Sitting at the small table, Yun Ye took out the dishes from the food box. They truly were small dishes—four tiny plates containing chicken pieces, preserved sausage, cold wild vegetables, and stir-fried wild mushrooms, plus a small bowl of carved reed rice. They looked decent—just didn’t know how they tasted.
The white-cut chicken pieces were clearly his family cook’s work—the diagonal chicken cutting technique he’d learned from himself that ordinary people couldn’t master. The preserved sausage seemed good, steamed until crystal clear and mouth-watering. Grandma had long designated it as the Yun family’s finest food, not casually given to eat, only a little during festivals. Each time Yun Ye would share it with his several greedy sisters, which still often made Old Granny unhappy, saying there were no rules—what’s someone’s is theirs, no snatching allowed.
After chewing the cold bitter vegetables in his mouth, Yun Ye sighed and spat the wild vegetables out, rinsing his mouth several times with tea water before eliminating the bitter taste. He didn’t know how Master Yushan enjoyed his granddaughter’s filial piety. If bitter vegetables weren’t boiled and their bitterness removed with cold water, not only were they unpalatable, but they also greatly harmed the kidneys. However, the old master was advanced in age, his wife had passed early, and there were few occasions requiring kidney function, so damage didn’t matter. But having arrived in the Tang Dynasty as a freshly minted youth at the age when kidneys were needed—no need to be so vicious toward me, right?
He wouldn’t eat the wild mushrooms. From the previous wild vegetable dish, Yun Ye knew Miss Xin’s culinary skills were questionable. To avoid poisoning, better not touch mushrooms. What if there were one or two that appeared beautiful but were actually poisonous? The consequences would be unimaginable. Miss Xin was bold and loved beautiful things—those brightly colored, gracefully standing poisonous mushrooms she would surely love. As for those ugly-looking, unpleasantly colored good mushrooms, she definitely wouldn’t find them appealing.
He carefully took a bite of the carved reed rice. Not bad—fragrant, smooth, and glutinous. Being able to make wild grain from reed fields like this was miraculous, especially for Xinyue.
After finishing the rice and rinsing his mouth, Yun Ye planned to prepare his lesson. Tomorrow he still had two physics classes to teach—the interaction of forces, that would be it. Sitting at his desk, he quickly became immersed. The memories in his mind grew increasingly clear. Even his former physics teacher’s habitual nose-twitching gesture seemed to appear before his eyes. Yun Ye didn’t know if his current self was human or a video camera. If he’d had such a brain before, why waste four years at a third-rate school? He’d have been at Tsinghua or Peking University long ago, damn it.
There was sobbing behind him—turned out to be Xinyue, looking at Yun Ye resentfully with hitching breaths, very hurt. Yun Ye knew it was because he hadn’t eaten those two deadly dishes.
“The carved reed rice was delicious, the best rice I’ve ever eaten.”
“The rice is good, but what about the dishes?”
“The dishes were also good. You know my master spoiled me into having bad habits—my mouth is a bit picky. If food is even slightly off, I won’t eat it. Don’t mind it. Thank you for bringing me food.”
“Only two dishes here were made by me, the rest were from your family. The carved reed rice was cooked by my mother. You just didn’t eat what I made. Was it that bad?”
“Not bad, just had a small problem. Don’t mind it—next time will be better.”
“Brother Yun, did I make things difficult for you today?” Xinyue was somewhat embarrassed, somewhat awkwardly wringing her handkerchief, but her eyes stared at Yun Ye, very frank.
“Not at all. The hardest thing to bear is a beauty’s kindness. Having such a beautiful woman bring me food—I couldn’t ask for more.”
Simple platitudes bland as water actually made Xinyue blush deeply, extremely shy. Could it be that women of this era hadn’t yet learned to handle sweet talk? Unable to withstand even such words—if he said some classic lies, wouldn’t she immediately faint?
Xinyue’s hands trembled as she cleared the leftovers from the table. She was very happy. Yun Ye didn’t understand why she was so happy. They’d only been acquainted for a month—was it necessary?
Seeing Xinyue out, the maid Little Qiu stood guard outside the door, her thieving eyes sparkling as she stared at Yun Ye, as if looking at a wolf in sheep’s clothing, extremely vigilant.
As soon as Xinyue left, Li Tai from next door jumped over. Needless to say, this bastard had been listening with his ears perked up the whole time. “Brother Ye, don’t you like my elder sister? How are you now getting involved with this woman?” Completely the damn tone of a brother-in-law questioning his brother-in-law.
“Which eye of yours saw us getting involved? Your sister doesn’t like me anyway, so why seek humiliation?”
“I drew several pictures as evidence. Look, this is that woman sneaking in through the door, this is your shadows printed on the window, this is you two unable to bear parting. It’s just a woman—why have a maid guard the door? It prevented me from getting close.”
Yun Ye believed that if cameras existed now, Li Tai would definitely climb roofs to spy on others’ privacy. Where was this an imperial prince? This was an unethical paparazzi member.
Yun Ye smiled as he drifted into dreamland. Before sleeping, he’d thought through everything. Today everyone had opened convenient doors for Xinyue—at home, at the academy, even Sun Simiao handled it this way. They all hoped Yun Ye and Xinyue could become husband and wife. Whether starting from self-interest or considering the academy’s future, this was the best outcome. Xinyue was a lovely and bold woman. Today’s actions exceeded the upper limit for daughters of ordinary families. This required great courage—boldly expressing oneself upon seeing someone one liked gave Yun Ye a familiar feeling of returning to later ages. Nothing major—let’s take it as it comes.
Sun Simiao was frantically busy among the disaster victims, followed by over a dozen academy students, each carrying a shoulder pole with Old Sun’s newly developed Plague-Clearing Powder in the baskets—medicine wrapped in paper packets. Treat illness if ill, prevent it if healthy. Sounded like a miracle pill advertisement, but the mint, honeysuckle, and other medicinal ingredients in the formula were bought by Yun Ye with real gold and silver. Not just for disaster victims to consume—academy students drank a large bowl daily, teachers not exempted either.
The County Magistrate of Lantian accompanying Yun Ye on his inspection never stopped his flattering words.
“Where is this this Marquis’s achievement? I merely needed some laborers to build the academy. His Majesty and the court ministers gave Yun Ye such great support—I’m extremely grateful. County Magistrate He’s daily toil is evident to all. The runners’ diligence is also a factor in the academy’s success. Disaster victims should first thank His Majesty. Heard the Empresses even donated their cosmetics money—what compassionate sentiments! Living in such times, we should be grateful.”
Yun Ye bowed deeply toward Chang’an’s direction, putting on a full show. County Magistrate He greatly agreed with Marquis Yun’s words, even more admiring of Marquis Yun’s detached attitude toward fame and fortune. Feeling blessed to have inexplicably gained huge political achievements, naturally another round of flattery rolled forth.
Having such a prominent official as the Yun family under his jurisdiction was originally a county magistrate’s sorrow. But the Yun family didn’t care about fame or fortune, never interfered with Lantian County governance, just focused on developing the academy. Last time when Yun Ye trampled Hu Estate with his horse, that was an upper-level struggle having nothing to do with a petty official like himself—couldn’t talk about giving or not giving face.
This locust disaster, he’d originally thought he couldn’t escape either. Unexpectedly the Yun family completely captured a large swarm of locusts, now ground into powder piled in warehouses—heard it was very valuable medicinal ingredients. Though the county’s fields also suffered heavy damage, at least it wasn’t a total crop failure. The academy also began large-scale house construction. Most disaster victims relied on the Yun family for food, lightening his burden considerably. He only needed to sell last year’s delivered grain to the Yun family at fair prices. County Magistrate He felt the more such great households, the better.
Meng Youtong was distributing Plague-Clearing Powder. With each packet distributed, he would tell disaster victims how to brew the medicine into medicinal soup. His meticulous manner made it hard to imagine this person was still a foolish dandy last year.
When people gathered in large numbers, the most important thing was preventing epidemics. The Yun family forcibly stipulated that anyone working at the Yun family must bathe frequently. Drinking raw water was strictly prohibited. If anyone violated this rule, he and his entire family would be moved out of Yushan with no possibility of accommodation. This was a major matter the Yun family stewards repeatedly emphasized. They didn’t want an epidemic outbreak here either. Current methods for handling epidemic areas were unthinkable—whoever thought about it felt chills.
Massive amounts of lime were scattered everywhere. Now even the smallest children knew they must go to the privy for toilet needs. If they relieved themselves anywhere, the whole family would be driven out and never have food again. Tang Dynasty children, especially farmer children, were sensible to a heartbreaking degree. Five or six-year-old children carrying younger siblings wandered at the mountain’s foot. Seeing dry firewood, they’d drag it back for cooking fires. Whenever Yun Ye saw a tiny child carrying even smaller siblings while holding a bundle of dry firewood, his heart grew increasingly hateful toward those bastards in Chang’an city. Whenever he saw tiny children raising hammers trying hard to pound stone blocks, his heart ached uncontrollably.
Never seen such scenes. His fat son only knew to eat his fill daily and not be hungry, foolishly going to and from school, only knowing home-cooked meals weren’t as tasty as Western fast food, only knowing to be furious when Dad wouldn’t let him play games today.
Hunger was the best teacher, also the cruelest teacher. It taught these children diligence early, taught them thrift.
“Ye Zi, what are you thinking about?” Li Ke jumped down from his horse and asked upon seeing the dazed Yun Ye.
“I’m thinking how to avoid seeing these unfortunate children.”
“Just drive them away—what’s difficult about that?”
“You really think that?” Yun Ye stared at Li Ke’s eyes without blinking.
Feeling somewhat nervous under Yun Ye’s gaze, he opened his mouth but didn’t speak. Perhaps sensing something wrong with what he’d said earlier, just not knowing where the mistake was—bewildered and at a loss.
“If you repeat what you just said, even risking punishment from His Majesty, I will drive you out of Yushan. If Yushan educates students all with your kind of thinking, I will personally burn down Yushan Academy rather than let it bring disaster upon the world.”
“Please instruct me, Teacher.” Li Ke solemnly bowed with proper courtesy.
“We can be base, we can be shameless—this doesn’t matter. This is humanity’s innate instinct. The reason we’re more clever than beasts is precisely that we use complex thoughts to achieve personal goals. This is beyond reproach. The law of the jungle—this is the beasts’ law, not ours as humans. Compassion must exist. It’s the primary factor measuring whether a person has cultivation, whether there’s necessity for their existence.”
“I know you’ve been instilled since childhood with imperial education that all things under heaven exist for your use—high and mighty, feared by all people. The strong possess everything, the weak possess nothing. I’m powerless to change this reality. I only hope you’ll have more compassion, less tyranny. Upon seeing these children, don’t simply drive them away, but guide them, help them, make them no longer unfortunate. This way, you can forever stand at the highest point commanding wind and rain without worrying your boat will capsize. With them helping you, all obstacles in the world are just a joke.”