Yun Ye had never planned to tell Li Er about Hou Jie establishing an island overseas. He would let him grow in suspicion. After all, that place was too far away—so far it couldn’t even be found on the Great Tang’s maps.
That island wasn’t a sanctuary for the Yun family alone, but rather the last bit of psychological security for all of the Great Tang’s nobles. So many people knew about that island. As long as they were true nobles, they all knew there was a large island overseas, and this large island existed almost outside the Great Tang’s laws.
Whether it was the Zhangsun family, or Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Li Jing, Li Ji, Cheng Yaojin, Niu Jinda, or the Yun family themselves—all had poured great enthusiasm into this island. As long as something was needed on this island, no matter whose family it was, they would quietly open a channel for it. So that place named the Distant Island was now vigorously developing.
Li Tai was very clear about that land’s existence. Li Chengqian also knew about that land’s existence. The only ones who hadn’t been told were Li Er and Zhangsun. No one harbored illusions that the Emperor wouldn’t know about this matter, but everyone wasn’t prepared to speak it openly. Having witnessed the rise and fall, glory and shame of families, no one felt that leaving themselves a final foothold was an offense to the imperial family. Wei Zheng even believed this was a kind of constraint on imperial power. His foolish son had already been sent by him to the Distant Island, forbidden from returning to the Central Plains for the rest of his life. Even if he died, his eldest son wasn’t permitted to bring his wife and children back to attend the funeral.
With truffles, he should properly show filial respect to the elders. The old grandmother sent out her invitation cards, inviting Li Gang, Yushan, Yuanzhang, Lishi, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Wei Zheng, Zhangsun Wuji, Li Xiaogong, Li Jing, and Niu Jinda—inviting all these people to the family home to attend the truffle tasting gathering. Qin Qiong had already fallen gravely ill. The chef would personally go to the Qin family home to prepare dishes on site for the old Duke. Li Ji had gone to Liaodong, Yuchi Jingde had gone to Yizhou, Old Cheng was at Jiamen Pass. Nearly all the guests who could be invited had been invited.
Imperial family members couldn’t be disrespected. The old grandmother personally went to the palace to invite Zhangsun to the banquet. As a result, the Emperor also planned to come, and so the Yun family became completely unfortunate.
What was originally a fine family banquet—with the Emperor coming, the entire Yun family needed to hang lanterns and festoons, thoroughly tidying up inside and out. Xinyue ordered people to recoat the family’s memorial archways with fresh lacquer. Three days before the Emperor came to the banquet, the Imperial Forest Army had already begun completely sealing off the Yun family estate.
Watching the Qianniu Guards with their bright helmets and shining armor rampaging through the estate, some old people became unhappy. His Majesty coming to the estate wasn’t the first or second time—they’d never heard that their own oxen needed to wear dung baskets when walking. Cow dung was a treasure for farming families. Who would casually waste it? Even a little bit needed to be quickly thrown into one’s own fields.
This was purely tormenting people. There were many people who could write on the Yun family estate. The stubborn old men spoke up, and their descendants wrote a large pile of incoherent papers criticizing the Emperor for disturbing the people, throwing them all at once into the bronze box on Zhuque Avenue. The quantity was so large it greatly alarmed the Investigating Censor guarding the box. This was a fresh topic—the supreme Emperor being criticized by common people. And the most serious problem was that when the Emperor came to the estate as a guest, oxen needed to wear dung baskets. Did people also need to carry chamber pots and diapers with them?
As soon as the news spread, the entire city was in an uproar. Censors criticized the villagers for not understanding proper etiquette, and obliquely criticized the Yun family for fanning the flames behind the scenes. If censors still had concerns about anyone, it was commoners, especially old farmers among the commoners who were the hardest to deal with. They couldn’t be spoken to, couldn’t be scolded, couldn’t be beaten. As long as you dared send someone to find them, they would immediately fall to the ground and wildly cry out that the censor was beating people.
This was mud falling into the crotch—even if it wasn’t shit, it was shit. They relied on their reputation to make a living. Once their reputation stank, no one would believe anything they said. Since ancient times, farmers were the easiest to bully, but farmers were equally the hardest to bully, because the only ones with the power to change dynasties were them.
“Don’t drag the estate master into this. The estate master is just a pitiful person, leading the estate’s young men to fight wars tens of thousands of miles away. After returning victorious, he only got two weapons for the family rooftop, and countless people pointing their noses and cursing him. Just watching is miserable. He’s a lord—when you get down to it, he owes the imperial family. This old man doesn’t owe the court any money or grain. Spring tax, autumn tax, corvée labor—everything’s been paid clearly. Even selling vegetables in the city, I paid two copper coins…”
Listening to the old farmer speak with flying spittle, the censor could only send these documents to the Emperor’s desk, while Yun Ye, who had hurriedly come to apologize, was already waiting outside Wanmin Palace for an audience.
Li Er read the documents on his desk with great interest, from time to time pointing out several typos and grammatical errors in the documents.
“These few sentences make some sense: ‘Our family’s old ox is about to give birth these days and can’t stand being frightened. The Qianniu Guards thought our pregnant cow walked too slowly and even kicked her backside twice. It’s just that we military gentlemen can’t afford to provoke them. If it were someone else, this old man would fight him with his life…’ Guanyin Maid, look at this—very interesting. Send someone to investigate who kicked someone’s pregnant cow. What a bastard!”
“Our family dries fruit. Spring has a lot of rain, and this old man was worried the dried fruit would get damp and moldy. Taking advantage of these days of good weather, I took them out to dry. I didn’t dry them on the street, just aired them on my own rooftop. But a Qianniu Guard military gentleman said it was unsightly and told this old man to take the dried fruit down. A bad-tempered military gentleman tasted our dried fruit and even said our dried fruit wasn’t good to eat and should be fed to pigs. Heaven and earth as my witness, Old Cao’s family’s candied fruit sells expensively in Chang’an City…”
“This is clearly off-topic. It starts as a complaint, but by the end it’s turned into bragging about his dried fruit…”
“Here’s also a document from a butcher, wanting to ask how many days I plan to stay on the estate. He’s already killed three pigs. In spring, pork doesn’t store well. Even though he’s icing them, they can only stay fresh for two days. He’s preparing to find out when I’m leaving so he can wait for the market to open to sell pork. After three days, the pork won’t be fresh and won’t sell well.”
Zhangsun laughed so hard she rocked back and forth, pointing at those documents on the table and said to Li Er: “Just order the Yun family to give the common people some compensation. I estimate Yun Ye is also willing—he’s still outside waiting to apologize.”
Li Er reluctantly closed those documents, sighed and said: “Ever since the bronze box was placed on Zhuque Avenue, these are the memorials I wanted to see and hoped to see. What’s said in here is all the living daily life of common people.”
“Someone kicked his pregnant cow. If I were that old farmer, I wouldn’t accept it either. I’d also want to ask clearly and understand. For farming families, an ox giving birth is already a major event, not much different from adding a member to one’s own family.”
“And this dried fruit seller—he’s drying on his own rooftop. What does my going to the Yun family have to do with him? The Qianniu Guards privately took and ate common people’s things and didn’t even know to say a kind word?”
“The common people just want to live peacefully. The butcher’s question is very interesting. He just wants to quickly sell the three pigs he killed. This is people’s livelihood. Selling pork for money is his life—natural and right, he hasn’t wronged anyone. It’s I who added chaos to his life. That he could give me a two-day deadline is already generous. The common people have only become prosperous these past few years. If it were some years ago, three pigs going completely bad would probably bankrupt the butcher.”
“If the bronze box had all such documents, I would actually very much enjoy reading them. Rural customs and wild interests always make me feel relaxed and happy. But look at what came in before. Those documents’ literary style feared not being beautiful enough, embellishment feared being insufficient, what was said feared not being sensational enough. Could those articles be written by ordinary common people?”
“The Yun family estate receives grace from Yushan Academy, so literate farmers are the most numerous. Look at what they wrote—still halting and stammering without embellishment, just speaking plain words. These are words that common people can actually say, so they’re also more genuine.”
“These opinions are all directed at me, and this is right. It shows the common people are just discussing matters as they come. Oxen, dried fruit, pork—speaking about just these three matters, no other purpose. When problems arise, just resolve them.”
“What did those other documents say? The Crown Prince’s excessive indulgence! Yun Ye’s arrogance, the Zhangsun family’s greed, Fang Xuanling’s perversion of law—they counted through nearly everyone in the court.”
“Good! My ministers are all worthless insects, and only I alone am supremely wise. Flip through the history books—has there ever been such a wise emperor? When the bronze box was first established, I worried this kind of thing would happen. I always believed that the Great Tang now had peace under heaven and the common people were kind and honest. But look—the common people really are kind and honest. I’ve prevented his pork from selling, yet he still politely inquires about my itinerary, preparing to think of another solution. But those people hiding in the dark are stirring restlessly, thinking this is an opportunity to reach heaven’s hearing directly, destroying my original intent completely. The Ministry of Waterworks is already investigating. I very much want to see who exactly is manipulating things behind the scenes.”
Zhangsun turned a deaf ear to Li Er’s words. This wasn’t something she should interfere with. She asked the Emperor with a smile: “Then, are you going to the Yun family’s banquet or not? If you withdraw the Qianniu Guards, that’s also inappropriate—it loses the imperial family’s face.”
“Go, why wouldn’t I go? After eating truffles, I plan to go around the estate. I should apologize to those who deserve apologies. Those who kicked someone’s ox should apologize to them. Those who said foolish things should also apologize. Finally, I’ll also handle the butcher’s pork. These matters are very important.”
Li Er flicked his sleeves and answered very decisively.
“Yun Ye is still outside waiting for an audience. Will you see him or not?”
“No. The farmers who dare to speak make me both happy and worried. These farmers were all indulged by him in ordinary times. A small number is fine, but if there are more, hehe, they’ll also become a disaster…”
Yun Ye sat in the inner office waiting for a long time. He’d already drunk a full two pots of tea, yet still didn’t see the Emperor summon him. Thinking of his own farmers, apart from a bitter smile, there was really nothing to say. Where did they get such great courage to criticize the Emperor?
To say the estate farmers wouldn’t do such a thing was reasonable. The Yun family had already promised the farmers they would try not to disturb the people. His Majesty’s itinerary couldn’t be revealed, but absolutely wouldn’t exceed one day. How did such a big incident suddenly occur?
Xiao Wu—it must be her. Just because she went to the Sanyuan County farm, matters here had nothing to do with her at all, which was why Yun Ye could definitively believe this matter was related to Xiao Wu.