Although Yun Ye was filled with questions about Han Zhe’s arrival, he still welcomed him into his home. Han Zhe dutifully paid his respects to the old grandmother as usual, and only then did the two prepare to go to the study for a proper conversation. He Tianshang couldn’t be released – the moment he was let go, he’d surely take his own life. Yun Ye had Liu Jinbao find the strongest liquor and force a whole jar down the man’s throat. After getting him thoroughly drunk, they’d move him to a guest room and throw him on a bed to sleep it off properly.
Suicide was often just a moment of hot-blooded courage. Once that surge of emotion passed, forget about suicide – you could try to kill him and he wouldn’t cooperate. Moreover, He Tianshang’s elderly mother was still alive at home. How could he so easily end his own life?
Arriving at the study, Yun Ye brewed a pot of tea. The two sat on opposite sides of the low table, rambling about their situations since parting. Yun Ye didn’t ask about Wei Tianque, and Han Zhe didn’t bring it up either. They only discussed trivial matters.
After three rounds of tea had been consumed, Han Zhe cleared his throat and said, “The main purpose of my visit this time is to see the two White Jade Capital jade tokens in your Yun family’s collection. These items are extremely important to us. If Brother Yun agrees, we’re prepared to pay a certain price. This younger brother doesn’t want to fight you to the death anymore. Han Zhe doesn’t have many people he can look up to in the first place, and Brother Yun is the first person who has stirred in me the desire to form a friendship. I cherish this greatly.”
Looking into Han Zhe’s clear eyes, Yun Ye pulled a box from his bosom, placed it on the table, and asked in astonishment, “You fought me to the death just for this thing?”
Han Zhe nodded and said, “Only this thing could arouse my interest. White Jade Capital is a branch of ancient heritage. I’ve heard that in very ancient times, extraordinary talents emerged in great numbers. In our oral traditions, they are the group closest to divinity. So you can imagine how shocked we were when we heard news of White Jade Capital’s emergence in the world.”
Yun Ye’s temper had been quite volatile lately. Hearing Han Zhe’s words and thinking about how much mental energy he’d expended on this damn thing, how he’d nearly lost his life several times, and that the root cause was this object – oh heavens! He’d been the world’s biggest sucker. For three inexplicable jade tokens, how much had he suffered? The more he thought about it, the more vigorous the angry flames in his heart burned.
With one hand, he opened the brocade box and pointed at the jade tokens inside, saying, “I have three of these things, not two. If you want to look at them, look all you want. If you compensate me, you can take them all. But before you look at these things, you must promise me one thing. Otherwise, forget it.”
Han Zhe nodded. This was only proper. When someone brought out priceless treasures to observe together with you and investigate their mysteries, paying some price was absolutely appropriate. He hadn’t misjudged Yun Ye – he was a very generous person. Thinking this, he cupped his hands and said, “Brother Yun, please speak freely. This is as it should be. Han Zhe will agree to anything.”
“You bastard! If you wanted the jade tokens, you should have said so earlier! Was it necessary to put me through near-death experiences several times? Over six hundred of my subordinate brothers died. My only requirement is to beat you up – you’re not allowed to fight back.”
Having said this, he lunged forward. Han Zhe himself was a one-in-ten-thousand expert, but hearing Yun Ye’s request, he still froze for a moment. He hadn’t expected the condition to be like this. Just as he was about to ask for confirmation, he saw Yun Ye leap from behind the desk, his fist whistling through the air toward him. His heart stirred, and he raised his nose to meet it…
After the time it takes to burn one incense stick, the one who’d been beaten had nothing more than a bleeding nose and red, swollen eye sockets – no other adverse reactions. He refreshed and invigorated, held a jade token and examined it carefully, as if the one who’d just been beaten wasn’t him at all.
The one who’d done the beating lay on the floor, his chest heaving violently, gasping like a broken bellows. Both the backs of his hands were covered in bloodstains – not the other person’s blood, but from Yun Ye’s own knuckles, which had broken skin in several places. He looked even more miserable than the one who’d been beaten. Lying there weakly, he said, “For a few broken tokens, we fought from Chang’an to Yushan, then from Yushan to Yuezhou. Who knows how many people inexplicably had their families destroyed and scattered because of them.”
“Corpses floated in sheets across the surface of Dongting Lake. Not counting the wounded, the government troops alone had over six hundred casualties. My heart broke signing those death certificates. You bastard, if you’d said earlier you wanted to see the jade tokens, you would have seen them long ago. Was it necessary to wait until now?”
“Though I’m petty, I’ve always been generous with people I find agreeable. You find me agreeable, and I think you’re not bad either. As long as we sincerely befriend each other, why worry about not becoming close friends? Now things have turned into this neither-human-nor-ghost situation. Just now I was even thinking whether I should avenge my fallen comrades.”
While being beaten earlier, Han Zhe had still carefully protected the teapot from being affected. Deaf to Yun Ye’s words, he skillfully poured himself a cup of tea. Thinking it wouldn’t be good not to pour for Yun Ye, he poured another cup and placed it beside him. Then he turned and devoted his full attention to the three jade tokens laid out in a row, looking like he had no time to deal with anyone for a while.
Yun Ye climbed up from the floor himself. Seeing Han Zhe’s absorbed appearance, he left the study and instructed a maid to light lamps for Han Zhe and prepare food. Everyone who first looked at the jade tokens acted this way – clearly understanding nothing at all, they insisted on putting on an appearance of diligent study. Li Chengqian was like this, Li Tai was like this, Hypatia was also like this, and even great scholars like Master Jin Zhu, Master Yushan, and Master Yuanzhang were the same.
The most carefree was Old Master Yan Zhitui, who looked for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, then tossed them aside saying he couldn’t figure them out. That was truly the demeanor of a great master. Those who could understand would understand at a glance; those who couldn’t would be like a dog staring at the stars even after looking for a lifetime.
White Jade Capital might truly exist, but after all, it was just a legend. What remained in the world were only fragments of words. Trying to string together these broken fragments and finally excavate the truth – difficult, extremely difficult.
He’d long wanted to find these godlike people to see if the jade tokens had any use. They were the people closest to White Jade Capital. Having them look might be the most correct approach, even if they got there first – anything was better than the current state of knowing nothing at all.
However, most people’s thinking was opposite to Yun Ye’s. They held a strange and extreme idea: If I can’t understand it, if I can’t get it, then you shouldn’t think about getting it either. I’d feed it to pigs before giving it to you.
But they didn’t realize that time was the greatest killer in this world. It could make beauties age and heroes’ hair turn white, and naturally, it could also slowly turn all treasures to dust. So whatever could be preserved should be preserved. So what if Han Zhe obtained White Jade Capital? Yun Ye didn’t believe they could really transform into immortals and ascend to heaven. Even if they became immortals, wouldn’t that prove that immortals truly existed in the world? Either way, it was all good.
He went to check on He Tianshang. That fellow was completely drunk, not knowing what Han Zhe had done to him. Even in his sleep, tears still fell, soaking the pillow. Liu Jinbao wore a strange expression as he said to Yun Ye, “My lord, Old He very likely…”
Yun Ye struggled to expel certain obscene thoughts from his mind. Han Zhe was already quite odd to begin with. According to Liu Fang, this fellow never went near women. In a year’s time, he’d never been seen seeking out women. Perhaps this guy really did prefer men. Best keep some distance from him later.
To demonstrate his own sexual orientation, he specifically had the pregnant Lingdang bring two bowls of noodles and a small dish of salted leeks to the study to deliver the meal. Seeing Lingdang, Han Zhe quickly bowed in greeting. Seeing her swollen waist, he smiled and congratulated her, making Lingdang cover her face and retreat in embarrassment.
Han Zhe and Yun Ye’s tastes were quite similar. Though he still hadn’t eaten many meals at the Yun household, he copied the example, pouring a bit of chili and salted leeks into the noodles, and slurped down three bowls.
After the maid cleared away the bowls and dishes, Yun Ye asked, “Did you figure anything out? If not, take your time looking. You’ve traveled all day – go rest early. An elder once said there’s no need to force what you can’t understand. That’s exactly the attitude I hold. There’s charcoal pencil and paper on the table. Just make a rubbing to take with you and study it slowly. You still have ten days. If you still can’t figure it out in that time, then you can’t figure it out. Looking would be pointless.”
Han Zhe covered the jade pendant with paper and took the charcoal pencil to rub back and forth on the back of the white paper. As he rubbed, he said, “When I entered your home, I saw your household organizing trunks and boxes. Looks like you’re taking a long journey, and taking the whole family with you?”
“That’s right. The winds in Chang’an have been blowing the wrong way lately. I plan to take the whole family out to hide for a while. Wasting one’s life on scheming and plotting is really not worth it. A person’s life is just a brief hundred years, gone in the blink of an eye. With that time, I might as well take the whole family out to have a thoroughly good time for three years. After three years, when we return, if Chang’an is still a miasma of smoke and filth, I’ll close my doors and refuse visitors, ignoring everyone, seeing no one, shutting my doors to live my own life, not diving into that cesspool.”
If Han Zhe wanted to know, he had ways of finding out. There was no need for concealment. When dealing with someone like him, as long as you weren’t in an adversarial state, it was best not to deceive. Being straightforward would earn his goodwill. Ever since learning how terrifying Han Nu was, Yun Ye was unwilling to offend these madmen. Now even the Emperor planned to approach and understand them with an attitude of engagement. Why should he insist on fighting to the death with madmen?
“Wouldn’t it be better to find White Jade Capital? You could place your family in White Jade Capital, then come out yourself to roam carefree and unrestrained. If you like the feeling of wielding great power, mix in official circles. If you like the world’s prosperity, roll around in the mortal world. This way, having both advance and retreat positions is the way to preserve yourself. Taking the whole family out to travel – how could you fully enjoy yourself?”
“Who told you that taking the whole family means you can’t travel? Who told you that traveling alone is the most enjoyable? What kind of dog shit idea is that? You and I have already seen quite enough, but Grandmother has never left more than a hundred li from Chang’an in her entire life. My wife is the same.”
“They’re both women, confined at home for a lifetime – just thinking about it is tedious. This time it’s not me traveling – it’s the whole family traveling. The old grandmother likes worshiping Buddha, so we’ll go to famous mountains. My wife likes shopping, so we’ll go to other prosperous places. The children love eating, so we’ll taste different delicacies from various places. I’m telling you, Han Zhe, sometimes receiving doesn’t necessarily bring happiness. Giving might make you even more joyful.”