“Are you suffering from headaches?” At this time, Yuwen Tong got into the horse-drawn carriage and saw that Ling Zhang was leaning against the wall of the carriage with one hand kneading his forehead, face pale.
He sat down beside Ling Zhang, held him in his arms and started kneading his temples for him.
Ling Zhang merely flicked a glance at him and then closed his eyes.
At first, seeing that Ling Zhang obediently let him hold him in his arms, Yuwen Tong thought that Ling Zhang was no longer angry with him, but he was just secretly delighted when the expression in Ling Zhang’s eyes brought a frown to his face. “What’s going on?” queried Yuwen Tong.
With Yuwen Tong kneading his temples, Ling Zhang felt much more comfortable, the twitches of pain in his forehead alleviated. “There’s some information that I’ve just found out, but I cannot tell you for the present.”
After a few moments’ silence, Yuwen Tong asked, “Does it have anything to do with what your uncle previously informed you of?”
Ling Zhang abruptly sat upright and looked at him. “How did you come to know it?”
Yuwen Tong’s hands were pushed aside by him. Seeing the wary expression on his face, Yuwen Tong felt somewhat upset and replied, “It’s just my guess, a lucky one made after I noticed that you’ve been frequently checking something in your inner pocket and having an absent-minded look on your face over the past few days.”
Ling Zhang was slightly surprised to hear that Yuwen Tong had observed some time ago something had been bothering him.
Just a few moments ago, he had been wondering whether Yuwen Tong had seen the envelope while he had not been paying attention. The parentage of his mother might be a matter of little significance, but it was also possible that this matter was of great importance. In either case, it was not yet the right time to let this come to the knowledge of anybody else. For the moment, he couldn’t tell this to anybody in a worry-free way, and even Yuwen Tong was no exception.
‘And there’s also the issue of our engagement. Given my complicated family background, if I marry Yuwen Tong…
Wait a moment.’
Ling Zhang couldn’t help but raise his head and kneaded his temples again. Now he came to a general understanding of why his grandfather, ever since Yuwen Tong’s arrival in Tanyang, had been so insistent that he marry Yuwen Tong. He also had a shrewd idea why his grandfather had still been wavering on whether he should tell him about the parentage of his mother.
But no matter what, since this matter had already come to his knowledge, he decided that he couldn’t marry Yuwen Tong, at least not when Yuwen Tong was unaware of this.
In other words, he had gone to so much trouble to avenge the sufferings of his family and himself only to find that Ling family were still faced with at least two formidable enemies either of whom could destroy them at any moment.
Yuwen Tong moved Ling Zhang’s hands off his temples and started kneading them for him again. “No matter what it is, I want you to know that I’ll be here with you. I respect you and I won’t pressure you into telling me, but if by any chance it involves some kind of danger, you must tell me.”
After a moment’s silence, Ling Zhang replied, “Um.”
However, because of this single moment’s subtle silence, Yuwen Tong guessed something. His eyes squinted softly and briefly.
‘I knew it. What Ling Zhang is keeping back from me indeed entails danger,’ he thought.
“You’ve got to give me some time to think it through,” Ling Zhang suddenly added.
‘This is enough for me.’ Yuwen Tong, who was brought to a much better mood by this remark, responded, “There’s no hurry. Take your time.”
Ling Zhang raised his eyes and looked at him. “Take my time? I’ll take your word for it.”
Yuwen Tong was reduced to an embarrassed silence.
“No. You should figure it out as soon as possible. I was just trying to be polite. Don’t take my word for it.”
Ling Zhang gave a soft snort. After a few moments’ thinking, he leaned back against Yuwen Tong’s chest to make it more convenient for Yuwen Tong to knead his temples for him.
Seeing Ling Zhang lean against him of his own accord enjoying the massage he was giving him, Yuwen Tong was only too anxious to hug him and give him a good long kiss. However, he was still faced with the task of kneading Ling Zhang’s temples, so he had no alternative but to regretfully dismiss this thought.
Maybe because of Yuwen Tong’s presence, though what his uncle told him in the letter had given him a heavy heart, Ling Zhang was not very nervous or afraid. With Yuwen Tong kneading his temples, the headaches gradually disappeared and eventually he drifted off to sleep.
Yuwen Tong shifted Ling Zhang to a more comfortable position and carried him in his arms while he was asleep.
Xia Feng looked over his shoulder. After seeing this through the gap between the curtains, he exhorted the driver to slow the horse-carriage down.
With their carriage decelerating, those behind them naturally slowed down as well. After this speed reduction, the procession, which had not been traveling fast, was almost crawling, as if they were on an excursion.
Noticing that carriages ahead were slowing down, Zhao Pingchuan and others bringing up the rear had no choice but to decelerate as well.
“Come on, not again. Have they any idea how long it’ll take us to get to the capital city if we keep going at this rate?”
On hearing this, Zhang Xi smiled, “How about you go and ask them about it, Commander Zhao?”
Zhao Pingchuan immediately fell silent. ‘This guy wants me to risk angering Yuwen Tong on an occasion of this kind? Does he really think I’m a fool?!’
Zhang Xi flicked him a glance, let down the curtain and his face became expressionless after he sat back in his seat.
He had a sneaking suspicion that the attempted assassination with Yuwen Tong as the target the night before had been conducted with Zhao Pingchuan’s full knowledge. He even suspected that it had been a secret task assigned to Zhao Pingchuan by the emperor, one he was not privy to.
During this journey, he had tried to worm something out of Zhao Pingchuan but failed to get anything, which was why Zhang Xi had been sullen all along.
The young eunuch, scared by him, didn’t dare to stay close to him and had been sitting outside the carriage with the driver.
…
It was not until night fell that Ling Zhang woke up. The procession had just past the boundary marker of Tanyang. They would have to sleep in the open this night.
Preoccupied with his own thoughts, Ling Zhang seemed absent-minded even when he was having supper.
After traveling this way for another two days, they arrived in a county in northern Yanzhou.
The county seat covered a rather vast area and this day happened to be the date for some kind of festive occasion, which was why all streets were uproarious.
Yuwen Tong gave the order to rest for a day in this county.
Ling Zhang had been in a state of preoccupation and his security guards had been worrying about him for two days.
At noon, they had just finished lunch when Yao Yi walked up to Ling Zhang and informed Ling Zhang in a mysterious tone of voice, “Childe Ling, we sent you a gift. It’s right in your room. Would you care to go and check it out?”
Ling Zhang looked at him with a disbelieving expression on his face. “A gift to me?”
Yao Yi inclined his head. “Yeah. All of us pitched in a couple of copper coins to buy it.”
‘All of them pitched in money to buy it?’ Though Ling Zhang felt somewhat surprised, since this gift had been sent collectively by so many people, he believed that he must not trifle with it. Immediately, he rose to his feet and returned to his room.
Yuwen Tong, who had instructed Yao Yi to cheer Ling Zhang up, followed in his wake. ‘Finally these guys made their move,’ he thought.
Ling Zhang pushed open the door and first looked in the direction of the table, but there was nothing on it. Then his eyes swept around the room but the gift was still nowhere to be seen. Suspecting that Yao Yi and others were playing a trick on him, he was just about to leave when his eye suddenly fell on a curious object on his bed. After a brief moment’s hesitation, he walked over.
It was a thin cotton-padded jacket with something wrapped inside, something moving!
Ling Zhang was amazed. ‘What is this thing? It’s alive?’
He cautiously stepped closer and observed a small patch of soft, smooth and white fur showing amid the cotton-padded jacket…
Ling Zhang softly unfolded the cotton-padded jacket and, when he saw what it was that had been mysteriously wrapped in it, he was thrown into shock, eyes dilated with pleasant surprise gleaming in them.
“Is this…”
A little soft fluffy creature had curled into a ball lying in there, its limbs and tail beneath its body, two small ears pricked up, eyes shut…
It looked like a little fox.
As if this little soft creature had struck something into his heart, Ling Zhang stared fixedly at it, eyes sparkling. Slowly, he stooped down to take a closer look, fascinated by it.
Yuwen Tong, who had followed Ling Zhang and entered the room shortly after him, naturally had seen the whole process. He squinted his eyes and looked at the little white ball-like creature. ‘A living thing?’
“A fox! It’s a fox cub! A white one!” Ling Zhang excitedly beckoned to him to check it out.
Yuwen Tong walked up to the bed and confirmed the species of it. “It’s a white fox. The color of its fur is pure and it has a pretty healthy constitution, too. It’s really something of a rarity.”
Ling Zhang reached out his hand and softly stroked the little fox from the back of its head to its neck and to its back. The soft, warm touch of it even brought a involuntary twitch to his hand. It reminded him of Ada, his dog, which had also been like a little ball of fur when it had been a cub.
“How did they come to get this? They are amazing,” Ling Zhang observed delightedly.
Yuwen Tong softly uttered “Um” and then replied, “I’ll reward them later.”
Ling Zhang nodded repeatedly. “I’ll express my gratitude to them as well.”
“They did this to cheer you up. My reward for their service will be enough,” remarked Yuwen Tong.
“It’s very considerate of them to do so. I’ll thank them in person.” Eyes fixed on the white fox cub, Ling Zhang didn’t even have the time to give a backward glance at Yuwen Tong.
“When Ada was a cub, it also looked like a fluffy ball like this little fox. It was stunning. Maomao was much younger at that time as well. They were two little guys. The two of them used to race each other trying to find me on their little short legs. The way they toddled along never failed to make me laugh.” Ling Zhang couldn’t help but talk to Yuwen Tong about the past.
Surprisingly, as he was reminiscing, memories of those days seemed to be a long long time ago. Those things that had happened in his last life filled him with nostalgia.
These words also gradually melted Yuwen Tong’s heart. It was not because of the two little guys Ling Zhang had mentioned but because of Ling Zhang. He couldn’t help wondering what Ling Zhang had looked like at that time –he must be a teenager who would affect an air of sophistification and stoop down to pick up his younger brother. He might even feign sulkiness and lecture him. Yuwen Tong believed that it must have been a very, very pity-inducing scene.
Yuwen Tong slowly exhaled, looked at this Ling Zhang in front of him and asked, “Would you like to take it outside and go for a walk?”
Ling Zhang pulled his mind out of memories, shook his head and replied, “It’s too young. I don’t think it’s a good idea to expose it to too much wind. Let it stay here. By the way, I have to go and ask Yao Yi and the others about how to raise a fox cub.”
‘Yeah. I bet those guys know all about it,’ thought Yuwen Tong after secretly giving a snort.
“There’s got to be someone in the county seat who knows about how to raise it. Maybe we should go and make some inquiries.”
Ling Zhang straightened himself up. “Okay.”
He affectionately stroked the fox cub again. This time, the little fox let out a faint grunt which sounded as soft as its body and sent Ling Zhang powerless to leave. “It woke up!”
However, the fox cub merely woke up for a few moments and gave two grunts. It didn’t even open its eyes. After rubbing itself against Ling Zhang’s hand when he was stroking it, the fox cub fell asleep again, showing no sign of awaking soon.
Ling Zhang regretfully watched it fall asleep. “I thought it woke up.”
Yuwen Tong found that he had been standing in this room for quite some time but Ling Zhang’s eyes had been fixed on that fox cub all along, that he had been totally ignored.
“Let’s go. The county seat is bustling today. With luck, we might encounter someone with the right expertise in the street.”
Ling Zhang gave a bob of his head. This time, he finally took his eyes off the little fox.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yuwen Tong brought Ling Zhang out of the room. When the little white fox was no longer in sight, Ling Zhang’s eyes found their way back onto Yuwen Tong. “I wonder if it’s a good idea to take it to the capital city.”
However, the next remark of Ling Zhang’s was still about the little white fox.
Yuwen Tong’s face darkened with annoyance.
