When Li Tai saw Yun Ye, his guards became very tense, because those Yun family guards who looked like old farmers had already formed an arrowhead attack formation. The lead guard captain flashed his body to shield Li Tai behind him, his horizontal saber already unsheathed. He’d received a warning from the Bai Qi Si that recently evil bandits intended to attack the imperial family, and he must protect the Prince of Wei perfectly, otherwise his one life wouldn’t be enough to account for this matter.
The Prince of Wei’s daily itinerary was fixed. Fortunately, most of the time was spent at the Academy. Only his daily observation of the water wheel at the waterfall was indispensable. It had already been three days. If luck held for two more days, the Prince of Wei could be immersed in the Academy without going out again—this would be a great blessing for the guards.
Seeing Yun Ye, Li Tai pushed his guards aside and hurried over, showing off to Yun Ye: “Ye Zi, did you see the water wheel I made when you came up the mountain? How about it—the power is strong, right? Now I just need to install connectors on the shore, and it can replace blacksmiths in forging iron, working day and night without rest. This way, our Great Tang’s steel production will double in growth. How about that?”
“Qing Que, very good. You’ve only mastered some of the most basic things, yet you can achieve this level—truly commendable. Qing Que, you’ve indeed surprised and moved me. Continuing like this, leaving your name in history can already be anticipated—not in your capacity as Prince of Wei, but your name Li Tai will be passed down through the ages. Think about it—what can water wheels be used for? Don’t peasant women need it for hulling rice? Don’t donkeys need it for grinding mills? Isn’t it needed for crushing ore? Not just forging iron, Qing Que—expansive thinking is very important. Excavate its full functionality, and in the study of investigating things, you’ll be the first. At that time, you’ll be someone everyone looks up to.”
Li Tai’s round face smiled into a steamed bun shape, and he was somewhat shy, grasping Yun Ye’s arm and saying: “Ye Zi, you’re absolutely right. Let’s go look at the water wheel together. Look at it carefully again. The central shaft forged from hundred-refined steel is truly durable. I went to look last night, and it was still operating extremely smoothly. In two more days, I can determine whether it can be used on a large scale.”
Looking at Li Tai’s expectant eyes, Yun Ye found that telling him the truth seemed somewhat cruel. The dignified Prince of Wei lived a thousand years, eating simple leftover meals every day. When other princes lived lives of drunken stupor and debauchery with pools of wine and forests of meat, he squatted in the blacksmith shop watching blacksmiths forge iron, facing failure time and again, yet remaining stubbornly persistent.
Continuing like this, Prince of Wei Li Tai would sooner or later become a sage. Even if he had all kinds of faults, as long as he persisted for another twenty or thirty years, Yun Ye could look at him with the eyes one uses to look at a deity.
“Qing Que, nothing in this world remains unchanged. Quantitative change inducing qualitative change is the fundamental principle of all things developing. The so-called ‘rope saw cuts wood, water drops pierce stone’ is this principle.” Yun Ye spoke with earnest sincerity. At least the old men nearby believed this was profound learning—whatever they didn’t understand must be good learning.
“I asked you to accompany me to see the water wheel, not to babble a whole bunch of nonsense. Hurry up and get to the waterfall.”
With the appearance of this sentence, Yun Ye immediately felt his sympathy was quite pointless. This bastard still needed to continue tempering on the path of science.
“Well, Qing Que, no need to go look. Your water wheel collapsed again, just now. You can accept another lesson—you’re one step closer to success. If you go now, you’ll only see the water wheel lying at the bottom of the pool.”
Li Tai was like a horse with an arrow in its backside, howling as he charged toward the waterfall. His guards behind him hurriedly chased after, constantly pleading for His Highness the Prince of Wei to slow down.
Many people came up the mountain today. Madam Cheng and Madam Niu had come up the mountain three days ago, staying in their small building, rarely receiving guests. These past days, Xinyue had been on the mountain accompanying the two ladies touring Yushan.
Wandering in the spring rain with an umbrella was truly an immense pleasure. The moss-covered stone slab path, winding and gradually swallowed by greenery everywhere—what couldn’t be swallowed were those colorful oil-paper umbrellas.
Noble ladies with high coiffures, maidservants with double-ring hairstyles, occasional light laughter made Yushan appear even more full of spring. Before going forward to pay respects, he heard the creaking sound of an ox cart passing by. Huang Shu, wearing a straw raincoat and sitting astride the cart shaft with great satisfaction, called out to the ox ahead, then looked back at his wife sitting in the ox cart. Ying Niang held a swaddled infant in her arms, a small head wearing a tiger-head cap exposed outside—this was their newborn son. Xiu Niang tilted her head looking at her ugly little brother, occasionally wiping away her brother’s drool with a brocade handkerchief. One ox cart was loaded full of happiness.
Seeing Yun Ye standing by the roadside smiling at his family, Huang Shu’s face reddened. He jumped down from the ox cart and paid respects to Yun Ye.
“Huang Shu pays respects to the Marquis.”
Not having seen Huang Shu for over a month, he seemed to have gained some confidence and lost some wretchedness. Bowing in greeting also appeared vigorous. The Academy’s character had gradually influenced him too. He was no longer like before, doing everything as if committing theft, walking while hugging walls.
“Didn’t the Prince of Wu just borrow you to the construction site the day before yesterday? How come you’re back today? How did the matter go?” A few days ago when Yun Ye returned, he heard that Li Ke wanted Huang Shu to go to the Dou family’s old residence to find treasure vaults. Could the matter be finished already?
“In reply to the Marquis, the Dou family’s treasure vaults were found—there were three. This humble one only used two hours. A family of fools built the secret chambers under the water pool in the back garden, as if others couldn’t tell. I don’t know if they were stupid themselves or treated everyone under heaven as fools. After building the secret chambers, they pretentiously built a water pool over them. The terrain was so high, they couldn’t even hang the water inlet and outlet beast heads—just a stagnant water pool. Which family’s garden pool doesn’t use flowing water? Making a stagnant water pool to breed mosquitoes?”
Mentioning his specialty, Huang Shu displayed the bearing of a grandmaster. The last bit of wretchedness also disappeared. Since he was an expert, he needed to have expert confidence. Having seen many experts at the Academy, he knew what experts looked like.
“Mm, not bad. Work well at the Academy. There will be many places to use you in the future. You completed this task well. Your salary needs to be raised. I’ll speak to the steward later.”
Huang Shu loved hearing these words most. Hearing Yun Ye say this, his eyes smiled until they disappeared. Bowing to Yun Ye, he said: “Thank you for the Marquis’s reward. However, Master Li already raised this humble one’s salary. Now it’s two strings of cash per month. The Prince also said this humble one handled matters splendidly and specially rewarded this humble one with fifty strings of cash. Master Li also approved three days of leave for this humble one. Taking advantage of the holiday, the whole family is going to Xinfeng to visit my wife’s uncle.”
With a newborn child, there should be a gift. Yun Ye removed a pearl string from his body and casually tossed it to Huang Shu, saying: “This is a meeting gift for the child. Since you’ve gotten everything you should get, I won’t meddle further. Your wife just gave birth—pay attention to recuperation. The road is still far. I won’t say more. Go quickly, leave early and return early.”
Seeing Ying Niang also about to climb down from the carriage, having a woman who’d just passed her month of confinement stand in the rain wasn’t appropriate. Yun Ye raised his hand to stop Ying Niang and urged Huang Shu to set off.
The old soldiers watched the ox cart depart into the distance. Uncle Jiang said with a smile: “So that’s the tomb robber? This old man doesn’t think he looks like a tomb robber, but rather somewhat like those great craftsmen who made equipment in the army before. He does have some bearing.”
“Uncle Jiang, my dream is to let everyone at the Yun family estate have good days. War finally ended—we’ve hoped for peaceful years. In chaotic times, people are worse than dogs. Now, the realm is at peace. Everyone should properly savor the taste of being human for a few days. What’s wrong with that?”
“Good, good, of course good. This old man’s days now are comfortable. Every day there’s good wine to drink, eating until full, clothing is neat, the children have work to do—what more could a person seek in one lifetime? This old man never dreamed of such days before.”
After speaking, he untied a small gourd from his waist, poured a mouthful of wine into his mouth, closed his eyes and held his breath. Only after a long while did he exhale at length, seemingly extremely comfortable.
Madam Cheng and the others had gone somewhere unknown. In the green mountains, only their laughter emerged. Very well—see them next time.
At the Academy gates, he saw the disheveled Cheng Chumo, staring with blood-red eyes at the Academy’s main gate, thinking for a while before lifting his robe to charge into the right gate. Yun Ye sighed and sat under the shelter at the entrance waiting for Cheng Chumo to come out from the left side.
“How long has the young lord been here? Why is he so bedraggled?” Yun Ye called over an Academy guard to ask.
“Marquis, please advise the young lord. He’s been holed up here for three days. Some days ago, the Prince of Wei said the Academy’s main gate is a bewitching maze. Under heaven, except for a handful of people, the rest can’t enter. He also said he himself was one of that handful. The young lord naturally refused to accept this, saying how could he possibly not be able to enter? These three days, except for eating meals and washing up, he’s spent all remaining time soaking here.”
“He didn’t think of other methods? Just charging in like this over and over—you didn’t tell him that charging mindlessly like this, he won’t be able to enter in a lifetime?” Though Cheng Chumo was single-minded, he wasn’t stupid. Being provoked to this extent, Yun Ye could already imagine in his mind how terrible Li Tai’s attitude was at the time.
“The young lord has tried ladders these past days, used ropes, and even smashed the wall with an iron hammer. As you know, Marquis, ladders can only be propped against the parapet, still some distance from the top. The wall top is full of iron spikes—climbing over would cost your life. Hanging ropes up, climbing to the wall top—the wall top is like a blade’s edge, not even a place to stand. Jumping over and falling from the wall would kill someone. This humble one told the young lord, but he wouldn’t listen and tried everything, even getting injured, before giving up.”
While speaking, sure enough Cheng Chumo emerged from the left side again. Seeing Yun Ye waiting for him, he felt somewhat embarrassed. After hesitating a while, he greeted Yun Ye: “Ye Zi, you came too. This damn gate has blocked brother for three days. Just wait—I can enter soon. I just figured out some tricks.”
Brainless yet stubborn as hell. Yun Ye found it strange—these past days he hadn’t seen Cheng Chumo’s shadow. Turns out he ran here to fight with the gate. This counted as quite a peculiar flower. Many people at the Academy couldn’t enter through the main gate. At most, just have the gatekeeper let him in. Why expend so much effort?
“You can’t enter for shit. What tricks? Go ahead and tell me your tricks.”
Cheng Chumo’s face flushed bright red. With a great roar, he charged into the left side again. In less than the time for one cup of tea, he came out dejectedly from the right side. This time his leg was somewhat lame.