After returning to his own courtyard with the letter in his inner front pocket, Ling Zhang reached into the pocket and held a corner of the envelope. He was eager to open it and read the letter right away, but his uncle’s previous words came to mind and he held the impulsion back.
‘All I want to know is in this letter.’ Thinking of this, he felt an urge to depart for the capital city immediately.
Yuwen Tong, who noticed that he was in a trance, asked, “What’s the matter? I can see that your mind is wandering.”
Ling Zhang shook his head, making no reply. It was not that he didn’t trust Yuwen Tong but that even he himself had no idea what was inside the letter, so he didn’t know how to explain.
For a few moments, Yuwen Tong seemed to be pondering over something, but he didn’t persist with his questioning. Instead, he offered, “Let’s go to the street tomorrow.”
This was the first time that Yuwen Tong had invited him to go to the street. Ling Zhang asked curiously, “What do you want to buy?”
Yuwen Tong answered, “We’ll have to pay a visit to my uncle after we return to the capital city. It’ll lift his spirits even more if you bring him some Tanyang specialties.”
Ling Zhang immediately understood but also went nervous. “Ur… Are there any preferences of your uncle?”
Yuwen Tong replied, “He likes liquor.”
Ling Zhang’s eyes lit up. Tanyang was famous for a variety of medicinal wine, each of which had its own curative effects against certain medical conditions, and many of which were suitable for people of advanced years.
Ling family had their own herb farms, so of course they also made medicinal wine.
Actually his grandfather had treasured up quite a lot.
Ling Zhang told Yuwen Tong about this. “What do you think? I can go and get a jar or two from my grandfather.”
Yuwen Tong inclined his head. “That’ll do.”
Ling Zhang observed in an animated tone of voice, “His medicinal wine is milder than the Pear Blossom Wine that you brought here that day. It’s of less pungency, but after you drink it, its taste lingers. It helps with sleep and reduce ostalgia caused by rheumatism as well. It’s just that I don’t know whether your uncle prefers liquor or something milder. If he is used to drinking liquor, I’m afraid this medicinal wine might not be strong enough.”
“It’s okay. My uncle will love it as long as it’s good. If it’s really beneficial to health, that’ll be even better. My uncle is at his advanced age, and his shoulders ache every time it gets windy or rainy.”
On hearing this, Ling Zhang came to realize what kind of medicinal wine the old man needed.
Ling Zhang went to Ling Xingzhong’s place, stated his business and eventually asked, “Grandfather, can I have a jar or two of medicinal wine?”
Ling Xingzhong chuckled, “By all means. Did Marshal mention whether or not there are any chronic medical conditions that his uncle has been suffering from for years? If there are any, you should take the kind that has the needed efficacy. If there are not, take the kind that is good for health.”
“He did mention this.” Ling Zhang related to his grandfather what Yuwen Tong had told him earlier.
Ling Xingzhong gave a bob of his head and bade some servants to get four jars of wine from the wine cellar. Two of them had the curative effect against ostalgia caused by rheumatism, and the other two helped improve people’s constitution. The amount of time that medicinal materials had been soaking in them was perfect.
“Grandfather, two jars will suffice,” Ling Zhang hurriedly said.
His grandfather had preserved the wine for himself. And the jar was pretty big, so two jars would be more than enough.
“The more the better. Nobody gets blamed for bringing too many gifts.” Ling Xingzhong, who didn’t begrudge the wine, insisted and had the servants get four jars out of the cellar.
Since his grandfather insisted, Ling Zhang had no choice but to agree.
“But with these jars of wine on the horse-drawn carriage, you should be more careful on your journey to the capital city. It would be a great pity if any of them broke,” Ling Xingzhong exhorted him.
“I’ll take care,” replied Ling Zhang.
These jars of wine happened to give them reason to take their time on the journey, and they wouldn’t have to make haste.
Apart from getting these four jars of wine, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong also went to the street to buy some more gifts.
His family had prepared a couple of bags of precious medicinal herbs of high quality, which had been growing for many years before being harvested and preserved, so Ling Zhang didn’t have to buy any gifts of this kind.
But there were also some other local specialties in Tanyang, so when the shopping was over, they found that they had bought a lot of things.
On their way back, Ling Zhang specially paid a visit to Tao Feng on his own, asking Tao Feng whether or not there was anything particular he would like him to deliver to Tao Yi.
Tao Feng had indeed prepared a lot of things that he wanted Ling Zhang to deliver to Tao Yi in the capital city, but none of them were for Tao Yi. They had been meant for the teacher of Tao Yi as well as Tao Feng’s own teacher.
Heedless of whom these things Tao Feng had meant for, Ling Zhang agreed to help him deliver them to his son. Because there were too many of them, Ling Zhang didn’t take them home but told Tao Feng to have them loaded onto a horse-drawn cart, saying that he would sent someone here to drive the horse-drawn cart away three days later when he departed for the capital city.
But Tao Feng said, “I’ve already arranged for someone to drive the cart, so there’s no need for you to send another cart-driver here. I myself will go to the city gate to see Marshal off. Let’s meet there.”
Ling Zhang felt that this was even better. “So it’s settled.”
There had also been an imperial edict meant for Tao Feng, in which the emperor praised him for his meritorious service in this incident in Tanyang. There was also a vague indication in it that Tao Feng might be transferred to the capital city when his tenure as a governor was over.
During Ling Zhang’s stay in Tao Feng’s place, there had never been a single instant when smile was absent from Tao Feng’s face.
After taking his leave of Tao Feng, Ling Zhang went back home.
In the afternoon, he took Maomao to the street and specially brought him to the Fengtai Pavilion to enjoy snacks. The two brothers had a good time and didn’t return home until night.
After returning home, Ling Maomao first took a bath and then came to Ling Zhang’s bedroom, his pillow in his arms, followed by Ada wagging its tail.
Ling Zhang came to know what his younger brother wanted the moment he saw him. He gave the boy a gentle slap on the hip, told him to put the pillow on the bed and instructed a servant to wash Ada clean.
The Hai Hour (21:00-22:59) was almost over when they got everything done and went to bed. Ling Maomao went sleepy almost immediately after lying down. Leaning against Ling Zhang, he said, “Elder Brother…”
“Sleep. I can see that you could barely keep your eyes open,” said Ling Zhang affectionately.
Ling Maomao replied “Um” and forced his eyes open to glance at him. After confirming that his elder brother was indeed on the bed with him, the boy, unable to resist the overwhelming sleepiness, closed his eyes and fell asleep almost in an instant.
Ling Zhang craned beyond the edge of the bed, blew off the candle and laid back down, his heart weighed down by the unwillingness to leave as he watched Ling Maomao sleeping soundly.
This was going to be the first time that he journeyed to a distant city in both this incarnation and the last one, and he would be away from home for quite a long time. Even he himself had no idea what the future held for him.
He was just following his heart. He had already collected the huge debt of blood, and now, because there were some people in the capital city with whom he had a score to settle, and also because of… Yuwen Tong, he must go to the capital city. And he also had a premonition that only by leaving Tanyang could he be able to find more information on his mother and that person. No matter what, he must find more about the truth, so that this second incarnation of his wouldn’t fall meaningless, and it was also the only way for him to find peace of mind.
As a result, no matter how much he begrudged leaving, he must do it.
…
The departure for the capital city was only two days away. Wang Dashan and other security guards, who had just mastered a new array of the Trap-and-kill Formation, were racing time practicing the sixth array of it.
Yang Liuzi and some others were still learning the first array.
The first array was fundamental to future progress. Once they laid a solid foundation by mastering the first array, it would be easier and easier for them to learn the subsequent ones.
The training of Wang Dashan and his men had been a concrete proof of this. Originally, Ling Zhang had only meant them to learn three arrays, but unexpectedly, after laying a solid foundation by mastering the first and the second arrays, they had been developing proficiency in the following arrays at an increasingly fast pace, and the amount of time they needed to master an array had been getting shorter and shorter, which had been quite a pleasant surprise for Ling Zhang.
What was different was that, on this day, apart from them, who numbered twenty-four, there were also twenty-four newly recruited security guards present in the guards’ yard.
Knowing that these men were here to substitute for them as security guards of Ling family, Wang Dashan and his men were both happy and subtly hostile towards them.
They were happy because they could now follow their young master to the capital city secure in the knowledge that some other men would be performing their duties after they left.
But they were also subtly hostile towards them because these men were going to replace them becoming family security guards of Ling family. During the past over a month, Wang Dashan and his men had been having an increasingly strong sense of group identity while serving Ling family, and they had almost subconsciously begun to regard this place as their home. As a result, they couldn’t help but show faint hostility when these newcomers showed up trying to “snatch” their positions.
They found this even more unacceptable after hearing that their second master had long ago selected these men as substitutes for them, that all of them had some skills.
Therefore, Wang Dashan and his men had already covertly made some trouble for these newcomers by, without Ling Zhang’s knowledge of it, challenging them to a secret competition.
Twenty-four men versus twenty-four men. Single combat. There were twelve rounds in total. And they took turns to fight.
At first, Qiu Bing and some others took the opponents lightly, believing that these newcomers were by no means their match, but when Zhou Xiang was defeated by his opponent, they dismissed their underestimation of those men from their minds immediately.
After over a month’s training, all of them had changed considerably and become much more discreet.
“Given the current circumstances, none of you are to preserve any strength. Do your level best. This is about the reputation of all the twenty-four of us. Don’t give these new guys the chance to look down upon us!” instructed Wang Dashan from behind them.
After they adopted a more serious attitude towards this competition, situation took a favorable turn. Though they suffered another couple of defeats, Wang Dashan and his men secured more victories than the other side.
Seeing this, Wang Dashan secretly felt a sense of relief. If their young master found out that they challenged newly recruited security guards to a competition and lost it, they would definitely have some serious trouble justifying themselves.
The other side, after suffering the seventh defeat, began to take Wang Dashan and his men seriously. “We lost, and we will run in the guards’ yard for two hours with rocks on our heads as agreed.”
Qiu Bing and others exchanged glances and gave a chuckle of complacency.
Wang Dashan stepped forward and said, “We were just joking when we said that losers were to run with rocks on their heads. We challenged you to this competition mainly because we intended to get to know our new brothers. We are also family security guards of Ling family just like you. Though we are going to the capital city with young master very soon, our identities will never change, so we are brothers. ‘No discord, no concord.’ Please don’t take that joke seriously.”
‘Don’t be ridiculous. How am I supposed to explain if I have you guys run and young master sees?’ he thought.
The twenty-four men on the other side exchanged glances and one of them replied, “All right.”
In fact, these twenty-four men had had little acquaintance with each other, and remarkably, after having this competition with Wang Dashan’s men as a group, they became much more acquainted with each other and also more united, and the teamwork between them also improved somewhat.
After generously stated that this competition had merely been meant as a method of getting acquainted with new brothers, Wang Dashan and his men, who believed that they had successfully dealt newcomers a head-on blow at their first encounter, hurriedly resumed their training in the formation.
These newly recruited security guards had actually some time ago noticed what they had been doing, but they couldn’t understand their moves, so all of them were very curious.
They had felt too embarrassed to ask, but after the competition, an inquiry about it seemed to have become a less difficult task. As a result, someone asked, “Captain Wang, may I ask what you are doing?”
It was after a few moments’ trance that Wang Dashan realized that the man was asking him a question, but he made no immediate response. Instead, he asked a question, “Well, this is good stuff. Did any of you get a grasp of it?”
Those twenty-four men exchanged glances with one another in private and then one of them stepped forward. “Are you training in some kind of martial formation?”
‘Oh, there is indeed someone with discernment among them,’ Wang Dashan thought.
Not only Wang Dashan and his men but also Xie Shi, who had been covertly observing them, flicked an appraising glance at the speaker after hearing the question.
