The Guanlong Group represented by the Li-Tang dynasty and the old established aristocratic families finally engaged in their first round of confrontation in Chang’an. It ultimately ended with one hundred sixty-four bloody heads from the Fanyang aristocratic families falling to the ground, and memorials from other noble houses voluntarily requesting to lower their ranks receiving approval. The Guanlong Group, with guns in hand, achieved complete victory.
They should be celebrating their victory now, right?
Gazing at the layered palace prohibitions, Yun Ye sighed helplessly and spurred his horse toward the Court of Imperial Entertainments. Old Lu’s family members in Chang’an had all been consigned to slavery—women sent to the Court of Imperial Entertainments, men sent to the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories as laborers. For the rest of their lives, they would have no chance to rise again, even more miserable than the Yun family had been years ago.
Old He from the Court of Imperial Entertainments was an old acquaintance. His younger brother worked under Yun Ye at the Institute of Natural Philosophy and was said to be quite appreciated by the Crown Prince. When in Chang’an, he had frequently invited Yun Ye to the Court of Imperial Entertainments to appreciate marvelous ancient song and dance, occasionally even performing himself. He possessed excellent dancing skills but wasn’t very good at mathematics—staying at the Institute of Natural Philosophy was truly burying his talents.
Through repeated interactions, he and Old He had become familiar. Now when old acquaintances met, they were naturally very warm. His plump arm around Yun Ye’s shoulders, he insisted he stay to appreciate newly composed song and dance, and incidentally discuss the differences in physical development between Shandong women and Guanzhong women. According to him, one absolutely had to personally evaluate them to sense the subtle wonderful differences.
They laughed heartily together. Those lewd thoughts between men had long been mutually understood—Tang dynasty people and modern people had no generation gap in such matters.
Ever since Guan Zhong established the female quarters, no matter how many times official brothels changed their names, they couldn’t escape the actual content of sexual transactions.
Therefore, Yun Ye had to rescue Old Lu’s wife and daughters in the shortest possible time. Given his family’s traditions and those inexplicable rules, if women suffered humiliation, death was the lightest punishment, even now that they had fallen.
The other Shandong aristocratic families probably didn’t dare openly do such things right now—it would invite Li’er’s retaliation. Only Yun Ye, an outsider, could do it.
Marquis Yun’s requirements for female beauty could not be called anything but high—first, they had to be able to read and write; second, he wanted all of them. This made Old He, a lustful demon, admire him with complete respect. He had never seen a marquis with such heavy tastes—even wanting Lu Jiang’s eighty-year-old mother. Truly a man among men. However, this matter was difficult to handle. Old He said that although his brother had special tastes and an enormous appetite, and as an older brother he should do his utmost to help, some people—his superiors said—were not permitted to be sold.
Such a cunning old fox! Clearly knowing the purpose of his visit, yet stubbornly placing on him the hat of a sex-crazed demon, absolutely refusing to mention anything beyond female beauty. According to his words, as an older brother, he was just a big brothel boss—what he could manage was women’s bodies. Apart from women, this older brother didn’t understand anything!
“Brother He, His Majesty still owes me ten thousand strings of cash and hasn’t paid. It looks like His Majesty doesn’t plan to give it to me either, only saying to settle the debt with people. In total, there are only about thirty women—are they worth ten thousand strings of copper cash? Dozens of carts of copper coins could buy a thousand Persian female slaves with money left over. Brother He has always been straightforward—why are you being so indecisive and wishy-washy today?”
Though Old He was somewhat lewd, he could still be counted as a forthright man. When he said there were difficulties, there truly were difficulties—he wouldn’t make excuses to refuse. If it were any other matter, Yun Ye wouldn’t press him like this at all. But helplessly, to lessen the guilt in his heart, he could only push hard.
Old He’s expression uncertain, he suddenly stamped his foot and began tearing at his own clothes, even throwing his shoes outside. He tore the clothes on his entire body to tatters, then snatched from Yun Ye’s hands the official document for retrieving people he had just given him, ground his teeth as he added several names, then stuffed it back into Yun Ye’s hands.
With a tragic expression, he said to Yun Ye: “I haven’t made it far, older brother can only help you this way. You have one hour—leave quickly!”
Under Yun Ye’s uncomprehending gaze, he picked up the inkstone from the desk and, together with the ink, smashed it on his own head. In an instant, blood mixed with ink flowed down his cheeks. His eyes rolled back white and he collapsed on the ground.
Now Yun Ye understood. This fellow, pressed by Yun Ye with no way out, had forcibly thought up a self-injury stratagem. In the future, if any big shot asked about it, he would say he was knocked unconscious by Marquis Yun, who forcibly took the document while he resisted unsuccessfully. The blame would be much lighter.
Yun Ye was somewhat moved. He stepped forward to feel the pulse at his neck—he was fine. This fellow had just knocked himself unconscious.
With someone cooperating like this, Yun Ye naturally didn’t dare delay. He went out the door and called Old Zhuang to return home to prepare carriages and horses, while he and Liu Jinbao went to the rear courtyard.
Weeping sounds filled the air. To Yun Ye, it felt like demonic sounds entering his brain. He didn’t know how Old He managed to stay here.
An elderly woman sat upright at the doorway, her clothing clean and orderly, not a strand of white hair on her head out of place. The women in the room weren’t wailing either, and they were relatively young, with especially many children. They also sensed the changes in their household and obediently nestled in their respective mothers’ embraces, revealing frightened eyes as they listened to the sounds outside.
“Follow me. The carriages are ready. You will return to your ancestral home in Fanyang.” Yun Ye said nothing else, only picking the most important things to say.
The elderly woman looked at Yun Ye with surprise and asked: “Who are you? Why do you want to save us?” Her words were spoken steadily and calmly—in such circumstances, she was surprisingly neither anxious nor agitated.
“Marquis of Lantian, Yun Ye.”
“Why? Why? You were the one who blocked the lightning, destroying all the Lu family’s hopes in one stroke. Now you’ve come here—is it to seek peace of mind?” The old lady still hadn’t risen, yet an aura called dignity was growing within her.
“Don’t bring up the lightning. Your Lu family was preparing to use the great locust plague, employing the theory of correspondence between heaven and man to prove the Son of Heaven’s lack of virtue, claiming heaven was enraged and disasters arose everywhere. Leveraging the aristocratic families’ thousand years of culture to pressure imperial authority, hoping in the Emperor’s weakest moment to achieve your goal of continuing actual rule over Shandong. You gave not the slightest care to the suffering of the people under heaven, secretly hoarding grain on a large scale, preparing to gain false fame and reputation in Guanzhong. Insatiably greedy yet with high ambitions but low abilities—after suffering this calamity, you still haven’t awakened?”
The light in the elderly woman’s eyes dimmed, then she asked again: “You detest the aristocratic families—why then do you want to save us? Without our home, how will this houseful of women and children live? Originally, the family had nearly five hundred people, counted as a household with bells chiming and cauldrons of food. Where are they now? Those who committed suicide, committed suicide; those who were beheaded, were beheaded; those who fled, fled; those who scattered, scattered. A thousand-year great clan vanished like smoke in an instant. Is this what you wanted to achieve? And then rescue a few women and children to gain a good name under heaven? Marquis Yun, what excellent calculations—truly worthy of being a renowned master of mathematics, able to calculate to the bone everything that can be utilized. This old woman admires you.”
“I had absolutely no intention of saving you. You are already over eighty years old and have long enjoyed all worldly riches. No matter what upheaval occurs, you should have nothing to complain about. Don’t you understand the principle of cooking oil on fierce flames and flowers embroidered on brocade? Moreover, according to our dynasty’s legal code, at your age you are not among those to be punished. I only want to save those children. What fault do innocent children have? I truly don’t want the Yun family’s tragic situation to happen again. This is my reasoning. I don’t care whether you understand or not. When I do things, do I need to listen to how others judge me?”
From his heart, Yun Ye looked down on these aristocratic families who toyed with the world’s destiny. This was the real world, not a game. When people died, they couldn’t resurrect with full health and continue. When heads fell off, they couldn’t be reattached.
With an escort agency protecting five carriages as they departed, Yun Ye sighed, thinking: I hope you won’t become hopelessly immersed in the vortex of hatred.