Chapter 1 A Headache

Seeing Ye Wenxuan and Ye Wenji's serious expressions, Tan Weishi's head began to ache. A few years ago, Tan Weishi was just a happy girl, but now, she was already the mother of two children. However, Tan Weishi didn't dismiss the two children with an instinctive "no," but asked them to wait a moment before coming back, until she had finished reading the expense details of the Ye residence for the month, and then she would talk to them. Ye Wenxuan and Ye Wenji agreed, exited the room, and went to play with their younger sister. The Ye family's only daughter was named Ye Wenjun, and she was currently in a very awkward stage. Ye Wenjun had a good mind, like all the children of the Ye family, and her temperament was very similar to her mother, Dai Qiuyan: very serious, studious, and quiet. However, the clever Ye Wenjun's language skills were not yet sufficient to express her thoughts. Often, she couldn't clearly express her curiosity or her questions. And with a mother like Dai Qiuyan, Ye Wenjun, influenced by what she saw and heard, could explain things more clearly in the form of simple cartoons than she could by speaking. Naturally, the drawings of the two-year-old Ye Wenjun were extremely simple, usually containing only a few basic elements. But with Dai Qiuyan's deliberate cultivation, the house was filled with high-end art and crafts, and Ye Tao consciously nurtured this abstract inductive ability, the little girl was already quite formidable.

"Jun Jun, we're going to Benlang Plain. Do you want us to bring you anything back?" Ye Wenxuan asked.

Ye Wenjun was originally feeding her little dogs in the inner courtyard where small animals were kept. The Ye family's children were also well-known for liking to raise animals. The Tibetan mastiff that Ye Wenxuan raised was already one of the guards of the inner courtyard, and he would take it with him every time he left Ye Family Fort. Ye Wenji raised a nest of silver eagles. Although, because Ye Wenji didn't have much experience, only three qualified silver eagles were successfully raised from the original six silver eagle eggs, which could be used to send messages, Ye Wenji having three private messengers was unprecedented in the entire Yunzhou. Although most of the work was done by servants and specialized trainers, at least they all loved these creatures very much. And the Ye family greatly encouraged this kind of animal raising. Basically, if the child proposed it, it would definitely be agreed to, as long as they took good care of the animals and weren't just enthusiastic for five minutes. If they died or were neglected, they would have to think more carefully about any other requests they made. The Ye family used this method to give the children a basic concept of their own requirements and promises. Not only the Ye family's children, but also the more than one hundred children of different ages in the nursery, kindergarten, and primary school all benefited a lot.

Hearing Ye Wenxuan ask this, a look of doubt immediately appeared in Ye Wenjun's dark eyes. So Ye Wenxuan said, "Father promised to take us to see the hunt. When Grandpa Ge Lan came last time, he said that if we went, he would give us a few ponies. It has been ten years since there was a hunt on Benlang Plain to fight against the large wolf packs, and Father also said that in the future, there will be fewer and fewer wolves, and we can't hunt them casually. It will be very difficult to see this kind of thing again in the future."

Ye Wenjun's eyes turned, but she didn't speak. She ran to the maid standing beside her and tugged at the hem of the maid's skirt. The maid quickly bent down and, with a few strokes, drew a deer on the notebook and colored pencils she was holding.

Ye Wenxuan was stunned, and looked at Ye Wenji for help. He didn't know if there were any deer on Benlang Plain at all… He basically didn't know much about natural science. Ye Wenji smiled and seriously promised Ye Wenjun, "Jun Jun, you want a deer, no problem, we will definitely bring one back for you. Now is the breeding season, there are many fawns. But… it's not the same as what you drew. The deer on Benlang Plain seem to be bigger, and the horns are longer. Or, should we bring you a few gazelles? The gazelles' horns are very sharp, I'm just afraid that if I bring them back, Mom won't let you raise them."

Ye Wenji's words were a little difficult for Ye Wenjun to understand, and she tilted her head cutely and asked, "What is a gazelle?"

Ye Wenji was also stunned… He knew that he would definitely have to study cartography in the future, but his ability in this area was still zero. It would be easy for him to make a gazelle out of clay, but that was too troublesome now. He took Ye Wenjun's hand and said, "Let's go to Father's data room, we'll ask Uncle Xiao Ning for a picture of a gazelle."

Unexpectedly, asking for a photo would cause trouble. In Ye Tao's data room, there was indeed a photo of a gazelle, but it was placed in a stack of reports on various natural resources in and around Yunzhou. Before and after the gazelle information were descriptions of various animals on Benlang Plain with photos. Not to mention Ye Wenjun, even Ye Wenxuan and Ye Wenji themselves were fascinated by these things. Since the invention of the camera, this kind of information in Yunzhou had become more and more common and detailed. Many animals and plants had detailed descriptions of their attributes and living habits. Ye Tao himself didn't have much time to look through these reports made by the newly established Fourth Civil Affairs Office. Only the family knew that there was such a thing.

"Jun Jun wants to go too." The sky was gradually darkening, and they had to borrow this booklet of information from the data room. Ye Wenjun suddenly said.

Ye Wenjun was not being spoiled. Even as such a small child, she never said anything twice when she wanted something, but everyone would always try to find ways to do it for her. If there was something she couldn't have, they had to explain it to her clearly. But if they ignored her or deliberately敷衍 (fū yǎn – went through the motions with), it would definitely make little Jun Jun ignore them for a long time.

Ye Wenxuan and Ye Wenji looked at each other. Ye Wenxuan had no choice but to roll his eyes and say, "Let's go ask my mother first."

When the number of children coming to ask for instructions went from two to three, Tan Weishi's head hurt even more. When it came to asking for instructions on this kind of thing, Ye Wenxuan knew that his mother would only be stricter and more demanding on him, but she was always very easy to talk to with Ye Wenji and Ye Wenjun. From beginning to end, Ye Wenxuan had been the one speaking. And Ye Wenjun, it seemed, had already forgotten her request just now, and was eating her favorite yogurt on the side.

"Okay… I'll let you go." After carefully considering it and feeling that there was no danger anyway, Tan Weishi agreed. "When are you planning to leave? I'll arrange for the guard team to prepare."

"No," Ye Wenxuan said confidently, "It's no fun with the guard team following. Mother, you can't get away, and it's no fun for the three of us to play by ourselves all the way. The other younger brothers are too young, we can't bring them along."

"What do you want?" Tan Weishi asked with a smile. "You want to go by yourselves? I'm not at ease."

"Can you send fewer people, Mother?" Ye Wenxuan asked with a smile.

"Let me go." Guan Huan, who was standing on the side, rolled his eyes and said, "Since you're going to Benlang Plain, call Zhe Luo, he's the local. And call Dai Shizong, Big Brother Dai. Let those two female disciples of Sister Cao dress up as maids, they'll be more careful on the road. Call Old Sun as the driver. And bring two or three more guards, that should be enough."

Guan Huan just blurted out his thoughts. His status in Ye Family Fort was very detached. Although he was nominally attached to the guard team, his relationship with Ye Tao was still so strong, and the Ye family's children all called him Uncle Guan. And his arrangement could be considered relatively thoughtful. Since the little ones didn't want to bring many people, they naturally wouldn't be willing to take the airship. It was really interesting that they had the idea of ​​traveling incognito at such a young age. And this was also the reason why Guan Huan was willing to come forward to facilitate this matter.

"Okay…" Tan Weishi pouted and said helplessly, "Then let's do it this way. …Xuan'er, you're in charge of the accounts along the way. If the money runs out, you give me back right away, understand?"

Ye Wenxuan was stunned for a moment, then happily said, "Okay, okay." This was the first time he was in charge of the accounts. He was very sensitive to numbers, and he had finally gained his first economic trust. And Tan Weishi just smiled faintly and said to Ye Wenji and Ye Wenjun, "You two, record what you see and hear along the way. Ask more questions when you encounter things you don't know. If you can't write, let Uncle Guan do it for you, understand?" Ye Wenji nodded quickly and said, "Wenji understands." And Ye Wenjun nodded vigorously.

Tan Weishi wouldn't really hand over all the matters to a few such small children to handle. But this was a good opportunity to let the children see the outside world for themselves. Anyway, with Guan Huan and the others around, nothing could happen. Tan Weishi felt that if she told Ye Tao about this, Ye Tao would definitely be very interested. Ye Tao and the others were too busy now, maybe they needed this kind of small thing to adjust.

After a day of preparation, the three children of the Ye family set off, surrounded by Guan Huan and Zhe Luo, two great experts, and seven guards, two women and five men. And their first stop was naturally Ningyuan. There were many reasons for this. The most realistic problem was that Tan Weishi was very shrewd and didn't give them enough travel expenses. Ye Wenji and Ye Wenjun didn't know much about the prices and values ​​of various things, but Ye Wenxuan knew. He knew very well that if they spent money the way they had when they went out to play with their father a few times before, they would probably have to ask for help before they had gone halfway and run back in disgrace. He needed to save money in various ways. He had learned a lot about money from what he had seen and heard in the accounting room. And he had also collected some things to use for promotion. For example, when they walked into the Ningyuan main store of the Ru Family Chain Inn, Ye Wenxuan's eyes rolled around, and he took out a silver-pressed card from his pocket, and slapped it on the counter in an old-fashioned manner, pretending to be mature and saying, "Shopkeeper, are there any rooms available?"