Ling Zhang suddenly paused after finishing this remark. Both Ji Donglin and Ji Chaofang worked for Ji Yanlai, and there were some matters that he couldn’t let Ji Yanlai know about, even though they had a deal. Having realized this, Ling Zhang hurriedly changed his mind and said, “Grandfather, on second thought, we should let these two kind guards stay with us.”
Ji Yin noticed the look in Ling Zhang’s eyes and also came to understand. “Okay, then it’s settled.”
Ji Donglin and Ji Chaofang didn’t insist on going with Yuwen Tong. After hearing Ji Yin’s decision, they appeared quite calm and made no remarks.
Yuwen Tong couldn’t afford to waste any time, soon left Tongguan Town, took a shortcut to the capital city and at the same time sent a message back to Yao Yi and other bodyguards of his who were waiting in Wu City.
Wang Dashan and others had also received Ling Zhang’s message which told them to return to the capital city and be at Yuwen Tong’s command. After Yao Yi and the others departed, they set off as well.
…
As he was taking his father with him, Ling Zhang didn’t dare travel fast and was still on the journey when Yuwen Tong and the others had reached the capital city.
Maybe because he’d spent half a month with Yuwen Tong and the latter had been carrying him on his back all the time during the part of their journey in the Sanguan Mountains, Ling Zhaowu missed Yuwen Tong and looked dispirited for some time after Yuwen Tong’s departure, as though having lost a reliable companion.
Seeing Ling Zhaowu like this, Ling Zhang dismissed his worries and his longing to reunite with Yuwen Tong and focused on tending Ling Zhaowu.
“We’ll enter Tanyang jurisdiction the day after tomorrow, Father. I’ve already sent a letter back home. Uncle must be on his way to meet us. Don’t be afraid of him when you see him. It’ll break his heart,” Ling Zhang said to Ling Zhaowu.
Ling Zhaowu looked at him, “Uncle?”
“I mean my uncle, your full little brother. His name is Ling Zhaowen. Do you… remember?” Ling Zhang’s voice dropped to a whisper when he uttered the last word. He hoped that Ling Zhaowu would remember but also feared that jogging his memory would be too intense a stimulus for his mind.
Ling Zhaowu gazed at him with a bemused expression, repeating Ling Zhaowen’s name in a murmur, “Ling…Zhao…wen?”
Ling Zhang apprehensively fixed him a stare, his eyes both expectant and watchful.
Ling Zhaowu considered a spot with perplexed eyes for quite a long time. Suddenly, his countenance changed and he started to shake his head. Panting, he muttered inarticulately but in an increasingly firm tone, “Li–Little brother?”
Ling Zhang gazed at him worriedly. “Your full little brother.”
Ling Zhaowu abruptly reached out his hands to grab Ling Zhang’s arm and repeated urgently, “Little brother! Little brother!”
Ling Zhang gave a start, worrying that his reaction was beyond the threshold, but then he found that although Ling Zhaowu was overreacting, there was no sign of a seizure, so he gave a nod in the affirmative. “Your full little brother, Ling Zhaowen.”
“Little brother!” Ling Zhaowu tightened his grip on Ling Zhang’s arm and another name escaped his lips. “Zhang’er!”
He suddenly started calling Ling Zhang, and his facial expression suggested that his mood was getting out of control. Ling Zhang hastily hit a couple of acupoints of Ling Zhaowu’s according to the method Mr. Mu had previously taught him. It worked and Ling Zhaowu calmed down.
This time, after cooling down, Ling Zhaowu didn’t look listless as he had the last few times. Instead, he kept murmuring a few words – “Little brother”, “Zhang’er” and “Son”, as though they were of great importance to him but he couldn’t remember any details about them, so he had to repeat these words again and again, his eyes staring at Ling Zhang expectantly, as if intending for Ling Zhang to give him some kind of answer.
“He’s been having this kind of reaction more and more often lately. This is the sign of total recall. I’ll administer the drug to him immediately when we reach Tanyang.” Mr. Mu walked inside and felt Ling Zhaowu’s pulse.
“I wonder if he remembers my uncle and grandfather. I fear that the sight of them might be too strong a stimulus to him and he might be overwhelmed. Do you think it’s better if we administer the drug to him beforehand?” asked Ling Zhang.
Mr. Mu shook his head. “That’s not the right thing to do. After taking the drug, he’ll need a quiet place to rest, so we must wait until we settle in. Besides, I’ll have to perform acupuncture on him on a daily basis during the first few days after the administration of the drug, and this is not the right place to do that. I’ll keep constant watch on him. If anything goes wrong, I’ll put him to sleep.”
Ling Zhang bobbed his head. “I’ll do whatever you say, Mr. Mu.”
Ji Yin consoled him, “There’s no need to worry. We’re only one day away from getting there.”
Ling Zhang had to take heed of Ji Yin’s comforting words. Maybe because he was concerned about the safety of Yuwen Tong who had returned to the capital city along, Ling Zhang had been faintly feeling some kind of anxiety all along. He believed that he had calmed down, but in fact there was still a suspicion of restlessness in his tone and bearing.
Ling Zhaowu didn’t stop mumbling until he fell asleep that night. The next day, like a forgetful child, he forgot all his vexations after waking up and followed at Ling Zhang’s heels at all times, curiously looking left and right, as though he could never get bored of seeing the uproarious town.
In horse-drawn carriages, they set out on the last stage of their journey, heading for Tanyang.
As soon as they crossed the boundaries of Tanyang, Ling Zhang caught sight of Ling Zhaowen, Butler Li and the other couple of stewards of the Ling family, all of whom were looking in the direction that the main road led, anxiety on all their faces.
Ling Zhang and the others were traveling in two carriages, and the drivers were Ji Donglin and Ji Chaofang, both of whom were not familiar faces, so Ling Zhaowen and the others didn’t pay much attention to them, but as the two carriages approached, Ling Zhaowen had some kind of hunch and quickly walked towards them head-on in spite of himself. He had always set great store by his demeanor, but on this occasion, there was no room in his mind for it. He stared unblinkingly at the carriages, eager anticipation on his face.
Ling Zhang directly lifted the carriage curtain, craned out, waved at him and called, “Uncle!”
Ling Zhaowen instantly stopped dead, and then ecstasy started glinting in his eyes. “Zhang’er!”
With that, his eyes quickly flashed through the curtain raised by Ling Zhang, gazing into the carriage, expecting to spot someone. Lips quivering, he made towards the carriage step by step at a somewhat dull pace.
“Yo–Your father…”
Seeing that his uncle couldn’t even speak fluently, Ling Zhang was nearly reduced to tears. “He’s right in the carriage.”
Butler Li and the others in the distance also quickly walked in this direction.
The carriages slowly halted before Ling Zhaowen. Ling Zhang lifted the curtain completely and said to Ling Zhaowu who was sitting inside, “Father, we’ve arrived in Tanyang. Uncle is waiting for you outside.”
Ling Zhaowu reached out his hand to hold Ling Zhang’s wrist, looking confusedly from him to the outside.
At this moment, Ling Zhaowen had got a clear view of the one sitting in the carriage. His Adam’s apple bobbed several times, his eyes reddening, gazing fixedly at the one inside. In a rather hoarse voice, he called, “Brother!”
“It’s First Master! It’s really First Master!” Butler Li and the others also exclaimed, pleasantly surprised.
Ling Zhaowu was startled by Ling Zhaowen who was standing outside the carriage and staring unblinkingly at him with red eyes. When Butler Li and the others excitedly clustered around, in particular, he cowered behind Ling Zhang, not daring to get out of the carriage.
On seeing Ling Zhaowen’s reaction, Ling Zhaowen and the others went rigid and for a few moments were in stupefaction.
“Brother, I’m Zhaowen. Yo–You don’t remember me?” Ling Zhaowen said urgently.
Ling Zhaowu craned around Ling Zhang’s back to look at him. The sight of his thin figure and pale complexion almost reduced Ling Zhaowen to tears. Ling Zhaowu was looking at Ling Zhaowen like a stranger, a mixture of bewilderment and fear in his eyes, not at all daring to make a reply to Ling Zhaowen.
This was really a heartbroken moment for Ling Zhaowen. “Brother!” he called.
Ling Zhang, however, took Ling Zhaowu’s hand and consoled him in a soft voice, “Father, don’t be afraid. None of them will do you any harm. I’m right here. Don’t be afraid.”
Then he winked at Butler Li and the others, signaling them to back away and not to gather around so soon. They all caught on to Ling Zhang’s wink. Before they’d come here, they’d been informed of the contents of Ling Zhang’s letter. Though unable to believe what they were seeing, they still hurriedly backed off in the knowledge that they couldn’t afford to stimulate Ling Zhaowu in these circumstances.
After Butler Li and the others backed away, Ling Zhaowu indeed relaxed considerably and finally no longer hid himself completely behind Ling Zhang’s back.
Ling Zhang got out of the carriage first, and then helped Ling Zhaowu get to the ground and stand before Ling Zhaowen.
Though very excited, Ling Zhaowen still restrained himself, maintaining a certain distance away from his brother, not daring get too close for fear of scaring him.
“Brother, you finally came back. We’ve been looking for you all these years and are on the verge of losing hope. Father talks about you every day and never stops worrying over you. He wanted very much to come here with us to be the first to see you. If we hadn’t stopped him for fear that he might fall ill from the sudden excitement and tiring trip, you would have met him by now.”
Ling Zhaowu was thrown into perplexity by these words, the puzzlement in his eyes unmistakable.
He looked at Ling Zhang, who didn’t move, and then shifted his gaze to Ling Zhaowen and asked, “Wh–Who are you?”
Ling Zhaowen had gradually recovered from the shock of his brother’s reaction. Though his heart ached badly at this question of Ling Zhaowu, he still replied in a calm voice, “I’m your younger brother. Do you remember this, Big Brother? Before you left home, we were very close and kept no secrets from each other. You’re older than me, so you always stuck up for me. You were into kung fu, and nobody dared to bully me as long as you were by my side. When we were young and lived with our parents in Haizhou, we slunk out of the back yard of the yamen into the front yard to play very often. On one occasion, Father found out and flogged us with a length of bamboo. You stood before me and took most of the strokes for me. Do you still remember any of it?”
In order to help Ling Zhaowu recall him, Ling Zhaowen even disclosed a stupid thing they had done when they’d been young boys.
If it were in any other circumstance, Ling Zhang would definitely have burst into laughter, but now the story only struck him as poignant.
At this time, Mr. Mu and Ji Yin had also got out of the carriage at the back and were walking over.
Ling Zhaowen, who was still gazing at Ling Zhaowu with anticipation on his face, failed to notice the two of them.
Ling Zhaowu just gazed back at Ling Zhaowen with a mixture of bafflement and curiosity in his eyes but couldn’t recollect anything. Ling Zhaowen’s intense emotions gave him a feeling of constriction in the chest, as though something heavy were weighing him down. Head twisted aside and slightly down, eyes lifted, he stared at Ling Zhaowen, involuntarily biting his lower lip.
At the sight of this, Ling Zhang came to the realization that Ling Zhaowu was baffled but had become curious about Ling Zhaowen and wanted to know more about him.
“Uncle, my father sustained mental trauma and lost all his memories. I brought back a pill which could cure him, but the treatment requires a quiet environment, so we have to return home first.”
After hearing this, Ling Zhaowen, forcing himself into maintaining his composure, took his expectant eyes off Ling Zhaowu, inclined his head and said, “Okay, then. Let’s go back right away.”
Ling Zhang said, “Uncle, I’d like to introduce someone to you first. This is my maternal grandfather.”
