They say that monks from afar know how to chant sutras better. By the same principle, polo, a game invented by the Tubo people, has now begun to flourish in Chang’an. According to Zhangsun Chong sitting beside him, the current polo matches aren’t complete—the Tubo people’s polo matches are truly spectacular. His Majesty said that polo can train one’s mounted combat skills, so it wouldn’t do for families not to form teams. However, those of us who came from the Academy prefer football; coming to the polo field is just to join in the fun.

Only a fool would believe Zhangsun Chong’s words. If Li Huairen and Cheng Chumo said they liked football, Yun Ye would absolutely believe them. But Zhangsun Chong saying he likes it? Forget it. Would someone who got his nose bloodied by that big oaf Yuchi the moment he entered the field, then grabbed a knife threatening to kill someone’s entire family, only to get beaten up badly by that big oaf Yuchi again—would such a person like football?

Watching the horses coming and going in the field, Yun Ye felt there was no real strategy—they were just relying on the skilled coordination between warhorses and riders to bully those less experienced novices. However, each one dressed in leather armor did look quite heroic and dashing. From time to time they would gallop past the women’s viewing stand, fully displaying a warrior’s bearing, which drew shrieks from the women.

“Ye Zi, polo is exclusive to us wealthy families. Look—magnificent steeds with fine riders, graceful young men wielding crescent-shaped mallets, displaying masculine vigor in their charges and clashes. This match is truly rare!”

“I see those few isolated Tubo people sticking out their tongues with quite disdainful expressions. Why don’t you, Brother Zhangsun, go out there and teach them a lesson, let them know that Great Tang’s polo cannot be insulted?”

Zhangsun Chong looked in the direction Yun Ye pointed, then sat down and said to Yun Ye: “I’m a marquis—why would I bother with barbarians from beyond civilization? What do they understand?”

Yun Ye patted this fake fan Zhangsun Chong on the shoulder and said: “Polo is their game. Great Tang learned a poor imitation. You play so terribly, yet won’t allow others to spit? To be honest, I want to spit too.”

Having said this, he left the embarrassed and angry Zhangsun Chong to find his wife. Xinyue, that spendthrift woman, got so excited when those men saluted her that she pulled out her hairpin and threw it down. However, she pulled out Na Rimu’s hairpin.

Other families’ women all behaved the same way, tremblingly throwing down jewelry randomly. There were even those throwing handkerchiefs—who knows which flirtatious woman did that. She probably couldn’t escape a beating when she got home.

When Na Rimu saw Yun Ye, she complained tearfully, saying that Xinyue had thrown down her favorite hairpin. She grabbed Yun Ye, demanding that Xinyue compensate her with two, both had to be jeweled ones—she wouldn’t be fooled with gold ones.

Yun Ye took Na Rimu’s hand to comfort her: “Don’t worry, I’ll go get it back for you right now. Is there no law anymore? Someone actually picks up a hairpin from our own family! Wait here.” After saying this, he was about to go down to the field to demand the hairpin back.

Xinyue desperately held Yun Ye back, not letting him go. If he went down there, the Yun Family wouldn’t need to live as humans tomorrow—all of Chang’an would know that the Yun Family were scoundrels who gave rewards then demanded them back.

“If you bully Na Rimu again next time, I’ll definitely do this. Anyway, I’m one of Chang’an’s Three Scourges—what do I have to fear? At worst they’ll call me one of Great Tang’s Three Scourges instead.”

Na Rimu leaned on Yun Ye’s shoulder, nodding vigorously. You couldn’t expect a woman who constantly picked up other people’s cattle and sheep to have much sense of propriety—on the grasslands, face wasn’t worth much.

This move hit Xinyue’s weak spot. She was a woman who valued face more than life itself. According to her own words, she lived for this face of hers. If Yun Ye really did this, she would be embarrassed enough to jump into a well.

Riding the carriage home, they happened to pass by the Treasure Pavilion. Na Rimu greatly valued those three gleaming golden characters on the storefront, believing there must be hairpins she liked inside. Now that her husband was with her, she wanted to carefully select two hairpins and make Xinyue bleed money properly.

“No way. If you want hairpins, I’ll get them for you at home. Everything at the Treasure Pavilion is marked up—something worth one string of coins sells for ten strings here. It’s famously black-hearted. Our family won’t waste money like that. If you want hairpins, Elder Sister will get them from the storeroom at home and have a large gemstone set in one.”

There were still quite a few gemstones brought back from Lingnan at home. To prevent Na Rimu from spending money recklessly, Xinyue made wild promises. Seeing the size of gemstone Na Rimu gestured, Yun Ye laughed so hard he could barely breathe—he didn’t know how a walnut-sized gemstone could be set into a hairpin.

The carriage had just started moving when Yun Ye’s eyes inadvertently caught sight of two small white objects falling from the sky. He stopped the carriage, jumped down himself, picked up the white things on the ground and examined them carefully, then tried breaking them with his hand. He looked up at the small window on the upper floor of the Treasure Pavilion and ordered the Yun Family guards to enter and search the building.

The Treasure Pavilion was the Empress’s property and was used to being arrogant. The smiling shopkeeper saw a noble young master enter the shop and looked at him as if seeing his own father, greeting him with a face full of smiles. Without question, another fat sheep had arrived.

But seeing the large group of guards surging in behind, his face immediately fell. Guards weren’t needed at the Treasure Pavilion—this was an imperial business, and no thief would dare cause trouble here. Just as he was about to drive these guards out, the young master at the front grabbed him by the collar and asked: “Who lives upstairs?”

“I don’t care who you are, young master. Once you enter the Treasure Pavilion, you’d better watch yourself. There’s no room for arrogance here.” The shopkeeper wasn’t afraid at all. He’d already figured out that the young master’s identity was no simple matter, but no matter how important you were, you couldn’t be bigger than the imperial family. So he fearlessly advised Yun Ye.

The Treasure Pavilion’s guards had just surged forward when Liu Jinbao beat them until they cried for their parents. The shopkeeper couldn’t believe that any of Chang’an’s nobility wouldn’t know the Treasure Pavilion was opened by the Empress. Only one type of person didn’t care about the imperial family—bandits. Thinking of this, his crotch became wet.

These bandits were strange—they didn’t even glance at the treasures in the shop. Leaving two people to stand guard, the rest all rushed upstairs, banging and clanging as they broke down doors, seemingly not missing a single room.

“My Lord, your subordinate found her—it’s this foreign songstress who threw things downstairs.” A blonde, blue-eyed foreign songstress was dragged down the stairs by her hair by Liu Jinbao.

Yun Ye had long since given up commenting on Liu Jinbao’s roughness, but now he couldn’t worry about such matters of etiquette. He opened his hand to reveal those two small white objects and asked the foreign songstress: “Where is this thing?”

The foreign songstress was scared half to death. Seeing Yun Ye ask, she tremblingly pulled out a small pouch from her sleeve and handed it over. Yun Ye quickly took it, opened the pouch and poured some out, smelling it—not bad, they hadn’t been roasted.

“Is there more of this?” Yun Ye asked again after putting away the small pouch.

“There’s no more, just this little bit left. I brought it from my homeland. What’s left to eat is just this much.” This was a high-quality foreign songstress who could speak the Great Tang language. She was quite pretty—the Treasure Pavilion’s shopkeeper had good fortune with women.

Yun Ye pulled out a gold ingot from his bosom and handed it to the foreign songstress, saying: “If you know anyone who has this thing, have them sell it to me at the same price. I am the Marquis of Lantian.”

Hearing that Yun Ye was a marquis, the shopkeeper immediately stopped being afraid. He reached out to stop Yun Ye who was walking out, saying: “My Lord, you’ve beaten the guards of my small shop—won’t you give the shop an explanation?”

Yun Ye raised his hand and delivered a slap. Those several rooms upstairs had contained several women, the youngest not even ten years old. He’d long found this bastard displeasing. If he wasn’t in a good mood today, he would definitely break one of his legs.

“Good, good, well hit! I’m just a slave. When my master asks you about this, don’t you dare wet your pants.” Yun Ye, who had already walked to the shop entrance, heard these words and turned back. He raised his foot and stomped heavily on the shopkeeper’s crotch.

Amid the shopkeeper’s screams, Yun Ye returned to the carriage. Under Xinyue and Na Rimu’s shocked gazes, he carefully opened the cloth pouch. Inside were all white pumpkin seeds, each one very plump. He counted—only less than a hundred remained. What a pity! This was a good thing. They say melons and vegetables can provide half a year’s grain. With this thing, combined with potatoes, Yun Ye didn’t believe there would still be people in this world eating such strange things as hunger clay.

“Husband, the Treasure Pavilion is opened by Her Majesty. You’ve been rash.” Xinyue said worriedly to Yun Ye. Na Rimu also looked like she knew she’d done wrong, thinking it was because she’d demanded things that brought big trouble to her husband.

“You don’t understand anything! So what if Her Majesty opened it? Even if His Majesty opened it, for this thing today, I’d still barge in. Do you know how many melons this big can be harvested from planting one acre of land with this? You should know, these melons can be eaten as grain!” Yun Ye explained to Xinyue with a smile. Better to ease her mind early.

“Husband, as long as it’s new grain, you won’t be guilty. You might even get a reward.” Xinyue didn’t talk about promotions anymore. Their family’s official position had reached its peak. However, sharing in the state’s prosperity—having an official position for a long time was what brought honor.

“It’s definitely new grain, and the yield rivals potatoes! Otherwise, would your husband go crazy and provoke that mother tyrannosaurus Her Majesty? I’d avoid her if I could.”

After Yun Ye finished speaking, he kissed both Xinyue and Na Rimu on their faces. Holding both wives, he said: “You two really bring your husband good fortune! Even going out to watch a ball game, you can pick up a great achievement. I have to submit to that.” The two wives were immediately overjoyed. The three people entangled together in the carriage compartment, happily heading home.

Keeping ten seeds back, Yun Ye carefully stored the remaining pumpkin seeds in a small wooden box and sent Liu Jinbao galloping at full speed to deliver them to the estate, having Grandmother put them in the cellar to plant as soon as spring came next year.

Less than half a day after returning home, there were already rumors on Chang’an’s streets about the Marquis of Lantian robbing a foreign songstress’s snacks in broad daylight. After being deliberately mistranslated by interested parties, it instantly turned into countless versions spreading through the streets and alleys.

“The Marquis of Lantian is considered a young hero—how does he have this problem? In earlier years he robbed cucumbers, now he’s progressed to robbing snacks. This won’t do! I heard this is an illness, one that only wealthy families have. It needs treatment!”

“I heard he wasn’t interested in the foreign songstress. I heard the Treasure Pavilion’s shopkeeper desperately resisted and barely escaped the tiger’s mouth, but his lower region also suffered a heavy blow. Who knows what Marquis Yun saw good in that shopkeeper…”

Hearing such rumors, Yun Ye just laughed it off and paid no attention. But when a palace servant summoned him, he couldn’t treat it lightly. Her Majesty wanted to cure her student’s illness. I heard the tools were all prepared. The palace servant said the treatment would be quite miserable.