It had been a long time since he’d seen Huang Shu. Today’s Huang Shu was no longer that tomb robber whom anyone could kick around and command at will, but had become a person of the upper class with four or five shop fronts in Chang’an and Xinfeng markets.
After the academy reform, he was also granted the position of Mounted Attendant of the eighth rank upper grade. If not for his excessively terrible background, he should have been a seventh-rank official. An academy instructor was a very honorable position, so no matter how big Ying Niang grew the business, Huang Shu was still the head of the household. A few years ago, it was said that the matter of taking a concubine caused chickens to fly and dogs to jump over walls. Now Huang Shu no longer had that inclination and just wanted to continue at the academy until retirement and returning to his native place.
His two ugly sons had now grown into half-grown young men, taking after Huang Shu. His eldest daughter married a poor academy student who was now said to be a county magistrate in Hebei, so his days were very leisurely and satisfying.
Xinyue and Na Rimu had already boarded the bamboo raft. Huang Shu chuckled foolishly, wanting to personally pole the bamboo raft, but was refused by Yun Ye.
“Old Huang, you’re also a fifty-year-old person now. Don’t do these rough and clumsy things anymore. There are quite a few students over there waiting to pole boats. Just save your energy.”
“Marquis, this old man is truly old. These two years my energy has become increasingly inadequate. In the past, I could dig out a tunnel ten zhang long in one night. Now when I go down into tunnels, I feel I don’t have enough air. My father back then developed a coughing problem—they said he ate too much dirt. This old man living until now and still having the strength to speak—it’s all thanks to the Marquis’s blessing. Without you capturing this old man alive back then, who knows if this old man would be alive or dead now, much less have the blessing of sons filling the hall.”
Huang Shu was truly old. In the past, he never spoke such soft words. Now lacking confidence, he constantly worried the academy wouldn’t want him.
“Old Huang, do you know the academy has a rule? That is, the first batch of people to enter the academy are lifetime professors at the academy. That means as long as you haven’t kicked the bucket, no one can drive you out of the academy.”
“Marquis, is this truly so?”
“Naturally it’s so. Do you think after working diligently at the academy for a lifetime, in the end you’d be kicked out? The academy has no such rule. How much of the academy’s money has Master Zhao Yanling spent? I was so angry I jumped with rage, yet still there’s nothing I can do about him, right?”
Huang Shu smiled awkwardly: “Master Zhao is a great scholar. This old man can’t really compare with him.”
“Do you know he’s a professor and you’re an instructor? Just a one-character difference—what can’t be compared? You just have an inferiority complex. You could completely go before people and show off openly and grandly. Are there many academy instructors?”
After Yun Ye spoke a few words with Huang Shu, Ying Niang brought over a jar of already heated fermented glutinous rice wine, along with several kinds of pastries. These were all things Yun Ye loved to eat. Finally, she also wrapped a very large piece of sauced donkey meat in lotus leaves—best eaten torn by hand.
The Yun family’s bamboo raft didn’t need students to pole it. Xiao Miao and her Western Region maidservants could pole the raft very fast. The Iris sisters had married—married to Hypatia’s household steward and guard leader. Xiao Miao most liked using Western Region people, so Xinyue picked two more for her.
Xiao Miao had grown up on water since childhood. Poling a bamboo raft posed not the slightest difficulty for her. Not like the embarrassment of Xinyue and her servants back in those days.
Seeing her husband smile at her, Xinyue immediately understood this was mocking her appearance back then when she held her maidservant and screamed. She said irritably: “You did that on purpose back then. Xiao Qiu was a maidservant who grew up in Chang’an—how would she know how to pole a raft?”
Xiao Miao giggled. The bamboo pole lightly touched a rock once, and the bamboo raft shot like an arrow into Dongyang River. Na Rimu almost fell into the river from carelessness. Angrily, she pounded Xiao Miao’s back twice before feeling better. Lingdang was always that careful appearance, sitting in the middle of the raft, slowly tearing sauced donkey meat and feeding it into Yun Ye’s mouth.
Lying on the bamboo raft, looking at the green mountains on both banks, he also became lively. Using a reed tube to sip ice-cold grape wine was absolutely a good enjoyment. Moreover, Yun Ye had crazily added lots of sugar frost to the grape wine, so drinking it was sweet. Xinyue and Na Rimu constantly came over to steal a sip. Lingdang just couldn’t drink alcohol—after drinking two or three sips, both her cheeks became red as apples. Xiao Miao, seeing the four of them leisurely drinking wine there while she did hard labor, handed the bamboo pole to a maidservant and also squeezed over. Taking advantage of her young age, she snuggled in Yun Ye’s embrace and openly drank wine.
The bamboo raft was completely exposed. At first Yun Ye was still a bit embarrassed, but very quickly he discovered he was really overthinking. The Yun family’s raft was far from the only one on Dongyang River. The ten-li gallery on Dongyang River had already become one of the famous sights among Chang’an’s eight scenic spots, on par with the drooping willows of Ba Bridge, so there were very many people poling rafts.
A bamboo raft with a canopy slowly passed by. The lewd voices and language inside seemed completely unmasked. Through the bamboo curtain, one could even see the man and woman engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
“Ptui!” Xinyue spat hatefully and immediately turned to say to Yun Ye: “Husband, look at what these beasts have degraded Dongyang River into. This is a place of literary elegance and treasured land. In the future, don’t allow those beasts to come cruise the river.”
“This can’t be easily prohibited. Perhaps on that bamboo raft is a prince or duke-level figure. Once prohibited, people will curse us to death. Just pretend we didn’t see it. This is the first time I’ve discovered the Great Tang has become like this.”
“You just don’t go out. Once you go out and go to the West Market, you can still see completely naked Hu girls at doorways soliciting wine customers. Some Hu girls have a circle of bells tied around their waists, twisting their waists like twisted dough—very good-looking.”
Just as Na Rimu’s words left her mouth, she saw Xinyue’s eyes already glaring. She quickly ran behind Yun Ye and stuck out her head saying: “I also just heard from the maidservants.”
“Which maidservant? Tell me—when we return, I’ll skin her. Good daughters of proper families now are all shameless, corrupting social morals. The Great Tang is made murky and miasmic by these demonesses.”
“Stop putting on airs as the household’s main wife here. This is coming out to play. Sit properly and don’t fight. Our family only has five. If it were like Liu Hongji’s family, you wouldn’t want to live anymore.”
Xinyue pursed her lips and said: “Our family’s four are harder to manage than their four hundred. Look at Madam Liu—after the old duke died, how did she deal with those wives and concubines? Over a hundred were sold to brothels. Even face wasn’t spared. Those with children were also just given a few mu of land and dismissed.”
“For our family’s few, if I dared to deal with even one, wouldn’t you jump in the river? So, normally teaching them a lesson several times has only benefits, no drawbacks.”
Na Rimu, seeing Xinyue’s expression wasn’t kind, quickly worked hard to help massage her husband’s back. Xinyue raised her hand several times but slowly put it down. Xiao Miao had a shallow alcohol tolerance. Today’s grape wine had sugar frost added—unknowingly she got drunk, chuckling foolishly wanting to dance for Yun Ye to see. Yun Ye reached out to pull Xiao Miao over, placed her on his knee, and before long this silly woman fell asleep.
Sitting cross-legged on the bamboo raft, surrounded by wives and concubines, the bamboo raft freely drifting on the water surface—the ten-li gallery had already passed more than half. The mountain势 became abrupt. Originally here there were two corresponding green mountains. Now only one remained. Another stood there with grotesque rocks. Seeing that mountain, Yun Ye’s heart involuntarily began to ache. Under this mountain were buried over eight hundred innocent wronged souls.
“The rolling Yangtze’s eastward flowing water, waves washing away heroes, right and wrong, success and failure turn to emptiness, green mountains still remain, how many times the setting sun red. White-haired fishermen and woodcutters on river banks, accustomed to watching autumn moon and spring wind, a pot of turbid wine, happy reunion, how many affairs of past and present, all delivered to laughter and conversation!”
His heart unbearably sour, he couldn’t help singing out this poem by Yang Shen. Though very unsuited to the scene, cheers rose in succession from across the river surface.
“Beautiful women grow old, generals’ hair turns white. Marquis Yun is now at the height of triumph—why emit such a sorrowful cry?” Zhangsun Chong stood on another bamboo raft and called out loudly.
Yun Ye discovered he truly had nothing to say to this person. Sighing, he picked up the bamboo pole and poled the bamboo raft farther from Zhangsun Chong. Since the world already had a new pattern, if nothing else, don’t play that disgusting drama of rekindling old feelings.
Seeing Yun Ye ignore him, Zhangsun Chong also felt somewhat dejected. Returning to the cabin, he roughly grabbed a songstress and viciously bit her shoulder. Blood flowed down the beauty’s fair collarbone. That beauty didn’t dare make a sound.
Drinking soup and seeing a dead rat, eating vegetables and seeing half a maggot—this was Yun Ye’s mood at this moment. Precisely because he so cherished past feelings, he now hated Zhangsun Chong all the more.
The mood for cruising the river was gone. Halfway through, they went ashore. The Yun family’s carriage lightly drove over from the roadside. The family of five got into the carriage. The coachman gently shook the reins, and the carriage galloped along the small path by the roadside toward the small building hidden in green trees. Not going home today—staying at the villa.
Gongshu Mu still stubbornly lived on. Ten years ago, people said the old fellow wouldn’t live past a year. Ten years later, everyone still said the same. Seeing him half-alive lying in the sun to sunbathe, Yun Ye got down from the carriage. No matter what, he had to go over and pay his respects.
Drawing near, he discovered how extravagant the old fellow was. Others’ extravagance was hanging gold, pearls, and treasures on their bodies. The reclining chair this old fellow sat in was worth enormous sums—rosewood!
“I remember last time I asked you to make a set of furniture for the family and gave you a whole cartload of lumber. When the furniture was pulled home, I always felt something was wrong. Turns out the problem was here with you.”
The old fellow opened his eyes a crack, glanced at Yun Ye, and mumbled: “This old man is just a head carpenter. Lumber that can be saved should never be wasted. Using a few scraps of broken lumber to piece together a chair—you can even notice that. Too stingy. Xinyue, what’s in the food box? Take it out and let this old man eat a couple bites. The family has run out of food.”
Xinyue smiled as she placed the food items one by one on the old man’s table. Yun Ye said irritably: “Sell this table—it’s enough for your whole family to eat for three years.”
“Kid, tired? If you’re tired, rest and recuperate. All day drilling into mud pits—where’s a single good person? Rest, rest. Stop tormenting yourself…”