Yuwen Tong said, “Leave Maomao out of this. He’s not running around barefoot any longer.”
The corners of Ling Zhang’s mouth twitched. Was Yuwen Tong implying that even Ling Maomao had more common sense than he did? They had just got married. He couldn’t help but slide Yuwen Tong a sideways glance and give two snorts.
Yuwen Tong dissolved into chuckle with amusement. “Okay, okay. Go and wash yourself and get dressed. You really need to fill your belly as soon as possible. It’s been empty for too long.”
Ling Zhang involuntarily stroked his belly. After being reminded by Yuwen Tong, he found that he was indeed hungry. No longer in the mood for discussing Yuwen Tong’s “poor choice of words”, he washed his face, dressed and then walked out of the bedchamber.
As chance would have it, Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong, who’d been having a blast, came out of nowhere. At the sight of Ling Zhang, they quickly ran up to him.
“You finally woke up, Big Brother. You should’ve got up some time ago. It’s almost lunchtime!” exclaimed Ling Maomao, who’d been having some serious fun, his forehead and cheeks drenched with sweat.
On hearing this, Ling Zhang gave him a dirty look. With the advantage of being the big brother, he easily faced the little boy down. “I’m your big brother. You’re in no place to judge me.”
Ling Maomao curled his lip. “Which is so unfair.”
“Brother Ling.” Ji Xiaocong popped out from behind Ling Maomao and greeted Ling Zhang. Just like Ling Maomao, he was also all sweaty.
Ling Zhang furrowed his brows. “What have you two been doing? Racing each other? You’re soaking wet. Where are your changes of clothes? Go and change. You may catch cold if you don’t hurry. You’re not to have lunch before changing out of these wet clothes.”
Being the big brother indeed meant something. At the sight of the frown on Ling Zhang’s face, the two little boys didn’t dare disobey, obediently went back into the house, toweled themselves and changed clothes.
At lunch table, the two of them were sitting shoulder to shoulder, both looking well-behaved.
Ji Xiaocong was too young to eat all on his own, so there was a court lady standing behind him, keeping an eye on him in case he needed help. Ling Maomao flicked her a glance and said, “There’s no need for you to be here. I can take care of Cong.”
On hearing this, Ling Zhang looked at him and saw Ling Maomao pick up a piece of rib, get rid of the bone in it and put the meat into Cong’s bowl in a quite skillful way.
In the Ling Mansion there were too many people, and it was too much trouble to get the whole family together for meals, and it was difficult to make sure the food was to everybody’s liking too, so the Ling family had most of their meals in their respective courtyard houses and only ate together occasionally. Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong, who’d been getting their freak on with each other, always ate and slept together, and they’d even forgotten about Ji Yanlai, Ji Xiaocong’s uncle, so Ling Zhang really hadn’t known that Ling Maomao had become so good at taking care of Ji Xiaocong.
“Maomao, did you look after Cong this way when you two were at home?”
“Yeah, and Uncle Ji praised me for it, saying that he entrusted me with the task of looking after Cong from that day on.”
The corners of Ling Zhang’s mouth twitched at these words. Knowing what kind of person Ji Xiaocong was, Ling Zhang believed that Ji Yanlai probably felt it a good thing to have someone take care of his nephew, not taking into consideration Ling Maomao’s age at all.
Ji Xiaocong took a bite of the meat in his bowl and said, “Brother Maomao always removes the bones for me.”
“Good job.” Ling Zhang paid Ling Maomao a compliment.
The words had hardly left him when a piece of meat dropped into his bowl, which was also boneless. Ling Zhang, who didn’t feel anything particular at the sight of the meat, picked it up and ate it. It was not until the meat was in his mouth that he came to realize that something seemed to be not quite right. Then he noticed that Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong were both looking at him, a somewhat quizzical expression on their faces.
Ling Zhang knitted his brows. “What’s the matter?”
“You need His Majesty to remove the bones for you, Brother Ling?” Ji Xiaocong bluntly expressed his confusion, so quick that Ling Maomao failed to stop him.
Ling Zhang, “…”
He chewed with difficulty for a moment. The meat still tasted pretty good, but the gaze from the two little boys was almost making the hair on his scalp prickle.
“No. Your big brother didn’t have breakfast and is now very hungry, but you’ve been talking with him non-stop, so he doesn’t have the time to remove the bones.”
Yuwen Tong on the side explained to them in a matter-of-fact tone. After hearing this, the two boys inclined their heads, comprehension dawning on their faces. Ling Maomao, appearing quite guilty, said, “Sorry, Big Brother. We’ll stop talking and let you enjoy your meal.”
Ling Zhang managed an “Um” in response and then twisted his head aside to glare at Yuwen Tong.
Although Yuwen Tong had been serious when making those remarks just now, Ling Zhang, who knew him very well, was sure that inwardly Yuwen Tong was probably laughing himself into convulsions.
In fact, at ordinary times, Yuwen Tong picking meat from the bones for Ling Zhang was not really a rare occurrence, and Ling Zhang had got used to this kind of romantic addition to marital life, so he didn’t feel that this was something worth making a fuss about, but on this occasion, the two little boys were both present, and he had just complimented Ling Maomao when Yuwen Tong had picked a piece of meat from bones for him. He was positive that Yuwen Tong had done it on purpose!
“Hurry, eat your meal. Don’t let your belly stay empty for too long,” urged Yuwen Tong, offering him more food with an affected air of concern, scarcely able to conceal the amusement in his eyes.
Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong both looked in their direction again, but because of Yuwen Tong’s previous words, the two boys didn’t suspect anything, looked away and resumed eating.
After the boys took their eyes off him, Ling Zhang stamped on Yuwen Tong’s foot under the table and hissed, “Behave yourself.”
He was the big brother now, and he couldn’t afford to have his authority undermined in the presence of the two little boys.
While Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong were not paying attention to them, Yuwen Tong leaned over, gave Ling Zhang a kiss and said, “Okay, I’ll stop. Finish your lunch.”
Ling Zhang was within an inch of losing his temper. Seeing Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong hadn’t noticed, he felt a sense of relief and stamped on Yuwen Tong’s foot again.
…
Yuwen Tong took a day off this day, but he’d still had a hectic morning. After that, he cleared his afternoon to have some rest with Ling Zhang.
The two little boys, Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong, were amazingly energetic. They’d been running around for a whole morning and got themselves all sweaty, but after a noontime snooze, they ran outside to play again. Ling Zhang made arrangements for Liu Yi and some others to keep an eye on them. Also, Yuwen Tong’s secret bodyguards were guarding the palace in various positions, so he didn’t have to worry about the boys’ safety.
Ling Zhang, who had slept until noon, was in very good spirits.
“I need to go back home when they send the two boys back. My uncle will depart for Shengzhou soon, and I want to pay a visit to the Ling Mansion and see if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“Okay. Given that Xu Lingyun previously talked with your uncle about the situation in Shengzhou, he definitely knows what to expect, so there’s no need to worry.”
“My uncle is pretty confident, so I have nothing to worry about. It’s my aunt that concerns me. I fear that she might miss my uncle too much.”
“Aunt Caiwei appears a gentle woman, but she’s stronger than you give her credit for. Seeing as she brought up both you and Maomao, she’s by no means a common woman. You shouldn’t underestimate her.”
Ling Zhang chuckled, “You seem to know her better than I do.”
“Well, the spectators see the chess game better than the players.” Yuwen Tong was quite thick-skinned.
“I think you’ve got a point. There’s indeed strength beneath my aunt’s gentle appearance. Although she looks quite tender, she’s quite competent in dealing with family matters, and she always knows her own mind.”
Back at the time when they’d been in Tanyang, Fu Caiwei had been in sole charge of all the family matters and been handling them pretty well, so although she seemed to be a vulnerable woman on the surface, actually she was quite strong-minded and would by no means miss her husband in a far away city too much and compromise her health.
Having finished talking about the matter of the Ling Mansion, they switched to the topic of the Yuwen family.
“Incidentally, Yuwen Jin’s sister-in-law’s expected date of confinement will soon come, right? Yesterday I noticed that there were several pregnant women among the womenfolk, who were the first to leave the banquet. Should we send a court physician to the Abode of the Marquess Fuan and have him stay there?”
A flicker flitted across Yuwen Tong’s eyes at the question. He hadn’t told Ling Zhang in detail about his intention to adopt his nephews yet, what with the heavy workload he’d had previously. He wanted to find an opportunity to inform Ling Zhang of it.
“My great-uncle told me about it some time ago. I’ve already sent a court physician there, and he’ll stay there until the baby’s birth. Some midwives have also moved into the Abode of the Marquess Fuan. There’s still some time before the expected date of confinement – around a month. I think it’s at the end of the year that the baby will be due.”
Ling Zhang didn’t think much about it, feeling it understandable that Yuwen Tong had been paying close attention to his great-uncle’s family.
“Yuwen Feng’s wife is going to have a baby soon as well, isn’t she?”
Yuwen Feng’s wife was a woman who always preferred to keep a low profile and barely had any social life. Ling Zhang had once heard that it’d been Zheng shi who had Yuwen Feng marry her, and what she’d seen in Yuwen Feng’s wife was her meekness, honesty and obedience, but Ling Zhang had only heard about it from others and didn’t know it for sure. After all, this was a matter concerning Yuwen Feng’s womenfolk, and it was inappropriate for him, an outsider and a man, to make inquiries about it, for if he did that, it might compromise that woman’s reputation.
“Yeah. I’ve already made some arrangements for a court physician and some midwives to move into the Abode of the Marquess Huaiwen as well.”
Ling Zhang gave a nod. Although for an instant he felt that Yuwen Tong seemed to have an intimate knowledge of what had been going on in the two families, the hazy thought merely flashed across his mind and he didn’t dwell on it.
“Oh, by the way, about Yuwen Jin’s plan to go to the Shadow Battalion, he’s going to depart in a day or two, right?”
Yuwen Jin wanted to take the Imperial Martial Arts Examination (IMAE), and toughening himself up in the Shadow Battalion was the best choice for him.
“He’ll have to wait another few days. Qi San will go back there to deal with something. He’ll take Yuwen Jin with him.”
“Something happened?”
“It’s about the reorganization of the Shadow Battalion. My identity is different now, and the Shadow Battalion is directly affiliated to me, so it has to be reorganized accordingly. The Shadow Battalion is still growing. If I reorganize it at this phase, things will be easier in the future.”
“Where is the Shadow Battalion exactly?”
Yuwen Tong whispered a place name in Ling Zhang’s ear. The latter’s eyes widened with deep surprise at it.
“I’ll take you there to have a look if the occasion arises. Although this name is low-key, the view there is actually pretty good. Back at the time when my grandfather first found that place, he was amazed by the particularly advantageous natural conditions of it. It’s a hidden spot, easy to hold but hard to attack, and it also boasts all kinds of natural barriers, which makes it a suitable training ground. My grandfather immediately included that place as part of his fief. Afterward, the Shadow Battalion was set up and gradually grew to what it is today. Every member of the Shadow Battalion deserves some credit for the honor I’ve got during my many years’ military career.”
“You’re the emperor now. Does the Shadow Battalion still have to stay secret?”
Yuwen Tong bobbed his head. “For one thing, there are practical needs for it, and the benefit of having the Shadow Battalion stay secret far outweighs the drawback of it; for another, most members of the Shadow Battalion couldn’t afford to have their identities exposed. For them, hiding in the shadows is the right thing to do. The Shadow Battalion has a mechanism for the placement of retired secret bodyguards. They’ll be taken good care of after retirement.”
Ling Zhang also knew that there was more than one way of life in the world. Besides, there were practical reasons for their existence, so the Shadow Battalion must continue to exist.
Apart from the Shadow Battalion, those personal bodyguards of Yuwen Tong’s had also chosen to continue serving Yuwen Tong as his personal bodyguards. Their roles had changed from personal bodyguards to imperial guards, and they were still the strongest defensive force under Yuwen Tong’s command.
The two of them spent the whole afternoon doing nothing except for making out. The wedding candles in the imperial bedchamber were still ablaze. Candles made of the kind of material gifted to Yuwen Tong by the Fangcun Kingdom could last a very long time.
