Yun Ye was now an idle marquis. He didn’t need to attend court, nor did he need to dress up foolishly and go around banging gongs to chase away the Taotie. Everyone said that thing would eat the sun. Yun Ye couldn’t figure out what creature would have such a good appetite to swallow down a sun with a temperature of fully a million degrees. He’d heard the Taotie was also supposedly a combination of carbon and hydrogen compounds.

He couldn’t say anything about it. Xinyue came over early in the morning, completely disregarding her husband who hadn’t fully recovered from his serious illness. As soon as she got her hands on him, she stripped him completely naked—bright red underpants, bright red underclothes. If that was all, it would have been fine, but she also had to tie a red silk sash to Yun Ye’s head. Good heavens! If he then put on red robes and red shoes, that appearance would frighten not only the Taotie but Yun Ye himself.

Despite his desperate resistance, Xinyue and Na Rimu working together still managed to get the red underpants and red underclothes on him. In the middle, he was molested by the two wicked women for quite a while.

Of course, the molestation was mutual. When he wanted to go further, they were unwilling—the reason being that he hadn’t fully recovered from his serious illness and was physically weak. Yun Ye rubbed the slickness between his fingers and made a very lewd gesture at Xinyue, resulting in her spitting at him. Na Rimu laughingly pushed her chest forward, hoping the game from just now could continue, but was dragged out by her ear by the wicked woman Xinyue.

The bright red robe and red shoes—he’d rather die than wear them. He’d rather go bare-bottomed than wear them. He finally managed to make Xinyue yield by invoking his ancestral master’s prestige. At the cost of being molested by her husband for the duration of an incense stick, Xinyue coaxed and cajoled until she got a red headband tied on Yun Ye. As for the bright red robe, no matter what price Xinyue paid, Yun Ye wouldn’t wear it. It wasn’t that Yun Ye couldn’t be tempted—it was really that after putting it on, there would be no way to face people!

As soon as he went out, he saw two red children with rouge dots on their foreheads—boys and girls dressed the same. Great Tang’s young boys and girls were hard to distinguish. They all had two little topknots, and these chubby-cheeked children, unless you lifted their pants to check directly, were indistinguishable. Fortunately, Yun Ye could still tell apart his own son and daughter.

His son came hopping over with a green bamboo horse between his legs. As for his daughter, she still rode her Wang Cai, holding a small wooden knife, imposing and dignified. His son had no big dog to ride, which made him quite aggrieved. The bamboo horse wasn’t fun at all, so he could only ride his father. Throwing Yun Shou onto his neck, walking became a bit wobbly. Sun Simiao had said this serious illness had indeed damaged his vital energy.

Xinyue wanted to take their son down, but Yun Baobao was unwilling. He pulled his father’s hair in a tantrum, completely refusing to come down, so they had to leave it that way.

The sun was still hanging nicely in midair—no sign of the Taotie’s shadow. The three of them strolled around the garden for quite a while. Lingdang had already brought over breakfast for the father and his two children. Yun Baobao hadn’t touched the big dog, so he didn’t need to wash his hands. He clapped his hands watching his sister being grabbed by Aunt Lingdang to wash her hands, very pleased with himself.

Having heard that the Taotie wouldn’t come out until the afternoon when it got hungry, the father and his two children weren’t in a hurry to rescue the sun. One meal took a full half shichen to finish. Just Yun Ye mediating the dispute between the siblings over whose turn it was for the last small bun took half that time. Yun Ye would absolutely never admit that he had secretly placed that bun in his son’s plate. Neither child thought their father was the troublemaker—they accused each other with blazing anger. Watching his children’s intelligence level, Yun Ye was truly anxious about their future.

Old Qian’s appearance nearly scared Yun Ye into stumbling. The old fellow was looking quite something—in these two years, he’d learned to put on weight like others. His whole person was wrapped in red silk, looking extremely ostentatious. Combined with the smiling face he’d practiced for many years, he looked exactly like a big lucky charm doll.

“Marquis, our family’s ancestral master will also appear at that time. You say, if we scare away the Taotie, will ancestral master be in danger? How about this old servant just has them yell a few times casually and leaves it at that?”

Old Qian was being thorough in his considerations—truly worthy of having been a steward for many years. But ancestral master wasn’t a thief—why would he need to be so cautious?

“No need. When the time comes, just watch. Our family’s ancestral master isn’t an ordinary divine being. No need to fear those three-legged crows. This time is just to go see whether there really are crows inside the fireball—it doesn’t count as a big deal.”

Yun Ye brazenly vouched for his family’s ancestral master. Old Qian understood completely and went to make preparations. It was said he even dug out broken pots from home, all to contribute more effort when the time came.

The officials came to call three times, hoping Marquis Yun could participate in this grand event. All were declined by Yun Ye under the pretext of ancestor worship. Since he no longer held official position, there was no need to join in the excitement and steal the county magistrate’s thunder. One had to have perception in how one conducted oneself. Their coming to call was a courtesy, and his declining was also courtesy. Although pushing back and forth like this made them look like two fools, the formality had to be observed. If Yun Ye rashly changed his mind, the scene would definitely be awkward.

To say that Chang’an had now become a red ocean wasn’t an exaggeration at all. After all, humanity having developed to the Great Tang’s stage, there was no longer much superstitious component regarding solar and lunar eclipses. So the people of Chang’an all treated chasing away the Taotie to rescue the sun as a custom, dressing up as red children young and old, the same principle as everyone drinking realgar wine and wearing dogwood on the Double Ninth Festival.

Among his three wives, Na Rimu looked best in red. Her disposition was originally lively, and combined with her fair skin, she made Yun Ye drool watching her. Lingdang’s delicate and weak appearance actually looked most beautiful in green, but today wearing a bright red jacket and red skirt, she looked exactly like the new brides in Yun Ye’s memory.

The one who suffered most was Xinyue. She had to wear her crown and ribbons because this was also the rule. The pearls and jade on top glittered dazzlingly, hurting the eyes. On her body, she wore red robes and skirts that even had gold thread. Apart from ostentatious, Yun Ye couldn’t think of another descriptor. But Xinyue didn’t care—as long as it displayed status, even if she had to wear a pig’s head, she wouldn’t care.

Old Grandmother hadn’t changed. Taking her gang of followers, she went early to the family temple to pray for blessings. When Yun Ye was ill, Old Grandmother had made a grand vow to recite sutras a thousand times and cast a golden statue. Now that her grandson’s illness had recovered, it was time to fulfill her vow. As for whether the sun would be eaten by the Taotie, she didn’t care at all—as long as her grandson was lively and energetic, that was enough.

Liu Jinbao must have spent all his money clean. Having no money to prepare proper attire, he randomly found a piece of red cloth wrapping and tied it around his head. Holding a knife in his arms, he looked just like an executioner—inauspicious. Xinyue threw over the robe Yun Ye wouldn’t wear. He wrapped himself in it in two or three moves—now he looked even worse.

The corona appeared. Yun Ye lay in his reclining chair, put on his own glasses, planning to properly appreciate the spectacle of the solar eclipse. The two children’s noses also had small glasses perched on them, all with black lenses. Over these years, the Yun Family’s collection of crystals was countless. This thing wasn’t particularly valuable anyway, so making a pair of sunglasses for each family member was no problem. If these things were in the future world, they would absolutely be high-end goods.

The moment Na Rimu put on sunglasses, Yun Ye nearly cried out. If not for the clothing being somewhat retro, this was absolutely an urban beauty who would have over one hundred percent head-turning rate walking down the street. Wanting to get closer to this beauty—in the future world, such beauties were beyond someone like Yun Ye’s reach.

The solar eclipse was just that—a thing. While they watched the sun being swallowed bit by bit by darkness, Yun Ye was appreciating the three beauties beside him. Just as his thoughts were flying, Old Qian’s broken gong voice roared out. Instantly, Yun Ye was engulfed by noise that shook the heavens. At this time, forget about watching beauties—he couldn’t see anything. His brain was aching from the noise. Even so, Yun Ye’s hands didn’t have the privilege of covering his own ears first. Instead, he had to first gather his two little treasures into his embrace. Lingdang was clever—she tore open a large ball of cotton and quickly stuffed everyone’s ears properly.

No matter how these people shouted or banged things, the sun was still swallowed by the black shadow. The sky gradually darkened. Xinyue was somewhat afraid. Lingdang also burrowed into her husband’s embrace. When the stars appeared, a huge meteor was slowly rushing toward the sun’s direction…

“Ancestral master?” Xinyue suddenly wasn’t afraid anymore. Their own family’s ancestral master was working hard to approach the sun. She didn’t know if the three-legged crow would scratch their ancestral master. She clenched her fists to cheer for their family member.

Old Qian kicked each of several servants who were still banging gongs, holding his breath watching their family’s ancestral master slowly approach the sun. Just as the meteor was about to reach that mass of black area, a point of light instantly jumped out, followed by a ring of light. A huge, dazzling diamond ring appeared in the sky. The noise outside grew even louder—it seemed people thought the sun was about to achieve victory.

The Yun Family members all watched with sadness as their ancestral master was gradually swallowed by that mass of light points. Their hearts were full of sorrow. The ring gradually became crescent-shaped, and the sky gradually became bright. When light once again scattered across the earth, ancestral master also completely disappeared into the daylight. Not knowing the outcome, the Yun Family members all felt somewhat sorrowful. The delicate Lingdang was already crying—she thought ancestral master was finished.

“It’s alright. Ancestral master has left. Tonight we can still see him and send him off once more. Don’t worry—ancestral master’s plan to look at the sun failed. This needs to wait for another time. We’ll take this opportunity to spend more time with ancestral master. The next time we want to see ancestral master again, we’ll have to wait until seventy-six years later.”

“Husband, ancestral master didn’t die?” Lingdang asked naively.

“Silly woman, ancestral master will never die. His life, to us, is eternal—unless he completely decomposes clean in the universe.” Whether Lingdang understood or not, Yun Ye felt it was still better to explain it to her.

The sun completely escaped the darkness. The people on earth believed this was their achievement. Those with loud voices laughed heartily, wiped the sweat from their foreheads, and loudly boasted to others about how they rescued the sun. Of course, the Yun Family’s thief ancestral master being driven away by their loud voices wasn’t worth mentioning to outsiders. They just couldn’t hide the contempt in the Yun Family members’ eyes no matter what.