The imperial garden spangled with radiant lanterns was so dazzling, the scenery so entrancing, but what struck the two of them as more entrancing was the charm of their lovers.
With such beauty in sight, Yuwen Tong was unable to retain his cool, and so was Ling Zhang, which was why eventually the two of them didn’t finish their planned stroll around the imperial garden. Instead, they strolled back to their bed in the Infinite Fortune Palace…
The official of the Ministry of Rites responsible for the decoration of the imperial garden, who mistakenly believed that he hadn’t done his job well enough, was terribly anxious. Yao Yi provided some much-needed reassurance to him. “Don’t worry. His Majesty and Childe Ling are both very satisfied with tonight’s lantern show. Just do it all over again on the night of their wedding day.”
It was only then that the official of the Ministry of Rites was saved from dying of anxiety.
…
The next day, Ling Zhang woke up very late.
Both of them had found their passion somewhat out of control the night before, and they’d spent hours unleashing that energy inside them. Ling Zhang’s waist was so sore and painful he almost toppled back onto the bed immediately after he sat up.
His face burned as he recalled the killing frenzy the night before, feeling that he and Yuwen Tong had probably lost their minds.
Of course, it might also have been because they’d been very relaxed in the Infinite Fortune Palace, their own place, in which nobody would disturb them no matter what they did, and which was different from the Ling Mansion where there were a lot of inconveniences. Both of them had been totally at ease and all what they’d wanted to do was enjoy themselves to their hearts’ content. As a result, it was not until noon that Ling Zhang got out of bed to languidly wash and change.
He didn’t even know at what time Yuwen Tong had left in the morning.
“Sire promptly presided over the court meeting. After that, he came back here to check on you. You were still sleeping. Sire told us not to awake you and then returned to the consultation hall,” said Yao Yi.
Ling Zhang inclined his head. Fortunately Yuwen Tong had made it. Otherwise it would’ve been the second time that Yuwen Tong had missed a court meeting because of his excessive indulgence in sex the night before, though Yuwen Tong hadn’t been enthroned yet when he’d done that for the first time…
“Did he eat anything in the morning?” asked Ling Zhang.
“Yes. He had breakfast in the side hall,” Yao Yi answered and then said, “You should get something to eat too, Childe Ling. How about I have the servants bring the food here?”
Ling Zhang looked at the color of the sky to gauge the time and then said, “He’ll come back soon. I’ll wait a while and dine with him.”
Yao Yi gave it some thought before he took his leave to have the servants get ready to serve the lunch. Yuwen Tong should return soon.
Predictably, after a Joss-stick (a unit of time used in feudal China; how long it takes for a joss stick to burn itself out), Yuwen Tong came back. Seeing that the lunch had been served and Ling Zhang was waiting for him, he gave a smile, walked up and pressed a hand against the small of Ling Zhang’s back. “How do you feel?” he asked.
Ling Zhang slid him a sideways glance. “What do you think?”
Yuwen Tong stroked his nose in a somewhat guilty way and said, “I should’ve shown some self-restraint. You may catch up on your sleep after lunch.”
Ling Zhang said, “It’s about time I got back home.”
Without the slightest change of his countenance, Yuwen Tong poured him a bowl of nourishing soup and then said, “You need more rest. The trip out of the palace would be tiring, and you’re not in a fit state to do that. Even if you can manage it, I can’t bring myself to let you do it.
On top of that, your maternal grandfather and your father are both in the Ling Mansion, and they’re unbelievably sharp-eyed. If you get back like this, they’ll be able to tell at a glance what happened. You… really think it’s okay to let them see you like this?”
Ling Zhang’s face registered vexation at these words, and even his appetite for the bowl of nourishing soup in front of him was gone. “Then what should we do? I promised my family I’d go back today.”
“I’ll have Yao Yi explain to your elders. He’ll tell them that there are still some preparations to make for the wedding ceremony, that I’m otherwise engaged and you have to stay to help. You may stay here for another night on this pretext and get back home tomorrow,” said Yuwen Tong.
This explanation was watertight. Ling Zhang could tell at the mention of it that Yuwen Tong had had this planned out some time ago. Ling Zhang silently looked at him.
Yuwen Tong appeared quite composed, without a single sign of shame on his face. He called Yao Yi in and instructed him to deliver a message to the Ling Mansion. Not having heard any objections from Ling Zhang, Yao Yi took his leave and exited the palace to deliver this ‘explanation’.
…
In the Ling Mansion.
It was Ling Zhaowu who received Yao Yi. After hearing Yao Yi’s explanation, Ling Zhaowu slightly lifted his brows. His eyes were calm, but they seemed to be seeing right through Yao Yi. After a brief moment, Ling Zhaowu said, “I see. I’ll tell this to my family. Zhang’er has been quite busy with his own thing lately. Even if something comes up in the palace, you guys should figure out a way to share your master’s burden, rather than relying on Zhang’er to deal with it. I want you to tell Yuwen Tong that Zhang’er will move into the palace sooner or later, and he’s not supposed to keep Zhang’er there when it’s time for him to come back. I’ve been tolerating him sneaking in here every night, but it’s unacceptable for him to take Zhang’er back to the palace after he spent merely a couple of days at home.”
In an embarrassed but polite manner, Yao Yi promised he’d relay the message and then quickly left the Ling Mansion as though he were fleeing from something. On his way back to the palace, he kept having this feeling that someone was chasing him.
“… Sire, I didn’t disclose anything to Master Ling, but he seemed to see me through at a glance. Moreover, it’s come to his knowledge that you’ve been visiting the Ling Mansion every night.” After returning to the palace, Yao Yi steeled himself to related to Yuwen Tong what Ling Zhaowu had said, and also reminded him that Ling Zhaowu had found out about him going to the Ling Mansion every night, that Ling Zhaowu had warned him to let Ling Zhang return home immediately.
After hearing it, Yuwen Tong kept silent for quite a while. Ling Zhang, who was leisurely lying on a soft couch on the side, languidly reading a book, pretending not to notice Yuwen Tong’s complex countenance, just lazily remarked, “My father’s not a pushover.”
Yuwen Tong exhaled deeply. “Now I know.”
There was a downside to having a smart father-in-law: he could easily see through his little games. Most importantly, his father-in-law had no problems whatsoever with expressing his opinions explicitly, and had warned him in a very direct way, which made him feel fairly awkward.
Luckily Yuwen Tong believed himself to be rather thick-skinned. The embarrassment caused by the relayed word of warning from his father-in-law merely lasted a few moments before ebbing away. “Given the deep love between us, I’m sure your father will come around. Tomorrow I’ll go back to the Ling Mansion with you and apologize to him.”
Ling Zhang put the book down and looked at him. “You want to go back there with me and apologize to my father?”
This guy seemed to have no idea how messy the situation was already.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re the emperor now. If you go out of the palace, the matter of your safety alone would give Yao Yi and the others a hard time. Besides, you’ve still got tons to do. How are you supposed to find the time tomorrow? As for apologizing to my father, you must be joking when you said that, I presume? My father just sent you a word of warning. It’s best if we keep this between us. If you go there to apologize, you’d be deliberately antagonizing him further, and he’d definitely lose his temper. Are you soft in the head?”
Smiling, Yuwen Tong walked up, sat down on the soft couch, reached out a hand to take the book from Ling Zhang, put it down on the table on the side and then took Ling Zhang’s hand. Stroking it carefully, he said, “Of course I won’t really be so foolish as to make an explicit apology to him. I’m just thinking of pacifying him in a tactful and roundabout way.”
“And how are you going to do that?” asked Ling Zhang, looking at him, eyes full of curiosity. He was really quite curious about how Yuwen Tong planned to pacify his father.
“By pleasing him, of course,” replied Yuwen Tong with a confident smile.
“Pleasing him? Do you know anything about my father’s hobbies? How are you going to please him?” Ling Zhang inquired of him.
When it came to Ling Zhaowu’s hobbies, even Ling Zhang himself was almost in the dark. How was Yuwen Tong going to please him? He had never seen his father crazy about anything but his mother. Presently, family was the only thing his father cared about the most. Nothing else mattered much to him. He wasn’t particular about food or drink, and he didn’t have any of the interests or hobbies that most men his age had either, which seemed to be because of his rebirth. Ling Zhang believed that in his last incarnation his father had definitely been through a lot and witnessed a lot of things afterward, which was why he was rather uninterested in wealth or anything like that.
Looking at Ling Zhang’s curious eyes, Yuwen Tong replied, “You don’t necessarily have to give people something tangible to please them. Helping your father fulfill his wish would please him as well. Currently you’re the apple of your father’s eye. As long as you’re happy, your father will be happy, which means that giving you a happy life is all it takes for me to get your father to like me.”
Ling Zhang looked at him in puzzlement. “I hate to disillusion you, but my father is not someone you could sweet-talk into trusting you.”
“Which is why what I’m giving your father is not some sweet talk but an important promise,” said Yuwen Tong.
An important promise? Ling Zhang looked at him with a slight frown on his face. “What are you going to do? Listen to me – don’t make promises you cannot keep, especially not to my father. If you make him a promise, you’ll have to honor it, or my father will definitely make you pay the price.”
Yuwen Tong gazed at him quietly for quite a while before he said, “Why do you have so little faith in me?”
His eyes narrowed dangerously after these words, and the menacing glint that Ling Zhang had noticed in Yuwen Tong’s eyes the night before could now be faintly seen again.
Ling Zhang hurriedly explained, “That’s not what I mean. We’re together now, and we’ve made each other a promise. I believe you and I will both keep our promises, so there’s no need for you to say anything else to my father. This matter is…”
It struck Ling Zhang that he was not clarifying anything, but he had this vague feeling that the important promise Yuwen Tong said he would make to his father would be one not to be taken lightly…
Yuwen Tong replied, “Well, even if I don’t do it tomorrow, after our wedding I’ll still have to do it. It’s something I cannot run away from.”
Ling Zhang’s heart did a somersault. He kept feeling there was an increasingly high chance that his premonition would come true. With a mixture of nervousness, apprehension and some kind of inexplicable anticipation on his face, he looked at Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong gave a smile and stroked Ling Zhang’s cheek. “It would seem you’ve come to know what I’m going to say.”
Ling Zhang was still gazing fixedly at him.
Fingering the corners of Ling Zhang’s eyes, Yuwen Tong said, “Trust me.”
It was a long moment’s silence before Ling Zhang replied, “I trust you, but this matter is not easy to deal with. How are you going to handle it?”
Yuwen Tong said, “I’ve come up with a plan already. All I need to do is wait for the opportunity to present itself.”
Ling Zhang looked at him. If it was really what he thought it was, then what was the plan that Yuwen Tong had just mentioned? And what kind of opportunity was he waiting for? A minor mistake in the handling of this matter would compromise the stability of Yuwen Tong’s imperial power, and might make it multiple times more difficult for him to rule the Great Wen as its first emperor. It was no trivial matter.
As a result, recently Ling Zhang hadn’t dared give it any in-depth thought, and neither had he dared bring it up. Now their wedding was very close, but Ling Zhang still didn’t feel like thinking it through. Even he himself had no idea why he kept avoiding it.
