The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 385- 387

Chapter 385: It Looks Good. Stop Stroking It

The two of them hugged each other tight.

Yuwen Tong’s hands were moving passionately over Ling Zhang’s back, rubbing Ling Zhang’s black hair the form of which was shifting constantly. The silk-like touch of it was enthralling, but it was so smooth that it kept slipping from Yuwen Tong’s fingers, as though it was impossible to hold the hair, which rendered Yuwen Tong restless and impatient, so when he kissed Ling Zhang, he did it so urgently as if he wanted to swallow Ling Zhang in one gulp.

Even the corners of Ling Zhang’s eyes were now red. He involuntarily tightened his grip on Yuwen Tong’s arms. He had a shrewd idea why Yuwen Tong had suddenly become so feverish, but this kind of feeling struck him as somewhat horrifying, and it made him felt as though he was forgetting who he was, as though Yuwen Tong was the only one he could rely on… It was not that they had never had this kind of moment before, but most of those experiences had happened at night, and now they were doing it in broad daylight.

Yuwen Tong’s breathing was so heavy as though something was about to explode beside his ear. During fleeting intervals of the kiss, while gasping for air, Ling Zhang grasped Yuwen Tong’s arms, pushed them and said intermittently, “They…are…waiting for…us…outside. Stop…it.”

Yuwen Tong’s eyes, filled with longing, were a royal scarlet and an inky black. The person in his arms, whose eyes were red and watery from his kiss, struck him as someone taking his soul away. Exercising all his self-restraint, he subdued his desire and uttered a throaty “Um” but didn’t stop what he’d been doing.

After quite a while, when Ling Zhang was beginning to have trouble breathing, Yuwen Tong finally let go of him slowly, but his lips were still against Ling Zhang’s. He stared fixedly at Ling Zhang’s full, rosy and faintly swollen lips, nibbling them gently while Ling Zhang was panting.

It was after another few moments that the two of them parted with difficulty and managed to cool down a little.

Yuwen Tong still couldn’t take his eyes off Ling Zhang who was in scarlet wedding robes, a flush over his cheeks, his hair all streaming loose. He stood there motionlessly, staring unblinkingly at him.

“You…Ahem.” Ling Zhang opened his mouth and had just uttered one word when he found that his voice was hoarse, hastened to clear his throat and then continued, “Go and change into your robes. Hurry. I’ll take mine off lest they crumple.”

Actually both of them had been aroused, and they had to stop only because it was daytime and there were people waiting for them outside, so at this moment they both felt somewhat uncomfortable. Ling Zhang, who’d been the first to speak, went behind a screen to change. If he didn’t do this, both of them would fail to restrain themselves.

Yuwen Tong, who had robed Ling Zhang, naturally wanted to personally disrobe him, but he managed to forbear from doing that as he saw Ling Zhang walk to the other side of the screen.

The look in the depths of Yuwen Tong’s eyes suggested there was an intense struggle ongoing in his mind. ‘Calm down! I’ll get to undress him in whatever way I want the night of the wedding!’

Ling Zhang was unaware that Yuwen Tong was picturing all kinds of ways of removing the wedding robes from him and almost let his desire get the better of him because of the fantasy. Standing behind the screen alone, he took off the wedding robes one by one. It took him quite some time and he gradually calmed down. When he had put on his casual clothes and walked out with the wedding robes in his arms, Yuwen Tong had changed into his wedding robes. Caught unawares, Ling Zhang stopped dead beside the screen, fixing Yuwen Tong with an astonished gaze. If it weren’t for the fact that he still had a small part of his composure left, the wedding robes in his arms would have dropped to the ground.

Yuwen Tong standing opposite him opened his arms and asked, “Do I look good?”

Eyes on Yuwen Tong, Ling Zhang didn’t realize that he had subconsciously walked up to Yuwen Tong already and was now reaching out a hand to stroke the robes.

Yuwen Tong, quick of eye and deft of hand, caught the robes dropping from Ling Zhang’s arms, carefully placed them onto the table, pivoted around and looked at Ling Zhang who was staring blankly at him. Brightening up, he leaned over Ling Zhang, their noses within an inch of touching each other. “Do I look good?” he repeated.

“Yeah,” Ling Zhang subconsciously answered with a nod and then stretched out a hand to stroke him. “You do,” he added.

Yuwen Tong gave a chuckle, the sound of which brought Ling Zhang out of his trace and back to his senses. Yuwen Tong’s long, beautiful eyes were gleaming with confidence which originated from the infatuation in his lover’s eyes.

The warm blush on Ling Zhang’s cheeks hadn’t ebbed away yet, but at this moment it didn’t seem to bother him at all. He stroked Yuwen Tong’s wedding robes, his liking for them deepening with every movement of his hand. Then he swallowed hard and vaguely came to understand why a moment ago Yuwen Tong had reacted so dramatically at the sight of him in his wedding robes. Right now he himself was also a little inclined to…

No! He must control himself!

Ling Zhang shook his head vigorously, inwardly telling himself that it was daytime, that there were people waiting for them outside, so he had to restrain himself.

“Stop stroking me.” Yuwen Tong’s chuckle suddenly became low and deep, his delighted voice turning as husky as it had been a while ago. “If you don’t, I might be turned on and do stuff, and then you’ll be mad again.”

Ling Zhang abruptly came to himself and immediately withdrew his hand, but Yuwen Tong grabbed it halfway, rubbing his fingers. For a few moments both of them kept silent.

“I really wish today was the wedding day,” said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang looked up at him. “That makes two of us.”

No sooner had he said this than he regretted it. Worrying that he had fueled Yuwen Tong’s desire, he hastened to change the topic. “Do your robes fit? Are there any parts of them that you want the dressmaker to alter?”

Yuwen Tong held Ling Zhang’s hand to his mouth and nibbled it. “Wait a moment.”

Ling Zhang gave a gasp of pain at the nibble, quickly withdrew his hand and shot Yuwen Tong an annoyed glance. All the romance in the mood seemed to have dissolved with that nibble. “Hurry up. Don’t waste any more time.”

Yuwen Tong slightly shook his head, turned around, walked up to the dressing mirror, looked into it and then returned. “They fit well. There’s no need to alter anything.”

Both their robes fit, and no alteration had to be made. The dressmakers who’d made these two sets of wedding robes were the best in the imperial palace and even in the whole capital city. Though they had confidence in their skills, after hearing that the robes fit perfectly and that the emperor and the future empress were both satisfied, the dressmakers were all relieved.

The matter of the wedding robes handled, Ling Zhang packed his things, ready to leave the palace and return home.

Originally they had planned to hold a banquet in the palace and bring Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong to the palace to stay for two days in passing, but what with the matter of Yuwen Zhi and that Gu master, it had to be delayed until after the wedding ceremony.

The next day, Yuwen Tong accompanied Ling Zhang back to the Ling Mansion. All Ling Zhang’s family members had been expecting him.

This time around, two officials of the Ministry of Rites had come to the Ling Mansion with Ling Zhang. They were responsible for helping the Ling family with the wedding preparations and some details on the wedding day.

The Ling family had also started festooning the residence. Although Ling Zhang was marrying into another family, it didn’t mean that the Ling family shouldn’t make the wedding a grand occasion.

The courtyard house that Ling Zhang was living in had been revamped, and all the furnishings had been replaced with top-of-the-line ones.

“You’re both men, and your wedding will be different from traditional ones, but that’s not a reason for us to make it any less great than it should be.” This was the opinion of every member of the Ling family.

Before Ling Zhang could say anything, Yuwen Tong agreed and promised very willingly to satisfy all the requirements members of the Ling family laid down. The corners of the eyes of the two officials of the Ministry of Rites twitched as they heard those requests, but Yuwen Tong accepted all of them without hesitating for a single moment, assuring the Ling family that all their requirements would be met.

The two officials thought about it for a while and then realized that an imperial gay marriage was without precedent in the history of the Great Wen, that they might as well let the emperor hold the wedding in whatever way he wanted. Besides, it was unwise to put a damper on the emperor’s high spirits, so they turned a blind eye and wrote down all the terms that the emperor agreed to. As for whether or not they would have to work their asses off to get it done, thinking about this question was pointless, for this was their job, and they were paid to do it. Moreover, the Minister of Rites was the emperor’s cousin, so they’d have no choice but to work as hard as they could if they valued their positions.

Eventually, Ling Zhang stopped his family whose ‘suggestions’ were getting more and more absurd. “Paternal Grandfather, Maternal Grandfather, Father, Uncle, Aunt, the wedding plan would go awry if you want so many things to be done on the wedding day. Let’s stick to the original plan. Otherwise there would be too many distractions and the guests would be confused, which is the last thing we want to see happen.”

Ling Zhaowu gave a little cough and then said, “Zhang’er has a point. I think these would be enough. There’s no need to add anything more. In addition, the wedding day is quite close. If we ask for too much, the Ministry of Rites won’t have enough time to finish the preparatory work. It’s quality that matters, not quantity. The wedding ceremony should be about Zhang’er and Yuwen Tong. Let’s not add any more needless stuff to it.”

It was after hearing this that Ji Yin and the others reluctantly agreed, “Okay, then. The plan is finalized.”

“For our part, the most important thing is to make sure that nothing goes wrong with the trousseaus, that everybody will be awestruck on the wedding day.”

These words did make sense, so everybody nodded.

Recalling those trousseaus that his maternal grandfather had added to the list, Ling Zhang secretly asked his father in an uncertain tone, “My maternal grandfather didn’t add anything else to the list, right?”

Ling Zhaowu lightly shook his head. “No, but he’s been saving some privately.”

Ling Zhang first let out a sigh of relief and then pulled a wry face.

The two officials of the Ministry of Rites heard them talk about the trousseaus. When hearing the word ‘awestruck’, they didn’t take it seriously. After all, in their eyes, although the Ling family counted as a wealthy one when compared with most families in provincial towns, its wealth couldn’t hold a candle to that of a rich family in the capital city, and no matter how shocking the Ling family believed the trousseaus were, they would by no means awe residents of the capital city.

However, when the two of them started helping the Ling family make wedding preparations and saw the trousseaus, they could hardly believe their eyes. The more astounding part was that what they saw was only part of the trousseaus. There were more of them in the warehouse. It was inconvenient to take them out, so the officials only saw the names of them on the list. Although the two of them hadn’t seen the rest of the trousseaus, the thickness of the pamphlet shocked them so deeply that they both swallowed hard. ‘The Ling family is rea–really so wealthy?’

This happened afterward. For the moment they were unaware, so they didn’t give that remark another thought, the looks in their eyes unchanged.

After having lunch in the Ling Mansion and conferring with the Ling family about some details of the wedding ceremony, Yuwen Tong had to go back to the imperial palace, for there were a lot of affairs he needed to attend to.

Before leaving, he squeezed Ling Zhang’s hand. In the knowledge that it was inappropriate to do anything further in the presence of so many people, he grudgingly took his leave but was secretly quite regretful. At the prospect of spending the next several days alone, in particular, he felt even more lonesome.

Gazing at Yuwen Tong’s forlorn receding back, Ling Zhang was somewhat sympathetic to him, but at the same time he couldn’t help but inwardly ridicule him. They’d be separated for only a couple of days. Why was he making it so gooey?!

Chapter 386: Absence Sharpens Love

However, Ling Zhang, who had criticized Yuwen Tong for being sentimental about the farewell during the day, found himself unable to sleep that very night.

Though all his family were with him, and this place was his home, when he lay onto the bed, he felt he was quite unaccustomed to it. The image of each and every one of the furnishings in the Infinite Fortune Palace in which he had only stayed for a few days kept appearing in his mind. He closed his eyes. Without the familiar smell in the air, the familiar embrace, the familiar temperature, the familiar sweet-talk and tease only lovers would do, he started missing his loved one. He felt as though there was a void in his heart, and he wanted to grab something to fill it but couldn’t. Thus sleep eluded him.

The candles in his room had been put out some time ago. The only light in the room was the moonlight streaming through the crack between the window and the frame, which was accompanied by night breeze. The breeze dissolved part of his restlessness but also rendered him more awake, making it harder for him to get to sleep.

Yuwen Tong in the imperial palace couldn’t sleep either. He lay in bed with open eyes for quite a while and eventually got out of bed fretfully, changed into a skintight night-suit and went outside.

“Where are you going, Sire?” Seeing this, Yao Yi who was on night duty hurriedly followed him.

“Go to sleep,” replied Yuwen Tong sourly.

Go to sleep? Yao Yi glanced over his shoulder at the imperial bedchamber and then turned his head back to look at Yuwen Tong striding sulkily towards the front gates, baffled as to what was going on.

…

Ling Zhang tossed and turned in bed for quite a long time. Eventually, realizing that he wouldn’t be able to sleep anytime soon no matter how hard he tried, he restlessly sat up, carelessly draped a coat over his shoulders, walked outside and directly sat down onto the stairs cross-legged, looking up into the sky at the moon.

Yuwen Tong arrived only to find that Ling Zhang was gazing emptily up at the moon, a distant look on his face, pondering over something.

However, seeing Ling Zhang also couldn’t sleep, Yuwen Tong instantly felt much better. He swiftly leaped off the rooftop and landed in front of Ling Zhang. “Who are you waiting for, uh?”

Ling Zhang gave a nervous start at his sudden appearance, but the flicker of surprise and delight in his eyes was manifest. “Why are you here?”

Seeing the look on his face, Yuwen Tong inwardly gave a little snort and thought, ‘When you were in the palace, you talked about going home every day. Now you must’ve regretted coming back, given that you couldn’t sleep.’

“A moment ago, when I was in the palace, I heard you say you missed me. Despite how much I’d like to stay in my bed sleeping, I kindly came here to keep you company, so that you wouldn’t have to sit here watching the moon for a whole night.”

After saying this, he scooped up Ling Zhang from the ground. Carrying him in his arms, he let out a sigh and felt all over comfortable.

His hand on Ling Zhang’s waist moved downwards and with that he gave Ling Zhang a playful spank and said through gritted teeth, “You’re such an ungrateful little devil. Now you know how it feels to suffer from insomnia caused by a loved one’s absence, I suppose? You could’ve spared us both this ordeal.”

The spank made Ling Zhang start and he felt a faintly numb and painful sensation in his butt. The pain was nothing, but the slap was exceptionally loud because of the quiet of the night. He was terribly embarrassed and annoyed. “What are you doing?!”

Yuwen Tong gave a little snort and spanked him again. “What do you think I’m doing? This is your punishment. We would’ve have wasted so much time had you not insisted on moving out of the palace, would we?”

Ling Zhang was torn between disconcertion and guilt at these words. “That doesn’t mean you get to spank me. What if someone sees? Besides, I wasn’t suffering from sleeplessness. The moon’s beautiful tonight, and I just came out here to enjoy the moonscape. You really need to stop imagining things.”

“Nobody would come here to see us at this late hour. You didn’t allow me to do what I wanted during the day, but now it’s night-time, so humor me,” Yuwen Tong said. “Besides, no matter how beautiful the moonscape is, it could never outshine me, could it?”

Ling Zhang sniffed, “You’re such a shameless narcissist.”

Yuwen Tong’s hand which had a moment ago spanked Ling Zhang was now squeezing and kneading Ling Zhang’s butt. “You dare deny that?”

With his butt being kneaded, Ling Zhang involuntarily stood on tiptoe, flung his hand back and grabbed Yuwen’s. “You… Stop that.”

Yuwen Tong, who had been restless and unable to sleep for several hours, had quite some anger to vent and naturally wouldn’t let go of Ling Zhang. He freed his hand from Ling Zhang’s grip, grasped Ling Zhang’s hand and then directly lifted him bodily up, pressing him tightly against his chest. Off the ground, Ling Zhang had no choice but to wrap his legs around Yuwen Tong’s waist, his cheeks instantly flushing so red as though blood was about to ooze out of them. This posture was so…!

“Put me down!” snarled Ling Zhang through gritted teeth, looking down at Yuwen Tong, trying to slacken Yuwen Tong’s grip.

Naturally Yuwen wouldn’t let him struggle free. Carrying Ling Zhang, he made towards the doors of the house. “No. Let’s go to sleep.”

As Yuwen Tong walked forward, the rubs became more obvious. Distinctly feeling Yuwen Tong’s bodily response, Ling Zhang stiffened. “You…You…”

After entering the bedroom, Yuwen Tong put him down onto the table. Sitting there, Ling Zhang found his eyes and Yuwen Tong’s on a level. The doors were closed, and there was no lighted candles in the room. With only the moonlight shining through the crack between the window and the frame, the room was almost completely dark.

However, this scene aroused their desire even further. Ling Zhang grabbed the arms of Yuwen Tong’s coat, abruptly drew Yuwen Tong to him and pressed his lips onto Yuwen Tong’s.

A smile flashed across Yuwen Tong’s eyes and with that he took Ling Zhang’s face in his hands and opened his mouth to enjoy the kiss initiated by Ling Zhang.

…

Outside the house, Yao Yi and Miao Shiba who were crouching on top of the outer wall exchanged glances, jumped off the wall at the same time, leaped onto the nearest rooftop and lay down to enjoy the moonscape.

“You should’ve believed me when I told you Sire was definitely coming here to see Childe Ling,” observed Miao Shiba.

Yao Yi said, “I just didn’t catch on to the situation.”

Miao Shiba gave a yawn and, looking into the sky, sighed, “It’s true what they say, ‘Absence sharpens love.’ It’s been less than a day since Sire and Childe Ling parted. Do you think I should get myself a lover to see how it feels to have my love sharpened by absence?”

Yao Yi cast a sidelong glance at him and sniffed, “You? Who would want to be your lover?”

Miao Shiba was displeased. “Hey, I’m a handsome, elegant and eligible man, okay? If I get word out that I want a girlfriend, all the girls in this city will line up in front of my house waiting for me to pick them.”

Yao Yi rolled his eyes upwards. “You’re such a braggart. All the girls in this city? You should feel lucky if there’s one girl showing interest in you.”

Miao Shiba, who was quite thick-skinned, believed that Yao Yi was saying this purely because he was jealous of him and wanted to dishearten him, so he was totally unaffected by these words. “My big brother said that he’d start to set me up in a couple of years so that I could start a family.”

Yao Yi said, “Miao Shisan wants you to start a family when he himself hasn’t got married yet?”

Miao Shiba replied, “He doesn’t want to get married. What could I possibly do about it? He said he had no interest in women. I suggested he try starting a relationship with a guy, but he said he’s even more uninterested in men. Alas, it strikes me that my brother was probably destined to die single and alone.”

Yao Yi managed to stifle a chuckle. “Apart from anything else he’s your big brother. Shouldn’t you figure out a way to help him instead of saying he’s destined to die a bachelor?”

Miao Shiba responded, “You know very well how scary my big brother looks when he puts on a poker face. Both men and women would be scared away by him. What would you have me do? The way I see it, he’s just like Qi San. No girls will dare get close to either of them.”

“Hey, Captain, what about you? Our status is different now, and it’s much easier than before for you to find a girl to get married and settle down – if that’s what you want.”

Yao Yi threw a glance at Miao Shiba who had instantly steered the conversation to his personal life, and said in an even voice, “Like your big brother, I haven’t met the right person either.”

Miao Shiba sighed, “It seems that you were destined to die single and alone just like my big brother was.”

Yao Yi, who tried to restrain himself but failed, heavily gave Miao Shiba a smack on the head. “Shut your mouth. Don’t jinx me.”

…

While Miao Shiba and Yao Yi were having a chit-chat on the rooftop outside. Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong inside the bedroom had stripped, clothes strewn across the floor, the whole space filled with erotic, tantalizing sounds.

Maybe because there was really lingering vexation caused by sleeplessness in them, they both had a lot of pent-up anxiety and annoyance to release, so their movements were more intense than usual.

At the stroke of midnight, they still showed no inclination to stop.

It was not until Yin Hour (3:00 a.m.) that the action in the room gradually abated. Yuwen Tong toweled Ling Zhang who was all sweaty, pulled the comforter over him, drew him into his embrace and suggested, “You should move back to the palace and wait until the day before the wedding day to come back here.”

Ling Zhang shook his head. “I can’t do that. I’ve already come back home. How could I break my word? If I do that, what would my paternal grandfather and maternal grandfather think of me?”

Yuwen Tong let out a sigh, tightening his embrace. “It seems I’ll have to go to the trouble of coming here every night before the wedding.”

Ling Zhang slightly shifted his position. “You work so late every day. Maybe you should stay in the palace tomorrow night.”

Yuwen Tong said, “If I stay there, I’ll be lying in bed with my eyes wide open for a whole night. I might as well forget about sleep and work all night in the consultation hall.”

Ling Zhang kept silent for a few moments and then said, “How about I slip into the palace by night?”

Yuwen Tong looked down at him and giggled, “That won’t be necessary. The palace is pretty close to this place, and it takes me only a Joss-stick (a unit of time used in feudal China; how long it takes for a joss stick to burn itself out) to get here from there. I’ll try to finish work earlier and you should come back here earlier, so that we’ll have more time to sleep.”

Ling Zhang put his arms around him, making no reply.

Yuwen Tong said, “Get some sleep. There’s still two hours before daybreak.”

“Don’t make a habit of this. The next time you come here, you need to show more self-control so that we won’t stay up so late. You barely had any sleep,” breathed Ling Zhang.

“Okay,” answered Yuwen Tong. In fact, if Ling Zhang was in his arms, a two-hour sleep would refresh him fully; if he was alone, he would feel drained no matter how long he slept.

The two of them talked for a while, their voices gradually trailing away. After another few moments, Ling Zhang drifted off. The long sex had been quite tiring.

Yuwen Tong looked earnestly at him, recalling that back at the time when he’d been in the north-west, the separation between the two of them had also been quite tough for him, but not as tough as the couple of hours before he came here earlier this night. Maybe the few hours had been exceptionally unbearable because he’d been separated from Ling Zhang knowing that Ling Zhang was in a place he could reach in a very short time, or because his tolerance to separation from Ling Zhang had been declining. When he’d been lying in the imperial bedchamber earlier this night, the faintly cool night breeze had felt as though it were cutting into his skin, and it’d been so cold that his insides had seemed to be shuddering.

Holding Ling Zhang in his arms, he gingerly kissed him for a while, feeling that Ling Zhang had become thinner lately. It was not very noticeable, but as he had Ling Zhang in his embrace while sleeping every night, he could immediately feel it when the touch of a part of Ling Zhang’s body was different. Recently his workload had been particularly heavy, and there always seemed to be an endless list of things to do. He hoped that the situation would improve after the wedding ceremony, and he wanted Ling Zhang to eat more and at least make his face full again – and his waist and butt, too. Anyway, Ling Zhang needed to eat more.

Chapter 387: A Variety of Speculations- Ling Zhang’s Trousseaus

After two hours, Yuwen Tong opened his eyes. It was still dark outside, but soon dawn would break. Ling Zhang in his arms was still sleeping.

Yuwen Tong carefully withdrew his arms, gingerly moved Ling Zhang’s forelock aside, gave him a peck on the brow, quietly got out of bed and then tucked him in. The hot days had got cool, and it was a little cold shortly before dawn.

Seeing Ling Zhang was still fast asleep, Yuwen Tong came to realize that the night before he should’ve shown some self-restraint. It had been just the night before last that he had Ling Zhang make out with him for several hours, but the night before he’d done the same thing again. Feeling somewhat guilty, he said in an undertone, “Sorry. I’ll restrain myself in the next few days.”

After saying this, he kissed Ling Zhang again and then reluctantly went to put on his robes. Before leaving, he walked around the house and also checked the perimeter to see if there was anything suspicious. It was after confirming that everything was okay that he left.

“Shiba, stay here. Report to me immediately if anything happens,” Yuwen Tong instructed Miao Shiba.

“Yes, Sire,” Miao Shiba answered and then went to the doorway of Ling Zhang’s bedroom to stand guard. Wang Dashan at the front gates of the courtyard house poked his head around the corner, flicked Miao Shiba a glance, waved him a greeting and then drew his head in. Miao Shiba gave a little giggle, recalling that the night before, these guys anxiously tried to enter the courtyard house but were stopped by him and Yao Yi. Wang Dashan had incredulously asked them why they were here. After being informed that Yuwen Tong had come here to see Ling Zhang, they’d all had inexplicable expressions on their faces.

At that time Wang Dashan had observed in a disapproving tone, “It’s barely been a day since they parted!”

“‘A one-day separation from the loved one feels like three years.’ You’ve never heard of this?”

Wang Dashan had been rendered speechless by this remark, holding his cheek, presumably having a toothache.

At this time, Miao Shiba looked around him, walked out of the house and to the front gates where Wang Dashan and Zhao Shen were on guard duty. “Hey, do you think I should wake Childe Ling up in a while?”

Wang Dashan and Zhao Shen exchanged glances, uncertainty in their eyes. “Young Master seems to have stayed up pretty late last night. Maybe we should let him sleep a little while longer.”

“But Master and the others are unaware that Sire came here last night. If Young Master sleeps late, they’ll be worried and might come here to check on him.”

“Let’s wait until Chen Hour (7:00 a.m.) to awake him. If Master sends anyone here, we could just stop them and say that Young Master stayed up late reading last night and could use some more sleep.”

A decision made, Miao Shiba returned to the doorway of the bedroom.

Inside the bedroom, Ling Zhang was still sound asleep. When he opened his eyes, it was full daylight already. Miao Shiba called outside, “Childe Ling, it’s Chen Hour.”

Ling Zhang lay there dreamily for a few moments before abruptly sitting up and with that he let out an involuntary gasp of pain, raised his hand to knead the small of his back, his face twisting.

He gave a cough and said, “Get me some water. I need to wash.” His voice was still faintly hoarse and he was unable to speak loudly, but Miao Shiba standing outside distinguished his words.

“Yes, Childe Ling,” he answered and then left to tell Wang Dashan and Zhao Shen to get water.

Ling Zhang sat there for a while, waiting for the pain to ease. Soon warm water was delivered to the room. Ling Zhang washed and changed before going out.

At the sight of Miao Shiba, he guessed that it had been Yuwen Tong who instructed him to stay. He asked Miao Shiba, “When did your master go back?”

“At Yin Hour, before daybreak,” answered Miao Shiba.

“Young Master, you may have breakfast in your room. I’ve brought it here for you,” said Zhao Shen, walking in.

Ling Zhang could tell from the daylight he’d overslept. “Did my paternal grandfather or my father send anyone here to ask about me?”

“No. Old Master and Master probably both want to let you have some more sleep, but they might send someone here if you still don’t show up in a while,” replied Zhao Shen.

Ling Zhang inclined his head. “I’ll go there right after breakfast.”

…

Every night of the next few days, Yuwen Tong descended from mid-air, landed sweetly in Ling Zhang’s courtyard house like a burglar with consummate lightness skills, had a good night’s sleep with the owner of the house in his embrace, and then went back to the imperial palace shortly before the daily court meeting.

Yuwen Tong indeed curbed his needs. Even when he failed to restrain himself, he’d make it quick instead of doing it for hours.

Ling Zhang was not sure whether or not anybody else living in the residence knew what he’d been doing at night. At least his maternal grandfather and Ji Yanlai and the couple of others who had powerful internal energy were definitely aware that someone had been sneaking into his courtyard house by night, but none of them said anything about it, so Ling Zhang wouldn’t be so stupid as to let the cat out of the bag.

Apart from the things they usually did by night, recently people of the Ling family had been busy with packing Ling Zhang’s trousseaus during the day. They had specially emptied the Splendor Pavilion as well as the Proud Plum Pavilion next to it to store the chests containing trousseaus. The two officials of the Ministry of Rites had been assisting them with the preparations.

At first, when they saw those gold, silver, jewelries and jadeware, they just felt that the Ling family was fairly wealthy, but afterward, when ten large chests had been filled with those things, the two of them were somewhat amazed. More importantly, the ten chests of gold, silver and jadeware were only the most common part of the trousseaus. Following them were rare treasure worth a couple of towns together, precious medicinal herbs and priceless dress materials et cetera, which filled one chest after another. Watching this scene, the two officials swallowed hard again and again. However, these were only the visible and tangible part of the trousseaus. The intangible part was the estates and businesses listed in the pamphlet, which were coupled with a group of storekeepers, innkeepers and supervisors all of whom had returned from out of town not long ago and would go into the palace with Ling Zhang as part of the trousseaus just like those chests of valuables. Those estates and businesses were nationwide in distribution, and there were even some located in the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom, though they’d be off the record. Apart from these, it was said that there were also some long-lost manuscripts about kung fu skills, which Ling Zhang’s maternal grandfather would personally hand over to Ling Zhang who would take them to the palace.

The two officials of the Ministry of Rites gaped at those trousseaus which were being boxed one after another, deeply shocked.

“Your Lordships,” someone called in a polite, level voice. Seeing that the two men still seemed to be in a trance, the speaker raised his voice and called again, “Your Lordships!”

It was only then that the two officials abruptly jerked out of their trance and looked at the one who’d just called them. “Oh, Childe Jiang, what’s up?”

“These chests were made according to the standards set by the Ministry of Rites. You didn’t find any of them problematic, I suppose?” said Jiang Yu.

As Ling Zhang’s subordinate, Jiang Yu was in charge of almost all the miscellaneous matters involving dealings with the Ministry of Rites. Ling Zhang had returned to the Ling Mansion, so he naturally had also left the Infinite Fortune Palace and come to this residence to help with the wedding preparations.

“No, of course not,” the two officials hurriedly replied in unison.

Jiang Yu nodded. “Since they’re all up to standard, I’ll have the servants start sealing them according to the numbers in the pamphlet. Aside from this, we’ll tighten the security of this couple of pavilions, and nobody would be allowed to get in until the day of Childe Ling’s wedding.”

The two officials of the Ministry of Rites raised no objections.

“This way please, Your Lordships. This area is about to be sealed off.” Jiang Yu politely asked them to leave.

The two official took the hint and left. They had been working flat out for several consecutive days and now this matter was finally settled, and they could finally return home. After leaving the Ling Mansion, the two of them got into their carriages and headed for the street.

The streets were quite uproarious. A new emperor had ascended the throne, and the political situation had gradually stabilized, with no unrest of any sort in any part of the country. The newly promulgated policies aimed at improving people’s livelihood had greatly inspired the whole country. All residents in the capital city appeared in good spirits. Besides, there was an upcoming imperial wedding ceremony, which would be the second grand occasion since the start of this new imperial dynasty, and the incumbent emperor was crowning a man the empress. All these were topics that people relished talking about on a frequent basis. Professional storytellers were even telling all kinds of stories about the deep love between the emperor and his future consort, which were so popular that all teahouses were filled to capacity every day.

The two officials of the Ministry of Rites, who had been working off their feet over the past few days, could use some relaxation, so they went into a tavern together.

Although there weren’t any storytellers in this tavern, customers coming here for wine were also in lively conversations, and the tone of every one of them seemed to brook no argument, making this place no less tumultuous than a teahouse. The two of them went to the second floor of the tavern where most customers were members of rich families who were sumptuously clothed. Their voices were not as loud as those of the customers downstairs, but they were even more enthusiastic about gossip.

“… Speaking of which, the Ling family only has some fame in Tanyang. It couldn’t hold a candle to any of the big families in the capital city. Given that it is the eldest grandson of their patriarch who’s going to marry His Majesty, they would no doubt go to any lengths to prepare a decent trousseau in order not to become a laughing stock.”

“Come on. They are who they are, no matter how hard they try to pretend otherwise. After all, they’re from a backwater. How impressive could you expect the trousseau to be?”

“But wouldn’t that be quite humiliating?”

“I wouldn’t say that. Nobody knows how the economic situation of the Ling family actually is. Besides, His Majesty holds Childe Ling in deep affection and probably wouldn’t care about this kind of stuff.”

“Well, that might be the case, but so many people in this city will be watching. Although many noble families declined as the previous imperial household fell, those who still draw breath have quite sharp eyes. Some of them will definitely laugh at the Ling family behind their backs.”

“That can’t be true.”

“Alas, there’re a lot of things you don’t know, buddy. Even when His Majesty was still a marshal, his fame spread far and wide and a lot of people dreamed about marrying him, not to mention that he’s now the emperor. Can you imagine how many more people are waiting for an opportunity to become an imperial concubine?”

“Uh…”

After hearing this, the two officials of the Ministry of Rites exchanged a glance, their eyes gleaming with contempt for those people.

They might not know much about the other matters, but they were quite sure that nobody would see the Ling family as a laughing stock because of the trousseaus! Even the princess’ trousseaus stood no comparison with Childe Ling’s, and if they disclosed the truth to these people, most of them would probably be shocked to death.

“Hey, hey. Calm down. We can’t breathe a word of it to anybody.”

“I know. I just don’t like that snobbish look on their faces. On the day of Childe Ling’s and His Majesty’s wedding, these people’s jaws would probably drop.”

Privately the two of them were pretty indignant, both forgetting that in the beginning they themselves hadn’t expected much of the Ling family either and had been terribly embarrassed when they saw the trousseaus afterward.

“Still, come to think of it, a lot of people know how many businesses and properties the Ling family own, but those trousseaus…”

“I overheard something about it that day. It seems that most of the trousseaus are from Childe Ling’s maternal grandfather, and there are also some from his father.”

“You mean that mysterious middle-aged man? To be honest, don’t you think it’s rather strange? I mean, that man’s way too young to be Childe Ling’s maternal grandfather. Actually, he looks even younger than Childe Ling’s father!”

“It’s said that he possesses internal energy so powerful that it made him young again.”

“My goodness! Such people do exist?!”

“Tell me about it. I was startled as well when I came to know it. The maternal part of Childe Ling’s parentage has always been a mystery. So far nobody has heard anything about his maternal grandfather, but I think he’s by no means a common person, seeing as he has offered so many trousseaus as though they were nothing to him. Maybe he’s a member of some prestigious sect in Jianghu.”

“A member of a Jianghu sect? Now you mention it, that does strike me as possible.”