The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 253- 255

Chapter 253: Stay with Grandfather for Two Days

He had tried to refuse, but for him, this was a new and thrilling experience as well. Also, he was in his youth and full of enthusiasm. How was he supposed to control himself? Every time he attempted to walk away, Yuwen Tong would persist and he would soon succumb to temptation.

Yuwen Tong’s tongue moved from his shoulder to his shoulder blades, and then the back of his neck. Ling Zhang nearly lost his balance because of the itch, involuntarily pulling his shoulders in, his chest out. Yuwen Tong’s hand went through his open collar, sliding straight downward. The smooth and fine touch of Ling Zhang’s back made Yuwen Tong’s lower abdomen abruptly contract and with that his palm quickly moved to a half-moon…

The towel with which Yuwen Tong had wiped Ling Zhang’s hair dropped to the ground, and Ling Zhang’s clothes to the crook of his arm. He reached out a hand and grabbed Yuwen Tong’s wrist but couldn’t at all stop him.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, Ling Zhang’s eyes widened and went dazed, an unnaturally seductive look on his face. Yuwen Tong’s hand stroking his chest slid upwards and held his cheek, his thumb fingering Ling Zhang’s lips, and with that his Adam’s apple bobbed and his mouth took the place of the hand.

…

Yuwen Tong made out with him for a whole night. The next day, when Ling Zhang arrived at the Imperial College, his waist and legs were still fairly limp. He inwardly cursed Yuwen Tong for a few moments.

After Ling Zhang walked inside, Yuwen Jin told him under his breath, “Let me tell you something – that student who tried to provoke you yesterday has been expelled from our college. It seems that he was found to be guilty of some kind of misbehavior. This morning someone said that he packed up his stuff and left the city with his tail between his legs last night.”

“Last night?” After sitting down, Ling Zhang didn’t dare change his position, trying to make himself appear normal.

“Yeah. He’s already left,” said Yuwen Jin.

Ling Zhang had a thoughtful look on his face. Because of Miao Shiba’s deed and Yuwen Tong’s cautious questions the day before, it was not difficult for him to guess that the qin master must be the one who’d appeared at the King Duan’s banquet that day. As things stood, someone had done something.

After hearing about how that student had ended up, Zhao Jiusi on the side slightly paused. The day before, after seeing that student, he’d felt rather weird but hadn’t figured out the reason immediately. It’d been after he returned home and did some careful thinking that he realized that that student’s figure bore some resemblance to Ling Zhang’s, and his looks slightly resembled Ling Zhang’s as well. Originally he’d worried that this person would work against Ling Zhang with some subterfuges, but unexpectedly, he’d been forced into leaving the capital city so soon.

Maybe because the weather was getting hot, students were more inclined to gossip than usual. They talked about this matter for quite a long time, making all kinds of speculations about whom that student had offended. Ling Zhang listened for a while and then lost his interest. He asked the college for two days off. The next day he was going to the new manor to meet his grandfather and see if there was anything he could help with.

He hadn’t told Yuwen Jin and the others about the manor yet, planning to wait until the revamp was over.

“All the fuss over such a petty matter. I wonder whether they could get the better of those courtiers in an argument if they’re brought to the imperial court.”

Ji Feng took the folding fan his study-servant (a boy serving in someone’s study) handed him, unfolded it with a jerk of his hand and started fanning himself vigorously. What with the hot weather, all students were sweating buckets, and even their tones were slightly more confrontational than usual. This was the time when everybody was particularly prone to pick a fight at a minor disagreement.

“What happened in the imperial court?”

Ling Zhang asked about it. Yuwen Tong hadn’t been attending court meetings and couldn’t be bothered to pay any attention to what the courtiers were disputing about, so when it came to the situation in the imperial court, Ling Zhang was not as well informed as Ji Feng and the others whose elders attended court meetings regularly.

“The appointment of new officials, of course. What else could it be? The Gu family recommended someone, vouching for his competence. This guy is a toady and wily old fox, who seldom does anything practical and spends most of his time currying favor with superiors. My grandfather believes that allowing a man of this sort to be promoted will undermine the foundation of our country, so he raised a strong objection, but His Majesty clearly had already been convinced by Gu family and would probably appoint that guy to the position in the next two days. My grandfather’s so angry that he couldn’t even eat.”

Ji Feng, a scornful look on his face, evidently loathed the one that the Gu family had vouched for. Xie Qing’s and Zhao Jiusi’s countenance also changed somewhat, seeming to have also heard about this matter from their elders as well.

Yuwen Jin asked curiously, “Someone the Gu family recommended and vouched for? Who is it?”

Ji Feng gave a soft cough and confided in an undertone, “Wang Cai.”

Wang Cai? This name was completely strange to Ling Zhang. He’d been in the capital city for quite a few days and the inquiries he’d made should be enough for him to know about all those he needed to know, but he’d never heard of this Wang Cai guy before, as though he was a newcomer.

Not only Ling Zhang but also Yuwen Jin and Xun Huo appeared puzzled.

“Wang Cai is a member of the Wang family in Haizhou. The Wang family used to be very powerful in the reign of the former emperor, but afterwards returned to Haizhou in dejection due to mishandling of a particular event. It’s been a couple of decades and they seem to have gathered enough strength and want to gain a foothold in the capital city again, so they hooked up with the Gu family. People of the Gu family have been losing their sense of propriety these years, recommending all kinds of people to His Majesty, heedless of their qualifications, stopping at nothing to expand the Crown Prince’s faction.”

Ji Feng made these remarks in a very low voice audible only to Ling Zhang and the couple of others.

“After the Sixth Prince and the King Hui were brought down in succession, the King Duan, the King Yu and the Crown Prince carved up their forces. As the Crown Prince had been nursing his illness for years, the other two princes got larger shares. Now the Crown Prince has returned to the imperial court, so the Gu family, naturally, wants to help him gather enough helpers so as to oppose the other two sides. His Majesty adopted the suggestion of the Gu family and decided to give the post to this Wang Cai guy because he wants to use him as a counterbalance to the powers of the other two princes. My grandfather said that His Majesty…” Ji Feng let out a cough and continued, “Anyway, if Wang Cai gets promoted, he’d be nothing but a disgusting douche bag.”

After hearing Ji Feng’s words, Ling Zhang couldn’t help but inwardly heave a sigh. The emperor was indeed inextricably bogged down in the idea of checks and balances; all he could think about was how to enforce his rule, and these years he hadn’t really made any achievements in terms of improving people’s lives. The riot in Xiang City of Cangzhou, on the surface, had been caused by local officials, but in fact, the political climate in the whole Great Yue was fairly degenerate these years, and people had long been in discontent.

“If it were in the past, the Jiang family would definitely have intervened and make life difficult for the Gu family, but because of the matter of Jiang Chengfeng, Jiang Shennian has been keeping his head down lately, and my grandfather is unable to handle the many underlings of the Gu family single-handed, so there’s nothing he could do. He just stays at home sulking in his room.”

“The King Duan and the King Yu just stood by watching it happen?”

“They want to stop it, but recently His Majesty has been cold-shouldering the two of them because of the King Hui’s attempted usurpation. They don’t dare risk antagonizing him further.”

Hearing them talk about the situation in the imperial court, Ling Zhang came to realize that the outcome of this matter was probably a foregone conclusion now, which was why Ji Feng’s grandfather was so angry.

“All right, let’s stop talking about these unpleasant things. Would you like to go to the summer house of my family in a day or two? It’s so hot, and I think we could all use somewhere to get out of this heat,” suggested Ji Feng.

Naturally all others agreed willingly. The summer house of the Ji family had been built after they saw the manor of the Yuwen family. It was also far away from the city and near the manor that Ji Yin had just purchased. Ling Zhang, thinking that he was going to visit the new manor anyway, agreed. “There’s some business I have to attend to these days. You guys fix a date first, and I’ll go directly to you on that day.”

Thus they agreed to meet three days later.

…

Ling Zhang was sitting in a horse-drawn carriage and it was a long, bumpy ride. He’d departed early in the morning, but it was shortly before dusk that he arrived at the new manor.

Ling Zhang had brought Wang Dashan and other security guards with him, planning to let them stay in this place, help with the revamp and meanwhile learn some moves from Ji Yin.

He got out of the carriage. Whitie the fox crouching on top of his head was unwilling to get down and Ling Zhang resignedly let it. Not many people could bear wearing a fluffy “hat” in such hot weather.

“Whitie, here we are. Get down.”

Whitie, probably feeling intolerably hot as well, let out a cry, jumped to Ling Zhang’s shoulder and then to the ground. After another soft cry, it streaked forward and soon disappeared, seeming to have set off to find somewhere cool to stay.

The hotness had made a cool spot much more appealing to it than Ling Zhang was.

Ling Zhang gave a slight sigh of relief and looked up at the manor in front of him.

Before his departure, Yuwen Tong had been called to Yuwen You’s place and would arrive later. At this time Ling Zhang and his security guards were the only visitors.

The group of them walked up to the front gates of the manor and were stopped. “Please identify yourselves. Our master has purchased this manor. If you’re here for an audience with the Marquess Ning’an (AKA, the Marquess of Peace), you’ll have to go back to the capital city to find him.”

Ling Zhang’s eyes appraised the two tough hombres guarding the gates, who were tall and thickset. Due to the heat, they were bare-backed, but it didn’t make them any less ferocious-looking. Those not bold enough might be deterred from getting close to the gates.

“We’re not here for an audience with the Marquess Ning’an. It’s the new owner of this manor that we came here to see. I’d appreciate it if you informed him of my presence. My name is Ling Zhang.”

The strong men neither knew Ling Zhang nor had heard of his “wide” reputation. After hearing Ling Zhang’s words, one of them told him to wait a moment and then went inside to report.

After a while, Ji Yin walked outside and said with a smile, “Why did you come so soon, my boy? Grandfather hasn’t finished the revamp yet.”

“I cannot let you carry the burden all on your own, Grandfather. I’m here to help.”

The two strong gatekeepers sized up Ling Zhang in amazement. It was not until this moment that they came to know this childe they’d just stopped was grandson to the owner of this manor.

Ji Yin had changed out of his Confucian scholar’s robes, dressed like a common rich old man, looking unobtrusive. In the capital city, apart from students of the Imperial College, very few people had laid eyes on him, and there was certainly no need for him to worry about anybody recognizing him in this manor.

Hearing that Ling Zhang wanted to help, Ji Yin smiled, “It’s just a little thing. The craftsmen will handle it. Also, quite some people came here to help yesterday.”

Ling Zhang knew Ji Yin was referring to the helpers sent by Yuwen Tong. Walking into the manner with Ji Yin, he told him, “Something’s keeping him. He’ll be here later.”

As there were outsiders present and Ling Zhang, Ji Yin and Yuwen Tong all preferred to keep a low profile, neither of them mentioned Yuwen Tong’s name.

Fully aware of the situation, Ji Yin nodded and said, “This place is not very habitable for the moment, and all artisans have arrived, so you may tell him not to come. Doesn’t he have a manor nearby? Tell him to live there. I want you to stay here with me for a couple of days.”

Chapter 254: Ascertainment of the Reason for the Rebirth?

This might not be a bad idea, for he happened to need a break. These days Yuwen Tong had been snatching at every chance to do that thing with him, which had made him begin to wonder whether he was going to die of Shenkui (a culture bound syndrome native to China in which the individual suffers somatic symptoms with anxiety, believed to be caused by a loss of semen). It would be a terrible shame to die a death like that. He could also take advantage of this opportunity to figure out how to get on top of Yuwen Tong. Humph.

Thinking about this, Ling Zhang raised his head, turned around and instructed Wang Dashan, “Have someone deliver a message to them. Make sure they’re aware of my grandfather’s decision.”

Wang Dashan secretly snickered and answered, “Yes, Young Master.”

Ling Zhang accompanying Ji Yin had a walk around the manor. As this manor was being expanded by incorporating several next-door summer houses, it covered a vast area and a stroll around it would take a long time. Also, some walls separating this manor and the summer houses were being demolished, and it was inconvenient to go there.

Artisans could be seen bustling around everywhere. At the sight of Ling Zhang, all of them greeted him in the knowledge that he was also an owner of this manor.

Ling Zhang had Liu Yi and some others buy some melons, cool them in a well, cut them into slices and deliver them to the artisans. He also instructed a servant to cook some mung soup which helped relieve summer-heat, cool it in the well and proffer it to the artisans, so that they wouldn’t catch heatstroke. Servants had been instructed to do this daily until the revamp was over.

It wasn’t everyday these artisans met an employer so kind. They were all very happy and thanked him respectfully.

“Thank you for coming to help in such a hot weather. Each of you will get an extra ten-percent of the agreed remuneration as a bonus when the revamp is finished.” After saying this, Ling Zhang said to Ji Yin under his breath, “I’ll pay this extra money, Grandfather.”

Ji Yin didn’t try to stop him and happily nodded. “Okay. Do it your way.”

On hearing that they were getting extra pay, all artisans became even more excited and motivated and, naturally, worked harder, paying more attention to the details, trying to make everything perfect, and sure enough their work was different from that done by perfunctory craftsmen. The revamp of a building, no matter in terms of woodworking or tiling, entailed a lot of techniques unknown to outsiders. Some artisans who knew about some underhand methods, when they encountered a mean employer or a foe, would resort to dirty tricks and have them suffer losses without knowing how. Of course this kind of artisans were few in number. Most craftsmen were honest and moral, and always repaid kindness with kindness. Ling Zhang was kind to them because he was considerate enough to empathize with them. Laboring in such hot weather was a miserable thing to anybody. It didn’t really cost him much to make it easier for these artisans, who would work harder for him in return.

Before long, it was time to knock off, and all artisans returned to their temporary accommodation. Ling Zhang and Ji Yin also went to the courtyard house that Ji Yin would be staying in for the duration of the revamp project. The layout of it was not bad, and it was spacious, too. Beside it was a pond. At night, when breezes blew by, it was pretty cool.

Whitie the fox finally had enough fun out there and rushed back. Once he was in the house, he threw himself onto Ling Zhang, oblivious of the stains he was leaving on Ling Zhang’s clothes, crying softly as if trying to look cute, his black, beady eyes sparkling, rubbing himself against Ling Zhang in an effort to cotton to him.

“You got yourself dirty all over and now you came back to stain my clothes. You’re not behaving, Whitie.”

Ling Zhang resignedly let out a sigh, reached out a hand and gently hit Whitie’s head with his knuckles. Whitie instantly put on an aggrieved face, looked at Ling Zhang with his piteous, watery eyes, and softly whimpered at him.

“It’s no good playing pitiful. Now you’re not Whitie but Darkie.”

The fox was dusty from head to pad. Ling Zhang had no idea where he had been.

“Tell me – did you get into some hole?” queried Ling Zhang, looking down at him.

Whitie swished his fluffy tail, wrapped it around Ling Zhang’s wrist, and innocently whimpered at him again as though saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m a good boy. Go easy on me.”

Amused, Ling Zhang curled the corners of his mouth in spite of himself. Sharp-eyed Whitie noticed it and immediately got excited, raising his head high and crying.

Ling Zhang shook his head. “Be good. I’ll give you a bath in a while.”

Ji Yin caught sight of Whitie in Ling Zhang’s arms and observed, “This little white fox looks pretty intelligent.”

Talking about Whitie, Ling Zhang recalled that he needed to ask about the changes in him. “There’s something I’d been meaning to ask you about but forgot, Grandfather. Does the mental cultivation method of internal energy of the Millennium Pavilion bring changes to… the cultivator’s body? I’ve noticed that apart from Whitie and Snowflake, all other animals don’t fear me as well.”

Ling Zhang told Ji Yin about the squirrel jumping to his shoulder, the horses in the racecourse, as well as he and Yuwen Tong testing it on some animals on the hill that day. Then he added, “The moment Yuwen Tong approached them, they get scared and immediately fled.”

Gratified, Ji Yin inclined his head, looking at Ling Zhang with glinting eyes. “The Force of Blood in you is indeed very powerful.”

‘I knew it.’ Ling Zhang, who had got a shrewd idea of the reason, was not surprised to hear Ji Yin mention the Force of Blood. And then Ji Yin continued to explain it.

“Phoenixes are ancient miraculous birds. Their blood holds enormous power, and naturally other animals succumb to it after sensing it. The Force of Blood of the Phoenix Clan coursing in us is very thin – there’s barely any of it left, actually. Only by following the mental cultivation method of internal energy handed down from generation to generation in our clan could we strengthen the Force of Blood which is so thin that it is barely detectable, but even in the Millennium Pavilion, the clan leader is the only one to whom all animals submit themselves at the sight of him. You have only reached the second layer of the cultivation method, but the Force of Blood in you has already begun to have influence on animals. Zhang’er, your Force of Blood is stronger than I expected previously.”

Ji Yin stared at Ling Zhang, a hint of bewilderment in his eyes. He wondered why the Force of Blood in Ling Zhang was so powerful when it should be very weak. But no matter what, this was definitely something to rejoice at!

It was only after hearing Ji Yin’s explanation that Ling Zhang came to know that the Force of Blood in him was stronger than it was in other clansmen. Of course the suggestion of confusion in Ji Yin’s eyes hadn’t escaped his notice. As the reason was unknown to even Ji Yin, he certainly didn’t stand a chance of figuring it out.

Thinking about this, he felt it rather strange that in his last incarnation, he had died before Ji Yin could find him, and at that time his blood hadn’t struck him as special in any way.

At this moment, Ji Yin suddenly added, “Outsiders have many speculations about descendants of the Phoenix Clan, and rumors were even wilder when the Xia ruled this land, but none of those are reliable.”

Ling Zhang bobbed his head. “I heard this from my uncle – it is said that in the past foreseers could foretell everything, that descendants of the Phoenix Clan could rise from the dead, which is the very reason why my father left home and tried to find the Millennium Pavilion to have my mother resurrected…”

As Ling Zhang said this, a flash of inspiration rapidly crossed his mind, but he failed to grasp it. He kept feeling that he was on the verge of coming to understand something.

Ji Yin, who hadn’t noticed the fleeting change of Ling Zhang’s countenance, said, “Actually that’s not entirely false…”

Ling Zhang was astonished. “That’s true?”

Ji Yin replied, “The reason why the imperial household of the Xia made us their servants in the first place was because of a prodigy in our clan. The Force of Blood in him was extremely powerful – several times more powerful than yours, actually. After he made great achievement in his cultivation of internal energy, elevating the Force of Blood in him to the highest possible level, he acquired the ability to foretell the development of everything. It was with the help of this particular ability that the first emperor of the Xia managed to establish the empire. There’s never been a second clan member who wields that kind of power. The most powerful ones of us could merely control animals, as the current clan leader does.”

Ling Zhang was flabbergasted. It turned out that those statements were true.

And the leader of the Millennium Pavilion was actually capable of controlling all animals?

“As for rising from the dead… it’s really just a myth. There aren’t any records about it even in the Millennium Pavilion. A real phoenix definitely can do that, but those mythical birds disappeared a long, long time ago. They only exist in tales now. After all, humans are humans, not mythical beasts. How could anybody actually rise from the dead?”

Ji Yin had a somewhat regretful look on his face while saying this. The one Ling Zhaowu wanted to resurrect was his daughter. If this kind of miracle were possible, he would do anything to make it happen, but the fact was that it was but a legend, impossible to achieve.

After hearing this, Ling Zhang felt somewhat weird. Of course he also felt it ridiculous to try to bring someone back from the dead, but inexplicably, his own rebirth occurred to him. Did it have anything to do with the phoenix’ ability to rise from the ashes, by any chance?

Ling Zhang’s heart raced at this thought, his arms involuntarily pressing Whitie tighter against him. Feeling pain, Whitie confusedly raised his head and let out a howl, which made Ling Zhang jerk out of his trance.

After his mind came back to the present, tension and excitement quickly ebbed away in Ling Zhang. Even his grandfather had said that it was impossible. Maybe this had nothing to do with a phoenix’s ability to rise from the ashes, and was just a coincidence?

Ji Yin noticed that there was something not quite right about his grandson’s mood. Believing that he was feeling disappointed about not being able to resurrect his mother, Ji Yin reached out a hand and clapped Ling Zhang on the shoulder, “Don’t think too much.”

Ling Zhang nodded, calming himself down but beginning to take this matter seriously. Maybe he’d found the reason why he’d been reborn.

Whitie let out another growl, urging his master to take him to the bathroom.

Ling Zhang lowered his head and stroked Whitie. “All right. I’ll take you to have a bath right away.”

Whitie happily let out a cry and wrapped his fluffy tail around Ling Zhang’s waist again, making his palm wet with sweat.

At night, Ling Zhang moved into the room next to Ji Yin’s. Wang Dashan and other security guards voluntarily took over the security of the courtyard house and other duties. Seeing their well-trained demeanor and good teamwork, Ji Yin inclined his head.

“These security guards of yours are not bad. I think they’d be able to perform more important tasks after I give them some training.”

Ling Zhang was very happy to hear this. “Thank you, Grandfather.”

“The Trap-and-Kill Formation you taught them mainly focuses on defense. It’s about time they learned some formations with more anti-personnel force.”

Sure enough Ling Zhang would like to see his security guards growing more powerful. He himself had started cultivating internal energy and would become more and more stronger. Only by keeping improving their kung fu would his security guards be able to keep pace with him.

But Ling Zhang was somewhat worried that it might fluster Wang Dashan and the others to have them start learning other martial formations when they hadn’t even mastered the Trap-and-Kill Formation yet.

But Ji Yin said, “There’s no need to worry about that. In fact, all martial formations are interlinked, which means every formation could be changed into any of a variety of other formations. The Trap-and-Kill Formation is mainly a defensive formation. With some changes, it could be turned into an extremely offensive one. Your security guards have laid a very solid foundation and they’ll have no problem whatsoever adjusting themselves to the changes.”

“How about I have them perform the formation tomorrow morning to let you have a look, Grandfather?”

Ling Zhang was in no hurry, planning to let Ji Yin see his security guards’ grounding first the next morning before he made a decision.

Naturally, Ji Yin agreed, feeling that his grandson was poised, intelligent, had great comprehension and would definitely become somebody in the future, gratification spontaneously deepening inside him.

Meanwhile, in another residence.

Yuwen Tong’s face briefly went set at the message. He’d been away from Ling Zhang’s side for just a while, and the price was having to wait two days to see him again?

Chapter 255: Equally Eager

The next morning, Wang Dashan and other security guards found a vacant lot and performed the formation they’d mastered in the presence of Ji Yin.

After seeing it, Ji Yin thought for a few moments and said, “You guys may move in while the revamp of this manor is ongoing. There is plenty of open space on the hill behind this manor. You can practice there.”

On hearing Ji Yin’s approving remarks, Wang Dashan and others, who had been informed beforehand of why Ji Yin wanted to see them perform the formation this day, were all very excited. After seeing Ji Yin lay that containment formation with formidable power in the Ling Mansion that day, they had all come to know that Ji Yin was a consummate kung fu master. Naturally, an opportunity to learn from an kung fu expert was something they dreamed of. Besides, this old man was their master’s grandfather, not an outsider, so there was nothing they needed to be cautious about.

“Grandfather, there’s no need to make yourself too occupied. Maybe you should wait until the revamp is finished.”

Ling Zhang worried that Ji Yin would have difficulty juggling the revamp of the manor and the instructions in formations the security guards needed.

Ji Yin thought nothing of it. “The revamp is just a little thing, and so is instructing them. It won’t be much trouble. Just have them move in.”

Seeing Ji Yin was insistent, Ling Zhang, feeling it in appropriate to object to his grandfather’s decision again, gave him some extra information about his security guards. “Yang Liuzi and the other eleven have been learning the formation from Xie Shi. Currently, they are working on the fourth array of it. They’re not at the same pace as Brother Wang and the others’. I fear they might not be able to meet your standards, Grandfather.”

“Don’t worry about that. I know what to expect,” said Ji Yin in a very casual tone. These security guards had a grounding in formations, and this was enough.

…

After staying in the manor for two days, Ling Zhang had to leave for the summer house of Ji Feng’s family as promised. Apart from this, though a little ashamed to admit, he’d slept very lightly at night during the past two days. What with the absence of the man he’d got used to sleeping beside and the familiar embrace and smell, Ling Zhang had woken up and stayed awake till daybreak the night before, and his yearning to see Yuwen Tong had been deepening, too. He wondered how Yuwen Tong had been doing over the past two days, whether he could sleep at night, and whether he’d missed him.

“You’re bursting to return after a separation of merely two days.”

Ji Yin had been very happy during the past two days when his grandson was keeping him company and he could see him all the time, but now Ling Zhang was leaving, so naturally he was reluctant to part from him.

Too embarrassed to admit that he missed Yuwen Tong, Ling Zhang said, “A couple of school friends of mine and I agreed to have a party in the summer house of the Zhongxin Marquess today. It’s not really far away from here.”

Though Ling Zhang had given a very good reason for it, Ji Yin manifestly didn’t believe that Ling Zhang didn’t miss Yuwen Tong. This old man had very sharp eyes. During the past two days, his grandson had appeared absent-minded from time to time, and it’d been only too obvious that he’d been missing someone, so of course Ji Yin knew what the truth was.

“It’s okay that you miss him. There’s no need to feel ashamed of it,” remarked Ji Yin, telling his grandson to be honest. “The clan leader’s reply has arrived. I’ll take you to the Millennium Pavilion to have an audience with him after the revamp of this manor is finished. You may consult with Yuwen Tong about it and fix a date.”

Ling Zhang’s face took on a serious expression at these words. “Okay. Thank you, Grandfather.”

“You’re my grandson. Such formalities are totally unnecessary.” Ji Yin had a guilty look on his face, feeling unworthy of this “Thank you” from Ling Zhang.

After being told about the arrival of the Millennium Pavilion’s reply, Ling Zhang was no longer surprised that Ji Yin had insisted on instructing his security guards while the revamp was ongoing. If possible, he would depart for the Millennium Pavilion right away as well. After all, his father was still in there. Although he had a grudge against him, it didn’t change the fact that his father was the one closest to him, and he still worried about him.

“By the way, have you fixed a date for your wedding?” Ji Yin suddenly asked.

Ling Zhang jerked out of his trance and said embarrassedly with a flush on his cheeks, “Yuwen Tong had someone select some auspicious days for him, but we haven’t made a final decision yet.”

“How come you still haven’t fixed a date? You two are living together already. When it’s time to get married, you get married. Is this some kind of delaying tactic of his?”

Ji Yin was not very happy to hear this. Ling Zhang appeared somewhat awkward. Well… Yuwen Tong was only too anxious to marry him. The reason why this matter had been delayed till this day was that they had just arrived in the capital city, and Yuwen Tong had had lots of business to attend to, and he hadn’t given Yuwen Tong a definite reply due to his uncertainty about getting married. But now, as they had consummated their relationship, the wedding…

“Ahem, we haven’t fixed a date because previously I was a little unsure whether I wanted to get married. I’ll consult with Yuwen Tong and give you a reply as soon as possible, Grandfather, and we’ll need your advice,” Ling Zhang hurriedly said, feeling that he shouldn’t let Yuwen Tong take the blame for this.

Ji Yin bobbed his head. “What about your paternal grandfather and your uncle? What are their opinions?”

“My uncle and my paternal grandfather have been supportive all along. There’ll be a lot of preparations to make after we fix a date, and I might have to go back to Tanyang for a little bit.”

It’d been quite some time since Ling Zhang had left Tanyang, and he missed his family members there and was inclined to go back there to see them, but there was no doubt that he had to wait until he returned from his journey to the Millennium Pavilion, because after all, he’d have to tell his paternal grandfather and uncle about his father.

On hearing Ling Zhang say he’d return to Tanyang, Ji Yin said, “I’ll go to Tanyang with you.”

Ling Zhang was somewhat pleasantly surprised. “You want to see my paternal grandfather and uncle?”

Ji Yin replied with a guilty countenance, “I should’ve paid them a visit a long time ago.”

“I’ll write them a letter first so that they’ll be prepared for it.”

…

After instructing his security guards to stay in the manor, Ling Zhang went to the summer house of the Ji family, to which was merely a two-hour carriage ride. It was not very far away. By a fast horse, it would take less than an hour to get there.

Ji Feng and the others had arrived some time ago, and Tao Yi had also been invited. They were engaged in conversation inside, laughing out loud about something. At the sight of Ling Zhang, Ji Feng yelled, “You’re late, Ling Zhang, and your punishment is drinking wine!”

Smiling, Ling Zhang walked up and unhesitatingly drank three punitive cups of wine. “Will this do?”

“That’s my boy. We’ll let you off with this.”

“What were you guys talking about? You were laughing so wildly just now.”

“We were laughing at Tao Yi whose teacher gave him a punishment to copy out a book. His fingers almost broke for writing.”

“Hey, will you guys please knock it off? And Yuwen Jin, how do you have the nerve to laugh at me after you got spanked by you old man?”

“…. Let’s not inflict any more pain on each other, okay?” said Yuwen Jin in a depressed tone, his face instantly falling.

Tao Yi, also somewhat dejected-looking, gave a snort and said, “My teacher is not in a good mood these days, and I angered him at the wrong time.”

“Something has been troubling the old lord?” inquired Ling Zhang.

Tao Yi let out a sigh, glanced across faces of all his friends and answered, “Some of you probably have got wind of this – His Majesty plans to revamp the imperial mausoleum, which is going to be an insanely ambitious project.”

Ji Feng and Xie Qing exchanged glances. The former was grandson of the Zhongxin Marquess, and the latter son of the Assistant Minister of Works. Both these two officials attended court meetings hosted by the emperor regularly, so naturally Ji Feng and Xie Qing had heard of it. “We did hear about it.”

Ji Feng’s smile faded. He said, “My grandfather was very angry about Wang Cai’s appointment. During the past two days this matter enraged him even further and he actually wants to ask for sick leave to avoid attending court meetings.”

Ling Zhang had been staying in the manor keeping his grandfather company over the last two days and hadn’t heard any news about the events that had happened in the capital city, so he asked, “Why does His Majesty want to launch a huge project to renovate the imperial mausoleum?”

Ji Feng explained, “Someone made a stupid suggestion to His Majesty, saying that as we defeated the Wan Kingdom, a ceremony should be held to offer sacrifices to His Majesty’s ancestors. And then someone else said that the imperial mausoleum has been in disrepair for many years and needs renovating, that after all, the construction of His Majesty’s own mausoleum is also ongoing… Anyway, eventually His Majesty decided to launch an ambitious project to revamp the imperial mausoleum. The mausoleum is vast, and craftsmen have to finish the renovation before the deadline so that His Majesty could promptly hold the ceremony to offer sacrifices to his ancestors. It’s going to cost huge sums of money and effort. My grandfather believed that use the money to improve people’s lives will be a better choice, which went against His Majesty’s idea and angered him.”

Tao Yi also said, “His Majesty summoned my teacher to the palace to consult with him on this matter. Actually my teacher shares the Zhongxin Marquess’ opinion, but His Majesty made up his mind some time ago. My teacher failed to talk His Majesty out of it and has been sulking since his return.”

“So the die is cast now?” Ling Zhang furrowed his brows. It hadn’t been easy to defeat the Wan Kingdom and have them pay a large sum of compensation, but instead of using this money on projects beneficial to the people, the emperor was considering renovating a mausoleum. What was the point of it?

“Naturally, the King Duan’s and the King Yu’s supporters fully agreed with His Majesty so as to curry favor with him, making my grandfather the only one holding the opposite opinion in the court. I tried to persuade him to keep quiet about the matter, but he lost his temper and scolded me,” sighed Ji Feng.

“Well, your grandfather really should just let it go. Even my teacher failed to have His Majesty see senses. These years, His Majesty…” Tao Yi gave an unnatural cough and resignedly continued, “Anyway, it’s best if we look on the bright side.”

Ling Zhang wondered whether this was also the reason why Yuwen You called Yuwen Tong to his residence the day before.

What with this subject, the mood in the room went rather gloomy. It was only a short while before they voluntarily brought up some other topics and the conversation was steered away. It was not that they didn’t want to talk about these matters, but that there was nothing they could do. Even their elders all of whom were high-ranking courtiers were unable to convince the emperor to change his mind. What could they, a bunch of students, possibly do?

After spending a whole day with Ji Feng and the others, Yuwen Jin and Tao Yi decided to put up for the night in the summer house and return to the city the next morning, while Ling Zhang took his leave of them before dark, planning to go back to the manor of the Yuwen family where Yuwen Tong was waiting for him.

“Oh, no wonder you were late this morning. It turns out you were with the Marshal.” Ji Feng archly looked at him.

Ling Zhang didn’t explain, mainly because the revamp of the newly purchased manor hadn’t finished yet, and he wanted to wait until everything was settled to tell them.

He left the summer house of the Ji family in haste and hurried to the manor of the Yuwen family. Shortly after his arrival, night fell and it was completely dark. Yuwen Tong was still waiting for him to come and have dinner with him, anxiety on his face. At the sight of Ling Zhang, he immediately walked up to him and said, “How do you come to be so late? Anything happened on your way here?”

Ling Zhang shook his head. “Nothing. I just had a long talk with them. Daytime is getting shorter lately.”

Yuwen Tong, seeing that he didn’t seem to be feeling comfortable, drew him towards the house in the knowledge that he had been sweating in the carriage. “Take a bath first.”

Ling Zhang didn’t try to free his hand from his grip. He hadn’t seen Yuwen Tong for two days and missed him very much, and at this moment he only wanted to stay by Yuwen Tong’s side. Had it not been for the travel-soiled clothes, he would’ve hugged Yuwen Tong just now.

Yuwen Tong tightened his grasp on Ling Zhang’s wrist with his burning hand, feeling that the wrist in his palm was amazingly soft, as though it would melt if he held it a bit tighter, his eyes reddening from intense arousal. After they entered the house, Yuwen Tong seemed somewhat unable to hold himself back as he drew Ling Zhang to the bathroom. He used excessive strength when swinging the door open and both of them jerked out of their fever of impatience at the almighty bang.

It was not until this moment that Yuwen Tong found that the breathing of Ling Zhang standing behind him had changed somewhat, and Ling Zhang had also just sensed in astonishment the change in Yuwen Tong’s breathing. Plainly the two of them were thinking about the same thing.