The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 151- 153

Chapter 151: Departure for the Capital City

Heedless of his unwillingness to part from his family, the day for departure still arrived.

On this day, all people of Ling family got up very early and started bustling around loading prepared baggage onto horse-drawn carriages. Those working in the kitchen were also racing time preparing breakfast for their masters. Servants on the go could be seen everywhere in the residence.

After clothing himself presentable, Ling Zhang scooped Ling Maomao out of bed, helped him wash his face and dressed him.

“Old Master, Second Master and Second Mistress are on their way to the ante-room, Young Master. The Marshal is ready. He’ll come here to pick you up and then go there with you,” Xia Feng informed him after walking inside.

That talk he had with his young master on that day had brought many changes of Xia Feng, the most noticeable one of which was that he had indeed managed to get access to all intelligence within his grasp in Ling family, and stay well informed of what was happening and was going to happen, and all servants of Ling family were rather obedient to him.

“I see.” Ling Zhang patted Ling Maomao on the shoulder. “Let’s go. It’s about time.”

“Okay,” Ling Maomao answered, but he sounded in low spirits. His elder brother was going to depart for the capital city on this day, which meant that they wouldn’t be able to see each other for a very long time.

The two brothers walked out of the house together. Servants in the courtyard were occupied carrying prepared baggage outside. On seeing Ling Zhang and Ling Maomao coming out, they all stopped and respectfully greeted them. “Young Master, Second Young Master.”

Ling Zhang bobbed his head. Since Xia Feng would stay in the courtyard taking care of the loading of baggage, he and Ling Maomao left the courtyard.

Yuwen Tong, who had just arrived, flicked a glance at the bustle in the courtyard and said, “Let’s go. Don’t keep the elders waiting too long.”

Ling Maomao looked at him, walked to the other side of his elder brother and held his hand, ignoring Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong fell speechless.

He cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at Ling Zhang, as if asking why Ling Maomao was acting like this.

‘This is the first time that this little boy has refused to greet me at a meeting,’ he thought.

Ling Zhang looked back at him, helplessness on face, as if replying, “What else could the reason be? This little guy doesn’t want me leaving, and he is blaming you for it.”

Yuwen Tong’s eyebrows lifted. Since blame from a child wouldn’t really do him any harm, he decided to let it be.

There were also many people packing things in the Green Bamboo Mansion. Yao Yi and some others, who had worked very quick, had already got their baggage ready.

They walked into the ante-room and saw that Ling Xingzhong and others had been waiting for them.

All members of Ling family and Yuwen Tong sat down and had breakfast. At this time, servants had already got all baggage loaded onto horse-drawn carriages which had been driven to the front gate, waiting for their master to give the order to depart.

After breakfast, they sat in the ante-room talking for a while, and then it was time for departure.

Ling Zhaowen and Ling Maomao would see them out of the city, but Ling Xingzhong and Fu Caiwei had to bid them farewell at the gateway.

Before leaving, Ling Zhang respectfully knelt down and kowtowed to his grandfather and aunt.

Fu Caiwei, eyes red, raised him to his feet and exhorted him to be careful on the journey, send a letter back after reaching the capital city and not to be sparing with money when it came to food or clothing or accommodation…

Though having heard these words many times during the past few days, Ling Zhang still gravely promised that he would do as told to.

Eventually, Ling Xingzhong instructed him, “Go. Don’t keep the Marshal waiting too long.”

“Yes, Grandfather,” Ling Zhang replied, clenched his teeth to fight down his sorrow, turned around, walked down the stairway and mounted his horse. He didn’t dare to glance back, which he knew positively would shatter his determination instantly.

Yuwen Tong raised his hand and gave the order bringing the long fleet of horse-drawn carriages to departure.

When they were turning into another street, Ling Zhang failed to forbear to toss a glance over his shoulder. The sight of his grandfather and aunt who were still standing at the gateway instantly reduced him to tears.

“If some day you get homesick, I’ll come back here with you. Or maybe when the occasion arises, we’ll be able to take your grandfather to the capital city,” Yuwen Tong consoled him.

At this time, they had already turned into another street and the residence of Ling family was no longer in sight.

Ling Zhang twisted his upper body back and, after a long silence, replied, “I know. It’s just that my heart aches at the prospect of being away from home for such a long time.”

When he had been at home, he had never felt it so strongly, but when he was really parting with his family, he couldn’t help but miss them.

Yuwen Tong had spent many years in the border areas, and all his elders he used to be close to had passed away. Nevertheless, he still had a hearty empathy for Ling Zhang’s feelings.

He didn’t say anything but just kept Ling Zhang company.

Ling Zhaowen and Ling Maomao were in the horse-drawn carriage following in their wake. Seeing his elder brother so sad to leave home, Ling Maomao asked his father, “Why is elder brother going to the capital city when he’s clearly so unwilling to leave us?”

There was no sulkiness on Ling Zhaowen’s face when he answered the boy’s question, which was rather rare. “You’ll come to understand when you are old enough.”

Ling Maomao curled his lip. ‘This is so cliché. When will I be old enough?’ The boy felt that he had grown up quite some time ago.

When the procession was getting close to the city gate, many residents showed up of their own accord to see Yuwen Tong off.

It took the procession quite a while to get to the north city gate due to the crowd.

At the north city gate, Tao Feng and a lot of officials of different ranks working in Tanyang also turned up to bid farewell to them, which inevitably entailed a lot of pleasantries exchanging and formality.

These people offered to go with Ling Zhaowen and others to see them out of the city, but Yuwen Tong declined.

Tao Feng secretly winked at Ling Zhang. Ling Zhang took the hint, bobbed his head and arranged for the horse-drawn cart brought by Tao Feng to join the fleet.

Apart from Tao Feng and his subordinates, the eunuch and some palace guards were also present. They had been waiting outside the city gate and seemed to have the intention of going to the capital city with Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang, who had little acquaintance with them, merely exchanged civilities with them, making no further remarks.

But when those people looked at Ling Zhang, the expressions in their eyes were different from the one Ling Zhang had in his eyes when he looked at them. Seeing the long fleet of horse-drawn carriages and carts, those servants and the twenty-four security guards, they believed that even a childe from a rich and aristocratic family couldn’t have been more ostentatious when departing from home, yet Ling Zhang was merely the nephew of a petty Tongzhi of Tanyang.

“This Ling family really possesses such wealth? It seems that they wouldn’t necessarily be bullied when they are in the capital city,” an eunuch observed in a muted voice.

“With these? It’s hard to say how Ling family will turn out, but this Ling Zhang guy has indeed got himself someone he can rely on.” At first, Zhang Xi, the head eunuch, was disapproving, but he seemed to be sighing in sentiment while making the latter half of his remarks.

“Rely on? Whom could he possibly rely on? Ling family has no relatives or any other social contacts in the capital city.”

“You dumb-ass. Isn’t it obvious enough that Yuwen Tong is his most powerful backer? It’s been so many years, yet this is the first time that I’ve seen Yuwen Tong care about anybody so much. This matter… Ha… We’d better keep our mouths shut… “

The sight of the disbelieving expression on the face of the young eunuch standing on the side brought the corner of Zhang Xi’s mouth to a brief, involuntary twitch. “Time to go! Get on the carriage and catch up with them! Hurry!”

“Yes, yes!” the young eunuch hastily replied, guided Zhang Xi onto their horse-drawn carriage, sat down in the seat beside the carriage driver and instructed aloud, “Depart!”

At a place called the Wuli Pavilion not far from the city, the procession came to a halt.

Ling Zhaowen and Ling Maomao had to bid farewell to Ling Zhang at this place.

Having already told his nephew all he needed to be told, Ling Zhaowen just exhorted Ling Zhang to take good care of himself during the journey.

Ling Maomao fixed his red eyes on Ling Zhang, which made Ling Zhang’s heart ached terribly. He talked with the boy for quite a while and finally managed to coax him out of sorrow.

They stayed at this place for a long time. Those palace guards at the rear didn’t dare to hurry them, since Yuwen Tong was standing right beside Ling Zhang. Who would dare to show impatience when even the Martial was patiently waiting?

However, long or short, every farewell had an end. Eventually, Ling Zhang grudgingly took his leave of Ling Zhaowen and Ling Maomao, mounted his horse and departed again.

In the distance, he waved at his uncle and younger brother and told them to go back to spare themselves longer exposure to the strong wind.

But Ling Zhaowen and Ling Maomao refused to leave so soon. It was not until Ling Zhang and the others were completely out of sight that the two of them turned around to get back.

Ling Zhang, who was riding side by side with Yuwen Tong, didn’t utter a single word. On this occasion, he was not in the mood for talking.

It was not until they crossed the boundary and entered another prefecture that he gradually recovered from deep sorrow and other expressions found their way back to his face. And at this time, it was almost noon.

Their pace was not fast, which was why they had not yet reached the next town.

“It’s noon. We shall take an hour’s rest where we are and then resume our journey.” Yuwen Tong gave the order to rest.

Ling Zhang raised his hand and stroked his chest where the inner pocket was. The letter given to him by his uncle was still there, but now was not the right time to take it out and read it. He felt that at least he had to wait until they were having a rest in a courier station or an inn.

It had not been long since their departure from the city, so most of the foods they brought with them were still fresh. Yao Yi and his fellows, together with servants of Ling family prepared lunch and all of them enjoyed a hot heal.

Palace guards bringing up the rear wasn’t lucky enough to enjoy such treatment. All of them ate solid food that they had brought with them.

Yuwen Tong had a subordinate deliver some hot food to Zhang Xi, who accepted it and specially came over to express his gratitude.

“There’s no need for formalities, Gonggong Zhang (Gonggong is a respectful form of address for an old eunuch whose rank is higher than that of common eunuchs). It’s just some food. You should go and get some rest. We’ll resume our journey when the time is up.”

“Thank you for reminding me, Marshal.”

With a smile on his face, Zhang Xi returned.

After Zhang Xi left, Ling Zhang flicked a glance at Zhang Xi’s receding figure. Yuwen Tong had once warned him that he should try not to stare at these eunuchs, because they were very sensitive to other people’s gaze due to their living in the imperial palace, a place full of conspiracies and intrigues, year in year out as well as some other particular reasons.

“Does the emperor trust Zhang Xi much?”

“The emperor has a suspicious mind. Wang Lubao is the only one he trusts. Zhang Xi and another two, Dou He and Zhu Xiang, could be counted as his favored eunuchs. You might get a chance to see them some day.”

Ling Zhang inclined his head. Holding a bowl of hot soup in his hand, he took a sip of it and then couldn’t help but subconsciously reached out the other hand to stroke his chest so as to confirm whether the letter was still in there.

This movement of his was rather plain, and he did it in a natural way, so there was nothing affected about it, and it wouldn’t raise any doubts in common people’s minds.

It took Yuwen Tong only a few extra moments’ observation of Ling Zhang to come to realize that this movement had some special meaning in it.

But he didn’t say anything but just conjectured that there was probably a letter or something like that in the inner pocket of Ling Zhang.

He did some careful recollecting and then had a shrewd idea where Ling Zhang had got that thing. ‘It is ever since Ling Zhang returned from that meeting with Ling Zhaowen on that day that Ling Zhang has been acting like this.’

‘What kind of letter is making Ling Zhang so nervous?’

Yuwen Tong pondered for a while. The only secret of Ling Zhang’s that he had not yet found out about was the origin of those formations. ‘Is this what it is about?’

The inquiry into Ling family’s background that his men were carrying out seemed to have reached a bottleneck. Yuwen Tong had always been very confident about the competence of his subordinates. He believed that either his subordinates were not as competent as he believed them to be, or some people had been keeping this matter highly confidential. Or maybe the inquiry had been going in the wrong direction.

Yuwen Tong’s face instantly went grim. He felt that maybe he had indeed directed the inquiry towards the wrong direction.

“What’s wrong?” Ling Zhang, who had just called Yuwen Tong’s name but received no response, was confused.

Yuwen Tong collected his thoughts. “Nothing. I was just thinking about something.”

Ling Zhang bobbed his head and didn’t persist with his questioning in the knowledge that Yuwen Tong had too many secrets, some of which he felt it inconvenient for him to ask about.

“You want to get some rest?” Yuwen Tong asked him.

Ling Zhang shook his head. “Not really. I’d like to go for a walk. And we may depart as soon as I get back.”

Yuwen Tong rose to his feet. “Let me keep you company.”

Chapter 152: A Chance Encounter with the General Storekeeper of the Jiang’s Drugstore Chain

The two of them left together. An eunuch who had been covertly keeping watch on them immediately reported it to Zhang Xi.

“Gonggong (Gonggong is a respectful form of address for an old eunuch whose rank is higher than that of common eunuchs), they went to the nearby woods.”

Zhang Xi raised the curtain of the horse-drawn carriage he was sitting in, glanced out of the window and saw that Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang were very close to each other, casually walking forward while talking, and there was nobody else around them. He let down the curtain, took a sip of the hot soup and mumbled, “Yuwen Tong is taking this seriously?”

…

An hour’s time was up and the group resumed the journey.

At dusk, they arrived at a county-level courier station and decided to spend the night there.

A palace guard told Zhang Xi, “Gonggong, we are still in Tanyang after traveling for almost a full day. If we keep going at this pace, it might take us half a month to get to the capital city. Should we talk to the Marshal and advise him to give the order to pick up speed?”

Zhang Xi replied with an awkward expression on his face, “Uh… I saw four jars of wine and a lot of other things on the carriages of Ling family. I’m afraid it’s very difficult for them to speed up. How about Commander Zhao go and sound the Marshal out about it?”

The last remark brought an involuntary twitch to the corners of the mouth of Commander Zhao of the Palace Guards. With a forced smile on his face, he responded, “I think we might as well wait for another couple of days and then decide.”

After Commander Zhao left, Zhang Xi uttered “Bah!” and then muttered, “Asshole.”

“Gonggong, why did Commander Zhao give up his intention of making the suggestion?” asked a young eunuch.

Zhang Xi aimed a kick at him. “You moron. Why do you think he came to talk to me? He but wanted to use me and have me offend Yuwen Tong. It’s going to be an offensive thing. You tell me why he decided not to do it.”

The young eunuch conveniently rolled on the ground after being kicked. Then he picked himself up and replied, “I was being stupid. Please don’t get angry, Gonggong.”

Zhang Xi gave a cold snort and remarked, “I’m not going to be tricked into taking this kind of offensive course of action. His Majesty only instructed that Yuwen Tong depart for the capital city within three days after receiving the imperial edict, but he didn’t impose a deadline for his return to the capital city.”

‘Besides, even if there were a deadline, what could I possibly do about it provided Yuwen Tong intentionally tries to delay the return? Though Yuwen Tong has been acting courteously so far, it is merely because he’s willing to save my face for the moment. If by any chance someday he’s no longer willing to do so…’ Zhang Xi’s face suddenly fell cold, as if something had just occurred to him.

In a procession like this, nothing could escape the notice of Yao Yi and his men.

After Zhao Si of the Palace Guards talked with Zhang Xi, information about this matter soon reached their ears.

Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang were having supper when Yao Yi walked inside the room and reported this to them.

Ling Zhang looked at Yuwen Tong. Yuwen Tong replied in a casual tone of voice, “Never mind. Since they didn’t come here, we might as well pretend to be unaware of it.”

“Yes, Martial.”

“Do you think they will eventually fail to forbear to come here and make the suggestion?” Ling Zhang asked him after Yao Yi left.

“They won’t.”

‘How does he come to be so sure?’ Ling Zhang cocked a confused eyebrow at him.

Yuwen Tong explained, “The emperor merely wants me to leave Tanyang as soon as possible. He didn’t impose a deadline for my return to the capital city. Otherwise he would have had Zhang Xi inform me of it. Since they didn’t say anything on that day, now it’s even more unlikely that they’ll get a chance to do it.”

The light dawned on Ling Zhang. It meant that Zhang Xi and those palace guards had no choice but to put up with the situation even if they were not willing to.

“You want to go for a walk after supper?” Yuwen Tong asked.

Ling Zhang couldn’t help but chuckle, “You are really taking this for a sightseeing tour?”

Yuwen Tong didn’t at all see why he shouldn’t be doing this. “Why not? I mean, it’s not like we are in a hurry or something.”

Ever since Ling Zhang suffered an injury on that day, the chef of Ling family had been preparing highly nourishing food for him each and every day for quite a long time. In order not to get fat, after recovering from the injury, he had been working very hard on fist techniques, and had even been making steady progress in developing proficiency the breathing exercises taught to him by Yuwen Tong. And he even involuntarily breathed according to the pattern when he slept at night. His constitution had become significantly stronger than before.

Though having spent a full day on horse back, he didn’t feel tired at all.

“All right. Let’s do it.” Ling Zhang agreed. “But where should we go? There’s a certain distance between this courier station and the county seat.”

This place was called the Cheng County, which was under the jurisdiction of Tanyang. In fact, the County Magistrate of the Cheng County had been among the group of officials who had gone to the city gate to see Yuwen Tong off. Whether he had returned or not was unknown.

“It’s not far,” replied Yuwen Tong.

‘It seems that he intends to go to the county seat.’ Ling Zhang thought for a few moments and informed him, “If my memory serves me well, there’s a pretty distinctive herbal garden in the Cheng County, which is located between this courier station and the county seat. People grow some kind of medicinal herbs with a unique fragrance in there, and the flowers of the herbs are very beautiful. This is the exact season when the herbs blossom. A lot of people will specially come to this county to enjoy the scenery at this time of the year. It’s just that I don’t know how the view is at night.”

The herbal garden was a manor covering a rather vast area. He remembered that there was an inn in it, but he had only been to that place once with his uncle when he had been a young boy, so he wasn’t sure about it.

Yuwen Tong merely wanted to go for a walk with Ling Zhang, and he didn’t really care where they were going.

As a result, the two of them left the courier station after supper, heading for the herbal garden.

“Where are the Marshal and Childe Ling going at such a late hour?” A palace guard was confused when he saw them.

“They are going out for a walk. It helps digest the food.” Wang Dashan, who happened to be walking past, heard the question, gave an answer to it and then left.

This reply sent the palace guard speechless.

‘Going for a walk to help with digestion when it’s pitch-dark?’

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong were not going on their own. Yao Yi and Liu Yi were following in their wake.

The herbal garden was indeed not far away from the courier station. Distantly, they caught sight of a manor. The big lantern overhanging the front gate of the manor was very bright, and there was also a road lamp about a hundred paces away from the gateway where a lot of horse-drawn carriages had been parked. Some people happened to have just got off their carriage and were entering the manor when they arrived at the gateway.

It had not been long since it got dark. The night was still young.

“It seems that they are still receiving visitors,” said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang secretly felt a sense of relief.

The four of them walked over to the front gate and, unsurprisingly, there were a couple of receptionists, all of whom were briefly stunned when they saw that the four of them not only had come to this place by foot but also looked strange.

“May I ask where you are from, my guests? You don’t seem like locals,” asked a man at the front gate.

“The courier station,” replied Ling Zhang.

The man at the gateway, as if light had just dawned on him, smiled, “Oh, I see. You must have come here to participate in the Tea and Flowers Party as well, I guess? This way, please.”

‘Tea and flowers?’ Ling Zhang’s eyes slightly lit up. ‘It seems that our timing is perfect.’

After exchanging glances with each other, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong went inside first.

Yao Yi and Liu Yi followed in their wake.

They entered the manor and were greeted by a large garden, inside which there were unconventionally shaped flower nurseries where the medicinal herbs Ling Zhang had mentioned were grown. At this time, all the herbs were laden with purple blossoms. There was a road lamp beside each flower nursery, so the garden was well-lit.

Ling Zhang took a sniff. “This is the exact fragrance I remember.”

It was precisely the same as the scent he had smelled when he had been here in his childhood.

But this place had become far prettier than the one in his memory. Back then when his uncle had taken him here, there had not been these arrangements.

They walked across the garden and arrived at the front of an inn and a teahouse, which were two-story buildings standing side by side.

The teahouse was very uproarious, as if all visitors were in there.

“You want to check it out?” Ling Zhang inquired of Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong bobbed his head and the two of them walked into the teahouse.

The moment they entered, a waiter greeted them and offered to lead them to available seats.

Though this teahouse was a two-story building, it was rather spacious. In the middle of it, there was a large courtyard, looking up from which they could see the second floor.

There was a dome above the courtyard, and at the center of the courtyard was a platform one step higher than the ground. A woman wearing a veil was playing qin (a seven-stringed plucked instrument in some ways similar to the zither) on it.

When they entered the teahouse, all people’s eyes were almost instantly drawn to them, since their presence was out of the ordinary, especially that of Yuwen Tong.

It was because the two of them were strangers to them that nobody had accosted them so far.

Ling Zhang didn’t really mind those people’s gaze. A moment ago, when entering this place, he had noticed that the second floor had no walls to block the view of the sea of flowers in the garden. As a result, he asked the waiter, “Are there any seats available upstairs?”

The man answered with an awkward look, “Uh… I’m afraid most of the seats on the second floor have been booked.”

A regretful expression appeared on Ling Zhang’s face. “Then we’ll sit on the ground floor.”

The waiter was just about to lead them to available seats when someone on the second floor called, “Hey, guests downstairs, you are welcome to come up here and share a table with us if you want.”

Ling Zhang raised his head and his eyes met a man’s, who was standing beside the balustrade looking down. That was a middle-aged man dressed like a merchant. ‘He’s…’

“It’s you, General Storekeeper.”

The man folded his hands in front at Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong as a gesture of friendliness, respectfully bowed his head to Yuwen Tong and then replied, “Yes, in the flesh. Would Childe Ling care to come up here and share the table with me?”

This man was the general storekeeper of the Jing’s Drugstore Chain which had been in cooperation with Ling family’s herb farm in doing herbs business all along. Back at the time when Zhang Chong’s men detained Ling family’s herb farmers, this man came to their help in the woods.

Yuwen Tong also had a vague memory of this person.

Ling Zhang looked at Yuwen Tong, who then inclined his head.

“Sure. A chance meeting like this is far from a daily occurrence,” Ling Zhang said to the storekeeper.

The general storekeeper walked to the bottom of the staircase and led them upstairs. The table happened to face the sea of flowers in the garden and the view from it was excellent.

Surprisingly, the general storekeeper was the only one occupying the table.

The general storekeeper said to Yuwen Tong in an undertone, “After you, Marshal.”

Yuwen Tong bobbed his head and took a seat.

Ling Zhang politely suggested that he and the general storekeeper sat down at the same time. Then he observed, “It never crossed my mind that General Storekeeper might also be in such a good mood for presenting yourself in this herbal garden for the beauty of flowers.”

The general storekeeper gave a smile. “This must sound like a frivolity to you, Childe Ling. I happen to be on a visit to this herbal garden consulting with the owner about herb business. I saw this tea party going on here and decided to come and check it out. Are you on a journey to the capital city with the Marshal and passing by?”

They were a certain distance away from nearby tables and other customers wouldn’t be able to overhear their conversation, so Ling Zhang didn’t remind the general storekeeper not to address Yuwen Tong as “the Marshal”.

“Yes. We just checked in at the courier station. When I was young, I came to this herbal garden once, so I decided to come and take a look. This tea party is a pleasant surprise to me.”

The general storekeeper flicked a glance at Yuwen Tong who had been silent all along. Seeing he seemed to have no problem with letting Ling Zhang do all the talking, the general storekeeper was secretly startled and his attitude towards Ling Zhang became even more respectful.

“You don’t come here often enough, Childe Ling. Actually, in this season when the herbs are in blossom, a tea party at night is a near daily occurrence here.”

Light dawned on Ling Zhang and he gave a smile. “Oh, I see.”

Though this was a mere chance encounter with the general storekeeper of the Jing’s Drugstore Chain, Ling Zhang sitting here came up with a business plan.

He intended to open a drugstore in the capital city, and the Jing’s Drugstore Chain had long ago located a branch in the capital city, which he had heard was of a pretty large scale.

He believed that he might be able to get some very useful information if he consulted this man about it.

“General Storekeeper, may I ask when you’ll go to the capital city?” Ling Zhang asked.

The general storekeeper was somewhat surprised by this question. After thinking for a while, he responded, “It happens that I’ll deliver a batch of medicinal herbs to the capital city in half a month.”

“Great. I’d like to pay you a visit when you are there. May I ask if it would be convenient for you, General Storekeeper? There’s something that I want to consult you about,” said Ling Zhang.

“You are being too courteous, Childe Ling. With our acquaintance, I’ll never hesitate for a single moment about paying you a visit myself if you need any help. How about this? I’ll go to the capital city half a month later, and we’ll meet immediately after I get there,” replied the general storekeeper.

Chapter 153: An Assassination and a Sneak Attack

“Then it’s settled,” Ling Zhang smiled.

It was natural that the general storekeeper had agreed, since Ling Zhang was not only the owner of the herb farm that had been in business cooperation with the Jiang’s Drugstore Chain for years, but also had Yuwen Tong at his back. The general storekeeper would never say no to an opportunity of having their acquaintance develop further, as long as he still had his senses.

…

After enjoying tea and the beauty of the sea of flowers with the general storekeeper of the Jing’s Drugstore Chain at the teahouse in the herbal garden, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong decided to return.

Ling Zhang rose to his feet and looked around, an awkward expression on his face. Since he had drunk a lot of tea, he needed to go to a privy to answer the call of nature.

Fortunately, the waiter of the teahouse was very observant. Since this was a teahouse, the occasion when a customer needed to use a privy was a frequent occurrence here.

Ling Zhang said to Yuwen Tong in embarrassment, “I’ll be back soon.”

Yuwen Tong gave a smile. “Just go.”

They had been here for several hours, but this was the first time that the general storekeeper of the Jing’s Drugstore Chain had seen Yuwen Tong’s face soften and have a smile on it, which made him even more surprised. ‘Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang really have feelings for each other. Does this mean that I did the right thing by making a decision to cultivate a closer relationship with Ling Zhang?’

Thinking about this, the general storekeeper couldn’t help but get excited, but he didn’t show any signs of it on his face.

Ling Zhang, led by the waiter, went downstairs. Liu Yi followed in their wake.

The privy was not far away from the teahouse. It was clean and the surroundings were pleasantly quiet.

Ling Zhang walked inside and Liu Yi waited at the doorway.

There were lanterns still ablaze in the teahouse ahead and a babble of voices was emanating from it, making it even more uproarious than many nightclubs in a city.

Liu Yi took a few glances at the place and then lowered his eyes, calmly waiting for Ling Zhang to come out, but right at this moment, some faint, unusual sounds were heard. He abruptly opened his eyes and the sound of something swishing towards him through the air came from behind!

Liu Yi hurriedly sidestepped. A steel saber brushed downwards past him. Had he sidestepped a single instant later, he would have died to the saber.

“Who is it?!” Liu Yi whipped out his sword fastened to his belt, quickly turned around and swung it at the assailant.

The assailant, who was in a black night suit and a white mask leaving only his eyes showing, dodged the blow just as quick.

After his first strike missed the target, Liu Yi came at the attacker and launched another attack. The moment he engaged the opponent, his brow corrugated. ‘This guy’s no common kung fu practitioner!’

To make things worse, another assassin in black jumped out of the dark and hurtled towards the privy.

Liu Yi hurriedly went to the doorway of the privy, blocked the path of the two assassins and fought them.

There was nobody else around, and the teahouse ahead was all astir. If he waited for anybody to notice this fight and come to his help, it might be too late.

The expression on Liu Yi’s face changed and with that, as if his wrist grew more flexible, his sword moves switched to another style. His swordsmanship, which had been merely average so far, instantly became swift and fierce. Caught off guard, the two men in black were fought off.

At the same time, he raised his left hand, put two fingers into his mouth and with that a shrill whistle of alert issued from his lips.

Seeing this, one of the two men in black immediately launched a more ferocious attack with an attempt to kill Liu Yi. Meanwhile, the other one tried to get into the privy sparing no efforts!

At this moment, Ling Zhang in the privy heard the sound of fighting, quickly finished, hurriedly put on his pants and intended to rush out to help.

Hearing the footsteps, Liu Yi hastily yelled, “Stay inside, Young Master! There are two assassins here. I can only hold them back. Wait for the Marshal to come!”

Ling Zhang’s brows were furrowed. ‘Two assassins? Am I the target?’

Not having the time to think it through, he hurriedly looked around, walked to the exit and vigilantly watched, guarding against the possibility of extra assassins showing up.

“Step aside or meet your end.” Unable to overpower Liu Yi any time soon, the assassin wearing a night suit and a white mask threatened him.

Liu Yi sneered, “Bring it on if you are really capable of that!”

He held his ground at the entrance and his sword strikes became quicker and more powerful. The two opponents couldn’t even get a single pace closer to the privy!

In the teahouse, Yuwen Tong, who had grown somewhat restless shortly after Ling Zhang left, was just about to rise to his feet and leave when suddenly a shrill whistle was heard. His face changed drastically.

“It’s Liu Yi!” Yao Yi’s face also changed.

“Let’s go!” instructed Yuwen Tong. He directly leaped down from a relatively spacious area of the second floor, landed on the ground and swished in the direction of the source of the whistle.

Yao Yi hotly followed in his wake.

Countenance of the general storekeeper of the Jing’s Drugstore Chain also changed. In the realization that Ling Zhang must have been in some kind of danger, he immediately had a waiter of the teahouse inform the owner of the herbal garden telling him to take some men to the outhouse.

Yuwen Tong was the first one to arrive at the scene. As he saw that Liu Yi was struggling against two men in black and Ling Zhang was standing behind Liu Yi in anxiety, his face instantly went cold. In mid-air, he raised his hand and aimed a palm strike at one of the two men.

The heavy blow hit the target, who involuntarily spewed out a mouthful of blood with a puff and yelled, “Retreat!”

The two men quickly got clean away. Clearly, their lightness skills were excellent.

“You want to escape?!” Seeing this, Yao Yi, who had just arrived, immediately pursued them and soon disappeared as well.

Yuwen Tong landed on the ground and walked up.

Liu Yi sheathed his sword and made way for Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang walked out of the privy and asked with a sullen expression on his face. “Elder Brother Liu, are you hurt?”

Liu Yi shook his head. “I’m okay. It’s just that my Qi is churning inside me. It’ll be fine after a few moments’ Qi circulation.”

Ling Zhang was relieved. “I’m glad to hear that. If it weren’t for Elder Brother Liu, I would probably have died to the sabers of the two men.”

Ling Zhang had been observing the fight all along. Sabersmanship of the two men in black were pretty good, and they also possessed internal energy. If it weren’t for the fact that Liu Yi had suddenly switched to some kind of powerful swordsmanship he had never seen before, he might not have successfully held back the two attackers.

Ling Zhang believed that Liu Yi probably had learned this swordsmanship from that kung fu expert he had once mentioned. On that day, Liu Yi told him that it was inconvenient for him to perform this swordsmanship in front of outsiders.

But on this day, in order to save him, Liu Yi used this swordsmanship, which was a clear indication of his allegiance to him. Ling Zhang was very grateful.

At this time, Yuwen Tong walked to the front of Ling Zhang, sized him up, felt his pulse and heaved a sigh of relief in the knowledge that Ling Zhang was indeed unharmed.

Ling Zhang had been out of his sight for only a short while, yet these people had taken advantage of it and attempted to assassinate him!

Yuwen Tong was consumed with anger at the thought of this, his face sullen.

Naturally, Ling Zhang, whose wrist was held tight by Yuwen Tong, felt his anger. “I’m okay. Let’s get out of here first.”

Yuwen Tong inclined his head and looked at Liu Yi.

Liu Yi immediately informed him, “It was shortly after young master went inside that the two men showed up. At that time, there was nobody else around here. They must have been stalking us for quite some time and decided to assassinate young master with a surprise attack when he was alone. Both assailants were wearing black night suits and white masks. The sabers they used were common steel sabers and there was nothing special about them, not that I could tell, but their sabersmanship gave me this feeling that they were not common Jianghu (the martial arts world) kung fu practitioners. On top of this, the way they cooperated with each other in attack and defense was pretty efficient, which is something that could only be acquired through years’ training.”

Eyes as icy as snow water, Yuwen Tong inquired, “Did they make you feel that they had a military background?”

Liu Yi was stunned. After hesitating for a few moments, he replied, “Sort of, but the feeling they gave me was different from the one given by you and your bodyguards. They didn’t have any smell of blood about them, and their moves were more defensive than offensive, too.”

Having trouble finding the right words to give an accurate description of that feeling, Liu Yi appeared somewhat anxious.

Yuwen Tong raised his hand and gestured him to calm down. “I’ve got a shrewd idea of their identity.”

“Really? Who are they?” queried Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong responded, “Think about it –who will try to kill you in these circumstances?”

Ling Zhang thought for a while and then replied, “Surely they are not Zhang Chong’s surviving minions?”

Since the attackers seemed to have a military background, the only foe he could think of was Zhang Chong. Although Zhang Chong was dead and most of his henchmen had also been eliminated, it was possible that some of them had escaped unpunished.

Yuwen Tong shook his head. “No. Zhang Chong is dead. His subordinates are not really that loyal to him. Even if there are any of them who managed to escape, they would stay hidden instead of exposing themselves to life-threatening danger of their own accord. To say the least, even if those people wanted to take revenge, they would have tried to kill me first, because, after all, I was the one Zhang Chong hated the most.”

Ling Zhang was confused. ‘Whom could they be if they are not Zhang Chong’s men?’

At this time, Liu Yi interposed, “It was unmistakable that the two men were targeting young master. Even their intention of killing me was not very strong.”

‘I was their only target?’ Ling Zhang’s eyebrows were furrowed.

‘The possibility of them being Zhang Chong’s men has been excluded, but surely they were not sent by Jia family?’

“Jia Zhong had managed to hire that old man good at disguise. Is it possible that some other forces are trying to avenge his death?”

“It is crystal clear that that old man is a mere Jianghu kung fu practitioner,” replied Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang really couldn’t think of who else could have hired the two attackers.

Yuwen Tong let out a sigh. Ling Zhang had failed to guess the answer. He didn’t know whether he should feel relieved or worried.

At this time, the two of them arrived at the teahouse and happened to see that the general storekeeper of the Jing’s Drugstore Chain, along with the owner of the herbal garden, followed by a lot of security guards, were heading in their direction. Both sides were surprised to see each other.

“Childe Ling, are you okay?” the general storekeeper hurriedly asked.

Ling Zhang replied, “Thank you for asking. I’m okay.”

“Exactly what happened out there?” The owner of the herbal garden was somewhat perplexed.

“Two assassins suddenly showed up. They have escaped,” responded Ling Zhang.

Since he and Yuwen Tong had come to this place on a whim, he believed that the owner of the herbal garden was not the mastermind who had been plotting against him behind the scenes. After all, there had never been hatred between them.

‘That’s right. I came to this herbal garden on a whim, which meant it must be in the courier station that the two assassins came to know Yuwen Tong and I left for this place.’

Ling Zhang quickly looked at Yuwen Tong. In the knowledge that Ling Zhang had thought of something, Yuwen Tong gave a bob of his head, a grave look on his face.

Ling Zhang’s face immediately went cold. None of those working in the courier station harbored any resentment towards him, so it was more likely that someone among the group was responsible for this.

All his own men were trustworthy, and Yuwen Tong’s men more so, which meant that the only possibility was…

‘Is there anybody else who wants me dead apart from Zhang Chong and people of Jia family?

Those who don’t want me marrying Yuwen Tong and wish me dead are just like those who added to the misfortunes of my family in my last life!

Who on earth is this person? The emperor?

Both Zhang Xi and those palace guards work for the emperor.

But it doesn’t make any sense. This attack was too suspicion-prone an approach to have been ordered by the emperor, because Yuwen Tong would have instantly regarded him as the most possible culprit. Under current circumstances, directly falling out with Yuwen Tong will undoubtedly be detrimental to his reign, so it couldn’t be him who has done this.

Then who is this person?

Palace guards, Zhang Xi… Of course it’s also possible that I got this wrong…’

Ling Zhang exhaled deeply, hoping that Yao Yi could catch up with the two men, so that he wouldn’t have to rack his brains guessing any longer.