Chapter 26: Li Er’s decision
“Why did he sell the seeds to Your Majesty instead of offering them to you? Doesn’t he understand that there is a huge difference between offering and selling? The Yun family is certainly short of money, but with Cheng Zhi Zhang there, there should be no urgent need. Why is he so eager to talk about money? If he offers them to you, doesn’t that mean there will be a reward? Even if he is a wise and virtuous person, why is he so eager to say that there is only a transaction and no friendship between him and you when he first arrives? A fifteen-year-old boy who makes his position clear from the first time he deals with His Majesty must have other plans. I am very curious about this boy and look forward to meeting him.
Empress Changsun ignored the military dagger in Emperor Li Er’s hand and the new method of refining steel, focusing only on the word “sell.” She and Li Er had been married for 15 years and knew each other well. If Li Er was reluctant to speak, she could speak for him, and if he was reluctant to ask, she could ask for him. Even in private conversations between husband and wife, she would do the same.
The emperor’s hand paused slightly as he turned the military dagger, then quickly turned it again. He then held the handle firmly, took a handkerchief from his breast pocket, wiped the blade clean, wrapped it in the handkerchief, put it back in the wooden box, and placed the box on the dragon desk and said to the empress, “The ancients said that people in white clothes are arrogant and proud, and people with some ability always have some resistance to etiquette. Yun Ye has been dependent on his teacher since childhood, and he will inevitably be influenced by some of the air of transcendence, and he is also out of place in the world. After all, he is just a child. The empress is overthinking. Niu Jinda’s report on Yun Ye’s background to me is obviously intended to make me comfort the Yun clan. The favor comes from the top, and I hope that I can use the Yun clan to show favor to Yun Ye and win his heart, so that talented people can be used for me. It’s also a bit of a thought. Well, Zhi Zhang, Niu Jinda’s face still has to be given. Come here!
The yellow-clad eunuch holding a whisk responded and bowed to await the emperor’s command.
“Order the Hundred Cavalry Division to accept the Yun clan members, not missing a single person. Wherever they are, the slaves will be immediately released, the low-ranking ones will be promoted, and they will all be sent to the male fief of Ping’an County. Order the Ministry of Works to build the Ping’an County man’s mansion according to the count system. The money and grain should be paid by the imperial treasury. It must be completed before the first day of the month.”
A letter to the court reaches the nine heavens, and the emperor can also decide the rise and fall of a person with a single word. Han Yu’s tragedy Yun Ye did not encounter. Due to the tight construction schedule and heavy workload, the Ministry of Works quickly organized craftsmen and all the necessary building materials. Three days later, a construction team of 500 people moved into the Ping’an County man’s fiefdom and began to build the Yun Mansion amidst much debate.
Mrs. Yun is 61 years old this year. Her white hair is wrapped in blue linen, and she is sitting in a thatched hut with no walls, weaving a new batch of linen. Da Ya and Er Ya’s clothes are worn out. If they don’t earn enough food before winter, these two skinny children may not survive the winter.
The old woman had exhausted her last ounce of strength from last night’s hard work. She cut the hemp knots she had woven, sighed, and finally realized that she was too old to do it. Her eyesight was getting worse, and the hemp thread she had just woven had broken.
The old woman rubbed her aching shoulders, looked at the tablet on the wooden platform, and slowly stood up, taking off her headscarf and brushing away the dust on the tablet one by one.
All the male members of the Yun family are here, and she still clearly remembers the hustle and bustle of the Yun family mansion in the old days. In one night, the sky collapsed, and her father-in-law, husband, eldest brother, and younger brother were all on the ground, bleeding profusely. Her eldest son was wailing and rolling in the blood, with a long knife wound in his chest spurting blood, which she could not stop with her hands. Yun He thought of this and her heart still ached like a knife. There were no tears in her eyes. She had cried dry over the years. Only the young son with the broken leg was left in the family. Unfortunately, only two young granddaughters were left to leave the world.
The nightmare was not over yet. The daughter who had married out was also divorced by her husband’s family. If it weren’t for the young granddaughters who had to be raised on their own, Yun He would have long since wanted to leave this cruel world.
Without any hope of having a successor, no one would want to marry a girl from the Yun family. Even in the new dynasty, the Yun family was considered unlucky. The Yun family’s ancestral property in Lantian had been taken over by the government, the rich, and the tenant farmers over the years, and no one sympathized with the Yun family. No one wanted to marry a Yun family daughter, and even the government turned a deaf ear to the Yun family’s plight because the Yun family was a rebel bandit. A rebel is a rebel, whether it was in the past or the present. The poor Yun family women could only become slaves and maids, and lowered their status to become courtesans.
“Grandma, I’m hungry.” A timid child’s voice woke Yun He from her long memories. Da Ya and Er Ya were hugging their legs and looking at her with big, dark eyes. Yun He suddenly felt full of strength again. Yes, she still had two little ones to rely on.
She leaned over and hugged the two skinny little bodies. She felt a pang of sadness in her heart. No matter what, she had to raise these two little ones to adulthood. The fortune teller had said that these two children were born with a rich and prosperous destiny. No matter how much hardship there is, there will always be an end to it. No matter how difficult the obstacles are, there will always be a time when they pass. My Yun family has never done anything that harms the world. Why should we suffer like this generation after generation?
Heaven seemed to have made an arrangement. As Yun He was praying to Heaven to let him live a few more years so that he could raise his two children, a team of sturdy knights surrounded a carriage pulled by two horses and drove towards the Yun family from the village entrance. The carriage stopped at Yun He’s door. An old servant in a green robe knocked on the Yun family’s dilapidated gate with a letter in his hands.
When Mrs. Yun heard the knocking, she didn’t know who it was because no one would knock on the Yun family’s door. They would usually just burst in, drop the firewood they were carrying, and lead their granddaughters to the door.
“On the order of the head of the family, I come to pay my respects to Madam Yun.” The old servant handed over a letter of invitation.
Mrs. Yun He had not received a visiting card in 15 or 16 years. The last time someone had sent a visiting card was when her husband was still alive and it was from her father-in-law. She opened the card in confusion and saw that it was from the Cheng family and addressed to the Lu family.
Mrs. Yun He was shocked. Why would the noble family send a greeting card to an old widow? She was about to say that it was sent to the wrong person when she saw a woman with a head full of jewelry get off the carriage and bow to Mrs. Yun He: “I am Mrs. Cheng Pei, and I am here to pay my respects to Mrs. Yun.”
Yun He was so surprised that she could not stop smiling, but then she saw Cheng Pei pull a wooden plaque out of her sleeve and say to Yun He, “Do you know what this is, old lady?”
A one-inch-long, half-inch-wide, one-point-thick peach-wood plaque appeared in front of Yun He’s eyes. Yun He grabbed the plaque and opened it to read it. Yun He cried out loud while clutching the plaque.