Yun Ye had no intention of joking with anyone. His main purpose in coming to the Great Tang was to survive and enjoy life—why would he plunge into a pile of troubles? That day when he vented his feelings to Yao Silian, first it was because he felt uncomfortable inside, and second it was because he’d drunk too much. His current state of being without official position and feeling light pleased not just Yun Ye, but the whole family.
Old Grandmother said she was getting on in years and might fall asleep one day and not wake up. Only with her grandson there to handle her funeral affairs would she feel at ease. These years she’d been apart from her closest ones more than together, and she even slept carefully, afraid she might die when her grandson wasn’t around.
This year was truly wonderful. Her grandson rarely stepped outside the family gate, just wandering back and forth under her very eyes. How wonderful! Even sleeping had become an enjoyment. If not for her reluctance to leave her five little treasures, even passing away in her sleep would have no regrets.
When her grandson told her the whole family was preparing to go see the great sea, see high mountains, see the world’s most beautiful scenery, Old Grandmother agreed without a moment’s hesitation. As long as she was with her grandson, it didn’t matter where she died. Moreover, she’d never left more than a hundred li from Chang’an in her whole life. Being able to see the outside world in her twilight years seemed quite nice.
Xinyue had prepared long ago. All these years she’d been keeping house alone. Na Rimu and little Lingdang had both been everywhere, north and south, but she alone had gone nowhere—and she was supposed to be the lady of the house!
A letter was sent to Yuezhou. The already-retired Dongyu and Ren Xiong, overjoyed, brought a large group of retired brothers and sailed the Yun family’s Mulan boat toward Chang’an day and night without stopping. Being able to become household retainers made Dongyu feel this life was already complete.
Ren Xiong was full of resentment that he couldn’t become a household retainer. This time coming to Chang’an, no matter what, he had to ask the Marquis to accept him into his household. He’d discovered that ever since he stopped being a mountain bandit, life had been very unsatisfactory.
After Gou Zi accidentally leaked to Huang Shu the news that he would be traveling with Yun Ye, Huang Shu had come begging many times, hoping the Marquis would take him along when he left. Life at home had become unbearable—his wife hanged herself an average of eight times a day. Who could stand that? Several times, Huang Shu didn’t want to take Ying Niang down from the rope anymore. Just let her hang there—at least his ears would be quiet.
No one knew where Liu Fang had sent his grandson. It was said he’d already arranged the child’s marriage. Carrying a small bundle, he moved from the Academy to the Yun family home, constantly saying he’d become a pauper again and needed to earn more money at the Yun family to support his old age. He’d heard from Wu She that overseas there was plenty of gold, silver, and treasure.
After much discussion, someone still needed to stay home. This most unfortunate task fell to Yun Baobao and Yun Shou. He was the eldest son of the family—all this property was his. If he didn’t guard it, who would? He was already a five-year-old big boy.
The foolish Yun Baobao proudly agreed with his gapped-tooth smile. He couldn’t go out. Lishi had been abducting Yun Baobao during this time, taking him to her small courtyard, stripping the child naked and soaking him in dark medicinal water. Yun Ye didn’t dare ask—whenever he asked, Lishi got angry, and when she got angry she demanded lots of money from Yun Ye. Very overbearing.
When asked if Wu She knew what this was all about, Wu She just chuckled without explaining. The only thing he told Yun Ye was that when Yun Shou turned ten, he would start learning martial arts from him. Lishi’s skills weren’t suitable for Yun Shou.
Who among the servants did Yun Ye trust most? Of course it was Zhuang Santing. He’d been hiding in Lingnan these years, helping Li Anlan guard the home. He’d just returned this year and taken a woman from the Meng family village as a concubine, and even had two children. His primary wife didn’t dare make a sound because she’d only given Zhuang Santing one daughter.
Master and servant hadn’t seen each other for many years, naturally emotions surged. No matter what, Zhuang Santing couldn’t connect this blue-robed man with a short beard before him to the Marquis in his memory. Only the same warm gaze made him feel a trace of familiarity.
“Six years unseen, Old Zhuang. You’ve worked hard these years.”
“Not hard, Marquis, not hard at all. It’s all as it should be. This old servant has no other abilities, just a fairly honest nature. That the Marquis entrusted such a large enterprise in Lingnan to this old servant is this old servant’s honor.”
“Hahaha, then you can continue being honored. As you know, our family’s situation isn’t good. The whole world is full of people badmouthing our family. So, we’re not staying in this rotten place Chang’an anymore. The family’s center is starting to shift to Yuezhou. Let’s stay far away from those who bite at our family. People can’t be too close—when too close, disputes easily arise. Too far is also no good—easy to be forgotten. So, I think Yuezhou’s distance is just right—neither far nor near. I’m taking the whole family and running. Only Shou’er will be left at home, along with some aunts who don’t want to go out. Everyone else is leaving.”
“Once we leave, we don’t plan to return for a year or two. So, you continue keeping house. Old Qian is staying too. During this time, Uncle will move into the house to teach Shou’er’s studies. If there’s anything you can’t handle, go find Old Master Niu or Old Master Cheng. With those two around, the family should be fine. I’ve already told Old Qian—if anything comes up, you all can discuss it.”
Old Zhuang didn’t utter any brave words but instead knelt on one knee and performed a solemn salute. Old Zhuang deeply understood that being entrusted with one’s family and children was the greatest trust one could receive.
Shishi’s wedding would be next year. It wasn’t appropriate to leave at this time. Because he couldn’t attend her wedding, Yun Ye felt very guilty. He’d prepared her dowry early and entrusted it to Master Yushan. He estimated her monk father wouldn’t help prepare it, and couldn’t prepare it either. When the imperial wedding took place, he shouldn’t even appear.
While the Yun family was quietly preparing for the whole family’s grand journey, Chang’an was not peaceful. Countless merchants were preparing to move with their families to Yuezhou. It was said the first batch of housing there had already been built and was just waiting for interior finishing.
Merchants were the purest group of people in the world and also the most time-conscious. A month and a half would be consumed on the road. By the time they reached Yuezhou, presumably the housing would be ready to move into. Yuezhou had everything else going for it, but lacked manpower. They’d long heard that Yuezhou was short on hands, especially capable hands. So when everyone rushed to Yuezhou, they unanimously converted their assets into bank drafts and traveled light with their families and servants—firstly for safety, secondly for convenience.
If it were just ten or twenty families moving to Yuezhou, the people of Chang’an wouldn’t find it strange. Merchants always valued profit over separation—running east and west to earn a bit of petty profit wasn’t a big deal.
But when they saw hundreds upon hundreds of wealthy households moving to Yuezhou in groups, it was terrifying. People had only ever fought to squeeze into the imperial domain—never had anyone been discovered fighting to move out of it.
Many shops had disappeared. For instance, Chang’an’s largest general store, Pian Yi Fang, was gone. It was said to be a black-hearted shop, so closing was just closing. It was just somewhat disagreeable not having eaten salted fish from Dengzhou for a long time.
In comparison, Chang’an’s brokerage houses were much wiser. They frantically reported to the government that this kind of commercial migration should be stopped, especially those workshops that manufactured goods. If Yuezhou were allowed to drain blood from Chang’an, Chang’an would absolutely become a second-rate city in the near future, because Yuezhou had incomparable commercial advantages.
In Chang’an, the curfew alone left commerce with little opportunity to flex its muscles. But Yuezhou was said to have no such thing as a curfew. The bell and drum towers were for telling time, not for urging everyone to go home to sleep. The entire city was divided only into inner and outer cities—it didn’t have as many ward walls as Chang’an. Yuezhou simply didn’t have such things.
Yuezhou had only one kind of tax—national tax—which incorporated all taxes into it. Merchants only paid one kind. It was said there were no city entry taxes or the messy fees like brokerage house commissions at all.
Most terrifying was that Yuezhou was positioned right on the Yangtze River waterway, so goods traveling north and south all had to be transshipped through Yuezhou. Even fools knew what kind of attraction such a city would have for merchants.
Wealthy merchants had long since bought land in Yuezhou. Their own houses were being built. As long as they didn’t violate regulations, they could build however they wanted. For those who’d had enough of Chang’an’s rigid, monotonous courtyards, this attraction was simply fatal.
The Great Tang was romantic. Yun Ye could prove this well. From the fact that Xinyue changed her hairstyle eight times a day, one could see how much Great Tang women loved barbarian things. Their husbands and brothers desperately slaughtered barbarians—just to seize these hairstyles?
When designing Yuezhou, Yun Ye had considered this point. Wooden buildings very easily violated protocol—this was an inviolable heavenly law. The Bureau of Rites had long stipulated what kind of people could use what materials for rafters, purlins, pillars, flying eaves, and so on. The rules were so detailed that there were no loopholes to exploit.
In Yuezhou, it didn’t matter. Everyone used stone and cement to build houses. As long as the height didn’t exceed the imperial detached palace, no one would investigate you. Many wealthy but status-less families valued precisely this point.
Yun Ye stood at the Ba Bridge dock seeing off He Shao. The huge fleet of over two hundred large ships—who knew how many resources they took from Chang’an. Seeing He Shao, who seemed to have come alive again, Yun Ye sincerely wished he could reopen business in Yuezhou. Not everyone had the courage to start over from scratch.
“Is Marquis Yun planning to turn Chang’an into an empty city?” Yun Ye had long since noticed Fang Xuanling in the crowd and hadn’t planned to come forward to pay respects. Now that the man actively asked, Yun Ye had no choice but to come forward and salute.
“Not a single ship here belongs to the Yun family. Prime Minister Fang, the Yun family cannot bear such words.”
“Though you haven’t acted, Chang’an still has wind and thunder stirring. Yun Ye, don’t hate Old Wei. If you must harbor resentment, this old man is the best choice. A hundred years of human life—sometimes there’s no time to think carefully. We can’t distinguish right from wrong clearly. Living in this world with nothing but persistent obsession—Yun Ye, take it more lightly.”
Old Fang at this moment was very much like a hermit. Deceiving people so sincerely from the heart was truly unbearable. Yun Ye forcibly suppressed the discomfort in his stomach and pulled out a memorial, saying: “Prime Minister Fang, since we find each other mutually disagreeable, please approve this memorial and this boy will immediately roll to the ends of the earth. I won’t return for two or three years.”