The wounds Yuwen Tong had sustained in the sudden assassination deteriorated, and all court physicians said that he didn’t have much time left.
The emperor, keeping up a pretence of wrath, ordered an intensive investigation into the attempted assassination.
The Ling Mansion was besieged circle upon circle by Ling Zhang’s security guards and members of the Palace Guards. Half of the court physicians of the imperial hospital had been dispatched to this residential compound.
Even getting close to Yuwen Tong’s bed was not easy for Ling Zhang. At the sight of Yuwen Tong covered in blood, although he was aware that Yuwen Tong was faking it, his heart still did a somersault, and he felt as though his insides had turned to ice. The fear was unbearable, especially after it became almost impossible for him to approach Yuwen Tong’s room. Originally he had been quite firm in the belief that all this was not true, but because he couldn’t personally confirm it, various unpleasant speculations began to arise in his mind, and his face was terrifyingly pasty.
Yao Yi and the others, however, seeing Ling Zhang’s countenance, mistakenly believed that Ling Zhang was faking it. All of them felt that Ling Zhang was so adept at acting. Every time Ling Zhang tentatively asked them about it, they would cooperate with Ling Zhang in his “acting”, sparing no efforts, thinking that Childe Ling was more discreet than all of them, that even when they were meeting in private, he was still keeping up his pretence in the knowledge that currently there were eyes everywhere both inside and outside this residential compound. They felt that he was really admirable.
But Ling Zhang was actually on the verge of a mental breakdown. No matter what kind of hint he dropped to Yao Yi and the others, the replies they gave were always full of grief. He was growing increasingly uncertain as to whether or not Yuwen Tong was faking his injury.
And maybe Ling Zhang’s unduly pallid and haggard complexion was the very reason why people coming to visit became more convinced of Yuwen Tong’s wound.
Currently, nobody was allowed to enter this house except for members of Yuwen family, and it was by a special permission from the emperor that Ling Zhang was staying here.
At this time Yuwen You and all his family as well as Yuwen Zhi and Yuwen Feng were all present. This small courtyard house in the Ling Mansion was crowded with people.
A day passed, followed by another. Yuwen Tong seemed to be slowly on the mend, but actually his injury was just no longer worsening. It was under control, but he was far from out of the woods.
Gradually, people from other sides stopped coming to pry, and now nobody had any suspicion that Yuwen Tong was faking his injury.
…
“I’ll help you, but you must marry my sister after ascending the throne.” Finally, Shan Congwen made up his mind.
Naturally, the King Hui was overjoyed. He replied, “The hunt meeting is in eight days. Everybody will be there, including that invalid. We’ve already formulated a plan. All you need to do is lend me your crossbows and your marksmen.”
Shan Congwen was unsurprised that the King Hui chose to make his move on that occasion, for this was the only way to eliminate all his rivals in one fell swoop in the near future.
But after hearing that even the Crown Prince who was an invalid would be present, Shan Congwen gave an almost unnoticeable frown. In the presence of the King Hui, he didn’t show any sign of what he was thinking. On his return to the courier hostel, he said to his henchman, “If the plan succeeds, Zhou Mingci’s enthronement will be assured, but it’s detrimental to us if we let him mount the throne too easily.”
“What do you mean, Your Highness?”
“It’s not every day that such a good opportunity presents itself right in front of us. We stand to benefit much more if we take advantage of this opportunity to throw the Great Yue into civil strife. Figure out a way to let the King Yu or the King Duan survive, so that Zhou Mingci will still have an opponent he could have fun with.”
“You’re so visionary, Your Highness!”
Shan Congwen coldly snorted. He was always visionary. Had it not been for that damn Yuwen Tong… No, Yuwen Tong was also about to die, and there was nobody in the Great Yue that he should be afraid of now. It was rumored that Yuwen Tong’s injury was no longer deteriorating, but unfortunately, after he helped Zhou Mingci with this plan, he would send Yuwen Tong to meet his Maker!
…
The hunt meeting was almost called off because of Yuwen Tong’s injury.
But surprisingly, Yuwen Tong came around briefly. Nobody knew what he’d said to the emperor in that rare lucid moment, but after their talk, the latter decided that the hunt meeting would be held as scheduled.
Ling Zhang felt that this was too coincidental, that Yuwen Tong’s timing was too perfect… Finally, after being in violently fluctuating moods and the verge of breakdown for quite some time, he slowly regained his composure. Now he was sure that Yuwen Tong was indeed pretending, though why so many court physicians couldn’t see through it was still a mystery to him.
As the hunt meeting drew near, there seemed to be ominous dark clouds gathering in the sky above the capital city. It was a lull before the storm.
Finally people stopped showing up at the front doors of the Ling Mansion causing disturbance, except for court physicians, palace guards and members of Yuwen family.
Ling Zhang also found a chance to see Yuwen Tong. On entering the inner chamber of the bedroom, amid the strong smells of various kinds of decoction and a faint smell of blood, he smelled another bizarre odor. Very subtle as it was, he still smelled it.
Ever since he’d started following the mental method of the Millennium Pavilion to cultivate internal energy, his five senses had been growing increasingly sharp. His sense of smell was far better than that of common people.
In addition, he didn’t know whether this was an illusion or not, but the furnishings in this room struck him as somewhat eccentric, and for an instant he felt that his mind was not very clear. He thought it was just a dizzy spell caused by hunger, for these days he had been in deep worry which had resulted in loss of appetite. He quietly circulated his internal energy for a few moments before his mind became clear again.
Due to his fears for Yuwen Tong’s condition and the limited time, he hurried to the bedside in the knowledge that he shouldn’t dwell on the intense weird feeling lingering in him. Yuwen Tong was lying in bed in a trance, his chest bandaged, pale-faced, his eyes closed. Though having confirmed that his injury was fake, Ling Zhang still couldn’t help but feel sorrowful at the sight of Yuwen Tong in this state.
There was no telling whether it was a coincidence or for some other reason, but there was no court physician in this house at this moment.
But Ling Zhang was worried that someone might be staking out this room, so he still assumed an air of grief, crouching down beside the bed, holding Yuwen Tong’s hand. As he thought of what he would feel if Yuwen Tong was really hurt, his eyes reddened in a twinge of sadness and he squeezed out a couple of teardrops.
There was no reaction from Yuwen Tong whatsoever except for a slight movement of his fingertips when Ling Zhang had held his hand.
That slight movement gave Ling Zhang a sense of relief, but he still wept for a while crouching at the bedside, swaying as though he was about to pass out.
When he slumped to the ground, someone walked inside and supported him out of the room.
A thought flashed across Ling Zhang’s mind, and he maintained his pretence of deep sorrow regardless of who the one guiding him was. It was not until someone walked him back to his own chamber that he slowly stopped sobbing.
Faking tears was also skilled work, and this was the first time that Ling Zhang had found that he was so good at acting.
Miao Shiba, who was still dressed as a study-servant (a boy serving in someone’s study), had been staying in Ling Zhang’s courtyard house. While nobody was watching, he sneaked into Ling Zhang’s room and stealthily gave Ling Zhang a thumbs up. “You were so good, Childe Ling.”
Ling Zhang flicked a glance at the doorway. It was true that his hearing was much sharper than before, but on that day when they were in the hunting ground in the western suburbs, he’d failed to sense the presence of that secret bodyguard of the emperor, so he didn’t dare let down his guard.
Miao Shiba said in a quiet voice, “Xie Shi is on the rooftop. They won’t hear us if we speak in undertones.”
On hearing this, Ling Zhang heaved a sigh of relief, asked Miao Shiba about the situation in this residential compound and relaxed slightly after being informed of what was going on in other areas.
“There are so many court physicians here. How come none of them see through Yuwen Tong’s faked wound?”
Miao Shiba said, “I don’t know either. It seems that some expert has been helping the Marshal.”
Expert?
Ling Zhang was confused. Who was this expert?
The answer presented itself that very night. He was frightened when he saw his grandfather noiselessly materialize in his room and with that a thought occurred to him in a flash of inspiration.
“Grandfather, is it you who’s been helping Yuwen Tong?”
Ji Yin said with a smile, “Yeah. Marshal Yuwen is indeed worthy of his title. He has a supple mind. After I demonstrated the formation that day, he came to me.”
Ling Zhang felt that the weird feeling he’d had in that room a while ago had not been his illusion, and nor had it been a dizzy spell resulted from malnutrition. It was because there’d been a formation.
Ji Yin had personally laid that formation, which was more or less of the same style as the Illusive Trap that Ling Zhang had laid in Jia family, only that it was far more powerful than the latter. The one laid by Ling Zhang previously had been just a simple and crude formation, but this one in Yuwen Tong’s room was so ingenious and profound that even Ling Zhang was unable to find any flaws in it.
“The peculiar odor you smelled did exist. It’s from an inducer drug. Your blood has special properties and you’ve been following mental cultivation method of the Millennium Pavilion, so you were unaffected by it.”
On top of these, Ji Yin had been hiding in the dark at that time, so naturally he hadn’t exerted all his power on Ling Zhang.
A formation, an inducer drug and a half-illusory effect created by Ji Yin hiding in the shadows with his internal energy had been ensuring that nobody would see through Yuwen Tong’s faked injury, no matter how many visitors or court physicians came.
“You’re awesome, grandfather.” Ling Zhang expressed his heartfelt admiration once again.
“Your comprehension is even better than mine. The mental cultivation of the Millennium Pavilion will, to a greater degree, help you fulfill the potential of the Force of Blood in you. Someday you’ll be more awesome than me,” Ji Yin smiled, looking at Ling Zhang with proud and expectant eyes.
This was the first time that Ling Zhang had heard that cultivation of internal energy would affect the Force of Blood in him. He wanted to ask for more details, but this was not the right time, so he had to subdue his curiosity for the moment.
Ji Yin didn’t stay long. After talking with Ling Zhang for a while, he took his leave, going back to Yuwen Tong’s room to resume watching over him lest the plan go awry. The reason why he had found some time to come here to talk with Ling Zhang was that after so many days, people had finally stopped visiting Yuwen Tong’s room as frequently as they had previously.
The next morning, Ling Zhang was given permission to tend Yuwen Tong at his bedside as well.
When Ling Zhang entered the room, Yuwen Zhi happened to be present. Seeing Ling Zhang walking inside, he made no effort whatsoever to conceal the revolted look on his face.
Ling Zhang pretended not to notice, showing a disregard for his existence.
Yuwen Zhi’s countenance went apathetic. Had it been in ordinary circumstances, he would have started picking on Ling Zhang already, but maybe because of Yuwen Tong’s serious wound, he was not in the mood for discomfiting Ling Zhang. He had no love for his nephew, but whether Yuwen Tong would survive or not was bound up with the well-being of all members of Yuwen family, so he had to take this matter seriously.
During Ling Zhang’s stay in the room, Yuwen Feng, Yuwen Han and some other members of Yuwen You’s branch of the family also come to visit. With a heavy heart, nobody felt like talking about any other topics.
Uneventfully, another few days passed. Yuwen Tong seemed to be on the mend, and slowly, he had improved enough to come around on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, the hunt meeting had started.
Yuwen Zhi, Yuwen Feng and some members of Yuwen You’s branch of Yuwen family all participated. Yuwen Jin and Yuwen Han were the only two staying keeping Ling Zhang company at Yuwen Tong’s bedside.
“You guys are not going?” Ling Zhang asked them.
Yuwen Han shook his head. “My grandfather and the others went there because they had to. I’m staying watching over Tong.”
Yuwen Jin, his face wan, also said, “I’m staying with my cousin as well.”
Ling Zhang looked at their drawn faces with a surge of guilt, thinking that he must apologize and make it up to them after this matter was settled.
