Chapter 38: He Is Who He Is
Yuan Ye sat on the donkey cart, Momorokuro led the donkey, Ichishiro carried the bow and arrow, and A Qing, holding a stick with Little Monkey, guarded them. Just as they had arrived, they returned to Hibitsu Village.
Although this trip to the west did not yield any true scriptures—Japanese monks definitely don’t have true scriptures, Yuan Ye could guarantee that with his head now—the harvest was still good. They established a friendly diplomatic relationship with the Aragiko Maeda Family, understood the influence of Japanese monks in the Japanese Medieval Period, and got a box of books for free. It could be said that the harvest was abundant.
Yuan Ye was very satisfied with this. However, having learned from their journey there, he did not dare to be too leisurely on the way back. Instead, he paid attention to his surroundings, in case someone suddenly had malicious intentions and tried to rob him.
The main reason was that he had reflected on it afterward and vaguely remembered that Oda Hidetaka was casually riding his horse on the road and was shot and killed with a single shot. He was the legitimate son of Oda Nobuhide, the “Tiger of Owari,” and the full brother of Oda Nobunaga, the “Sixth Heavenly Demon King.” He died inexplicably on his own territory. Wasn’t that unjust?
Of course, Oda Hidetaka was probably not dead yet, but this was enough to fully illustrate that in turbulent times, especially when on the road, one must not be careless in the slightest. Otherwise, no matter how high your status or whether you were a transmigrator, you would still die if you were meant to.
He had experience this time and kept an eye on the slightest movement around him, but A Qing had become somewhat careless. She was still recalling what had happened not long ago—Okumura Iefuku clearly wanted to recruit Yuan Ye, and the conditions he offered were quite good, but Yuan Ye had refused politely without much hesitation.
This made A Qing feel a bit regretful for him. After all, if he had accepted, Yuan Ye would no longer be a “rōnin” but a proper samurai, with fields and a house, and a stable income in the future.
Even though she didn’t like samurai at all, and even harbored hatred for all samurai, she felt that this was not a bad thing for Yuan Ye. With Yuan Ye’s kind, righteous, and benevolent nature, even if he were to manage a small village in the future, he would likely not collect “Kajishi,” “Hyōryōryō,” or “Umagashiken,” and would not oppress the villagers to death.
At the very least, he would certainly not pursue and kill fleeing villagers one by one, not even sparing children and pregnant women, just because they couldn’t pay the annual tribute and miscellaneous taxes.
She couldn’t understand what Yuan Ye was thinking. After holding back for a while, even with her cool demeanor, she finally couldn’t help but ask softly, “Why?”
“Why what?” Yuan Ye was slightly taken aback, not understanding the abrupt question.
“About what happened earlier.”
“Are you referring to the Aragiko Maeda Family’s intention to ‘recruit’ me?” Yuan Ye suddenly understood, then thought for a moment. He felt it was difficult to explain to A Qing, so he smiled and said, “I didn’t like it, so I refused.”
He was not surprised that the Aragiko Maeda Family intended to recruit him. Even if he were playing Taikō Risshiden 2, if he found a samurai with five-star medical skills, he would travel halfway across the map to try and recruit them, lest a ninja suddenly appear to report: “Your Highness, Samurai General XX has died of a cold.”
A samurai recruited last month, whose loyalty was maxed out, died the next month, and he died with all his treasures. No one could stand this, so a vassal with high medical skills was essential.
It was normal for the Aragiko Maeda Family to want to recruit him. He had already considered this possibility, but after much thought, he found that he could not accept it at all.
The main problem lay in the “Patron-Client System.” If the “Patron-Client System” is difficult to understand, changing it to “Adoptive Father-Adoptive Son System” should be more straightforward.
For example, in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei all seemed to have adoptive sons.
Another example is Lü Bu, who was said to have been an adoptive son to several people. The phrase “I wish to take you as my adoptive father” has become a meme.
Furthermore, the famous anti-Qing general Mao Wenlong was rumored to have had over a thousand adoptive sons to serve as officers at various levels in the Dongjiang Army. This is quite exaggerated and likely false, but even if it were a rumor, there were probably seven or eight adoptive sons.
These adoptive sons, in the context of the Japanese Medieval Period, were vassals, a form of loyalty bound by the principle of “father as the son’s guide.” Moreover, they had no inheritance rights and were not equivalent to adopted sons. If an adopted son ascended, the adoptive sons would continue to regard the adopted son as their “father-lord” and remain adoptive sons, their status unchanged.
Therefore, no matter how the “Patron-Client System” is explained in dictionaries or how it is stated to be merely a means of absorbing outsiders with no blood relation, in substance, once one becomes a vassal, the lord is the vassal’s father. The lord could order the vassal to commit seppuku without reason, and under feudal law, the lord possessed absolute political correctness. It would be treasonous for the vassal to even flee.
If the ruler wants the minister to die, the minister must die; if the father wants the son to die, the son dares not not die.
In ancient times, these were not jokes, and vassals were involved in both.
Although Yuan Ye’s biological father was a scoundrel, he never thought of recognizing a new father. He didn’t want his life to be controlled by another’s word, and even less did he want to kowtow to others. In this era, the first thing a vassal had to do was to kowtow to the ground and shout, “I entrust myself to you from now on,” to establish the master-vassal relationship!
As for so-called “integrating into the era” after transmigration…
He couldn’t integrate. He could accept being hired, he could accept doing business with people of this era, he could treat people, these were not matters of principle. There were plenty of similar things in modern times, but he didn’t want to kowtow to people on holidays, nor did he want to kowtow at every meeting. He didn’t want to be scolded like a son and be subservient, trembling and unable to even fart.
He was a person, a person with dignity. This was a complete negation of the education he had received for twenty years. It involved his fundamental principles. Even if Okumura Iefuku offered good terms, willing to give him a large house in Aragiko Castle, several chō of good paddy fields by the river, and a few households as followers, where the men could be used like oxen and the women could be violated at will.
Okumura Iefuku even hinted that he wouldn’t have to bear too many military obligations. In actual battles, he would just shout a few times from the back and wouldn’t have to fight for his life. Rough work like charging into battle and engaging in bloody combat would naturally be done by other vassals.
But even so, Yuan Ye was unwilling.
Of course, this might be very foolish. In a novel, it would be expected for him to honestly become a vassal, then use his modern knowledge to stir up trouble within a certain family, astonishing the lord. Occasionally kowtowing wouldn’t matter, but he truly didn’t want to kowtow to others or be a vassal.
If he were forced to kowtow, he would rather carry his foolish son into the mountains and become a wild man. In fact, if it weren’t for the foolish son’s poor condition and the extreme danger of living in the wilderness, he would already be a wild man in the mountains, wandering around daily, trying to return to modern times.
Let’s just call it his personal mental purity. If someone else were to fall into misfortune in Japan and be willing to become a vassal, he wouldn’t object. He could only say that everyone has their own aspirations.
However, these things were difficult to explain clearly to A Qing, a young girl born in the feudal era. He could only speak vaguely, claiming he didn’t like it and had no intention of serving.
A Qing naturally still didn’t understand, but given her personality, asking one question was already a lot. She lowered her eyelids and said no more.
The group of them ambled along and successfully returned to Hibitsu Village.
The first thing Yuan Ye did upon arriving home was to check on his foolish son. Meanwhile, A Man stopped A Qing at the door, looked her up and down for a moment, and asked in a low voice, “Did he do anything bad to you?”
She was home alone. That night, when Yuan Ye and the others didn’t return, she slept alone and kept thinking something was wrong. What if Yuan Ye had been glib and taken advantage of A Qing? Wouldn’t she have lost out? She had only given away A Qing’s head, not her body!
A Qing gently shook her head, “No, sister, he is a good person.”
“Good people have lustful thoughts too! The better the person, the more they suppress it, and the greater their lustful thoughts! Those who secretly buy erotic pictures in market towns are mostly these kinds of people. You don’t understand, but I do!” A Man circled A Qing, but found no abnormalities. She mused, “He didn’t even touch you? Touching you costs extra money, you can’t let him touch you for free!”
A Qing looked at her with cool eyes for a moment, unable to do anything about her. She tilted her head slightly and said in a flat tone, “No, sister, he is a good person.”
“Alright, maybe he really is a good person. There are still good people in this day and age…” A Man was somewhat disappointed but immediately became energetic again. She turned to find Yayoi, “You’ve had a hard journey. I’ll have Yayoi stew a chicken and make something delicious. We’ll all have a good time tonight!”
“Wait, sister!” A Qing hesitated slightly, grabbed A Man, and softly told her about Yuan Ye refusing to serve, hoping that the eloquent A Man would persuade him. Yuan Ye was a good person, and she hoped he would live a better life, as long as he didn’t oppress the villagers too much.
A Man was greatly surprised upon hearing this, “What? There’s such a good thing? Is he stupid?”
She dropped A Qing and went into the house to find Yuan Ye. Not caring that Yuan Ye was taking Meng Ziqi’s pulse, she leaned in and asked, “Why don’t you want to serve? It’s so good to be a proper samurai! Rōnin are worthless, do you understand?”
Towards this wild child who was very much like a modern friend, Yuan Ye was willing to speak a few heartfelt words. He directly shook his head, “I don’t want to kowtow to others, nor do I want to be ordered around. So, let’s forget it. It’s good enough as it is now!”
“Just for this trivial matter? What’s the big deal about a few kowtows? Dung beetles kowtow every day to get dung balls to eat. Are your knees inlaid with gold?” A Man was increasingly incredulous. She extended her hand, “A few kowtows are really nothing. If you don’t believe me, give me one kan of money, and I’ll immediately kowtow ten times for you! For the next month, I’ll kowtow to you every time I see you. I absolutely mean it!”
“Get lost, I’m not you!”
“But you’re really too foolish like this. What will you eat in the future? You’ve spent more than half of your money! A Man hadn’t given up and continued to persuade him earnestly, “You’re just squandering money, spending it on medicinal materials to treat poor people, and only getting beans, buckwheat, and radishes in return, which are worthless and can’t be sold at all, let alone recoup your costs. You can’t last long! It’s rare for someone to be willing to take you in, you should quickly ask again and see if they still want you!”
If Yuan Ye went bankrupt without a stable job, she wouldn’t have rice stewed chicken to eat, and she might have to go back to wandering and begging. There was no time to delay. Moreover, Yuan Ye had the nature of a do-gooder and would likely not become a samurai. That was fine, she could! She could guide him on how to exploit villagers, bully men and women, and run rampant in the village, guaranteeing a more comfortable life than now.
It would be a real shame not to go!
“Alright, I know what I’m doing. I don’t need you to worry about me!” Yuan Ye finished taking the pulse, found Meng Ziqi’s condition stable, and went to the side to read, too lazy to bother with her, the troublemaker. “When I’m almost out of money, I’ll naturally earn more. By then, I’ll stew ten chickens a day, and you’ll be stuffed to death morning and night!”
This was just how he was. He didn’t care about minor matters, and no one could persuade him on major ones. He had been beaten since childhood, and the more he was beaten, the more stubborn he became. In the end, at a young age, he broke the head of his alcoholic, abusive father, becoming the notorious “unfilial son” in the area. But even so, he had never bowed his head.
So, let alone Maeda Toshiharu, even if Oda Nobunaga, who was sure to become rich and powerful, came, he wouldn’t expect him to kowtow and pledge loyalty as a vassal.
Whoever wants to, he is who he is, and that’s how he is. He’ll be like this his whole life!
