The Goguryeo people had not yet arrived in Chang’an, but Di Renjie was about to leave Chang’an for the distant Loulan. Yun Ye, accompanied by Xiao Wu who had special permission to leave the premises, saw off this five-hundred-person contingent outside Chang’an.
Xu Jingzong wailed that once he passed through Jade Gate Pass he would never return, and demanded that Yun Ye look after his family. He understood better than anyone else in the contingent what dangers this group would face. Li Gang’s words at Yushan Academy could not be disobeyed. No matter how unwilling he was, Xu Jingzong had to make this trip to Loulan.
The cold wind howled. There were no willow branches to break off as farewell gifts. Cheng Chumo, extremely impatient, drove away his younger brother, waved his horsewhip at Yun Ye as a goodbye, and with a fierce shout, the lead scout cavalry took the vanguard to open the path.
Compared to the sorrowful atmosphere of others’ farewells, Di Renjie and Xiao Wu were actually smiling broadly, as if Di Renjie’s trip was not to Loulan but rather to Longshou Plain for a spring outing, where he would return after picking a peach blossom branch.
On the way home, the master and disciple rode side by side. Xiao Wu waved the horsewhip in her hand, continuously pointing at the farmers busy in the fields and asking her master about agricultural matters.
“This year’s heavy snow has delayed spring plowing in Guanzhong by twenty days, which means a reduction in this year’s grain harvest has become inevitable. The summer grain harvest will be late, and autumn grain won’t have time to mature before the harsh winter arrives, which will also cause large-scale production losses. Look, one random factor can trigger a series of catastrophic chain reactions. This is exactly the principle behind those dominoes we often play with.”
“Xiao Wu, we can discuss agricultural matters and chain reactions later. What puzzles me, Master, is your and Xiao Jie’s nonchalance. This trip to the Western Regions is not without danger.”
“What reaction does Master think Xiao Wu should have?” Xiao Wu turned her head oddly to look at her master, because what Master detested most was people wiping tears and fussing during farewells.
“Sigh, you should think about things like a normal person. When I, your master, went on a distant expedition beyond the frontier in those years, the situation was very similar to yours now. Your master’s wife embroidered a sachet for me, put her own hair inside to represent constancy, pinned up her hair to show she had married into the family, and wore her wedding dress to see me off to battle. Although it seemed a bit foolish, the scene that left the deepest impression on me regarding your master’s wife was when she wore her wedding dress to see me off. Compared to your master’s wife and me, aren’t you and Xiao Jie being too plain?”
After Yun Ye finished speaking, he pulled out a faded sachet from his collar to show Xiao Wu. “Your master has never taken it off since I put it on. Girl, emotions are something you shouldn’t hide. When they should be intense, let them be intense. When they should be displayed before others, display them. This thing is like wine—the older it gets, the more fragrant it becomes. In a person’s lifetime, there’s no need to be rational about everything. You have to act foolish once or twice.”
Xiao Wu shook her head and said, “I simply believe Xiao Jie will be fine.”
Yun Ye smiled. Obviously, Xiao Wu had much more confidence in Di Renjie than he did. Xiao Wu was not originally someone who liked to display her innermost feelings outwardly. Asking her to open her heart now was somewhat demanding the impossible.
Xiao Wu did not follow Yun Ye back to the Yun Family residence. She and Zhangsun seemed naturally incompatible. According to Xiao Wu’s words, she felt suffocated, which was perhaps the truest depiction of the saying “one mountain cannot contain two tigers.” She still had the Di Family home to return to. The Di Family’s old servant was already waiting respectfully by the roadside with a carriage—Xiao Wu had summoned him. She still did not feel secure. Not only did she want to manage the Yun Family household, she also wanted to manage the Di Family household.
The muddy roadside was already lush green everywhere. The high peak of Yushan was still covered in white snow. Breathing in a mouthful of cold, crisp air, Yun Ye spurred his horse into a gallop. This kind of spectacle that could only appear on plateaus was now everywhere throughout Guanzhong.
Zhangsun was still making efforts. She wanted to make her hot air balloon float. Xinyue was helping her on the side, along with a group of women who knew nothing about hot air balloons, all helping her. It was precisely because of this powerful support that no matter what Zhangsun did, the balloon would not fly. Li Tai, who always wanted to voice his opinions, had been given a gag order by Zhangsun and could only lie depressed in his chair, sunbathing.
Zhangsun’s idea was correct. The imperial court had now over-mythologized the hot air balloon. In fact, its principle was very simple. Since most of the components of the hot air balloon were completed by women, if they were also the ones to complete the balloon’s flight, this would be a powerful shock to the entire world and could effectively reduce the common people’s worship of gods.
A group of women were dragged around everywhere by the hot air balloon, in utter disarray, yet without the slightest intention of giving up. This was a small hot air balloon that Zhangsun had deliberately made. They were not playing around but truly wanted to accomplish something. Seeing that even Zhangsun had wrapped her hair and was directing on-site, Yun Ye was unwilling to go in. Li Tai was her son, so guarding the side and suffering was what he deserved. Why should he follow along in the misfortune?
Yun Shou stood alone under a large clump of forsythia flowers. Goose-yellow flower petals had fallen all over his head, yet he still stood straight, apparently being punished. Yun Ye walked past him carrying a plate of fried potato strips, walked past. Yun Shou’s eyes didn’t waver. When Yun Ye walked past his son again with an empty plate, Yun Shou was still standing there, as if studying the forsythia bush in front of him.
“How much longer?” Seeing his son’s pitiful appearance, Yun Ye felt somewhat heartbroken.
“Another half hour. Father, your child made a mistake. Please don’t be angry.”
“Father isn’t angry. If you make a mistake, you get punished. After the punishment is over, you’re still a good child. Father was also punished before. Being a child is quite disadvantageous—you’re always being punished by elders. Just remember not to do it again in the future.”
When a son makes mistakes, especially things like being lazy, rather than saying it was Yun Shou’s fault, it was more accurate to say the upper beam was not straight. So Yun Ye stood in the courtyard with his son, continuously talking to him.
Master Lishi stood before the window. Outside the window, one could see the snow-covered Yushan. On the rice paper before him was already a magnificent mountain range. After adding two light touches, a soaring eagle appeared beneath the firmament. He was busy painting, completely ignoring the father and son whispering in the courtyard.
Half an hour later, Zhangsun and the others stopped tormenting the hot air balloon. Honestly speaking, when organizing the women’s polo team in the palace back in the day, it hadn’t been this difficult. The balloon still lay deflated on the ground. Xinyue carefully put down the palm-leaf fan in her hands and wanted to ask Li Tai what exactly was going on. Zhangsun glared at her, so she could only shrink her neck and hide behind Hypatia. Na Rimu suggested that as long as they rode horses and tied ropes to the hot air balloon, they could surely fly the hot air balloon like a kite. She even guaranteed that her husband had flown kites with her this way before.
Zhangsun looked without good humor at this foolish woman. This was a hot air balloon, not a kite. Even if the hot air balloon flew up by catching the wind, once the rope was cut, wouldn’t it still fall down?
Li Tai really couldn’t bear it anymore and walked forward. Just as he was about to speak, Zhangsun, without even turning her head, shouted “Get lost!” He had no choice but to obediently sit back in his reclining chair and pretend to sleep with his eyes closed. From his continuously heaving chest, one could see he had nearly been angered to death by his mother. He kept swearing in his heart that he would never work with women in this lifetime. Too stupid, too stupid!
Yun Ye and his son, each carrying a plate of fried potato strips, passed by the garden entrance from afar. Yun Shou glanced at the sulking Zhangsun and asked Yun Ye curiously, “Father, what are Empress Grandmother and Mother doing? I saw them tormenting that hot air balloon this morning. Why hasn’t it been launched yet?”
Yun Ye pointed at the balloon with a potato strip in his hand and said, “Your Empress Grandmother and the others’ balloon keeps failing to fly, so they’re very troubled now. Let’s not go over there looking for discomfort. Didn’t Master tell you to see no impropriety? Just don’t peek at those maidservants bathing anymore in the future. Women are very troublesome. Keeping your distance has its benefits.”
Yun Shou immediately threw his plate far away. He was already so angry he was about to convulse. Tears were already spinning in his eye sockets. He roared angrily at his father, “You just swore you wouldn’t tell anyone! And I wasn’t peeking at them bathing. It was Sister Xiao Wu who kicked my ball into that room. I went to get my ball.”
Seeing his son was truly upset, Yun Ye hastily apologized and wanted to pat his son’s head to express his apology. Yun Shou stubbornly turned his head away, his anger not yet dissipated.
The plate was thrown, so it was thrown. To apologize, Yun Ye stuffed his own plate into his son’s hands, grabbed a potato strip covered with cumin and put it in his son’s mouth. Seeing him holding the potato strip without eating it, he helped him move his jaw up and down a couple times, which counted as chewing.
After coaxing for a long time, he barely managed to placate his son. The two reconciled. This kind of continuous mistake-making and apologizing game was very normal between father and son. Only a father could tolerate a son who continuously made mistakes, and only a son could believe his father’s countless apologies. As a representative of clever people, the son was very clear that this mistake he had made would absolutely not be the last time. The father also knew very clearly that his guarantee absolutely could not be taken seriously. This kind of game would inevitably continue until one party died, only then would it truly end.
“Father, if Mother and the others want to make the balloon fly, why don’t they remove the sandbags from the bamboo basket? Not only do they not remove the sandbags weighing down the basket, they even put a sheep into the basket. Do they actually want the balloon to fly up, or do they want to keep the balloon on the ground?”
After watching for a while, Yun Shou figured out why Zhangsun’s balloon wouldn’t fly. The huge balloon had been equipped with twelve sandbags, and the small balloon was also equipped with twelve sandbags. The balloon’s volume had decreased tenfold, but the weight of the sandbags had only been reduced by half. It would be a miracle if such a balloon could fly.
Yun Ye did not intend to go over and explain. If he went over to explain things at this time, Zhangsun would definitely fly into a rage from embarrassment. Li Tai should have discovered this long ago. The fact that he hadn’t made things clear until now or corrected the error indicated that Zhangsun at this moment had become unreasonable.
Hypatia kept turning the crane-beak valve wider and wider. The flames roared continuously. The small balloon struggled to break free from the restraints of those heavy sandbags to fly toward the blue sky, swaying left and right continuously.
With Hypatia’s intelligence, she only needed to look down once to understand where the problem lay. But this stubborn woman insisted on believing that the balloon’s inability to fly was related to insufficient buoyancy.