Chapter 171: Hiring Talent: Humbling Oneself Before The Worthy Isn’t Enough
The Yun Family actually doesn’t have anything good.
Ever since being flung to this ground like snot by the Dragon Image, Yun Ce has nothing except himself.
The feeling of having nothing is extremely terrible; it makes one feel boundless loneliness. Lonely people often easily live in a world centered on themselves.
In this world, because he is the king, being unconventional becomes a behavioral habit for many lonely people. Once his lonely world gradually becomes complete, he really becomes incompatible with this world.
Don’t believe it? Go carefully observe those truly lonely people and you will find that they more or less have some problems.
Yun Ce knows he cannot live as a solitary tyrant and is clear about his purpose in coming to this world. Therefore, when he had the choice, he chose E Ji to be his wife.
For him, this is actually a self-inflicted process. Bringing E Ji is far less convenient than acting alone, and even E Ji is often a burden to him.
Human nature cannot be too free; overly free human nature only amplifies the evil side of human nature. Once desire is amplified countless times, destruction becomes the only outcome.
Normal people need an object for intimate comparison, and E Ji is the comparison object Yun Ce chose. He can see from E Ji’s reaction whether what he does is still within the scope of what people can bear.
As long as it is still within this scope, Yun Ce acts without any taboos. If even E Ji, the woman who regards him as her life, cannot accept what he does, it means he is not far from destruction.
1 Therefore, loving E Ji is equivalent to loving himself.
1 E Ji is actually a very smart woman. After receiving the letter sent by Yun Ce’s carrier pigeon, she began to think about how to help the young master permanently keep these truly useful five hundred people in the Yun Family.
1 However, the Yun Clan currently has nothing except a few presentable big and small maids and a bit of money.
1 Thus, after discussing with Liang Kun, Feng An, Zhang Min, and An Ji, E Ji suddenly discovered that her family has quite a lot of good things. At least, dressing up the Yun Clan as a fallen noble family is no problem at all.
1 An Ji proudly told E Ji that the family has many, many male and female servants, the family has a mountain villa full of hot springs, the family’s meals are something even the nobles of Chang’an cannot eat, the family has Bian Zhong, large and small drums, silk and bamboo instruments that can play music, and eight advanced dancers who can already perform dances for guests.
1 Having so many good things is already sufficient, until Feng An and Liang Kun mentioned the process in the bathhouse that he accidentally revealed while bathing with Yun Ce. After hearing it, E Ji realized that her family is already a noble family.
1 Occasional luxury revealed in poverty, occasional elegance encountered in simplicity, complexity revealed in simplicity, extraordinariness shown in the ordinary.
1 The above is the positioning of the welcome ceremony that E Ji formulated for Qin Shu and the others after discussing with several vassals in the family.
1 Upon receiving E Ji’s carrier pigeon letter, Yun Ce felt that this positioning was too high and would be very difficult to execute; one mishandling could lead to capsizing.
1 Zhang Min did not think so; she had stayed at Iron Enclosure Pass and dealt with these people.
2 What kind of people would leave home alone and go to a place like Iron Enclosure Pass to risk their lives for a slim hope?
2 First, they must be people who are not valued at home.
2 Second, they must be superfluous people at home.
2 Third, they must be people with dreams in their mindset.
2 Fourth, they must be desperate people.
2 Plus, they were not favored at Iron Enclosure Pass, experienced life-and-death battlefields under Iron Enclosure Pass, and lived a long period of arduous life.
2 At this time, as long as the family members are willing to open their arms to welcome them, give them a relatively stable home, and grant them a certain trust, these people cannot escape the Yun Clan’s five-finger mountain.
2 Of course, Yun Ce’s strong personal charm displayed under Iron Enclosure Pass, his supreme military achievements, and his miracle-like escape from death are the key to the Yun Clan’s ability to win over these people.
2 Therefore, under the preparations of Feng An, Liang Kun, An Ji, and others, a luxurious and romantic bath project serves as the initial strike to first kill all the arrogance in their hearts.
2 Zhang Min firmly believes that when a maidservant pries open a guest’s buttocks with one hand and swings down her towel-wrapped palm harshly, for those bumpkins who have never had good days since childhood,
3 this action is no less than rebirth for them.
3 At least, after Zhang Min personally experienced it, a sense of shame for betraying Yun Ce naturally arose in her heart. That instant shame completely cleared her mind.
3 When Yun Ce saw Qin Shu, who appeared very calm after the bath but was actually trembling with excitement, He Qingfang, who was too ashamed to meet Yun Ce’s eyes, Zuo Chong, who kept looking back toward the bathhouse, and a large group of soldiers with heads bowed, feeling they had done something unworthy of the general, Yun Ce felt that the first step of E Ji’s plan should have succeeded.
3 Yun Ce laughed heartily, patted this person’s shoulder, patted that person’s shoulder, and occasionally joked with silly words like “all cleaned up, almost unrecognizable,” greatly reducing these people’s guilt.
3 When Yun Ce led them to a warm courtyard, and E Ji brought the most beautiful female family members of the Yun Clan to welcome them at the courtyard gate, even the taciturn Qin Shu was shocked by the beauty of An Ji and the others.
3 Compared to An Ji and others who knew how to dress to showcase their beauty flawlessly, E Ji had changed into a set of ordinary green robe and stood together with Yun Ce, who was also in a green robe soft robe. Without much introduction, everyone knew she was the female head of the Yun Clan.
3 Zhang Min was different; her headdress today was very heavy. E Ji turned her head into a display platform showcasing the Yun Clan’s wealth, adorned with all kinds of precious jewelry in various colors that dazzled the eyes. E Ji said this is the correct usage of a concubine.
3 Yun Ce did not know when Feng An learned to speak in an aria. As soon as he opened his mouth, everyone quieted down. Not to mention Qin Shu and He Qingfang, even Yun Ce could not understand what he was saying.
3 After Feng An finally finished, Liang Kun, also in a green robe soft robe, lightly struck the golden striker. After a crisp sound, a large group of cleanly washed, rosy-cheeked and healthy boys and girls surged out from the moon gate. They politely each took the hand of a distinguished guest and cheerfully led them to their seats.
3 The seats were cushions woven from thatch, and on each cushion was placed a small footrest, used during kneeling to support the buttocks; otherwise, who could sit upright for so long.
4 In front of each cushion was a low table, no more than three feet long and one and a half feet wide, with three display plates on it: a plate of fragrant-smelling, crispy-textured assorted cakes; in the small central bowl was a baby bean with distinct eyebrows and eyes, drizzled with thick sweet root juice mixed with crushed petals, making this rare fruit appear crystal clear and lifelike.
4 Another plate held some chopped fruits in several colors, soaked in white great horned horse milk: red ones dazzling, yellow ones friendly, green ones gentle.
4 The items in the three display plates were not much, but each was something these poor ghosts had never heard of.
4 The children picked up the teapot on the left side of the table, first pouring a cup of flower tea for the guests and inviting them to sniff the floral fragrance first. As a result, most people picked up the tea cup and drank it all at once.
4 Even someone as steady as Qin Shu was embarrassed red in the face by his subordinates’ rash behavior at this moment.
4 To save face, He Qingfang said in a low voice, “So little, enough for whom?”
4 Qin Shu glanced at He Qingfang beside him, sighed, and said, “This is called a display plate; you can only look, not eat.”
4 “What’s the point of putting it out if you can’t eat it? Just for show?”
4 Qin Shu said with a mournful face, “Just for show. Don’t ask; noble families are like this.”
4 “Nobles can play with a man until only a head remains, nobles can be cruel and bloodthirsty, doing inhuman things, nobles can display good things without letting people eat them, only letting them look, nobles can take a bath that washes away a person’s soul?
5 I insist on eating.”
5 With that, she used chopsticks to pick up the central baby bean and bit off its head viciously. However, the baby bean had rich juice inside; as He Qingfang bit down hard, the juice splashed over a meter away, landing on Qin Shu’s face.
5 Having made a fool of herself in full view, He Qingfang felt again like the bathhouse maidservant scrubbing her buttock cleft, stunned and unsure whether to continue eating or stop.
5 Qin Shu, whose face was splattered with much juice, actually also picked up a baby bean and bit it hard, juice splashing everywhere. After eating it, he said to Yun Ce in the host position, “General, this item tastes excellent.”
5 Yun Ce laughed heartily: “It’s also a delicacy I can’t do without daily, hahaha. Come, gentlemen must be hungry; have a bite to tide you over.”
5 With that, he also picked up the baby bean in front of him and chewed it heartily. Only then did He Qingfang feel alive again, gratefully glancing at Qin Shu, only to find that guy wiping his face with a handkerchief.
5 Banquet official Feng An and Liang Kun were clearly somewhat dissatisfied. He struck the golden striker again, and An Ji knelt on the blanket, raising the hammer to sound the Bian Zhong. The Bian Zhong bestowed by the emperor on the Yun Clan had sixty-five pieces; today, only sixteen of the smallest ones were hung on the Bian Zhong frame.
5 As the Bian Zhong sounded, E Ji’s four first-class maids and four second-class little maids entered swinging water sleeves; the dance they performed today was called “Flowing Clouds.”
5 The dance movements were slow, but every motion and stillness followed the Bian Zhong’s command. Moreover, these beautiful girls danced with expressionless faces, appearing extremely dignified, somewhat like the flowing clouds of great nature.
5 Yun Ce looked at the officers and soldiers watching the dance with expressionless faces and turned to Zhang Min: “They don’t understand.”
6 Zhang Min smiled: “We want them not to understand. Young master, this is when we are distinguishing high and low status; don’t mess it up.”
