“Commander, are we really going to do that?”
Zhang Chong, who was sitting in repose with his eyes closed, didn’t even open his eyes after hearing this question. “Ling Zhaowen is a henchman of that uneducated guy named Tao Feng, to whom he owes all his promotions. And now this Lu Kui turned up. It is already difficult enough for me to interfere with affairs of the Prefecture Yamen. If both these two people become Tao Feng’s right-hand men, not only will the Prefecture Yamen be harder to handle, other aspects will surely be handicapped by them as well, which is unfavorable for me.”
“Besides, during that matter of the Jia family last time, that bastard, Tao Feng, dared to inflict a humiliation like that on me. Even a fledgling brat of the Ling family dares to mess with me. I must eliminate them to restore my prestige among the masses.”
“But this is going to catch too many people’s attention after all. If by any chance it comes to knowledge of people in the capital city…”
“The Sixth Prince is reaching adulthood. We must be ready. In no circumstances should Tanyang be a hindrance to the big plan. This is going to catch many people’s attention, so we shall quiet them down. Moreover, if people in the capital city can’t even handle this petty matter, there will be no need for me to stake everything on them.”
“Your vision dwarfs me, Commander. I was being short-sighted.”
“Humph. Then learn harder. By the way, has there been any letters from the capital city?”
“Not yet, which is very strange. By convention, the courier pigeon carrying the letter from the capital city should have arrived yesterday, but this time it didn’t arrive on time. I wonder if anything happened in the capital city.”
Zhang Chong opened his eyes. After a while, he said, “Let’s wait for two more days.”
“Yes.”
After leaving the Prefecture Encampment, Jia Zhong returned to Tanyang. The moment he arrived home, the sound of a teacup smashing to pieces on the floor was heard, followed by explosive arguments.
“Let me tell you something, Jia Yin. If you take Liu Chengfang as your concurrent wife, I’ll leave and go back to my parents’ place.”
“Fine by me! You shrew are stirring up trouble every single day. If it weren’t for that you made such a scene, Yuanling would never have vented his anger on her and ended up in exile!”
“Everybody knows it was you who invited that bane of our family into this house and got our son in exile, and you still have the nerve to blame me. Jia Yin, you confound black and white. Shame on you! My son, how poor you are! It’s all your father’s fault. If it weren’t for him, you would never have been exiled!” Mrs. Jia burst into tears, crying so loud that even people at the front gate could hear her. Blue veins stood out rippling on Jia Zhong’s temples.
“Cry, cry, cry — crying is the only thing you’ve ever done! This family is shrouded in bad luck because of your crying. We’ve suffered enough humiliation already!”
“If it weren’t for you, no humiliation would ever have been inflicted on our family! You’re the one who brought the biggest shame on us! And now you want to marry that bitch Liu Chengfang. I’m telling you — no way!”
“Shut your mouth! I’ll lock you up if you don’t!”
“Jia Yin, your conscience has been eaten by a dog!”
With an almighty bang, even the ground quaked. Jia Zhong hurried over and saw that the hall was in a state of total disorder, all tables and chairs overturned by Jia Yin. Mrs. Jia was sitting on the ground at the doorway screaming and crying at the top of her lungs.
Jia Zhong took a deep breath and said loudly, “Enough! Elder brother, sister-in-law, people can hear you quarreling even from outside the front gate. This family has been through enough chaos. Would you please keep it down for a while?” On the sight of him, Mrs. Jia lowered her voice but was still sobbing, covering her face with a handkerchief.
Seeing that she was still weeping, Jia Yin wanted to scold her again but Jia Zhong stopped him, saying, “Say no more, elder brother. Don’t anger sister-in-law any further.”
“Sister-in-law, we have to accept Liu Chengfang into this house. Otherwise, how would outsiders think of elder brother? How would they think of our family? This is the last fig leaf, and you’re going to put it on even if you don’t want to. As regards Liu Chengfang’s status, a woman like her is not eligible to be a concurrent wife. The title of a concubine will suit her fine.” Jia Yin knitted his eyebrows together. He didn’t like Jia Zhong interfering in his business.
“Elder brother, Liu Weiling is insistent on taking a slice of the pie from our family. You’re going to swallow this?” Jia Zhong said in a timely manner.
It was after Jia Yin heard these remarks that the expression on his face became faintly milder. “Liu Weiling is still picking on you?”
“He refuses to leave the County Yamen.”
“His daughter came to Tanyang to have a tryst with her lover, yet he’s still on his high horse. If he keeps doing this, tell him I’ll never marry Liu Chengfang even if it means our family’s reputation will be ruined.”
Seeing that Jia Yin finally showed willingness to change his mind, Jia Zhong showed relief on his face.
Mrs. Jia stopped crying after hearing that Liu Chengfang would be a concubine at the most after she married into this family. The status of a concubine was far lower than that of a concurrent wife. As Jia Yin’s official wife, she could easily torture a concubine to death.
The man in black lying on the rooftop of one of the Jia family’s houses curled his lip. He was enjoying the conversation very much when it was interrupted, which made him feel bored.
On the other side, news of Jia Zhong’s visit to the Prefecture Encampment was immediately sent back to Yuwen Tong, and Ling Zhang happened to be in the room.
“Zhang Chong’s tent was heavily guarded, and it’s daytime, so I wasn’t able to get close enough to hear what they talked about.”
Ling Zhang thought for a while and asked, “Did Jia Zhong go there alone?”
“An advisor was with him, and they brought a gift, which was covered by a piece of red silk. I don’t know what it is. But Jia Zhong had a rather concerned look on his face before he went into the tent, and when he walked out, he appeared much more relieved, as if he had resolved some tricky issue.”
What kind of tricky issue did he resolve? The Jia family and Zhang Chong must have long ago made some arrangements for the matter of Jia Yuanling, so it was definitely not this issue that had been bothering Jia Zhong. In regard to the matter of Jia Yin and Liu Chengfang, though it was rumored that there had been intense quarrels between Jia Yin and Mrs. Jia, it wasn’t difficult for Jia Zhong to handle it, given how sinister he was. All these excluded, what was the problem left?
Jia Zhong wanted the position of Tongzhi and had already tried to kill his uncle twice.
Zhang Chong must have promised something to Jia Zhong, and there was no doubt that it was very unfavorable to his uncle, no matter what it was.
Ling Zhang immediately became vigilant. “I’ll go and inform my uncle.”
“I’ll go with you in a moment,” Yuwen Tong said to him, “but right now we have to figure out how Zhang Chong is going to do it first.”
How was he going to do it? Ling Zhang knitted his brows. Somehow, he recalled what happened to the Lu family in his last incarnation.
His uncle, Lu Kui, would also be promoted to Tongzhi this time. In his last incarnation, all members of the Lu family were slaughtered. Members of the Ling family were wronged and also massacred. According to the trail of his last incarnation, neither his uncle nor Uncle Lu got their deserved positions. Did this mean that…!
Ling Zhang abruptly stood up with a drastic change of his expression.
“What’s wrong?” Yuwen Tong looked at him in concern. “Did anything occur to you?”
He needed someone to consult with and Yuwen Tong was the obvious choice, but he couldn’t tell him what had happened in his last incarnation. After dithering for a while, Ling Zhang said, “I’m not sure. I have to go and consult with my uncle first.”
Yuwen Tong looked at him for a while and then said, “Then you go first. I’ll be there soon.”
Ling Zhang cast an apologetic look at him, turned around and left the room.
“Marshal, there was something wrong with Childe Ling’s reaction. He seemed to know something.”
Yuwen Tong watched Ling Zhang’s receding figure, as if absorbed in thought. Then he said, “Have your eye on Zhang Chong. Under no circumstances should anything suspicious escape the surveillance, no matter how small it is.”
“Yes.”
On this day, Ling Zhaowen happened to be on leave at home. On the sight of Ling Zhang who came to his house with a worried look, he couldn’t help asking concernedly, “Zhang’er, what happened?”
“Uncle, I’m afraid something is going to happen to Lu family,” Ling Zhang said, looking solemn.
Ling Zhaowen immediately understood what Ling Zhang was referring to. He asked, “Did you hear anything?”
Ling Zhang nodded and told him the matter of Jia Zhong’s visit to the Prefecture Encampment as well as his own deduction. “Undoubtedly, Zhang Chong is going to make an attempt on you and Uncle Lu.” He once used that insidious tactic of killing two birds with one stone in his last incarnation. He was definitely going to use it again in this life.
“Uncle, did you remind Uncle Lu?”
The look on Ling Zhaowen’s face also became solemn, “I indicated this to him several times. He should have taken some precautions by now. It’s just that, in order not to arouse anybody’s suspicion, unlike us, the Lu family didn’t act overtly, but Lu Kui has already secretly prepared a place where his family members can hide.”
“But what concerns me is that they might not have enough time to hide. No matter what, hiding is not the best solution. We have to figure out a way to resolve it.”
“There are thirty bandits. I’m afraid even if all Yamen runners are dispatched, they still won’t be enough to handle them.”
“What if we send our security guards to join hands with them?”
Ling Zhaowen pondered over it for a while and said, “That might work.”
Then he sighed, “Originally I’ve already set a trap waiting for Jia Zhong to walk into it. If he does, he and the Jia family will be eliminated once and for all. But judging from what you’ve just said, I’m afraid misfortune will happen to the Lu family before Jia Zhong gets caught in the trap.”
“What kind of preparations did Uncle make?”
“The Jia family’s mine. I sent someone to make contact with the director of the mine. He’s already gained the trust of the director and will get his account book in just a few days. Once this account book is delivered to the capital city, not only the Jia family is doomed, Zhang Chong will also be incriminated.”
Startled, Ling Zhang asked, “Who did you send to the mine?”
“That director is an old goat. A woman will be more than enough to handle him.”
“Uncle, please tell that woman to stand by for the moment. On no account should any rash action be taken!”
Ling Zhang went anxious. Once that account book was stolen, which would alarm the Jia family and Zhang Chong ahead of schedule, Yuwen Tong’s plan would be ruined.
“What’s the matter? Why should she stand by? You don’t want to get your revenge anymore?” Ling Zhaowen was puzzled.
“Yuwen Tong came to Tanyang this time not only to pay a visit to grandfather but also to investigate Zhang Chong. He has already had someone make a duplicate of that account book. Apart from that, he also has other plans. Jia family and Zhang Chong must not be alerted for now.”
Ling Zhang disclosed part of the matter which he had consulted with Yuwen Tong about. “It was my fault for not having told you this earlier, uncle.”
But Ling Zhaowen didn’t get angry. “So that’s how matters stand. I nearly ruined your big plan. Rest assured, I’ll send her a message and tell her to stand by.”
“But Zhang’er, you… you and Yuwen Tong seem to keep no secrets from each other. Is he never wary of you?”
Ling Zhang made no response.
He understood why there was a meaningful look in his Uncle’s eyes, but they were talking business, and his Uncle shouldn’t have steered the conversation away to another topic.
“We can talk about this later, Uncle. The crisis facing the Lu family requires immediate resolution.”
“Since Marshal Yuwen intends to eliminate Zhang Chong, there’s no need for us to go to that much trouble. We only need to adopt a smarter approach.”
A smarter approach? Ling Zhang watched Ling Zhaowen in perplexity.
“Ha-ha, what a silly kid. How come you still haven’t gotten the point? Like you’ve just said, Marshal Yuwen has already formulated a plan to handle Zhang Chong, which means that soon Zhang Chong will no longer be a problem, so it’s totally unnecessary for us to fight Zhang Chong head-on. All we need to do is adopt delaying tactics and wait for the job to be done.”
“Delaying tactics? Are you saying that…”
