“Marquis Yun, don’t worry. Yan Song was in the open and saw nothing, while this slave was in the shadows and observed more carefully. This slave won’t reveal that the expert came from the Yun Family. Master Wu She has shown great kindness to me, and I dare not fail to repay it. This slave takes his leave now.”
As Yun Ye watched Duan Hong walk out the family gate, Wu She appeared silently behind Yun Ye. Following Yun Ye’s gaze at the departing Duan Hong, he said: “These past few days must have tormented him badly, right? If he dares to speak out, this old man guarantees he won’t live past an hour. You can tell from how both his hands were trembling when he left the Yun Family that Xiao Miao has been watching him all along.”
“Eating pears and peeling pomegranates was just to cover up his own panic. Xiao Ye, this person isn’t worth worrying about. His visit today shows he wants to forget this matter. That’s good—if we killed him, this old man’s heart wouldn’t feel comfortable either.”
Wu She never used to trust others, but after arriving at the academy, he had become somewhat more merciful. When he wanted to kill someone, he would go to the Qinling Mountains to find some tigers and leopards to practice on. However, there were still sometimes unsolved murder cases in the capital. Needless to say, the one who acted was Wu She, because Yun Ye could always hear Wu She and Liu Fang discussing the causes of these deaths at opportune moments.
Today’s sunlight was excellent. Only Yun Ye, Wu She, and Liu Fang were in the garden, with Liu Jinbao, Old Zhuang, and Old Jiang standing guard outside the garden. Without the family head’s order, no one could approach the garden by a single step.
The three jade tablets were suspended on a frame. The three people said nothing, all waiting for the moment when the sun was about to set. A single-horned demon head appeared on the white paper behind the jade tablets. Liu Fang quickly drew this demon head with his brush. Immediately after, a second winged yinglong appeared on the white paper, the brushstrokes ancient and vigorous. The third demon head didn’t look like an actual object, but more like a faceless, mouthless mask. On the mask were written four characters: “Jin Dong Qi Mu.”
Seeing these four ancient seal script characters from the Spring and Autumn period, Liu Fang put down the brush in his hand and said to Wu She: “So it’s Bin Meiren after all!” Just after this sentence was finished, those images disappeared with the shift of sunlight.
After Yun Ye put away the jade tablets and handed them to Wu She, only then did he ask Liu Fang: “Who is Ice Beauty? Could there be some romantic story behind these three jade tablets?”
Liu Fang sighed and said: “And you’re supposed to be a teacher—you don’t even know about the famous Bin Meiren? Well, you should know the ‘Zuo Zhuan,’ right?” Seeing Yun Ye nod, he continued: “In the second year of Duke Cheng in the ‘Zuo Zhuan,’ there’s a record titled ‘Qi Guo Zuo Does Not Disgrace His Mission.’ You should know this article—I remember Old Man Taishan required you to recite it.”
“I forgot it after I recited it. You continue speaking, I’m all ears.” Yun Ye was increasingly curious and urged Liu Fang to speak quickly. Wu She also held the brocade box tensely, watching Liu Fang.
“To put it simply, the Jin state attacked the Qi state. Qi couldn’t win, so they planned to seek peace. One of Jin’s demands was to have the Qi ruler’s old mother serve as a hostage. Qi refused. Another demand was ‘Jin Dong Qi Mu’—to have all of Qi’s field ridges face east, making it convenient for Jin to deal with Qi again next time. Qi couldn’t agree to either of these conditions. Fortunately, Qi’s minister Guo Zuo Bin Meiren used reasoning to persuade Jin, allowing Qi to escape disaster.”
“Bin Meiren’s reputation soared because of this incident. Not long after, he was hired by the Lu state as a state minister. I don’t know what mistake he made, but the people of Lu flayed his face skin off. They wore his face skin on other people’s faces to lobby various states, hoping to inherit his wisdom. As a result, it became a laughingstock. So when I see the human skin mask and these four characters ‘Jin Dong Qi Mu,’ I know this face skin belonged to Bin Meiren.”
Yun Ye and Wu She looked at each other, both completely bewildered. If one could inherit someone’s wisdom by wearing their face skin, then the nobles would forever be the rulers. As long as they flayed the faces off clever commoners and wore them on foolish noble faces, fools would also become clever people. Would such rule ever worry about instability?
This was wonderfully similar to the Han Zhe family’s theory that as long as bloodlines were pure, one would become clever. It seemed Bai Yujing wasn’t any good bird either. But there was no way to tell Liu Fang this, so he could only keep it in his heart. He had somehow confusedly become Bai Yujing’s successor—this grievance he could only suffer in silence.
“I never imagined your Bai Yujing inheritance would be so strange. This old man used to wonder how you knew so many things. Now I know—just how many people’s face skins have you worn?”
Liu Fang chuckled as he continuously examined Yun Ye’s face. Wu She tossed the box aside and went directly hands-on, vigorously rubbing and kneading Yun Ye’s cheeks. While rubbing, he said to Liu Fang: “This old man isn’t surprised by the master and disciple’s wisdom. What’s surprising is their means of traveling across the land. Two such outstanding people, yet no one recognizes them, not half a legend about your master and disciple. Not easy at all—unless you wore human skin masks at that time. Saying it like this makes it reasonable. Quickly make one for this old man to see. If there’s no one available, this old man will go catch someone right now. I’m terribly curious.”
No matter how Yun Ye struggled, he couldn’t escape Wu She’s hands. It wasn’t until his face skin was about to be rubbed raw that Wu She finally stopped. After examining it carefully for several more glances, he said: “Alright, this face skin is real.”
After Yun Ye caught his breath for a while, stroking his aching face skin, he said: “I’ve never worn a human skin mask. I’ve always relied on this face of mine to get by. What does Bai Yujing have to do with me? I’ve never noticed my master wearing one either.”
Liu Fang chuckled and said: “How do you know your master didn’t wear one? Your master instructed you to burn his body after he died—perhaps he was just destroying evidence. Brilliant! He truly achieved coming without a shadow and leaving without a trace.”
“What are you two so happy about? We’ve only figured out one jade tablet. How do you explain the single-horned demon king and the yinglong? Master Wu She, you two are both planning to seek longevity. The sooner you solve this, the sooner you can achieve immortality—isn’t that good? Why are you investigating my background? My past is my most precious treasure. I’m not telling anyone.”
While speaking, Liu Fang had already drawn two more images of the yinglong and demon king on paper. He spread them on the ground for Yun Ye and Wu She to each choose one, keeping the remainder for himself. With a cheerful mood, he left the garden with Wu She, who was holding the brocade box, and went to his own room. Being trusted by others like this always made one feel good, especially Wu She.
“You were a fox spirit in your previous life!” When Na Rimu was clinging to Yun Ye to complain about Yun Mu, Yun Ye said to her with stern righteousness.
“How did you know? This concubine is indeed a fox spirit, who came specifically to bewitch you.” After saying this, she even blew air into Yun Ye’s ear.
Lingdang’s face was the thinnest-skinned. Seeing Na Rimu, whose bodice was already half-exposed, clinging to her husband, she blushed. She hurriedly cleared Yun Ye’s dinner table and was about to leave. Before she could exit, she saw Xinyue rushing in from outside. Seeing her flushed face, Lingdang knew something had happened, so she stayed behind, planning to hear what exactly it was.
“Husband, our river bend land has lost thirty mu. Last summer it was washed away by flood waters. After this concubine returned, I had the tenant farmers re-cultivate the land. Today something strange happened—the officials actually won’t permit our family to continue cultivating the land. They also said that in the future, river bends and riverbanks are not allowed to be farmed, and at most can only plant tree saplings.”
“This concubine calculated—including the riverbank land, our family will lose at least eighty mu of good land. These eighty mu were originally counted into the fief. The officials are obviously trying to bully people.”
Yun Ye saw Xinyue huffing with anger, so he poured her a bowl of tea and said: “The officials aren’t wrong either. These years, not one of the several rivers around Chang’an has been stable. Among them, the biggest culprits are water mills and riverbank lands. One is highly profitable, the other has fertile soil—no one wants to let go, causing the river channels to become narrower and narrower. When there are rainstorms, the flood waters can’t drain and can only overflow the embankments. Many people have died these years. Aren’t you learning to chant Buddhist scriptures with Grandmother? Show some mercy and stop harming that river. Our family losing a few dozen mu of land won’t starve anyone.”
With a “bang,” the sound startled Yun Ye, who had turned around planning to continue being affectionate with Na Rimu. He looked back to see Xinyue with her willow-leaf eyebrows inverted, pounding the table so it banged loudly. Gritting her teeth, she said to Yun Ye: “This is different. Our family’s land is our family’s land—not a single fen or li can be less! Today someone takes away a few mu from you, tomorrow someone else takes away a few more mu. In less than a few years, our family’s land will be much reduced. When it reaches Shou’er’s hands in the future, will there be anything left?”
“Husband, you’re a reasonable person. Those corrupt officials are exactly how they slowly encroach on the common people’s land. If you don’t pay attention today, tomorrow they’ll dare say our family’s slope land also has problems. We can’t let them develop these bad habits.”
When Xinyue got angry, Na Rimu and Lingdang both became like quails, shrinking behind their husband and not daring to make a sound. They didn’t yet possess the dignity of the mistress of the household.
Yun Ye pressed Xinyue into a chair and said: “Right now I wish everyone in Chang’an would say I’m a spineless coward. Look, I’m not even willing to go to court audiences. I just want to shrink my head into a turtle shell so others can’t see me. You don’t understand, wife. Actually, being bullied is a wonderful thing. If in two years, the dignified marquis manor’s fields are reduced to just this Yun Family estate, that would be most beautiful. At that time, our family could be passed down as dukes and marquises for ten thousand generations.”
Xinyue looked at her husband in confusion, not understanding why being spineless could lead to nobility for ten thousand generations. Out of trust in her husband, she said in a small voice: “Then should this concubine just pretend not to know? Is that okay?”
“That won’t do. When our family suffers injustice, we should shout it out loudly. It would be too shameful for me to go shout, but it’s just about right for you to go shout. The Earl of Chou’s family upstream must certainly encounter the same troubles as our family. See how the Earl of Chou’s family handles it?” Yun Ye grasped Xinyue’s hand and offered her advice.
“The Earl of Chou’s wife is sitting by the river crying right now. You mean this concubine should also go cry?” Xinyue seemed to have understood somewhat.
“Cry! You’re a titled lady. Being bullied by some petty minor officials until you can only sit by the river and cry—doing it this way is correct. In a while, eat a bit more food, sleep well, and tomorrow gather your energy and we’ll go cry at the riverbank. The more onlookers the better. I estimate that tomorrow there will definitely be many women crying together with you.”
Xinyue bit her teeth and said: “Then let’s cry. Tomorrow Na Rimu and Lingdang will also go—cry together!”