Chapter 45: Confusion in the midst of chaos

The sound of mahjong in Chang’an has never stopped since its birth. From the royal family to the commoners, this simple and fun game has spread in less than a month. Wei Zheng anxiously submitted a report saying that since the appearance of mahjong, it has not only corrupted the people’s morals, but also corrupted the people’s morals. Yun Ye raised his hands and feet in favor. His recent mahjong games have been getting worse and worse. Li Yuan’s level has improved by leaps and bounds. The gold he won the other day has gone back to its original owner, and he has also stolen a lot of his own. Li Yuan has been laughing happily lately, and from time to time he asks others, “Where is Xiao Ye? Why have you been avoiding me these two days? If you see me, tell me. The seven taels of gold you owe me is due, hahaha.”

It’s fine to lose money playing mahjong with Li Yuan, but the Yun family can afford to lose. Playing mahjong with Li Er is no fun. The three of them plus Yun Ye sit quietly at the table, playing mahjong. No one speaks, and the tiles must be carefully placed and neatly arranged. If you don’t know, you’ll think you’ve arrived in the realm of ghosts. If you change a good tile, Li Er will hum in satisfaction, making Yun Ye want to flip the table.

Playing mahjong with Li Er is just a little bit uncomfortable. Playing mahjong with Lao Cheng, Lao Niu, and Lao Sha is the best way to wear armor and throw away your helmet. You are in danger at any time. The tiles fly around the table, mixed with the curses of the mother and father. Yun Ye wants to cover his ears but dares not. His ears are also used to hear the wind. No, a tile flew towards his forehead. He skillfully reached out and grabbed it, put it on the table, and it was a good tile! Six tiles, it’s over.

Grandma Yun became more and more kind, and whenever she had time, she would raise the salaries of the servants and maids in the family, making the whole family excited. Especially the six carpenters hired by the family, who worked day and night.

“These are three sets for the Chai family, two sets for the Fan family, and two sets for the Liu family. Our mahjong sets won’t last much longer. I heard that Boyi Xuan already has jade sets. Ye, you have to do something. We can’t let these outsiders take advantage of our methods. Is there still any law?”

The law? The major shareholder of Bo Yixuan is the Queen Mother, and the law belongs to her family. If you dare to mention the law in front of her, you will be arrested and paraded on Zhuque Street.

“Grandma, this was always a one-time deal. We’ll sell as many as we can. Now the court has officials who don’t like mahjong. They say it’s bad for the culture. The Yun family shouldn’t be in the middle of it. It’s good that the Bo Yixuan is stepping up to take the blame for us.” Yun Ye still needs to explain some things to his family. Grandma came from a small family, so she’s bound to have a narrow view.

“I dare not say that we sell, we give away. Trading is something that merchants do, and we don’t touch that.” Grandma can’t forget the fact that she is now a noblewoman. She has long looked down on the Yun family in the early years, and she chatters incessantly on Grandpa’s tablet. Sometimes she can talk until the middle of the night. If Grandpa were alive now, he would rather be dead than alive. Now she knows how to sell dog meat under the guise of selling lamb. Is this also a compulsory course for nobles to enter?

The family hired an elderly teacher, and the younger sisters were all taking lessons. Now they were learning the “Hundred Family Surnames,” reciting the surnames Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li, Zhou, Wu, Zheng, and Wang, their voices several hundred years ahead of schedule. Li Chengqian also asked why the surname Li was not listed first, which would be a sign of disrespect.

Yun Ye replied, “Your family has only been in power for a few years. The book was written 20 years ago, according to the teacher. Besides, the first sound of the surname Li is not enough to make you arrogant. What are you complaining about? The world is big. Do you think your family can take advantage of everything in the world?

Auntie took Yun Ye’s fur coat and replaced all the clothes on his body with a jacket. In the beautiful and sunny weather of Chang’an in February, birds began to sing in front of the window every morning. There were fewer pedestrians on the street, and every household was busy preparing for spring plowing. Qian went to the village early in the morning, and Lao Zhuang also returned to his fiefdom with six escorts in advance to deal with security matters. Everyone was busy, except Yun Ye has nothing to do. Li Chengqian said that he is ready to take over the government, so he is using the Ke Wu Academy as a training ground. The Ke Wu Academy is currently in the construction period, and everything is complicated. He has to deal with all kinds of people, deal with all kinds of strange things, and pay attention to the progress of transcribing various materials. The most important thing is to do the most with the least amount of money, which requires a keen eye and skilled communication skills. It is estimated that Li Chengqian will cry in a few days.

In the winter, Wangcai grew a lot, with a long neck, strong limbs, and brown hair that grew in the winter and was as smooth as satin. The coachman said that Wangcai had grown six milk teeth and could ride short distances. If the marquis wanted to try it, he would put Wangcai in harness.

He spoke a bit slurred, and when he saw the marquis looking at his mouth, he laughed and said, “The other day, I was giving Wangcai a hoof trim, but I couldn’t bear to tie him to the rack, so I let him stand and used a knife to trim the old hoofs.

The groom was very dedicated, and threw him a small silver coin to let him go to the doctor to see if there was a way to put the false teeth on, and I don’t know if there is.

Wangcai didn’t need a bridle, and Yun Ye didn’t want to tie him up with a rope. The two of them walked out of Yun’s house leisurely, and Liu Jinbao hurried to catch up with them amid his grandmother’s scolding. After they left the market, Wangcai took the lead and walked in front, occasionally using his mouth to hold Yun Ye’s cuffs as if he was complaining that Yun Ye was walking too slowly. He was almost like a spirit.

Wangcai is still very popular in the market. The shopkeeper sees Wangcai turn around and run back to the shop. A bowl of warm thick wine with the aroma of osmanthus arrives at Wangcai’s mouth. He enjoys sniffing it, letting the wine fill his nasal cavity, intoxicated for a while, and then suddenly planting his long mouth into The pot is like a water pump, and in an instant, a pot of thick wine disappears without a trace. The waiter takes a rag from his shoulder to serve Master Wangcai and wipe his mouth, then takes out ten coins from the money bag under Wangcai’s neck and counts them one by one in front of Wangcai, as if he were a real customer in front of him. After counting, he took two more coins from the money bag and said thank you to Wangcai for his reward.

The whole process completely ignored the Lord of Lantian and Liu Jinbao, who were following him. The waiter gave Wangcai a scratch on his stomach as an extra service.

After drinking, Master Wangcai walked a few steps forward and stuck his huge head into a shop with a coarse cloth curtain hanging outside. No one screamed inside, and the customers drank and ate as usual. No one made a fuss, and two of them even greeted each other as if they were acquaintances. The shopkeeper’s wife giggled and put a plate of candies on the table, feeding them to Wangcai one by one, and then took money from her purse.

In later generations, the concept of “treating children and old people fairly” is a joke. Here, not only is there no one who will cheat children and old people, but even the beggar on the street will try to brush Wangcai’s hair and rub his belly before taking two coins from his money bag to buy a bun to eat.

Yun Ye discovered that he had fallen in love with this era of no pollution, an era without contracts, where people were full of trust, and a promise was worth a thousand in gold, literally! He had once set up strict rules that he was proud of, and the people of the Kewu Academy admired the Marquis as if the river were flooding. None of them worried that the strict rules would restrain them, and none of them raised objections to the Marquis. At the time, I thought they were afraid to speak out because of my power, but now it seems that they were laughing at the ignorance of the Lantian Marquis, and that they were making me follow their views on ordinary behavior. Perhaps, possibly, probably, maybe I am the biggest source of pollution in the Great Tang Dynasty, Yun Ye thought involuntarily.

The luxury of the whole winter, the whole winter’s mindless messing around, seemingly successful but actually confused, maneuvering between the dignitaries, going back and forth between the nobles, plagiarizing the essence of future generations without a hint of shame, when did I become such a character? When will I be able to do something with my heart, something truly useful? Do something of my own?

I suddenly found myself in the residence of Song Lian. The old man was eating, rice, dried vegetables, and a bowl of meat.

Watching the old man eat was like watching a textbook on eating. It was elegant, neat, and full of rhythm. After he finished eating the last grain of rice and the last piece of dried vegetable, he put down his chopsticks and told the maid to save the bowl of meat for later that evening.

“Cloud Marshal is here to visit. What can I do for you?” The old man sat upright behind the desk.

“Master Song, I have recently been confused and unable to extricate myself, so I have come to ask Master Song for advice.” Yun Ye did not care about the pain of kneeling, and he endured it in order to ask for advice.

“Your teacher has learned from a great master. What is it that you don’t understand, and why do you need to ask me for advice?”

“Because I’m not in the world, I don’t understand the world. These days, I’m doing things in a chaotic and unorganized way. Although I have the heart, I can’t help but be swept away by the current of the world. I can’t be autonomous. My teacher said that even if I’m trapped in a humble room, I should still follow my heart. I don’t think I’ve ever let my heart be weak, so why can’t I escape from being lost? What is the reason?”

“Great! I thought you would take a long time to realize your true nature, but you have already come to your senses after just a short time in the city. Congratulations.”

“Why should I be happy?”

“Isn’t it worth celebrating that you have a warning bell ringing in your heart, so that you don’t fall into the devil’s path?”

“How did the young man turn back?”

“You have already turned back, so there is no need for me to give you advice.”

“Can you walk the path of virtue?”

“The farther your heart is from the world, the more isolated you will be.”

“The boy is now an adult. Please give him a name.”

“You are talented and knowledgeable, and you are familiar with many schools of thought. Confucius said, ‘A gentleman is not confined to any one role.’ You can use ‘not confined to any one role’ as your character.” Old Song thought about it for a long time before giving him such a character.

“Thank you, young man. From now on, I will be called Yun Ye, Yun Buqi.”

“A gentleman should not be like a vessel, with only one use. He should take on the important task of governing the country and the state. Internally, he can properly handle various government affairs; externally, he can respond to all directions and not dishonor the king’s orders. You are knowledgeable and have many talents, and the name “not a vessel” complements you.”

After saying goodbye to Lao Song, he muttered to himself, “Buji, Yun Buji, what a good name! The character ji means ‘thing,’ so isn’t the full name Yun Buji, which means ‘thing without a ji’?”

“Lao Song, I have no grudges against you, why are you cursing me?”