Beneath Yuwen Zhi’s angry gaze, Yuwen Tong remained unswayed. “How it’s going to be solely depending on your choice, uncle?”
As a matter of fact, Ling Zhang was also somewhat surprised. Originally, he had merely intended to take advantage of Yuwen Qi’s mistake to cut Yuwen Zhi and others down to size, so that they would no longer dare to make trouble for him at every turn; he might really end up being killed if what had happened earlier this day repeated itself a couple of times. Though the choices Yuwen Tong offered Yuwen Zhi were surprising, this was a good solution to this troublesome issue. If Yuwen Zhi wanted to keep the glory, splendor, wealth and status he and his family currently enjoyed, he must mete out punishment to his son and stop being a busybody. If he wanted his son to keep his mobility, then he’d have no alternative but to separate from Yuwen Tong, which would also deprive Yuwen Zhi of the right to interfere in Yuwen Tong’s business. As a result, no matter which option Yuwen Zhi took, he would have to stop sticking his nose where it didn’t belong.
Of course neither of the two sounded acceptable to Yuwen Zhi, but he was not the one calling the tune in this matter, Yuwen Tong was.
“Ah–!”
Yuwen Qi’s leg was still broken. Yuwen Zhi did it himself. Zheng shi failed to stop her husband in time, though she wanted to.
“Qi’er! My Qi’er! How could your father be so heartless!” Zheng shi burst into loud wail, as if it were not a leg but his life that her son had just lost. Su Yaoyao standing beside her had paled visibly some time ago. The sight of Yuwen Qi lying on the ground crying in anguish chilled her blood to the bone, deterring her from giving another glance at Yuwen Tong.
“Lock Yuwen Qi in the ancestral hall for a month,” instructed Yuwen Zhi through gritted teeth after dropping the staff in his hand, his icy eyes fixed on Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Feng, standing on the side with a sullen look on his face, tried to help Yuwen Qi to his feet but was pushed aside by him. “Get off me!” thundered Yuwen Qi.
“Yuwen Tong, Ling Zhang, I swear to God I’ll make you pay for what you did to me today! Father, how could you do this to me, father?!”
Yuwen Qi yelled furiously, screeching in pain, but neither Yuwen Tong nor Ling Zhang nor Yuwen Zhi made any replies to Yuwen Qi.
Yuwen Tong said to Yuwen Zhi, “Now that you’ve made a choice, I hope uncle and aunt will not interfere in my or Younger Brother Zhang’s business again. Meanwhile, I’ll keep my promise.”
Exercising all his self-restrain, Yuwen Zhi suppressed his rage, fists clenched tightly shaking in his sleeves.
After resolving the issue of Yuwen Qi and also having Yuwen Zhi make a choice, Yuwen Tong, along with Ling Zhang, left the Langya Garden which was the abode of his uncle.
Nobody uttered a word along the way. It was not until they went through the wood that Ling Zhang broke the silence. “I’ll walk Elder Brother Tao home first. You–”
Yuwen Tong replied, “I need to pay a visit to the Ministry of War. There’s a luncheon in the imperial palace at noon. I’ll return as early as I can in the afternoon.”
Originally, Tao Yi had wanted to decline Ling Zhang’s offer of walking him home, but after hearing Yuwen Tong’s remarks, he held back the words that had sprung to his lips. He had been very eager to see Yuwen Tong all along but what happened this day was so unexpected that he didn’t know what to say to Yuwen Tong. After all, he had just witnessed an intense domestic strife of Yuwen family…
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong came to a temporary separation at the gateway of the residential compound of Yuwen family. Both of them had a lot to say to each other, but they knew this was not the right time to talk.
After Yuwen Tong left, Ling Zhang said to Tao Yi, “Elder Brother Tao, I’m really sorry to have put you through all this today.”
Tao Yi, whose tense back muscles finally relaxed as he walked out of the front gate of the residential compound of Yuwen family, shook his head and responded, “We’re friends. This is a mere trifle. It’s just… I never expected that things would be so difficult for you in Yuwen family. Just now, what happened back there on the street was so dangerous. If it weren’t for that thing you carried that could detoxify poison, there might have been unimaginable consequences.”
Ling Zhang said, “I think they’ll behave themselves for some time after this.”
Tao Yi, however, was not as optimistic as he was. “I’m afraid Yuwen Zhi and his family hate you to the core after what happened today. The influence they wield in this city is far greater than you can imagine. You must be extremely careful. Because of the Marshal, they won’t dare to overtly do anything to you, but they might resort to underhand means. You must make sure you’re accompanied by enough guards when going out, and…”
Tao Yi had a frown on his face. In his eyes, Ling Zhang thoroughly offended Yuwen Zhi on this day, and there would definitely be a lot of trouble in the future. Ling Zhang was new to the capital city. As the saying goes, ‘A spear thrust from front is easy to dodge, but an arrow shot from ambush is difficult to guard against.’
“I understand. Thank you for reminding me, Elder Brother Tao. I’ll be cautious. It’s you I’m worried about. You offered me help today, so Yuwen Qi definitely has put your name on his enemies list. I implicated you. If anybody of Yuwen family make trouble for you in the future, you must come to us and never fight them head-on on your own.”
Ling Zhang had a somewhat guilty conscience. ‘Tao Yi could have avoided getting involved in this.’
Tao Yi smiled, “My teacher is not someone anybody dares mess with either. He loves me dearly. Yuwen Qi is a junior and certainly doesn’t have the balls to offend my teacher. As for Yuwen Zhi, if he dares to do anything to me, my teacher will handle him.”
‘Tao Yi’s attitude suggests that nothing in the world scares him, that even if the sky collapsed, people taller than him would hold it for him. This is so…’
Ling Zhang, somewhat resigned, could only repeatedly exhort Tao Yi to be careful.
“Okay, okay. You’ve said that many times. I won’t forget,” observed Tao Yi, “and you and the Marshal may rest assured that I won’t breath a word to anyone about what the Marshal and Yuwen Zhi said today.”
“Thank you.”
“There’s no need for that. By the way, given that it was on a street that you came into conflict with Yuwen Qi, I’m afraid news of it has already reached a lot of people’s ears. If anybody tries to bust your chops with irritating words, just regard them as farts and ignore them.”
After seeing what happened this day, Tao Yi had come to realize that Yuwen Tong cared about Ling Zhang very much. ‘Marshal Yuwen even suggested he and Yuwen Zhi break up the family and live apart, which is an unmistakable indication that his feelings for Ling Zhang are uncommonly deep,’ he thought. It was just that there were a lot of outsiders who were unaware of this and not afraid to spread all kinds of ungrounded rumors which he worried Ling Zhang might be displeased to hear.
Ling Zhang, who understood what he meant, said, “I know. It’s not any of those gossips that I’m going to marry.”
“I’m glad you see it this way. Then… should we pay the book market another visit? We lost all the books.”
“We’d surely end up being the focus of everybody’s attention if we go back there.”
“Ha ha. You’ve got a point.”
…
After walking Tao Yi home, Ling Zhang returned to the Ling Mansion. Just like Tao Yi had said, news of what had happened earlier this day had no doubt already spread through the whole city. There was no telling how many eyes were watching him at this very moment, so he believed it was inadvisable for him to go anywhere else providing those people with yet more topics to chat about in their spare time.
As soon as he returned to the Ling Mansion, Xie Shi exhorted him to consume more tonics to build up his health. Given that the poison of the snake had finished a circulation inside his body, it must have inevitably caused his body some harm.
It was not until shortly before dark that Yuwen Tong returned. News of what had happened on the street during the day had quickly reached the emperor’s ears, and he had made a lot of attempts to sound Yuwen Tong out, but Yuwen Tong tactfully handled all those questions without disclosing any details.
“You’re back. How’s it going? Is everything all right?” Ling Zhang inquired of him.
As Yuwen Tong saw Ling Zhang, his cold face softened as quick as spring snow melted under scorching sun. “Those were just some routine affairs. There’s no problem.”
He wanted to go up and sat down, but then he recalled that his clothes were travel-soiled, so he went to take a bath first and then came back.
“You must feel aggrieved after what happened in the morning. Yuwen Qi tried to kill you, but I had to spare him.”
Ling Zhang conveniently ladled steaming soup into a bowl and put it down before him. “He’s kin to you after all. I don’t really want him dead that bad. Knowing that he won’t be able to make trouble for me again is enough for me. It’s you who should be concerned. Because of what you did today, you uncle holds grudges against you now. It’ll be very difficult for you to get along with him.”
“I’d warned him several times before. If he had for a single moment taken into consideration the relationship between me and him, he wouldn’t have connived at Yuwen Qi’s conduct. Let this be a deterrent to them for the moment.” Yuwen Tong, while saying this, stealthily look at Ling Zhang.
Ling Zhang’s five senses were far sharper than before now, so naturally this petty action of Yuwen Tong’s didn’t escape his notice. He pulled a wry face and looked at him. “What are you doing?”
Yuwen Tong put down the bowl, held Ling Zhang with his arm and replied with a sigh, “I fear that you’re angry and would forsake me and go back to Tanyang.”
His childish words sent Ling Zhang into chuckle. “If I were Maomao’s age, I would definitely have returned to Tanyang by now.”
Ling Zhang’s smile slightly faltered as he recalled Tanyang. “I’m worried about my family in Tanyang.”
Yuwen Tong held him tighter. “I see. I’ll have those covertly protecting them be more vigilant.”
Ling Zhang was secretly relieved somewhat, for he didn’t dare to write to his uncle about this matter for fear of worrying him.
“I’ve been wondering exactly what your uncle are thinking. Why does he dislike me so much? Does he really want you to marry your aunt’s niece so bad? She indeed looks quite pretty. What do you think?”
Yuwen Tong was instantly on the alert. This was a question fraught with traps, and a tiny lapse of judgement could put him in danger.
“Which one?” Yuwen Tong asked, affecting a puzzlement he didn’t feel.
Ling Zhang slightly raised his eyebrows. “You didn’t see her?”
“When? You saw her? You praised her as pretty. Surely you don’t have your eye on her, do you? This conception of yours is a little dangerous,” remarked Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhang secretly rolled his eyes upwards. He didn’t believe that Yuwen Tong really had not seen her.
“The lady standing beside your aunt during the day. You really didn’t notice?”
As if light had just dawned on him, Yuwen Tong replied, “Oh, you were referring to that kid. I didn’t notice. Why were you staring at her?”
Ling Zhang fell speechless.
‘This guy’s learned to make unfounded countercharges.’
“During the day Yuwen Qi was shopping with her on the street, which was why they met us, and I took a few glances at her. She seems to be fifteen or sixteen and is of fine, delicate features. Her voice is as beautiful as that of a lark. Uh, and–”
“That’s enough. You seem to have so much to say about her. She’s just a shriveled little girl. Why did you pay so much attention to her? I’m unhappy now.”
Yuwen Tong punitively held Ling Zhang’s waist tighter, lowered his head and seriously looked at him.
“You said that you didn’t notice. If that were true, how do you know she looks shriveled?” Ling Zhang snorted.
Yuwen Tong responded, “My whole attention was fixed on you.” After saying this, he slid his hand downwards.
Ling Zhang instantly pressed his hand upon Yuwen Tong’s and glared at him. “What do you think you are doing?”
“I haven’t seen you for a full day. I miss you.” Yuwen Tong’s reply was very frank.
Ling Zhang felt an urge to give him a dirty look. ‘We saw each other in the morning, yet this guy sounds as if it’d been a year since we last met. He’s so thick-skinned.’
But after hearing these frivolous remarks of Yuwen Tong’s, Ling Zhang was indeed in a much better mood. Yuwen Tong was worried that he was angry, but in fact, he was more worried that Yuwen Tong was upset. Just like Yuwen Tong had said, if Yuwen Zhi had for a single moment taken into consideration Yuwen Tong’s feelings, he wouldn’t have ignored Yuwen Tong’s repeated warnings. Though in the morning Yuwen Zhi had chosen to punish Yuwen Qi, he definitely had some ulterior motive.
