Chapter 64: Everyone Has Their Own Tricks
Yun Ce didn’t leave out of anger; he ran away because he was overcome with shame.
Previously, he had told Miss Hong some specious revolutionary principles, but he never expected this simple woman to take them seriously, and to implement them at great personal cost.
When leaving Sheyang City, he saw corpses filling the streets. As the horse’s hooves passed by those corpses, he tried hard to use the correct principles that Yun Linchuan had taught him to convince himself not to join the riots at the very bottom at this time.
Such riots can awaken some people who cannot survive any longer, and attract them to join with the simplest materials.
Such joining is animalistic, not revolutionary. An animalistic riot, as long as it keeps winning, will have people continuously joining, but if it encounters a single failure, it will be a failure like a river bursting its banks.
What is revolution? Revolution requires a collective with high organizational power, clear and correct goals, countless people voluntarily sacrificing their lives and spilling their hot blood to realize the ideal, and the ability to closely unite all supporters of the revolution, to struggle and persevere unremittingly for one goal, which then offers the possibility of success.
Now, knowing full well that Miss Hong and the others are destined for failure and death, Yun Ce still admired them greatly for some reason. At the very least, Miss Hong was a very good revolutionary.
Seeing Yun Ce return after teasing Miss Hong, with his head drooping listlessly, E Ji hurriedly asked, “Did that woman scold you?”
Yun Ce shook his head, not wanting to speak.
“So many people died in Sheyang City, what’s that got to do with you? You already cut off Duke Yu’s legs, which is more than enough for that little girl who died of diarrhea. What right does she have to scold you?”
1 Yun Ce looked up at this woman sitting on horseback, eagerly comforting him, and gave her a big smile. Then, looking at the crowds passing on the street, his state of mind suddenly changed.
1 This was a city with obvious class distinctions, where every person actually had a big label plastered glaringly on their face.
1 That person dressed in silk clothing had just stepped on someone to board a horse carriage.
1 That plump and somewhat attractive madam had just pricked a girl who looked very young with a needle, telling her to smile more lasciviously.
1 That young man who had just come out of the pawnshop was holding a bundle; it seemed the shopkeeper hadn’t taken a liking to his things.
1 A strong man barefoot dragged an extremely heavy swill cart through the alley behind the shop, where several sheep used for pulling carts were tethered.
1 On that same alley, a woman in tattered clothes dragged a little boy, with a grass tag stuck in the child’s hair. The child was crying, the woman was crying too; it seemed the shopkeeper hadn’t taken a liking to her child.
1 With a different state of mind, looking at the street again, one would see those thugs, rogues, swindlers, thieves, robbers, unscrupulous merchants, and scoundrels baring a mouthful of sharp teeth, as if ready to devour people.
1 A changed state of mind changes thoughts; that’s how people gradually become better, or worse.
1 E Ji chattered on cursing Miss Hong. Though very biased, Yun Ce felt very comfortable hearing it, even thinking that this woman Miss Hong deserved to be cursed, and the harsher the better.
2 ‘Lian Sheng Tang’, that was the meeting place Yun Ce had agreed on with Feng An and the others.
2 After having the shop assistant stable the red date horse, E Ji hurriedly ran into the shop to ask the shopkeeper if two young men with ten girls of various ages were staying in the guesthouse.
2 Yun Ce didn’t follow, because he had already seen Feng An sitting in the sunlight reading a book.
2 This guy was already good-looking to begin with. At this moment, dressed in a green robe, holding a bamboo slip in his hand, with his body turned sideways and sunlight shining on half his face, illuminating his straight nose pink. Many women cast intentional or unintentional glances his way.
2 Seeing Yun Ce approach, Feng An helplessly put away the bamboo slip in his hand, stood up and said, “Don’t mess up my canvassing.”
2 Yun Ce asked puzzledly, “Canvassing? Weren’t you supposed to study diligently and deepen your knowledge? How did you get involved with canvassing?”
2 Feng An pointed a direction at the impatient E Ji, then said to Yun Ce again, “This year’s rules have changed. Filial scholars, talented individuals, scholars, and gentlemen recommended from the localities must find a new recommender in Chuyun City; otherwise, they can’t enter the Literature Tower, can’t participate in the Grand Competition, can’t meet the Inspector, and can’t get the travel permit from the Prefectural Office.”
2 Yun Ce looked around; several women who had been looking at Feng An immediately turned their faces away. Two even disgustedly put on veiled hats, with gauze curtains hanging down, only faintly showing a bright red mouth.
2 “The female guest at the second table on the left was originally blocked by a screen. When I sat here reading, those people removed the screen just to look at me and even sent a maidservant with a plate of cakes.”
2 “Are you canvassing, or attracting bees and butterflies?”
3 Feng An gave Yun Ce a disdainful glare and said, “Look at her attire, especially the silk hanging from the armband made of gold—that’s something only a Grand Master’s family can use. That young lady has her hair in a dangling bun, so she should be an unmarried woman.”
3 “This time’s recommendation must come from someone of Grand Master Rank or above. If I hit it off with this young lady, I might just get a recommendation from her father or brother.”
3 “Shameless!”
3 Feng An snorted coldly and said, “That’s shameless? They changed the rules specifically for certain people. Since this Grand Competition’s slots all belong to families of Grand Master Rank or above, what’s shameless about me attaching myself to their daughter and thereby getting a recommendation letter?”
3 Yun Ce looked at Feng An and said, “You don’t plan to marry their daughter, do you?”
3 Feng An said in surprise, “She doesn’t plan to marry me either.”
3 Yun Ce scratched his head and said, “Secretly getting together without a matchmaker—won’t her father or brothers beat you to death? And still give you a recommendation letter?”
3 “Hmph, if I pass the exam this time and she has my child in her belly, believe me, her dowry will absolutely triple!”
3 Yun Ce tilted his head and thought for a moment, then gave a thumbs up and said, “Very good, keep it up!”
3 After saying that, he walked toward the direction Feng An had pointed. After two steps, he came back, looked seriously at Feng An and said, “Where’s Liang Kun? With his looks, he probably can’t seduce a Grand Master Rank family’s daughter. Don’t tell me, to get a recommendation letter, he went to seduce a Grand Master Rank family’s son?”
4 Feng An slapped the bamboo slip on his palm and said, “No, he went with a group to sit in protest at the Prefectural Office gate, hoping to blow things up so those people would release a few more slots. After all, if all the candidates recommended from Chuyun Prefecture to Chang’an are idiots and fools, it won’t look good on their faces.”
4 Yun Ce took a gold bead from his bosom and slapped it into Feng An’s hand, saying, “Seduce women not only requires good looks—having money is a huge bonus too.”
4 Feng An flicked his wrist, and the gold bead disappeared. Ignoring Yun Ce, he tapped the palm of his other hand with the bamboo slip and walked toward the woman over there.
4 Yun Ce couldn’t stand the disgusting sight of men seducing women; their behavior was as sleazy as doggy mating. Seeing too much of it made him want to turn into a woman.
4 Returning to the private courtyard that Feng An and the others had booked, he heard a group of women chattering around E Ji. Only An Ji sat calmly to the side. Seeing Yun Ce enter, she led him to sit on a soft stool.
4 While E Ji was away, An Ji was the leader of this group of women. When An Ji took out a hot towel to wipe Yun Ce’s face, E Ji wasn’t having it. She squeezed out from the crowd, snatched the cloth from An Ji’s hand, and wiped Yun Ce’s face like scrubbing a watermelon.
4 Yun Ce let it happen; even if E Ji was very unhappy, she would eventually stop.
4 An Ji didn’t compete, but quietly prepared bath water in the inner room and came specifically to tell Yun Ce that the bath water was ready—did he want her to serve him in bathing?
4 E Ji wasn’t having it again. She gave An Ji the boss piece of delicious cake extorted from the street market to send her out the door, then blinked her big eyes, ready to undress Yun Ce.
4 An Ji sat quietly on the soft stool at the door, slowly chewing the boss piece of cake. Seeing the gate open and E Ji pushed out by Yun Ce, she covered her mouth and chuckled softly.
5 E Ji broke off a big piece of cake from An Ji’s hand, stuffed it in her mouth, and mumbled unclearly, “Your method didn’t work either.”
5 An Ji swallowed the cake in her mouth and said, “This kind of thing requires persistence. If it succeeded on the first try, wouldn’t it make our young master seem unvirtuous?”
5 “Virtuous? He pees right in front of me, without any hiding.”
5 “That just means young master pities young lord for being young and doesn’t want you to go through childbirth too early. A young master who would rather suffer himself than let you suffer is truly rare.”
5 “Eh, you used to be in Zhang Yaliang’s household—how did their young master do it?”
5 Hearing E Ji say this, An Ji’s originally smiling face immediately darkened. Gritting her teeth, she said, “A bunch of doggies copulating day and night without regard for time or place. Don’t compare them to young master—it’s disgusting just to hear.”
5 E Ji: “……”
5 Yun Ce lay in the hot water, vigorously scrubbing the grime off his body. The cloth made from yi tree fiber was rough; after soaking, it was full of wrinkles, perfect for scrubbing off grime as a bath towel.
5 After days of exposure to wind and dew, he had only been taking cold baths, which only made the grime bind more tightly to his skin.
5 After scrubbing off the grime, seeing the bath water was no longer usable, he called E Ji in to change the water for him.
6 After that, E Ji stayed in the room to help Yun Ce wash his hair, wrestling the whole time with his now very long hair, with no hint of romance.
6 Zhang Min was also bathing at this time. She and Wu Tong had taken the spirit seeking insect and searched the entire wasteland, finding no news related to the dragon spirit.
6 Wu Tong was busy going to Cong Prefecture to observe the barbarians’ movements and had no extra time to continue investigating the dragon spirit’s whereabouts, so he handed that task to Zhang Min.
6 Unwilling to give up, Zhang Min searched again after Wu Tong left, still finding nothing, so she had no choice but to ride the large bird back to Chuyun City.
6 Ripples danced in the bathtub; even hiding her body underwater, the clear rippling water couldn’t conceal her exquisite figure.
6 Zhang Min was also scrubbing. When she got to her left leg, she couldn’t help moaning out loud. When the pain subsided, she inadvertently glanced at the spirit seeking insect in a delicate cage, and a thought suddenly struck her.
6 She abruptly stood up from the water, not caring to cover her proud figure, and snarled viciously at the spirit seeking insect, “We ultimately still missed one guy!”
