Chapter 53

The chieftain returned home, and according to the servants, he went to the third wife's room that night, not to be affectionate, but to teach her a lesson. The noise was so loud that the eighth wife heard it in her own yard, and the third young master was so scared that he cried all night.

After hearing this, Yueming retreated to his own courtyard, staying quiet for a while, except for going to Yunkai's house to study. He even rarely went to pay his respects to Yintai, fearing he might run into the rare chieftain.

After all, he was still young, and after shrinking for half a month, he could no longer shrink. One day, Yunkai was reading in his study, and he sighed as he read: "I can be considered a successful student, but I am stuck in the mansion all day long, with all my skills but no way to display them. It's so lonely!" As he spoke, he glanced at Yunkai, hoping that he could understand the unspoken meaning of his words.

Yunkai wanted to roll his eyes. What do you mean you've achieved academic success? He can only speak but not write, and he only reads books with a blank look. He can't even read a single word, and yet he laments that he has no place to apply his skills. Lan Yueming has nothing but Han hypocrisy and no self-awareness.

Seeing Yunkai was at a loss for words, she could only speak more tactfully: "Second Young Master, do you think my Dai language skills are enough to bargain with those street vendors?"

"Hmm." Yun Kai took a sip of his tea, flipped a page, and said nonchalantly, "You can tell those street vendors that this is a fat sheep by talking and gesturing together!"

Feng Xiaosai wanted to laugh but didn't dare, and it was very difficult for him to hold it back.

Yueming frowned in dissatisfaction and said, "You still want me to call you brother? How can you be so mean to your sister?"

Yun Kai glanced at her and said, "Only a brother would be so earnest in explaining things to his sister. It's a pity that all the sisters in the world have the same brains and don't like to listen to reason."

"Hmph." Yueming threw the book on the table, his face stern, and prepared to go back to his yard.

"Hey, hey." Yun Kai hurriedly called her: "You've been in a bad mood recently. It's hard to talk to you."

Yueming pouted and said, "Studying is all about combining work and rest. I've been studying for so many days, it's time for me to relax. I used to have six classes in school and still have one day off!"

Yun Kai laughed out of anger. It was obvious that she was afraid of the master so she didn't go out of the house, but now she blamed him for forcing her to study.

The child was really hard to raise. He sighed and said, "It's impossible for me to go out and have fun these days. When the master comes back, I have to keep my tail between my legs for a while. As long as you don't leave the house, I will accompany you to play whatever you want."

Yueming tilted his head and thought for a while, then said to Yunkai, "Teach me how to smoke!"

Yun Kai thought he had misheard, and asked with wide eyes, "You want me to teach you how to smoke?"

Yueming nodded vigorously: "Well, I saw Yintai smoking a hookah, and the snoring sound was quite fun. Can you teach me?"

What a nagging child! Yun Kai wanted to grab her ears and yell at her like a dragon, but he knew better than to scold her that it wouldn't solve anything. He dared to scold her, and Lan Yueming retorted even louder than him. He consoled himself by saying she was just curious; she was still young.

What a little hammer! He decided to teach her a lesson she would never forget.

Yun Kai laughed in anger and said to Feng Xiaochong: "Miss Yueming wants to play with the hookah. Go to the kitchen and get her a small one to play with."

Feng Xiaosai was puzzled at first. Why would he go to the kitchen to get the hookah when it was in the side room? After all, he and Yun Kai had been in cahoots for years. Yun Kai gave him a look and he understood.

First, he went to the ear room and picked out a lighter bamboo chimney, then he took a piece of black charcoal from the ash in the kitchen and rubbed it around the chimney mouth with great effort.

The kitchen servant asked curiously, "Master Feng, what are you doing? How can you use it if it's dirty?"

Feng Xiaosai threw away the charcoal, fetched a ladle of water from the water tank, and used soap to clean his hands. Seeing that there were no flaws, he said to the servant, "It's not your job, why are you meddling in this?"

He took the pipe back to Yunkai's study, handed it to Yueming respectfully, and winked at Yunkai: I'll do exactly as you wish.

The pipe was higher than Yueming's knees. She sat on the chair hugging the pipe, feeling a little unsure where to start. She asked Yunkai, "How do I use this? Do I need to put tobacco in it first? Do I have any matches?"

Yun Kai smiled and said, "You haven't learned it yet. How can you put tobacco in right away? You'll choke. You should learn to inhale it first. There's water in it. You should learn to inhale the water first and then light the tobacco."

Yueming was half-believing and half-doubting how he was going to use it.

Feng Xiaosai enthusiastically helped her hold the chimney and pointed at the chimney opening: "Miss Yueming, just put your mouth on it."

Yun Kai was still directing: "You need to tilt your face a little bit, and don't show your mouth. If your mouth is exposed, you will leak air."

Yueming was confused. He took a deep breath and exhaled. A stream of water spurted out from the spout of the chimney toward Feng Xiaosai. Feng Xiaosai jumped away in haste. Yueming looked up in surprise: "Did I blow it out?"

Yun Kai saw a black circle on her face that looked like a beard surrounding her mouth. He laughed so hard that his intestines almost got tangled. But he still said to her seriously, "Use suction, not blowing."

Yueming put her face into the chimney again, trying different angles, and finally buried her nose in it. Feng Xiaosai didn't help her hold the chimney, and after trying for a while, her hands felt sore. She immediately lost her temper and said, "I don't want to learn anymore."

Looking up at Yunkai's face, she saw it was a little distorted. She thought she was too stupid and had angered Yunkai. She said a little embarrassedly, "This is too difficult. I'd rather not learn it."

Before him stood a large, clown-faced man with a nose as black as a raccoon's. He had to bite his cheek to stop himself from laughing. He spoke with difficulty, "If you don't want to learn, forget it. It's time to eat. Do you want to go with me to my wife's place?"

Yueming shook her head: "No, I'll go back to my yard to eat! See you tomorrow." After that, she waved goodbye to him.

As Yueming stepped out of the yard, the master and servant, one slumped in a chair with a smile, the other lying on the doorstep with a smile.

Yun Kai laughed so hard that his arms and legs went limp. He rubbed his belly, which was sore from laughing, and said secretly, "If I don't let you embarrass yourself, you won't know what to do and what not to do."

Yueming was also puzzled. Why did the servants who greeted her on the road always look shocked and then burst into laughter? Back in the yard, Ai Ye and Ye Hu were watering the flowers. Seeing Yueming's expression, they were so frightened that they couldn't hold the bucket steady. The water splashed into the bucket and wet her skirt.

Ai Ye screamed in shock: "Oh my lady, what have you been doing? How did you end up like this? Did the Second Young Master play a trick on you again?"

Yueming's heart skipped a beat as she recalled the strange looks she'd received on the way home. She hurried to her room, shoes in hand, and rushed to the mirror. She saw several large, interlaced black circles on her face, like the perspective of a sketch.

The hair on her head stood up when she thought about herself coming back with such a face. She quickly grabbed a handkerchief and rubbed it hard in front of the mirror.

The more she wiped, the more it became stained, until her face looked like it had been dug out of a pile of coal. She wiped as she cried, "Wow, wow, wow, this bad guy, Han Yunkai, wow, wow, this idiot is so mean."

After the master came back, he almost always ate in Yintai's room, and the two brothers Li Yang and Yun Kai also came to report every day.

During the meal, Yin Tai saw Yun Kaixin was absent-minded, sometimes covering his mouth with his hands to laugh secretly, and sometimes just eating the rice and laughing silently. She thought it was very strange. What great joy had happened to him?

Tonglin, who was standing by and serving, had already known from the servants why the second young master was so happy. Seeing that Yin Tai looked puzzled, he whispered something in her ear while serving her soup.

After hearing this, Yin Tai glared at Yun Kai and ordered Tong Lin, "Go and take that small fir-wood pipe with silver threads that I haven't used yet to Miss Yue Ming. Also take the two-liang package of gold-threaded cigarettes that Xiang Geng Yin Tai sent last time."

Before Tusi and Li Yang could understand what was going on, Yun Kai pushed the bowl aside and said, "Madam, why are you still helping her when she doesn't want to learn?"

Yin Tai glanced at him, and after having Tonglin pick up some food that was out of reach for her, she slowly said, "Smoking means you haven't learned your lesson? Let's not even talk about the ladies and young ladies in Yunxiang Mengquan. Just look at the women in the commoner villages. They don't have pipes tucked around their waists. Even the five or six-year-old girls in Lahu Village smoke. Are they all bad students?"

Yun Kai was so frustrated that he couldn't find any words to refute Yin Tai. In the end, he could only say, "I'm the one teaching Lan Yueming now. If I say no, then it's no."

Yin Tai glanced at him with a pointed look and said, "You haven't taught her much, but you're quite controlling."

Han Tusi and Li Yang figured it out and looked at Yun Kai in surprise. Yun Kai blushed at being looked at, and shamelessly defended himself, "What are you looking at? Don't let your imagination run wild. I just thought Lan Yueming was still young and wanted to set some rules for her."

After giving him a look that said, "Boy, you can do it!", Han Tusi discussed Li Yang's marriage with Yin Tai.

"I've thought about it for a few days and I think you're right. The Gengma Tusi has already married the Mengding Tusi, so there's no need for us to further strengthen the relationship. The Mengna Tusi has been getting along well with the Han people in recent years, and his son is thriving, so it's a good match."

When Yun Kai heard about the marriage, he quickly asked, "Marrying with Mengna? Who will marry? I won't do it!"

Yin Tai retorted angrily, "What are you dreaming of? Your eldest brother hasn't found a wife yet, how can it be your turn?" Then he changed the subject, "However, you are almost twenty, it's time for you to be found. Fortunately, you are not a girl. If you were a girl, you would be stuck in my hands and would never get married. When your eldest brother's wedding comes, I will see if there are any suitable Xiangkan ladies in the various mansions. If that doesn't work out, your uncle loves you, and Se Manli will definitely be willing to give her to you. You should hurry up and have a child to control your annoying temper."

Yun Kai breathed a sigh of relief when he heard he wasn't going to marry into the Mengna Prefecture. But when he heard his mother had already arranged for him to have a son soon, he quickly stopped her, saying, "Why are you being so ungrateful? Is Se Manli someone you can get along with? Why marry her? Bring her home to protect the family?"

Li Yang ate his meal in silence, wondering in his heart: Wasn't he being proposed to? Why did Yun Kai react even more strongly than him?

Seeing that the topic had veered so far that they had almost forgotten what they were discussing in the first place, Chief Han quickly brought the conversation back to the point: "The matter of Li Yang is settled. I will write a letter to Chief Mengna right away and have Tao Da deliver it personally."

After discussing Li Yang's lifelong affairs, he told Yin Tai another matter: "The chieftain of the Eighteen Tribes is coming to pay a visit to the mansion. I estimate that he should arrive in the next two days. Tell the servants to clean up the courtyard for the guests. Don't neglect them."

Yin Tai responded but then asked curiously, "What is this Baotou man doing here during this unusual time of year?"

Han Tusi snorted and laughed: "The British have occupied their mines, and I guess they want to borrow money and guns from me."

Hearing this, Li Yang asked, "Should we lend it to them?"

"Borrow your ass." Seeing his son ask such a stupid question, Han Tusi blew his beard and glared at him. "You've wasted your time studying. You've forgotten what happened to the Mengmeng Tusi family. Those Kawa people were protected by the Tusi, but in the end they even joined forces with the Lahu and Bulang to rebel against the Mengmeng Tusi. What's the point of helping him with such an ungrateful person?"

Li Yang was dissatisfied and said, "That was a hundred years ago. Even the Mengmeng chieftain didn't bear grudges, so why do you still remember them? Now that they are in decline, let's help them. If they can really take back the silver and lead mines from the British, we can also get a share of the profits, right?"

Han Tusi had eaten more salt than Li Yang had ever eaten rice. He couldn't imagine what Li Yang could imagine. He felt his son was still a bit naive. To those Ka Wa people, whether British or Dai, they were all outside their tribe. If he didn't give it to the British, would he willingly give it to the Dai?

At this time, Yun Kai spoke up. He put down his bowl, wiped his mouth with a cloth, and said, "I think what Big Brother said is right. Now that he needs our help, we can make an offer. If he's willing, we can lend a hand. If not, we can just treat it to a few days of food and drink for them. It won't be a big deal."

Han Tusi was surprised that his youngest son, who was as cunning as a sieve, actually thought Li Yang's words made sense. He asked in return, "What if Mr. Bao regrets his decision later?"

Yun Kai made a calming gesture. "Don't be impatient. Listen to me. Don't agree to this right away. First, the price is high, and second, Lan Yingde will be back in two months. When the time comes, you can discuss it with him and promise him some benefits so that he can hold up the army's tiger skin. Mr. Bao won't dare to go back on his word."

Yintai looked at him without saying anything, and Hantu fell into deep thought.

Li Yang was a little confused as to why Lan Yingde was involved in this matter. Yun Kai patiently explained to his elder brother: "Don't think that the Bao family member came to us out of desperation. He did it after careful consideration. Our uncle's family is part of the Commonwealth, and we have someone who has some influence over the British. Look at him and see if the Nationalist army stationed in Mengdong helped him when he opened fire on the British. Did they do anything? No! He came to us because we have guns and because he wanted to find someone to mediate with the British. He has occupied the silver mine for so long and has made some money. He should just stop while he's ahead. Third, Lan Yingde has some influence over the military in the southwest. The army in Mengning doesn't like him, but he has plenty of connections in Kunming and Tengchong."

After listening to his son's analysis, Yin Tai picked up the soup and blew it slowly, with a smile on his face.