Yun Ye hadn’t actually fainted. He had clearly heard the conversation between Niu Jinda and Cheng Chumo. He felt that right now he couldn’t wake up—he really didn’t know how to face the current situation. Should he be overjoyed? Should he be angry? Should he be sad? Humans have seven emotions and six desires. Matching each emotion with an appropriate expression is what defines humans as higher animals.
He never expected his ancestors to have lived so miserably. From the wooden tablets, they were indeed his legitimate ancestors. He didn’t know when the Yun family males started keeping tablets, but this custom had never been interrupted. In later generations, when encountering someone with the same surname, taking out the wooden tablet for mutual recognition had become tradition. Once confirmed as being of the same clan, providing care and assistance was a natural obligation.
Yun Ye had encountered such a situation in Inner Mongolia. When checking into a hotel and registering his identity by giving his ID card to the innkeeper, unexpectedly the innkeeper had taken out a wooden tablet and asked if Yun Ye had one. Yun Ye quickly pulled out his wooden tablet. Comparing the two and confirming they were all one family, an immediate sense of kinship arose. Although it was like bandits making contact, Yun Ye truly enjoyed meticulous care—eating, lodging, traveling, and conducting business were all arranged perfectly. It was Yun Ye’s smoothest business trip ever. Before leaving, they agreed to meet again at the ancestral shrine. Even now, his home still displayed a crafted sheep’s head gifted by a fellow clansman.
Acknowledging his ancestry and returning to the clan was inevitable and also necessary. Betraying one’s clan, whether in modern times or in the Tang Dynasty, was a great taboo in human conduct. Abandoning these women and children would not only trouble his conscience—his ancestors would probably crawl out of their graves and strangle him to death. Having figured out how to face this situation, there was no need to remain unconscious. After all, he was also nobility, a meritorious official with a fief in the capital. A manor of one thousand two hundred mu should be sufficient to arrange for these women, children, and elderly.
“Chumo, has Uncle returned to camp?” Yun Ye asked Cheng Chumo, who was keeping watch beside him. Cheng Chumo had been spacing out. Hearing Yun Ye call him, he quickly stood up: “Brother, you’re finally awake! Your older brother was worried to death. Young Ye, when we return to the capital, your older brother will take you to thoroughly thrash those bastards who bullied your clansmen. We didn’t know before, but now that we know, if even one person suffers bullying, you need only ask your older brother!”
Yun Ye, eyes brimming with tears, grasped Cheng Chumo’s hand and nodded: “Right, when we return to the capital, we’ll thrash them thoroughly.” The two brothers looked at each other and laughed heartily.
“Father came back. Just now he wanted to see you, but Uncle Niu persuaded him to go back. He wants you to rest well and says that with him here, everything will be fine.”
Yun Ye didn’t know when Old Cheng had come, but hearing Old Cheng’s original words made his heart feel at ease. Yun Ye felt that having such an uncle was his good fortune. He had Cheng Chumo help him sit up, then took his backpack and examined the items one by one—a set of Yengisar knives, a small round mirror in a wooden box. After hesitating for a long time, he gritted his teeth and added that hair clip. Although his phone could still be used, it just couldn’t make calls. This thing couldn’t be leaked out anyway. Alas, it seemed he truly was a pauper. If he wanted to have money, it looked like he’d have to wait until after the potato harvest.
“Chumo, between us brothers there’s nothing to hide. Right now, little brother has no possessions of any length. Only these three items can probably be exchanged for some money. Please help little brother out. Sell these three things for me. You’ve also heard about the miserable state of little brother’s clansmen. People can be arranged to go to the manor, but little brother’s manor has no yield yet. These clansmen currently lack food and clothing and are in dire straits. They must have sufficient wealth to survive. Although when the potatoes are harvested there will surely be a large reward of money, little brother is burning with anxiety and can’t wait even a moment. Please, older brother, help me.”
Having said this, he bowed down completely. Cheng Chumo was hastily trying to help Yun Ye up when they heard Old Cheng’s angry roar from outside the tent: “You little rascal! This old man isn’t dead yet! Over such a small matter you want to sell the treasures your teacher left behind? Wastrel!”
Old Cheng strode into the tent and sat boldly on the bed platform. He picked up the dagger, plucked out a hair, blew it across the blade’s edge, and the hair split into two sections. He shouted, “Good blade!” He then picked up the mirror and looked at his face, seeming to startle himself. In the mirror, every hair was distinguishable, incomparably clear—nothing like what a foggy bronze mirror could compare to. He shouted again: “Fine treasure!”
Then he picked up the hair clip and examined it for a moment before exclaiming again: “Exquisitely crafted!” After appreciating the three treasures, he said to Yun Ye: “Every one of these three items is a rare treasure of the world—are you willing to exchange them for money? Could your teacher’s spirit in heaven forgive you?”
Yun Ye didn’t understand—the Yengisar knife set only cost two hundred yuan. His set was premium quality, worth at most a thousand yuan. The mirror cost five yuan and could be found all over the streets. Although the hair clip was custom-made, it was only five or six hundred yuan at most. How had they become rare treasures of the world, even rising to the level of moral standards?
Thinking that these were products from the future, he felt relieved. Just like how Tang Dynasty tomb-filling Tang Sancai pottery sold for astronomical prices in later generations, right? “Uncle, money and wealth are external possessions. This nephew hasn’t taken these things to heart. If selling them can help this nephew’s helpless clansmen, that would be putting them to good use. In this nephew’s view, Uncle and Chumo’s friendship toward me is the priceless treasure.”
Old Cheng laughed heartily with satisfaction: “You little rascal—your words and actions always make this old man feel warm and comfortable. Your worries weren’t in vain for this old man. I plan to send Cheng Dong back to the capital. You write down the secret recipe for making ice. Our two families will cooperate, each taking fifty percent. Once you reach the capital, I’ll have your aunt advance you two thousand strings of cash first, to be deducted from future dividends. This old man has complete faith in your ability to make money. This old man asked Old Niu—your relatives in the capital number only thirty-some people, with several in the Court of Imperial Entertainments. I believe that when the Hundred Cavalry Division investigated and discovered they were your relatives, they should have already protected them and they won’t suffer bullying anymore. Two thousand strings are enough to arrange for them properly. The Magistrate of Chang’an still has to give Old Cheng some face. You write a letter and include a token so those women and children will believe you’re the clan leader. Probably only you can serve as this clan leader now.”
Yun Ye listened dumbstruck. Just moments ago he was still worrying about these messy matters, but unexpectedly Old Cheng had resolved everything in the blink of an eye. Before he could speak, Old Cheng continued: “You’re in the military now. Returning to the capital privately without an imperial decree is a serious crime. According to law, it’s punishable by beheading. So write your letter honestly, write the secret recipe, and hand them to Cheng Dong. With your aunt in the capital, you can completely relax. She handles matters even more reliably than Old Cheng. You just plant the potatoes properly and steadily. This old man estimates we’ll break camp and return to the capital before year’s end. The Left Militant Guard is an army that guards the capital—what’s the point of staying in Longxi all the time? When we return to Chang’an and bring out the potatoes, we’ll startle those fellows who laughed at this old man! Haha!”
Cheng Dong took Yun Ye’s name tablet, the family letter, and the newly acquired seal of the Baron of Ping’an County. Leading ten cavalrymen under the pretext of delivering a message, he rushed back to Chang’an by night.
Seven days after Cheng Dong’s departure, the potatoes finally bloomed. Clusters of pale purple small flowers nestled among the dark green leaves, appearing especially noble. Indeed, it was the word “noble”—Old Cheng said noble, so how dare they not be noble? Niu Jinda actually nodded in praise, extending his thumb to commend Old Cheng’s excellent scholarship.
Yun Ye feared the few potato plants might have uneven pollination, so he deliberately brushed each flower stamen with a writing brush several times to ensure pollination success rate. He trimmed away excess branches and leaves, which pained Old Niu to watch. Now, even Zhuang Santing wasn’t qualified to tend the potatoes. Old Niu personally pitched his tent beside the grass pavilion, moving the plants out at sunrise and in at sunset. Although Yun Ye knew this was excessive fussing, seeing Old Niu take such pleasure in it, he said nothing.