Chapter 231: Figure Out a Way to Kill Them
Translator: DragonRider
Ling Zhang, who hadn’t made out with Yuwen Tong for so many days, missed him very much. Yuwen Tong was kissing him passionately, and he kissed him back with even more passion, which sent Yuwen Tong to the verge of losing control of himself, leaving him no choice but to hold Ling Zhang tighter.
How long their kiss lasted was unknown to both of them. When Ling Zhang came back to his senses, he found himself no longer in his original position. He didn’t know when, but he and Yuwen Tong had transferred to the bathroom, and not only were his robes undone, the skin on his collarbones was covered with hickeys. Yuwen Tong was sucking and biting him, which was giving him an intense arousal.
“Bathe with me.” Yuwen Tong gazed at him, his voice husky with longing, his eyes aflame.
Ling Zhang, watching his handsome face which was drenched with sweat from his efforts to suppress his desire, felt that he was unbelievably attractive. On hearing Yuwen Tong’s words, he craned over and gave him a kiss in response.
Yuwen Tong thoroughly succumbed and the two of them stripped naked in the blink of an eye…
Because of Ling Zhang’s arm injury, their relationship was still not consummated on this occasion, but they did help each other, which was somewhat inevitable. At the end of this bath, Ling Zhang could even feel his legs trembling, and the air in the bathroom was almost unbearably hot. Originally the bathwater had merely been tepid, but now it actually felt a little scald. Was it because of their unduly high body temperature or the unduly fevered mood?
Anyway, it wasn’t over until they eventually had the bathwater changed and had a second bath.
Yuwen Tong dressed Ling Zhang and another spasm of desire washed over him as he felt Ling Zhang wearily leaning against him as though he was too tired to move. Seeing the pink flush on his ears and cheeks which made him as charming as a lotus flower, Yuwen Tong felt that what they’d just done was far from enough. He still had a longing for more.
Ling Zhang was even more surprised, even somewhat distressed. Just now he and Yuwen Tong had helped each other, but why was Yuwen Tong still so energetic as though he could go directly outside and run around the whole city dozens of times when he was so exhausted?
“I’m hungry,” said Ling Zhang.
He had finished a stint of closed-door cultivation a while ago and hadn’t had dinner yet.
Yuwen Tong took him in his arms and the two of them made out for another while before leaving the room heading for the dining room.
After they took their seats, Yuwen Tong said, “I heard that your grandfather demonstrated to you how to lay a formation with internal energy. Was it true?”
Ling Zhang inclined his head, his eyes brightening. “You have no idea how awesome it was because you weren’t there to see it. My grandfather is so badass. He said that I’ll be able to lay a formation with internal energy as well once I reach the third layer.”
Yuwen Tong, seeing his excited and expectant face, was happy for him. “It seems that both the mental cultivation method and formations of the Millennium Pavilion are indeed unique skills handed down from ancient times and are out of the ordinary.”
Ling Zhang, with a longing look in his eyes, said, “I can see how far away I am from the third layer now, and I believe after some time I’ll be ready to try laying formations with my internal energy.”
Yuwen Tong sincerely felt happy for him. As a man of broader outlook and more experienced than Ling Zhang, he offered a lot of constructive suggestions when they were assuming the situation after Ling Zhang reached the third layer.
Ling Zhang, overjoyed, rewarded him with a piece of meat.
Yuwen Tong happily ate the piece of meat given by his wife-to-be and asked, “May I have another piece?”
Ling Zhang replied, “When the fruit is scarcest, its taste is sweetest. I’ll reward you the next time.”
Yuwen Tong’s eyes crinkled in a smile. He promised that he would seize the next opportunity when it presented itself and try his best to earn another reward as soon as possible.
After joking with him for a few moments, Ling Zhang queried, “You came back so early today. Was it because you found something?”
Yuwen Tong gave a nod and informed Ling Zhang of what he had ascertained, mainly the deal between the King Hui and Shan Congwen.
Ling Zhang, after hearing it, coldly snorted, “Shan Congwen has been daydreaming a lot lately.”
It turned out that this was what Shan Congwen had been after. He was indeed a henchman of the emperor of the Wan Kingdom. The emperor had sent him here to make mischief.
Ling Zhang told Yuwen Tong that Shan Congwen was in the emperor of the Wan Kingdom’s confidence, which Ji Yin had previously informed him of. Yuwen Tong, who was unsurprised, nodded and said, “Shan Congwen could indeed be regarded as one of the emperor’s henchmen. Although this guy does stupid things from time to time, it’s inadvisable to take him lightly.”
Ling Zhang said, “From the vantage point of the present, the reason why he’s prolonged his stay in the Great Yue is that he wants to figure out a way to drive a wedge between you and the emperor, but it seems that me coming to this city with you upset many of his plans.”
Yuwen Tong observed, “So you’re my lucky star.”
But Ling Zhang didn’t think so. Before he died in his last incarnation, he hadn’t heard Yuwen Tong come to any harm, which meant that Shan Congwen hadn’t had his way at that time.
However… Never mind, there was no point dwelling on those things in his last life.
“The King Hui’s choosing to cooperate with Shan Congwen is synonymous with willingly let Shan Congwen get the goods on him. In the future – at least in the first five years after his enthronement – he’d be like a puppet of the Wan Kingdom. And at that time if you really…” Ling Zhang gave a cough and then continued, “The five years would be more than enough for the Wan Kingdom to make a long drive all the way into the Great Yue and subject this country to its rule.”
Ling Zhang was very indignant. He really couldn’t understand why the King Hui had resorted to cooperating with an ambitious schemer like the Wan Kingdom. At a disadvantage as the Wan Kingdom currently was, it would undoubtedly stage a comeback if the occasion arose.
“Of course he knows this. He did it anyway because it’s very difficult for him to best the King Duan, the King Yu and the Crown Prince and successfully accede to the throne.” Yuwen Tong made a very practical and realistic remark.
Ling Zhang curled his lip. No matter what, as a subject of the Great Yue, he would never do anything that might contribute to the subjugation of this country by the Wan Kingdom.
“Now it has come to our knowledge why they want me dead. How should we counter-attack?” asked Ling Zhang.
There was no reason he should swallow the spate of attempts on his life of Zhou Mingci and Shan Congwen. Shan Congwen was an envoy sent by the Wan Kingdom, whose mission was to achieve a peace accord. The current peace was hard-earned. Not only the Wan Kingdom but also the Great Yue needed time to recuperate and regain strength. In order to prevent the outbreak of another war, they couldn’t let Shan Congwen die in the Great Yue, but it was very hard to get revenge without killing him.
Ling Zhang lapsed into rumination, his chopsticks poised.
Yuwen Tong said, “Actually there is a way to have him disgraced and ensure he suffers from shame for the rest of his life even if he returns to the Wan Kingdom.”
Ling Zhang immediately fixed Yuwen Tong with a gaze, his eyes glinting.
Smiling, Yuwen Tong looked from Ling Zhang to his bowl.
Ling Zhang, “…”
‘Very smart. Very good at creating opportunity, marshal.’
He picked up a piece of meat and put it into Yuwen Tong’s bowl. “Your reward. Now talk.”
With a happy and relaxed countenance, Yuwen Tong enjoyed the meat and then leisurely told Ling Zhang about his plan.
Ling Zhang’s eyes glittered more and more excitedly as he listened. Eventually, he couldn’t help but give Yuwen Tong an awestruck look. “This is just brilliant!”
Yuwen Tong lifted his eyebrows, enjoying the look of admiration and compliment from Ling Zhang.
“Then when do we take action?” Ling Zhang inquired, bursting with impatience.
Yuwen Tong responded, “There’s no hurry. Let me send that stupid Zhou Mingci to meet his Maker first.”
Ling Zhang’s ears pricked up at this reply. “How are you going to do that? He’s a member of the imperial household.”
Yuwen Tong said, “Nobody would blame me if he stews in his own juice, would they?”
Ling Zhang looked at him. “You got a plan for that as well?”
Yuwen Tong said, “I wouldn’t call it a plan. I’ll just create an opportunity which Zhou Mingci will take and walk to his doom.”
Ling Zhang’s curiosity was boosted as Yuwen Tong talked. “What kind of opportunity?”
Yuwen Tong flicked another glance at his bowl.
Ling Zhang quickly picked up two pieces of meat and put them into his bowl!
“A handsome reward. Can you tell me now?”
Yuwen Tong, who was evidently pleased with the handsome reward, slowly enjoyed the two pieces of meat beneath Ling Zhang’s gaze which he found just as enjoyable, and then unhurriedly confided his thoughts.
After hearing it, Ling Zhang sighed, “Well, Zhou Mingci has only his bad luck to blame.”
He’d messed with Yuwen Tong entirely on his own volition, hadn’t he?
“Once this plan succeeds, the political landscape in the imperial court will undergo another radical change. With only the King Duan and the King Yu remaining in the game, the strife will surely be even more intense.”
Yuwen Tong said, “Not necessarily.”
Ling Zhang looked at him in puzzlement. “Why?”
“You forgot that invalid,” said Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhang realized who he was referring to. “You mean the Crown Prince?”
When talking about the Crown Prince, Yuwen Tong had a noticeably more serious face than he’d had when talking about the King Hui and the King Duan. “Zhou Mingtang is smarter than his brothers. He’s just been ill. During the period of his illness, first the Sixth Prince was brought down, and the King Hui will soon follow – two opposing forces down and he doesn’t have to do anything.”
Ling Zhang said, “But this is just because he’s ill. It’s you who’s behind all this, not Zhou Mingtang.”
Yuwen Tong’s countenance was inscrutable. “I might’ve been used. Who knows?”
Ling Zhang was startled. What did Yuwen Tong mean by this remark?
Yuwen Tong looked at him. “Relax. The mantis stalking the cicada might fall prey to the siskin following in its wake, but who knows whether or not there’s a hunter eyeing the siskin? You may rest assured that I know what I’m doing.”
Ling Zhang felt a sense of relief, but after hearing these words of Yuwen Tong’s, Ling Zhang finally grew slightly wary of the Crown Prince who was rumored to be too sick to get out of bed.
…
During Ling Zhang’s stay at home on leave, Yuwen Jin, Ji Feng and some others had paid him a couple of visits.
“Brother Zhang, you probably don’t know this – the Imperial College has been boringly quiet lately. All those who used to make trouble on a daily basis have been laying low – no quarrel, no fight, and I’m being bored out of my mind.”
“You sure it’s not because the teacher told on you to your father informing him of your poor academic performance and then you got beaten up by your father?” said Ji Feng.
Ling Zhang looked at Yuwen Jin in astonishment. “Your father beat you?”
Yuwen Jin clapped a hand to his hip almost reflexively and then took it off with a pretence of indifference. Straightening his neck, he replied, “My father was just trying to scare me into working harder. He would never really beat me.”
However, Ling Zhang who had already seen that reflexive movement didn’t believe him at all. He thought, ‘Yuwen Jin is such an anomaly. Both his father and elder brother are of manifest academic demeanor and are gifted scholars, too, but Yuwen Jin is totally uninterested in a literary career and has every intention of joining the army and going to the battlefield like Yuwen Tong did.”
Ji Feng and the others, without any consideration of Yuwen Jin’s face, had dissolved into snicker. “Then who was the guy that didn’t even dare sit down and stood in the Horse Stance in the classroom for a whole morning yesterday?”
Yuwen Jin went purple in the face. “I was practicing kung fu!”
“How very diligent of you. Your father wouldn’t have beaten you had you shown as much diligence in your schoolwork,” said Xie Qing.
Yuwen Jin gave him a dirty look. “You’re lecturing me as well?”
Xie Qing looked at him, an innocent expression on his face. What was wrong with him saying that?
Zhao Jiusi said, “I’m really curious about this – what did the teacher tell your father exactly? Why did he beat you so hard?”
Yuwen Jin’s countenance changed at these questions, his face twisting in distress, probably because something unpleasant had just occurred to him.
Ling Zhang, however, found his interest piqued at the sight of this reaction of his.
