The next morning, Wang Dashan and other security guards found a vacant lot and performed the formation they’d mastered in the presence of Ji Yin.
After seeing it, Ji Yin thought for a few moments and said, “You guys may move in while the revamp of this manor is ongoing. There is plenty of open space on the hill behind this manor. You can practice there.”
On hearing Ji Yin’s approving remarks, Wang Dashan and others, who had been informed beforehand of why Ji Yin wanted to see them perform the formation this day, were all very excited. After seeing Ji Yin lay that containment formation with formidable power in the Ling Mansion that day, they had all come to know that Ji Yin was a consummate kung fu master. Naturally, an opportunity to learn from an kung fu expert was something they dreamed of. Besides, this old man was their master’s grandfather, not an outsider, so there was nothing they needed to be cautious about.
“Grandfather, there’s no need to make yourself too occupied. Maybe you should wait until the revamp is finished.”
Ling Zhang worried that Ji Yin would have difficulty juggling the revamp of the manor and the instructions in formations the security guards needed.
Ji Yin thought nothing of it. “The revamp is just a little thing, and so is instructing them. It won’t be much trouble. Just have them move in.”
Seeing Ji Yin was insistent, Ling Zhang, feeling it in appropriate to object to his grandfather’s decision again, gave him some extra information about his security guards. “Yang Liuzi and the other eleven have been learning the formation from Xie Shi. Currently, they are working on the fourth array of it. They’re not at the same pace as Brother Wang and the others’. I fear they might not be able to meet your standards, Grandfather.”
“Don’t worry about that. I know what to expect,” said Ji Yin in a very casual tone. These security guards had a grounding in formations, and this was enough.
…
After staying in the manor for two days, Ling Zhang had to leave for the summer house of Ji Feng’s family as promised. Apart from this, though a little ashamed to admit, he’d slept very lightly at night during the past two days. What with the absence of the man he’d got used to sleeping beside and the familiar embrace and smell, Ling Zhang had woken up and stayed awake till daybreak the night before, and his yearning to see Yuwen Tong had been deepening, too. He wondered how Yuwen Tong had been doing over the past two days, whether he could sleep at night, and whether he’d missed him.
“You’re bursting to return after a separation of merely two days.”
Ji Yin had been very happy during the past two days when his grandson was keeping him company and he could see him all the time, but now Ling Zhang was leaving, so naturally he was reluctant to part from him.
Too embarrassed to admit that he missed Yuwen Tong, Ling Zhang said, “A couple of school friends of mine and I agreed to have a party in the summer house of the Zhongxin Marquess today. It’s not really far away from here.”
Though Ling Zhang had given a very good reason for it, Ji Yin manifestly didn’t believe that Ling Zhang didn’t miss Yuwen Tong. This old man had very sharp eyes. During the past two days, his grandson had appeared absent-minded from time to time, and it’d been only too obvious that he’d been missing someone, so of course Ji Yin knew what the truth was.
“It’s okay that you miss him. There’s no need to feel ashamed of it,” remarked Ji Yin, telling his grandson to be honest. “The clan leader’s reply has arrived. I’ll take you to the Millennium Pavilion to have an audience with him after the revamp of this manor is finished. You may consult with Yuwen Tong about it and fix a date.”
Ling Zhang’s face took on a serious expression at these words. “Okay. Thank you, Grandfather.”
“You’re my grandson. Such formalities are totally unnecessary.” Ji Yin had a guilty look on his face, feeling unworthy of this “Thank you” from Ling Zhang.
After being told about the arrival of the Millennium Pavilion’s reply, Ling Zhang was no longer surprised that Ji Yin had insisted on instructing his security guards while the revamp was ongoing. If possible, he would depart for the Millennium Pavilion right away as well. After all, his father was still in there. Although he had a grudge against him, it didn’t change the fact that his father was the one closest to him, and he still worried about him.
“By the way, have you fixed a date for your wedding?” Ji Yin suddenly asked.
Ling Zhang jerked out of his trance and said embarrassedly with a flush on his cheeks, “Yuwen Tong had someone select some auspicious days for him, but we haven’t made a final decision yet.”
“How come you still haven’t fixed a date? You two are living together already. When it’s time to get married, you get married. Is this some kind of delaying tactic of his?”
Ji Yin was not very happy to hear this. Ling Zhang appeared somewhat awkward. Well… Yuwen Tong was only too anxious to marry him. The reason why this matter had been delayed till this day was that they had just arrived in the capital city, and Yuwen Tong had had lots of business to attend to, and he hadn’t given Yuwen Tong a definite reply due to his uncertainty about getting married. But now, as they had consummated their relationship, the wedding…
“Ahem, we haven’t fixed a date because previously I was a little unsure whether I wanted to get married. I’ll consult with Yuwen Tong and give you a reply as soon as possible, Grandfather, and we’ll need your advice,” Ling Zhang hurriedly said, feeling that he shouldn’t let Yuwen Tong take the blame for this.
Ji Yin bobbed his head. “What about your paternal grandfather and your uncle? What are their opinions?”
“My uncle and my paternal grandfather have been supportive all along. There’ll be a lot of preparations to make after we fix a date, and I might have to go back to Tanyang for a little bit.”
It’d been quite some time since Ling Zhang had left Tanyang, and he missed his family members there and was inclined to go back there to see them, but there was no doubt that he had to wait until he returned from his journey to the Millennium Pavilion, because after all, he’d have to tell his paternal grandfather and uncle about his father.
On hearing Ling Zhang say he’d return to Tanyang, Ji Yin said, “I’ll go to Tanyang with you.”
Ling Zhang was somewhat pleasantly surprised. “You want to see my paternal grandfather and uncle?”
Ji Yin replied with a guilty countenance, “I should’ve paid them a visit a long time ago.”
“I’ll write them a letter first so that they’ll be prepared for it.”
…
After instructing his security guards to stay in the manor, Ling Zhang went to the summer house of the Ji family, to which was merely a two-hour carriage ride. It was not very far away. By a fast horse, it would take less than an hour to get there.
Ji Feng and the others had arrived some time ago, and Tao Yi had also been invited. They were engaged in conversation inside, laughing out loud about something. At the sight of Ling Zhang, Ji Feng yelled, “You’re late, Ling Zhang, and your punishment is drinking wine!”
Smiling, Ling Zhang walked up and unhesitatingly drank three punitive cups of wine. “Will this do?”
“That’s my boy. We’ll let you off with this.”
“What were you guys talking about? You were laughing so wildly just now.”
“We were laughing at Tao Yi whose teacher gave him a punishment to copy out a book. His fingers almost broke for writing.”
“Hey, will you guys please knock it off? And Yuwen Jin, how do you have the nerve to laugh at me after you got spanked by you old man?”
“…. Let’s not inflict any more pain on each other, okay?” said Yuwen Jin in a depressed tone, his face instantly falling.
Tao Yi, also somewhat dejected-looking, gave a snort and said, “My teacher is not in a good mood these days, and I angered him at the wrong time.”
“Something has been troubling the old lord?” inquired Ling Zhang.
Tao Yi let out a sigh, glanced across faces of all his friends and answered, “Some of you probably have got wind of this – His Majesty plans to revamp the imperial mausoleum, which is going to be an insanely ambitious project.”
Ji Feng and Xie Qing exchanged glances. The former was grandson of the Zhongxin Marquess, and the latter son of the Assistant Minister of Works. Both these two officials attended court meetings hosted by the emperor regularly, so naturally Ji Feng and Xie Qing had heard of it. “We did hear about it.”
Ji Feng’s smile faded. He said, “My grandfather was very angry about Wang Cai’s appointment. During the past two days this matter enraged him even further and he actually wants to ask for sick leave to avoid attending court meetings.”
Ling Zhang had been staying in the manor keeping his grandfather company over the last two days and hadn’t heard any news about the events that had happened in the capital city, so he asked, “Why does His Majesty want to launch a huge project to renovate the imperial mausoleum?”
Ji Feng explained, “Someone made a stupid suggestion to His Majesty, saying that as we defeated the Wan Kingdom, a ceremony should be held to offer sacrifices to His Majesty’s ancestors. And then someone else said that the imperial mausoleum has been in disrepair for many years and needs renovating, that after all, the construction of His Majesty’s own mausoleum is also ongoing… Anyway, eventually His Majesty decided to launch an ambitious project to revamp the imperial mausoleum. The mausoleum is vast, and craftsmen have to finish the renovation before the deadline so that His Majesty could promptly hold the ceremony to offer sacrifices to his ancestors. It’s going to cost huge sums of money and effort. My grandfather believed that use the money to improve people’s lives will be a better choice, which went against His Majesty’s idea and angered him.”
Tao Yi also said, “His Majesty summoned my teacher to the palace to consult with him on this matter. Actually my teacher shares the Zhongxin Marquess’ opinion, but His Majesty made up his mind some time ago. My teacher failed to talk His Majesty out of it and has been sulking since his return.”
“So the die is cast now?” Ling Zhang furrowed his brows. It hadn’t been easy to defeat the Wan Kingdom and have them pay a large sum of compensation, but instead of using this money on projects beneficial to the people, the emperor was considering renovating a mausoleum. What was the point of it?
“Naturally, the King Duan’s and the King Yu’s supporters fully agreed with His Majesty so as to curry favor with him, making my grandfather the only one holding the opposite opinion in the court. I tried to persuade him to keep quiet about the matter, but he lost his temper and scolded me,” sighed Ji Feng.
“Well, your grandfather really should just let it go. Even my teacher failed to have His Majesty see senses. These years, His Majesty…” Tao Yi gave an unnatural cough and resignedly continued, “Anyway, it’s best if we look on the bright side.”
Ling Zhang wondered whether this was also the reason why Yuwen You called Yuwen Tong to his residence the day before.
What with this subject, the mood in the room went rather gloomy. It was only a short while before they voluntarily brought up some other topics and the conversation was steered away. It was not that they didn’t want to talk about these matters, but that there was nothing they could do. Even their elders all of whom were high-ranking courtiers were unable to convince the emperor to change his mind. What could they, a bunch of students, possibly do?
After spending a whole day with Ji Feng and the others, Yuwen Jin and Tao Yi decided to put up for the night in the summer house and return to the city the next morning, while Ling Zhang took his leave of them before dark, planning to go back to the manor of the Yuwen family where Yuwen Tong was waiting for him.
“Oh, no wonder you were late this morning. It turns out you were with the Marshal.” Ji Feng archly looked at him.
Ling Zhang didn’t explain, mainly because the revamp of the newly purchased manor hadn’t finished yet, and he wanted to wait until everything was settled to tell them.
He left the summer house of the Ji family in haste and hurried to the manor of the Yuwen family. Shortly after his arrival, night fell and it was completely dark. Yuwen Tong was still waiting for him to come and have dinner with him, anxiety on his face. At the sight of Ling Zhang, he immediately walked up to him and said, “How do you come to be so late? Anything happened on your way here?”
Ling Zhang shook his head. “Nothing. I just had a long talk with them. Daytime is getting shorter lately.”
Yuwen Tong, seeing that he didn’t seem to be feeling comfortable, drew him towards the house in the knowledge that he had been sweating in the carriage. “Take a bath first.”
Ling Zhang didn’t try to free his hand from his grip. He hadn’t seen Yuwen Tong for two days and missed him very much, and at this moment he only wanted to stay by Yuwen Tong’s side. Had it not been for the travel-soiled clothes, he would’ve hugged Yuwen Tong just now.
Yuwen Tong tightened his grasp on Ling Zhang’s wrist with his burning hand, feeling that the wrist in his palm was amazingly soft, as though it would melt if he held it a bit tighter, his eyes reddening from intense arousal. After they entered the house, Yuwen Tong seemed somewhat unable to hold himself back as he drew Ling Zhang to the bathroom. He used excessive strength when swinging the door open and both of them jerked out of their fever of impatience at the almighty bang.
It was not until this moment that Yuwen Tong found that the breathing of Ling Zhang standing behind him had changed somewhat, and Ling Zhang had also just sensed in astonishment the change in Yuwen Tong’s breathing. Plainly the two of them were thinking about the same thing.
