“It’s done. The poison has been thoroughly detoxified.”
Xie Shi raised his head and told everybody the good news after finishing a minute examination of Yuwen Tong’s body.
Ling Zhang heaved a long sigh of relief. Having traveled a very long distance to get to the capital city, he still looked quite weary. It was not until he fully relaxed that he began to feel somewhat tired. “I’m so glad you’re okay now.”
Yuwen Tong held his hand and looked at his fatigued face, his heart aching. “You should go and wash yourself and then have some sleep.”
Ling Zhang raised no objection. He had barely had any rest during his journey from Tanyang to this city. Even a man of steel would be exhausted after so many sleepless nights. He had a quick shower, simply took a couple of sips of congee, closed his eyes the moment he lay down onto the bed, and soon drifted off.
Yuwen Tong walked to the bedside, pulled the thin quilt over to cover Ling Zhang’s belly and stroked his palm which was full of bruises from gripping the reins for days, waves of heartache sweeping over him. He held Ling Zhang’s palm to his lips to kiss it, and then put it back onto his abdomen.
“Marshal, although the poison has been detoxicated, it’ll still take two days to nurse you back to health. You should rest as much as possible during the next two days,” observed Xie Shi.
Yuwen Tong gave a nod, left the room to find Miao Shisan outside and asked him what had happened in Tanyang.
Miao Shisan gave him a detailed account of the whole process. “… At that time Master Ling was still unconscious. Before we arrived here, we’d received a letter from Tanyang saying that he’d already woken up and regained his memories.”
“Good. Did they say anything else in that letter?” asked Yuwen Tong.
“The letter only said that Master Ling was still having a rest cure. There’s nothing else,” answered Miao Shisan.
Yuwen Tong inclined his head.
Then Miao Shisan added, “Childe Ling’s grandfather mentioned something about that pill. It seemed to have something to do with Childe Ling’s cultivation method and the Force of Blood. I didn’t quite understand it, so I could only repeat their exact words to you.”
And then Miao Shisan gave him a blow-by-blow account of what Ji Yin and Mr. Mu had said on that day.
The look on Yuwen Tong’s face slightly changed. “I see. Don’t tell him this matter has come to my knowledge.”
Miao Shisan bobbed his head. “Yes, Marshal.”
…
In the depths of a palace.
“Your Highness, it’s been so many days, but Yuwen Tong has neither sent for a physician nor left his house. I wonder if he’s really poisoned or not.”
“What about those people? They haven’t found out about it?”
“No. Their hands are tied now. Gathering that team of assassins was the best they could do.”
“Humph, those good-for-nothings couldn’t even kill one man. If it weren’t for my contingency plan, all our previous efforts would’ve gone to waste.”
“Your Highness, our next step is…”
“He rejected my invitation twice. It seems that I’ll have to have my father intervene.”
“A very wise decision, Your Highness. On no account would Yuwen Tong decline His Majesty’s invitation. Also, it’ll be an opportunity to sound him out.”
…
Ling Zhang was fast asleep and didn’t wake up until the next day. The whole Ling Mansion was cloaked in a shroud of tension, with guards on duty everywhere. The security was so tight that even a fly might not be able to get in.
“How do you feel?” Ling Zhang spotted Yuwen Tong as soon as he opened his eyes, his lingering drowsiness instantly vanishing, gazing at him nervously.
“I’m okay now. I just need to rest more than usual during the next two days.” Yuwen Tong was lying beside him, and the two of them were in each other’s embrace. After a good night’s sleep, he also appeared refreshed and much more energetic.
Ling Zhang sat up and felt Yuwen Tong’s pulse. He had little medical knowledge, but he had become more discerning in this regard after starting to cultivate internal energy, and was able to tell from a person’s general pulse condition whether he or she was healthy or not. After a while, he confirmed that Yuwen Tong’s pulse was robust and vigorous, and with that he felt greatly relieved.
“Sorry. What with my carelessness during the fight, you were unable to stay in Tanyang keeping Uncle Ling company when he regained his memories.”
Yuwen Tong’s heart was aching when he was making this remark. When he’d been holding Ling Zhang in his arms the night before, he had distinctly perceived that Ling Zhang was thinner. They had first traveled to the Millennium Pavilion, then to Tanyang, and then returned to the capital city; Ling Zhang first had been deeply worried about his father, and then about him when he’d been on his return journey to the capital city. These days he’d been on the run all along and hadn’t been sleeping well, and definitely hadn’t been eating well, which was why he’d lost weight. Feeling heartache, Yuwen Tong cuddled him, unwilling to let him go.
Ling Zhang wanted to get up. “Stop hugging me. I’m hungry and need to go get something to eat. You’ve just rid yourself of the poison and could use some nourishing food as well.”
Yuwen Tong wanted to spend some more time staying with him in this room. He stroked Ling Zhang’s sagging belly, gave a sigh and then let go of him.
Ling Zhang summoned Xia Feng. “What did you have them prepare for dinner? Yuwen Tong needs something nutritious.”
Xia Feng replied, “Rest assured, Young Master, the nourishing stew for the Marshal is ready. I’ve instructed them to deliver it to the dining room the moment I heard the sounds from your house.”
Ling Zhang nodded, finding that the whole place was very quiet and there weren’t even any footsteps. “How’s everything going in the compound? The situation is a little complicated. Make sure all the servants keep their mouth shut about what’s going on here. And, tell them to stay calm.”
Xia Feng said, “I understand. I’ve already given every one of them a kick up the backside. The Marshal’s bodyguards are in charge of the procurement for the moment. All servants are forbidden to go outside.”
“Yue Qi is helping deal with the matters in this compound, and all servants are under constant watch, so there’s no need for you to worry. As regards my being poisoned, people inside this compound are the only ones aware of it. No outsiders would find out.” Yuwen Tong walked out, fully dressed.
“Marshal.” Xia Feng paid his respects. As Yuwen Tong had walked out, he took his leave and went to the dining room to supervise the servants serving breakfast.
Ling Zhang returned to his room to get dressed, washed and then went to the dining room with Yuwen Tong. When they had taken seats, Ling Zhang dismissed the servants.
“Do you know who sent the assassins?” asked Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong said, “The Sixth Prince and his remaining minions. The Concubine Shu and the Concubine De also played a part in it.”
Ling Zhang frowned. “The Sixth Prince has been under house arrest, and all the forces at his command have been brought down. The Concubine De and the Concubine Shu have been sent to the cold palace (a palace where an emperor installs members of the imperial family who do something wrong). How did they manage to get in touch with an assassin group outside the palace? And since when did the Concubine De and the Concubine Shu become allies?”
Questions exploded inside Ling Zhang’s head. The Concubine Shu was the Sixth Prince’s mother, and the Concubine De was the King Hui’s and the Ninth Princess’ mother. Both of these two women were in the cold palace, but they actually still had the power to have so many assassins do their bidding?
Yuwen Tong explained, “It was the surviving members of the Concubine Shu’s and the Concubine De’s families who contacted the assassins, all of whom are Jianghu kung fu experts paid handsomely. The King Hui and the Ninth Princess are dead. As almost all members of the Concubine De’s family were executed after the failure of the King Hui’s attempt to usurp the throne, this time the Concubine De mainly utilized her connections in the palace and pitched in with money. The Sixth Prince and the surviving members of the Concubine Shu’s family were responsible for hiring assassins from outside the palace.”
Ling Zhang felt that something was not quite right. Given that the King Hui had died because of his attempted usurpation, if the Concubine De harbored hatred towards anybody, it should be those who had brought her son down. The Ninth Princess’ death was the only plausible explanation, but shouldn’t she hate him more than she did Yuwen Tong for that? And then there was also the Sixth Prince. If he were the Sixth Prince and really had some men at his command, he would do his best to lay low, slowly gather strength, figure out a way to free himself from house arrest, return to the imperial court, gain a foothold, and then settle the old score with Yuwen Tong who had dealt a heavy blow to him during the affair of Tanyang previously. Why had he gone all out, risking exposing himself, just to kill Yuwen Tong? Were the Sixth Prince and the Concubine Shu insane? Had they lost all their sense of perspective?
Ling Zhang expressed his suspicions. Yuwen Tong sneered coldly, “All the Concubine De’s children are dead, and so are all members of her family, so her hatred for me is purer, and I’m not surprised that she wants me dead. As regards the Sixth Prince and the Concubine Shu… naturally it was because someone promised them something better, something that would spare them many years’ house arrest and allow them to instantly regain their former status.”
“Who did that?” Ling Zhang knitted his brows.
Yuwen Tong looked at him. Beneath his gaze, Ling Zhang gradually came to realize that the emperor was the only one with the authority to set the Sixth Prince free.
“Within merely a couple of days following my returning to the capital city, the Crown Prince sent me two invitations, both of which I rejected. The rare poison named ‘Mrs. Pistil’ hadn’t appeared in Jianghu for a very long time. If it could still be found anywhere, it would be the imperial palace.”
Eyes glinting coldly, Ling Zhang heavily smacked his fist onto the table. “They failed to do it overtly, so they decided to do it covertly, trying to dispose of you with a third party! Even if the whole thing is brought to light, they could just scapegoat the Sixth Prince and the Concubine Shu both of whom have some time ago been regarded as disposable pawns that have served their purpose, and the culprits wouldn’t suffer any losses whatsoever!”
So many things had happened recently: resignation of a top-ranking courtier, the rebellion in Cangzhou, to name but two, and yet the emperor and the Crown Prince were still plotting to eliminate Yuwen Tong. It was so unfortunate of the Great Yue to have a ruler and a crown prince like them!
“Since they have so much leisure, I’ll find them some work to do,” said Yuwen Tong with a frosty expression in his eyes.
“What do you plan to do?” Ling Zhang looked at him.
“Do unto them what they did unto me, of course,” replied Yuwen Tong matter-of-factly.
“Marshal, someone from the palace delivered a message here!”
The two of them were eating and talking when Yao Yi walked inside and reported that a eunuch from the imperial palace brought a verbal instruction from the emperor, saying that Yuwen Tong was to go to the imperial palace to attend a banquet tonight.
Ling Zhang slightly furrowed his brows. “It seems that the emperor is intervening personally after the Crown Prince’s plan to nose out your physical condition failed.”
There was no doubt that the palace banquet Yuwen Tong was attending tonight would be full of traps. The whole thing was just a conspiracy.
“I’ll go with you,” said Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong slightly shook his head. “No. We don’t know any details of their scheme. It’s too dangerous. If anything happens to you, it would be the most deadly blow on me.”
“But–”
“Be a peach and stay here waiting for me to come back.”
After a few moments’ silence, Ling Zhang said, “Then you need to bring enough guards with you. Take Xie Shi.”
“I will,” responded Yuwen Tong, though he knew that his guards definitely wouldn’t be allowed to enter the banquet hall, that he’d have to play it by ear.
After giving it some thought, Ling Zhang said, “The poison named ‘Mrs. Pistil’ takes effect almost immediately once it’s activated, but they’ve never heard any news of you showing any toxicities. You should try and anticipate how they’re going to sound you out when they see you appear at the palace tonight without any symptoms of poisoning, so that you could take some precautions.”
Yuwen Tong said, “Since their intention is to nose out the truth, they’ll definitely observe me first and then speculate about my physical condition. It’s most likely that they will believe I haven’t detoxified the concealment poison yet, which is why I’m not showing any symptoms of ‘Mrs. Pistil’, and then they’ll try to detoxicate the concealment poison to activate it.”
“What if they find out there’s no poison inside your body at all?”
“Then we’ll see whether or not they have the balls to directly try to poison me at the banquet.”
