Returning to the bamboo house, the elder crushed the notoginseng roots and stems and wrapped them around Yun Ye’s legs. Though smiling, deep in his eyes was thick worry. The joyful days had passed—what remained was to consider how to get through this long period of hunger. The Liao people always enjoyed themselves first, then accepted suffering. The ordinary young people in the village wouldn’t consider these matters. They always believed the elder would handle everything with wisdom.
Unfortunately, this time the elder faced not the foolish土 King who followed ancient rules. In the past, he could still use deception and other methods to exempt his village from tribute. After all, the土 King only ever married his own sister or younger sister. This had continued for many years. By this generation’s土 King, the elder could always easily handle him without expending too much energy.
The土 King was perhaps a foolish local dog—as long as there was food in his mouth, he wouldn’t bark needlessly. But the Feng family was different. Lady Xian’s prestige spread throughout the world. Feng Ang’s courage and strength were unmatched under heaven. His reputation for “determining Ang Mountain with one arrow”—who in the Lingnan region didn’t know, who hadn’t heard? Though he had many sons, there were no wastrels among them. If they tried to solve problems with petty cleverness again, it wouldn’t be possible. There wasn’t much grain in the warehouse. Who could have thought that right after the harvest, they’d go hungry?
The elder’s craftsmanship was excellent. Two large tree leaves bound on Yun Ye’s shins were like two green shin guards—beautiful and comfortable. The Liao people learned from nature how to create beauty and transformed it into their unique culture. Without writing, they had magnificent patterns. These patterns were everywhere—on clothes, headdresses, clay jars for water, wooden bowls for rice, and the masks of spirits.
Just as language wasn’t the best way to communicate—smiling faces were—patterns were their smiling faces. Pull out any child at random and they’d tell you the meaning of every pattern.
The elder carried the gift Yun Ye gave to the village and went to Yongzhou. After arranging village affairs, he hurried off without waiting even a moment—bringing back grain was what mattered. Yongzhou was named by the Great Tang Emperor just last year. Before, everyone called it Jinxing. He also brought a small jade plaque with characters carved on it. The elder didn’t recognize them. His Chinese was learned years ago at the Honglu Temple in Daxing when he went to pay tribute to the Sui Dynasty with the old土 King. The土 King couldn’t learn it, but as the smartest elder in the territory, there was no problem. In one year he learned this most difficult language in the world. Unfortunately, he couldn’t read or write. If he could read, he would have seen the jade pendant was carved with four characters: “Master of the Yun Clan.”
The princess’s traveling palace was just three hundred li away, yet Yun Ye stopped his steps. He planned to look first, to see how far reality was from his imagination. Liu Jinbao was in the princess’s mansion watching over his son. Wouldn’t asking him make everything clear? If Li Anlan was blinded by power, thinking she could establish herself by relying on the Feng family, then Yun Ye would immediately take his son and rush back to Chang’an. All the Yun family members would also withdraw from this land. Let her make a mess of the Lingnan region—consider it payment for bearing him a son.
If there were other reasons, Yun Ye felt being Odysseus once was perfectly acceptable. The Feng family was going too far! Previously, Yun Ye felt getting blood on his hands was a terrible thing. After being influenced by Dou Yanshan, he no longer thought killing someone was wrong. The current national situation was an era that encouraged killing.
The nugget gold would definitely have an effect on the authorities. However, it had no effect in the village. Yun Ye had originally prepared to show off and see the elder’s surprised and envious expression, but the result was just a bland “oh.”
The wealth he recognized differed somewhat from Yun Ye’s. In front of natural wealth like cattle, sheep, grain, and even the children running around outside, cold gold paled in comparison. If he hadn’t stayed in Chang’an for a while, he wouldn’t acknowledge this thing was also wealth. In the teachings of ancestors and spirits, this thing was never wealth. Bright white silver could at least be used to make girls’ headdresses. This soft thing like yellow mud really had little use. However, presenting it to the princess could be exchanged for enough grain to feed the whole village—on this point, it was still quite tempting.
Meng Lu took his new brother Yun Ye to the pine forest to find food. After roasting and eating a full two pounds of truffles, Meng Lu and Meng Na looked at Yun Ye with sympathy. This guest from afar was truly pitiful. These black lumps with a strange smell that only pigs liked to eat made him cry. To comfort the guest, they found even more truffles…
They actually had never been to the banana grove. Yun Ye was simply speechless. There were bananas there as numerous as the sea—weren’t they food?
Yun Ye didn’t want to be a freeloader. He lay on the ground and drew many bananas, then pointed to the mountain he’d passed through on his way here.
Who would have thought Meng Lu’s expression would become tense? He dragged Yun Ye up to leave. Under Yun Ye’s continuous gestures, he also lay on the ground and drew some pictures. From the pictures, Yun Ye learned that mountain had a demon king who liked to randomly spear people. One spear to the belly left a big hole. That big hole was drawn very realistically, very miserably. But why did the demon spirit look very much like a rhinoceros?
Nothing to say—that hunter had encountered the rhinoceros missing a brain circuit, was gored to death by the rhinoceros’s big horn, then trampled. Now the rhinoceros was killed by the elephant. As long as they didn’t provoke that elephant, there should be no problem cutting some bananas to bring back, right?
Women were trouble, and Meng Na was one. Seeing Yun Ye mock her, she immediately grabbed Meng Lu and instigated him to go find food at the Black Demon King’s place. She also gave a speech to the other young people. Though he couldn’t understand what was said, it was very impassioned.
Meng Lu was a good leader who thought about everyone’s safety, but his authority was immediately usurped by Meng Na. His expression of wanting to persuade but being worried and afraid made Yun Ye laugh uncontrollably. Finally, after being kicked hard by Meng Na, Meng Lu still submitted.
However, before departing, Meng Lu said something with a straight face. Even the pampered Meng Na obediently agreed. So Meng Lu, with an appearance of facing death resolutely, took his mulberry bow and tucked a machete in his waist, walking at the very front.
In the crowd, Yun Ye was the most relaxed. The bamboo basket on his back was full of truffles, not heavy at all. The wide-sleeved robes of the Han were originally made that way to display grace. The Academy’s blue robe had been refined by countless young dandies pursuing grace. Standing now among a large group of Liao men wearing short clothes and short shirts with hemp cloth wrapped around their heads, it was hard not to stand out. Moreover, countless great winds and waves, life-and-death struggles, had taught him composure. Years of high official and noble status gave him confidence. Add to that Zhangsun’s painstaking instruction—between movement and stillness, he displayed great bearing.
The girls’ eyes seemed about to shoot fire. More than one came close to Yun Ye chattering away. The bold ones even touched Yun Ye’s face, then looked as if they were about to faint from happiness. Meng Na had just kicked someone last night and was too embarrassed to crowd forward, but you could tell she really wanted to touch Yun Ye’s fair face.
Who knew what fragrance the girls used—every one of them smelled wonderful. Walking while talking and laughing, though they couldn’t understand each other, they still conversed with great relish. Yun Ye loved this way of speaking. No longer having to pretend to be an ancient person, words like “fuck” and “damn” kept spewing out along the way. He felt so free he almost thought he was in the clouds.
Passing the place where the rhinoceros was killed by the elephant, Yun Ye pointed at the rhinoceros’s skeletal remains, then at himself, meaning he had killed the rhinoceros. Just after receiving worship in the pile of girls, Meng Lu, whose chest was nearly burned through by the fire of jealousy, targeted him. It looked like he was preparing to challenge Yun Ye to single combat. After working hard scouting all the way, he couldn’t compare to a few incomprehensible words from a Han fellow. If this guy learned the Liao language, would there be any portion left for him among the village girls? He’d never believe a guy who got tired to near death spinning a few circles could kill the Black Demon King. But the Black Demon King’s skull was lying on the ground, and it looked like it had just been recently killed. How could such a hero not be compared with?
Yun Ye extended his hand to explain to Meng Lu, and his hand gained seven or eight beast-tooth necklaces. More than just Meng Lu wanted to compete with Yun Ye. Extending his hand meant agreeing to accept the challenge. The ecstatic Liao men immediately presented their tokens. Since Yun Ye was the hero who killed the Black Demon King, to respect the hero, they prepared to come at him together. Since Yun Ye didn’t withdraw his hand after receiving one necklace, it meant the hero had strong confidence he could fight ten people alone.
This time even Meng Na’s eyes shot out thick admiration. What the Liao family respected most were good men who could fight ten people alone. If you killed a wild boar, you were a warrior. If you killed a tiger or bear, you were simply a treasure of the village. Now there was a fellow who killed the Black Demon King and accepted many people’s challenges—this was a great warrior. If a beautiful girl could keep him in the village with love, she would absolutely be the village’s greatest contributor.
The completely oblivious Yun Ye grinned broadly, laughing very heroically. It seemed he wasn’t just accepting a challenge but receiving gifts. He cheerfully collected those various animal teeth into his bosom before pointing at the huge banana grove behind them.
Meng Lu’s machete fell to the ground. He also threw away his bow and arrows. With a shout, he led the charge into the banana grove. In the distance, those dozen or so elephants were still methodically munching bananas, disdaining those few tiny humans in the distance. After all, the banana grove was too large—enough for them to eat.
Meng Na knelt on the ground, covering her face and crying. The girls were all like this. Only the young men rushed into the banana grove and without a word started picking, picking while stuffing them in their mouths.
The girls also quickly came to their senses. Like beggars discovering a mountain of gold, they whooshed past Yun Ye. Just moments ago with peach-blossom faces, acting like Xi Shi clutching her heart, upon seeing bananas they immediately forgot there was any hero beside them.
A hero wasn’t as important as filling one’s belly. The elder had said that starting today, there wasn’t enough grain in the village. To hold out until the next harvest, everyone must be rationed—only three handfuls in the morning and four in the evening. As soon as he finished speaking, the youths wouldn’t accept it. This wasn’t enough—they’d go hungry! After Meng Na’s arduous struggle, the elder helplessly agreed that the youths were important and must be given preferential treatment—four handfuls in the morning and three in the evening. Only then were these impetuous youths appeased. Thinking of the elder’s helpless expression, Meng Na felt waves of pride—she was the smartest among the young people.