Chapter 24: The Lord’s Hard Times

Niu Jianhu was very happy. Although he walked with a limp like a big monkey, it still couldn’t stop his interest in walking. Old Niu, Mrs. Niu, tears flowed like a waterfall. This was the first time in five years that her son had stood up on his own. It was also at this time that Old Niu discovered that Niu Jianhu had grown a lot taller, even taller than himself. Mrs. Niu stood on her tiptoes and wiped the sweat on her son’s forehead with a handkerchief, laughing and crying, and falling into a frenzy.

The old butler held onto the second prosthetic leg that Yun Ye had made and refused to let go. Yun Ye had to fight for it for a long time before he could get it back. He shouted at Niu Jianhu, who was running around the courtyard like a madman: “Niu Jianhu, don’t get too excited. Try this leg again and let me know if there’s anything wrong with it so I can fix it.”

“It fits, it fits, I can walk now, there’s nothing wrong with it.” Niu Jianhu didn’t want to leave the fake leg for a moment. People always learn to cherish things after losing them. He had been sitting on the couch for five years, never going out or seeing people. At this moment, his mood was relaxed, and he couldn’t wait to run from Chang’an to Luoyang.

“Nonsense. If it fit, you wouldn’t be limping. Obviously, the prosthetic leg is too high. Take it off and I’ll fix it.”

The soft plastic made from beef tendon is full of elasticity, especially when combined with a light yellow dye, it is not much different from a real foot. Without the high-hardness plastic, Yun Ye embedded thin steel plates as the skeleton, all of which are high-quality tempered soft steel. If there is no accident, it will not be a problem to use it for the next ten years. Especially the carved foot looks very similar to Niu Jianhu’s right foot. This is the craftsmanship of the old sculptor of Boyixuan, who Yun Ye regards as a god, and who wanted to keep him in the Yun family but was ignored.

The replacement foot was much better. Yun Ye asked Niu Jianhu to hold onto the door frame and let his body hang down naturally. He checked the installed foot and was relieved to see that it was consistent. Considering that the weight of the two feet must be the same, a counterweight was added to the prosthetic foot. Niu Jianhu took a few steps, and the jolting of his body was reduced a lot. All that was left was familiarity. The more familiar he became, the more his body would naturally adjust its center of gravity, and he would be no different from an ordinary person in the future.

“That’s the way it is. I’m used to it.” Old Cheng said something sarcastic without thinking, which immediately dispelled Yun Ye’s desire to continue bragging.

“You old dog, you don’t say anything good, and little Ye has been working tirelessly to help the tiger. I’ve been watching with a heavy heart. If you don’t praise him a little, you’re going to say something strange. Are you saying that my old ox steel blade is not good enough?” Old Niu first quit, glaring at Lao Cheng with his mustache.

“Do you like this child? If it weren’t for him, the Yun family would have only one remaining child, and I would have adopted him as my son long ago. I haven’t yet settled the score with you for pinching him twice before, and now you dare to talk big to me? Right now, you can choose your horse and weapon. Today, we’re in the mood for a good fight.” He then told his servant to lead the horse and carry the weapon.

Old Cheng was very happy, and Old Niu was happy and wanted to shout. The most common way for generals to vent their emotions is to fight. Who dares to expect them to have a civilized way to vent their emotions?

Ignoring the two madmen fighting in the martial arts arena, Auntie Niu and Auntie Cheng took Yun Ye to the warm room, which was exactly the same as the Yun family’s big bed. The Niu family had learned long ago that a table full of food would make Yun Ye drool. Fresh spinach and juicy cucumbers were to die for, and there was even half a watermelon. Yun Ye didn’t care about meat, and he broke a half-length cucumber and put it in his mouth to chew. He didn’t forget to give half of it to Cheng Chumo next to him while eating. As for Niu Jianhu, he had already rushed to the courtyard to practice walking.

“Your uncle Cheng knows you like to eat, so he went to the palace to get you some, which made His Majesty very unhappy.” Aunt Cheng was serving Yun Ye while scolding Cheng Chumo. Aunt Niu was busy taking Yun Ye’s coat off and said, “Look at how greedy this child is. He can’t even see green vegetables in the middle of winter. What a suffering!”

“Xiao Ye, what did you eat in winter when you were with your master?” Cheng Chumo grabbed another cucumber.

“There were so many, all kinds of fruits and vegetables, oranges, watermelons, bananas, pineapples, grapes, apples, pears, and something called ginseng fruit, which was so bad that I threw it away and was caught. I was punished to eat it all, even the skin. There were all kinds of vegetables, including chili peppers, eggplants, what you call Kunlun zuicai, rape, cabbage, and so on. There were so many that I couldn’t count them all. There were all kinds of things that flew in the sky, ran on the ground, and swam in the water.

Yun Ye missed the ordinary life of the later generations too much. In the Tang Dynasty, the high-ranking officials who were equivalent to provincial and ministerial-level officials did not feel as free as the ordinary citizens of the later generations. Although it was a bit embarrassing to take the blame for his son’s eating the ginseng fruit, who knew?

“Isn’t this the life of a fairy? Xiao Ye, you’ve made a big mistake by entering the world.”

“If you’re not my brother, you’re a good person. I even dreamed of the days I spent with my master last night. But then again, a real man should be able to make his way in the world with nothing but his bare ass. Without these things, we’ll have to make them ourselves. We’ll start with food. When spring comes, we’ll build a few kilns, make bricks and cement, build a big greenhouse, and then build a flue underneath to heat up the ground. I don’t believe we won’t be able to grow a few kinds of vegetables in winter, and we’ll be able to sell them all over Chang’an. Yun Ye spoke off the cuff.

“I’ll do it. You arrange it. I’ll go and get Jian Hu. This is a profitable business!” Cheng Chumo had already begun to fantasize about the mountains full of green vegetables. The two aunts saw the two brothers blowing hotly, and joked on the side, saying that they would definitely personally carry a basket of vegetables to the major government houses to buy vegetables.

“Lord Yun has given General Niu’s son a new leg. I heard that after the operation, the young lord, who had been bedridden for five years, ran so fast that I didn’t know what kind of leg it was. Could it be the legendary flying leg? It can travel a thousand miles a day and eight hundred miles at night, walk across rivers and lakes as if on flat ground, and climb mountains and cross city walls like a piece of cake.”

Hearing the rumors from the market that Li Chengqian reported, Li Er’s eyes almost popped out. Can a horse run that fast? And cross a city and a fortress? Bullshit, could it be that Yun Ye gave Niu Jianhu not a leg, but a pair of wings?

“Qian’er, do you believe that Yun Ye really gave Niu Jianhu a leg?” Li Er asked his son, who was becoming more and more like a prince.

“Your Majesty, from what I know of Yun Ye, I’m afraid it’s true that he gave Niu Jianhu a pair of legs, but it’s definitely not a joke about traveling a thousand miles a day. There must be something fishy about it, and I’m too stupid to understand why.” Li Chengqian answered seriously.

“I’m glad you think so. My son doesn’t believe in the supernatural. Yun Hou may be a very smart person who has some special methods to make the disabled as normal as others. But the world is ignorant, and when they can’t find an answer, they make wild guesses and imagine a fairy-like character out of thin air.”