Chapter 42: Encountering Bureaucracy
Li Er lay on a soft couch, moaning in pain, while Changsun stood beside him, anxiously pacing back and forth. The imperial doctor with the white beard touched Li Er’s wrist and couldn’t figure it out. In desperation, Changsun dismissed the imperial doctor and sat down, gently pressing Li Er’s temples with his hands.
“I want to eat locusts. What do you think, Consort Guanyin?” Li Er asked the empress.
“Your Majesty, how could you eat such a dirty thing?” Changsun hesitated.
Li Er rolled over and got up, walking around barefoot without his shoes. Chang Sun chased after him with his shoes. After finally putting the shoes on the emperor, he saw him looking at himself with a wry smile: “Guanyin maid, I’m afraid I can’t escape eating locusts. I hope Yun Ye can make the locusts taste better.”
“It was Yun Ye who persuaded His Majesty to eat locusts? He deserves to die!” Changsun was furious. He was worthy of being the head of the six palaces. The palace maids and eunuchs serving in the hall did not dare to breathe.
After the maids and eunuchs serving in the hall had left, he took the queen’s hand and said, “You misunderstood. No one can force me to do anything I don’t want to do. Don’t you know me yet?”
“That’s why I’m surprised. You only went to the Yun residence once, and you came back complaining of a headache?”
“Hmph, headache? You’ll have a headache too after listening to what I have to say. That kid is a scourge. I let him eat locusts to make a name for himself, and he made a lot of money. The strange thing is that I wasn’t angry at all, but rather excited.” Li Er spoke with some enthusiasm about these things.
Empress Consort Changsun was completely confused.
“The locust plague in June this year is inevitable. The Bureau of Astronomy and Earth Sciences said that this winter will not be cold, and there were only two snowfalls. The heavy snow did not kill the locust eggs in the fields, and after the warm spring, they will surely multiply. Master Yun Ye’s words are credible. I am not afraid of the locust plague, I am afraid that someone will use the locust plague as an excuse to attack me. Others dare not say it, but you should know that I just woke up from that nightmare and I don’t want to go back in. I was ready to kill, but I just wanted to ask Yun Ye about the matter. I didn’t expect to get an answer that I never dreamed of: eat locusts!” Li Er laughed and clapped his hands in admiration.
Seeing that the empress was even more confused, he was even more pleased.
“Yun Ye said that locusts are delicious, and he wanted me to mobilize the army and the people to catch locusts in large numbers, and then sell them to him for five jin for one coin. In the end, I finally persuaded this kid to raise the price to three jin for one coin.” Li Er was very pleased with his business acumen.
“Your Majesty, how can he eat so many locusts by himself?”
“Of course, the little fellow wanted to dry and grind the locusts into powder, turning them into a precious medicinal herb. I went to ask Sun Simiao about it, and he said that locust powder is indeed a good medicine. Oh, by the way, haven’t you always had asthma? This is the right medicine for it. My wind disease also needs it for treatment.”
“I need to eat locusts too?” The empress looked a little uncomfortable.
“Haha, if I can turn a disaster from heaven into a food ingredient, what’s wrong with me eating locusts? What’s wrong with turning my biggest crisis into a joke without using weapons? What’s wrong with letting Yun Ye make some money? The faces of those powerful families in Shandong will be so wonderful when the locusts arrive. I can’t wait to see it now. Hahaha…”
After listening to the whole story, the emperor couldn’t help but smile.
Yun Ye was very annoyed. The head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Huangfu Wuyi, refused to leave the house. The old man kept saying that he had come to visit the handsome young man who had just become the new Lord of Lantian. But it had been two hours since they met, and the old man still had no intention of leaving after drinking tea three times.
It was getting late, so he had no choice but to invite the old man to dinner. But when the old man started to eat, he burst into tears and kept saying that he had eaten delicious food today, but the farmers in the world did not have enough to eat for three meals.
If you want to die, go out the door and don’t hit me with your arm. If you’re so capable, go hit the stone lion outside the door and you’ll be dead in no time. Yun Ye hoped that the old man would die, but he comforted him.
It’s all about profit. Old Cheng and Old Niu made a scene at the Ministry of War, saying that the Ministry of War was worthless. The Ministry of War didn’t dare to retort. The other party had evidence in their hands. The chief architect glanced at the drawings and bowed his head to accept the criticism. Old Cheng and Old Niu had gained the upper hand. They had bragged at the Ministry of War for a day, and finally left satisfied after the chief architect bowed to them.
The Ministry of Agriculture heard the news and was naturally unable to sit still when it learned that there were strange and ingenious farm tools. The old guy Huangfu Wuyi learned that it was Yun Ye who drew the plans, but he was too embarrassed to ask for them. After all, this was someone else’s unique craftsmanship, and it was not natural to ask for them for no reason. Only by letting him offer them himself would it appear that the Ministry of Agriculture was the answer to everyone’s expectations.
The face of the government department! The old man would rather lose face in front of a junior and pretend to be crazy and foolish than lower the noble head of the government department.
There was no cure. Yun Ye was defeated. He was not a match for the old bureaucrat after all. He had not been educated to deal with such situations.
“Please sit down, sir. I just remembered that I have a painting of Han Lu at home. I’ll bring it to you.”
“I’ll go with you, and we can discuss your masterpiece.”
Hearing that Yun Ye had promised to give him a drawing, the old man immediately lost his sadness and followed Yun Ye to the study. After praising the wall’s drawing of the equipment of the imperial court, the old man carefully looked at the drawing Yun Ye had brought out. I don’t know if I understood it or not. It is estimated that I did not understand it. Yun Ye’s drawings are not outstanding. After all, the three-dimensional view of the future generation needs a certain mathematical foundation to understand it. It is strange that the old man can understand the poems of Confucius that he has read for a lifetime.
He rolled it up and put it in his sleeve. The old man was full of energy and said that just now, he had just started to enjoy the wine from the Yun family, but was interrupted by Yun Ye with some trivial matters. He said that since Yun Hou had offered the family heirloom map, the Ministry of Agriculture would give a certain reward. Since he had just drunk the Yun family’s fine wine, he was a little greedy, so he generously rewarded the Yun family with 15 copper coins, which was the highest reward amount for craftsmen in the imperial court.
The old man burped, tucked the Hanlou’s drawings in his sleeve, and held two jars of Yunfu’s fine wine under his arm, swaying away.
Grandma Yun Ye used her hand to stroke his chest to calm him down, but she dared not make her grandson angry. It took Yun Ye half a day to recover, and he and his grandmother returned to the living room, where the smell of wine had not yet dissipated and the leftovers on the table had not been cleaned up. Yun Ye picked up a piece of slightly intact pig liver and put it in his mouth to chew. As he chewed, he suddenly threw the chopsticks far away and asked his grandmother, “Tell me, does our family lack 15 guan of money?”
“No, no, just pretend that the old bastard is farting and drink some water to calm down.” The old woman said along with her grandson.
After drinking a big gulp of water, the two sat facing each other for a long time.
Grandma urged Yun Ye to go to bed. Yun Ye stood up and took a big gulp of water and said to his grandmother, “I’m still angry…”