Chapter 11: Killing four masters with one dish?
Whether or not Auntie can raise colored silkworms is not a problem for Yun Ye to consider. He has seen colored silkworms raised as pets by elementary school students in the future. They are very cute with their colorful patterns. I heard that they need to be fed with pigments, but I don’t know how to feed them. I don’t care. I just want to give Auntie a direction to work towards, so that she won’t be too lonely. If she puts her mind to research, she won’t have time to be sad about the spring and autumn. Family is his greatest wealth. As for how many silkworms will be killed, is this something Yun Ye needs to consider?
He knew that there were not many truly refined people in his family. Born into a small family, he had suffered humiliation for many years. He wanted to be generous, but it was simply impossible. The backgrounds of Xiaonan and Xiaobei were extremely suspicious. As long as his aunt said that they were her children, there would be no problem. It was not a big deal for Yun Ye to raise a few more sisters.
Just as he handled Meng’s different affairs, it was simple, not to complicate things. No matter who it was, no one’s ass would be clean. The ancients said it well! It’s rare to be confused.
Mr. Li Gang is now lovably confused, as if he had forgotten how furious he was when he was teaching Yuchi Baolin. The old Yuchi led Baolin to bow to the thin and weak Li Gang, like two bears saluting a monkey. The smiling old Li tapped the back of Yuchi Baolin’s head with his toes, and Yuchi Baolin also bent down to make it more comfortable for his teacher to tap. While tapping, the old Li said to the old Yuchi, who was grinning next to him, “I just like Baolin’s childish honesty. As long as you put in the effort, it’s not difficult to become a pillar of talent.”
Yuchi Baolin went to the side and carried a huge pig’s hind leg for Lao Li, saying that he saw that the teacher was weak and had gone into the forest to hunt a huge wild boar in the past two days. He specially chose the best part to send to the teacher, hoping that the teacher would replenish his body.
Old Li was so happy that he couldn’t stop smiling, and he told his servant to put it away and let the Yun family pickle it, so that he could drink it with his friends. This scene made the other merchants who were delivering gold and silver calligraphy and paintings next to them look dumbfounded.
“Nonsense! What do you think my Yushan Academy is? You can just replace someone whenever you want? Can you replace my months of hard work with a few coins?” Li Shigong’s scolding came from the other side. Yun Ye apologized to Li Xiaogong, who was just greeting him, and came to Li Shigong’s side. All he heard was the teacher’s loud voice: “You were supposed to choose the children who would come to the academy to study. You sent in any children you wanted, and now that you see that the children have improved, you have dirty thoughts. Is this the way parents should behave?”
They are all important military leaders, and they can’t stand being scolded like this in broad daylight. They are helpless because they are in the wrong. This teacher is good enough to teach the prince and his sons. The emperor calls him “Mr. Lishi” when he sees him. How dare they be rude?
Gao Ying, Gao Jian’s son, was so embarrassed that he was about to leave, but Yun Ye smiled and greeted him: “Why are you so angry, Lord Gao? Is it because the academy didn’t treat you well?”
“Lord Yun, my son has benefited greatly from the academy. In just two months, he has changed so much that it’s amazing. In the past, I couldn’t get him to study at home even with a stick, but now he’s clamoring to come to the academy. At this point, I realized that the academy’s methods of teaching knowledge are indeed unfathomable. I intended to use my eldest son He to replace my unformed younger son at the academy, but I was scolded by Mr. Lishi, so I left.” Gao Ying was still angry.
“Gao Hou, why are you angry? Those old masters are not people we can offend. Even in front of His Majesty, have they ever shown the slightest bit of flattery? Gao Ling has made great progress at the academy. Why not let him continue his studies, but instead replace him with Gao He? What’s wrong with having two sons who are motivated to learn?”
“Don’t make fun of me, Yun Hou. You and I are both new to the big families, and it’s inevitable that our families don’t have enough resources. We don’t have any great moral scholars to teach our younger generations, and we are rejected by the old families when we go to study elsewhere. It’s not easy. Now the best teacher is taken by the young rascal in the family, and the honest eldest son has no way to study. This makes me very worried.”
“You and I both come from families of military officers. Do you think I would let this happen?”
“Oh? What are you planning?”
“There will still be 50 students entering the academy next February. Do you understand, Lord Gao?”
The two smiled at each other and waved goodbye.
Yun Ye was like a fish in water in the crowd. He seemed to be born to be a teacher. After the old masters finished playing the bad guy, they sat in a bullock cart with the boy, the old servant, and most importantly, Yun Ye’s new outdoor barbecue stove, and went to the waterfall to drink. The first batch of chili peppers had been harvested. Yun Ye carefully saved the seeds, dried the red outer skin, pounded it into a powder with a stone mortar, and put it in a small jar for easy access.
Mr. Yushan was from Shu, and thinking that he would like spicy food, he carefully made a spicy chicken dish and invited the teacher to taste it. Unexpectedly, when he delivered it, it was noon, and Mr. Yushan was still explaining to his students the old story of the Sui Dynasty’s invasion of Goguryeo. The students were so excited that they couldn’t come back for a while.
As a result, the three teachers, Li Gang, Yuan Zhang, and Li Shi, ate first. Their own food was not bad, but they sniffed and opened Mr. Yushan’s lunch box. The red chicken nuggets inside the box caused the three to be interested.
Mr. Yushan had been informed by Yun Ye that there was a dish made especially for him today, and it was rich in flavor, but he didn’t know if he was used to it. Yun Ye’s products are always high quality, and the old gentleman might doubt Yun Ye’s knowledge, but he would never doubt his dishes.
He hurriedly calmed down the students who were having a hormonal explosion, came to the dining room, opened the lunch box, and found that the other dishes had not been touched, but the dish with the red seasoning had only leftover scraps that still exuded a strong aroma.
How could this be? The old gentlemen had long since stopped caring about material things. To them, pearls and jade were as worthless as dung. It was rare to find a little fun in Yushan, and that was almost endless food. In order to keep the old gentlemen for a few more years, Yun Ye had even used all his skills. Now someone has stolen his food, which is very disappointing. There is no trace of old brotherly friendship.
The only ones who dared to steal his food in the academy were the three of them. Even Liu Xian, the supervisor sent by the emperor from the palace, did not have the guts.
I don’t know how the four gentlemen reached a settlement agreement, but they all pointed the finger at Yun Ye, saying that the ancients killed three scholars with two peaches, and today Yun Ye killed four scholars with one dish.
Yun Ye could only look up at the sky in silence. In the past, in the capital, he had encountered nothing but bandits and robbers. They beat him, scolded him, and kicked him when he was in pain. He thought that he had escaped from the capital and was out of danger, but who knew that he had just escaped from the tiger’s mouth and entered the wolf’s den.
This kind of slander is even more serious than the consequences of being beaten. Chilies are not suitable for the elderly to eat in large quantities. After a few words of reasoning, I was speechless by the four old gentlemen, and I also used the puffer fish to argue. Since there are people who eat puffer fish to death, why can’t there be people who eat chili peppers to death? Old man and others have long passed the age of 60. Even if they die from eating, it will be a beautiful story that can be passed down for thousands of years.
In the future, when the names of the old men are mentioned in history books, it will be said that they died of gluttony. Compared to those who die of illness or die on their sickbeds, this is a thousand times better. Isn’t it a pleasure to die this way?
They can’t die yet, but Yun Ye feels like he’s dying.
Liu Xian, who came from the palace and liked to suck blood, looked at Yun Ye with pity. His lips were pale and his hands and feet were shaking. He was very worried that he would faint.
Life must go on. Yun Ye used the excuse that he would be recruiting fifty students the following year to send away the various bigwigs who were eager to send their children to the academy.
Meng and Gao Ling, who had almost been replaced, were also kept. They seemed to have grown up a lot overnight.
The new curriculum began. The academy became less impetuous and more composed. Through this turmoil of personnel changes, the young masters gained a clearer understanding of the importance of the academy and finally agreed to study hard.
As spring was coming to an end, Emperor Li Er of the Tang Dynasty finally showed his fangs. Within a day, six imperial decrees were issued by the Ministry of the Imperial Secretariat. Li Jing, Chai Shao, and Xue Wanche were ordered to lead 200,000 Tang soldiers to fight a decisive battle against Xie Li. The recruitment order was issued, and the entire population of the capital was in an uproar. The troops were assembled in groups and marched to the border.
Changsun Chong, Li Huai Ren, Cheng Chumo, were all on the list of recruits, but Yun Ye was not.
Although he was very eager to see how Li Jing drove the Turks to run in all directions.
“What are you, a weak-willed scholar, doing messing around in the military? Besides, the country hasn’t reached the point where it has to send its only child to the battlefield.” Old Cheng couldn’t understand Yun Ye’s thoughts about going to war.
“My nephew is also a general. Didn’t he lead troops in Longyou?”
“Nonsense, you call that leading troops? Even a dog can lead if you give it two buns. I was just letting you have a taste of power, but you really think you’re a big shot?”
His words were so vicious that Yun Ye wanted to die. He should just come to see Cheng Chumo, but he was so mean and he was looking for trouble.
He never expected to hear good things from Cheng Yaojin in his life.