“It absolutely is. It is rumored that not long ago, Jia Yin had a tryst with some woman in a tavern. He didn’t even have the patience to get a decent room and actually attempted to do that thing right in the tavern. So many people saw him on the spot but he had no shame whatsoever, claiming that he would marry that woman, that she would be his concurrent wife. Alas. He forgot that he already had a wife. It’s true that only shameless people get to enjoy life to the fullest,” said Zhou Xiang.
“If I were Jia Yin, I would no doubt be too ashamed to be seen by anybody and spend the rest of my life staying at home.”
“That’s nothing. I heard that Mrs. Jia had a fierce quarrel with Jia Yin, that their voices were so loud that people could actually hear them from outside their mansion. The moment that woman moved into Jia family, Mrs. Jia started victimizing her, which eventually caused the loss of her newly-conceived child and almost the death of herself as well. Now all residents in Tanyang are saying that one should stay as far away from Fang shi as possible, that she is even more dangerous than a yaksha(a malevolent spirit). It is said that people can stop their children from crying at night by merely saying the name of her.” “If I were Fang shi, I would definitely hide myself in Jia family so that nobody would be scared by me.”
On hearing this, Fang shi, who was sitting in the carriage opposite people of Ling family, went furious and was just about to storm off the carriage to swear at them when her handmaid stopped her in time. “Don’t go outside, Mistress. If you do, you’ll end up becoming a laughing stock of those uneducated people out there.”
Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang cooperated with each other and disclosed the disgraceful deeds of Jia Yin and Mrs. Jia one after another. They did it in such a fluent manner that it seemed as if they were professional storytellers.
‘People of Jia family want to block our path? Okay. There happens to be a lot of people here. As long as people of Jia family are still in our way, Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang will keep talking on and on. During the years when Jia family still had Zhang Chong at their back, they had done so many evil deeds that it would probably take more than a full day to expose them all,’ thought Ling Zhang.
Most lookers-on lived in the east of the city, and many of them were victims of those evil deeds done by people of Jia family. The more they heard Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang talk, the angrier they went. Eventually, someone couldn’t help but throw vegetable leaves and eggs at the carriage of Jia family. Soon, some others followed suit and the carriage of Jia family became a target for a lot of residents.
Guards of Jia family whipped out their sabers with the intention to resort to violence –
“Oh. What do they want to do? They want to kill people?”
“Let them try. His Lordship is right here. They’ll be locked away immediately if they do that.”
Never had people of Jia family ever seen Ling family act this way. As far as they could remember, people of Ling family had always set great store by courtesy, which was why they had believed that it would be an easy job to humiliate Ling family. Unexpectedly, it was themselves who ended up falling victim to humiliation powerless to contradict.
Mrs. Jia nearly passed out due to overwhelming rage. Eventually, she gave the order to make way through gritted teeth.
“They could have spared themselves all the humiliation by doing this earlier,” sneered Qiu Bing.
“You know, not everyone possesses self-knowledge.” Zhou Xiang slid a sideways glance at the carriage of Jia family.
The carriage of Ling family slowly proceeded past people of Jia family. After they left, Mrs. Jia gave a cry of fury in the carriage.
On hearing the female voice, lookers-on guessed the identity of the woman inside, turned around and left. Soon, the street became quiet with hardly any pedestrians in sight, which was a solid verification of the rumor that Fang shi was like a yaksha(a malevolent spirit) repelling all.
Mrs. Jia’s head ached with rage. When she arrived home, on the sight of servants making preparations for the memorial service with white cloth all around the house, she felt a twinge of grief and nearly spat a mouthful of blood.
“Where have you been? Didn’t I tell you to stay at home waiting for my younger brother to bring Ling’er back?!” Jia Yin reprimanded Mrs. Jia as he caught sight of her.
“I went to order Ling’er’s favorite snacks. I want him to taste them on the day he comes back,” replied Mrs. Jia.
Jia Yin had an urge to rebuke her, but seeing that she might faint at any moment, he forbore to do so.
“I encountered Ling Zhaowen’s carriage on my way back. He… He…” Mrs. Jia was too indignant to continue. Her handmaid finished the account of the event for her.
In the knowledge that Ling Zhaowen dared to openly humiliate them on the street, Jia Yin was also consumed with rage, a hideously sepulchral look on his face. “Ling Zhaowen!”
…
Originally, Ling Zhaowen had intented to ask Ling Zhang what he had meant by those remarks that he had made in Lin family, but due to the presence of Physician Lin, he had forborne to do so. When that confrontation with Jia family was over, noon had passed and it was almost time for him to go to Yamen to work. Since there was not enough time to go back home, he had no choice but to let Ling Zhang get off the carriage at an intersection. Before leaving, in a veiled manner, he warned Ling Zhang not to take any precipitous action.
Ling Zhang replied, “I know where the limit is, uncle.”
Ling Zhaowen shot him a dark glance. ‘You’d better do.’
Ling Zhaowen and Physician Lin headed for the Prefecture Yamen by carriage, followed by Li Fu.
Ling Zhang had offered to let one of his three bodyguards to go with Ling Zhaowen, but Ling Zhaowen declined, saying, “Li Fu has some kung fu skills as well, and the Prefecture Yamen is a rather safe place, so I’ll be fine. Let them escort you home.”
That Li Fu was an attendant of his uncle, who had been serving his uncle for quite a long time, but it had never come to Ling Zhang’s knowledge that he had any kung fu skills.
Ling Zhang asked Wang Dashan, “Elder Brother Wang, can you tell how good Li Fu’s kung fu is?”
After pondering over it for a while, Wang Dashan replied, “As far as I can tell, that man probably does have some internal energy. He’s more sure-footed than us, but I think he’s not as good as any of Lord Yuwen’s guards.”
‘So he does know some kung fu. Though not a match for Yuwen Tong’s guards, he’s more powerful than my security guards.’
Li Fu had never displayed his kung fu skills before, and neither had he ever struck Ling Zhang as a kung fu practitioner.
This intersection was near the entrances of a couple of streets. Ling Zhang and the other three turned into another street which was also crowded with people.
As they progressed along the street, Ling Zhang kept feeling that something was not right, as if…
Someone was watching him.
This was the same feeling that he had on that day!
Pretending that he was unaware of the stalker’s existence, Ling Zhang unnoticeably looked around, but there were so many people on the street that it was very difficult to locate that person in a short time.
“Young Master, are you looking for something?” Wang Dashan, who was a very observant man, noticed that Ling Zhang’s behavior was different from normal.
“I sensed that the man who stalked me near the mansion on that day is secretly watching me again.”
Wang Dashan briefly frowned and told Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang in a muted voice, “Someone’s stalking us. You two split up, enter the alley in the front, detour behind the stalker and find out who he or she is.”
Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang replied in undertones. “Yes, captain.” “Young Master, let’s enter the alley. Please stay behind me,” Wang Dashan said to Ling Zhang.
Ling Zhang was also eager to find out who that person was, so he agreed.
“Go and buy some snacks for me. I’ll take them back to Maomao.” Ling Zhang deliberately raised his voice and bade Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang.
Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang answered “Yes” and then walked towards a nearby store selling dried fruit and snacks.
Following Wang Dashan, Ling Zhang kept walking. He could still feel that person watching him. Unsurprisingly, the stalker ignored Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang.
Ling Zhang and Wang Dashan walked out of the street and turned into an alley with relatively fewer pedestrians.
Ling Zhang proceeded with the feeling of being watched. All of a sudden, Ling Zhang stopped and, along with Wang Dashan, abruptly turned around.
There were not many people in the alley, so it was much easier for Ling Zhang to identify the target.
Since his entry to the alley, Ling Zhang had specially observed every person he walked past. Currently, leaving aside those people he had observed, there were only four persons who had entered the alley after him – a woman with a basket on her arm, a pedler carrying two large bamboo baskets with a shoulder pole, a scholar and a young man. The clothing style of the young man was rather low-key, which did not accord closely with his temperament, as if he was trying to conceal his true identity.
Ling Zhang fixed his eyes on that young man almost in the blink of an eye.
That pedler was a native of Tanyang who appeared in various streets regularly. Ling Zhang himself had seen him several times before. The scholar was from Tanyang Academy. The woman was of advanced years, somewhat plump, her pace fairly unsteady, her eyes rather dull. All three of them could be temporarily excluded. Therefore, Ling Zhang immediately fixed the young man with a stare and made eye contact with him, waiting to see how he would react.
As expected, the young man’s expression slightly changed.
“Who are you? Why are you stalking me?” Ling Zhang stared at him with a cold face.
Surprisingly, after the young man was exposed, there had been no trace of nervousness or uneasiness whatsoever on his face except for the brief change of expression. Instead, he stared squarely back at Ling Zhang. “Ling Zhang, you’re not bad. I didn’t expect that you would be able to detect me.”
“You’re not a native of Tanyang.” Ling Zhang instantly noticed that the man was not speaking with local Tanyang accent.
“It’s capital-city accent,” said Wang Dashan.
‘The capital city?’ Ling Zhang was sent into a brief trance.
The man was not annoyed about the exposure of where he came from. He even sized Ling Zhang up like a censorious woman picking clothes. “I happened to have just grown tired of stalking you. Do you have the balls to find a place and have a talk with me?”
“Who are you? And why should I do that?”
“Because of that person who lives in your home. It’s okay if you don’t dare. Tomorrow, I’ll go to Ling family and directly talk with Ling Xingzhong first thing in the morning.”
The young man addressed Ling Xingzhong by his full name in a wildly arrogant tone of voice.
But Ling Zhang noticed that this man had specially mentioned the person who lived in his home. ‘Was he referring to Yuwen Tong?
And he speaks with capital-city accent…
This guy’s from the capital city and he’s aware that Yuwen Tong lives in my home!
Yuwen Tong once said that news of his stay in Tanyang hasn’t spread to the capital city yet, but this man not only knows about it but also has come here.
But why did he come to me when he could just directly go to meet Yuwen Tong? And why did he so impolitely address my grandfather by his full name?’ he wondered.
Judging by the attitude of this man alone, Ling Zhang knew that he was no friendly visitor of any kind.
‘Let me find out exactly who he is and to what end he came here.’
After a lot of thinking, Ling Zhang gave a covert wink at Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang, who had just showed themselves at the entrance of the alley, then said to the young man, “I accept your invitation.”
“Good. Pick a spot – somewhere quiet. I… I don’t want any disturbance.”
Wang Dashan looked disapprovingly at Ling Zhang. “Young Master, we have no idea who this guy is. It’s too risky. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“What a coward – just like I’ve always known. You don’t have to come if you’re scared,” said the young man in a provocative tone of voice, scornfully looking in their direction.
At this moment, both Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang saw Ling Zhang’s wink and quietly walked out of the alley.
On the sight of this, Wang Dashan had a vague idea what Ling Zhang’s plan was. “Young Master, if you’re really doing this, please take me with you.”
