survey yourself and understand.”
“I still have to study?” Cheng Chumo jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
“Why are you getting so excited? Who said you don’t need to study at the academy? It’s a great opportunity—other families would knock their heads bloody trying to get in, and you’re complaining.”
“Which eye of yours saw me excited? I’m surprised! How can I, Old Cheng, waste my prime years in an academy? With that effort, I’d be better off having two children with Jiu Yi than attending classes every day. There aren’t many good people in your academy—they’re all Chang’an troublemakers. If I go there and learn bad habits, and something happens, your father will come looking for you for trouble. Brother, I’d rather leisurely visit brothels and play a few games of polo—that’s proper business.”
“Whether Uncle Cheng will cause me trouble, I don’t know, but if you don’t go to the academy, he’ll definitely cause you trouble. And having children with Jiu Yi—go hatch eggs yourself! Still talking about polo and visiting brothels? You go home, and when the old master returns home too, if you’ve got the guts, say these things to him.”
“Do I want to die? Going back to Chang’an won’t be as comfortable as staying in Shuofang. I’m not going back—nobody can do anything about it.”
Looking at this brainless fool, Yun Ye felt sorrow for him. Would the renowned Cheng Yaojin leave him a back door? Old Cheng was waiting for him to return to the capital so he could arrange a marriage for him with the Emperor. Yun Ye even knew the name—Princess Qinghe, Li Jing, currently a tender ten years old. Thinking of Cheng Chumo marrying a ten-year-old little girl, Yun Ye wanted to laugh.
“Ye Zi, you’re laughing cunningly. There must be something I don’t know. Tell me, will you?”
“Eh? You’ve suddenly become smart. Don’t worry—Uncle Cheng wants to arrange a marriage for you. I heard it’s a girl from a prominent family. Just wait to enter the bridal chamber.”
Cheng Chumo fell into irrepressible fantasizing, wondering which family’s daughter it might be. If Yun Ye told him now that the girl was only ten years old, he’d probably commit suicide.
“Ye Zi, didn’t you get engaged? Is that woman called Xinyue pretty?”
“Average—just about three points better than Jiu Yi.”
“Doesn’t that make her a great beauty? You’ve struck it rich! But what about Li Anlan?” For some reason, Cheng Chumo thought of Li Anlan.
Speaking of Li Anlan made Yun Ye feel somewhat dispirited. Once upon a time, that beautiful shadow had haunted his dreams. Now, after experiencing various things, that shadow slowly faded, leaving only a faint trace of regret.
What was strange was that now that he’d grown younger, he actually had spring dreams, and what was frightening was that the object of every spring dream was Li Anlan. Conversely, Xinyue had never entered his dreams.
Waking from these dreams and changing his undergarments, lying in bed contemplating this problem—had his body decided on Li Anlan? Once this thought arose, Yun Ye forcibly pushed it down, but unfortunately, this suppression only made things more intense and crazy in the next dream.
This made Yun Ye feel guilty. Being betrayed by one’s own body didn’t feel good, especially thinking of Xinyue’s bridal attire at their parting and the lock of hair in the pouch close to his body—he felt a sense of guilt. No, I can’t wrong Xinyue. Such a wonderful girl! Li Anlan was a complete invader, occupying the deepest recesses of his mind, impossible to dispel.
“‘Before Changbai Mountain, the man who knows destiny, dressed purely in red brocade-backed trousers. Long spear invading heaven by half, wheel-sword shining with sunlight. Climbing mountains to eat deer and roe, descending mountains to eat cattle and sheep. Suddenly hearing official armies arrive, raising sword to charge forward. Like dying in Liaodong, what harm in having one’s head severed?'” Yun Ye suddenly recited with resonant voice the “Song Against Dying Uselessly in Liaodong.”
This startled Cheng Chumo into falling over. Climbing up with alarm written all over his face, he stared at Yun Ye: “Brother Ye, even if you’re having a change of heart, you don’t need to recite something as terrifying as the ‘Song Against Dying Uselessly in Liaodong,’ do you? Don’t you know how many people this song has killed?”
“I’m just expressing my determination to resist, not rebelling. Why are you panicking?” Yun Ye had long been mentally prepared for Cheng Chumo’s ignorance.
“Who are you resisting? Oh! Li Anlan. You scared me to death—I thought you were going to do something. She’s just a young woman. Is all this talk of swords, spears, and beheadings necessary?”
Yun Ye fell silent for a long while before raising his head to look at Cheng Chumo and saying: “Chou Niu, you don’t understand. Li Anlan is the greatest weakness in my heart, my Achilles’ heel. I tell myself that the person I should marry is Xinyue. To strengthen this conviction, I got engaged to Xinyue, wanting to cut off my absurd thoughts. Who knew these feelings would be like hemp thread wrapping around my body—impossible to cut, impossible to untangle. You’re not me, so you don’t understand this feeling of being entangled in countless threads.”
“I thought you were agonizing over something—it’s just about two women. Just marry them both and be done with it. Is it worth all this worry?”
This was Cheng Chumo’s method of dealing with life—simple, direct, and with no regard for effectiveness. In any case, he was always the one who ended up unlucky.
“I’m speaking from the heart, and you can’t give me a good solution? Xinyue must be the principal wife, or else the academy is finished. Li Anlan also isn’t suitable as a principal wife. Her temperament is too stubborn, she does things without thinking them through, often only seeking momentary satisfaction without caring about consequences. Let me be frank—whoever marries a wife like that will be unlucky.”
“My bad luck is that I’ve fallen for her. If I marry her, won’t the household be turned upside down? There won’t be a single day of peace. Moreover, with her stubborn donkey nature of not turning back even after hitting the south wall, she’ll cause big trouble sooner or later. In the palace, grandmother doesn’t love her and uncle doesn’t care for her. If it weren’t for the Empress being fairly virtuous, she’d have disappeared long ago, bones and all. What’s more, although she doesn’t have the title of princess, she’s actually a real princess. It’s impossible for her to be a secondary wife—is that temperament of hers suited to being a secondary wife?”
Yun Ye felt somewhat irritable, pacing back and forth on the ground without any good ideas. Normally he tried not to think about it, but now that it had been brought up, he might as well resolve it once and for all. Constantly avoiding it wasn’t a solution either.
“Brother, you’re doomed!” This was Cheng Chumo’s summary statement. He patted Yun Ye’s shoulder, his words full of pity.
Time was up—he had to return to the military camp. Yun Ye watched him disappear into the night. He returned to his room and prepared to sleep.
After counting several thousand sheep, Yun Ye’s consciousness gradually blurred, murmuring: “Li Anlan, don’t come into my dreams…”