At the mention of Yuwen Zhi’s name, Yuwen Tong’s face darkened somewhat. Ling Zhang inwardly heaved a sigh. If truth be told, he was really baffled as to what Yuwen Zhi was thinking exactly.
“Fortunately you and he have gone your separate ways. Given his relations with the King Duan, some day he’ll get himself into some serious trouble,” observed Ling Zhang.
At the same time he was also a trifle bemused. A man as patronizing as Yuwen Zhi had actually deigned to do the King Duan’s bidding?
“What on earth does he see in the King Duan?”
“It’s definitely about the reward he’d get after helping the King Duan take the throne, but he has some other ulterior motives which I can’t be certain about for the moment.”
The reward he’d get after helping the King Duan take the throne? Was Yuwen Zhi really so sure that the King Duan would be able to ascend the throne? It was only too obvious that the emperor held the Crown Prince in high regard. If the King Duan was to accede to the throne, the Crown Prince would be the first rival he had to confound. What made Yuwen Zhi think the King Duan was able to take the Crown Prince’s place? The Crown Prince had as much as, if not more than, what the King Duan had at his disposal. The Gu family alone was an obstacle daunting enough, not to mention the Crown Prince was the rightful heir to the throne and also valued very much by the emperor. There were a great number of officials, both inside and outside the imperial court, that were on the Crown Prince’s side. Once Yuwen Zhi aligned himself with the King Duan, he would have to get through all these hurdles.
Ling Zhang was also inclined to believe that Yuwen Tong was right, that Yuwen Zhi had some ulterior motives.
“Do you know something about it, by any chance?” Ling Zhang inquired of him.
Yuwen Tong slightly shook his head. “I’m still waiting for the result of my men’s investigation. When it comes out, the whole thing will come to light.”
…
That very night, Yao Yi brought back a message from a contact in the imperial palace.
Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had already turned in. In the normal run of things, Yao Yi wouldn’t disturb them if it wasn’t about something important. As a result, when Yuwen Tong got up, Ling Zhang also sat up and asked worriedly, “Did anything happen?”
Seeing his drowsy eyes, Yuwen Tong replied, “You may go back to sleep. I’ll go and see.”
Ling Zhang shook his head, crawled out of bed, carelessly put on his overgarment and fastened it. “I want to hear it as well.”
Yuwen Tong reached out his hand to help him adjust his clothes, unfastened his carelessly fastened overgarment to refasten it properly, and then took him out of the bedroom.Visit website Listnovel.com
Yuwen Tong glanced at Yao Yi. “What is it?”
“Marshal, there’s a message from the palace. That imperial concubine is indeed up to something big. She has a son.”
A son?! Yuwen Tong who was sitting down paused to look at him. “Are you sure that’s her son?”
“Our contact in the palace was also afraid to make a mistake, so he checked it several times and is positive that that boy is indeed her son. He also found a window of opportunity, sneaked in and felt that boy’s bones to verify his bone age. He was born in the same year that imperial concubine was sent to the cold palace. Currently, the only thing remaining to be ascertained is whether that boy is an illegitimate child or an accidentally conceived prince.”
At first Ling Zhang couldn’t quite understand, but after hearing this, he fathomed out half of it – there was an imperial concubine in the cold palace who had a son that was either an illegitimate child or a prince, but he was confused as to why Yuwen Tong was having his men look into this matter.
“She was still in the emperor’s good graces shortly before being sentenced to imprisonment in the cold palace, and there was no news of her pregnancy at that time, but it’s almost impossible for an imperial concubine to give birth to a child in the cold palace without being found out by anybody, so the emperor probably knows about it. If the boy is not his son, he would’ve long since had the concubine and the boy executed. Therefore, the greatest probability is that the boy is a prince who is imprisoned in the cold palace along with his mother by the emperor.
And this corresponds with the information that our contact in the palace acquired after some inquiries. It’s said that that imperial concubine’s house in the cold palace has been haunted from the first day she moved into it. Nobody dares approach it except for a palacemaid serving her. On top of that, that house is the most isolated spot in the cold palace from where ghostly wails emanate every once in a while at night, so hardly anybody dares get close to that area, and almost everybody in the cold palace knows that place is haunted. It’s been so many years and people there have started to call that imperial concubine ‘Banshee’, which makes her even scarier.”
“The ghostly wail is just a smokescreen. Barely anybody in the cold palace has knowledge that there’s a boy in that house, I suppose?” said Ling Zhang.
Yao Yi nodded. “Indeed, which is why nobody thought of this possibility in the beginning. Our contact in the palace had also heard of the haunted house before, but as there were stories about ghosts in the cold palace in all previous dynasties, he’d never gone there to verify it, which was why today’s investigation took some doing.”
Yuwen Tong instructed, “Tell our contact there to keep close watch on her and be careful not to blow his cover.”
“Yes, Marshal.”
“Now that we know whom he’s been in contact with, our next step should be to figure out a way to find out what he’s been up to. Try to get that old servant talking. Given that this person has been delivering messages for Yuwen Zhi for such a long time, he definitely has some inside information. Let Xie Shi handle it. Tell him to take it easy and not to kill that servant lest Yuwen Zhi be alarmed.”
“Yes, Marshal.”
“Go. I’ll give this matter some more thought.”
Yao Yi gave a nod and left the room.
Of course Ling Zhang had come to understand the whole thing after hearing all this. Yuwen Zhi had been secretly contacting an imperial concubine imprisoned in the cold palace. Although she was in the cold palace, the circumstances were still very suspicious.
“Is that imperial concubine an old acquaintance of Yuwen Zhi’s?” asked Ling Zhang.
He asked this question because he knew for sure that since this matter had come to Yuwen Tong’s knowledge, he would undoubtedly look into the relations between the concubine and Yuwen Zhi.
Predictably, Yuwen Tong replied, “The imperial concubine had no dealings with him before being thrown into the cold palace, and neither was there any old friendship between the two families. I’ve already sent some men to find out what Yuwen Zhi and his contacts have done in the imperial palace. Given that he’s got connected with that imperial concubine in the cold palace, he definitely has offered her some help, no matter what his intentions are.”
Ling Zhang inclined his head, looking bewildered. “If they’re not old acquaintances, then who are they to each other?”
Yuwen Tong was also deep in thought. After a moment, he said, “We’ll have to wait and see what Xie Shi could get from that old servant to find out the truth about this matter.”
“Old servant?” Ling Zhang became even more puzzled.
Yuwen Tong gave him a general account of the links between that old servant, the teahouse and that venomous snake.
Ling Zhang pondered over it for quite a while but still couldn’t understand why Yuwen Zhi had contacted an imperial concubine imprisoned in the cold palace. Besides…
“He’s got involved in so many things at the same time. First he joined the King Duan’s faction, and now he’s covertly keeping in contact with one of the emperor’s concubines, though she’s in the cold palace. If anybody finds out about either of these two matters, he would definitely be beheaded. Why is he taking such a great risk?”
Ling Zhang continued analyzing the reason. “If he’s unreconciled to the situation in which he and you went your separate ways and he was demoted by three ranks, and he wants to be restored to his former position or even get to a position higher than that, then his helping the King Duan would be fairly understandable, but then the cold palace… he started contacting that imperial concubine a long time ago, and at that time he was still the de facto patriarch of the Yuwen family in the capital city, and you, a top-ranking official, was still at his back, so the former reason is pointless in this regard.”
Yuwen Tong tapped the surface of the table. “He’s egoistic and supercilious. Without the prospect of gaining enormous benefits as a motivation, he would never cooperate with a woman in the cold palace. After all, he doesn’t even have much respect for princes.”
“What could a woman in the cold palace possibly offer him?” Ling Zhang was deeply perplexed. “By the way, how’s that concubine’s parentage?”
“Her father is a Tongpan (an official under Tongzhi) in a provincial county. In that year she and many other girls were selected to be imperial concubines together. She hasn’t been in touch with her family for many years. Her humble origins are the very reason why the emperor shows a total disregard for her, leaving her in the cold palace to die, though she’s borne him a son,” said Yuwen Tong.
“That just makes it even more confusing,” commented Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong had a slight frown on his face, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
…
Yao Yi and Xie Shi was handling the matter with high efficiency. They caught him shortly after he left the residential compound. Posing as thugs, they soon frightened the life out of the old man. He was in Yuwen Zhi’s confidence because he was loyal and didn’t yield easily, but when faced with Xie Shi’s gruesome means of torture, he had no choice but to give in.
After hearing the old servant’s confession, both Yao Yi and Xie Shi were astounded.
Combining intimidation with bribery, they made sure the old servant wouldn’t disclose it to anybody and then let him go. The old man didn’t live alone. A lot of his family members were working as servants in Yuwen Zhi’s branch of the Yuwen family. In order for them to stay alive, he wouldn’t dare breathe a word to anybody.
…
“Marshal, the old servant made a full confession.” Yao Yi returned to the Ling Mansion in a great hurry.
As chance would have it, both Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong were at home. Ling Zhang said, “What did he say?”
Yao Yi answered, “The old man said that Second Master has been in touch with that woman for years. It started from the year when the Marshal returned to the capital city the last time. That boy is indeed the emperor’s son. Second Master promised that woman that he would help her get out of the cold palace and live a life of wealth and glory, as long as she and her son follow his every instruction after leaving the cold palace.”
“A life of wealth and glory? What kind of wealth and glory?” Yuwen Tong’s voice went cold.
Yao Yi lowered his head. “That old servant didn’t give any details about that. He himself wasn’t absolutely sure of it, but he vaguely knew that Second Master is up to something big – that boy seems to be a puppet on a string for Second Master.”
“Controlling the emperor to command the nobles,” said Yuwen Tong flintily.
Ling Zhang was taken aback. “What does he want to do?”
Yuwen Tong sneered, “Now I know what he’s planning to do. He sided with the King Duan not because he really wanted to serve him. He did it because he wanted to use the King Duan. His real goal is not just to get a high position. He’s after something far greater than that.”
Yuwen Tong didn’t put it explicitly, but both Ling Zhang and Yao Yi were smart people and fathomed out what Yuwen Tong meant after giving it some thought.
Ling Zhang slowly sat down and observed, “Your uncle’s got a lot of balls. I’ll give him that.”
The latter half of his remark which he held back was, “Every member of the Yuwen family seems to have a lot of balls.”
“What should we do, Marshal? How do we stop Second Master?” asked Yao Yi.
With a frosty expression in his eyes, Yuwen Tong thought for a long moment and then said, “We don’t. He wants to use the King Duan, and so do we, which makes him our helper, but we need to be cautious. Keep a weather eye on him.”
“Uh… Is Second Master reliable?” Yao Yi didn’t think Yuwen Zhi was trustworthy.
“I don’t need him to be reliable. I just want him to distract some attention,” said Yuwen Tong. “He would definitely be very glad to see the King Duan do what he’s been plotting to do. We could conveniently use him to finish what it’s inconvenient for us to do personally.”
“But if by any chance Second Master finds out about it, the whole Yuwen family would be incriminated,” said Yao Yi.
Yuwen Tong gave a sneer and confided part of his plan to Yao Yi, whose eyes lit up at the words. “I see. Consider it done, Marshal!”
Ling Zhang standing on the side felt goosebumps rising up all over him at their conversation. “If you do this, Yuwen Zhi will come and put up a desperate fight against you when it comes to his knowledge.”
