The discussion went very smoothly. Actually, Yun Ye only said eight characters: “Danger like stacked eggs, disaster at hand.” With these eight characters, it should be sufficient. Shaking the prayer beads in his hand happily, he prepared to go back and supervise Xinyue drinking hawthorn water.
Looking back at the old monk’s eyes flickering like will-o’-the-wisps, he added: “Old monk, wealth is not worth holding onto. For the sake of the prayer beads, I’ll give you one extra sentence.” As soon as these words were spoken, the will-o’-the-wisps disappeared in an instant, and the thin, small body also vanished into the night in an instant.
Yun Ye shook his head. He had done right by the old monk’s precious prayer beads. No matter what, if they could have less killing, let there be less killing. Once Li Chengqian began to act, the consequences would be unpredictable. One side would need to yield. As the weaker Buddhist sect, it was better to be more obedient. Yun Ye didn’t want to see the tragedy of Emperor Wuzong’s destruction of Buddhism repeated in the mortal world.
At the tent, Old Cui was losing his temper, randomly beating the cook indiscriminately with a stick. The Yun Family didn’t bully people this way. Even if you, Old Cui, had just accomplished a great merit, you couldn’t be arrogant to this extent.
Before Yun Ye arrived, Old Cui rushed over first, holding some hawthorn slices in his hand and asking Yun Ye: “Marquis, did you instruct the kitchen to brew hawthorn water for Madam?”
Having never seen Old Cui lose his temper, now he dared to question him—it was truly strange. Yun Ye decided to wait until the matter was clarified before deciding how to handle it. Seeing Old Cui ask, he nodded.
“Foolish, Marquis! Pregnant women absolutely cannot drink hawthorn water. Eating too much hawthorn will harm the fetus. Women with child cannot eat this thing. Marquis, from now on, Madam’s menu must be reviewed by me, otherwise it cannot be given to Madam to eat.” After speaking, he left, even kicking the cook on his way out.
Yun Ye awkwardly cupped his hands toward his back. The old people of Yun Family Manor were like this—as long as what they did was right, except toward Old Madam, they acted arrogantly toward everyone. When Li Tai and Li Ke were greedy and picked mulberries, breaking mulberry branches, they were chased and scolded the whole way by an old farmer. When offered compensation, he refused, just wanting the brothers to know that mulberries could be picked, but mulberry branches couldn’t be damaged. Fortunately, these brothers now understood farmers’ hardships and didn’t talk back. The old farmer also didn’t know the brothers’ identities, otherwise he would have been scared to death.
After Li Er learned of this matter, he severely reprimanded the brothers in front of all civil and military officials, then heavily rewarded them. He also said that these brothers didn’t understand farmers’ hardships or recognize the importance of mulberry branches, and damaged mulberry branches out of greed—they should be severely punished. But because the two brothers could humbly correct their mistakes and didn’t use their power to oppress others, which was truly rare, they should be rewarded. Merit was merit, fault was fault—the two could not be confused. This triggered a tide of flattery from the entire court of civil and military officials.
This wouldn’t do—they had to go home. Without an elder to care for them, it was truly too dangerous. Even eating a broken hawthorn had the suspicion of murdering one’s own son. If they traveled around the world for another month, wouldn’t everyone abandon him? Just looking at the worried eyes of the servants, you could tell. Old Qian was there wiping away sweat, his face turned yellow. The cook hugged his head and squatted on the ground, crying sorrowfully.
Yun Ye comforted the cook saying: “This matter isn’t your fault, it’s my mistake. We’ll go home tomorrow. Madam will be entrusted to Old Madam’s care. We’re all grown men who don’t know these things. Consider this beating as taken on my behalf.”
The cook cried even louder, saying while crying: “Marquis, this one deserved this beating. If Master Cui hadn’t discovered it early, this one would have brewed the hawthorn water and served it to Madam. If anything happened to the young master, I would have no face to live.”
This was true. If something had happened, he indeed couldn’t have lived. Even if the Yun Family didn’t pursue it, no one in the entire manor would have forgiven him. Gesturing for Old Qian to comfort the cook, he lifted the curtain and entered the tent.
Fortunately, everything was hidden from Xinyue—she still didn’t know. She and Shishi were hugging their bellies and curled up on the bed groaning. Both had eaten too much. As soon as she saw Yun Ye enter, Xinyue asked: “Where’s the hawthorn water? I ate too much. Shishi also ate too much.”
“Just learned that pregnant women can’t drink hawthorn water—almost caused trouble. Hurry up and get up, both of you, and go outside to walk around, to avoid food stagnation at night.” Yun Ye spoke lightly in understatement, then shooed them up, preparing to go outside for a walk.
The Yun Family servants prepared to return home overnight. Except for the tents still needed tonight, everything else was loaded onto wagons. All the gifts left for Shaolin Temple were stacked up by Old Qian, to be delivered to Shaolin Temple first thing in the morning so they could travel light on the way home.
Little Niu had the same thoughts. Only Cheng Chumo complained that the trip was too short, with no opportunity to have fun—they hadn’t even properly enjoyed Mount Song. Jiu Yi pinched a small piece of flesh on his arm and twisted it in circles. Cheng Chumo turned his head stubbornly and said to Jiu Yi: “If you want to pinch, use some force. It doesn’t hurt.”
At night, Shishi slept with Xinyue. Yun Ye lay on a board wagon under the starlight talking with Dan Ying. Dan Ying had a faint fragrance on his body, and mountain mosquitoes didn’t come near. He had drunk a lot of wine and was a bit drunk, baring his chest to bathe in moonlight. The sky, washed clean by the afternoon rain, was exceptionally dark. The stars looked even more like jewels, only under the full moon’s reflection they all hid far away to shine. Under the full moon, wolves would howl, seawater would rise with the tide, and people would become sentimental—especially for a youth like Dan Ying with nowhere to vent his energy, this was even more so.
“Ye Zi, why must there be so many attachments in the mortal world? I used to think I was alone, coming and going with nothing to my name, able to charge ahead recklessly. My master also taught me to have a fearless heart. Who knew that after the Luoyang trip, I discovered I couldn’t abandon those elderly, weak, women and children. You don’t know—their circumstances were so miserable, I couldn’t believe my own eyes. A sixty-year-old woman still applying rouge and powder to sell smiles—you know the price? One coin, or one catty of millet.” After speaking, he laughed, only the tears streaming down made one’s heart ache.
“She picked up two children, one five years old, one three years old, living in a shack so small people couldn’t even go inside. The old woman bathed every day, saying if she washed cleaner, perhaps there would be customers. She washed with well water, even in the dead of winter. I gave the old woman money, and the older boy thought I wanted to bully her and bit my leg while hugging it. Tell me, isn’t that funny?”
Damn it. Originally, he was looking to tell him how happy he was after Xinyue’s pregnancy, wanting to show off the Yun Family’s brilliant future prospects. Who knew this mood-killing bastard would tell such stories that made one’s nose tingle.
“I said I was Dan Xiongxin’s son. That old woman pushed me away, not even wanting the money I gave her, only begging me not to take the able-bodied young men from there to war. She could support two children. She said her business was very good. Ye Zi, how good could the business of an old woman who uses red paper and white ash to paint her face every day be? You’re a genius and expert at doing business—tell me, how can her business be good?”
He couldn’t sit still anymore. This bastard came just to disgust him. Troubling him about an old prostitute’s business? With one kick, he sent Dan Ying off the board wagon. Dan Ying, with his superior martial arts, just fell straight to the ground—didn’t dodge, didn’t counterattack, just lay there on the ground grinning at Yun Ye. This child had been tormented quite a bit by life’s reality. Yun Ye hadn’t expected that under his own promotion, he had sent Dan Ying into a fire pit, or rather sent him into a mud pit. Even with the greatest abilities, he couldn’t display them—hands and feet bound, like a sick chicken. Was this powerful medicine’s potency a bit too strong?
Lying prone on the board wagon looking at Dan Ying below, he said: “What’s so great about it? The old woman just chose the wrong business. If she had chosen another business to do, she wouldn’t be hungry. They don’t know how to choose their own way to survive—they need someone to guide them. You are that guiding person. Your father’s sins—father’s debts repaid by the son, it’s only natural. That old woman now making matchboxes should be able to make ends meet, be qualified to raise two children. Children grow up quickly—if you’re not careful, they’ll become big lads. It’s only a few hundred people. One matchbox manufacturing workshop is enough to arrange for them all. By the way, you ran to Shaolin Temple—who’s helping those women and children?”
“Qi Cheng, Ma Ci, and three stewards I borrowed from your family. I gave them all the money. They’re handling things. If there’s not enough money, I plan to return to Chang’an with you to rob a rich person—should be able to gather enough. Do you know whose family in Chang’an is richest? Excluding your family.”
Dan Ying said this very seriously. Yun Ye didn’t doubt his robbery ability at all. The blood of a highway bandit still burned in his veins. Whenever he encountered difficulties, his first reaction was to rob.
When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail—what kind of logic was this? As if all the wealthy people in the world were fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered. The old saying was right: poverty breeds cunning schemes, wealth cultivates conscience. It was absolutely true. Ever since having money, Yun Ye felt his heart had become much kinder. Hearing the tragic stories Dan Ying told, he knew sorrow—this was progress. Next time when listening, he should be even more sorrowful.
“There are many methods for robbery. The one you chose has the least technical content—too much effort, too little gain, terrible impact, and the reputation sounds terrible. You should rob elegantly and refinedly, making fat sheep willingly give you money, to the point where not accepting is unacceptable. You’ll discover your achievements have long surpassed your Dan Family’s ancestors. After robbing, people are still grateful—this is the essence of robbery.”
Dan Ying listened until saliva flowed out. Slurping back his saliva with some understanding, he said to Yun Ye: “Like how you just robbed the old monk? The jade star-glow prayer beads worth several thousand strings of cash were robbed by you, and he still looked grateful. I saw him bow to you in the darkness. Old Jiang said, this is the Marquis’s proper conduct, and also why I’m a pauper, he’s a drunkard, and you’re a marquis. Teach me—this kind of robbery is too interesting.”
Yun Ye really wanted to hit him. A normal ceremonial exchange was seen by him as robbery. If this was robbery, then what Li Chengqian and his brothers were currently doing was simply the work of flying sky-thieves—robbing the entire world. Just thinking about it made one’s blood boil with excitement.
“When we return to Chang’an this time, I have an auction that needs you to provide security. It’s full of rare treasures. As long as you ensure it goes smoothly without incident, you’ll receive five thousand strings of cash—enough for you to buy a large plot of land in Luoyang, build houses, and arrange for a few hundred women and children with ease.”
Thinking of the fleets about to return from all over the country, Yun Ye’s mind felt very comfortable. Li Er’s palace was about to be completed. Now they were just waiting for the nanmu wood pillars and some fine carvings. Nanmu wood originally needed to be naturally placed for two years before use. Yun Ye was determined to establish an artificial kiln to shorten the wood’s stress-relief time from two years to ten days. Although the effect wasn’t as good as natural placement, it was sufficient for palace construction. Those good things the country bumpkin nobles of Chang’an City had never seen would be displayed one by one. The security issue was very important.