The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 136- 138

Chapter 136: The Apprehension of Jia Zhong

“They regard him as a legendary war hero worth worshipping,” explained Ling Zhang in a resigned tone of voice. “This morning, I had some men stop them from doing that. Dai Cheng is still in Tanyang. This kind of doings of the residents would never escape the notice of Dai Cheng. If news of it reaches the emperor’s ears, there would almost definitely be some extra trouble.”

He had been left powerless to comment on the deeds of those residents.

This time, Xie Shi understood. He said, “This kind of things are not without precedents, which is why the Marshal almost always keeps his identity secret to others to avoid attracting any attention, unless he’s in the border area or the capital city.”

“Do you have any ideas?”

Xie Shi thought for a while and then said, “Maybe you can try distracting the attention of those residents. It won’t be long before the Marshal returns to the capital city.”

‘Distracting the attention of those residents?’ Ling Zhang started pondering over it.

“Hey, everybody, that Jia Zhong of Jia family was caught and escorted back. Let’s go and see!” somebody on the roadside suddenly yelled.

This news immediately drew the attention of a lot of residents. Ling Zhang also instantly looked in that direction.

“At the west city gate. They have already entered the city!”

‘They’ve entered the city?’ Ling Zhang reined in his horse.

“Childe Ling, should we go and take a look?” asked Xie Shi.

Ling Zhang twisted his head around, flicked a glance at the horse-drawn carriages behind him and thought for a while before answering, “Let’s go back home first.”

‘Grandfather and others are not going to be happy to see that guy. Today is the day of their return. They deserve a good mood. Since Jia Zhong has already been apprehended, he’s definitely going to be held in custody in the Prefecture Yamen. Grandfather can see him at any time,’ thought Ling Zhang.

However, as chance would have it, they had just walked out of the street near the north city gate when they encountered the escorts that had entered the city through the west city gate.

The procession of escort was very long. Surprisingly, apart from Yamen runners dispatched by the Prefecture Yamen, there were also garrison from that town. Ling Zhang could tell with half an eye that those garrison were the ones who had helped with the hunt for Jia Zhong after receiving the message of Yuwen Tong.

“Is that Jia Zhong? They caught him?” Ling Xingzhong opened the curtain of the carriage, looked in that direction and saw that there seemed to be someone in a white prison uniform sitting in the prison wagon. Judging by the figure of that man, he believed him to be Jia Zhong.

“They are passing by in a while. Let’s wait and see,” replied Ling Zhang.

Since they had already encountered the escorts, Ling Zhang decided that they might as well take a look and find out.

The team of escort was getting closer. The man in the prison wagon was sitting still with his head down. The Yamen runners leading the way at the head of the procession recognized people of Ling family and raised their hands to signal those behind them to halt. The head constable in charge of the escort task walked up to Ling Zhang and made a bow with hands folded in front, saying, “Childe Ling.”

“Head Constable Li.” Ling Zhang also briefly folded his hands in front as a gesture of courtesy. “Thank you for all the efforts you’ve put into this task.”

“You’re too courteous. Jia Zhong committed unforgivably evil deeds. It’s my duty to bring him back to face justice,” responded Head Constable Li. Then he looked at the horse-drawn carriage and asked, “This is…”

“My grandfather.”

Ling Xingzhong opened the carriage curtain to look out the window.

Head Constable Li paid his respect to Ling Xingzhong and said, “Okay, then. If you’ll excuse us, we have to resume escorting Jia Zhong to the prison.”

“Of course. Please go ahead, Head Constable Li,” replied Ling Zhang.

Head Constable Li gave a smile and then raised his hand to gesture the procession to progress.

A man dressed like a deputy commander flicked a curious glance at Ling Zhang and nodded when his eyes met Ling Zhang’s.

Ling Zhang also politely gave a bob of his head.

The Prison wagon slowly approached. When it reached the front of people of Ling family, Jia Zhong was still silently sitting unmoved, his head down.

Ling Zhang was somewhat surprised. Under no circumstances would the Jia Zhong he knew stay indifferent in the knowledge that people of Ling family were present.

“Wait a moment.”

Head Constable Li instructed his men to stop. “What’s the matter, Childe Ling?”

“I’m sorry to bother you, Head Constable Li, but I’d like to have a quick word with Jia Zhong,” said Ling Zhang.

Head Constable Li had Yamen runners beside the prison wagon make way. Ling Zhang rode up to the wagon and called the name of the man in the prison wagon. “Jia Zhong.”

The man in the wagon made no reaction.

The surprise in him deepening, Ling Zhang knitted his brows and, with an intention to provoke him, said, “Are you longing to see your elder brother in the prison? Has it ever crossed your mind that some day Jia family would end up this way?”

Jia Zhong slightly moved but still didn’t look at Ling Zhang.

“Jia Zhong, Childe Ling asked you a question. Answer it!” A Yamen runner heavily swung his whip at Jia Zhong.

The whip landed on Jia Zhong’s arm. Originally it had been aimed at Jia Zhong’s body, but he parried the blow in time.

Ling Zhang knitted his brows and suddenly asked, “Head Constable Li, would you please open the door of the prison wagon?”

After a brief trance of surprise, Head Constable Li answered in awkwardness, “Childe Ling, if by any chance Jia Zhong escapes…”

“Jia Zhong could use neither his hands nor his shoulders. Where could he possibly flee to? Besides, there are so many people here.”

Eventually, after hesitating in embarrassment for a short while, Head Constable Li agreed and instructed his men, “Open the door of the prison wagon.”

“Please be careful, Childe Ling. He might try to hurt you.”

“I know,” replied Ling Zhang, watching as the door of the prison wagon was opened.

Surprisingly, Jia Zhong remained still in the corner with his head down, as if totally unconcerned about what was going on around him.

Ling Zhang dismounted from his horse, walked up to the prison wagon and looked at Jia Zhong. After carefully sizing him up, he said in a cold tone of voice, “You’re not Jia Zhong. Who are you!”

“What?!” His words dismayed everybody.

“That’s not possible. Is there any chance you are mistaken, Childe Ling? This man is indeed Jia Zhong,” observed Head Constable Li watching Jia Zhong in the wagon after quickly walking over.

“Jia Zhong knows nothing about kung fu, but just now, when the Yamen runner swung the whip at this man, he anticipated the direction of the blow before the whip hit him, slightly moved his body and parried the blow with his arm. Though he did it deftly and the movement was fairly subtle, I saw it distinctly.

On top of that, given Jia Zhong’s constitution, such a long and tiring journey in harsh conditions would definitely have taken a toll on him, and his breathing should have been much heavier than before, but this man’s breathing is light –lighter than that of most people standing here, actually. His constitution is a hundred times stronger than that of Jia Zhong!”

“Identify yourself! Now!”

Instantly, Head Constable Li and his Yamen runners whipped out their sabers and pointed them at the man in the prison wagon.

Others around the wagon took a few steps back and nervously stared at the prison wagon.

Finally, the man sitting in the prison wagon slowly raised his head, and people were greeted by his face which looked exactly the same as that of Jia Zhong.

“Thi–This man is indeed Jia Zhong,” someone said.

“I am. How can you be so sure that I have no kung fu skills? I just never told anybody about it, Childe Ling.”

The man’s voice was almost identical to that of Jia Zhong as well.

But Ling Zhang still snapped, “You are not! If Jia Zhong is to conceal his kung fu and make himself seem like a common person, his internal energy has to reach the peak of perfection. Otherwise, he could never hide it from us for such a long time. And if Jia Zhong’s internal energy is really that good, how did he come to be seized? Who are you exactly? Where is the real Jia Zhong!”

Before Jia Zhong left Tanyang, Yuwen Tong had unblocked Ling Zhang’s meridians, which had greatly enhanced his power of observing. He had seen Jia Zhong before, so of course he remembered how Jia Zhong’s breathing was like.

Besides, this man’s attitude was also suspicious. Jia Zhong would never have reacted in this way. ‘This must be some kind of trick!’

“Moreover, it’s not impossible for one to alter their appearance and voice,” added Ling Zhang.

Having seen what the bodyguard of Yuwen Tong could do with disguise skills, Ling Zhang would never be easily deceived by someone’s appearance and voice.

“Ha-ha. It has never crossed my mind that my disguise would be seen through by a childe in Tanyang. It seems that I was not careful enough.”

The “Jia Zhong” inside the prison wagon suddenly let out two ghoulish laughs and made these remarks. His voice had changed drastically.

“Watch out, Childe Ling!” Xie Shi, who had been standing behind Ling Zhang all along, suddenly yelled. With that, he smacked his hand down on to the saddle, took a flying leap forward and exchanged a palm strike with the “Jia Zhong” who had abruptly sprung out of the prison wagon swishing towards Ling Zhang head-on!

Surprisingly, after exchanging this palm strike, both of them landed on to the ground and uncontrollably took a couple of steps backward.

“Who are you that can parry my palm strike?!” Finally, face of that “Jia Zhong” changed.

Xie Shi also had a rather grave expression. “Childe Ling, this guy is no common kung fu practitioner. Go and get help. I’ll keep him busy and buy you some time.”

Ling Zhang nodded. After thinking for a while, he instructed Wang Dashan, “Elder Brother Wang, form up and join hands with Guard Xie.”

“Yes, Young Master!” replied Wang Dashan, waves of thrill running through him.

Ling Zhang had taught them the second and the third arrays of the Trap-and-kill Formation these days. They had developed a high level proficiency and had been looking forward to sparring with any of the bodyguards of Yuwen Tong. This occasion happened to be a golden opportunity for them.

“Brothers, form up!”

With a string of concentrated footsteps, the twelve security guards immediately ringed both Jia Zhong and Xie Shi.

“Liuzi, go back to get help,” Ling Zhang instructed Yang Liuzi.

Yang Liuzi gave a bob of his head and immediately rode away.

After being surrounded, the impersonated Jia Zhong sneered, “You are just a bunch of fledglings. You think you stand a chance of stopping me with your average kung fu skills?”

Xie Shi, calm and collected, didn’t bother talking with that impersonated Jia Zhong. He directly launched an attack.

The two men instantly fell into a tangled fight. There were several occasions when the impostor was within an inch of getting out of the encirclement ring but, surprisingly, was forced back.

The impostor was astonished. “This can’t be happening!”

“Humph. This is so happening. Your kung fu is nothing compared with that of Marshal Yuwen,” Qiu Bing observed sarcastically, holding his weapon.

“What?” Before the impostor could make a response, Xie Shi threw a palm strike at his head, leaving him no choice but to immediately somersault backwards.

“Letting yourself be distracted is going to get yourself killed,” commented Xie Shi flintily.

Trapped in the formation and reduced to passively defending against Xie Shi’s attack, totally powerless to get out of the ring of encirclement, the impersonated Jia Zhong was sweating buckets with anxiety.

Ling Zhang’s face was colder than that of anybody. Since Jia Zhong had been at large for such a long time, he had always known that something was not right. And now, things did go awry. He wondered exactly how Jia Zhong had managed to have this kung fu expert come to his help.

“Head Constable Li, where did you seize this man?” Ling Zhang asked Head Constable Li.

Sweat was trickling down the forehead of Head Constable Li, who could only imagine how heavy a toll this mistake would take on his career prospects. On hearing Ling Zhang’s question, he hurriedly wiped the sweat off his face and replied, “I caught him in the courier station in that town. At that time, Jia Zhong had already gathered the corpse of Jia Yuanling into a coffin, planning to transport it back to Tanyang. When we arrived, they had not received any messages from Tanyang yet and were unaware of what had happened in Tanyang, so we apprehended this man without any trouble. It has never crossed my mind that…”

He was too concerned to finish his sentence.

A piercing look fell across Ling Zhang’s eyes. If he had failed to see through this impersonated Jia Zhong and he was sent into the prison, there would have been unimaginable consequences, since Jia Yin and some other members of Jia family were still in there under custody.

Given the excellent kung fu and disguise skills of this old man, his intention was, without doubt, to enter the prison and rescue those people!

In other words, no matter how Jia Zhong had convinced this old man to help him, his purpose was definitely to rescue Jia Yin and the others.

‘Is there any chance Jia Zhong is hiding somewhere nearby and watching at this moment?’

Ling Zhang immediately looked around, carefully sizing up everybody on the scene. All of a sudden, his gaze rested on someone among the crowd.

Chapter 137: You Want to Kill Me? Go to the Underworld and Wait

That was a man disguised as a rich, middle-aged merchant, who had a couple of attendants with him and was standing among the crowd gazing in this direction. On the surface, he appeared very curious, just like any of the residents looking on around the scene, but the nervousness and anxiety in his eyes were manifest. He stared fixedly at the impersonated Jia Zhong who was being surrounded and attacked. When it was clear that the impostor wouldn’t be able to break through the ring of encirclement, he made an attempt to worm his way out of the crowd, which was an unmistakable indication that he was trying to flee.

Most importantly, the figure of this merchant bore an uncanny resemblance to that of Jia Zhong!

Ling Zhang summoned Head Constable Li and whispered something into his ears. Eyes of Head Constable Li lit up and he beckoned all Yamen runners over with a wave of his hand, who then followed him into the crowd.

Ling Zhang swung himself into the saddle, gazing in that direction.

Eyes of the man dressed like a rich merchant encountered Ling Zhang’s and immediately moved away, as if he was hiding a guilty secret. Seeming to have come to realize that his identity was about to be exposed, he tried harder to elbow his way out of the crowd.

If Ling Zhang had been only seventy-percent sure before seeing this, now he was ninety-percent sure of it.

Head Constable Li was eager to make amends for the failed task by some good services, so this time he took exceptionally quick action. Soon, he and his men ringed the crowd that the rich merchant was among. Gradually, onlookers near the merchant sensed that something was not right and fled the ring of encirclement in alarm one after another. Yamen runners slowly gained ground and soon the rich merchant and his attendants were the only ones left within the ring of encirclement.

Having come to the realization that he had been surrounded, the rich merchant still intended to bluff his way out. He followed in the wake of others trying to flee the encirclement but was held back by Head Constable Li.

“Well, Officer, would you please be so kind as to let me through? I have some urgent business to attend to and need to get out of the city right away.”

“Get out of the city? Are you sure you’re not making haste to flee?” asked Head Constable Li aloud, staring at the merchant angrily, his eyes carefully appraising him up and down. Having taken warning from the trick of the impostor, he wouldn’t take anybody for what they seemed once again.

“You must be joking, Officer. We did no wrong. Why would we try to flee?” replied the rich merchant, an obsequious smile on his face. “I really have some business of urgency to attend to and must get out of the city. Any delay will cause me heavy losses.”

After saying this, he fished out a signed check and tried to stuff it into Head Constable Li’s hand. “I’d greatly appreciate it if you do us this favor.”

Head Constable Li sneered and pushed the signed check back without even glancing at it. “Jia Zhong, this is what you want to buy me with? You think I’m stupid?”

The look on the rich merchant’s face changed, his eyes trying to dodge contact with those of the head constable. “Pardon my ignorance, Officer, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Is there any chance that you are mistaking me for someone else? I’m a traveling merchant from Yan Zhou. We’re just passing through on our way to another city. If this offer of mine is not generous enough in officer’s eyes, I’m willing to double it. Would you please be so kind as to let us through?”

As the severity of the disturbance behind him built up, beads of cold sweat appeared on the forehead of the rich merchant, the anxiety on his face deepening. Seeing the unsympathetic expression of Head Constable Li, he doubled his offer once again.

Head Constable Li was almost swayed. If it weren’t for the knowledge that failing to seize Jia Zhong would reduce him to facing dire consequences, he might have accept the money. In a harsh tone of voice, he yelled, “Jia Zhong, how dare you attempt to bribe a government official! Submit to arrest right now!”

‘What? Jia Zhong?’

His yelling attracted the attention of all onlookers, who soon gathered around the spot. Those garrison who had escorted the prison wagon to this city also encircled the area ring upon ring, leaving the rich merchant nowhere to flee to.

“What do you think you are doing? You failed to catch Jia Zhong and you want to randomly make someone else a fall guy? You think being a foreigner makes me a soft target? Are all Tanyang people bullies ignorant of the law?!”

Uncertainty appeared on faces of residents around the scene as they heard his words.

Ling Zhang, who happened to have just walked over, stared at him flintily and said, “We’ll find out whether you’re a merchant or a criminal once your fake face is ripped off.”

“What do you mean? You would make this place a kangaroo court and inflict torture here? Is the local government really going to watch this happen?! This is outrageous. I demand an audience with Lord Tao!”

However, no matter how loud he yelled, Yamen runners around him remained indifferent. Even those garrison troops from another town also stood still. Residents looking on were swayed, but none of them said anything. They just looked on.

“You!” Anxiety on the face of the rich merchant went deeper and deeper, his eyes darting back and forth to see if there were any gaps that he could take advantage of.

“What are you waiting for, Head Constable Li? Rip off his mask,” said Ling Zhang.

Head Constable Li gave a wave of his hand and with that a dozen Yamen runners threw themselves forward, seized the rich merchant and brought him to the ground.

“Somebody help! You are not getting away with this!” Restrained, the rich merchant was still yelling. He was pinned with half of his face against the ground and, through a gap between Yamen runners, caught sight of Ling Zhang and stared fixedly at him, the expression in his eyes instantly ferocious and murderous.

Ling Zhang flicked an apathetic glance at him and then watched as Head Constable Li fumbled on his face. Eventually, he found a crease, pinched it and heavily ripped the mask off!

“Ouch!” The fake face was torn off and the man let out a pained screech, but meanwhile the disguise on his face was thoroughly removed.

“I knew it was you, Jia Zhong,” Ling Zhang sneered, watching Jia Zhong whose true face had been revealed.

“My goodness. That’s really Jia Zhong.”

“His disguise was so good. I could never have seen him through.”

All residents around the scene exclaimed in astonishment and fell into discussion with each other, pointing at Jia Zhong.

After being dragged to his feet, Jia Zhong spat heavily in the direction of Ling Zhang and then blustered, “Ling Zhang, you snot-nosed fledgling. Enjoy this victory while you still can. I swear I’ll take your life with my bare hands!”

“You want to kill me? Go to the underworld and wait. I’m afraid spirits of those wronged and killed due to your evil doings have been expecting you in the underworld, eager to throw you into the depths of purgatory.” Ling Zhang looked at him coldly.

“Jia Zhong, your family committed numerous crimes. Both you and your elder brother have been condemned to decapitation. Your execution is to be carried out in three days,” reprimanded Head Constable Li.

Jia Zhong’s face abruptly paled visibly. “That’s not possible!”

“Humph! Three days later, you’ll find out whether it’s possible or not!”

“Jia Zhong, so many people have died at your hands, yet you still have the fond hope of getting away with it? Stop dreaming!”

The conversation jogged onlookers’ memories of the day when those remains of miners were carried back to the city on wooden boards. All of them went indignant and started cursing and throwing things at Jia Zhong.

The indignation of those residents was overwhelming. Jia Zhong was hit constantly on the head by all kinds of things and couldn’t even speak.

Ling Zhang secretly felt a sense of relief in the knowledge that Jia Zhong had finally been caught. A while ago, when he found that the man in the prison wagon was an impostor, he could feel his pulse throbbing in his throat.

“Watch out!” somebody suddenly yelled.

Ling Zhang failed to react in time and was knocked down to the ground by a great force. In that instant, he only saw Jia Zhong’s hideous, murderous face and the dagger raised high in his hand. “Go to hell!”

Taken aback, Ling Zhang rolled himself aside. Jia Zhong’s dagger brushed past him and slit his arm, bringing burning pains spreading all over him.

After the first blow missed the target, Jia Zhong raised his dagger intending to gave a second stab. This time Ling Zhang wouldn’t be able to dodge. The sharp, wicked-looking dagger was abruptly thrust at Ling Zhang!

“Die!”

Bang!

Suddenly, a kick sent Jia Zhong flying high and then heavily landed on the ground with a loud bang mixed with the sound like that of bones breaking. Jia Zhong spat out a mouthful of blood, briefly convulsed and then fell still.

Ling Zhang, still badly shaken, was scooped up by a pair of strong arms, and with that, faint, familiar fragrance enwrapped him, worming its way into his nose.

“It’s okay now.”

A familiar voice immediately consoled him and Ling Zhang’s rapid heart rate slowly returned to normal.

He turned around to look at Jia Zhong who was lying still on the ground. “What had just happened? How did he come to attack me?”

Yuwen Tong carefully held Ling Zhang’s wound, an icy look on his face.

Sweating buckets, Head Constable Li walked over in fear. “Jia Zhong suddenly bit the man restraining him, fished out a dagger and wounded another two. He was very fast and they failed to stop him.”

Ling Zhang cocked an eye at those men and, as expected, saw that two constables were holding their wounds which clearly had been caused by Jia Zhong’s dagger.

“You must clean the wound and dress it carefully after returning,” said Yuwen Tong in a deep voice.

People around the scene were still suffering from a delayed reaction to the shock. The corpse of Jia Zhong on the ground, in particular, made them so nervous that they were involuntarily trying to keep their breathing shallow.

“I’m Mu Fang. It’s a great honor to bow before you, Marshal.” Right at this moment, the deputy commander, who was in charge of the team escorting the prisoner back to Tanyang, walked up to Yuwen Tong and made a bow with hands folded in front. “I’m guilty of negligence. Please mete out punishment to me, Marshal.”

His words sent a ripple of gasp through the crowd. Everybody was shocked even more and didn’t dare to make any sounds.

All of them had been looking forward to seeing Yuwen Tong for a long time. Now Yuwen Tong was right in front of them, yet none of them dared to walk forward to take a close look.

Too concerned about the injured arm of Ling Zhang to stay in this place any longer, Yuwen Tong, with a cold look on his face, instructed Mu Fang, “Help transfer Jia Zhong’s body to the Prefecture Yamen and then meet me in Ling family.”

“Yes, Marshal!” Mu Fang answered with his head down.

“Yao Yi, go and give Xie Shi a hand.”

“Yes, Marshal.”

Yao Yi joined Xie Shi’s fight against the impostor and soon overpowered him.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had returned to the horse-drawn carriage of Ling family. Ling Xingzhong, who had already got off the carriage and was heading in their direction, saw the wounded arm of Ling Zhang and also became worried. “Send for Physician Lin. Tell him to go to my place.”

A servant hurriedly ran in the direction of Physician Lin’s house.

“Let’s go back.”

Ling Zhang nodded.

Ling Maomao was also woken up by the noises outside. He got out of the horse-drawn carriage and was greeted by the sight of his wounded elder brother, which drained all the color from his face. Eyes red, he looked at the injured arm of his elder brother and called, “Elder Brother.”

“I’m okay. It’s just a minor injury. Get in the carriage. We’re going back,” Ling Zhang consoled the boy.

Ling Maomao inclined his head, watched in worry as Ling Zhang was guided into Ling Xingzhong’s carriage, and then hurriedly get into his own carriage. “Let’s go home. Hurry.”

Fu Caiwei also had a frown of concern on her face.

When they returned to the residence of Ling family, Physician Lin also arrived. He examined Ling Zhang’s wound, cleaned it, applied drug to it, dressed it and then informed Ling Zhang, “It’s just a superficial injury. You’ll fully recover in seven days, eight at the latest. Be careful and try not to use this arm during this time.”

“Okay. Thank you, Physician Lin.” Ling Zhang’s face was somewhat pale. The process of applying drug to the wound had been rather painful.

All members of Ling family were present. On hearing the words of Physician Lin, they all sighed in relief.

Yuwen Tong carefully settled Ling Zhang’s arm on the bed, his face still rather flinty.

Chapter 138: The Occurrence of a Squabble

After the other members of his family left, Ling Zhang held Yuwen Tong’s sleeve. “Stop being angry, okay?”

“Given your enhanced sensory ability, you must have sensed it beforehand when Jia Zhong launched an attack. Why didn’t you sidestep him?”

Yuwen Tong was indeed angry, but what he felt more strongly was a panic fear after the incident. The very thought of that attack still sent fits of scare through him. What could have happened had he not arrived in time? He didn’t dare to imagine the answer to this question. Though having witnessed countless deaths on battlefield, he couldn’t bear the thought of the same thing happening to Ling Zhang.

“It was just a momentary lapse of concentration. It had never crossed my mind that Jia Zhong would be able to free himself so quick, given that he had no kung fu skills and was under restraint.”

Ling Zhang lowered his head in self-accusation and annoyance.

After watching the guilty look in his eyes and his pale face for quite a while, Yuwen Tong heaved a sigh. “You face is very pale. Have some sleep. I’ll wake you up when the medicine is ready.”

Ling Zhang raised his head to look at him, his hand still holding Yuwen Tong’s sleeve.

“It won’t happen again. I promise.”

He himself had also been through terrible horror this day. He was not afraid of being hurt, but being hurt in this way was pointless and had also scared everybody.

As Yuwen Tong saw that Ling Zhang was still holding his sleeve, his heart melted, leaving him powerless to lay any more criticism on him.

“All right.” He took Ling Zhang’s hand and enwrapped it in his palms. “Sleep. I’ll stay here with you.”

Realizing how he had just behaved, Ling Zhang was already somewhat embarrassed –too embarrassed to accept Yuwen Tong’s offer of company. He was not a young boy like Maomao and didn’t need anybody’s company after suffering a minor injury, so he tried to withdrew his hand. “That won’t be necessary. Isn’t Mu Fang waiting for you out there? You should go.”

But his attempt to withdraw his hand failed, because Yuwen Tong didn’t let him.

“Let him wait. Given that he failed to see through the impostor, I think I’m going easy enough on him by merely keeping him waiting.”

“That old man’s disguise was excellent, and Jia Zhong was far from an acquaintance of them, so it’s unsurprising that they got the wrong people.”

“Don’t clear them of responsibility.”

After saying this, Yuwen Tong released Ling Zhang’s hand.

Believing that he was going to leave, Ling Zhang couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed, but then he saw that Yuwen Tong began undressing. Surprised, he asked, “What are you doing?”

“I want to sleep with you for a while,” replied Yuwen Tong in an exceptionally natural tone of voice. After taking off his overgarment, he quickly got in the bed, lay beside Ling Zhang, moved Ling Zhang’s head from the pillow onto his arm and naturally put the other arm around Ling Zhang’s waist. “Sleep.”

Ling Zhang fell speechless with embarrassment.

But remarkably, Yuwen Tong’s presence gave him a feeling of comfortableness that he had never felt before. Before long, he really drifted off to sleep. After a certain amount of time, he was woken up, drank a bowl of medicine and then fell asleep again.

When he awoke again, Yuwen Tong was already gone. He believed that he must have left after waking him up and watching him drink the decoction.

Xia Feng walked inside, helped him get dressed and then brought him some food.

“Where’s Yuwen Tong?”

“The Marshal is having a conversation with Master in the ante-room. After leaving in the afternoon, he had come back here to check on you several times for fear that you might have a fever.”

After a brief while’s silence, Ling Zhang uttered “Um” and then asked, “How’s everything going out there?”

“Jia Zhong’s body has already been transferred to the yamen. It is rumored that Jia Yin raised a stink in his cell, but Lord Tao made him shut up. As regards that old man who impersonated Jia Zhong, Guard Yao neutered him of his kung fu and threw him into the prison.”

Ling Zhang relaxed safe in the knowledge that everything had been properly handled.

“There’s another issue. I’m not sure whether I should tell you,” said Xia Feng in a somewhat hesitant tone of voice.

“What is it?” Ling Zhang looked at him in puzzlement.

“Since you got hurt, the Marshal flied into a temper and punished all those who were on the scene but failed to keep Jia Zhong under tight control. He had a cold look on his face all day. We’re all very afraid.”

Ling Zhang asked, “What kind of punishments did he mete out to them?”

“For Head Constable Li and most of his men, it was six months’ unpaid work plus flogging. That General Mu was rebuked and a lot of people heard it. The Marshal also seems to have written a letter and instructed him to take it back to a competent authority which will mete out penalty to him. And…”

“And?”

“Captain Wang and his men were also punished. The Marshal said that Captain Wang and his men were on the scene with you and should have kept you safe, but they put first things last and none of them was by your side when you were in danger. He observed that they were brainless and had them run in the guards’ yard carrying large rocks on their heads. They are still running at this moment.”

“They are still running?”

Ling Zhang was startled. It was already dark and had been six, maybe eight hours since his arm was injured!

“We have to go to the guards’ yard right now,” Ling Zhang hurriedly said.

“Be careful, Young Master. You’re still recovering.” Seeing him got up very quick, Xia Feng was taken aback and sprang to his support.

“I’m fine. Go and tell them to stop. Hurry. They were trying to stop that impostor under my orders. Surely there was nothing wrong in following my instructions?” Ling Zhang felt that even if Yuwen Tong had had reason to punish them, he shouldn’t have gone this far.

Ling Zhang was bursting with impatience to go to the guards’ yard, but he had just walked out of the door when Yuwen Tong came back.

“Where are you going?” Seeing Ling Zhang was trying to go outside putting his overgarment on, Yuwen Tong knitted his eyebrows.

“I’m going to the guards’ yard. It was me who had Elder Brother Wang and the others surround the impostor. They were merely following my orders.”

Yuwen Tong’s face fell sulky as he saw that Ling Zhang was so anxious and, heedless of his injury, wanted to go to the guards’ yard to “save” those security guards. “You think they don’t deserve to be punished?”

“At least they did nothing wrong. If anybody is to be blamed, it should be me. It was me who was being careless.” Ling Zhang looked at him.

“Protecting you was their first priority, but they put first things last and went to fight with some insignificant person, leaving your safety aside. If I don’t punish them this time, would they ever learn from their mistakes? Would they remember to take their brains with them when going outside? Inflexibly following orders is the only thing they’re capable of. You were already out of their sight but none of them had the sense to be flexible and make appropriate adaptations. They hadn’t the faintest idea of what they should do the most. What use could this kind of security guards possibly be of? You might as well send them packing right now.”

Yuwen Tong’s remarks drained all the color from Ling Zhang’s face. He knew what Yuwen Tong said was right, but that incident had happened without any warning. Who could have anticipated that Jia Zhong under restraint would manage to free himself and hurt him?

“Like I said, this time it was my fault, not theirs. Even if they are partially responsible, you’ve already punished them. It is night already. They are kung fu practitioners, but they’ll collapse if they run for any longer.”

“Collapse? If they are so useless as to collapse after running for such a short time, what else could you count on them to do?”

No matter how pale Ling Zhang’s face turned, Yuwen Tong refused to listen to reason.

“How could they compare with you? They have no potent internal energy, only some fighting skills. How is it possible for them to run such a long time?”

Yuwen Tong stared at him with a sullen face. Eventually, he said, “Go back to your room.”

“I’m going to the guards’ yard.”

Without making any further remarks, Yuwen Tong directly scooped up Ling Zhang and walked towards his bedroom.

“You–” Ling Zhang tried to push him aside, but the moment he raised his hand, sharp pain shot up his arm and his face changed drastically.

Yuwen Tong stopped and looked at him, a frown on his face. “Stop fidgeting.”

“Put me down. I need to go to the guards’ yard. You’ve punished them already. Even if their inflexibility was some kind of mistake, they’ve paid their price by running for such a long time, so would you please let them stop?!”

Wang Dashan and his men blindly worshiped and trusted Yuwen Tong, and they no doubt had followed Yuwen Tong’s instructions without any hesitation and might even be deeply self-condemned. They definitely wouldn’t stop unless Yuwen Tong told them to.

Ling Zhang struggled and the wound in his arm reopened under the strain and began to bleed again, dyeing red the cloth wrapped around it.

Yuwen Tong fixed him with a stare for quite a while and then said, “I’ll tell them to stop. You are to redress the wound immediately or I’ll have them keep running until tomorrow morning.”

Ling Zhang breathed a sigh of relief in the knowledge that Yuwen Tong was willing to let them stop.

After redressing the wound, Ling Zhang, bursting with impatience, looked at Yuwen Tong with the intention to have him give the order.

Seeing this, Yao Yi, who had specially come over to help Ling Zhang redress the wound, couldn’t help but inform him, “Actually, the Marshal had instructed them to stop before he came here.”

Amazed, Ling Zhang abruptly shot a look at Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong had a sulky face, keeping silent.

Instantly, a blend of emotions rose in Ling Zhang –regret, self-accusation, guilt…

“I’m sorry. I was unaware of it. I thought you were having them running all along.”

Xia Feng on the side directly knelt down to the ground. “It’s my fault. I got the wrong message.”

Ling Zhang gazed at Yuwen Tong, his mouth a thin line.

Yao Yi let out a sigh, gave Xia Feng’s arm a pull and winked at him. After a brief trance of surprise, Xia Feng hurriedly rose to his feet and walked out of the room with Yao Yi.

“I apologize. It’s my fault.”

But Yuwen Tong replied, “No, it’s not. If it weren’t for that I knew you would be worried, I would indeed have ordered them to run until midnight.”

Ling Zhang rounded his eyes looking at him.

“You’re getting mad again?”

Ling Zhang hastily shook his head. “No. I was overreacting just now.”

“I won’t be soft on them, not when they are still working as security guards of Ling family, and you know why.”

Ling Zhang kept silent for a few moments and then inclined his head. “I do.”

After thinking for a while, he rose to his feet, walked up to Yuwen Tong, let out a soft cough and then, lowering his voice, in a softened tone, observed, “If you’re still mad at me, I’m willing to accept punishments of any form. You may even have me run like my security guards did. What happened just now was all my fault. I–”

Before he could finish his sentence, Yuwen Tong lowered his head and kissed him, his arms around him. The kiss was more intense than all the previous ones they had had.

Ling Zhang, who didn’t dare to move his injured arm, quietly put the other arm around Yuwen Tong’s back.

Yuwen Tong merely paused fleetingly, and then began kissing him even harder.

Except for the occasional faint crackling emanating from the lighted candle, the sound of their kiss was the only sound in the room, which sounded exceptionally distinct.

As a pink blush rose to Ling Zhang’s ears, he began having difficulty thinking clearly. After all, he had suffered an injury earlier this day, and his mind had been fairly unclear all along.

Having sensed this, Yuwen Tong slowly withdrew his tongue, released his lips and looked at him, flames of desire in eyes.

A moment ago, when Ling Zhang had ventured to walk up to him and apologize in a tender voice, he had felt an overwhelming urge. ‘If only he would be so tender forever. In that case, I would be able to have him by my side all the time and I wouldn’t let any harm come to him,’ he thought.

Ling Zhang’s liquid eyes, as sparkling as stars in night sky, stared at the flames in Yuwen Tong’s eyes. Mind still fairly unclear, he didn’t withdraw his gaze like before, as if fascinated.

Yuwen Tong secretly gave a soft sigh, raised his hand and covered his eyes. “If you keep gazing at me this way, I might not be able to control myself.”