The small flower hall of the Yun household looked as if it had been swept through by a storm—cups and plates in complete disarray. Yun Ye and Cheng Chumo sat in a corner of the flower hall, slowly drinking wine with a plate of peanuts. As for Dugu Mou, he was already thoroughly drunk. The chaotic state of the small flower hall was the product of his performance of a drunken fist routine.

“New Year is coming soon. Do you still have peanuts at your house? The half bag that you had Old Qian send over was all put away by the old master. I like these things—they’re crispy when you chew them.”

“After all these years, why are you still making up excuses when you want things? Would I really not give you peanuts just because it’s not New Year?”

“It’s habit! Asking once or twice is no problem for me, but asking more than ten times a year—even with my thick face, I can’t withstand it! Tell me, has Dugu Mou discovered that we tricked him or not?”

Cheng Chumo was somewhat worried. Just now when this fellow Dugu Mou was acting drunk and wild, he had kicked off an arm-thick table leg of the sandalwood table with a single kick, yet he seemed completely unaffected.

“Tomorrow morning we’ll know. After all, he’s a clever person. Right now he’s vomiting until the sky and earth are dark, unconscious and knowing nothing. You know the temperament of the strong liquor at home. Even now I don’t dare drink anything above sixty proof. The wine jars were sitting there, but he insisted on taking the one with sixty-three written on it, even saying that number was auspicious. What could we do? But this fellow’s mouth is really tight—obviously already drunk stupid, yet still hasn’t revealed a single useful piece of information.”

Cheng Chumo nodded, fiercely grabbed a large handful of peanuts and stuffed them in his mouth, crunching loudly. After washing it down with a mouthful of wine, he said to Yun Ye: “I’m heading back. Now isn’t like before—the old master doesn’t care about anything, spending all day idly wandering, hunting, or fishing. Yesterday he didn’t catch any fish, but ended up soaked through. Supposedly just because he didn’t catch any fish, the old man got angry and had his household warriors throw explosive bombs into the water. When they refused, he threw them himself—stuffed them in wine bottles, lit them, and threw them in. He lay down flat and wasn’t injured by the glass shards, just got splashed all over with water. The household warriors say the entire pond was floating with dead fish.”

“The older he gets, the more he becomes like a child. If I don’t go home for a day, he’ll nag me to death. Tell me, when we’re all seventy or eighty years old, if the old master still grabs us and scolds us severely—what kind of scene would that be?”

“Get lost! You can actually say such rotten-hearted words. I wish the old gentleman would live two hundred years! Since the old gentleman is worried, I won’t keep you. Go back quickly. I’ll get some peanuts from the Empress—the steward has already gone to pack them for you. Take them when you leave. Take it slow on the night road—there’s no moon tonight.”

Although Yun Ye said this, in his heart he couldn’t help but sigh. That nightmare Cheng Chumo spoke of would definitely arrive. The old man was full of ailments, with a temper like raging fire, drinking without regard for his life. Yet even so, he had still lived past seventy-six years, and that was after bad luck struck. Yun Ye felt that if he continued living as carefree as now, it truly might be possible, as the romance said, to live past one hundred years.

After seeing off Cheng Chumo, Old Qian reported from behind: “My lord, the Marquis of Yunzhong’s household warrior refuses to sleep in the guest room. He’s guarding outside the Marquis of Yunzhong’s door holding his blade—this clearly shows distrust of our household. Even when the Empress stayed overnight at our residence, she didn’t put on such airs.”

These years, as Old Qian grew older, his mouth became very chatty. Having served the Yun family his entire life, he had the qualification to say such small gossip. If it were someone else, Yun Ye would consider the meaning behind these words.

“Household warriors—how can they be household warriors without being loyal? If I went to sleep at the Marquis of Yunzhong’s house, who knows how Liu Jinbao and the others would stand guard. When it gets to the latter half of the night, have the kitchen send them some warm late-night snacks. Standing outside in this bitter cold isn’t pleasant.”

Old Qian smiled and agreed, then went to instruct the kitchen. Xinyue had already returned from her inspection wearing fur and the inner residence had begun to be locked up. Looking at that large string of keys in Xinyue’s hands, Yun Ye suddenly realized that today’s Yun household had already become a great family with bells chiming and tripods full of food.

“Husband, didn’t you say years ago that you would never bother with this Dugu Mou again? Why now are you entertaining him? This concubine clearly remembers your wretched state when you climbed up from that stinking ditch years ago.”

While serving Yun Ye as he washed up, Xinyue asked curiously. She knew perfectly clearly how petty-minded her husband was—there was no reason things would just reconcile without anything happening.

“Back then, not dealing with him wasn’t because he threw me in the river, but because this person’s thoughts were too heavy, and he looked at everyone as if looking at an enemy, always studying you, considering how to bring you down. That’s why I took the opportunity to stop associating with him. What happened later proved that your husband’s judgment was still very accurate. Hou Junji killed over a thousand people, and this fellow personally killed over three hundred of them. Later, seeing things going badly, he started killing Hou Junji’s people, killing over a hundred more. Ultimately, all these people had once been his comrades-in-arms. To be able to strike at them like this—one can only say this person’s heart is extremely vicious, with no concept of emotion whatsoever.”

“These years, after being pardoned by His Majesty, he gradually changed somewhat. Everyone else became a son-in-law before rebelling—this fellow rebelled before becoming the Emperor’s son-in-law.”

“His heart is still as vicious as before. Today he personally killed over a hundred people, regardless of men, women, old or young. You must understand, ordering people killed and personally killing people—there’s a big difference between them. So this fellow is a deviant.”

Xinyue understood what “deviant” meant. As a woman, hearing news of slaughter still made her somewhat fearful. She couldn’t help but move closer to her husband, glancing at the location of Dugu Mou’s guest room and saying: “No wonder Wang Cai doesn’t like getting near him. When you usually drink wine, Wang Cai always comes over for a couple of mouthfuls. Tonight I didn’t see him. This concubine found it strange, thinking he was unwell again. I specifically had Old Qian go look, only to learn that Wang Cai had burrowed into the haystack to sleep early on.”

“Now it’s a peaceful and prosperous age—why is there still killing? A few days ago when you were enforcing military law, this concubine felt it unbearable. Now over a hundred more have died. If too many people are killed, will Heaven make the prosperous age end earlier? After all, prosperous ages don’t favor killing.”

Yun Ye lay in bed, pillowing both hands behind his head, contemplating Xinyue’s words. This statement of hers was probably the heartfelt sentiment of the common people under heaven.

The chaotic times when human lives were regarded as grass had been some years past for Great Tang. Was it still appropriate to view this new world with old eyes? The borders were constantly smoking everywhere, which also didn’t suit national conditions. Now everyone yearned for peace. Military achievements could no longer stir people’s enthusiasm. On the contrary, those who made outstanding contributions in various fields of society were beginning to become heroes again in the hearts of Tang people.

If you killed ten thousand foreign people at the border, there was nothing particularly worth boasting about, because those retired veterans back home would disdainfully say that as long as they had firearms in hand, they could do the same—not worth showing off.

The court’s gazette was now distributed to the school in every county, one issue per month. So hearing an old farmer from the countryside blurt out such sophisticated words as “His Majesty is currently formulating the Commercial Code at Jiucheng Palace,” Yun Ye would feel no surprise whatsoever.

The content of that gazette was very rich—court developments, exotic customs of foreign lands, overseas observations. Among these, what was published most were court decrees. Although now it was only one-way transmission, not yet allowing common people to publish their own views in that gazette, Yun Ye firmly believed that day’s arrival was probably not far off.

The Northern and Southern fleets sailing out back-to-back were actually trying to prove that the place we live is a sphere? Old farmers would curse loudly: a bunch of idiots who’ve eaten their fill and don’t do proper work! If the earth really were a sphere, this old man would have already fallen off. Would this old man still be waiting here to grow grain to feed you?

Merchants throughout the realm were now holding their breath waiting for the new Commercial Code to be promulgated. It was said that this time commercial taxes would drop to the normal rate of one in twelve. If so, it would be a great fortune for merchants. He Shao and the stewards of the thirteen firms, regardless of whether they could prevail in this confrontation with the court, had already become genuine merchant leaders.

After the Commercial Code was reformulated, if it truly was as merchants hoped, a new force would rise magnificently. People like Zhangsun Wuji who were extremely conservative would undoubtedly be the faction suffering the most severe damage.

Yun Ye was confident he still had influence over merchants. At least Great Tang’s commercial prosperity was something he had single-handedly brought about. Although commercial prosperity in early years was only the most primitive kind, after grain harvests became abundant and the common people had large amounts of surplus goods, large-scale exchange and trading truly began. In Great Tang, agriculture would forever be genuinely the first industry. The prosperity of industry and commerce must both rely on agricultural prosperity.

If Zhangsun Wuji failed in this struggle, he would definitely have the most intense counterattack. Yun Ye needed to prepare well for this aspect. This major counterattack might be Zhangsun Wuji’s last opportunity.

After Zhangsun Wuji’s defeat, Great Tang’s last aristocratic clans would also disappear, replaced by individual new families. These families had fundamental differences from the ancient aristocratic clans. Without privileges, large families could only maintain themselves through economic interests. Yun Ye had never seen families effectively controlled through interests alone, because after all, each person’s interest demands were different.

Had Dugu Mou keenly perceived this point? Yun Ye was very doubtful. This fellow had hidden himself in dark corners observing for a full ten years. Perhaps he truly had discerned something, which was why he had such a decisive approach this time—preferring to cripple his own cousin’s legs rather than fail to stand in the correct formation.

Perhaps this fellow’s drunkenness was all pretense.

Yun Ye smiled silently in the darkness. Every nobleman was actually a very good actor. This time, Dugu Mou perhaps represented those most ancient families, preparing to step into a new century in their own way. Before such a great premise, Dugu Qiu’s two legs had long seemed insignificant.

Yun Ye happily closed his eyes. By tomorrow, everything would be revealed.