Many officials would play the clown, but there wasn’t even half a person who could do it as earnestly as Li Dayin. Watching Li Dayin continuously correcting his walking posture like an obsessive maniac, Yun Ye suddenly felt a chill rise in his heart. It would be best not to fall into this fellow’s hands in this lifetime. If he really did fall into his hands, committing suicide early would be the best strategy.
A person who was so merciless to himself—wanting to obtain even a bit of mercy and compassion from him was purely a dream. Dealing with this kind of person was very simple. When you were in a strong position, you absolutely must not harbor mercy toward him. If you could finish him off, finish him off. If you couldn’t finish him off, quickly collect the future interest in advance. If you fell into his hands, there would be no future…
“Brother Yun, you must be laughing at me. This younger brother was accustomed to suffering before and didn’t know the benefits of being a noble person. Now that I’ve become an official, I want to cultivate some official temperament. Who knew that mud can’t stick to walls? I’ve studied for a long time and still don’t have any semblance of it.”
Having finished practicing his walking posture, Li Dayin obsequiously took Yun Ye’s arm and walked into the great hall. Everyone in the hall was an old acquaintance, so naturally there was no need for introductions. The ceremony official loudly announced the Yun Family’s gifts. After Li Ji heard the Yun Family’s gift list, he looked at Yun Ye oddly.
After paying respects to several elders, Yun Ye took a pot of grape wine and sat alone in a corner of the great hall, slowly drinking from the spout. Since this was a courtesy visit, there was no need to appear overly intimate with that fellow. This was consistency between words and deeds. So-called social interactions also paid great attention to rules.
Li Dayin always abandoned those heavyweight distinguished guests to come talk to Yun Ye. Although it was all daily trivial matters, Yun Ye discovered this fellow’s ultimate purpose was wanting to ask why he had emerged from the Longyou wilderness.
“To be frank with Brother Yun, that squad leader named Zhang Cheng, because he was the first to discover Brother Yun, is now a minor local official. This younger brother specially went to visit him. He said when you jumped out from the wilderness at that time, you were extremely bedraggled, not even having a loincloth. Yet now you have valleys full of gold and silver, enjoying the ultimate wealth and honor of the mortal world. This is truly rare!”
Hearing this sentence, Yun Ye said with a smile to Li Dayin, “Since Brother Li is investigating this younger brother’s privacy, don’t blame this younger brother for what he’s about to do next. Rest assured, it won’t be too serious.”
Li Dayin laughed with a grin, watching Yun Ye with interest. He really wanted to know what this young man was going to do. The Water Supervision’s emergence this time could be called high-profile. As long as one was an official, no one would be unclear about his origins. Wielding great authority, Li Dayin had never placed himself and Great Tang’s nobles on the same level. These people were all his prey. Which prey dared to bare its teeth at the hunter?
Very unfortunately, Yun Ye heavily smashed the silver wine pot in his hand onto Li Dayin’s wretched face. A wine pot weighing over a pound, plus more than two pounds of grape wine inside the pot, immediately caused Li Dayin’s blood to fly and splatter. There was even an incisor with blood threads stuck to the corner of his mouth. Li Dayin didn’t know if he was shocked silly or knocked dizzy—he stared blankly at Yun Ye without dodging even a bit.
The wine pot was dented and very awkward to use for hitting people. Fortunately, Green Willow Manor still had some solid wood round stools. Yun Ye threw away the wine pot, grabbed a round stool by the leg, swung it in a full circle, and smashed it on the dazed Li Dayin’s head.
He immediately fell to the ground like a felled tree with a thunderous crash. This time he was truly knocked unconscious. Yun Ye didn’t plan to stop. Since he was in the right today, it was best to completely finish the job. Thus the round stool was continuously swung by him until it scattered into a pile of wooden parts before he stopped.
Li Ji’s face was dark. The other nobles stayed far away from Yun Ye. No one was willing to have anything to do with this matter. Yun Ye looked at Li Dayin lying on the ground. This fellow was like a thoroughly destroyed rag doll. He couldn’t be beaten anymore—if he continued beating, he would be beaten to death. As long as the person wasn’t dead, everything was negotiable. If he died, it would be very troublesome.
Yun Ye fished out an ice fish from the ice tank, put it in his mouth, then poured all the ice water from the ice tank onto Li Dayin’s body. Soaked thoroughly by the ice water, Li Dayin immediately regained consciousness. Even now he was very bewildered—someone had actually dared to hit him. Moving his limbs a bit, with his experience he immediately discovered his situation was very ominous. His legs and feet seemed to be broken. His whole body was hot. In a moment, there would be severe pain.
“Can you tell me how Zhang Cheng is? What exactly did you do to him? Originally the last strike was meant to smash your head to pieces, but I suddenly wanted to ask about an old friend’s situation, so I spared your life. Speak quickly. If you speak clearly, I’ll spare your life. If you can’t speak clearly, then go die. I’m Hereditary Marquis. If I beat you to death, my crime is reduced by three degrees—banishment to Lingnan for three years, during which time there will be no salary at all. That’s about the only punishment. What do you say, Li Dayin?”
“I only inquired about Zhang Cheng. I didn’t do anything else.” Li Dayin mumbled a sentence indistinctly.
“Hehe, that’s very good then. You’re an official who manages water—where did you get so much curiosity about my past? Even His Majesty hasn’t questioned me like this. What kind of scallion are you? Pull yourself together. My family’s water well isn’t producing water. You’re coming with me to take a look. Day in and day out not doing proper work, just loving to pry into others’ privacy.”
Li Dayin spat out a mouthful of blood and said with difficulty, “Brother Yun, you seemed to use too much force just now. My legs, feet, and head are very uncomfortable. Your family’s water well isn’t producing water—please allow this younger brother to go inspect it in a few days. I’ll definitely dig out a river for your family. Your whole family, young and old, can row boats on it, no problem.”
“You’ve assaulted this younger brother today, which will also cause trouble. How about taking this younger brother to find Master Sun to treat the injuries right now? This younger brother’s hands and feet have been broken several times. Wanting to heal them properly is very troublesome. I’m afraid it’s impossible to hide this matter from His Majesty. It’s not that this younger brother wants to report you maliciously—mainly tomorrow His Majesty wants to see this younger brother to allocate some personnel. There’s no way to claim illness.”
“Can’t you just say you were trampled by a horse? I’ll take the loss. You can say you were trampled by my Wang Cai a few times.” Yun Ye squatted down to examine Li Dayin’s legs and feet. Just now his anger had gotten out of hand and he really had struck heavily.
No matter what, Li Dayin was the one who got beaten. Yun Ye had hit someone and was in the wrong. Since Li Dayin was unwilling to be a petty person and report maliciously, Yun Ye had no choice but to take him home and invite Master Sun over to treat his illness.
Old Sun carefully examined Li Dayin, whose eyes were stretched wide as he forcibly endured the pain. After applying medicine properly and securing the splints, he washed his hands and said to Li Dayin, “How have you managed to live until now?”
Yun Ye said oddly, “I didn’t use that much force. His arms and legs broke. I’m also surprised. They shouldn’t have broken. Usually when I beat Liu Jinbao, this is exactly what I do.”
Sun Simiao ignored Yun Ye and still stared at Li Dayin oddly, looking him up and down continuously. It seemed this person’s body was full of secrets. The ugly and unbearable Li Dayin in the old man’s eyes was simply a rare treasure.
“Your venerable self doesn’t know—since I was eight years old, I’ve been experiencing bone fractures. Up until now, there aren’t many bones in my entire body that are intact. Chopped by swords, hacked by axes, burned by fire, drowned in water, starved, sick, plus torture and interrogation—this body is already finished. Being able to live until now is already heaven’s mercy. Using this body full of injuries, I’ve only managed to exchange for the baron position of Cangwu County.”
“In great joy, I inevitably became somewhat arrogant, which displeased Marquis Yun—this is understandable. I originally wanted to endure some injuries to let Marquis Yun vent his anger. But this skeleton is really terrible—it can’t be touched. One touch and bones break. Next time Marquis Yun needs to vent, it’s best to aim for the fleshy areas. This younger brother absolutely won’t furrow his brow.”
Sun Simiao quickly used scissors to cut this fellow’s entire body of expensive clothing into strips of cloth. Li Dayin shyly wanted to use his hands to protect his vital parts. Old Sun inserted two needles in his shoulders, and he could only lie there naked. Starting from the head, Sun examined his injuries with both hands. The examination just now wasn’t thorough enough. Sun Simiao wanted to see exactly how many injuries this fellow had sustained.
“Crown of the skull—chisel injury. Someone wanted to crack your skull open? Occipital bone depression—you’ve taken a cudgel blow? The temporal bone on the ear side is entirely displaced. No wonder your ears stick out so much. There’s a foreign object on the third cervical vertebra. Hmm! Who put nails through your tendons and bones? Anyone who knows this method must be a famous physician. Although it allows you to barely lift your head, the rust has already grown into your bones. At most three years, and you’ll absolutely die. If you’re still alive in the third year, come personally to smash this old Daoist’s sign. I won’t say a word.”
“Heh, heh, heh, left arm broken three times. This time is just a relapse of old injuries. Right arm…”
While Master Sun was counting the injuries on this fellow’s body, he continuously wrote them down on paper. When one sheet was mostly filled, he had only examined down to Li Dayin’s lower legs.
“Old Li, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize your merit was also fought for with your life. After your injuries heal, I’ll once again gather nobles from all quarters to celebrate your achievements. A warrior’s glory cannot be desecrated. This time counts as Yun Ye wronging you. A military man’s word is his bond. If you’re still angry, you can smash me with jars anytime to get back at me. Yun Ye will have absolutely no complaints.”
There was nothing more to say. This son of a bitch was actually truly a man with iron bones and an unyielding character. On the Liaodong battlefield, the one responsible for transmitting messages to the Emperor was this fellow. Cutting open flesh and hiding bamboo tubes in wounds—he had done this not once or twice but many times. Many times, the intelligence the Lingnan Navy received about Goguryeo people putting out to sea, accurately eliminating all the Goguryeo people—the source of the intelligence was this fellow. The Emperor only gave him a sixth-rank official position, which was really too stingy. The baron ennoblement was also insufficient to reward his merit.
Being opposed to such a person naturally made one the villain. Yun Ye didn’t want to be the villain. He just wanted to quickly smooth over the matter of hitting someone. Speaking of it was too embarrassing.
Sun Simiao was very happy. He gently stroked Li Dayin’s body with his hands, his gaze burning. Wherever his hands touched, Li Dayin’s skin would raise a large patch of goosebumps.
“Yun Ye, you go tell the Emperor that I’m planning to keep this person for half a year to see if I can restore vitality to his body. Clearly having the physical capital to live to eighty, being wasted like this—he can live at most to thirty. What a waste of heaven’s gifts!”
Sun Simiao was happy for a while, then became angry again. However, for Yun Ye, this was the best news. Tomorrow when the Emperor asked about it, everything could be pushed onto Sun Simiao.