Chapter 10: The simple things

It was still dark, but Ah Shou, the Yun family’s caretaker, opened the side gate with his mouth agape and yawning. He was about to go back to the house when he saw a man in a scholar’s robe curled up outside the porch, sound asleep. He knew that the students at the academy were all important people, so he didn’t dare disturb them. He ran into the house to report to the housekeeper, Qian Tong.

Qian Tong came out and saw that it was the second young master of the Meng family. He hurriedly woke Meng different. He found that his clothes were covered in mud, he was missing a shoe, and his hair was messy. He thought he had been robbed by bandits and asked, “Young master Meng, what happened to you? Did you get robbed? Do you want me to report to the police?”

Meng did not recognize him until he looked at him for a long time with his eyes open: “Qian, don’t call the police. I’m just walking on the road at night. Get me some clean clothes and some food. I’ve been hungry all night.”

When Yun Ye saw Meng, he was holding a large bowl of noodles and shoveling it into his mouth. He finished the bowl and wiped his mouth, then said to Yun Ye with a heroic air, “Ye Zi, I have no way out, so I have come to you. For the sake of our brotherhood, please take me in.” After he finished, he bowed with his fists clasped, looking exactly like a wandering knight.

“Who’s daughter did you ruin? Couldn’t even your father protect you? Could it be the daughter of the Lord of the Manor?”

Meng Dongbo shook his head.

“Could it be the prince’s family? You’re so bold.”

Meng Dongbu still shook his head.

“Oh my god, did you rape the princess?”

“What nonsense! I only think about it, I wouldn’t dare to do it. Do I want to die?”

“So you were raped? Are you ashamed to show your face?”

“You…”

Under Meng’s blood-soaked accusation, a tyrannical father who is unreasonable, seriously biased, and completely ignorant of the thoughts of a teenager appeared in Yun Ye’s mind. He expressed his determination to sever all ties with his feudal, decadent, and stagnant old family.

“Then you studied hard at the academy and finally graduated. Just as the court was in need of people, you resolutely accepted the most difficult and dangerous task. After overcoming countless difficulties and dangers, you finally exceeded the task. During this period, there may be some romantic encounters with talented people and beautiful women. In the end, you returned to Chang’an in triumph, your father beat his chest in regret, your mother hugged you and wept, saying that you had finally made it, and you laughed three times in the sky, releasing all your pent-up frustration at once?”

Meng Different asked with his mouth wide open: “How do you know what I’m thinking?”

Yun Ye slapped Meng different on the head: “I’ll beat you to death, you unfaithful bastard. Your father has worked hard to earn military merit for the future of the whole family, and there are probably not many good pieces of skin on his body. Your older brother has not returned to Chang’an for two years to study in Shandong, and he only returned home to worship his ancestors during the Qingming Festival. Only you, the little brat, are idle all day long. How can your father trust the lives of the whole family in your hands? How would your parents feel if you ran away from home for such a trivial matter? How could I, the headmaster of Yushan Academy, have taught such a heartless bastard? Have I not been good to you? If not, how could you have grown up so fat and healthy?

Yun Ye’s few words left Meng different speechless, covering his face and crying.

“What are you crying about? Where’s your ambition? It’s gone just because you were scolded? I was hoping you would do great things in the future.”

“But what you just said is right. My father is covered in scars, and my eldest brother is still single at twenty. He wants to make the family proud. He is much better than me. He should go to school. But I don’t want to. Ye Zi, I don’t want to. I like to stay in the academy.

“Who said you had to leave the academy? Do you think your father is in charge of the academy? Do you think anyone can go to the academy if they want to? What do you think of Yushan Academy?”

“You just said that my brother should go to school.” Meng was a little aggrieved.

“Next year, there will be another selection of students after the exam. There will be about 50 students each year. Students can only stay in the academy for four years, so they have to find their own way out. I think they will all enter the civil service. It’s strange that the emperor would let these well-trained students go.”

“You can go home after a good night’s sleep. Tell your father that you spent the night whoring or gambling, but don’t say that you went back to the academy. Don’t make him sad. As for you coming back tomorrow, your father has teachers to deal with it, so there’s no need for you to be troubled. A stupid person, a simple matter is made bloody and heartbreaking by you.”

Just as Meng was sent to bed, something happened in the backyard.

The little auntie was sitting on the ground crying her heart out, and her voice was so loud that the whole family came to see what was going on.

Yun Ye’s forehead veins were throbbing. He had just finished fixing one, but now another one had popped up. How could he get any rest?

Holding her aunt and comforting her, “Who bullied you? Tell your nephew, I’ll skin him.”

Auntie was crying and out of breath, pointing at the house. Yun Ye kicked open the door. It was strange. There was no one in the house. This was the room where the little auntie raised silkworms. There was only the rustling sound of silkworms biting mulberry leaves in the whole room. There was no one, not even a ghost.

Looking at her aunt in puzzlement, Grandma entered the room and gave her a slap on the back. “It’s just a few baskets of silkworms. What’s the big deal if they’re ruined? It’s not like they were raised as if they were precious. Who told you to howl in the yard?”

“The silkworms are biting mulberry leaves, why are they wasted?” Yun Ye was a little strange, stopping her grandmother from beating her aunt. Northerners had never seen silkworms before.

“Ye, where do you know about women’s things? Sometimes the silkworms become green silkworms when they are raised, and some become red silkworms. Grandma heard that there are also yellow silkworms. The silk they spit out will be green, red, and yellow. The colors are not right, and the silk is useless and no one will accept it. If a farmer encounters such a thing, it is a disaster. Your aunt didn’t turn around for a while, and our family has long since stopped relying on a few baskets of silkworms to make a living. You get out of the way, Grandma is going to beat her up.

Yun Ye suddenly smiled. The elders in the family turned out to be people who couldn’t stay idle. Even though they were now rich and prosperous, they couldn’t escape the knowledge of small households. This was the case with the little aunt. Seeing her silkworms turned into waste, she was used to feeling sad and thought that the family was going to starve. Of course, she cried so loudly that it was shocking. If it were a small household, it would naturally not be strange. The fact that this happened in the noble house was really laughable.

Auntie hid behind Yun Ye and didn’t show her face, and she stopped crying. Presumably, she had now come to her senses. Her monthly allowance was worth dozens of baskets of silkworms, so there was really no need to be sad about those useless silkworms.

“Actually, this is a great thing. It is the heavens that have allowed the Yun family to become rich. If you don’t take this treasure that has come to you, the heavens will not be happy.” Yun Ye’s heart stirred and he said, ”

Hearing her grandson say this, Grandma couldn’t help but go to fight her aunt. She hurriedly chased away the maids and servants around her, dragged Yun Ye into the house, and shouted at her aunt to let her come in.

“Ye, what do you mean by that? You’re smart and quick-witted. You should talk to your useless aunt so that she doesn’t embarrass you at home again.” After saying that, she grabbed her aunt’s arm without her noticing. Yun Ye couldn’t control the family affairs, and could only watch helplessly as domestic violence ran rampant under his nose.

“The silkworms have turned green, which means that the silkworms themselves have changed. The color of the silk is not right, which means that the silkworms have not changed completely. Auntie continued to raise these silkworms, let them spin silk and make cocoons, find the silkworms with the most perfect color, let them lay eggs, raise them again in the fall, and then pick them. If you do this generation after generation, you will always get pure green, and I don’t believe that this kind of silk won’t sell for a good price.”

Auntie’s eyes were like coins, and Grandma couldn’t stop smiling. She never doubted her grandson’s ability. If he said it would work, it would.

“Auntie, you can buy other people’s waste silkworms from everywhere, such as red, yellow, and other colors. It’s best to get all seven colors, and maybe in the future, you won’t have to dye satin or brocade. If this isn’t a treasure, what else is?”

Grandma kissed Yun Ye’s face excitedly, and Auntie also jumped around excitedly on the ground.

“My grandson is the Yun family’s greatest treasure!”