Yuwen Tong believed that he had nothing in common with Jiang Yu. It was true that Jiang Yu was Jiang Changfeng’s grandson, kin to the emperor, but even the emperor himself didn’t really carry much weight in his eyes.
Jiang family had come up in the world by dint of the authority of the empress dowager. Prior to that, there had been merely a couple of members working as middle-ranking government officials in their family, while among every generation of members of Yuwen family, there had been one or two top-ranking generals, so Yuwen family held much greater influence in the circle of military officers than Jiang family did in the circle of civil officials. Furthermore, for some reasons, Jiang Changfeng had always been deliberately avoiding running in the same circles with him, which was a fact they both had tacit knowledge of.
He said to Ling Zhang, “People of Jiang family wouldn’t mess with you provided they’re smart enough. If that Jiang Yu guy is really insensible, just do what you have to do. I got your back.”
Ling Zhang lifted his eyebrows. “It is Yuwen Jin who has history with him, and whom you should say this to.”
Yuwen Tong, after giving some careful thought to this remark, replied very vigilantly, “I’m just worried that you might be implicated by Yuwen Jin. That kid’s born a troublemaker.”
‘Good. The blame has been safely shifted to Yuwen Jin.’
Ling Zhang looked at him with meaningful eyes. “Rest assured, now the whole capital city knows how cocky I am, and I’m not the type of person who would swallow it after being bullied.”
“Yeah. Others may swallow it all they want, but we must not do that. No matter how messy the situation in the Imperial College is, there’s no need for you to be afraid. Just go and do whatever you have to do. The emperor knows exactly what kind of place the Imperial College is, yet he still put you in there regardless, so you don’t have to go easy on anybody; if anyone dares mess with you, just sort them out. Even if you leave a trail of awful shambles in your wake, the emperor would have to clean it up if he doesn’t want to face my anger.”
Ling Zhang didn’t know what to say.
He raised his hand and kneaded his temples. ‘Yuwen Tong’s arrogance is going wild.
But this guy is indeed capable of doing that. Even a prince and a princess have been brought down by him, so of course he’s not afraid of any relatives of the emperor. If he’s bolder…’
Thinking of this, Ling Zhang flicked a glance at Yuwen Tong and sized him up.
Yuwen Tong straightened himself. “What’s the matter?”
‘There’s nothing wrong with the words I said just now. I think I’ve made my stand pretty clear. Why is he still giving me this look?’ Yuwen Tong’s mind was working really fast as he reviewed his previous words trying to find out whether he had said anything wrong.
“I won’t forget your words. I’ve put Wang Qing in charge of the drugstore. If anything urgent comes up, I hope you can go there and handle it for me.”
Ling Zhang withdrew his gaze and entrusted Yuwen Tong with the drugstore, deciding not to dwell on that dangerous idea.
‘So this is what it’s about.’ Yuwen Tong was secretly relieved. “I’ll keep an eye on it.”
Since Ling Zhang would be in the Imperial College studying during daytime from the next day, Yuwen Tong was somewhat upset at the thought that he would no longer be able to see Ling Zhang during daytime. In the study, he pondered over something for a while, and then Ling Zhang, who was sharp-eyed, saw him fold a piece of paper and stuff it into his bosom. This piece of paper bore somewhat special patterns on the back, which looked familiar to Ling Zhang. It was the very paper that Yuwen Tong brought back after going out to have someone select some auspicious days for a wedding on that day. On that paper were probably the dates selected.
Ling Zhang was perplexed, wondering why Yuwen Tong pondered over this matter alone in the study and also kept that piece of paper in his bosom.
“What are you doing?” Ling Zhang inquired.
Seeing him come in, Yuwen Tong replied, “Nothing special.”
Ling Zhang was skeptical. Seeing Yuwen Tong had no intention of telling him, he put this matter aside and then remarked, “I gave it some thought and feel that I should go to the drugstore to take a look. Do you… want to come along?”
Yuwen Tong rose to his feet and walked out. “Why not?”
After the two of them left the house, a personal bodyguard of Yuwen Tong’s had a courier pigeon deliver a letter to Tanyang. If Ling Zhang read that letter carried by the pigeon, he would see that it was full of dates and hours transcribed by Yuwen Tong.
The two of them arrived at the trading center in the west of the city and then directly went to the rear yard of the drugstore. There were piles of lumber and other materials in the yard, which were going to be used for converting this place into a drugstore. Artisans were going in and out of the place, looking quite busy. Wang Qing, who was in the rear warehouse supervising craftsmen revamping it, saw Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong arrive and intended to pay respects to them but was stopped by Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong had been in border areas almost all the year around, and not many people could recognize him even in the capital city, so naturally these artisans had never had any chance to see Yuwen Tong. They just paid some extra attention to him, feeling that that Yuwen Tong’s attire was out of the ordinary as that of Ling Zhang was.
Wang Qing followed Ling Zhang’s instruction and didn’t address Yuwen Tong as “Marshal”. Whenever someone asked him about it, he told them that Yuwen Tong was one of the owners of this store.
After being informed that Yuwen Tong was one of the owners as Ling Zhang was, craftsmen became more respectful to him and worked quicker and harder.
“Young Master, as you’ve seen, the rear warehouse is taking shape as the revamp progresses.”
Wang Qing led Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong into the rear warehouse. It was rather disorderly, so Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong took a quick look and then walked outside.
“The revamp of this place is mostly being conducted according to the suggestions offered by the general storekeeper of the Jiang’s Drugstore Chain. Before the revamp started, I’d visited some other drugstores and found that they were indeed generally the same. I also hired a couple of experienced artisans to handle some particular details.”
Wang Qing was scrupulous when talking about this. Instead of blindly following all suggestions of the general storekeeper of the Jiang’s Drugstore Chain, he had paid a couple of visits to other drugstores in advance. All artisans he’d hired were skilled and practised. Overall, the revamp of the rear warehouse had been progressing smoothly despite the fact that there had been some minor difficulties.
Ling Zhang was satisfied with it after taking a look, feeling that Wang Qing was a very poised man worthy of his trust.
After walking around in other areas of the drugstore and coming to know how the revamp was going, Ling Zhang relaxed and reminded Wang Qing, “Make sure these craftsmen are paid with the agreed amount of money at the agreed time.”
“Rest assured, Young Master, I promise their payment won’t be a single coin less than agreed. I even awarded bonus to those who did a good job and offered constructive advice,” responded Wang Qing.
Ling Zhang paid Wang Qing a compliment, for Wang Qing had done better than he had expected.
Wang Qing had followed Ling Zhang and traveled thousands of miles to the capital city not only because of Ling Xingzhong’s instructions but also because he had ambition and intended to further his career by serving Ling Zhang, so naturally he spared no effort to perform his duty. On top of this, previously he had been acting as an assistant of Li Sicai and Xia Feng in the Ling Mansion, and the revamp of this drugstore was the first task that he had been put in sole charge of. He was unwilling to be outdone by Xia Feng or Li Sicai, which made him even more motivated. Seeing Ling Zhang was satisfied with his work, he was also secretly delighted.
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong, after having a look at the drugstore, went to the trading center. It was said that there would be a large-scale bazaar in this place the next day, which was why more trade caravans were delivering goods here. Even though the roads in the trading center were quite broad, they were still packed with people.
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong mainly wanted to get some information about the types of goods being traded in this trading center. At first, Ling Zhang was doing it purely out of curiosity, but as he saw more of this place, some other ideas were conceived in his mind. ‘After I have my own trade caravan and gain more experience, I’ll be able to start some other businesses apart from selling medicinal herbs from Tanyang, such as speculative reselling of sundry goods between the south and the north. As long as one is bold and resolute in action, all of them could be lucrative businesses,’ he thought.
He found that in the trading center, apart from merchants from the Wan Kingdom, there were also merchants from the Luohai Kindom and the Fangcun Kingdom. The Luohai Kindom was in the north where the climate was severely cold, but there were also many precious medicinal herbs growing there, which was why most goods from that kingdom were fur and medicinal herbs; the Fangcun Kingdom was an island country, and goods from there were all marine products. Except for dried seafood accounting for only a small proportion, all of them were decorative commodities like coral products, pearls, etc. The Great Yue also had territorial sea, but some of these goods were indeed specific to the Fangcun Kingdom, among which there were also some done with ingenuity beyond common people’s imagination.
Ling Zhang’s eyes were dazzled, and of course he had also broken out in a sweat due to the jostling.
Yuwen Tong had been staying by his side protecting him from start to finish. When they finally walked out of the place, Ling Zhang was starving, so the two of them hurriedly found themselves a restaurant to have a meal.
“I can transport these goods here myself if I have a trade caravan with enough capacity.”
After eating and drinking his fill, Ling Zhang allowed free rein to his imagination picturing him making tons of money.
For Yuwen Tong, building a large-scale trade caravan was not difficult. The tricky part was how to keep people from finding out that he was the boss. The emperor was already wary enough of him because of the military power he currently wielded. If he also possessed huge wealth, the emperor would probably spring to his feet from the throne and hack him to death.
However…
“Although people of Yuwen family seldom talk about this, after so many generations there’s indeed been a considerable amount of savings accumulated. If you marry me, all those will be yours.”
Ling Zhang tossed a quick glance at him and suddenly commented, “Those will be mine sooner or later. Why would I waste time dwelling on them? What I should think about is money that can be made through other means.”
At first Yuwen Tong didn’t get the point. After a brief moment’s surprise, a giant, enormous smile suddenly appeared on his face, as if a big flower had magically sprouted from his face with unstoppable momentum.
It was as if a moment ago he had been an unhurried and poised marshal, but the next moment he had become an utter fool. He even gave a giggle.
Ling Zhang didn’t know what to say.
And then Yuwen Tong put his arms around him, rubbed himself against him and kept chuckling beside his ear. “You agreed.”
Ling Zhang, with his sharp eyes, looked over the screen and saw guests goggling at the two of them while walking by the door. Instantly his cheeks started burning and he tried to free himself from Yuwen Tong’s embrace with great force. “What did I agree to?”
“You agreed to marry me,” replied Yuwen Tong delightedly.
“When did I agree to that?” Ling Zhang failed to have Yuwen Tong let go of him. On the contrary, he was held even tighter and involuntarily began to pant.
“Didn’t you just say that mine would sooner or later be yours?” asked Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhang: “…”.
“Do you by any chance want to give them to someone else?”
Yuwen Tong immediately replied, “There’s nobody else. They’ll be all yours!”
“Then I said nothing wrong,” remarked Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong thought carefully for a few moments, released him and then looked down at him.
Ling Zhang felt his flesh creep somewhat beneath his gaze. “What’s the matter?”
Yuwen Tong lowered his head and kissed him on the lips. “I’ll let you play a dirty trick first.”
Ling Zhang clicked his mouth and looked at him with an innocent face. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
Yuwen Tong gave two snorts, kissed him again and then sat back into his seat.
After they left the restaurant, on their way back, Ling Zhang secretly curled up the corners of his mouth.
‘Yuwen Tong has only himself to blame. He stared at that piece of paper pondering over something without telling me what it’s about, as if that piece of paper were some kind of treasure that could have me marry him if he stared at it long enough. Where did he get it, anyway? It’s definitely not from the Imperial Observatory, otherwise the whole city would have known it by now; it’s probably not from someone holding a wide reputation for divining auspicious dates, otherwise all people in this city would still have guessed the truth from Yuwen Tong’s visit. Exactly who helped him select the dates?’ Ling Zhang thought.
