The human traffickers ultimately delivered twelve children—ten boys and two girls. None were yet ten years old, and they were as thin and frail as grass in the wind. Their clothes were relatively clean, probably having just been changed before coming. The little girl in the green shirt was trying hard to smooth out the wrinkles at her waist with her hands. A slightly older boy beside her pulled her hand down, telling her to stand properly. Yun Ye noticed that his hands were full of cracked and bleeding wounds, while the little girl’s were not. This was a pair of siblings—the older brother had taken very good care of his younger sister.
Yun Ye’s face bore a smile, and he said nothing. The intelligence of these children was no longer the main issue. Being brought to his household, they were the fortunate ones. Perhaps Yun Ye couldn’t save all the slaves in the Great Tang, but these twelve children were not a problem. Like a youth who worked hard to throw stranded fish back into the sea, today Yun Ye had thrown back twelve little fish, including a pair of siblings.
Servants led them to the kitchen to eat. Yun Ye swept his gaze over the human traffickers at the bottom of the steps. “I’m very satisfied with the people. You can negotiate the price with the steward. I only require you to guarantee one thing—that these children’s origins are clear, that there are no abducted ones, and that they all came voluntarily.”
A slightly older trafficker bent over to answer, “In reply to the marquis, these twelve children all came voluntarily. No one forced them. Six of them were sold to this humble one by their parents, and the remaining six were all sold by the authorities. This humble one has official contracts here—please, marquis, examine them.”
Indeed, they were all government contracts, some even with third-party witnesses—they couldn’t be fake. Seeing these, the blockage in Yun Ye’s heart loosened a bit. After all, he was someone who grew up under the red flag. No matter how heartless he might be, when it came to his personal baseline as a human being, it would be strange if he had no shadow in his heart.
He waved his hand to drive away the human traffickers. He didn’t want to see these people for even one minute.
A green-oil carriage drove into the Yun residence. Steward Qian Tong came to find the marquis with an odd expression on his face, saying there was an important guest who wanted to see the marquis. Who could it be, putting on such airs?
Li’er stood in Yun Ye’s study holding a quill pen, examining it and writing and drawing on paper. He was also holding the drawing tools Yun Ye had asked a carpenter to make for him, gesturing here and there. Finally, he probably figured out what the compass was for and drew circle after circle on the paper. How bizarre! At the study door, he saw Li Chengqian pretending to be a good baby. The two brothers exchanged glances, and Li Chengqian gave him a helpless gesture—just spreading his hands and shrugging his shoulders.
“Get your ass in here.” Li’er was still as domineering as ever.
As soon as he entered, Yun Ye put on an appearance of being terrified and anxious, bending his waist, hunching his back, and shrinking his neck—he’d practiced this long ago. “This subject did not know Your Majesty had arrived. Please forgive this subject’s breach of etiquette.”
Li’er lifted his leg wanting to kick Yun Ye, but thinking it improper, pursed his lips instead. “What have you created? You’ve provoked Duke Cheng and Duke Niu to make a great disturbance at the Directorate of Construction. People who never touched books are actually holding the ‘Zheng Lun’ saying they want to beat to death those prodigal sons in the Directorate of Construction?”
Cheng Yaojin and Niu Jinda hadn’t yet submitted those diagrams. It seemed they wanted to manufacture them first before reporting to Li’er. This time making a great disturbance at the Directorate of Construction was clearly to help Yun Ye share the fierce storm from the court. Thinking of this, his chest felt warm.
“This subject was casually reading the ‘Zheng Lun’ when I inadvertently discovered an extremely advanced agricultural tool called the seed drill. Out of curiosity, I deduced its original appearance from between the lines and made the blueprints. I then entrusted Duke Cheng and Duke Niu, these two elders, to find the best carpenters to restore this ingenious agricultural tool.”
“According to the book’s records, this seed drill can sow six hundred mu per day. Is this fact?” Li’er was calm and unperturbed, without even a change in his tone.
“The book’s records are somewhat exaggerated. Before manufacturing the six-row seed drill, six hundred mu is only a goal to strive for.” Yun Ye didn’t plan to exaggerate, nor did he prepare to disparage it. Speaking with facts was best.
“Where are the blueprints now? How do you plan to handle them?” Li’er relaxed his body and sat in Yun Ye’s armchair, quite leisurely.
“In reply to Your Majesty, this is the Institute of Investigation’s first research achievement. This subject will wait for the physical object to be manufactured and tested, then naturally report to the court and request some manpower and financial resources.”
“You speak quite honestly. Very well, that’s just your nature. Seeing your great ambitions, this item should be useful. Not rewarding merit is not the style of our Great Tang. After the court has verified it, your wishes will naturally be fulfilled.” Having said this, he patted the chair he was sitting in and added, “This thing is good. Send ten sets to the palace.”
So he finally knew where Li Chengqian’s bandit nature came from—his father was the biggest highwayman. Fortunately, he had destroyed the incriminating evidence the day before yesterday. If he had seen today his own portrait with the two characters “Pig Head” on top, who knew whether he would carve those two characters on his forehead? Yun Ye secretly felt fortunate in his heart.
“This is the first time I’ve come to your home. Show me around.”
Li’er spoke very casually. Yun Ye looked down on Li’er quite a bit—with all the guards you brought, they’ve already turned the Yun household upside down. You still need me to lead the way? You just want to see how the Yun family is different from other families.
Yun Ye accompanied Li’er father and son as they wandered east and west through the Yun residence. He very much wanted to avoid the greenhouse, but Li’er discovered this unusual building and wanted to go in and take a look.
“Your Majesty, the things in this room are the dowry this subject has prepared for my younger sister. I wonder if Your Majesty has any interest in viewing it?” He had already stopped, so there was no choice but to open the door and let him go in.
As soon as Li’er entered, he drew in a sharp breath. What kind of place was this! At a glance, the full view of green was refreshing to the heart and delightful to the eye. The unique fresh fragrance of plants and trees rushed toward them. The wooden boxes near the door were full of verdant spinach, with plump and tender leaves—already at harvest time. Was this rapeseed? Was this leek? Was this cucumber? They were actually already edible. Hearing Li’er talking to himself, what else was there to wait for? He picked two palm-length tender cucumbers and washed them clean in the water vat in the room. Li Chengqian broke off a section from each cucumber, and together with Yun Ye, they crunched away. Still the bad habit of the imperial family—Li’er didn’t wait for the two of them to die from poison. He snatched away a relatively large one, took a big bite, seemingly tasting it, only his speed was a bit fast.
“What vegetable is this?” He noticed the chili peppers. He hadn’t seen them before and only felt that the small green pods were quite adorable.
“Your Majesty, this is a vegetable from overseas called chili pepper. Its taste is spicy and hot. After maturing, it will turn red. This subject quite likes it. These were planted as seeds. Presumably by next year, this subject will have many chili peppers, and at that time will invite Your Majesty to taste them.”
“Is this the dowry you prepared for your younger sister? Is it these vegetables, or the method of growing vegetables?” Li’er held a purple eggplant in his hand, tossing it up and down, playing with it.
“It’s the method of growing vegetables. This subject believes that rather than preparing gold, silver, and precious stones for her, it’s better to teach her a skill for self-reliance. Gold and silver can be used up, but skills cannot. As long as she is diligent, she will never again have to go hungry. The Yun family suffered great calamity. When we had no clothing or food, we couldn’t rely on anyone—only on ourselves, on our own hands to feed ourselves. This will be the Yun family’s household instruction. Every Yun family descendant, male or female, must master a craft, even if it’s the most lowly one.”
“Giving someone fish is not as good as teaching them to fish. You are a truly intelligent person. The Yun family’s prosperity is just around the corner.” Li’er was somewhat moved.
“Many thanks for Your Majesty’s auspicious words.” Yun Ye bowed in gratitude. The Emperor generally didn’t say such things, but once he did, he took on the responsibility of protection.
“Could it be that this is the formidable aspect of investigation? I truly underestimated this field of learning.” Faced with reality, Li’er also needed to acknowledge the power of knowledge.