When it came to testing, there was no dawdling—Yun Ye had never heard of children who liked exams before, so this absolutely had to be encouraged. An incense ball hung in the small pavilion as the first-place prize. Of course, the bamboo ruler in his hand was the punishment for last place.

Xiao Ya and the others—Xiao Dong, Xiao Nan, Xiao Xi, and Xiao Bei—whimpered and whined, unwilling to go into the pavilion. Only after their aunt coaxed and cajoled them did they finally go in. Each person had a small desk. Yun Ye wrote questions on the blackboard hanging from a pillar. The questions weren’t particularly difficult. The old scholar teaching at home walked back and forth with his hands behind his back, inspecting and occasionally checking how his disciples were answering.

As soon as there was an exam, one could tell who had really studied diligently. Some scratched their ears and cheeks, some looked left and right, and of course there were also those who wrote confidently with full assurance. The old scholar most liked standing behind Xiao Wu and Shishi, nodding continuously. When he saw Xiao Ya acting like a monkey, he shook his head incessantly. Xiao Dong was fairly good at mathematics, Xiao Xi was very average, Xiao Nan and Xiao Bei barely managed to answer a few questions, but Xiao Ya’s paper was completely covered in black blotches, making Yun Ye’s heart ache. Li Tai glanced at Shishi and Xiao Wu’s papers, then took out a red pen and gave them both a big one hundred. The two delighted little girls pulled on Li Tai’s arm, acting coquettishly nonstop.

Xiao Ya pouted and lay across her brother’s knee, ready to receive her punishment. She knew she hadn’t done well. Yun Ye raised the bamboo ruler several times but couldn’t bear to strike down. The tiny girl bit her teeth and tensed her face, looking so pitiful in her readiness to be beaten that it broke one’s heart. Forget it—why bother hitting her? If he struck her, he’d feel distressed for days. When Xiao Ya’s bottom stopped hurting, she’d run off to play again while he was still upset—too much of a loss! Without any good humor, he gave her protruding bottom a slap, picked her up, and said, “Pay more attention. In our whole family, you’ve studied the longest yet scored the worst. What will we do if you can’t find a good marriage in the future?”

Xiao Ya happily hugged her brother and said, “I won’t marry! I’ll stay home, serve Grandmother, and be filial to Brother. I’ll never marry for my whole life!” After saying this, she pecked Yun Ye on the cheek.

This satisfied him. As long as a girl had a kind nature, there was nothing to worry about. That Xiao Ya was a bit rough was entirely his own fault for spoiling her. Now that problems had emerged, he couldn’t just blame Xiao Ya alone.

The Yun family members weren’t particularly intelligent. Aside from Daya who liked reading, not one of the others enjoyed it. Even Daya only managed to finish those books through sheer hard work. A few days ago, she told Yun Ye that when she looked at distant things, they were blurry—was she going blind? This frightened the little girl into tears.

Her eyes had indeed been damaged by reading—she’d become nearsighted. After carefully examining Daya’s eyes, Sun Simiao said it was internal evil rising and she needed to eat more medicines that restored clarity and brightness to the vision. He also encouraged Daya to eat more pig and sheep organ meats.

Traditional Chinese medicine was a slow process to see results. Yun Ye could only prepare to make Daya a pair of glasses. He found the finest crystal, but unfortunately, the craftsmen could never quite master the arc of the lenses and couldn’t meet Yun Ye’s requirements. This too required slow exploration.

There were two first-place winners. Yun Ye looked at Xiao Wu’s face full of eager anticipation and without hesitation judged Xiao Wu the victor on the grounds of neater handwriting. Shishi very magnanimously congratulated Xiao Wu.

Only then did Xiao Wu release the corner of her skirt that she’d been clutching tightly. She glanced apologetically at Shishi, then knelt before Yun Ye who was holding the incense ball, crying as she said, “Master, I don’t want the incense ball. I only want to beg Master for one thing.”

“Oh? What is it? As long as Master can do it, I’ll definitely agree. Xiao Wu scored first place and deserves a good reward. Come now, stand up and tell Master. Our family doesn’t practice kneeling. Knees bend for walking, not for kneeling and kowtowing. My disciples, male or female, have precious knees.”

Xiao Wu got up, crying as she said to Yun Ye, “My brothers want to marry me off for money. I don’t want to marry. I want to stay home and not go anywhere.”

Yun Ye smiled darkly and said, “You’re my disciple. I’d like to see who dares take you to exchange for money. If anyone’s going to exchange you, it should be me, your master. My family’s Xiao Wu is a priceless treasure—there aren’t many in this world who can afford the price.”

Xiao Wu immediately broke into laughter through her tears, but then her face fell again as she said, “But they’re my brothers. My father is gone, and the *Admonitions for Women* says I should obey my brothers.”

“Silly girl, you’ve forgotten that your master still has another title—chief of the Three Scourges of Chang’an. With that reputation, how can I not do some wicked deeds? If your brothers dare come to the door again, I’ll break their legs. You just happily study and play—leave everything else to Master. I guarantee it will be handled properly without any future troubles.” After saying this, he tied the incense ball to Xiao Wu’s belt and pointed to the several little girls making a ruckus outside the pavilion, telling her to go play as well.

Li Tai covered his forehead and said, “Ye Zi, why do you only have this one move when disciplining people? Your mouth keeps shouting about breaking this one’s legs, breaking that one’s legs, but up till now, you’ve only broken two people’s legs, and one of them was in an indecent location. This doesn’t suit your status as a marquis. If you’re going to do it, finish them off—don’t do it halfway. It’s embarrassing to leave things hanging.”

There was nothing to say. Li Tai had never been a kind person. Whether Li Yuanzhang could survive this time was still uncertain. Though he didn’t mention it at all now, once he made his move, Li Yuanzhang would have no choice but to suffer the consequences.

The two had only eaten one bowl of cold noodles from last night until now. The pastries Lan Ling brought couldn’t be eaten, so now they were both famished. They had always believed there was nothing better in this world than minced meat noodles. Compared to these, all the fine fish and meat, all the delicacies from land and sea meant nothing to two hungry people.

Bowls as big as human heads—each person got a large bowl. The sour and fragrant broth with the minced meat topping was simply heavenly. Yun Ye had already begun his battle. When Li Tai’s guard tried to run over to taste Li Tai’s food, Li Tai kicked him away. Without any side dishes, each person had one large bowl of noodles, crouching at the small table outside the kitchen, eating with earth-shaking intensity.

After consuming two catties of noodles, the two stuffed men prepared to go down to the cellar to discuss matters concerning gunpowder. The guards went down to the cellar first, carefully searching every inch, even meticulously stabbing the surrounding cellar walls and floor with spears before inviting Yun Ye and Li Tai down. Broad-shouldered, thick-waisted guards stood at the cellar entrance—anyone approaching within three zhang would be killed without question. This was Li’er’s personal instruction, so these fellows had simplified even the warning procedure.

In the cellar were only a few lanterns, illuminating the underground space brightly. Yun Ye came to the table and took out three things from the drawer, pouring a little of each onto hemp paper. After putting away the rest, he said to Li Tai, “Qing Que, the ingredients for gunpowder are just these three things: saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. When these three things are mixed together, they become gunpowder. Remember, the ratio is seven to two to one. I’ve only researched this far—the rest you’ll need to study yourself. I’ve also discovered that after mixing them evenly, adding egg white and sieving them into granules increases the power by ten percent. Of course, all this requires you to ponder in the future. From now on, I will no longer concern myself with this matter. Remember, when mixing, you can’t use iron implements—only wooden ones, or there will be danger. Those slaves, and Xiao Cangsheng too—I won’t ask about their whereabouts anymore, and you shouldn’t mention them to me either.”

After saying this, Yun Ye smiled at Li Tai and climbed up to the surface with a light heart. He said to the guard commander, “Prince Wei is conducting research down there. Unless there’s something particularly important, don’t disturb him. Anyone who enters without permission will be executed.” Seeing the guard clasp his fists in acknowledgment, only then did he leave with relief. A big trouble, a big burden had finally been cast off.

Na Rimu obediently walked in the garden. These past days, Yun Ye wouldn’t allow her to sit for long periods, always urging her to walk more. The last time Xinyue gave birth had left a deep psychological shadow on Yun Ye.

Supporting Na Rimu as she walked—this was the only thing Yun Ye could do. Having long grown bored of the garden, they took two maids and family guards and went out the back gate, walking along the bluestone path toward the fields.

The people of the Yun estate now had a special fondness for stone-paved roads. Whenever they had the opportunity, they’d lay another section. The dozen or so mu ahead were all planted with corn—this scale had only been achieved after three years of continuous planting. For this, Yun Ye had expended enormous effort. Now the harvest was in sight. As long as the seeds didn’t degenerate, Yun Ye planned to plant all the nearby mountain land with corn next year. Potatoes were no longer rare at the Yun estate. Elderly people, when drinking tea early in the morning, would roast a couple of potatoes for breakfast. Eating steaming hot potatoes with strong tea brought indescribable comfort.

Na Rimu looked at the corn and quietly acted coquettish toward Yun Ye—she wanted to eat corn. Last year she’d wanted to eat it, but Xinyue wouldn’t allow it. Old Madam had coaxed her saying this year when there was more, she could eat it. Now looking at the large green expanse, she felt there was already plenty. Her husband had shown off to her how delicious boiled young corn was. Pregnant women couldn’t think about what they wanted to eat—once they thought about it, they had no patience whatsoever.

Eating some corn was nothing. Thinking of the child in her belly, even if she wanted to eat swan, Yun Ye would unhesitatingly go to the imperial gardens to catch one. Furong Garden had many, occupying a small lake, flapping their wings to catch fish—such a waste.

The corn grew sturdy and upright. Plump corn cobs jutted diagonally from the stalks, topped with brown silk. The male flowers at the very top had already finished blooming. Shaking them, countless pollen grains still fell down.

The crops in one’s own field—why be polite? Yun Ye stood on the field ridge and—crack, crack—broke off three ears. Thinking that since they’d started eating, they shouldn’t be stingy, he broke off over a dozen more in one breath. Seeing the family guards cradling the heavy corn cobs over a foot long in their arms, Na Rimu no longer wanted to walk at all, urging Yun Ye to go back and boil corn for her.

After giving instructions to the guards watching over the Yun family’s cornfield to cut down all the empty stalks without corn so they wouldn’t waste the soil’s nutrients, they headed back.

Wang Cai had never eaten corn. Yun Ye peeled one for him and held it in his hand, watching him eat it bit by bit until it was completely finished. The rest he peeled, removing the outer husks and leaving only the innermost layer. If you peeled corn completely bare before boiling it, it wouldn’t have that sweet fragrance.