Chapter Ninety: With Spring Comes Joy, and the Hall Is Full of Guests

After Liu Luogu departed, he left behind the box of pearls, and with it many lingering doubts.

That Hu man, An Lushan, was surely a shrewd fellow. He had made such a move, and it must have carried some meaning of his own, but for the moment Ye Chang could not fathom what he intended.

He did not know that An Lushan had come by the Xiuwu road to enter the capital this time with Ye Chang himself as his target. Had he not seen Chongniang there, Ye Chang would without question have suffered, and might even have lost his life.

But once An Lushan discovered that Ye Chang was closely connected with the palace, he changed his mind.

It had been merely an act of arrogance before Chongniang, staged for Emperor Li. But as for Ye Chang, since he could not be killed quietly and without a trace, the best course was to win him over and buy him.

If he could not guess it, then so be it. Ye Chang set the matter aside for the time being and still had to deal with that sharp-tongued, peculiar little girl, Chongniang. Chongniang stayed in Wolong Valley for two days, and when she left she took away quite a few things: the method for making a heated brick bed, and the method for making briquettes.

Lady Fang was most dissatisfied with this. She thought those things could make a fortune; if they were kept in her own hands and she sent a steward or shopkeeper to open stores in Chang'an and Luoyang, each one alone would be enough to make a man richer than any prince. Ye Chang, however, merely laughed it off. When she badgered him too much, he only tossed out a line: money can never be fully earned, and if we alone grow wealthy while refusing others the chance to make money, we will end up as the target of everyone’s resentment.

After sending Chongniang off, less than ten days passed before it was New Year’s in the Great Tang. On New Year’s Eve, Ye Chang, together with Xiang’er, Chunming, and the others, began pasting up spring couplets, door guardians, and New Year pictures. In this age, there were only peachwood charms, and door guardians had merely just begun to come into fashion.

“Master, why are the portraits of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei posted on our front gate?”

“Ah, that is because the story says that after the Battle of Red Cliffs, the First Lord of Shu, Liu Bei, was haunted by countless vengeful ghosts and could not sleep at night. His two brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, hearing of this, stood armed at his gate to guard it, and the evil spirits did not dare come near. Later Liu Bei asked a painter to depict the two men on the door, and that too was able to frighten the ghosts away...”

When Xiang’er asked this, Ye Chang made up a story on the spot. The proper tale should have been that after Li Shimin’s coup at Xuanwu Gate, Wei Chigong and Qin Qiong were placed at the door as guardians, but this was the Great Tang after all, and Ye Chang still feared that descendants of those original figures might come looking for trouble. So he shifted the attribution onto Liu Bei and the others.

“I see. With Generals Guan and Zhang here, our Wolong Valley has nothing to fear... But I think Zhao Yun is the fiercest of all. You told us about the battle at Changban Slope before, and Nunu felt then that Zhao Yun was the greatest. Master, you are just like Zhao Yun, while Chunming is the helpless A Dou, dropped on his head and made stupid forever.”

Ye Chang burst out laughing. Chunming had truly been struck while lying down. His temperament was a little dull and slow, especially in study. Among the children learning in the valley, he was now the poorest student; not only did he fall behind Xiang’er and Cinu, even the six children Ye Chang had brought from Chang'an had now surpassed him.

Yet Chunming was not truly foolish. In errands and helping out, he was very quick-witted, and especially in managing household affairs, he learned at once. At times Ye Chang would silently sigh; this boy was born to be a steward.

“What have you prepared for tonight?” Ye Chang asked.

“I’m not telling Master yet. When the time comes, Master will know.” Xiang’er still wanted to keep it secret from him.

The New Year’s Eve celebration in Wolong Valley was exceptionally lively. Ye Chang had played many tricks and arranged quite a few amusements himself. He prepared six riddles for the New Year, and whoever guessed one correctly received a prize. The rest, young and old alike, each prepared a performance of their own: there were solo songs and even foreign whirl dances, and every performer received a keepsake.

Naturally, just as in other households of the Great Tang, a fire was kindled in the courtyard, known as a "heavenly torch," and broken brooms and the like from the house were thrown into it before midnight. It was said that this would keep the granaries from being empty. Worn-out shoes from the household were also buried early in the yard, said to help produce sons destined for office.

Because his grounds were so spacious, many relatives, including Lady Fang and her son, came there to keep the year together. When midnight arrived, bells rang from the Ten Directions Temple in the distance, and those keeping vigil rose one after another, exchanging words of good fortune: phrases such as “may blessings extend into the new day, and celebrations endure without end” or “with the first new joys of blessing and celebration, may life and rank be prolonged.” They bowed and paid respects in abundance, and only then did everyone disperse and return home.

Such joy and bustle let Ye Chang truly experience a New Year’s Eve in the Great Tang.

The only thing that felt somewhat lacking to him was the absence of the crackle of firecrackers. But there was a substitute: at cockcrow on the first day of the new year, the servants and family in the household rose from bed and thrust great bundles of green bamboo into the blazing courtyard fire, and at once a sharp popping and cracking began.

Besides setting off all-natural firecrackers in the courtyard fire, the household also raised tall poles in the various yards of the valley, binding long cloth pennants to the tops. These were called banners.

Ye Chang too rose early, urging Xiang’er and the others to read for a while, symbolizing that the plan for the year lies in spring. Then he heard someone calling for him. Opening the door, he saw Cinu charging in, then steadying himself and bowing with the solemnity of a little adult: “Your nephew Cinu pays New Year respects to Uncle.”

After saying this, he really did bow. The little fellow had a proper, disciplined air, looking very much like a boy who could manage a household.

Ye Chang was very fond of this little nephew.

“Cinu, Uncle has prepared a big red envelope of New Year money for you today, but it won’t be easy to get. I’ll give you a problem to test you. When you solve it, you may take it.”

As far as he knew, the Great Tang had no custom of giving New Year money on the first day, so he was blazing a new trail.

“Please ask, Uncle.”

“If one is added to two and then to three, and so on up to one hundred, what is the sum?” Ye Chang said.

Just as he finished posing the problem, there was a burst of noise at the front gate. Immediately after, the younger relatives from the same clan in Wuzebei, along with children from every household, surged in. With so many people, it became lively at once, and Ye Chang happily had Chunming and the others bring out sweets and pastries, letting everyone take what they wished.

Several large platters of fruit were set out, and these younger relatives and children were not at all shy. They went from house to house bowing and knocking their heads in greeting, all for the sake of these good things to eat. Moreover, Ye Chang spared no refinement in food; the pastries made in his home were the most delicate of all, and he did not stint on sugar or salt, so everyone stuffed their sleeves and pockets to bursting.

When the children had all departed, Xiang’er smiled and said, “They all know our pastries taste good, so after paying New Year respects to the clan leader, they came together to our house.”

“These little sly ones. I wondered why they came so early,” Ye Chang laughed.

That was how the New Year was: only with bustle did it feel festive. Yet without the scattered crackle of firecrackers, it still lacked something. Ye Chang guessed that no one else would be coming for the moment, so he called to Xiang’er, “No good. They’ve taken away quite a lot of our food, and we must eat it back or we’ll be at a loss. Come on, let’s go pay New Year visits too!”

“But paying New Year visits means kneeling and bowing. Besides the few households where the elders are all of very high seniority, how many families in Wuzebei are worthy of Master’s bows?” Xiang’er said, unconvinced.

“So long as we can come back with food, the bowing can naturally be done by you and Chunming in my place.”

“I knew it!”

Xiang’er muttered, but she was very pleased at the prospect of running off to other houses to exchange New Year greetings for treats. The children may not truly have cared only for the food, but that atmosphere, that bustle, was what they genuinely wanted. In that nearly playful excitement, they learned the rites of China and the art of Chinese social life.

But just as Ye Chang and the others reached the gate, they froze.

It was Ye Zhi, the man Ye Chang had to call Uncle, who had blocked the entrance with a group of craftsmen.

“Could they have come just to demand wages?” Chunming muttered.

“Nonsense. When has our master ever withheld wages? He always says laborers have it hard and wages must not be delayed,” Xiang’er shot him a glare. “Stop talking nonsense!”

Ye Zhi and the others had of course not come for wages. They had come to offer New Year greetings. Over the past year, they had taken many commissions from Ye Chang, and these dozen or so craftsmen had also learned new skills from him. Wuzebei still had fairly simple customs, and since all of them had benefited from Ye Chang, they had forgotten age and rank, coming early in the morning to pay him New Year respects.

Naturally, they did not need to kneel. A respectful clasp of the hands and a few words of good fortune were enough, and Ye Chang was rather overwhelmed by the honor. Soon their attention shifted to the door guardians and New Year pictures he had pasted up. Some among the craftsmen were literate and recognized the names of the figures in the paintings, especially the New Year pictures. Ye Chang had borrowed from later generations’ picture-story books, and what he printed was a complete tale. Though the artwork was crude and the engraving not especially fine, everyone either read aloud or listened with relish.

In this age, not to mention common folk, even the entertainment of scholars was too limited; that was why Ye Chang’s football play had swept through Chang'an. Picture stories were even better, suitable for old and young alike, and that was why they were so captivating.

Not long after they dispersed, Ye Chang was preparing to visit the clan leader, his sister-in-law, and the elders of the clan, but just as he reached the gate, dozens more people arrived together. These were households that had benefited from the irrigation channel. All of them had received Ye Chang’s kindness, and so they had not forgotten the source of their good fortune and came first to pay him New Year respects.

Wave after wave of New Year visitors revealed Ye Chang’s influence in the area. There was no way he could even leave in the morning. By afternoon, people from neighboring villages who had once offended Liu Fengyin also came to pay New Year respects. This was their silent way of thanking him for bringing down the Liu family. In this way, only by evening did Ye Chang have time to go visit the elders of each household one by one.

By the next day, even more people were coming to Wolong Valley. Many of those who had come the day before went back and spoke of the novelty of the New Year pictures. A great many people, so long as they could in some roundabout way claim a connection to Ye Chang, came eagerly to see the wonder for themselves. After he understood their purpose, Ye Chang did not know whether to laugh or cry: these New Year pictures were, in truth, just picture-story books, and he had been preparing to release them onto the market for the New Year. He had not expected them to become an advertisement in his own home.

“No wonder Eleventh Brother said that picture-story books appeal to both the refined and the common, and that even those who cannot read can look at them with great delight. At the time I thought he was boasting, but now I see it is really true.”

By the fourth day of the new year, people were still coming to Wolong Valley. Ye Chang had no choice but to paste the New Year pictures onto wooden boards and place them in the small pavilion at the valley entrance for all to view, assigning only Cui Xiujing to keep watch. Lady Fang, who had come to pay him New Year respects, saw this and teased him on purpose.

“Sister-in-law, do not mention it. These past few days many people have already asked me for these New Year pictures. Some of the bolder, thicker-skinned ones even want to tear them away outright. For this reason, Cui Xiujing has argued with people several times, and I had no choice but to send Wu Guli as well,” Ye Chang complained.

“So the resourceful and ever-planning Ye Eleventh Brother also has troublesome moments,” Lady Fang said with a smile that was not quite a smile, her gaze faintly ambiguous. “Eleventh Brother, in a few days I will bring some ladies over to see the New Year pictures. Do not send us out to the pavilion as well.”

“The people you bring, Sister-in-law, how could I dare mistreat them? I will surely receive them with the greatest courtesy,” Ye Chang said, feeling a slight stirring in his heart and dimly sensing that something was off. “But which ladies does Sister-in-law intend to bring?”

“You’ll know when the time comes. By then, make yourself look bright and splendid, and do not tarnish your name.”

“Wait!” Ye Chang felt that his sister-in-law’s expression was not quite right; it seemed oddly familiar. After thinking for a long while, he suddenly remembered: in his former life, when he was still unmarried and those eager people were always trying to arrange matches for him, they wore exactly this expression whenever they arranged blind meetings.

“Sister-in-law, you’re not planning to bring that... that young lady from the Zhang family in the county town, are you?”

“Eleventh Brother, rest easy. I am not bringing only the Zhang family girl,” Lady Fang said with a smiling look. “These days, if I went searching for families wanting to marry their daughters to you, there are not ten, there are at least eight. Naturally I must choose the best. I have already told them: tomorrow, please have all the young ladies gather together, and then you may choose as you please. Whichever one you pick will be the one!”

Ye Chang stared blankly. “Sister-in-law, no!”

“Cannot be no. In the past you could still wriggle out of things by relying on the third branch, but now that you have returned the collateral branch to us, the matter of marriage is naturally mine to decide for you!” Lady Fang said without the slightest politeness. “You’re not young anymore. There must be a wife in the house. Xiang’er is still too little; if you wait another three or five years, then you may do as you please with her, but not now. I will not permit you to lay a hand on her!”

In the Tang, customs were open and unrestrained, which was why it was the backdrop for such romantic tales. Lady Fang, thinking that Ye Chang was already capable of dreaming such dreams, was eager to arrange a marriage for him. But Ye Chang truly had little interest in it.

As for Xiang’er, even in three or five years she still would not be fifteen. Ye Chang felt he could not yet become such a beast.

“Sister-in-law, let us not speak of this for now. My standards have grown high, and within Xiuwu County, I’m afraid...” he began.

“Do not talk of standards growing high. One marries virtue in a wife, and beauty in a concubine. Don’t tell me you have your eye on that Lady of the Twenty-Ninth Rank!” Lady Fang’s eyes widened slightly. “I warn you, none of the Li family’s daughters are easy to deal with; most of them are disasters in human form. Do not ruin yourself!”

Ye Chang could only scratch his head. But then an idea struck him.

“Sister-in-law, it is truly that in the dream I had in years past, an immortal told me I must not marry too early, or calamity would surely follow...”

“Do not try to fool me with that. If it were true, why have you never mentioned it before?” Lady Fang saw through his trick at a glance. “Eleventh Brother, since your elder brother is gone, the only men in our line are you and Cinu. Our branch is already thin in number, and Cinu is still young. If you do not quickly leave behind heirs, how am I to have the face to meet your parents-in-law and your brother?”

Ye Chang was truly powerless now. Very well. As a supreme expert with one hundred and eight experiences of blind meetings in another life, he might not be good at winning girls’ hearts, but he certainly knew how to make them dislike him.