Chapter 23: The Poor Marquis
Yun Ye did not faint. He heard clearly the conversation between Niu Jinda and Cheng Chumo. He felt that he could not wake up now. He really did not know how to face the current situation. Should he be ecstatic? Should he be angry? Should he be sad? People have seven emotions and six desires. Each emotion is matched with an expression. This is the manifestation of humans being called advanced animals.
I never thought that our ancestors had such a miserable life. Judging from the wooden plaques, they were indeed their ancestors. It is not known when the custom of passing down the male descendants’ wooden plaques began, but it has been a tradition since ancient times. In the future, when people of the same surname meet, it has become a tradition to take out the wooden plaque to recognize each other. Once they are recognized as the same clan, it is their duty to take care of and help each other.
Yun Ye encountered such a thing in Inner Mongolia. When he checked in at a hotel and gave his ID card to the owner, the owner took out a wooden plaque and asked Yun Ye if he had one. Yun Ye quickly took out his wooden plaque and compared the two to confirm that they were indeed from the same family. Although it was like a gangster meeting, Yun Ye did enjoy the meticulous care. His meals, accommodation and travel arrangements were all taken care of. This was the most smooth business trip Yun Ye had ever had. Before leaving, he promised to meet again at the ancestral hall. The family still has a craft plate of a goat’s head that was given by the same clan.
Recognition of one’s ancestors is inevitable and necessary. Betraying one’s clan is a taboo in both modern times and the Tang Dynasty. Not only would it be a sin of conscience to abandon these women and children, but I’m afraid the ancestors would crawl out of their graves and strangle me to death. Once I had decided how to face it, there was no need to faint. After all, I was a nobleman, a meritorious person with a fiefdom in the capital. A thousand and two hundred mu of farmland should be enough to arrange for these women, children, the elderly and the weak.
“Cheng Chumo, has my uncle returned to camp?” Yun Ye asked Cheng Chumo, who was standing nearby. Cheng Chumo was in a daze and heard Yun Ye calling him. He quickly got up: “Brother, you’re finally awake. I was so worried. When we return to the capital, I’ll take you to teach those bastards who bullied your clan a lesson. I didn’t know before, but now I know. If even one person is bullied, I’ll take it out on them.
Yun Ye nodded with tears in his eyes and grabbed Cheng Chumo’s hand: “Yes, let’s go back to the capital and turn them upside down.” The two brothers laughed at each other.
“Dad is back. I was just about to see you go back with Uncle Niu’s persuasion. He said that everything would be fine as long as you rested.”
Yun Ye didn’t know when Old Cheng came, but hearing his words made him feel at ease. Yun Ye felt that having such an uncle was his good fortune. Cheng Chumo helped him up and took the backpack and went through it, finding a knife, a small round mirror in a wooden box, and a hairpin. He hesitated for a long time before adding the hairpin. Although the phone still worked, he couldn’t make calls. This thing couldn’t be leaked. Alas, it seems that I am really a poor man. If I want to be rich, I must wait until after the potato harvest.
“Chu Mo, there is nothing to hide between brothers. I have nothing but these three things that can probably be exchanged for some money. Please help me sell these three things. You have also heard about the tragedy of my clan. People can be arranged to work on the farm , but my family’s farm has not yet produced any crops. These family members are now destitute and in dire straits. They must have enough money to survive. Although the potato harvest will definitely bring in a large amount of money, I am so anxious that I can’t wait a moment. Please help me.”
After saying this, he bowed his head. Cheng Chumo was in a hurry to help Yun Ye. But then he heard the roar of Old Cheng outside the tent: “You little bastard, I’m not dead yet, and you want to sell the treasure left by your teacher for such a trivial matter? You’re a spendthrift.”
Lao Cheng stepped into the tent, sat down on the bed, picked up the dagger, pulled a strand of hair and blew on the edge of the blade. The hair broke into two pieces, and he exclaimed, “What a good knife!” He then picked up a mirror and looked at his face. It seemed that he was shocked by himself. The hair in the mirror was clearly visible, and it was not comparable to the foggy bronze mirror at all. He exclaimed, “What a good treasure!”
Then he picked up the hairpin and looked at it for a moment, and then exclaimed, “It’s so skillfully made.” After admiring the three treasures, he said to Yun Ye, “Which of these three things is a rare treasure? Would you be willing to exchange it for money? Can your teacher’s spirit in heaven forgive you?”
Yun Ye did not understand. The three things were only 200 yuan for the Yingsha knife set, and his own knife was only worth a thousand yuan. The mirror was only five yuan, and the hairpin was only five or six hundred yuan, so how could it become a rare treasure, and also involve such a high level of moral standards.
When I think of this as a future product, I feel relieved. Just like the Tang Dynasty’s Tang tri-colored pottery, which was also sold at a high price in later generations, “Uncle, money is not important. I don’t care about it. Selling it can help my helpless clan members. It’s also a good use of things. In my opinion, Uncle, your friendship with me is priceless.”
Lao Cheng laughed happily: “You always make me feel comfortable when you talk and act. It’s not in vain that I’ve worried about you. I plan to send Cheng Dong back to the capital. You write down the secret recipe for making ice. Our two families will cooperate, each taking 50%. When you get to the capital, let your aunt give you 2,000 silver coins to spend first, and deduct it from the dividends later. I fully believe that you can make money. I asked Lao Niu, you have only thirty relatives in the capital, and a few of them are in the Department of Education. I believe that when the investigation found that they were your relatives, the Department of Education should have protected them and they would not be humiliated again. Two thousand strings are enough to arrange them properly, and Lao Cheng’s face is still a little bit of the Chang’an order. You write a letter to a letter, so that the women and children believe that you are the patriarch, and probably only you can be the patriarch.
Yun Ye was stunned. He had just been worried about these messy things, but unexpectedly, Lao Cheng solved them in the blink of an eye, before he could even speak. Lao Cheng said again, “You are in the army, and it is a serious crime to return to the capital without permission. According to the law, you should be beheaded. So write a letter honestly and give the secret recipe to Cheng Dong. Your aunt in the capital can rest assured. She is more reliable than Lao Cheng. You can plant potatoes safely. I estimate that we will return to the capital before the end of the year. Zuowei is an army that guards the capital. What is the matter with staying in Longyou? When we return to Chang’an, we will show the potatoes to those who mocked me and surprise them. Haha.”
Cheng Dong took away Yun Ye’s name card, the family letter, and the seal of the Baron of Ping’an County that he had just received, and returned to Chang’an with ten cavalrymen in the name of delivering a letter.
On the seventh day after Cheng Dong left, the potatoes finally bloomed. The clusters of light purple flowers mixed in with the dark green leaves looked particularly noble. Indeed, it was the word noble that Lao Cheng said was noble. It dared not be noble. Niu Jinda actually nodded in praise, and praised Lao Cheng for his knowledge with a thumb.
Yunyu was afraid that the pollination of the potatoes would be uneven, so he took a brush and brushed each flower to ensure the chance of pollination. He cut off the extra branches and leaves, which made Lao Niu feel sorry for him. Now, Zhuang San is not even qualified to take care of the potatoes. Lao Niu personally set up the tent next to the grass pavilion, moving it out at sunrise and moving it in at sunset. Although Yunyu knew that this was just a waste of time, he didn’t say anything when he saw Lao Niu enjoying it.