What’s the difference between managing a household and managing a country? The saying “governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish” is itself incomplete. Macroscopic principles don’t necessarily apply in the microcosm, which is why we created the idiom “it’s hard to satisfy everyone’s tastes.”

Many concepts in Chinese history are contradictory. We propose a famous principle, and it seems the only purpose is to overthrow it. Some say this represents progress, but have we truly implemented it to its extreme?

The story of the oil seller tells us that when the hand becomes skilled, miracles appear. From his ideas from the future world not being accepted and hitting walls everywhere, Yun Ye knew it wasn’t the people of the Great Tang who were wrong—it was himself.

Each of us from birth begins seeking a sense of belonging, wanting to find our reasonable position within human society. This position is actually just another name for allowing oneself to live more happily. The form doesn’t really matter—physical and mental contentment is most important. This is why the Yun family’s servants would rather die than be released from servitude.

In their view, free commoners outside couldn’t even manage to eat, while they had three full meals a day with meat. The master’s family hadn’t violated their wives and daughters, didn’t spend their wages on debauchery, and didn’t make them do things beyond their capabilities. Though the Marquis had a bad temper and was a spendthrift, even at his most furious he’d only kick them a couple of times—it wasn’t like they hadn’t been kicked before.

Even the fool Yun Shiba found work sweeping in the ancestral hall. When the old matriarch worshipped the ancestors, he swept against the wind, covering the family’s old ancestors in dust and leaving a thick layer of ash on the ancestral tablets.

In other households, this would warrant being beaten to death. The old matriarch just recited “Amitabha” twice and had the household maids teach Yun Shiba to sprinkle water first and sweep with the wind, then wrapped up some of the sacrificial offerings for the fool.

Those with some ability followed the stewards running all over the world earning money for the family. The slower-witted ones stayed home doing housework. If there were particularly clever ones, the Marquis even sent them to serve at the academy. Apart from doing some work, they were no different from those noble students—taught by the same teachers. Yun Jiu was quite famous at the academy, praised endlessly even by the old masters.

For such a promising young man with a bright future, the Marquis wanted to release him from servitude so he wouldn’t be ridiculed by others while carrying a servant’s lowly status. This was a favor, a great kindness his descendants could never fully repay. But he stubbornly refused, kneeling outside the old matriarch’s door all day, refusing to be released no matter what. This angered the Marquis so much he kicked him several times in the back, calling him mud that couldn’t stick to walls, pointing at his nose saying if he liked being a servant so much, he should go feed pigs. If the pigs didn’t get so fat that oil dripped from their rumps, he shouldn’t think about doing anything else.

Clever people are clever people. Within two days, Yun Jiu dragged Xiao Ya and Eighth Miss’s pig to find the Marquis, pointing at the pig oil flowing from the pig’s rump, saying he’d accomplished it. He wanted the Marquis to give him a different assignment—for instance, accompanying the Second Madam to the grasslands would be a very reasonable assignment.

The Marquis nearly dropped his teapot. The pig’s rump was indeed dripping oil—no mistake. Had he really fattened the pig to this extent?

No help for it—the Yun family people prided themselves on their word being their bond. Regardless of how he accomplished it, this was fact. So the Marquis sent Yun Jiu to study with the great scholar Master Xu Jingzong at the academy to learn schemes and tricks, how to become more devious. This was the Marquis’s punishment for Yun Jiu.

“Husband, did Yun Jiu really fatten the pig until its rump dripped oil?” Xinyue was very curious about this question. Xiao Ya’s pig had been raised for three years now. It looked to be five or six hundred pounds, but no matter how fat it got, it couldn’t reach the point of dripping oil, right?

Na Rimu also felt it was impossible. She was an expert at raising sheep and knew this didn’t make sense. She supported the increasingly mobility-impaired Xinyue while chiming in, believing her husband had been deceived.

“Proper women keeping the word ‘rump’ on their lips all day—aren’t you ashamed? Yun Jiu just played a little trick. Though it won’t pass scrutiny, it’s still reasonable. He’s a bad seed. Having him learn from Xu Jingzong how to become more devious won’t hurt our family. A household needs good people, but also needs a couple of scoundrels. Our family suffered before precisely because everyone was too good. Let him help Na Rimu on the grasslands for a few years to temper himself, then return to Chang’an. I want to see what kind of person this kid becomes.”

Xinyue irritably waved her handkerchief at Yun Ye’s face twice and said, “You still haven’t told us what trick he used. Why did the pig’s… that… drip oil?”

“That stinking kid stuffed lard into Hanhan’s rear. Did he think I couldn’t tell? To think of such a wicked, smoking idea—he and Xu Jingzong are truly of the same lineage. Not teaching him properly would be a real waste.”

Just as he finished speaking, Xinyue collapsed, her body going limp and sliding down. Na Rimu couldn’t hold her up. Yun Ye quickly caught her—he’d never seen anyone laugh themselves into this state.

With his hand supporting Xinyue’s leg, trying to help this woman who’d laughed herself senseless onto the kang, his hand suddenly felt wet. Yun Ye was greatly alarmed—her water had broken.

“Someone come! The mistress is giving birth! Midwife, find her, quickly!” Yun Ye gently placed Xinyue on the stretcher that had been kept ready in the room. Na Rimu lifted one end, he lifted the other, and they carried Xinyue to the birthing room.

The birthing room was in the north building, a room that absorbed the most sunlight. The entire room had been wiped clean with strong alcohol four or five times. The sheets were all new linen, boiled in water and dried in the sun. They’d hired the best midwife within a hundred li—not one with an auspicious appearance, but one with exquisite skills. Yun Ye and Xinyue had nearly worn out the official registry of midwives before selecting three who specialized in delivering babies for wealthy households, masters who were sometimes called to the palace to help with difficult births.

At first they were unwilling to come, looking down on the small Yun household, feeling it was beneath them. But was Yun Ye’s reputation as one of Chang’an’s Three Scourges for nothing?

Several guards swarmed forward, grabbed the old woman and left. The rest packed up a large bundle of her birthing tools, stuffed them along with the person into a carriage to return to the Yun household. When the old woman’s eldest son, who worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Justice, tried to stop them, Yun Ye whipped him on the head, telling him: “If everything goes smoothly, the payment will satisfy you. If anything goes wrong, prepare to collect a corpse.”

Xinyue entered the birthing room. After a long time with no movement, Yun Ye paced anxiously in circles. The old matriarch couldn’t sit still either, turning eastward while Yun Ye turned westward, both extremely agitated. The whole household, old and young, stood in the courtyard craning their necks to look into the room. They couldn’t see anything—it was tightly covered by curtains—so they just grew more anxious.

Word had already been sent by fast horse to Master Yushan. People had also been sent to the Cheng and Niu families. Yun Ye couldn’t leave. Qian Tong mounted a horse and galloped off to find Sun Simiao. Without the old man there to oversee things, there really wasn’t much confidence.

Xiao Qiu lifted the curtain and came out. She was Xinyue’s personal maid. Though already engaged, she couldn’t be spared at this time—she knew Xinyue’s temperament best.

The whole family surrounded her, asking questions all at once. Xiao Qiu seemed a bit embarrassed and said to the old matriarch: “The mistress has stopped having contractions. The midwife says it still needs a little time. The mistress says she wants to eat sugarcane.”

“Why eat sugarcane instead of properly giving birth? After the child is born, Grandmother will buy up all the sugarcane in Chang’an for her to eat her fill.” Though she said this, a nimble servant immediately dashed out to buy sugarcane for Xinyue. The household feared the young ladies would damage their teeth, so generally didn’t keep any.

Master Yushan rushed over in a flurry. As soon as he entered, he repeatedly asked if the baby had been born.

“Didn’t Master Sun say there were still twenty days until delivery? Why is she giving birth now? Did she fall?”

Yun Ye shook his head, telling the old man that today Xinyue had laughed too hard, and somehow something went wrong—her water broke and now she had to give birth.

The old man sat helplessly in a chair, breathing heavily. Women giving birth was like passing through the gates of hell! The midwife had boasted that she’d delivered over a hundred babies, with only five or six incidents—an incredible record.

Hearing this, Yun Ye wanted to take a knife and chop the midwife to death. In the future world, delivering over a hundred with five or six incidents would have gotten her chopped into mincemeat by the patients’ families long ago, and she still had the face to brag about it everywhere.

But the fact was just so—her record truly was remarkable. The government had records of it all. In these times, childbirth was a major event. The wealthy found skilled midwives themselves. The poor had the government find midwives for them, and midwives couldn’t refuse. Every birth was strictly recorded. If there were unfortunate deaths, those too had to be recorded, so falsifying records was nearly impossible because population growth was also an indicator for officials’ promotions.

If, like in the future world, people casually performed abortions, they would face severe punishment, a crime equal to murder. Especially in the early Great Tang when the population wasn’t prosperous, Li Er deeply detested such things. Though it was said that until a child hit the ground it didn’t count as a human life, Li Er would rather be strict than lenient.

The peeled sugarcane was sent in. Standing in the courtyard, they could hear the crunching sound of her biting it—very forceful. This gave Yun Ye great confidence. Since Xinyue became pregnant, he’d been extremely careful. After her belly grew, he made sure she got plenty of exercise. Her meals weren’t just blindly supplemented with nutrients—dietary balance still had to be maintained. He worried about excessive nutrition leading to an oversized baby, which could cost both mother and child their lives.

Old Sun lived nearby and arrived quickly. There was really nothing to hide from the old man. He entered the birthing room and came out shortly after.

He told Yun Ye: “That child Xinyue has a very strong body. Though the baby is premature by some days, it doesn’t matter. Her pulse is strong. She’ll give birth in a little while. What’s the rush?”

Waiting is the hardest thing in the world. The courtyard was completely quiet. Even the mischievous Xiao Ya lay obediently in her aunt’s arms, waiting for her first junior to be born.

Yun Ye used to take some pride in his patience, but now his patience had vanished. Restless and unable to sit or lie still, he desperately wanted a cigarette to calm his nerves. The dry grass stem he was chewing could no longer bring him peace.

Xinyue’s groans came from the room, making Yun Ye’s heart tighten. Grandmother spoke: “Runniang, take the girls back to their rooms. Xiao Wu and Shishi should also go back. Before the child is born, they’re not permitted in this courtyard.”