Yuwen Feng sentimentally imagined how different many things would have been if his family had seen sense earlier and realized how much Ling Zhang meant to Yuwen Tong instead of making trouble for them from the very beginning. However, it was no good feeling regretful about it. He was fully aware that some people would never come around, as though they’d been possessed by demons.
This thought only stayed in his mind for an instant before Yuwen Feng dismissed it, feeling that dwelling on the past wouldn’t do any good. Moreover, right now he didn’t even feel like think about any of those things, so it was totally unnecessary to force himself to give them any thought.
…
As the morning mist lifted, dawn broke. It was a cloudless, breezy day. The boisterous twittering of magpies on tree branches and the golden light from the rising sun in the east lent an air of joy to this festive day.
Every striding figure in the Ling Mansion was oozing delight. The day of the imperial wedding that people had been anticipating for such a long time had finally come. At the selected auspicious hour, the emperor would promptly show up at the front gates of the Ling Mansion to pick up the eldest grandson of the Ling family’s patriarch, the apple of the Ling family’s eye.
As the sun rose higher in the sky, the selected auspicious hour got closer and closer, and the crowd of lookers-on staring expectantly in the direction of the end of the street outside the Ling Mansion was getting larger and larger.
Ling Zhang was sitting in his courtyard house, his twenty-four bodyguards in the gateway, Jiang Yu and Zhao Jiusi standing in the courtyard, the wedding officiant assigned here by the Ministry of Rites standing opposite a table. All of them were nervously waiting in anticipation, straining their ears to hear the movement outside. At this time, all other members of the Ling family had gone to the front yard, where a lot of guests close to the Ling family were present, such as Tao Feng, Tao Yi, the couple of good friends of Ling Zhang’s and so on, all of whom were waiting for Yuwen Tong to arrive.
People in the courtyard house were also waiting. Ling Zhang, whose sense of hearing was unnaturally sharp, naturally could hear the movements in the distance clearly. It was the time yet, so Yuwen Tong hadn’t shown up. Everybody else in the courtyard was tense. Ling Zhang, however, appeared relatively collected, but in his broad sleeves, his hands had balled into fists, unnoticeably quivering, his long, fair-skinned fingers curling up in his palms, his knuckles faintly white. He was stressed. He concealed all his tenseness beneath his sleeves. Other people couldn’t see the tremble in his hands and were oblivious of the transports of emotions churning inside him.
Sitting there, he seemed to be quite undisturbed, but actually his mind had wandered to the outside of the residence some time before, his ears cocked, listening hard to the sounds from outside, trying to differentiate between the noises to see if Yuwen Tong was coming. The harder he strained his ears, the worse his hands in his sleeves shook. Gradually his palms became sweaty. Nobody could see this. He himself was the only one aware of it.
Seeing he was so unruffled, the presiding official from the Ministry of Rites, who was standing ahead of him on the right and unaware of how Ling Zhang actually felt, mistakenly believed that Ling Zhang was really very calm, an admiring look in his eyes.
Jiang Yu’s and Zhao Jiusi’s nerves were also on edge, but when they saw that Ling Zhang wasn’t nervous at all, the two of them had different reactions. The former carefully sized Ling Zhang up from head to foot, quietly trying to find out whether or not Ling Zhang was really as unhurried as he appeared. His searching gaze was not malicious. He was doing this only because Ling Zhang’s reaction piqued his curiosity. Back at the time when Jiang Yu had decided to be Ling Zhang’s adviser, he had told Ling Zhang that he wondered how far Ling Zhang would be able to get. At this moment, Jiang Yu was eager to know what Ling Zhang was actually thinking about. This kind of curiosity and desire for an answer hadn’t been obvious in the beginning. At that time, Jiang Yu had made that decision partly because of Jiang Shennian’s plan, and partly because of his own curiosity, but after having served Ling Zhang for some time, his desire for the answer had taken root in his mind without him noticing, and his eyes from time to time wandered off onto Ling Zhang in spite of himself just as they were doing at this moment.
Zhao Jiusi’s thoughts, however, were much simpler. At first he’d been friends with Ling Zhang, and it’d been afterward that he’d become Ling Zhang’s adviser. There had always been a basis of trust between him and Ling Zhang as friends. Now, as he saw that Ling Zhang looked composed and undisturbed, his immediate reaction was to trust Ling Zhang, and he admired Ling Zhang as well.
The two of them were both quietly looking at Ling Zhang, curbing their searching gaze with their self-restraint, maintaining their respective attitudes with their sense of propriety. Neither of them stepped out of line, so Ling Zhang didn’t sense their gaze.
“Young Master, there’s still some time. Would you like to have something to eat? It’s very likely you’ll be too occupied to grab a bite for a very long time.”
Zhao Jiusi was the first to break the silence in the courtyard house. The remainder of Ling Zhang’s schedule was very tight, and he probably wouldn’t be able to find the time to eat until the wedding feast started, and the wedding feast was not really the perfect occasion to fill one’s belly.
Ling Zhang had eaten the breakfast Fu Caiwei had cooked him early in the morning, and he’d eaten it all. Not hungry, he hesitated.
“You should follow the advice, Childe Ling. It’s indeed very unlikely you’d get another chance to eat before the wedding feast,” the wedding officiant of the Ministry of Rites also admonished.
Jiang Yu glanced around him and then turned to walk into the house. Before long, he returned with the snacks and the tea set on the table in the living room, and placed them on the stone table before Ling Zhang.
“You should have a bite or two, Young Master. The tea is still warm.”
Jiang Yu had taken action directly and considerately. Although Ling Zhang hadn’t instructed him to do this, his conduct was not beyond the pale, and neither was he being insistent, so it naturally didn’t make anybody feel uncomfortable. Ling Zhang accepted the kind offer and had a couple of cookies with tea.
Zhao Jiusi, who had seen the whole thing, thoughtfully cast an appraising look at Jiang Yu. Recently he had perceived how competent Jiang Yu was and also noticed that Ling Zhang held Jiang Yu in increasingly high regard. A competitive man as well, at first he had felt somewhat unconvinced, but gradually he had come to realize the reason why Ling Zhang thought a lot of Jiang Yu. It struck him that Jiang Yu’s sense of propriety was great, especially in the presence of Ling Zhang. Jiang Yu always made remarks and did things in a perfectly measured manner, which was an ability Zhao Jiusi believed he himself hadn’t developed yet. Because of the change of Ling Zhang’s identity, Zhao Jiusi still had some misgivings which made him felt hemmed in, so when he did things, he was constantly under some restrictions and didn’t dare act freely. He was friends with Ling Zhang, which should’ve been an advantage of his, but now Jiang Yu was outshining him. He indeed needed to work on it in this regard.
Ling Zhang was unaware of the covert competition between Jiang Yu and Zhao Jiusi for the time being, and the main reason for this was that he had indeed been too busy lately and hadn’t had the time to observe them. Also, Zhao Jiusi had been intentionally improving himself. Knowing his shortcomings very well, he’d been trying to adjust his mentality on his own initiative. If he kept doing this and things went well, he would be able to finish the transition of his role before Ling Zhang could realize it, and nobody would be able to perceive anything about it, except for his current associate Jiang Yu.
After having a couple of cookies and two cups of tea, Ling Zhang didn’t touch anything else on the table. A moment ago he had stealthily wiped his sweaty palms dry on his sleeves without anybody noticing.
The scheduled time of departure was drawing near. Ling Zhang withdrew his hands into his sleeves, listening to the movements outside, his countenance changing somewhat.
A measured clatter of horses’ hoofs was heard, approaching the Ling Mansion, the ground quaking slightly. Though unable to distinguish the words of people on the other side or see the scene at the front gates, Ling Zhang could tell from the clattering alone Yuwen Tong was coming.
“It’s time,” said the wedding officiant from the Ministry of Rites in a happy voice, looking up into the sky.
It was time. Yuwen Tong, followed by a team of a thousand crack troops, arrived at the front gates of the Ling Mansion.
By convention, Yuwen Tong didn’t have to personally come here to pick up Ling Zhang, but Yuwen Tong had insisted he come, so the Ministry of Rites had changed the wedding plan. At this time, the road in front of the Ling Mansion were packed with long ranks of cavalrymen, who were the most elite members of the North-western Army. They were in full fig, good spirits and looked quite imposing. All of them were the best of the best and each of them was worth a hundred on the battlefield, but on this day, they were here to help Yuwen Tong escort his marriage partner back to the palace, so they were all curbing their ferocious air, wearing festive, neat outfits, smile in their eyes.
The emperor’s wedding convoy came to a halt at the front gates of the Ling Mansion. Ling Xingzhong, along with other members of his family, came out to welcome the emperor.
Yuwen Tong dismounted from his horse and with that all the cavalrymen behind him did the same thing in unison with awe-inspiring panache.
Yuwen Tong quickly strode up to the gateway and held Ling Xingzhong’s arms, stopping him from getting on his knees, sparing Ling Zhaowu and the others the formalities as well.
“Today I came here to request permission to marry your grandson, so I don’t dare have you welcome me with such a high level of formality. In fact, I should pay my respects to you, considering all of you are my elders.”
On this day, he was the Ling family’s “son-in-law”, not the emperor.
Ling Xingzhong chuckled. Other members of the Ling family also smiled a joyous smile.
The wedding officiant of the Ministry of Rites hastened up to them to make arrangements for all people involved to do what they were supposed to do. When it came to escorting the bride, there were also certain rules.
A band started playing jubilant music. The red silk hanging from the lintel of the front gates was radiant with gaiety and particularly adorable. The satin fluttering in the breeze, like the chirp of magpies, lifted the spirit of everybody whose eyes beheld it.
Hearing the sounds from the front gates, Ling Zhang in the courtyard house clenched his fists tighter, the feverish excitement inside him on the verge of bursting its boundaries. He could barely sense anything except for the uproar from the front gates, and as the growing commotions moved closer in his direction continuously, he had no room in his head to think about anything other than those sounds and the person whom he’d been eagerly looking forward to seeing emerge through the gates.
“They’re coming,” reported Wang Dashan, trotting into the courtyard.
The wedding officiant hastened up to the gateway, ready to welcome the emperor. Jiang Yu and Zhao Jiusi followed him.
Ling Zhang rose to his feet, gazing fixedly in the direction of the gateway, waiting for his lover to show up.
The jubilant music was quite joyful and occasionally mixed with children’s cheerful and excited laughter. Step by step, the tumultuous crowd approached.
“It’s an honor to kneel before you, Your Majesty,” chorused the wedding officiant, Jiang Yu and Zhao Jiusi, respectfully sinking to their knees.
“You may rise,” said Yuwen Tong’s voice.
Ling Zhang stared unblinkingly at the gateway, motionless. After a short while, a small part of the hem of robes appeared first and soon grew into a handsome man of great presence, whose face was very familiar. At the sight of him, Ling Zhang’s mind was packed with the image of this person, his eyes unable to move or see anybody but Yuwen Tong.
