Chapter 3 The Day Before Departure

  Yang Wenjing ran back to her own courtyard, looking a bit unnatural and flustered along the way. It was as if she had secretly taken chocolate from the cabinet and was afraid of being seen by her elders, but also felt a little excited.

  "Who would have thought that Yun Qi had such talent, yet he spends his days pretending to be a petty and stingy commoner? It's detestable! 'Spring sleep doesn't know dawn, everywhere the oriole sings, last night's wind and rain sounds, how many flowers fell...' This is really his work, he can actually write such poetry." At this time, Yang Wenxin was sitting in front of her dressing table, holding a wooden comb, muttering to herself. However, she didn't notice that from the reflection in the copper mirror, a girl who looked exactly like her, with a rosy face and a lovely appearance, was staring back at her.

  Yun Qi finally let out a sigh of relief, now all he wants to do is go back to the yard, light three incense sticks, and pay his respects to the ancient poets, and then pay his respects to his elementary school teacher. Now all he wants to do is shout at the top of his lungs: Too awesome! From now on, Yun Qi will turn over a new leaf and become the master! Ahahahaha! Too thrilled!

  "Hey, Master, what are you smiling foolishly about all the way?" Yang Wenguan was chilled by Yun Qi's smile and couldn't help but ask when they were almost at the door.

  Yun Qī looked at Yang Wenguan with a pleased expression and said in a pretended profound tone, "The Buddha says! It cannot be said!" After that, he quickened his pace.

  "Master, wait for me!"

  Two men, one in front and one behind, returned to the small courtyard. Yunqi, still in an excited state, unexpectedly pulled out a bow and crossbow. As soon as Yang Wenguan saw it, he hurriedly ran into the house to fetch crossbow arrows. After a while, the sound of "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" came from the courtyard. If Yang Ziting had seen the wall in the courtyard at this moment, he would have been furious and might have chopped them both to death on the spot.

  Yun Qi gradually calmed down, and suddenly thought of what the old man had said earlier about the prince wanting him to go to Huadu Palace. What was it all about? Yun Qi couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried. Later, he found that even his archery skills were not working properly, without any accuracy. He simply handed the bow and arrow to Yang Wenguan and said, "I have something to attend to, I'll head back to my room first." After saying that, he turned around and walked towards the small hut.

  "Oh." Yang Wenguang was still indulging in his hobby, and he didn't think that the two of them would take turns. Seeing Yun Qi voluntarily withdraw, he didn't even have time to bid farewell, so he didn't notice anything wrong with Yun Qi.

  Lying on the bed, Yun Qi closed his eyes, with a newly lit cigarette in his mouth, and his hands propped behind his head. His brain was racing: "What could the prince want to see me for this time?"

  "Not going to extort cigarettes from me again, are you? Shouldn't be... I already told him last time that it was the last five packs."

  "Could it be... that Shu is going to send troops to the Southern Kingdom?" A thought suddenly flashed into his mind, and he still remembered the last time the Crown Prince bid farewell to him outside the city. The Crown Prince had said to him at the time: If in the future war spreads to the Southern Kingdom, I hope you won't hide for your own safety, but will also contribute your own strength.

  Yun Qi really couldn't think of any reason why the prince would look for him, it was absolutely not because they hadn't seen each other in a long time, nor was it because he missed him. He himself acknowledged that his relationship with the prince had not reached this point yet.

  "Ah! It must be like this, no mistake." Yun Qi muttered to himself, and in his ears came the sound of Yang Wenguan practicing shooting bows and crossbows in the courtyard, suddenly a thought occurred to him: Ah! This time I might as well bring the bow and crossbow into the palace, recommend it to the crown prince, strive for its widespread use throughout the army. Not only can this improve the soldiers' close combat ability, but also... exchange some patent money with the crown prince, simply a win-win situation, haha."

  Thinking of this, Yun Qi decided to go to the carpentry shop again and make two more, one for Yang Wenguan and the other for himself, bringing the current one into the palace. Because last time Yun Qi saw a higher quality sandalwood in the carpentry shop that was much harder than the wood he brought, this time he prepared to spend more money, anyway the prince gave him a lot of gold, so he might as well make two good ones for himself.

  Without hesitation, Cloud Seven flipped over, reached under the bed and pulled out a gold ingot weighing at least ten taels. He left the house after greeting Yang Wenguang, saying he would definitely return before dinner, just like a carpenter going to work. Not long after, he arrived again at the Charming Hands Carpenter Shop, where he was still received by the same carpenter who called himself Charming Hands King. Upon learning that Cloud Seven wanted to make two more of those strange gadgets from last time, he hastily took out the treasured drawings that had been kept as a precious collection. Cloud Seven took one look and saw that it was indeed the drawing he made last time. He couldn't believe that the carpenter had kept it, but this was also good, saving him the trouble of spending more time on it.

  He took out ten taels of gold and put it on the table, seeing the carpenter's eyes widening in excitement. Yun Qi asked: "I saw that you had some high-quality sandalwood last time, so I want to use your materials this time. I don't know if this gold is enough?"

  "Enough, enough, sir, it's just..."

  The carpenter's face showed a difficult expression, and Qi Nian asked puzzled: "What's wrong?"

  "The carpenter's face turned slightly red as he said in a low voice: 'Sir, ten taels of gold is too much, I...I...can't make change here.'"

  Yun Qi heard and felt a sense of relief in his heart, thinking it was nothing serious after all. He had brought out ten taels of gold today without expecting to bring any back, so he said: "You do it, if you can satisfy me, I'll give you the ten taels of gold."

  The carpenter heard that, and it was indeed a big deal. This is ten taels of gold, his annual income! According to the price of one bun for one or two cents, one tael of silver can buy about 1,000 buns. According to the later generations' price of one bun for one yuan, one tael of silver is equivalent to about 1,000 yuan. And one tael of gold can be exchanged for ten taels of silver, so ten taels of gold are equivalent to 100 taels of silver, which is equivalent to 100,000 yuan in later generations. The carpenter said that it was not an exaggeration to say that it was his annual income. Making two crossbows would not cost so much money, even with the best materials. The carpenter was obviously making a huge profit, how could he not be excited? This is a pie falling from the sky! No! This is gold falling from the sky!

  But the carpenter felt a bit embarrassed, even if he used the best sandalwood to make it, it wouldn't be worth more than one or two taels of gold. He thought for a moment, wondering if he could come up with something else to give to Yun Qi, who was already considered a spendthrift in his mind. After thinking for half a day, he suddenly remembered that he had obtained some rhinoceros sinew from Wei State last year. This sinew made into bows and arrows was extremely powerful and of the highest quality. Although he didn't know what Yun Qi wanted to do with it, he had used cow sinew before, so he thought, "This time, regardless of good or bad, I'll just use these few rhinoceros sinews." Calculating the value, it increased to around five taels, which was enough to clear his conscience. So he said: "Sir, I have some high-quality rhinoceros sinew here, which is a rare treasure that only Wei State can produce. You are a generous person, sir, and I am willing to offer it to you without hesitation."

  Yun Qi also knew that rhinoceros tendon was indeed much better than ordinary cow tendon, and smiled in response: "That's great."

  The carpenter stopped talking nonsense, picked out some of the best wooden sticks from those materials, and started working busily. Yun Qi had nothing to do, still sitting on a small wooden stool, waiting boredly.

  This time, the carpenter who called himself "Handy King" was particularly meticulous, and this time he made two, so it took more than twice as much time as last time. When the two exquisite crossbows were placed in front of Yun Qi, the sky had already darkened completely. As soon as they walked out of the wood workshop, a light drizzle started falling from the sky. Fortunately, the crossbows were wrapped tightly in oilcloth, but Yun Qi didn't bring an umbrella with him and muttered to himself: "Bad luck." Holding the oilcloth package in his arms, he rushed towards the Yang residence.

  ……

  After dinner, Yun Qi was called by Yang Ziting again. This time the location was Yang Ziting's private study room. The study room was decorated with an ancient charm and extraordinary taste, with large and small books filling up a row of bookshelves, totaling over ten thousand volumes. When Yun Qi arrived, Yang Ziting was concentrating on reading a book and upon hearing the knock at the door outside, guessed it was Yun Qi and said: "Is that Yun Qi?"

  "Yes, sir!" came Cloud Seven's voice from outside the door.

  "Come on in!"

  Yun Qi stepped across the threshold and was immediately struck by the sheer number of books in front of him, which couldn't be described simply as "many". He exclaimed in admiration, then respectfully asked: "Sir, why have you summoned me?"

  Yang Ziting gently put down the book in his hand, looked up at Yun Qi and said: "Tomorrow after lunch, you will go to Huadu with me. Prepare some personal belongings, by the way, I have arranged for someone to make a new set of clothes for you today, it will be delivered tomorrow morning."

  Yun Qi secretly felt grateful for Yang Ziting's thoughtfulness and thanked him, saying: "Thank you, sir. I understand." At the same time, he thought to himself: Should I tell Master Yang about the bow and crossbow first? After all, he is now a member of the Yang household. If Master Yang finds out later, he might be displeased. But then again, Master Yang seems to dislike these kinds of weapons, so he decided not to mention it after all.

  Yang Ziting responded with a sound and said to Yun Qi: "Alright, nothing's wrong, you can go."

  "Yes! Sir!" Yun Qi turned around and walked out the door, closing it behind him. He looked up at the starry night sky and let out a sigh. He had ultimately been drawn into this after all. Was it true that people who traveled through time could never escape this kind of fate? In reality, he just wanted to be a wealthy merchant who counted his money until his hands cramped, slept until he woke up naturally, but found that fate was often not something he could control. He thought about it and let it go; rather than worrying about the future, he might as well live in the present.

  Just as he walked out of the hospital gate, he ran into Yang Wenqin coming from the opposite direction. Yun Qi was taken aback and instinctively called out: "Miss!"

  Yang Wenjing didn't respond either, just looking at him and saying: "Are you going to the palace in Huadu with Father tomorrow?"

  Yun Qi thought: How did you know? Was it you who was eavesdropping that day? But it's not good to ask this, so she replied: "Yes, I'll be leaving with Master tomorrow afternoon. Thank you for your concern, Miss."

  Yang Wenjing's face turned red after hearing that, and she couldn't help but lower her head, saying somewhat shyly: "Who cares about you, being overly sentimental." She then turned around and left.

  Gazing at the back of Yang Wenjin, he scratched the back of his head and muttered to himself: "Could it be... that this isn't concern?"

  …………

  (Second update is coming!! Has everyone found that today's two updates are over 3000 words? Haha... Mainly because Old Mo has been very busy these days, after work I still have to code words, and in the past few days the company's leadership came for inspection. As the head of the department, I had to accompany them all the way, sigh... I feel like I'm as depressed as Old Mo. Why did the young and beautiful female leader not come for the inspection?)