The boiled young corn naturally gave off a sweet fragrance. Na Rimu happily delivered a plate to Grandmother, her aunts and sisters-in-law, not allowing even the maids to touch it.
A dignified marquis’s household eating corn could give one the feeling of celebrating a festival—such high-class goods. The sight of Xinyue gnawing on the corn cob was heartbreaking. She ate meticulously, not leaving a single shred. Na Rimu finished her own in one breath, then stared at Yun Ye’s. He had no choice but to break off half and hand it to her. Xiao Ya counted the corn kernels on the cob, preparing to cut it with a knife. The quantity wasn’t enough, so the little girls could only get half each.
What exactly was he doing? Yun Ye suddenly erupted with fury. Whether people under heaven ate or not—what the hell did it have to do with him? A broken corn cob, making his own family treasure it like this. Weren’t there still over ten mu of corn in the fields? What would it matter if the family ate up one mu? Before there was corn, hadn’t everyone still not starved to death?
If they liked eating it, today they’d eat their fill. He’d send some to relatives, friends, and elders. His own people couldn’t even eat enough—how could he expect everyone under heaven to eat enough? To this day, Li’er only spread potatoes within a small range. What was that about? The old men of the Yun estate no longer considered potatoes rare, yet people outside still didn’t know what potatoes were.
Did even crops have to be divided into high and low, noble and base? Potatoes were only permitted to be grown by wealthy families, but not by the common people who most needed this thing to fill their bellies?
Although he knew this was Li’er being cautious—since ancient times, agriculture had been no small matter, and encouraging agriculture had always been the cornerstone of feudal dynasties, so one couldn’t be too careful—wealthy families could withstand losses. Even if they suddenly lost the benefits of potatoes, they wouldn’t starve to death. Poor families were different. If they planted for a year and suddenly had no harvest, that would be a matter of dynasties changing. Rice, wheat, millet, broomcorn millet, and sorghum had been planted for tens of thousands of years before becoming the people’s staple foods. Potatoes had appeared too recently and needed verification.
But even so, Yun Ye still felt injured. He was very clear about potatoes, not to mention corn. The small porcelain bowl in his hand squeaked as he gripped it. Seeing Shishi pitifully eating corn kernel by kernel, he completely exploded. He threw the small bowl in his hand onto the table, turned, and left, leaving the family at the dining table looking at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what kind of madness had seized Yun Ye.
Taking family guards and servants to the cornfield, he selected a patch that grew best. At one command, the servants rushed into the cornfield and began breaking corn. Yun Ye had no intention of leaving a single stalk of this patch of corn. Benefiting humanity was important, but most important was first benefiting his own family. He never believed those people who didn’t care for their own wives, children, and elderly. He didn’t know if such people could even be counted within the human category. Not caring for one’s own wives, children, and elderly, yet sorrowfully and compassionately seeking welfare for all the suffering people of the world—behind such seeming greatness often hid unknown ugly purposes.
There were many such people in the Great Tang, all local officials. Not one existed in the capital. Even someone like Wei Zheng knew to buy his foolish son a good house, fearing he’d lack food and clothing in the future. That parental affection was comforting to see.
One mu wasn’t much. In half a shichen, the servants had picked it clean. Looking at over a dozen baskets of corn cobs, only then did Yun Ye dispel the hatred in his heart.
Grandmother patted Yun Ye’s hand without saying anything, smiling as she went to the Buddhist hall to make up today’s lessons. Xinyue was about to speak when Yun Ye’s glare sent her words back. Na Rimu was happy as a child, wanting Yun Ye to boil lots and lots for her—she planned to eat only boiled corn for the next half month.
He boiled another full large pot. Even Steward Qian received an ear of corn, grinning from ear to ear with joy. Xiao Ya quickly gnawed clean the bit of corn she’d saved.
This was right. Na Rimu took a plate to her room—he knew she planned to give it to Huan Niang to eat. Xiao Ya, Xiao Wu, and the several little girls each got two ears. If they couldn’t finish, they could save them, but everyone in the family had to have some.
“What’s wrong with you today? Usually you guard the corn like your life. How is it you cut down so much now? Didn’t you say it’s all seed grain? You also said, ‘Even if parents starve to death, don’t eat the seed grain.’ Has your temperament changed today?”
“If I really watched my parents starve to death without eating the seed grain, would you still like me if I were like that? If I became completely selfless, that wouldn’t be Yun Ye. What heaven, what common people—that’s not my concern. I’m also one of the common people and need to be cared for too. I can’t be caring for all under heaven while my whole family is half-dead and starving. Conscience—that’s something you have only after eating your fill.”
Xinyue kissed Yun Ye on the lips and said, “A husband like you is a good husband. This wife doesn’t know what virtue I accumulated in my past life to marry such a good man. Bearing children for you is this wife’s blessing. Spending a lifetime under your protection, living warmly and comfortably—didn’t Guan Zhong say that when clothing and food are sufficient, then one knows propriety and righteousness? The words of the ancient sages correspond with yours.”
Xinyue most liked seeing Yun Ye care for his family. Seeing he had a tendency to develop in this direction, she quickly both encouraged him and found basis for her husband’s words to firmly establish his thinking.
The sky had grown completely dark, yet Li Tai still showed no movement. Yun Ye put two ears of corn in a basket, preparing to go down and check. Seeing Yun Ye bringing food for Li Tai, the commander gratefully stepped aside from the cellar door, letting him descend.
Li Tai’s firecrackers were already made, but this diligent young man was still busy, holding a magnifying glass and carefully studying saltpeters and sulfurs of different purities, wanting to make a record.
His notebook was already filled with symbols—these were English letters Yun Ye had specifically taught him, purely for confidentiality. Li Tai had himself created new meanings for each English letter. Even if Yun Ye picked up his notes now, he couldn’t understand what he’d recorded.
Men immersed in their work were very captivating—resolute, strong, indomitable. In short, at this moment you would discover merits in them you’d never discovered before.
Touching the teapot, he found the tea inside had already gone cold. Taking advantage of Li Tai resting a moment, Yun Ye said, “Qing Que, rest more. I’ve already elevated gunpowder to a new height. For you to have new discoveries on this foundation won’t be too easy. I’ve brought you something good to eat.”
Li Tai smiled at Yun Ye, sighed, then stretched. Lifting the basket’s lid, he cried out in surprise, “Corn! What’s gotten into you today? How are you willing to give me such good food? Last year when I asked you for a little to taste, you scolded me bloody. Could it be you see me working too hard and specifically want me to replenish myself?”
“Wash your hands first. They’re covered in powder—don’t you know about cleanliness? From now on, develop the good habit of washing hands after work. I don’t know what else you’ll research in the future. If you get involved in the biochemical realm, just the matter of not washing hands could cost you your life.”
Li Tai was always very receptive to correct opinions. He put down the lid, went to the wooden basin to wash his hands, washing carefully twice before drying the water and taking corn from the basket. He plucked off the corn silk, peeled back the outer husk, and chewed with big bites.
Watching his movements, one could tell—those bastards at the Academy definitely hadn’t refrained from stealing corn. Poor him, forcing himself to endure until today before eating a bite.
Coming to Li Tai’s desk, he looked at the firecrackers he’d made. Very meticulous—they ranged from large to small. The ingredients in the drawer were almost depleted. Picking up a firecracker and shaking it, it was packed very tight. The small holes in the bamboo joints were also drilled very delicately. It was hard to imagine all these things came from the hands of a prince.
“Qing Que, even I have to admire your tenacity. You were born to do this. Diligence plus talent—you’d have difficulty not achieving results. I dare not imagine what level of achievement you’ll reach in the future. Your elder brother really can’t be compared with you, whether in talent or diligence—he’s not your equal.”
Li Tai spat out some residue and said with rolling eyes, “Yet you still chose to help my elder brother. You turned a blind eye to such excellent stock as me. Don’t you feel it’s a bit late to say these things now?”
“You’re overthinking. If we’re just talking about being emperor, I still firmly support your elder brother. You couldn’t govern the country well. A scientist as a nation’s head of state is that nation’s disaster. In their temperament is naturally a streak of madness. You can’t not know how much pressure there is in being emperor. With your temperament, before long, you’d completely release that mad streak. You’re also particularly domineering. Do you know you’re very similar to Yang Guang?”
Li Tai stopped speaking. He lowered his head and continued gnawing corn. After a long while, he finally raised his head and said helplessly to Yun Ye, “I wanted to refute you, but discovered it’s truly as you said. We’re very alike—the same literary talent and romantic disposition, the same extraordinary gifts, and damn it, even our thinking is similar. If he hadn’t rushed with the canals, Yang Guang would definitely have been a renowned emperor. If the conquest of Goguryeo hadn’t been so urgent, it wouldn’t have caused the Sui Dynasty to fragment. Our temperaments are both impatient. We both want to accomplish a hundred years’ worth of work in a few years, so it inevitably won’t be too stable.”
“Xiao Tai, this is why I don’t want you to be emperor. Though the above two points are important, you haven’t understood the most important one. Look at what your father has been doing these years and you’ll understand. Yang Guang wasn’t just impatient in temperament—he needed to rapidly accumulate connections. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, powerful clans ran rampant, including your Guanlong Li family. The pressure on Yang Guang was too great. He needed to prove he was a good emperor, so he chose to campaign east against Goguryeo, concentrating the entire nation’s strength there, massively consuming the power of the clans. If the eastern campaign had succeeded, he definitely would have used the momentum of great victory to eliminate the domestic clans. This is why your grandfather experienced three frights in one night!”
“Domestically, he wanted to establish his eternal achievement through canal excavation. Very unfortunately, his eastern campaign failed, disastrously. When excavating the Grand Canal, he also employed people unwisely. The likes of Ma Shumou devoured people like beasts. Domestic popular resentment boiled over. He lost the trust of the nobility and equally couldn’t gain the trust of the common people. So the appearance of eighteen rebel kings and seventy-two pillars of smoke was not surprising.”