Yun Ye returned home from the academy early in the morning, preparing to rest properly. These past days, he hadn’t had a single comfortable day—all were annoying troubles. The academy was constantly building houses, to the point that even the ball court Yun Ye designed didn’t have sufficient manpower to complete it.

Today he handed the construction work over to Zhao Yanling. Among the scholars from Shu, only he was relatively free. The others were busy moving. This old fellow was all alone, so he was perfect to utilize.

Li Tai still had to do his math problems every day. Who knew if there would be correct results?

Grandmother and Aunt brought out all the brocades in the house to air today—first to prevent mold, second to check if insects had eaten them. So taking advantage of today’s good weather, they hung a courtyard full of colorful fabrics.

Elder Aunt touched this bolt, looked at that bolt, from time to time draping the fabric over herself to have the maids beside her give their opinions. Speaking of Elder Aunt, she was also a forty-year-old, yet her temperament remained like a young girl’s—she loved bright clothes. Her entire body was covered in fine brocades, some even embroidered with gold thread. Needless to say, they cost great sums.

Being fashionable in old age wasn’t unacceptable, but filling your head with hairpins was excessive. It wasn’t that she shouldn’t wear them, but standing under the bright sun with light shooting randomly from her head like Buddha himself—and she liked going to temples too. With that head full of Buddha’s radiance, when you go to the temple, is it you worshiping Buddha or Buddha worshiping you?

The Yun family had plenty of those things. Ever since the old master craftsman from Boyi Pavilion took a few designs from Yun Ye’s hands last time, he had sent over many items. He didn’t mention money, so Yun Ye naturally forgot about the matter of paying.

The old matriarch said to save them for when Yun Ye married a wife in the future. She also encouraged her grandson to attend gatherings at various princes’ households from time to time, and if he saw a young lady he liked, to present her with a few.

What she didn’t know was that whenever Yun Ye went to a household, the family head entertained him—all uncles and elder uncles. Even if there were two brother-level ones, they were bearded uncles in disguise. Under such solemn circumstances, how could Yun Ye peek at other people’s womenfolk? Give hairpins? It would be strange if they didn’t beat this rogue scoundrel to death.

As for being pleasing to the eye, Yun Ye found his own family members most pleasing to the eye.

Watching Yi Niang’s flushed face as she learned from married women to pour tea for family members was most pleasing. Without question, two hairpins—pick them yourself.

Run Niang’s embroidered handkerchief was beautiful. Though the mandarin ducks on it were a bit fat and the lotus flowers grew somewhat deformed, weren’t you going to allow Run Niang some artistic exaggeration? He loved chubby ducks the most. How did the young girl know his preferences? Good, keep it to wipe sweat. Pick a hairpin from the box and wear it—young girls should dress up prettily to look good.

Xiao Ya hugged her brother’s leg and kept tugging. What? You want one too? Touching the little girl’s sparse yellow hair on her head—could this even hold a hairpin? Want to keep it as dowry? A child with foresight—this must be supported. Take one.

Once started, it couldn’t be stopped. Not until Xiao Xi hugged the empty box and wailed did he discover—they were gone, an entire box of hairpins was gone. He could only pull one from the housekeeper aunt’s head and stuff it into Xiao Xi’s hand before things quieted down.

The old matriarch was nearly driven mad with anger. Holding a feather duster, she chased aunts, elder sisters, aunts-in-law, and younger sisters around the courtyard. Their movements were quite agile as feathers flew everywhere.

Whenever he saw this scene, Yun Ye’s heart was filled with joy. He felt that being trapped by others outside, or trapping others, was all so fitting.

“Ye, look—if Aunt uses this fabric to make a skirt, will it be beautiful?” Aunt interrupted Yun Ye’s silly grin. Together with a maid, she unfolded a bolt of red satin embroidered with huge peonies—good material for a wedding dress.

“If Aunt is planning to remarry, then this fabric would be most suitable.” Yun Ye smiled and teased his aunt.

These words made Aunt somewhat embarrassed. Blushing, she spat at Yun Ye and went back to her room with the laughing maid.

Ever since giving the hairpins to family members, Grandmother absolutely forbade Yun Ye from carrying anything valuable on his person. Apart from a few jade pendants men wore and several fragrant wood beads for warding off evil, Yun Ye could be called destitute. Even the hairclip he brought from the later world was hidden away by Grandmother under the family’s extremely longing gazes—she wouldn’t even let them look at it.

After reexamining his own family, Yun Ye thanked heaven in his heart. They were all kind people. The family never harbored various disgusting thoughts over distribution. The happy life after great hardship left them extremely satisfied.

As long as people knew contentment, they would be magnanimous. The prosperous life kept petty trivial matters far from them. And big matters weren’t their concern—they were all enjoying their own lives, which was also what Yun Ye hoped for.

Strolling through the house, passing from one courtyard to another—who knew how many moon gates there were? This was the first time Yun Ye had thoroughly toured his entire home.

The garden was planted full of Chinese roses, blooming brilliantly at this time. The garden full of floral fragrance attracted countless butterflies and bees. Several butterfly species were ones Yun Ye had never seen before, fluttering their wings and flying everywhere.

He instructed a maid to fetch scissors and cut the overly dense flowers, placing them in a basket to dry and remove excess moisture. When the flowers wilted slightly, they would be collected. Just as he was about to have the maid carry the basket to follow him to the house’s wine distillery, he discovered it was Aunt carrying the basket. Grandmother stood beside them in a foul mood, and on the ground knelt a sobbing maid.

“How much did she learn?” Grandmother’s tone was somewhat stern. Aunt was even acting like a fox exploiting a tiger’s might, scolding from the side.

“Alright, alright. These are just things I made for amusement when bored. It doesn’t matter. She just helped me pick flowers—what could she learn?” Was it necessary to kill someone over something his wife played with for fun in the later world?

Grandmother’s expression changed extremely quickly. Just a moment ago her face was full of severe frost, in an instant it became full of pride: “My grandson’s playthings, if put outside, would be treasures everyone would break their heads fighting over. Servants mustn’t touch them. If you want to play in the future, have your aunt accompany you. Find fewer unrelated people.”

Nothing to say. The old matriarch now watched the household extremely strictly, especially the servants who had contact with Yun Ye, fearing her grandson’s good things would be snatched by other families. When she saw the farming tools used in the fields, she felt heartbroken. When heartbroken, she cursed Niu Jinda.

The Yun household’s wine distillery stove didn’t dare stop. Cheng Yaojin was in Guyuan but still didn’t forget to write letters back asking for wine. Moreover, the distillery stove was that small, and it still had to supply the academy’s four wine enthusiasts. Li Chengqian robbed some from time to time. The Yuchi family kept exchanging treasures for some. The Qin family said it was for medicine—who knew what kind of medicine required twenty jars, enough for bathing. In short, the Yun residence’s fine brew had a reputation in Chang’an—it wasn’t easy to get a taste.

Grandmother chased away the distillery steward. He had signed an indenture contract—in life a person of the Yun family, in death a ghost of the Yun family. However, the treatment was generous. He was considered a prosperous family on the estate. His wife and children were often seen carrying a pig’s hind leg showing off all over the estate.

Changing to a small pot, pouring in boiling water, dumping all the flowers in to boil, covering it with a lid with a tube, and boiling with high heat—that was all.

Yun Ye said he wanted to sleep. It wouldn’t be ready in less than two hours. Aunt ran out to call two maids to move Yun Ye’s reclining chair over. Yun Ye had the old matriarch lie down for a while, but was pushed down by the old matriarch instead. She herself sat on a chair guarding the doorway while Aunt tended the fire inside the room.

When the pot boiled dry, Yun Ye also awoke. Full of energy, he rushed into the kitchen, then hurriedly ran out—he forgot to wear a mask. The kitchen was full of a raw grass smell, extremely unpleasant. Pouring the liquid condensed in the jar into another clean pot, a thin layer of oil-like substance floated on the surface of the distillate. Covering it with a lid, he continued distilling.

After repeating this process three times, Yun Ye obtained a bowl’s worth of sticky, viscous substance emitting an unpleasant smell.

“Ye, is this the perfume you mentioned? Did something go wrong somewhere? Did that wretched girl touch the flowers and anger heaven, preventing our family from distilling perfume?” The old matriarch felt her grandson couldn’t be wrong. If there was a mistake, it was the flower-picking maid’s mistake.

“Sit for a bit. It’s not finished yet. Perfume looks like this when freshly distilled. Grandson still needs to mix some things before it will have fragrance. It’s not the maid’s fault. Watch Grandson perform magic for you—how to turn stinky into fragrant.”

Using a small bamboo tube with a bladder attached to the back, he drew a few drops and dripped them into a small porcelain bottle containing strong liquor. Wrapping the stopper with silk and sealing it tightly, he shook it vigorously. As Yun Ye’s arm moved, a light Chinese rose fragrance spread through the room.

The old matriarch and Aunt stood up in amazement, intoxicated by the enchanting floral scent.