The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 430- 432

Chapter 430: Departing for Jiangzhou- A Longing for Reunion (IV)

“I’m going to miss you. Don’t sit in the consultation hall for too long. Eat your every meal on time. Don’t you ever stay up all night writing instructions on memorials to the throne. Go to bed when it’s bedtime.”

The moment Ling Zhang finished these words, Yuwen Tong lapsed into silence. The two of them just looked at each other.

Watching this scene, Yao Yi and some others in the doorway were desensitized somewhat. Their marshal had been changing by the day since he’d started a relationship with Childe Ling. After one of them became the emperor, and the other the consort, they’d started changing at an even more alarmingly fast pace. The two of them being like this was something they’d never seen before, but they were totally unaffected by it, and they didn’t care whether or not the two masters of theirs would do anything more shocking in the next moment.

At this time the right thing to do was look up into the sky and enjoy the bracing morning breeze.

They were all bachelors. Nobody would drum anything into their heads or miss them, so they were not jealous at all.

It was a long time before Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong finished bidding grudging farewell to each other, and it took Ling Zhang another long moment to walk out of the gates of the Infinite Fortune Palace, which he told Yuwen Tong should be the parting of the ways.

“You should go back. If you walk me any further, I wouldn’t be able to leave. Go back.” Ling Zhang firmly told Yuwen Tong to return.

Yuwen Tong stayed in the gateway of the palace, watching Ling Zhang’s receding back, his hands balling into fists behind him.

…

Ling Zhang didn’t dare look back. It struck him that this was the most difficult moment of parting he’d ever had. He hadn’t got out of the sight of the Infinite Fortune Palace yet, but he felt as though all his insides had disappeared.

Yao Yi, Wang Dashan and all the others had disguised themselves and were nondescriptly clothed. They left the imperial palace through a side gate with Ling Zhang. It was very early and nobody noticed them. Progressing forward, all of them kept silent, mainly because Ling Zhang was silent.

Yao Yi, Wang Dashan and their men all didn’t dare utter a word for fear of interrupting Ling Zhang’s train of thought. It was not until they exited the city and met Jiang Yu waiting for them outside that the mood lightened slightly.

Ling Zhang cast an appraising look at a middle-aged man dressed like a guard behind Jiang Yu. He could tell at a glance that that man had kung fu skills and internal energy.

“It’s an honor to kneel before you, Your Highness,” chorused Jiang Yu and the guard, getting on their knees.

“You may rise. There’s no need for formalities outside the palace. Just call me ‘Childe Ling’ as you used to,” said Ling Zhang.

“Yes, Childe Ling.” Jiang Yu rose to his feet and then introduced the man behind him to Ling Zhang. “This is my personal bodyguard Jiang Qi. He’s the only one I’m taking with me.”

Ling Zhang inclined his head. “Let’s go. It’s still early. We should start our journey right away.”

Jiang Yu looked at him. Seeing the listlessness in his eyes and his lethargic bearing, he guessed the reason for it. A sensible man, he didn’t make any remarks, mounted and followed in the wake of Ling Zhang’s team.

Two hours later. In the consultation hall.

Yuwen Tong’s mind wandered for a brief moment before he asked the man standing beside him, “What time is it?”

The man told him the time.

“They’ve probably crossed the city boundaries by now.”

The man beside him hastened to leave. After a while, he returned and reported, “Sire, a scout sent word that His Highness has crossed the city boundaries.”

“Um,” Yuwen Tong answered. When he resumed writing, the air about him was much colder. When officials of all descriptions entered the hall to attend the meeting, they noticed that Yuwen Tong appeared not as energetic as he used to be, that his whole being was radiating an icy emanation. All of them were scared and didn’t dare speak unless they were asked to, wondering what had happened.

After the court meeting was over, some of them fell into hushed discussion. “Did His Majesty have a fight with His Highness, by any chance?”

“But I didn’t get wind of anything like that.”

Yuwen Feng, who was walking beside them, gave a little cough and said, “It’s best if you stop speculating about His Majesty’s personal life, Your Lordships.”

The couple of courtiers smiled embarrassed smiles, not daring making any more remarks.

When they had gone far away, Yuwen Han walked up to Yuwen Feng, gave him a friendly cuff and asked, “Hey, why do you think His Majesty looks a lit down today?”

Yuwen Feng stayed silent for quite a while before he replied, “How am I supposed to know? Everything’s going well in the imperial court. No matter how heavy the workload is, it shouldn’t be a problem for His Majesty, so I think it probably has something to do with His Highness.”

Yuwen Han snickered, “Did they really have a fight, by any chance?”

Yuwen Feng rolled his eyes upward once again, feeling that this cousin of his was so gossipy, but he still gave it some thought and then responded, “It doesn’t seem like it. When did you ever see them quarrel? Given how touchy-feely things between them are, it’s next to impossible for them to have a fight.”

“Then what happened exactly? His Highness is ill?” asked Yuwen Han.

Yuwen Feng said, “If His Highness is ill, someone of the Ling family would’ve come to the palace in great haste some time ago.”

“You’re right. Things in the Ling Mansion are pretty normal,” observed Yuwen Han, fingering his chin. “This is so puzzling.”

“So they didn’t have a fight, and His Highness isn’t ill. What other possible reason could there be?” Yuwen Han continued.

Yuwen Feng inwardly responded, “There’s also parting.”

He was one of the few who knew that Ling Zhang earlier this day had left the capital city heading for Jiangzhou. This matter was supposed to be kept confidential, so he naturally wouldn’t breathe a word of it to anybody. However, having seen the dispirited state Yuwen Tong was in, Yuwen Feng couldn’t help but sigh in his head again, “Sometimes deep love also hurts.”

…

When it was almost midday, a eunuch came delivering lunch to Yuwen Tong. At the footsteps which issued from outside as usual but didn’t sound familiar, Yuwen Tong’s face went even colder.

The eunuch tremulously served the lunch and then hastened outside, waiting for the emperor to finish his meal.

Looking at the food on the table, Yuwen Tong thought of the dishes Ling Zhang would normally have cooked for him at this hour. Although these delicacies prepared by imperial cooks were appetizing in appearance, tantalizing in smell and delicious in taste, they struck him as quite bland. At this moment Yuwen Tong really regretted having allowed Ling Zhang to leave. This situation would last until Ling Zhang’s return from Jiangzhou, which was a few days away.

The very thought of this made Yuwen Tong’s resentment towards the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom deepen further, the expression in his eyes so wintry as though ice would drop from them.

Sensing the almost palpable icy air emanating from the man sitting in the consultation hall, all the secret bodyguards and imperial guards on duty nearby sighed. This kind of feeling struck them as somewhat familiar. It was as though they had traveled back in time to the days when they’d been in the borderlands a long time ago. Actually, after giving it some careful thought, they found that it hadn’t really been that long since the end of those days. However, they had taken a liking to the person that their master had been before meeting the empress, which was why they felt rather upset when they saw their master become the lonesome, distant man he used to be.

“I hope the matter of Jiangzhou would be settled quickly and the empress would come back soon,” someone said.

“I’m hoping for the same thing. Our master had a hard job finding a life worth living, and now he’s going back to his old self. Had His Highness seen this, he would never have left our master.”

“How about we go and bring His Highness back?”

“How about you do it alone?”

“…”

“I don’t have the guts to do that. I value my life pretty much.”

This remark brought the conversation to an end. Nobody uttered another word.

…

Ling Zhang, who was on his journey, had halted to take a lunch break. Yao Yi and the others, whose ability to survive in the wild was very impressive, figured out a way to make a pot of hot soup despite the poor conditions. They also had some cooked food.

Ling Zhang took a bite of the food and then looked at the color of the sky to gauge the time, slowing chewing. “Someone must’ve delivered lunch to the consultation hall by now, right?”

Yao Yi and the others paused at this question, and then the former quickly replied, “Yeah, yeah. Definitely. Rest assured, Childe Ling, nobody dares delay serving our master his meal.”

“Um,” answered Ling Zhang. The look in his eyes was still a trifle crestfallen, and he was eating rather slow, looking nothing like the person he usually was who always had a good appetite. Seeing this, Yao Yi and the others felt somewhat sorry for him. They knew that Ling Zhang liked to eat meat very much, that he could easily overeat when the food was delicious. The cooked food they were eating was Ling Zhang’s favorite, but he didn’t seem to be enjoying it at all, for his mind had wandered back to the capital city.

Yao Yi exchanged glances with the others, then ladled some steaming soup into a bowl and handed it to Ling Zhang. “Have some soup, Childe Ling.”

Ling Zhang inclined his head. “Put it here. I’ll drink it later.”

Yao Yi could tell that Ling Zhang was not in the mood for soup, that he wanted to return to the capital city.

Alas, they had got married already. Why did separation seem to be more torturous than it had been before they married?

Yao Yi and the others, who were all bachelors, really couldn’t understand. Why was this happening?

Jiang Yu was sitting on the side. Having been Ling Zhang’s adviser for some time, he knew very well how happy Ling Zhang usually was when having meals. This was his first time seeing Ling Zhang so listless. It was as though Ling Zhang’s separation from Yuwen Tong had really rendered the former incapable of feeling things.

Jiang Yu found that kind of feeling somewhat confusing, but Ling Zhang’s lethargic bearing struck him as bewildering and also fairly unpleasant. He slightly furrowed his brows and lowered his eyes, looking away from Ling Zhang. Though unaware of the reason why he was in this kind of mood, he perceptively sensed danger.

Ling Zhang was indeed not inclined to eat at all, but at the thought of the words Yuwen Tong had drummed into his head before his departure, he still filled his belly, despite his lack of appetite. He had to take good care of himself.

Chapter 431: Conveying Affection Through Letters

This time around Ling Zhang planned to enter Jiangzhou via Cangzhou. Now that Shan Congyi had planted some men in Cangzhou, they needed to locate these people and monitor Shan Congyi’s every move.

As for those killers in Jiangzhou, Ling Zhang had promised Yuwen Tong that he wouldn’t engage any of them, that he would let Yuwen Tong’s secret bodyguards handle them. If he broke his word, Yao Yi would have to take him back to the capital city immediately.

Meanwhile, several secret imperial edicts were delivered to Haizhou via Yanzhou. What with the detour, it took the messengers quite some time to reach the destination, though their horses were very fast. The commander of the Haizhou garrison had started deploying troops already.

…

Ling Zhang and the others, after riding hell-for-leather for six days, entered a county of Cangzhou adjacent to Jincang County of Jiangzhou.

They had traveled all the way from the capital city to Cangzhou, and Ling Zhang had been observing the situation in Cangzhou since he’d entered it. Due to the destruction caused by that armed popular uprising, burnt houses and broken walls could be seen everywhere in this prefecture. A lot of towns which used to be quite prosperous had had half of their buildings flattened in the previous chaos and were cloaked in an air of faded grandeur.

Standing in contrast with these were fortifications under construction and fields being plowed. Yuwen Tong had shown great kindness to the people of Cangzhou at his enthronement ceremony by issuing an decree exempting them from the next three years’ tax. Also, earlier this year the imperial court had allocated a sum for helping them rebuild their houses and restore their fields. In addition, the imperial court was preparing food supplies to see them through the winter. The food would be delivered to Cangzhou and distributed to local people before winter set in.

The incumbent Cangzhou governor was Xu Lingyun. After arriving in Cangzhou, Ling Zhang had heard a lot of local people talk about Xu Lingyun, all of whom had observed that he was a good official. Xu Lingyun, after taking office in Cangzhou, had taken a lot of measures, all of which had been beneficial to local people and aimed at improving their livelihood. Most of the troops of the General Zhongwu (AKA the General of Loyalty and Valor) were stationed near the two checkpoints on the boundary between Cangzhou and Jiangzhou. Ling Zhang had barely seen any soldiers in this prefecture. Everybody seemed to be occupied in resuming normal agricultural activities or rebuilding their communities.

With the subsidies provided by the imperial court and the tax exemption, residents felt that there was still hope. Although faces of most of them still registered apprehension, their eyes were no longer hopeless. As long as they held out hopes, they’d be able to move on with their lives.

Midway through his journey, Ling Zhang specially lingered in a small town for half a day. He walked around to take a look and for good measure offered some help to some of the residents. By talking with the townsfolk, he acquired more information. By night, he put all he’d seen and heard along the way in letters which were later delivered back to the capital city.

Staff members of courier stations always traveled non-stop to deliver his letters. As day after day passed by, letters piled up on Yuwen Tong’s desk.

Every time Yuwen Tong received a letter from Ling Zhang, he spent almost an hour reading it again and again until he learned every sentence by heart, and then he anticipated the next letter.

Yuwen Tong replied to Ling Zhang’s every letter with care. Every few days Ling Zhang received a letter from the capital city, in which Yuwen Tong kept reminding him to take care of himself. Those letters were even more long-winded than Yuwen Tong’s chatter the day he left the capital city, but Ling Zhang always carried them with him. Sometimes, when he missed Yuwen Tong badly, he would take them out to read them, and Yao Yi and the others would pretend not to notice.

The only one who still found Ling Zhang’s behavior shocking was Jiang Yu. There had been several occasions when his face took on an incredulous expression at the sight of Ling Zhang producing letters Yuwen Tong had written him in reply, probably because it’d really never crossed his mind that anybody could be so gooey.

But maybe owing to these letters that had been coming on a regular basis, Ling Zhang, who had found the separation unbearable at first, slowly got used to it.

Ling Zhang even told Yuwen Tong in the last letter that he could now sleep soundly at night.

Yuwen Tong in the faraway capital city read the letter word by word, his eyes wide open. When he got to the part where Ling Zhang said he’d been sleeping fast lately, he felt a sense of relief but at the same time couldn’t help but inwardly criticize Ling Zhang as “a heartless little devil”. Still suffering from insomnia, he believed that Ling Zhang had taken to the life there and started to have a blast.

It had indeed been quite some time since the last time Ling Zhang had taken a journey like this. Though he’d been traveling in a hurry all along, every person he’d met and every event he’d seen had brought changes to his opinions and the way he saw things without him realizing it, and he’d also learned a lot during the process unawares.

As a result, when he’d reached Jincang County, he’d felt a trifle regretful, thinking that if only he could keep traveling forward like this, that even a journey around the whole country didn’t sound like a bad idea. He had to acquaint himself with this country, otherwise the perspectives from which he saw many things would be inferior to other people’s. Apart from anything else, he was now the empress, and this position came with some attached responsibilities.

In a county of Cangzhou.

This place was close to Jiangzhou and also where the ancestral home of the Jiang family was located. It was at nightfall that Ling Zhang and his team quietly entered the county. Though plainly clothed, they were a fairly large group of people, so their arrival attracted many residents’ attention, most of whom had watchful expressions in their eyes, rather wary of this team of strangers from out of town. It was not until they noticed the group of people were unarmed and appeared friendly that they shifted their gaze elsewhere.

When they had arrived in this county, that middle-aged guard of Jiang Yu’s proved himself helpful. A native of this place, he spoke very fluent Cangzhou dialect and was familiar with every street and every alley. With him as the introducer, Ling Zhang and the others were soon accepted by local people and found themselves a residence to live in. This residence was quite large. The former owner’s whole family had moved to Yanzhou when the revolt had broken out in Cangzhou. After standing empty for some time, it’d been sold to someone else. Ling Zhang purchased it, shut the front gates and then started unpacking.

Ling Zhang and the others had been in disguise all along for fear of encountering Shan Congyi’s men, so none of them looked who they really were. Ling Zhang had posed as a man older than his actual age with a mustache on his upper lip, looking fairly dashing – a conclusion Ling Zhang himself had drawn after looking into a mirror.

Yao Yi and the others found it quite amusing that Ling Zhang on a daily basis looked into the mirror at his mustache and then smiled a smug smile. Ling Zhang had very little body hair and barely grew any mustache. Every time he saw his maternal grandfather’s mustache, he felt that it was very flattering. He’d been meaning to get a mustache like that for quite a few days, but he had no facial hair and it was in the genes, so there was nothing he could do about it. This time around, before they departed for this southern prefecture, Ling Zhang had specially had Yao Yi disguise him as a mustached man. He could look into the mirror at his mustache with a smug smile on his face for quite a while.

At this time he looked like a cheerful teenager.

“Young Master, your bathwater is ready. You may go and take a bath now,” Wang Dashan yelled into the house.

Ling Zhang replied, “I’m coming!”

His traveling companions were all men – rough men actually, and all the people he’d met during the journey were commoners, so Ling Zhang, in order to blend in and prevent himself from appearing conspicuous, had intentionally started mimicking them. Gradually, he’d developed some habits unawares which were far removed from his true identity as the Prince Consort of the Great Wen.

He took a change of clothes to the bathroom, comfortably had a bath, washed his hair, toweled himself, changed into clean clothes and dried his hair with his internal energy, feeling that all his tiredness caused by the long journey had ebbed away. Outside his house, Wang Dashan and the others were engaged in unpacking and cooking, the whole place buzzing with activity. Hearing the noises, Ling Zhang was in a dreamy state for an instant. It struck him that life in the capital city seemed to be somewhat distant now, but this was only because of the contrast between this life style and the one in the capital city. At the sight of the man in the imperial palace, the look in his eyes naturally changed and with that he let out a sigh. So many days had passed since his departure from the capital city. He wondered how Yuwen Tong had been doing recently.

Yuwen Tong was fine actually, aside from his constant eagerness to receive a letter from Ling Zhang. If Ling Zhang’s letter didn’t come in the morning, he would be sulky for the rest of the day, frightening all the courtiers out of their wits. If Ling Zhang’s letter came, he would be in a relatively good mood for a whole day, and all the courtiers would feel relieved.

In a word, every letter from Ling Zhang was virtually a lifesaver for all courtiers.

Ling Zhang was unaware that courtiers of all descriptions regarded letters from him as lifesavers. Although his departure from the capital city was still confidential, as he hadn’t shown his face in public for a long time, some astute courtiers divined what had happened, thinking that the emperor and his consort indeed loved each other very much, given that the two of them hadn’t seen each other for merely a few days, but the emperor was having such abrupt mood swings. His mood was like the weather in June, which could switch between a cloudy one, a rainy one, a stormy one and a sunny one in an instant. Their mental endurance was being put to the test.

It was such a sore trial to the courtiers that lately they had taken to gauging Yuwen Tong’s mood first before deciding whether it was advisable for them to say a few extra words. If the emperor seemed to be in a good mood, then they might leisurely make some more remarks, and those who had disagreements with each other could prolong their arguments by a few moments, but if the emperor appeared sullen, then nobody would dare talk more than necessary. Otherwise the emperor might dress them down or cast them glances icy enough to make cold sweat well up on their backs.

The air about the emperor was so powerful that the courtiers had no alternative but to learn to gauge his mood to figure out a correct way to avoid getting themselves executed.

The first thing that the empress, who was hundreds of miles away but affecting the emperor’s mood perpetually, did after his bath was sit down behind the desk in his room and start writing a letter, telling Yuwen Tong they had arrived in Jincang County and settled in already. He also put in his letter what he’d seen since he’d entered Jincang County. Believing that Yuwen Tong might not be able to find the time to come to this prefecture to observe the people’s condition, Ling Zhang gave Yuwen Tong a detailed account of what he’d seen, so that Yuwen Tong, after reading his letter, would be as informed as though he’d been here himself.

Ling Zhang was writing the letter with rapt attention when Yao Yi walked inside at dinner time. Seeing he was writing a letter, Yao Yi said in a quiet voice, “Childe Ling, dinner is ready. Would you like to eat with us or should I bring the food in here?”

Ling Zhang was warmed to his letter and didn’t want his train of thought interrupted, but he also felt it inappropriate to keep Yao Yi and the others waiting too long, so he said, “Bring it in here. You may eat without me.”

“Yes, Childe Ling,” Yao Yi answered and then brought Ling Zhang’s dinner into the room and put it down onto the table beside the desk. Seeing Ling Zhang had filled so many pieces of notepaper, Yao Yi was somewhat astonished. It would seem this master of theirs was going to have another super-thick letter delivered back to the capital city, but then he realized that the other master of theirs should be very happy to receive the super-thick letter. Thinking about this, Yao Yi involuntarily stroked the goosebumps on his arm. Though having got used to it, he was still shocked by the way his two masters displayed their affection.

Ling Zhang was unaware that his behavior was giving Yao Yi goosebumps once again. He was enjoying writing this letter very much and didn’t want to pause at all. It was after a long time, when the food was getting cold, that he stopped writing.

Chapter 432: Arrangements

After putting down his writing brush, Ling Zhang checked the letter. Satisfied with it, he put it into an envelope.

The letter was so thick that he had to use a specially made envelope to contain it, which was now bulging.

Yao Yi walked inside, sealed the envelope with wax for him and then took the letter outside to have it sent.

After dinner, Ling Zhang went out for a walk. Unlike any of the other towns he’d passed along the journey, this county was close to Jiangzhou, so the night-time curfew took effect at a relatively early hour. The county gates were shut, not allowing anybody to go in or out. The street outside his residence was almost deserted. Except for local yamen runners patrolling the street with a couple of street lanterns hanging on the two sides, there were hardly any people in sight.

Seeing this, Ling Zhang immediately came to realize that it was inadvisable for them to go out. If by any chance they got caught, they’d be in serious trouble. Therefore, he pivoted around and returned to the residence.

“How far is it from this county to the encampment of the army?” Ling Zhang asked Jiang Yu.

During the day, Jiang Yu’s bodyguard had gone out and made inquiries about a lot of things.

“The army is stationed in a wood near Xiaofeng Village. A national road in the wood leads right to Jincang County. The checkpoint set by Wang Xiangxin is not far away from the boundary marker of Jiangzhou. It’s a two-hour horse ride from here to Xiaofeng Village. There’s a national road leading to it. We may get there in less than two hours if we travel fast,” answered Jiang Yu.

“Let’s go there to take a look tomorrow,” Ling Zhang said and, after giving it some thought, added, “We go there by stealth.”

“The county gates facing in the direction of Xiaofeng Village are heavily guarded by soldiers. People whose faces are not familiar to the soldiers can hardly get through and may well arouse their suspicions. We need to figure out a way,” said Jiang Yu.

Ling Zhang said, “We’re not going through the county gates.”

They were not going through the county gates? Jiang Yu was fairly surprised. How else would they be able to get out of town if not by going through the county gates?

Ling Zhang pointed at Yao Yi and explained, “I’ll have Yao Yi get me out of here. It’s not necessary for me to bring many men with me. You guys may just wait in here and, for good measure, have your bodyguard make some extra inquiries to collect intelligence. I want him to report everything to me after I return.”

Jiang Yu looked at Yao Yi. Speculating that Ling Zhang and Yao Yi were going to get out of town through some kind of special method, he asked no more questions. “Please be extra careful tomorrow, Childe Ling.”

Ling Zhang gave a nod.

Yao Yi scratched his head. He was merely going to take Ling Zhang out of this county to observe the encampment of the garrison, and they wouldn’t enter Jiangzhou, so it wouldn’t count as a violation of the emperor’s orders. It should be okay.

“Is the General Zhongwu (AKA the General of Loyalty and Valor) personally leading the troops stationed at the checkpoint in Jincang County?” asked Ling Zhang.

Yao Yi replied, “Previously the General Zhongwu was in Xishan County. When His Majesty’s secret edict was delivered to Haizhou, he also received a copy of it. Barring accidents, he should have come to Jincang County by now, but I still need to go there tomorrow to check to be sure.”

Ling Zhang thought about it for a brief moment and then said, “Then we’ll enter the encampment tomorrow to check. The fewer who know about our arrival, the better. I want you to figure out a way to deliver a message to the General Zhongwu tomorrow. Tell him we’ll find another time to meet him.”

Yao Yi nodded. “Yes. The General Zhongwu probably received the message about your arrival when His Majesty’s secret edict was delivered to him. I’ll figure out a way to sneak in there and make contact with him.”

Ling Zhang inclined his head and then said, “Shan Congyi and Mu Rongfeng have joined hands. In order to make it more convenient for them to communicate and cooperate, Shan Congyi would probably choose to infiltrate into Jiangzhou via Jincang County as well. Jiang Yu, tomorrow you and your bodyguard are to go out, make some inquiries and see if anybody suspicious has come into town lately.”

Jiang Yu accepted the order and then added, “This county is not far away from the encampment. Shan Congyi probably doesn’t dare get too close. In all likelihood, he is staying somewhere nearby right now. I’ll search this area carefully.”

The Jiang family still had some connections in this place, and Jiang Yu’s father was watching over their ancestral mausoleum, so Jiang Yu had some unique advantages, which made him the perfect candidate for the job of seeking out suspicious newcomers.

…

After conferring with each other about what they were going to do the next day, they all turned in early, except for those who were supposed to be on night duty. They had been traveling in great haste and hadn’t had any good rest for nearly a week. Now that they’d arrived in the destination, it was very important for them to recharge.

Having no intention to stay to disturb Ling Zhang’s rest, Yao Yi and Jiang Yu also took their leave in succession.

After the room fell silent, Ling Zhang looked around him. This room was not big, but all daily necessities were available. Also, the bed had been made, and the bedding and mattress were new. Wang Dashan and some others had made this room very comfortable, but Ling Zhang was still unaccustomed to the strange bed. And the air in the room was unfamiliar to him too.

Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep any time soon even if he went to bed right away, Ling Zhang combed through what he’d met and seen during the journey, the current situation as well as what he was going to do the next day. Eventually, it struck him that he lacked a detailed map of this county and Jincang County, which was not easy to come by, for this kind of things were all securely kept in the county yamen. Now that he didn’t want to blow his cover, he needed to figure out another way to get the map.

He gave it some thought and decided to have Yao Yi handle this matter.

After hearing his words, Yao Yi set out to get the job done. The map was also a necessity for them. He had long since got used to tasks like “stealing” maps. All he needed to do was figure out a way to get the map without alarming any staff members of the county yamen.

…

In the capital city.

Yuwen Tong had just received a letter from Cangzhou. The sender was not Ling Zhang.

Receiving a letter from Ling Zhang was not a daily occurrence for Yuwen Tong, but a letter from his secret bodyguards was delivered to him every day without fail.

After reading the letter which told him in detail what Ling Zhang had done during the day, Yuwen Tong had a general idea of Ling Zhang’s schedule on that day. Given the time of the arrival of this letter, these things happened three days before. Ling Zhang had probably reached the small county adjacent to Jincang County in Jiangzhou. He wondered what that small county was like, whether Ling Zhang had found a suitable place to live, how he liked the food there, whether he’d encountered any dangers. Considering the time, maybe Ling Zhang had gone to bed by now.

Thinking deeply, he was no longer in the mood for dealing with the memorials to the throne, so he returned to the Infinite Fortune Palace.

When he had entered the Infinite Fortune Palace, he found that the imperial bedchamber was very quiet. There was nobody waiting for him, no late-night snack on the table, no smiling face, no charming voice, no nothing. For an instant, he wondered why he’d come back to this empty bedchamber which served only to remind him of his lover’s absence and make him miserable.

“Would you like me to have them serve the late-night snack, Sire?” asked Miao Shisan, walking inside.

Yuwen Tong didn’t feel like eating. “No.”

Miao Shisan flicked a glance at Yuwen Tong’s face, answered “Yes, Sire” and then took his leave. After exiting, he didn’t send someone to cancel the delivery of late-night snack. This night their master had returned early, and it was not the time for late-night snack yet. Most importantly, judging from how things had gone in the past few days, their master almost certainty wouldn’t be able to sleep until midnight, and he might feel hungry before that.

Miao Shisan was full of resources. The others, however, was more concerned about whether or not there had been any new messages from Cangzhou.

Miao Shisan said, “There weren’t any letters from Childe Ling today.”

“Oh, no wonder. His Majesty didn’t receive any letters from His Highness, so he naturally is in a foul mood.”

“I wonder how His Highness has been doing in Cangzhou. Captain and the others are probably taking good care of His Highness, but I don’t know whether His Highness has got accustomed to the life there or not.”

Miao Shisan gave it some thought and said, “It surprises me you’ve been thinking so much about this matter. Captain would’ve taken you to Cangzhou instead had he known about this beforehand.”

The guard who had just spoken giggled, “I’m just worried about what worries our master. I mean, you’ve seen it yourself. Our master’s mood has been quite unpredictable lately. We’re all stressing out.”

Miao Shisan gave him a dirty look. “You’re such a baby. If you’re stressed out by this kind of trivial matter, you’ll never be able to achieve anything big.”

“Alas, you’re no better than us, Brother Shisan. Wasn’t it you who narrowly avoided being given the punishment to maintain Horse Stance for the whole morning?”

Miao Shisan, “…”

Without saying anything, he directly gave the guard a kick which sent him flying several paces away.

It was a warning delivered with strength: guard your tongue.

All the others inwardly snickered at the sight of this, but on the surface they all seemed serious, not daring utter a word.

Miao Shisan looked over his shoulder at the imperial bedchamber. He also wished Ling Zhang would come back from Cangzhou soon. He’d never seen their master have such abrupt mood swings before. Every day their powers of observation were put to the test. Still, given how long it’d been since the arrival of the last letter from Ling Zhang, the next letter should come the next day, which meant that their master would probably be in a good mood the next day, and they would get to relax a bit.

…

Yuwen Tong, with great care, reread the couple of letters he’d received so far, and combed through the events that Ling Zhang had told him in the letters, forming an idea of the current situation in Cangzhou. It seemed that Xu Lingyun had been doing a good job. Everything in Cangzhou was on the mend. The people were the very foundation of this country, and helping the people resume agricultural activities was of the utmost importance. The reconstruction of fortifications, however, could wait. Still, the weather was gradually getting cooler, and the first cold wave might come at any moment. People would have to wait until next spring to resume agricultural production. Food supplies and winter clothes had been delivered to Cangzhou in batches to see the people there through the winter, and the Ministry of Revenue didn’t have much money left. All government departments around the country, to a greater or lesser extent, relied on the imperial court allocating money to them to cover the overhead. Also, several armies were being deployed, and soon there would be a battle in Jiangzhou. All these required money… The situation in Cangzhou brooked no delay, so a sum of money had been allocated as a matter of urgency. Another batch of food supplies and winter clothes would be transported there after some time. No matter what, as long as they toughed out this winter, things would slowly get better.

Yuwen Tong exhaled and then massaged his forehead. Ever since he’d acceded to the throne, he’d had a lot of state affairs to deal with on a daily basis. At this particular time, every day there were some issues that he didn’t have enough time to settle and added to the next day’s workload. It didn’t stress him out, but as nobody was here to keep him company, he suddenly felt somewhat tired.

In the final analysis, he did need someone by his side.

Previously he’d been a lone wolf, the marshal in sole command of the whole Northwestern Army, but now he was actually having this kind of feeling, the cause of which was a mystery to even Yuwen Tong himself. At that time he’d been quite baffled as to why both his parents, on their deathbeds, had hoped he’d get married and start a family. Now, come to think of it, he believed it was probably because they could understand the difference. Ling Zhaowu had once mentioned to Ling Zhang that he’d never married in his last incarnation… If only he had met his sweetheart earlier in his last life. Now he felt faintly sorry for his last incarnation.

After a while, finding that his mind had wandered so far away, Yuwen Tong was rather surprised at first and then smiled wryly. Previously he’d never thought of this kind of things, which showed that it was indeed unforeseeable how a lonesome man might conduct himself.