Ten years

After two months of travel, Meng Yuan returned to his home in Qingping County, where his father, elder brother, and sister-in-law were already waiting.

That year, nine years had passed since Meng Yuan enlisted, and eighteen since his affair with the Cheng Household's young mistress.

Time had flown. Meng Yuan was no longer the young itinerant wheat harvester he had once been, but a marquis in the flesh.

"I always said my brother-in-law would amount to something!" His sister-in-law no longer scraped the bottom of the pot or brought up his dalliances with widows. She merely held her son and daughter close and gazed pitifully at Meng Yuan.

They were family, and they had been supporting his elderly father all along. Meng Yuan could hardly give them the cold shoulder. He warmly greeted his sister-in-law, then gave them land and money.

Meng Yuan also laid on a grand feast for the local people and received the respects of the elders from the surrounding villages.

Old acquaintances he had caroused with in Qingping County came calling too, hoping to trade on their connections, but Meng Yuan turned a cold face on them and drove them all away.

Of course, Meng Yuan was also someone who repaid kindness.

"What are you doing? Stop undoing your sash! Why are you still wearing a pink bellyband? Yes, I liked it back then. But pink is such a tender, youthful color. How old are you now?" Master Cheng had brought Pan Shi to visit. Meng Yuan spoke to Pan Shi alone and gave her a thorough scolding, acting as though he had forgotten his roots.

Still, Meng Yuan secured Master Cheng's youngest son a future as a county magistrate and gave Pan Shi several gold hairpins.

"Your mother is a good woman! Raising you wasn't easy for her, but I won't keep her here tonight. Take her home and look after her properly. What? Your cousin is a widow? How old? Twenty-seven? You're trying to fob an old woman like that off on me? What sort of man do you take me for?" Widow Cao's son was already married. Meng Yuan gave him some gold and silver and pointed him toward a vacant county magistrate's post.

Master Huo from the martial arts school had treated him well back then, but his family could no longer be found.

"My lord, Dayong has followed you for so many years. You mustn't forget him!" Old Yang brought Yang Dayong to see Meng Yuan. "My dear grandson is eighteen already, and he still hasn't got a wife!"

Meng Yuan had kept Yang Dayong by his side all these years and treated him like his own son. He had long wanted to find him a good match, but the boy had never caught on.

"Which family's girl has caught your eye? Just say the word!" Meng Yuan looked every inch the loving father. "Even if she's from the Lü family or the Chen family, I'll put this old face of mine on the line and make the match!"

"Your eldest niece!" Old Yang already had someone in mind. "I think that girl's a good one. Things were so hard a few years back, yet she still grew up that sturdy. Just listen to that voice of hers. She's bound to be good at bearing children!"

Meng Yuan's elder brother had a son and a daughter. The daughter was already twenty, while the son was only seventeen. Neither had married because of the wars.

"Is Dayong willing?" Meng Yuan asked.

Yang Dayong rubbed his hands bashfully. "I'll do whatever Grandpa says."

So they had already taken a liking to each other in private! Meng Yuan settled the matter on the spot, and his brother and sister-in-law dared not say another word.

"When I was picking up wheat ears and collecting dung in the fields, he was still playing with mud made from his own piss. In the blink of an eye, he's grown this big! My marquis uncle arranged the match, so I'll do as my marquis uncle says!" His eldest niece was rather uninhibited.

He stayed in his hometown for a few months, held the wedding for Yang Dayong and his eldest niece, then took them all to his fief in Qu County. He moved into his newly built residence and began living as a carefree marquis.

Another three months passed before Lü Yinglong sent a letter saying he missed Meng Yuan and urging him to return to the capital.

Meng Yuan had no choice. After giving the local officials another round of instructions, he took Old Yang, Yang Dayong, and Yang Dayong's wife back to the capital.

Once he returned, Lü Yinglong wanted to give him an official post again, but Meng Yuan did not want to get involved in affairs.

"Our dynasty has only just been established. We ought to compile a history of the former dynasty to demonstrate the legitimacy of our great Lü."

"Your subject has no talent for governing. I am willing to compile the history of the Yu Kingdom for Your Majesty."

Meng Yuan had already thought it through. He was a marquis in this life; even if he became a prince in the next, there would be little point.

Thus, he might as well gather more secret manuals in this life and take a different path in the next.

Besides, Meng Yuan had seen repeated accounts in historical records stating that immortals had apportioned the various kingdoms two thousand years ago.

Meng Yuan had always taken this matter to heart and had asked about it far and wide. Everyone insisted with absolute certainty that immortals did exist.

Even Madam Chen had said that immortals had indeed apportioned the Eighty-One Kingdoms two thousand years ago.

Yet Meng Yuan had traveled to quite a few places, and never mind immortals-he had never even seen a mountain spirit or wild monster, nor experienced a ghost pinning him down in bed.

So Meng Yuan planned to gather secret manuals while also making more inquiries about immortals.

He could hardly sit idle, after all.

Now that Meng Yuan could no longer leave the capital easily, compiling a history provided the perfect excuse to search historical texts for clues.

"You love widows, martial arts, and reading history, sir. How could I fail to grant your wish?"

Lü Yinglong agreed on the spot and bestowed a large residence on him as well. Meng Yuan declined repeatedly but accepted in the end.

Meng Yuan got straight to work, immediately gathering people to begin compiling the history.

"Marquis uncle, you need to put your own house in order before you can go out and do proper work!" Two months later, his eldest niece came to see him.

She meant the management of his household.

Since the residence Lü Yinglong had bestowed was so spacious, Meng Yuan had been unwilling to leave the rooms empty and had taken in more women to fill them.

Although Meng Yuan had spent much of these years in the army, he had never charged into battle or suffered the slightest injury. He practiced martial arts without fail, and with the Chen Clan Evergreen Art as well, his health was excellent.

Of course, with both the dynasty and his household newly established, Meng Yuan had laid down rules. To prevent his concubines from competing for favor, he had someone find several sheep. Every evening, he rode in a sheep-drawn carriage, and whichever woman's door it stopped before was the room where he slept.

But before half a month had passed, all the women had learned to sprinkle salt outside their doors, robbing Meng Yuan of much of the fun.

Moreover, of his dozen or so concubines, half were widows and half were fresh young shoots. Their incessant squabbling gave him a headache. Meng Yuan had no intention of taking a principal wife, so the inner courtyard had remained without anyone properly in charge.

"You manage them! Their monthly allowances, food, clothing, and daily expenses-you handle it all! If anyone dares disobey you, bring out that rolling pin you use for making flatbread!" Meng Yuan immediately put his eldest niece in charge of the inner courtyard. After all, she had a loud voice and a rough manner. She really could keep people in line!

"Marquis uncle, then I really will take charge!" His eldest niece actually agreed.

"No!" Yang Dayong came to object to his wife.

He, too, had practiced martial arts since childhood. His talent was only average, but his fighting skills were actually a little better than Meng Yuan's.

Moreover, Yang Dayong was steady by nature and meticulous in his work. More importantly, he had followed Meng Yuan since childhood. Meng Yuan knew him inside out, and his loyalty was beyond question.

This time, it was not that Yang Dayong objected to his wife taking charge. After all, she was Meng Yuan's eldest niece and certainly trustworthy.

But Yang Dayong was also the chief steward of the marquis's household.

This would leave the estate taxes, farms, property, monthly allowances, income, and expenditure, along with all the orioles and swallows in the inner courtyard-every matter great and small-in the hands of the couple!

"You two will have to bear the burden!" Meng Yuan settled it with a word.

Meng Yuan had already planned it all out. More concubines meant more children. When the time came, he would make sure they never lacked food, drink, or clothing. For those suited to study, he would hire renowned teachers. For those suited to martial arts, he would use his connections to get them into major sects. Those who truly amounted to nothing could simply be kept like pigs.

He was not particularly close to his children. After all, he did not even know whether they would still be there in his next life, and if he cared too much about them in this one, grief and sorrow would be inevitable when the time came.

Sure enough, within a few days, the capital's gossips had spread the news. Many treated Marquis Qu's decision to put his eldest niece in charge of his concubines as a curiosity, saying that he was a country bumpkin after all and knew nothing of managing people.

Others said that with Yang Dayong and his wife controlling Marquis Qu's Household inside and out, trouble was certain to arise sooner or later.

"Everyone outside says you're going to line your pockets, so you really ought to pocket a little." Seeing that Yang Dayong was far too honest, Meng Yuan went to give him some guidance.

"I've already saved quite a bit of money. There's no need to embezzle," Yang Dayong said.

"You have to!" Meng Yuan said.

"Whose money would I embezzle?" Yang Dayong asked.

"Mine," Meng Yuan answered.

"And who would I give it to?" Yang Dayong asked.

"...Yourself! Use it to help with household expenses, buy land and shops, keep a mistress, keep women!" Meng Yuan was exasperated that this iron would not turn to steel.

"Buying land and shops is fine. My wife's mighty good. I'm not wasting money buying women." Yang Dayong was devoted to his wife, ten times more so than Meng Yuan.

Ten hurried years passed in the blink of an eye.

That spring, the capital acquired a new source of amusement. Yang Dayong, chief steward of Marquis Qu's Household and the husband of Marquis Qu's niece, had embezzled money, secretly purchased considerable land and shops, and even engaged in illegal dealings such as buying and selling official posts.

When the affair came to light, Marquis Qu flew into a rage and severely punished his niece's husband under the household rules, giving him a good many lashes.

Still not appeased afterward, Marquis Qu locked the chief steward up and said he would hand him over to the authorities the next day. Afraid that Marquis Qu intended to kill him, the chief steward fled that very night.

"I said long ago there would be trouble. Leaving a marquis's household, inside and out, in the hands of one married couple-is that proper? Is that proper? I think Marquis Qu has ridden those sheep until he's gone stupid!"

"Marquis Qu doesn't ride sheep anymore! Someone told him that riding a sheep-drawn carriage to visit his women overstepped his station. He finally realized it and made a special trip to beg the emperor's forgiveness!"

The story soon spread, and everyone laughed at the marquis's household.

Some who sought to curry favor even offered to help hunt Yang Dayong down.

Marquis Qu summoned men from the authorities to pursue him, but his eldest niece brought her three sons and knelt with them at the entrance, wailing at the top of their lungs. The grown woman cried, "Uncle!" while the little ones cried, "Great-uncle!"

Even Marquis Qu's concubines and children joined in pleading for mercy.

Sure enough, Marquis Qu remembered their old affection and stopped sending men after him. Yet he lost interest in everything, even abandoning his work on the history. He spent his days sleeping with women in the inner courtyard, and before spring was over, he had taken three more beautiful concubines.