Ever since Yun Ye had treated the Vice Minister of the Bureau of Imperial Music with extreme rudeness, the Yun family home had truly become desolate, with barely any visitors. At this time, Yun Ye sent letters to several familiar families, asking them not to visit the Yun household recently. Yun Ye very much wanted to observe the various aspects of worldly affairs and the warmth and coldness of human relationships under the current safe conditions.

In the past, though impoverished, he had been magnanimous in his dealings with others, and his home never lacked friends. Now that he had prospered, he wanted to experience this feeling—to separate himself from reality and observe coldly from an outsider’s perspective.

Li Er had once warned Yun Ye that human hearts change easily and cannot withstand testing, so whenever possible, one should avoid testing them, because it would leave one deeply hurt.

He had used his different treatment of Yuchi Gong and Dan Xiongxin as an example for Yun Ye. Why was it that among surrendered generals, he treated Yuchi Gong like family, yet the moment he saw Dan Xiongxin, he ordered his execution, even though Dan Xiongxin had already surrendered?

When Li Er spoke these words, it was his first time encountering the Yun family’s strong liquor, so unknowingly he got himself drunk. Waving his large hand, he said proudly: “Not everyone is qualified to surrender. Yuchi Gong remained essentially loyal and devoted to his former master Song Jinggang, only surrendering at the walls of Jiexiu City when he was at the end of his rope. For such a person, even if it meant taking a risk, I had to try to win him over.”

“So I still gave him command of his original eight thousand troops, hoping to win this fierce general’s heart through trust. Boy, do you know that when I was battling Wang Shichong at the walls of Luoyang, when the battle reached a stalemate, many surrendered generals fled? Yin Kaishan and Qu Tutong worked together to bind Yuchi Gong and bring him before me, suggesting that I kill him. Do you know what I did? I invited him to my bedroom, gave him a large bundle of gold, pearls, and jewels, and told him: If you want to leave, this is your travel money!”

Yun Ye still remembered how proud Li Er was when he said these words, because the next day when he fought Wang Shichong, Yuchi Gong saved his life and helped him capture Dan Xiongxin, completely crushing Wang Shichong. Later, even Crown Prince Li Jiancheng’s attempts to win over Yuchi Gong were unsuccessful. This was the most satisfying achievement of Li Er’s life.

As for Dan Xiongxin, he was not a good employee. No matter who he worked for, he only considered himself and never thought about his employer. Whenever things looked bad, he would immediately surrender, completely lacking integrity. So being eliminated was only natural. If Yun Ye told Dan Ying this assessment, Dan Ying would definitely try to fight Li Er to the death, because in a son’s eyes, his father was absolutely the most perfect person in the world. So this gossip absolutely could not be spread.

Even surrendering required qualifications; otherwise, one would be slaughtered like a pig. No one liked a servant of three surnames. Counting the surrendered generals that Li Er had recruited, they were indeed all like this. Since this was Li Er’s successful experience, Yun Ye had to learn from it. From this point, one could also see how much Li Er detested two-faced people.

Anyway, everyone was testing each other—you test me, I test you—testing back and forth like a bunch of fools. Human hearts gradually lose trust through these tests.

Yun Ye decided to play the fool for once, because this was the popular trend. The saying goes that following the crowd is best. Though it looked foolish, people wouldn’t regard you as an outsider. Think about it—how dangerous that smart person in a group of fools would be. Let Li Er alone be that kind of smart person. It was better for Yun Ye himself to be a bit more foolish.

Those who usually fawned over the Yun family were nowhere to be seen. Those wastrels who constantly sought out Yun Ye for wild gambling and debauchery were gone. Those who followed Wang Cai’s fat rear end all day to smell horse farts were also gone. In short, heaven and earth were completely quiet.

Prince Wei Li Tai took a fancy to a scholar’s daughter and forcibly seized her, consummating the marriage that very night. The next day, when the young girl returned to her parents’ home with faltering steps, crying out her grievance and preparing to hang herself, the steward of Prince Wei’s mansion seized her again and dragged her back to the mansion for Prince Wei to continue ravaging her.

All of this happened in broad daylight. The old scholar wailed to the heavens, banging his head against the Petition Drum, demanding an audience with the Emperor. The Emperor was furious, believing Prince Wei’s actions were absurd, and ordered Li Tai to handle the matter himself, otherwise punishment would be unavoidable.

Wei Zheng was greatly dissatisfied with the Emperor’s perfunctory handling of this matter. He believed that Prince Wei’s forcible abduction of a commoner’s daughter was a violation of heavenly law and must be severely reprimanded. His Majesty neither sent Prince Wei to the Imperial Clan Court for discipline nor upheld justice for the common people—this was a great mistake, a harbinger of officials forcing the people to rebel.

The Emperor deeply agreed and ordered Li Tai to accept questioning from all the ministers. Who knew that the old scholar would tilt his head back in front of the ministers and say that he had beaten the Petition Drum only to meet his in-law. Although he was just a commoner, the proper etiquette for marrying off his daughter could not be lacking. Prince Wei taking his daughter as a concubine was an honor for his entire family. What business was it of these ministers?

Realizing he had been deceived, Wei Zheng was eager to end this matter. Prince Wei’s newly accepted consort specifically came to the hall to testify for her husband, proving that she had been willing, that there was no such thing as forcibly seizing a commoner’s daughter—it was all misleading rumors that had nearly damaged the imperial family’s reputation.

Li Tai had played the ministers for fools. This was far more serious than Yun Ye’s incident. Wei Zheng could no longer care about the case of the commoner’s daughter. He submitted a memorial saying he had been humiliated without cause and resolutely requested to retire to his hometown. A full six veteran ministers submitted memorials along with him.

This was the famous legend of Prince Wei taking a concubine? When Yun Ye heard about this, he shook his head with a bitter smile. In the original history, when Li Tai did this, it was indeed a disgraceful act, merely to retaliate against Wei Zheng and others for shutting down his gambling dens in the capital.

Now that this happened, Yun Ye knew that Li Tai was using a special method to help him. His heart was filled with countless emotions. At times like this, in the end, it was still his brothers who were reliable. Years of effort had not been in vain.

Li Tai was ultimately confined to Wude Hall. The punishment of house arrest for one year finally appeased the ministers’ anger. When Wei Zheng turned back to continue preparing to sweep away all of Yun Ye’s influence remaining in Chang’an, he discovered that He Shao and all the Yun family’s shops had closed. Except for the pharmacy at He Shao’s home that continued to operate, the rest had all disappeared.

He vaguely sensed something was amiss. When he went to check on Pian Yi Fang in his own ward’s market, he found that the shop owner had changed hands and was making a big show of renovating the establishment, preparing to reopen. Upon inquiry, he learned that all of Chang’an’s Pian Yi Fang shops had changed owners. He Shao had taken only the Pian Yi Fang signboard and sold everything else in a package deal to Chang’an’s nobles. Wei Zheng’s own family had purchased three shops in one go.

How could this be? He had been clearing out the Yun family, but absolutely not accumulating wealth for himself. He returned home and severely punished his eldest daughter-in-law for purchasing the shops. Seeing his foolish son crying as he protected his wife, Wei Zheng’s heart ached as if cut by knives. These years he had been busy with government affairs and had neglected his eldest son. This eldest son, who had intellectual deficiencies, had become deeply involved with merchants. Although it was his eldest daughter-in-law who made the decisions, the banner she operated under was that of him, Duke of Zheng, Wei Zheng.

The shops were returned, but that normally virtuous daughter-in-law never spoke again from that day forward.

Neither family affairs nor state affairs went smoothly. The only gratifying thing was that Yun Ye seemed to have accepted his fate as well, staying at the Yun family estate, taking pleasure in farming all day. In his leisure time, he would take his household guards hunting in the Qinling Mountains. No matter what rumors spread from Chang’an, he quietly and silently endured, not even engaging in retorts.

Today Wei Zheng had seen the geographical atlas of Yuezhou. That great city was being built in an orderly fashion. Though now only the foundations could be seen, its role in connecting north and south had already manifested. Large numbers of displaced people continued to emerge from the mountains and marshes. The population lost to warfare was rapidly recovering.

The corvée laborers previously conscripted had returned to their hometowns with sufficient money and provisions. The criminals exiled to Yuezhou had also been released upon completion of their terms, and many chose to stay in Yuezhou, continuing as laborers to earn considerable compensation.

Those now working on the construction site were all water bandits from Dongting Lake. They labored arduously every day under strict military law. With such severe treatment, the common people of Yuezhou had no sympathy for them whatsoever. Everyone knew these were criminals atoning for their crimes. Whenever any water bandit dared to escape, even without Zhangsun Chong pursuing them, the local people would capture and return them. The people of Yuezhou stubbornly believed that their homes had been destroyed by these water bandits, so they should be the ones to rebuild an even greater home for them.

The work of buying and selling land was proceeding healthily. On the large map of Yuezhou, everything was clearly marked: where the imperial detached palace was, where the government offices were, where the army garrison camps were, where the commercial district was, where the residential district was. Yun Ye had even left two small mountain peaks in the city, developed specifically for the people’s recreation.

Looking at those densely packed drainage pipes, rivers, and ponds, Wei Zheng was amazed by Yun Ye’s ability to arrange the city’s functions. Two embankments like arms extended only five li but tightly locked down the water and land routes. Given time, Wei Zheng could imagine how prosperous this new city would be.

The reason he obtained these materials was that the nobles of Chang’an hoped to get a share of the benefits, wanting to secure a respectable property for their families in Yuezhou. After careful consideration, Wei Zheng replied to Guan Tinglong with one phrase: “Follow established precedent.” This completely closed the door of Yuezhou to Chang’an’s nobles.

After handling the official documents, Wei Zheng sat blankly in his chair, falling into contemplation. Was his treatment of Yun Ye fair? For the first time, he realized that he had not viewed Yun Ye from an impartial position. Much of the time, it stemmed from his own fear of the unknown.

Long ago, he had discussed with Yun Ye the issue of wealth and morality. At that time, Yun Ye said he did not like seeing poverty accompanied by kindness. He would rather see wealthy ruthlessness than poverty with kindness. He said that poverty was the original sin. Why should a country with countless kind and hardworking people have to endure generations of poverty?

Wei Zheng could still remember the passionate emotions with which Yun Ye spoke these words. All these years, he had been working hard toward this goal, while he himself seemed to have deviated from his original intentions.

Wei Zheng sat in the darkness and let out a long, melancholy sigh!