Li’er picked up the bear skin and shook it. The fur rolled like waves. Blowing on it created a vortex-shaped depression—these were all characteristics of good hide. After examining the sleek and glossy bear skin, he said to Yun Ye with a half-smile, “Boy, trying to pave your way through the Empress with one bear skin and thinking you can muddle through—it’s not that easy. You dared to openly welcome a rebel into your home—your courage is commendable. Now make a choice: either the rebel dies, or you’re exiled to Lingnan and never allowed to return home.”
Li’er had no good intentions. Li Anlan had just arrived in Lingnan and must have encountered enormous difficulties. This was within Yun Ye’s expectations—starting from nothing, how could things settle down so easily? This stage required at least a year.
If Li Anlan wanted to be queen, how could she not pay a price? With three thousand elite soldiers in her hands, how bad could things get? Preserving her life shouldn’t be a problem. With so many renowned ministers and brave generals as her advisors, if she couldn’t even deal with a few barbarians, coming back early would be the right course.
“Your Majesty, this subject will choose the third option.” After speaking, he ran to where he had washed his feet earlier and pulled out another bear skin from under the large stone, returning to the hall to spread it at Li’er’s feet.
“His heart deserves execution, his heart deserves execution! Daring to play tricks before me—you’re courting death!”
Li’er flew into a rage from embarrassment, kicked the bear skin aside with one foot, and swept his sleeves as he went to the back.
“Your Majesty, does this mean you’ve agreed?” Yun Ye shouted at the top of his lungs. As long as he had reason on his side, there was nothing he couldn’t say. Li’er had extremely good credibility on this point.
“Enough! Getting a bargain and still acting cute—aren’t you afraid His Majesty will truly get angry? Even eighty bear skins would be useless. Tell your guest clearly—this time it’s forgiven. If even one more scandalous affair involving him reaches us, in heaven or on earth, there will truly be no place for him to stand. You must remember, the imperial family’s grace has limits. Involve yourself less in these matters in the future. All this mysterious supernatural business does you no good.”
Zhangsun’s words somewhat comforted Yun Ye. One shouldn’t linger long in a place of right and wrong. In this era, there was no measurable standard for good and bad people. Those killed by Li’er weren’t necessarily all bad people. Different stances meant different perspectives on judging people. “Unable to recognize Mount Lu’s true face, only because one is within the mountain”—this was the principle.
Yun Ye had been in this world too short a time to feel any particular hatred. Except for the Japanese, that nation bearing original sin, Yun Ye held an equal attitude toward all people on this vast land.
Riding his horse, he returned home with difficulty. From early morning until evening today, his whole body felt like it had fallen apart. He persisted in going to the guest room to check on Xi Tong and recounted today’s events to him.
His dark face became even uglier. He would die before going to beg for mercy himself. As a friend, Yun Ye had to do it on his behalf. Though their feelings hadn’t reached the point of life-and-death trust, combined with Yun Ye’s guilt toward those dead adventurers, it prompted him to make such a risky move.
Xi Tong’s eyes moistened somewhat, but he turned his head to pick up the medicine bowl and drained all the medicinal juice in one gulp. When he turned back, he had transformed back into that iron-boned man.
“When I entered Hebei, I really couldn’t hold on anymore. My whole body was burning badly. I wanted to lie by the river for a drink of water. After only one sip, I collapsed by the riverside. When I woke up, I was lying in a grass shelter, covered with straw. I thought I was already dead. I wasn’t afraid, just regretful that I had peeled five white bear skins to bring you, wanting to tell you that the place you and your master once went, we had also been there. Actually, it was still competitive spirit at work. In the end, I didn’t die—I was saved by some women. They said men were scarce now, and it would be a pity if another one died.”
“In Hebei, men all went to war following Dou Jiande and nearly died out completely. So in one village, most were women and children. Where I lay was a woman’s home. The only place she could keep warm was that haystack. In Hebei in April, the cold was piercing. Watching the woman unconsciously burrow into my arms, I wanted to laugh. She wasn’t pretty, nor plump, but her eyes were beautiful. You know, the kind that looked comfortable, made your heart itch, and you couldn’t help wanting to hold her.”
“I had a fever. She only snuggled close because of the warmth. I saw the bear skin was still there, so I covered the woman with it. Who knew that after she woke up, she said to keep the hide to sell for money to buy more grain—a whole family was waiting to eat.”
“I was very puzzled. I, Xi Tong, always came and went alone, bare and unencumbered—where did this whole family come from? Only after the fever broke did I learn that while I was unconscious, we had already performed the wedding ceremony and were married. Now I have twenty-one wives and eight children who need raising. She said it was a big family—she wasn’t wrong. Including me, that’s thirty people! By the way, why aren’t you laughing? All along the way, when I told people I had twenty-one wives, they all laughed themselves silly.”
“I just can’t fucking laugh. Heroes and brave men throughout the world only remember how His Majesty’s hundred cavalry broke through a hundred thousand, but they alone forget—those were a hundred thousand human lives, not a hundred thousand pigs.”
Hearing Xi Tong finish, Yun Ye no longer had even the slightest complaint about what happened in the palace today. He had done nothing wrong. He had handled the severity well—it wasn’t excessive.
“Are you saying you’re the only man in the entire village?”
“Not quite. There’s one missing a leg. He has ten wives, and they’ll probably remarry to me soon too. Marquis Yun, why don’t you come to Hebei with me? I’ll split ten with you—you can choose first.”
“I’ll pass. I don’t have the fortune to enjoy that. Are you really planning to acknowledge these twenty-one wives?” Yun Ye looked at Xi Tong. He hadn’t expected that Xi Tong actually wouldn’t deny it but truly planned to marry these women.
“Marquis Yun, you underestimate me, Xi Tong. When someone shows you kindness as small as a drop of water, you should repay them with a gushing spring. To save me, they gave me the little grain they had to eat. You must know, in April, it’s the time of spring shortage when old grain runs out and new grain isn’t ready. Naked little children stared straight at me as I drank porridge. When I wanted to share some with them, they said once Father drinks his fill, we’ll have food to eat. Just this one word ‘Father,’ Marquis Yun—I have eight children now, three boys and five girls. When they grow up a bit more, send them here to study. Children can’t go without education—it’s agreed, alright?”
“Your injury needs at least three months of recuperation. Return after three months. I’ll prepare more grain for you.”
This damned world—not a single thing was normal. Xi Tong marrying twenty-one wives should have been condemned by everyone, but now that wasn’t the case at all. The more wives one married, the more it proved the person was good. What the hell kind of situation was this?
Yun Ye suddenly remembered ancient people saying that even beggars in the State of Qi had two wives. This allusion was very likely true. Mr. Jin Yong also had Huang Yaoshi mock the Confucians saying, “When did beggars ever have two wives?” At least that statement didn’t hold water. After the chaos of war, Xi Tong could marry twenty-one wives—a beggar marrying two really wasn’t anything.
Xi Tong rotated his ankle and said, “Physician Sun has already repositioned my displaced tendon. I promised Shisan I would definitely return before the first snow falls. Tomorrow prepare more grain for me, and cloth, some warm hides as well. Also load me a barrel of wine, and I’ll go back. It’s already September—I’m afraid those women can’t hold on until the snow falls.”
Yun Ye’s nose stung. He pushed open the door and walked out, leaving only Xi Tong, still chuckling foolishly to himself in the room.
Steward Qian stood just behind the door, having cried until he couldn’t stand. Yun Ye stopped and said to Old Qian, “Prepare supplies for a hundred people. Also prepare some copper coins and silver for him. Choose two oxen for pulling carts, five cows, and prepare two horses for him. Handle these matters as you see fit. If you want to cry now, stay far from me—it’s annoying to watch.”
A sleepless night. Xinyue thought she had angered her husband by being petty during the day, so she snuggled close, humming softly in apology. Holding Xinyue, there was no movement for a long time. Suddenly he asked, “What would it be like if I married twenty wives?”
Xinyue was startled with alarm, her body becoming rigid, but she immediately softened and said with a smile, “You’re a marquis. How many you want to marry is up to you. Who would dare obstruct?”
“Saying one thing and meaning another. Do you know? In that godforsaken place in Hebei, only good people marry many wives. The scoundrels all aren’t interested in women. Tell me, isn’t that strange?”
“You’re talking about widow villages. There are widow villages everywhere under heaven. You don’t know—there used to be them in Shu as well. They shut themselves in large compounds and made their living weaving silk. I heard the women there would never see men again until death.”
Speaking of this, Xinyue immediately became energetic. Lying on Yun Ye’s chest, she vividly told him the story of Er Gou and Luan Niang. Though she had told this story many times already, she still enjoyed it tirelessly.
Stroking Xinyue’s hair, Yun Ye watched through the thin gauze curtain as a full moon rose from the window—golden yellow with a halo. Tomorrow there might be strong winds—not a good day for travel.
Even if it wasn’t a good day for travel, it would certainly be a good day for plundering wealth. Chang’an City was full of fat sheep everywhere—either buying drunk in the West Market or singing wildly in brothels. After stuffing themselves full, doing some romantic affairs was truly one of life’s pleasures.
Yun Ye felt it was his responsibility to guide these blind consumers. They had no investment vision at all, only knowing to buy houses and expand land. Wasn’t it better to buy some glass for value preservation?
It was said that King Solomon’s treasure was all glass shards. Look how good he was at accumulating wealth! Later greedy fortune hunters went through countless hardships to find the treasure, and upon opening it found nothing but thousand-year-old glass—becoming one of the world’s greatest jokes.
After merchant caravans from various places gathered in Chang’an, this world’s greatest metropolis would stage a spectacular show of frantically plundering wealth. Watching the moon gradually disappear from the window, Yun Ye’s smile became extremely sweet. He pulled the blanket over Xinyue—she had long since fallen fast asleep.