“Look how smug he is. It’s just a drugstore. Big deal!”
Ling Zhang ran into Jiang Yu at the front gates of the Imperial College. They saw each other, but Ling Zhang didn’t make any gestures of acknowledgement, and Jiang Yu merely glanced at him and then walked away. While leaving, Zuo Yuanping taunted Ling Zhang, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
“One more word and you’ll find yourself unwelcome in this group,” said Jiang Yu coldly without even turning his head around.
It’d never crossed Zuo Yuanping’s mind that his remarks would earn him scolding from Jiang Yu instead of recognition. Dismayed and indignant as he was, he didn’t dare show a shred of his feelings on his face, obediently shut his mouth and flicked a backward glance at Ling Zhang with resentful eyes.
Ling Zhang pretended not to notice. He had got used to the jealousy and hate in other people’s eyes, feeling that it’d be a big waste of time to stare back at everybody who gave him this kind of look, that saving the strength for study would be a wiser choice.
Yuwen Jin and the other couple of friends of Ling Zhang’s were the happiest to see him return to the college.
Previously, when Yuwen Tong had been “recovering from his injuries”, Yuwen Jin had also taken a few days off from school. At that time he’d looked listless all day long like an eggplant exposed to frost, and his spirits had only risen to normal after Yuwen Tong “achieved a recovery”. When Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had gone to the manor, his father had had him go back to the Imperial College, exhorting him to focus on his study.
“Brother Zhang, you’re finally back. How’s my cousin? Does his wounds still hurt?” asked Yuwen Jin.
Beneath Yuwen Jin’s gaze, Ling Zhang who still had a somewhat guilty conscience hurriedly replied, “They’re no longer painful. The physician said that he made a full recovery. You know, Yuwen Tong has an uncommonly strong constitution.”
Yuwen Jin said happily, “I’m glad to hear that.”
Ji Feng and the others also expressed their concern for Yuwen Tong. They had visited the Ling Mansion with the intention to look up him after he “sustained an injury”, but at that time the whole residential compound had been heavily guarded by palace guards, and nobody except members of Yuwen family had been granted permission to go inside, so they hadn’t been able to gain entry. Afterwards, the King Hui’s attempted usurpation had shocked both officials of the imperial court and residents in the city; they all had some elders working in the imperial court, so naturally they’d been paying close attention to that event. When it’d finally come to an end, Yuwen Tong had gone to the manor to have a good rest to recuperate with Ling Zhang keeping him company, and they’d felt it inconvenient to pay them a visit which might be a disturbance to them.
“I thought you’d invite us to the grand opening of your drugstore,” said Ji Feng.
Ling Zhang first apologized to them and then said, “There were too many guests, and I feared I might not be able to have you well entertained, so I want to specially invite you around to take a look another day. I hope you’ll grace me with your presence.”
Ling Zhang fished out a wad of invitations and gave one to each of them.
Ji Feng and the others were confused as to why Ling Zhang was being so official as to send them invitations, but after opening and reading it, he dissolved into laugh. “Look at this. I thought it was a decent invitation.”
There were no words in the invitation, only a sketch of a wine pot and seven wine cups
“Drinking wine in a drugstore – that’s quite some ingenious idea you’ve got here, but I think maybe the smells of medicinal herbs would impart some unique flavor to drinking,” observed Zhao Turui.
The seven of them burst into laughter.
…
Ling Zhang stayed in the Imperial College for a full day and heard that the inquiry into the incident of horses running wild on the Back Hill was still fruitless, that the road leading to the Back Hill had been sealed, and students were forbidden to approach that area.
After returning home, Ling Zhang informed Yuwen Tong of this matter. “I wonder why they still haven’t found anything out about it after such a long time.”
Yuwen Tong replied, “It’s the Dali Temple (the Supreme Judicial Court in feudal China) that’s working on this case. I’ll send someone to make some inquiries.”
Ling Zhang gave a nod. Though eager to know what was going on, he knew fretting about it wouldn’t help.
“Have they found any clues in the Court Prison?”
Yuwen Tong shook his head. “The Court Prison is used to hold criminals guilty of serious crimes, and the emperor always personally selects the prison guards of it, so it’s very difficult to worm anything out of any of them. All those Su Zhi made contact with after entering the palace are not above suspicion. As regards the Court Prison… If it was in there that he was threatened… There are very few people whose reach is wide enough to cover the Court Prison.”
Therefore, in the final analysis, they still had to investigate those people one by one, which would definitely take some time. More importantly, the culprit had probably obliterated all traces already. After all, although Yuwen Tong had eyes in the imperial palace, that place was not his turf and there were some limitations, so he was unable to ascertain the truth immediately.
Right at this time, the prefectural governor of Xiang City and all the other guilty officials who had been the cause of Jiang Chengfeng’s removal from office were escorted into the capital city.
The local government of Cangzhou was undergoing a radical reorganization.
In the imperial court, another bout of intense disputes were ongoing, all of which were about punishment for these guilty officials and appointment of their successors. On this occasion, people of Jiang family who originally had had a considerable say in Cangzhou affairs chose to keep a low profile, and all other forces were happy to see this.
To Ling Zhang’s surprise, Yuwen Tong also became busy because of this. Though he was still staying at home, Yao Yi and the others were bringing letters to him one after another.
He had an intuition that what Yuwen Tong was occupied with had something to do with Cangzhou.
Ever since he and Yuwen Tong had returned to the capital city, on the surface all other sides appeared happy to see Yuwen Tong back and it seemed that Yuwen Tong was able to rally multitudes at his call, but in fact hardly anybody had paid Yuwen Tong any private visits.
Ling Zhang had scarcely seen any other callers coming to the Ling Mansion to see Yuwen Tong apart from members of Yuwen You’s branch of Yuwen family, as if Yuwen Tong had no well-acquainted friends in the capital city whatsoever, which didn’t really accord with Yuwen Tong’s identity.
At first this hadn’t struck Ling Zhang as odd, but gradually he came to realize that something was not right.
Yuwen Tong had always been well informed of everything in the capital city except for those that happened in the imperial palace. Even if Yao Yi and other bodyguards had all had three heads and six arms, there was no way they could gather information about all things so quick. It must be that a lot of people had been secretly sending messages to Yuwen Tong. Though he was seemingly isolated, there was actually a hidden network through which intelligence of various kinds was being passed on to him.
Yuwen Tong had moved into the Ling Mansion on his return to the capital city. Apart from his disgruntlement with deeds of his uncle’s branch of Yuwen family, another reason for it had probably been because of the avoidance of a lot of trouble. Yuwen Tong was still Yuwen Tong, but for him, living in the residential compound of Yuwen family was evidently far removed from living in the Ling Mansion – at bottom, the owner of the Ling Mansion was Ling Zhang, not Yuwen Tong, which meant that even if some people had the intention of visiting Yuwen Tong, they’d feel it fairly inconvenient to come to this place.
Thinking about this, Ling Zhang looked at Yuwen Tong who was consulting with Yao Yi and some others about something.
Yuwen Tong immediately sensed Ling Zhang’s gaze and looked back. The expression in his eyes instantly softened at the eye contact.
…
“Father, are we really going to give up Cangzhou like this?”
In the residential compound of Jiang family, Jiang Chengfeng asked Jiang Shennian a question, unresigned to the situation. These days the wrangling in the imperial court was reaching such a pitch that every meeting was in total confusion, but Jiang family still hadn’t taken any action, giving Cangzhou up completely. Considering how close Cangzhou was from the capital city, for a powerful force like Jiang family, giving it up, which meant losing all sources of information they’d planted there, was like giving up half its eyesight, and this was unacceptable, whatever the reason was.
After hearing Jiang Chengfeng’s question, Jiang Shennian sitting with an unhurried face said, “It’s inadvisable for us to get involved in the competition for Cangzhou in these circumstances.”
Jiang Chengfeng was unconvinced. “But if we don’t do anything, it’ll be very difficult for us to plant men in Cangzhou in the future. We have a lot of businesses in Cangzhou. There’s no telling what those vicious vultures will do to squeeze us out after they come to know that we no longer have helpers there.”
Jiang Shennian said, “Tell them to inventory those properties and businesses. Sell the less important ones. Be cautious with those of significance – transfer them if possible.”
Jiang Chengfeng was astounded. “Father?!”
Jiang Shennian looked at him in displeasure. “Although His Majesty merely dismissed you as a punishment for your mishandling of the event of Cangzhou, his eyes are still on us, and he might vent his anger on us immediately if we take any action. His Majesty is definitely angrier over this riot than he appears. There’s only a short distance between Cangzhou and the capital city. Once a riot breaks out, the capital city will be at stake. It compromised the stability of his rule, which was a crime no less serious than usurpation! You are still standing here only because His Majesty was lenient with you for the sake of Jiang family. If you wade in the disputes over Cangzhou instead of laying low, not only you but also our whole family will be in danger!”
Jiang Chengfeng looked abashed after being scolded by Jiang Shennian. “I think you’re being a little dramatic, father. I just offered some help with the cover-up. Dismissal from my post is a rather harsh punishment. There’s no leniency in that.”
Jiang Shennian shook his head, looking at Jiang Chengfeng disappointedly. “This is all I have to say. Go back and give my words some careful thought.”
Unable to convince Jiang Shennian to change his mind, Jiang Chengfeng had no choice but to obey.
After Jiang Chengfeng left, Jiang Shennian shifted his gaze to Jiang Yu who’d been listening quietly on the side all along. “Yu’er, what do you think?”
Jiang Yu said, “I might be unsophisticated, but I think I understand what you mean, grandfather.”
Unlike Jiang Chengfeng who was bigoted, Jiang Yu had a calm look on his face. Seeing this, Jiang Shennian felt a sense of relief and said, “Thriving and powerful as our family seems, in the final analysis we’re still but an appendage to the imperial household. There are many things you can do wilfully, but you must not go near anything that might threaten the emperor’s rule. There have been a lot of incidents lately. All the couple of cousins of yours want that position, but look how they ended up. Even His Majesty’s own sons are no exception… You must see this clearly and lodge it firmly in your mind. In addition to this, try not to have any dealings with your cousins these days. Their personal ambition has been growing with their age. Jiang family has enough wealth and fame now. We don’t need any more. Besides, your father has just made a mistake and His Majesty has his eye on him. One more mistake and we’ll be in big trouble. His Majesty is still in the prime of his life. There are many things that we have plenty of time to make preparations for.”
Jiang Yu lowered his head. “Yes, grandfather.”
Jiang Yu had a darkened face all along after he left Jiang Shennian’s abode. First the Sixth Prince, and then the Ninth Princess, and then the King Hui… All of them were the emperor’s children, but after they made mistakes, the emperor had disowned them without any mercy. There had been no news of the King Hui whatsoever since he’d been put into prison. The likelihood was that he had some time ago been secretly executed…
Jiang Yu was no fool. He’d come to see a lot of things more clearly after the recent events.
“Young Master, a visitor from the King Duan’s residential compound seeks an audience with you.”
On hearing his servant report this, Jiang Yu who was thinking about something furrowed his brows. After a few moments, he instructed, “Let him in.”
