Chapter 134: Journey to Jiangnan to Store Up Grain Widely

"Amitabha, Eleventh Young Master, you did the right thing."

Having been silent for half the journey, the monk Shanzhi suddenly spoke up, giving Ye Chang quite a start.

Ye Chang turned his head back. The monk looked completely solemn, and upon his ugly face, there was even a faint, luminous sheen.

"What is it?" Ye Chang asked with some perplexity, rarely seeing this boorish monk act in such a manner.

"To save a single life is to build a seven-tiered pagoda. Although you and I were ambushed outside Chang'an, we both emerged completely unharmed, whereas the assassins suffered several casualties," the monk said, pressing his palms together. "That being the case, our old grievances are not deep. Saving this mother and child today also settles karmic consequences..."

It was normal for a monk to discourse at length on karma, but coming from Shanzhi's mouth, it struck Ye Chang as rather absurd. This boorish monk drank wine, ate meat, killed living creatures, and indulged in anger; aside from women, he had broken nearly every single precept. For him to talk about karma was completely mismatching the response to the situation.

Moreover, Ye Chang did not care much about karma.

What he cared about was his own power. In the end, his power was still insufficient, his status was not high enough, and his wealth and influence were incomplete.

"The great trends of the world roll onward overwhelmingly. Right now, the grand trend has not yet formed, which is why there is a constant sense of falling short everywhere," Ye Chang sighed inwardly. Saving Yuan Zai's wife was, on one hand, because he truly could not harden his heart, and on the other hand, compelled by circumstances. At present, he still lacked the capability to confront Wang Zhongsi head-on.

If he could resolve the conflict with Yuan Zai through this, that of course would be for the best. If he could not, the evidence he held in his hands would still protect him, temporarily shielding him from Wang Zhongsi's threats.

"However, that obstetric forceps contraption—was that a treasure you saw in a dream, Eleventh Young Master?" the monk asked again.

He truly found it strange how Ye Chang even understood matters of childbirth. If it truly was something he saw in his dreams, wouldn't the immortals in heaven have to give birth to children as well?

This question was difficult to answer, but after a brief moment of reflection and recalling a certain matter, Ye Chang smiled and replied, "Originally, I saw it in a dream when an immortal bestowed it upon a gardener named Han in Shaanxi. That gardener and I entered the same dream."

The monk took it for true, wondering to himself when he went to Guanlong next time to inquire whether there was nearby a gardener named Han who had also dreamed of immortals.

Not long after Ye Chang returned to Wolong Valley, Yuan Zai came there once more. This trip, however, had two purposes: first, to send back the doctor and the midwife, and second, to come and express his gratitude. His expression had already regained its composure, chatting and laughing freely, and he was quite amiable toward Ye Chang, as if the discord between the two of them had never happened at all. As the saying goes, you can know a person's face but not their heart; what Yuan Zai was truly thinking in his heart, Ye Chang had no way of judging, and all he could do was maintain a high degree of vigilance.

Time flew by, and a month passed in the blink of an eye. In the twinkling of an eye, autumn was gradually fading, and winter was approaching. Xiuwu was renowned for chestnuts, and since it was currently the season for chestnuts to hit the market, Ye Chang's dishes inevitably gained an extra dish of braised chicken with chestnuts. On the surface, he lived quite a leisurely life, but in reality, he was compiling books on natural mathematics volume after volume. Every time a volume was completed, Zhang Xiu was always eager to be the first to read it. Upon finishing, he would scratch his ears and cheeks in anxiety, pressing Ye Chang to release updates faster.

This fellow was practically bound by Ye Chang. He was not a teaching-oriented talent, but teaching children simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division was still within his ability. What gave Ye Chang the biggest headache was helping him change his habits, switching to symbolic numbers and the abacus. To Zhang Xiu, neither of these two things was particularly rare—the so-called Arabic numerals were actually Indian numerals, and his paternal uncle Yixing was a Tantric monk, so he was not entirely unfamiliar with Indian numerals. But as for the abacus, he truly felt it was not as easy to use as counting rods at first, until Ye Chang wrote out the bead-arithmetic formulas from his memory and strictly ordered him to memorize them until fluent before showing him the new teaching materials, which made him reluctantly accept it.

Aside from this, what Ye Chang did every day was stroll around everywhere.

After September, the weather visibly turned cooler. Ye Chang wondered how much longer autumn crabs could be eaten as he walked with his hands clasped behind his back from Mount Fufu toward the village. Just as he reached the entrance of the village, he saw a man smiling at him with a ingratiating, cheeky expression.

Ye Lian, his nominal eldest paternal uncle.

Presently, Ye Lian had completely lost his standing in the village. Although the Ye clan lineage still gave him a few mu of lean fields to barely scrape by, his household was utterly ruined, and even his two concubines had already been sold off by him.

"Eleventh Young Master," seeing Ye Chang's gaze sweep over, Ye Lian greeted him with a fawning smile and even gave Ye Chang an arched-hand salute.

Because of the severe beating he had suffered from the Liu family, one of his legs was now somewhat lame. Ye Chang looked at him and returned the courtesy, saying, "Uncle."

With just that single greeting, Ye Chang continued walking into the village.

Ye Lian opened his mouth behind him, wanting to call him back, but when the words reached his lips, for a moment he did not know what to say.

The scheming against Ye Chang from back then still felt as vivid as yesterday. Yet in merely a year's time, things had reached this stage. Ye Lian felt a bitter taste filling his entire mouth, standing foolishly at the village entrance without making any movement for a long time.

Ye Chang strolled at a leisurely, swaying pace to the old Ye family residence.

Compared to the vigorously developing Wolong Valley and the research institute under accelerated construction, the old residence had undergone no changes. Aside from adding a heated brick kang last year, there was almost no activity.

"Uncle, uncle, where is the slingshot you promised me?"

As soon as he entered the door, his nephew Sinu came running over excitedly and shouted.

"There, isn't this it?" Ye Chang pulled out a slingshot and handed it into his hands.

Sinu instantly abandoned Ye Chang, taking Xiaoniang with him all over the courtyard to find targets. First he shot at the tree branches in the yard, then he went to shoot at birds. Of course, given his current eyesight, hitting birds was still quite a challenge.

Ye Chang looked at his nephew with a smiling expression, feeling that this joyousness had infected him as well.

Life, after all, could not be spent day in and day out engaging in intrigues. Watching the younger generation grow up happily like this ought to be the mainstream of life.

Sinu fired several pellets consecutively, none of which hit, and immediately shouted as he ran back, handing the slingshot over to Ye Chang.

"Uncle, shoot one for me to see! Shoot one for me to see!"

This sinew-string slingshot still possessed some power; Sinu had little strength, could not pull it fully open, and missing was normal. Ye Chang took it in his hand, picked a relatively round pellet, looked around, and feeling there was no suitable target, happened to see an earthenware bowl serving as a flower pot by the courtyard wall.

He pulled back the slingshot, aimed for a moment, and then released it.

With a "bang," the earthenware bowl shattered in response, the soil inside scattering everywhere, and the flowers that had originally been planted tumbled down into the mud.

Ye Chang stuck out his tongue, and beside him, Sinu and Xiaoniang also stuck out their tongues: "We're in big trouble!"

Handing the slingshot back to Sinu, Ye Chang said solemnly, "You two just say that a cat broke the earthenware bowl, remember?"

Sinu and Xiaoniang both nodded solemnly, and Xiaoniang added a sentence: "The cat is not a good kitty."

However, a faint fragrance wafted over, causing Ye Chang to turn his head aside to see his sister-in-law standing before the moon gate of the back courtyard, wearing an expression that was half-amused and half-exasperated.

Seeing the three of them looking over, Fang Shi drew out her tone and asked, "Who broke the earthenware bowl where I keep my flowers?"

"It was the cat!" Xiaoniang was fiercely protective of her uncle, and thus rushed to answer first, "It wasn't Uncle who shot it with the slingshot! Mother, don't hit Uncle!"

"You're so stupid, you blurted it out!" Sinu panicked greatly.

Ye Chang pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed. Xiaoniang stared with round, watery eyes, looking utterly innocent: "I didn't say it, I didn't say it!"

"You just said it right then—"

"I didn't say it, I really didn't say it, I really didn't say Uncle used the slingshot to shoot it... Wah!" Anxious to defend herself, Xiaoniang simply burst into tears.

Ye Chang picked her up and laughed, "Don't cry, don't cry. Xiaoniang didn't say anything, and Mother doesn't know that Uncle used the slingshot to break the flower-growing earthenware bowl. If you don't believe it, ask your mother!"

Although Xiaoniang was little, she still felt that asking this way seemed somewhat wrong, so she kept sniffling and ignored Ye Chang. Seeing her crying so pitifully, Ye Chang instantly softened his heart and added, "Elder brother is not good, let's not play with elder brother... Go on, go on, Sinu, go play by yourself!"

"Uncle is biased!" Sinu curled his lip, then grabbed the slingshot and scurried off like a wisp of smoke.

"Not only do you teach the children to shoot things at random with a slingshot, but you also teach them to lie. Eleventh Young Master, you are truly becoming more and more incorrigible."

Taking Xiaoniang from Ye Chang's arms, Fang Shi gazed at Ye Chang with a fierce and stern look, carrying quite a bit of majesty and no longer resembling the gentle little sister-in-law of days past.

Over the past year, the family's business had flourished immensely. Although the family residence had not been renovated, the population had increased. Aside from adding two households of servants, they had also hired several families from the village to do odd jobs. More importantly, merchants traveling to Wolong Valley who wished to purchase paper and books all had to go through Fang Shi's hands.

It could be said that Fang Shi was the Ye family's God of Wealth. With money in her pocket, she had confidence in her heart, and when she spoke, things were naturally different.

"Sister-in-law, forgive my transgression, forgive my transgression." Although Ye Chang arched his hands in apology, his expression showed very little remorse.

Even if he didn't teach them, wouldn't children be mischievous and lie? Zengzi teaching his son had been passed down through the ages, yet why had no one ever heard of his son's virtues being handed down?

When educating children, blindly suppressing them was obviously wrong; guidance was the righteous path.

"Look at you, always single-mindedly unorthodox." Fang Shi understood him extremely well, sighed, and didn't even expect him to reform.

"Sister-in-law speaks the truth." Ye Chang did not argue back.

"Spare me your lazy attitude in my presence. If you find it boring, quite a few prominent families—seven or eight of them—have just come to propose marriage these past few days. How about I arrange a matchmaking meeting for you?"

"Sister-in-law, spare my life," Ye Chang raised both hands.

"Stop fooling around, I'm being serious." When Fang Shi started nagging, she was quite formidable, "Settle the marriage first, and next year you can hold the wedding festivities. With such a massive family estate, if you don't marry and have children sooner, who will inherit it in the future?"

"There are Sinu and Xiaoniang. In the future, Xiaoniang will be a little rich lady. If someone marries Xiaoniang, tsk tsk..."

Listening to Ye Chang turn the topic to the utterly innocent Xiaoniang, Fang Shi gave him another fierce glare. She sighed, "Whenever we talk about serious matters, you never have a proper attitude. Tell me, what have you come here for today? Surely it wasn't just to deliver a slingshot."

Although the old residence still reserved a small courtyard for Ye Chang, he almost never came back to live there, generally staying in Wolong Valley instead. And because she was a widow, Fang Shi generally did not go to Wolong Valley either. Since Ye Chang had come over to this side, it was bound to be because he had matters to discuss with her.

"I came to seek Sister-in-law because there is a matter I wish to discuss with you," Ye Chang frowned. "I can't make up my mind in my heart, so I want Sister-in-law to help me analyze it."

"Just speak."

"I want to send people to Jiangnan to purchase residences and buy land."

"Jiangnan?" Fang Shi asked in surprise.

To them, Jiangnan was a very distant place, and moreover far less prosperous than the Guanzhong and Central Plains regions.

Although through the Three Kingdoms and the Jin dynasties, Jiangnan had by now become densely populated, in the hearts of ordinary commoners, it was still a place far removed from prosperity and civilization.

"Mhm, the Central Plains has many people and little land. If one wants to stockpile grain extensively, the only way is to go to the Jiangnan region."

The Central Plains region had always been the vital core of the Chinese Empire, but after the Three Kingdoms and Jin dynasties, Jiangnan also began to develop. By now, the grain from the Jianghuai region had already become an important pillar of the empire's taxation, and places like Hangzhou in Jiangdong were growing increasingly prosperous.

As for Jiangnan Xidao, although Han people were continuously reclaiming wasteland and cultivating fields, its potential had not yet been fully excavated.

"Stockpile grain extensively... just how much grain do you want to store?" Fang Shi asked.

"The more the better, to prepare for unexpected needs." Ye Chang hesitated for a moment. Of course, he could not say that more than a decade later the empire would descend into great chaos—having arrived in the Tang Dynasty for quite some time, he discovered that many of the Tang Dynasty's contradictions were already deeply rooted, and even if the An Lushan Rebellion did not break out a decade later, there would still be other upheavals. Therefore, he spoke instead, "Sister-in-law should know about Yuan Zai inviting me to go."

"Now that the obstetric forceps have spread, from now on, women experiencing difficult childbirths will be vastly fewer, and population growth will become even faster. The infants who previously would have died from difficult childbirths will mostly grow up into adults. Twenty years or so from now, if the population doubles and grain production cannot keep up, it will be a major disaster."

The relationship between population growth and grain growth was a very simple principle. Fang Shi understood it as soon as she heard it, and after freezing for a moment, she asked, "How could it be like this?"

Ye Chang also sighed.

"Eleventh Young Master, while I didn't approve of you going to help that Yuan Zai, this obstetric forceps invention is truly an act that benefits all living beings, and it should be a deed of boundless merit. Why would it turn out like this?"

"Misfortune is what blessing leans upon; blessing is what misfortune lurks within."

As soon as Ye Chang said these words, Fang Shi was left completely speechless.

During the Li Tang dynasty, Laozi was revered as their ancestor, and the *Tao Te Ching* was a major subject in the imperial examinations. Fang Shi was well-versed in classics and history, so how could she not understand the meaning of this sentence?

"However, Eleventh Young Master, you are still thinking wrongly about this." After pondering for quite a while, Fang Shi spoke again.

"Oh, why does Sister-in-law think so?"

"You currently have no available men in your hands. Even if you go to Jiangnan, won't you have to go yourself?" Fang Shi asked.

Ye Chang nodded; this was certain. Since it was a matter of great importance, if he didn't go himself, how could he set his mind at rest?

"Nowadays, going from the Central Plains to Jiangnan, even traveling via the canal waterways, takes one to two months. Making a round trip takes half a year. Can you afford to leave the matters here for half a year?"

This was a major problem. The canal was the most convenient route, but water transport was relatively slow. If one rode light cavalry with fast horses and utilized the Tang Dynasty's well-developed post roads, going to Jiangnan might actually be faster. But even so, a round trip of two to three months would still be necessary.

"In the past you made two trips to Chang'an, and although you made arrangements, family matters were still delayed. When your elder sister gave birth, you didn't even return," Fang Shi gently reproached Ye Chang. "Last time you also said you estimated you would need to go to Mengzhou for a period of time..."

"That's a matter for next spring. I won't go until the people sent by Princess Yuzhen arrive. Princess Yuzhen has promised to lend me two manors in Mengzhou for three years, and these two manors happen to have ten thousand mu of fertile land." Ye Chang had no choice but to interrupt and cut short her complaints.

"Ten thousand mu of fertile land!" Fang Shi's eyes instantly flashed with a blazing radiance.