Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang looked at each other, gnashing their teeth, and said, “Okay.”
Zhao Chen hit them one by one without any unnecessary ceremony.
“Oops, you beat me so hard,” Zhou Xiang couldn’t help but laugh after saying that.
“Great, it’s settled then. All that has left is for you two to work things out,” Ling Zhang said, looking at Qiu Xiang and Zhou Bing meaningfully.
Sensing the coldness in Ling Zhang’s eyes, Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang trembled, “Young master?”
“Since you wanted to compete, then duke it out. Whatever the result is, I hope you don’t haggle over the things happened in the brothel. An upright man should not do such a short-sighted thing ever. I am ashamed of what you have done. Don’t bear any grudge if you lose, it must be because you are incompetent. All you can do is practice hard and win the next match.” Ling Zhang said.
Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang were a little relieved, but when they looked at each other again, their eyes were full of passion.
They repressed themselves at the beginning of the competition because of Ling Zhang’s presence. Neither of them used weapons, fighting hand to hand. They exchanged several rounds of fists and hit each other hard. Gradually, their anger rose and fought with their full might.
Ling Zhang pulled a poker face while watching them fight but could barely hold back his impulse to roll his eyes as he didn’t expect that these two men would fight this hard for a prostitute’s favor. They must be having a real boring life.
A fight was the best way for them to resolve the conflict. Anyway, there was no animosity between them.
Gradually, the anger dissipated between Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang, instead that was a battle about winning and losing.
Qiu Bing was thinner than Zhou Xiang, and more flexible; Zhou Xiang was not as flexible as Qiu Bing, but more powerful. In this hand-to-hand combat, Zhou Xiang gained the upper hand. They both threw a punch, and as their fists collided, Qiu Bing backed a few steps, while Zhou Xiang only took a step back.
They both stopped, panting hard. And their face looked funny. Besides his flexibly, Qiu Bing also had sharp fingernails, which left bruises and scratches on Zhou Xiang’s face.
Therefore, judging from the injuries on their faces, Zhou Xiang looked more miserable.
“End of the competition. Zhou Xiang won,” Wang Dashan said.
Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang’s tensed up bodies were relaxed immediately, and then the two of them lay on the ground together, gasping for breath.
“Your face is much uglier than mine,” Qiu Bing said to Zhou Xiang.
“Pah, you fight like a woman, I didn’t try my best,” Zhou Xiang said.
“So why did you still beat me?” Qiu Bing shouted.
“Even so, you lost, what a shame,” Zhou Xiang said.
Qiu Bing shouted, “You can count on it, I will take you on when I can stand up.”
“Do you think you can scare me? Come on!” Zhou Xiang said.
Ling Zhang didn’t stop them, because he could tell that there was no grudge between them. As for what they wanted to do in private, that was their own business.
“From now on, all the grudges should be written off. If you guys act like a bunch of jealous women, get out of house.”
Qiu Bing and Zhou Xiang didn’t dare to be loquacious again, and they hurriedly promised that they wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
“Captain Wang, get a doctor for them,” Ling Zhang said to Wang Dashan.
“Thanks, but we don’t need it, young master. We all have rough skin, so we just need to apply some medicated wine,” Qiu Bing said in a hurry.
“Only if you guys recover early can my plan be carried out soon,” Ling Zhang looked at him.
Qiu Bing scratched his head awkwardly, “Thank you then, young master.”
Standing above the roof of the Green Bamboo Mansion in the distance, Yuwen Tong had been watching what happened at the guards’ residence the whole time. He rubbed his chin, saying, “It has been settled so quickly.”
“Marshal, is this the reason why you asked me to find out where Ling Family learned about this formation? Is that a great one?” Yao Yi asked curiously.
“Curious?” Yuwen Tong glanced at him.
Yao Yi nodded honestly. A tactical formation that made the Marshal curious must be unusual.
“You will know it when they start trainning,” Yuwen Tong said.
Yao Yi hummed in disappointment. “Why bother to ask if you didn’t intend to tell me, marshal?!”…
The Jia Family…
“Your Lordship, the plan failed, are we really going to let Ling Zhaowen get the position of left Tongzhi? And there’s also that Lu Kui.” A middle-aged scholar with beard said to Jia Zhong.
“Adviser Qian, I invite you here for advices, not for questions,” Jia Zhong stared at him with cold eyes.
Adviser Qian gave a reluctant smile. “I do have an idea, but the successful implementation of this idea needs your cooperation.”
“Tell me then,” Jia Zhong’s attitude softened a bit.
“Do you still remember that Ling Zhaowen made an inspection tour in Tai Countylast May and stayed at the Liu Family for a night?” Adviser Qian asked.
Jia Zhong nodded, “County Yamen was being overhauled at that time and there was no place to live, so Liu Family vacated a yard for all Yamen officials. That’s when he came. So what?”
“You don’t know much about it. At that time, there was an affair.” Adviser Qian’s eyes turned bright.
“An affair? Is that related to Ling Zhaowen?” Jia Zhong looked at Adviser Qian doubtfully.
“Right, it is said that the daughter of Liu Family, Liu Chengfang, fell in love with Ling Zhaowen. But Liu Weiling never agreed. In fact, Ling Zhaowe has gotten married, even if she married him, she could only be his concubine. Because of this, Liu Chengfang had several conflicts with her family. Liu Weiling worries that this will tarnish the family reputation once it is exposed, so he asks the Liu Family to keep this a secret,” Adviser Qian said.
Jia Zhong hummed in a cold tone, “Liu Chengfang has such a bad taste that she falls in love with Ling Zhaowen.”
“Your Lordship, Liu Chengfang hasn’t given up until now. Recently, Liu Weiling wants to betroth his daughter to someone, which makes his daughter make a scene. Finally she is grounded by Liu Weiling. You probably don’t know that Liu Chengfang has a beautiful face and a nice figure. She is a darn beauty.”
“Ling Zhaowen is a man, do you think he can restrain himself if he knows that there is such a beauty determined to marry him? What we should do is to create him a chance, then…”
Adviser Qian then leaned over to whisper in Jia Zhong’s ear.
“He really takes a big advantage,” sneered Jia Zhong after hearing the proposal.
Adviser Qian gave a sinister smile and said, “Your Lordship, don’t worry. After what we set up, Liu Chengfang will be a woman with bad reputation. You will have her as you please by that time.”
Evil thoughts flashed in Jia Zhong’s eyes as he said, “Then let’s get started.”
“Got it,” Adviser Qian said.
As they two planned all this, a man in black crawled on the roof, and slipped away after a long time when he found that the men in the house had left.
…
After staying the guards’ residence for a whole morning, Ling Zhang got a basic idea of the ability of the twelve guards. All they needed was some time to cultivate tacit understanding. When the right time came, Ling Zhang could teach them the Trap and Kill Formation of Twelve.
But Formation was changeful, so it was difficult for the guards to grasp the essence of it. It would take a long time for them to learn it well.
After getting changed in his own room, Ling Zhang got a message from Fu Caiwei’s maid.
“Young master, this is the list of herbs you need. Madame asked me to bring it here for you to check.”
Ling Zhang nodded, taking the multi-page list and examining it carefully. He found that the names of the two herbs on the list were circled with red ink. “Can’t find these two herbs?”
The maid said, “No, but these two herbs need to be bought from the north. Butler Wang had made some inquiries, finding that Jiang’s Herbs happen to have a batch of goods to be transported from the north to Yanzhou, including th two kinds of herbs you need. Madame has talked to the shopkeeper of Jiang’s Herbs. So we just need to wait two more days for them to deliver the herbs.”
“Okay, say thanks to her for me,” Ling Zhang said.
The maid bowed and said, “Young master, is there anything else you need me to pass on?”
Ling Zhang looked through the list and found that the deployment of each was clearly written by his aunt, which could be understood at a glance.
“No, you can go back.”
“Then I’ll excuse myself, young master.”
When he got Yuwen Tong’s prescription, he knew immediately that some herbs were hard to get. Fortunately, they got the help of Jiang’s Herbs this time. Otherwise they would have to go to the north to buy these herbs, which would take him several times longer than it did now.
After putting down the list, Ling Zhang came to the desk. He wrote down all the Kung Fu that the twelve guards were good at and put their names one by one in the twelve directions of the formation drawings. Meanwhile, he wrote down on paper the various plans he had come up with while thinking about how to arrange these people perfectly.
He was so absorbed in what he was doing that he didn’t notice how many times the servants had come to invite him to lunch, and he didn’t even notice that the servant who invited him was no longer the previous one.
Standing at the door, Yuwe Tong noticed what Ling Zhang was busy about and had guessed it all. So he asked, “What keeps you so concentrated?”
Startled by the voice, Ling Zhang’s hand that was holding the brush trembled, and an ink drop spread on the paper. Looking up, he found that Yuwen Tong was already standing at the door. He quickly put away the things on the table and asked, “What brings you here?”
Yuwen Tong said, “You didn’t come to lunch after being invited several times by different servants, so I volunteered here to find you.”
Not until Ling Zhang had put away his things did Yuwen Tong walk into the room, leaving Ling Zhang enough time to react.
Ling Zhang got up and left his desk. “I just casually answered, but almost forgot.”
As he approached Yuwen Tong, he somehow remembered the soft kiss last night, which made Ling Zhang pause his step and feel uncomfortable.
Yuwen Tong, as if not noticing anything, walked naturally to Ling Zhang, “Then let’s go. I would like to talk to you about something after lunch.”
“About what?” Ling Zhang naturally bypassed Yuwen Tong and took the lead in going out.
Yuwen Tong was so close to him that he involuntarily tightened his back.
A vague smile flickered in Yuwen Tong’ eyes when he glanced at Ling Zhang’s tight back. Then he said, “Something about your uncle.”
“My uncle?” Ling Zhang stopped suddenly, “What’s wrong with him?”
“Not about what your uncle did, but what someone is going to do to him,” Yuwen Tong said.
