Ling Zhang was at Yuwen Tong’s bedside when the latter came around. He watched as Yuwen Tong’s eyes opened.
“How do you feel? We’ve just eliminated the Gu worms from your body. Are you experiencing any discomfort?” Ling Zhang inquired of him.
Yuwen Tong found his chest much more relaxed now. All the annoying pains gone, he felt fully at ease. “I’m okay now.”
Also, thanks to that deep sleep, he got a second wind.
“I’m glad to hear that,” smiled Ling Zhang, feeling a great sense of relief.
Yuwen Tong’s eyes rested on Ling Zhang’s face. “You don’t look very well,” he observed.
The look in his eyes turned apprehensive as he caught sight of Ling Zhang’s bandaged wrist, which he then took and stroked twice.
“It’s just a minor injury. It’ll heal in a couple of days,” said Ling Zhang nonchalantly.
Ling Zhang’s wrist was bandaged. Though unable to see the wound, Yuwen Tong could tell from Ling Zhang’s awful complexion that the wound was nasty. He was filled with mingled heartache and guilt. Ling Zhang had written him a letter and forewarned him, but he had still fallen victim to his snaky enemy.
As Ling Zhang saw Yuwen Tong silently looking at his wrist, he withdrew his hand for fear of Yuwen Tong overthinking it. “I’m really okay. The cut is only superficial. I’ll be fine after it heals. It’s you yourself that you should be worried about. Those Gu worms were so weird. It never crossed my mind that such bizarre Gu worms existed in this world. Also, the way they attack is almost impossible to defend against. Fortunately Mr. Mu said that this kind of Gu worms are very difficult to raise and the art of raising them is almost lost to the world. Otherwise they might bring unimaginable disasters.”
Yuwen Tong’s eyes turned wintry at the mention of Gu worms and their raisers. “It’s high time we rid South Xinjiang of those evil creatures and people.”
There had been two occasions when they had been in trouble owing to the craft of raising and using Gu originated from South Xinjiang. Gu masters from that area who refused to toe the line could be really bothersome. Ling Zhang also felt that they needed to do something to bring those people in South Xinjiang to heel, that they couldn’t turn a blind eye to the situation there, or else more and more people would fall prey to Gu worms. However, they would have to wait until the three countries were unified to be able to spare the time to rid South Xinjiang of the scourge of Gu worms.
“Where are the worms?” asked Yuwen Tong.
“Dissolved,” replied Ling Zhang. It was a fact that Xie Shi had dissolved the Mother Worm in a highly corrosive substance named Bone-Dissolving Solution, so he was not lying to Yuwen Tong. “It was an ugly creature. You don’t want to see it. But from now on you need to carry with you a pouch of medicine to keep Gu worms away from you, so that this kind of thing won’t happen again.”
Though Ling Zhang had put it this way, he was actually rather uncertain, because a Gu worm of that kind, when in its larval stage, was tiny and transparent, and it burrowed its way into the target’s clothes on contact, and then, under the influence of the target’s body heat, it exuviated, changed into another form and then wormed its way into the target’s body. A Gu worm of that kind was very difficult to defend against.
“When Mr. Mu arrives, I’ve got to have him tell me how to prevent this kind of worms from approaching. Otherwise I would never have complete peace of mind unless the Gu masters in South Xinjiang are wiped out,” Ling Zhang continued.
Yuwen Tong raised his hand and stroked his face. “Let’s just put it down to experience. I’m going to stop those Gu masters from doing more evil.”
Ling Zhang twisted his head aside, rubbing his cheek against Yuwen Tong’s palm. The next moment he felt a throbbing in the chest. It seemed that that Gu worm was making trouble again, but thanks to the deadening effect of Ling Zhang’s blood on it, the pain in his chest, though continuous, was sufferable and not causing any intense bodily responses, so his countenance remained unchanged, and Yuwen Tong, stroking his cheek, didn’t perceive anything out of the ordinary.
“Before you take action on those Gu masters in South Xinjiang, make sure you figure out a way to deter all Gu worms from approaching. Don’t rush into anything.”
“Okay.”
As Yuwen Tong was now rid of the Gu worms, the only thing he wanted to do was hold Ling Zhang, stroke him and kiss him, but what with the cut in Ling Zhang’s wrist and the one in his own chest, he couldn’t do anything more than that, so he just took Ling Zhang in his arms and kept kissing him.
“We can’t make out in the next few days. Keeping me from touching you – those worms did find my Achilles heel,” said Yuwen Tong, continuing pecking Ling Zhang’s lips while edging away from Ling Zhang who was now panting for kissing.
Ling Zhang lowered his head and pressed his forehead against Yuwen Tong’s shoulder, chuckling, concealing the pained momentary look on his face. Though unable to cause him serious harm, that Child Worm inside him was giving him a tingling sensation, which was quite annoying.
Yuwen Tong raised his hand and stroked the back side of Ling Zhang’s head. After holding Ling Zhang for a long moment, he said, “We’ll march straight north to the Wan capital after taking Jifang City. Once their capital falls, it won’t be long before we gain control of the whole Wan Kingdom. All I want to do is subjugate this country as quick as possible and then take you somewhere secluded to spend some time alone with you.”
Ling Zhang looked up at him, a gentle look in his eyes. Yuwen Tong falling victim to Gu worms had scared him, which was why he also wanted very much to do as what Yuwen Tong had just said, but they were past the point of no return. After annexing the Wan Kingdom, they must press ahead and take the Luohai Kingdom as soon as possible. They couldn’t afford to allow the Luohai Kingdom the opportunity to end its civil strife and get its second wind, which meant that he and Yuwen Tong wouldn’t be able to fulfill this wish of theirs anytime soon.
But he didn’t contradict Yuwen Tong. Instead, he said, “That sounds good. I heard that the scenery in the northern part of this country is pretty good. We may go and check it out.”
“Yeah,” said Yuwen Tong, hugging him tight and pressing a kiss on his cheek. Then he failed to restrain himself, kissed the tip of Ling Zhang’s nose, wrapped his lips around Ling Zhang’s and eventually parted Ling Zhang’s teeth.
…
It had been quite some time since the last time they had cuddled and locked lips, so the kiss lasted a long moment.
Xie Shi waiting outside was torn between delight at his two masters’ extrication from the ordeal and apprehension about Ling Zhang’s condition. The Child Worm was still inside Ling Zhang. Although Ling Zhang had said that it was no big deal, Xie Shi knew it would always be a threat as long as it was in Ling Zhang’s body. Though it was not as vicious as the Mother Worm, the pain it caused when gnawing Ling Zhang’s flesh was no doubt excrutiating.
“Your Majesty, Your Highness, I prepared an herbal meal which helps enrich the blood and Chi. You haven’t eaten for hours. Please come and have some.” Xie Shi cleverly used food to distract the attention of his two masters in the inner compartment.
Unsurprisingly, Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang soon walked out. Neither of them had eaten anything in the past few hours, so they naturally felt hungry at the sight of the tonic congee on the table.
Yuwen Tong took a look at the two bowls of tonic congee and found that they were different. The congee in front of him was mainly for enriching the blood and Chi, but Ling Zhang’s was mainly for relieving uneasiness of mind. His eyebrows contracted slightly in spite of himself. “His Highness’ face is pale from loss of blood. Why are you giving him nerve-soothing tonic congee?”
Xie Shi’s heart gave a horrible jolt and with that he said, “His Highness–”
“I haven’t been sleeping well in the past few days either, so I had Xie Shi make me some nerve-soothing tonic congee. I need to go and get some sleep after finishing this congee, so I won’t be able to stay here keeping you company while you deal with military affairs,” explained Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong still had a slight frown on his face. “Don’t go back to that tent. Just sleep here.”
Xie Shi looked at Ling Zhang, appearing somewhat nervous. Ling Zhang, however, remained composed. One of the changes that being an empress for all these years had brought to him was that he had learned how to conceal his feelings, and sometimes even Yuwen Tong couldn’t tell what he was thinking about. “Your tent is not quiet enough. I’d like to sleep in my own tent.”
“I’ll have them stay in another tent,” said Yuwen Tong. He was okay now. How could they still sleep apart?
“You have maps, the sand table and everything else you need in this tent. This is the best place for consultations. If you move to another place, there would be a lot of inconveniences. Besides, the main tent is a symbol, and it’s of great importance to the cohesion of the army. You didn’t meet any of the officers or soldiers when the worms were inside you. It’s been such a long time, and I’m afraid they’ve begun to worry. What you should do is have them come here to meet you, not tell them to go somewhere else,” said Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong’s eyes slowly raked Ling Zhang’s countenance. Ling Zhang’s words did make sense, but there wasn’t really any necessity for him to do that. All those serving him knew exactly what kind of person he was, and there weren’t that many rigid rules. Besides, speaking of the cohesion of the army, he himself was the ultimate guarantee of the troops’ morale. The main tent was just a place for consultations. It was not as important as Ling Zhang had said it was. Ling Zhang was never a rigid person. Why was he …
Yuwen Tong withdrew his eyes and, slurping his tonic congee, said, “Okay, then, you may catch up on your sleep during the day, but I want you to come back to this tent at night. Tomorrow we’ll break camp. When we encamp again outside Jifang City, I’ll tell them not to specially pitch a tent for you, and I’ll put these things in another tent.”
Ling Zhang paused briefly. Knowing that Yuwen Tong would become suspicious if he kept objecting, he replied, “All right.”
Unfortunately for him, that almost unnoticeable pause of his didn’t escape Yuwen Tong’s notice. Yuwen Tong lowered his eyes, the look in them growing unreadable.
After finishing the tonic congee, Yuwen Tong took Ling Zhang’s hand and carefully examined it to check that the cut hadn’t reopened.
“How could the wound have reopened if I never used this hand?” said Ling Zhang resignedly.
The herbal meal Xie Shi had made him was congee, and he had eaten it with a spoon. His injured wrist had been in his lap from start to finish. He had hardly moved it, so it was impossible for the wound to reopen.
Yuwen Tong, however, was scrupulous about it, determined not to let go before confirming everything was fine. He felt Ling Zhang’s pulse throbbing as his fingers moved back and forth on the inside of Ling Zhang’s wrist in a very gentle way.
After a while, he finished examining it and suddenly said, “By the way, where’s that letter Mr. Mu wrote you? I’d like to read it to find out the details. Those things brought me so many sufferings, but I still don’t know what made them special.”
Ling Zhang felt faintly alarmed, but he affected an air of regret and said, “None of the others know about the Gu worms. I was worried there might be a leak which would cause the morale to drop, so I burned it while you were asleep. Actually Mr. Mu didn’t give many details. I’ve told you everything he said in the letter.”
The look in Yuwen Tong’s eyes flickered. “I guess I’ll have to wait until Mr. Mu arrives to ask him.”
Seeing that Yuwen Tong didn’t persist with his questioning, Ling Zhang was secretly relieved. Yuwen Tong, who knew him very well, could tell what he was feeling from a mere change in the look in his eyes or his breathing. The sight of the brief unnoticeable relief on Ling Zhang’s face sent his mind racing. Ling Zhang was keeping something back from him, presumably something concerning the Gu worms.
While Ling Zhang was not paying attention, Yuwen Tong’s eyes quietly swept over Xie Shi’s face.
On sensing the gaze, Xie Shi raised his head and met Yuwen Tong’s flinty eyes, cold sweat instantly breaking out over his back.
