Ling Zhang carried Ling Maomao to his uncle’s place, where Fu Caiwei was racing against time packing up. Maidservants and wet nurses were bustling all around. All servants had no idea what their master’s plan was. They only knew that the master suddenly decided to go on a journey to Jiangzhou, that they were departing early the next morning and time was very short.
“Maomao, get down. You’re too old to have your elder brother carry you.” Seeing Ling Zhang carrying Ling Maomao to the room, Fu Caiwei scolded the boy while quickly moving around, busy packing things.
Ling Zhang put down Ling Maomao and said to him, “Go and start packing. See if there are things that you want to take with you in particular. Don’t forget anything.”
Knowing that his elder brother really couldn’t go with him on the journey, Ling Maomao was in fairly low spirits, but after hearing Ling Zhang’s words and seeing that all servants were busy packing things, he ran inside and reminded a servant to pack his little pillow.
Seeing that the boy’s frustration had dissolved somewhat, he quietly left the room and returned to the ante-room.
Early the next morning, Wang Xingfeng and Zhou Gaoyi came to pick up Old Master Ling.
When informed that Fu Caiwei and Ling Maomao were going as well, the two merchants were somewhat surprised. After hearing that they wanted to visit some relatives and were going the same way, the two men immediately promised that they would safely escort the woman and the boy to the destination.
This time, Ling Zhang had hurriedly recalled five security guards in the herb farm to Tanyang the day before. He had assigned them to go with his family members to Jiangzhou and protect them. One of Yuwen Tong’s bodyguards, who had disguised as a security guard of Ling family, would also join them, along with a maidservant, one of Ling Xingzhong’s personal attendants and two carriage drivers. With two carriages and six horses, people of Ling family soon departed, following the team of Wang Xingfeng and Zhou Gaoyi.
Ling Zhang had Wang Dashan keep a close watch on them. After Ling Xingzhong and others safely got through the city gate and then smoothly traveled across the boundary of Tanyang, Ling Zhang heaved a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, staff members of Prefecture Yamen had finally finished the recording of testimonies and confessions. Because people of Jia family had committed so many evil deeds, including both minor offences and serious crimes, and those over ten miners murdered by Jia Yin and Jia Zhong were not servants of Jia family but law-abiding commoners, which were deemed aggravating circumstances, the Jia brothers were sentenced to death.
Mrs. Jia and other female members of Jia family were condemned to life-long exile to the frontier in the bitter cold far north doing menial work, while punishment meted out to male members of Jia family was to serve as coolies building defense works in border areas. Servants of Jia family also received penalties which were imposed according to how involved they had been in the crimes committed by Jia Yin. After the sentence was passed, official notices issued by Prefecture Yamen were put up everywhere in the city saying that Jia Yin would be executed at noon ten days later, and others would be escorted to the frontier on the same day. Meanwhile, the hunt for Jia Zhong was still ongoing.
Thus, Jia family was brought down and the residence of Jia family was also sealed with white strips of paper by Prefecture Yamen.
Finally, half of the huge debt of blood was repaid. After reading the notice on the bulletin board, Ling Zhang returned, locked himself in his study and had been silent all along.
Xia Feng was somewhat worried, but since Ling Zhang had ordered that nobody go near his study, he didn’t dare to ask his young master. Since Ling Zhaowen was in Prefecture Yamen, and Ling Xingzhong had left Tanyang, after pondering for quite a while, Xia Feng went to the Green Bamboo Mansion to seek help from Yuwen Tong.
After hearing Xia Feng’s words, Yuwen Tong was more composed than Xia Feng had imagined. “Give him some time to be alone. Don’t disturb him. You were actually a disturbance of him when you were pacing up and down near the study.”
Xia Feng was shocked. ‘I followed the order and never approached the study, yet I still disturbed Young Master?’
Eventually, he took Yuwen Tong’s advice and didn’t go anywhere near the study.
Ling Zhang was sitting quietly in his study, but his heart was unquiet. In his mind, all those things happened in his last incarnation and this one were being replayed again and again.
After Jia family fell apart to pieces, he felt delighted by the revenge but also lamented what had happened in his last life. His sensible self in the corner of his mind was trying very hard to remind him to calm down. After all, he had only got half of the vengeance, and there was still a long way for him to go. All kinds of emotions were having a fierce fight inside him, making his whole body tense. It was not until after two hours that he gradually settled down.
When he opened the door of the study and walked out, it was already dusk.
On hearing the sound of the door opening, Xia Feng came over to him immediately. “Young Master, finally you walked out. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m going next door. Get things ready for the medicated bath tonight.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Seeing that Ling Zhang was indeed all right, Xia Feng was relieved and quickly went to make preparations for the medicated bath.
Yuwen Tong standing in the corridor in the Green Bamboo Mansion was watching in the direction of the gateway, as if waiting for Ling Zhang to show up.
“Are you in a better mood?”
Ling Zhang gave a nod. “I was just having trouble sorting out some thoughts.”
With an understanding look in his eyes, Yuwen Tong stretched out his hand.
Having no idea why he was doing this, Ling Zhang looked at him in puzzlement.
Yuwen Tong briefly waved his hand. “Give me your hand.”
Ling Zhang had no choice but to reach his hand out, which was immediately grabbed by Yuwen Tong. The next instant, he was drawn over by a great force and his view blurred. He had a sensation of rapidly ascending into mid-air, an arm around his waist.
“The scenery this dusk is pretty good. It’s a perfect time for relaxation.” Yuwen Tong had brought him to the rooftop of a two-story building in the Green Bamboo Mansion, which overlooked more than half of the residence of Ling family. From where they stood, a seemingly boundless sea of roof ridges could be seen.
Thin clouds in the west glowed orange in the setting sun. Standing there, Ling Zhang watched for a while and then directly sat down on the rooftop, his mind considerably more peaceful. “Thanks.”
Yuwen Tong raised his eyebrows and said, “There are a lot of things yet to be handled, but right now we can relax a little bit.”
Ling Zhang knew Yuwen Tong was doing this out of kindness. He softly grunted “Um”, then turned aside and raised his head to look at Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong sensed his gaze and lowered his head to look back at him, as if asking what the matter was.
“Sit down with me.”
Yuwen Tong sat down beside Ling Zhang. The two people just sat there on the rooftop. After a while, Ling Zhang turned aside facing another direction and then rested his head on Yuwen Tong’s shoulder.
Ling Zhang did this in such a natural way that Yuwen Tong couldn’t help but give a smile.
Neither of the two uttered a word. They just watched as the sun sank below the horizon. Night fell and coldness set in.
“Young Master, Lord Yuwen, dinner is ready,” yelled Xia Feng at the gateway of the Green Bamboo Mansion.
Ling Zhang sat upright, twisted his head back to look over Yuwen Tong’s shoulder and let out a soft cough. “Is it numb?”
Maybe it had been because of the quietness on the rooftop, or maybe because leaning against Yuwen Tong had been a very comfortable position, originally, he had intended to lean against Yuwen Tong for merely a while, but unexpectedly, he had gradually forgotten the time and nearly drifted off.
Yuwen Tong rose and pulled Ling Zhang to his feet. “No, not by any means. No part of me will go numb even if you lean on me sleeping for a whole day. You can do this anytime you want.”
Ling Zhang faintly flushed, thinking that he had been too careless this time, that he would never do this again.
“Young Master?” Having received no response, Xia Feng called him again.
The two of them hurriedly got off the rooftop and returned to the dining room of the Green Bamboo Mansion. Xia Feng had already had the dinner served.
“Young Master, the medicated bath is ready.”
“All right.”
After dinner, Ling Zhang took another medicated bath. As usual, Yuwen Tong used his internal energy to unblock Ling Zhang’s meridians. This was the second last medicated bath that he needed to take.
During all these medicated baths, he always followed Yuwen Tong’s instructions, carefully felt the way that the internal energy circulated inside him, and adjusted his breathing. Though Yuwen Tong had not imparted the special breathing exercise to him yet, Ling Zhang had already had a general idea how it worked.
On that night. In the Prefecture Encampment.
“Jia Yin’s death sentence is not a surprise, but Jia Zhong is still at large. If what happened to Jia family comes to his knowledge, he will definitely be on the run. Commander, should we send someone to assassinate Jia Zhong? He knows a lot, after all,” Deputy Commander Bai Jun asked Zhang Chong.
“Commander, Deputy Commander Bai has got a point. I also think it advisable to kill Jia Zhong. What concerns me is not only that he knows a lot about our plan but also that he might disclose it to Tao Feng to take revenge on us, so we might as well strike the first blow and eliminate him,” observed Deputy Commander Wang Ming.
Zhang Chong replied, “Then I’ll leave it up to you. This time, your work in the mine of Jia family was impressive.”
Wang Ming was delighted. “Thank you for your compliment, Commander. I’ll depart right away and finish Jia Zhong tonight.”
“Go. See it done and the reward won’t disappoint you.”
“Yes, Your Lordship!”
Zhang Chong glanced at Bai Jun and asked, “There’s still no news of the murderer of Lu Kui?”
Bai Jun hurriedly answered, “I beg your pardon, Commander. I still haven’t found that person yet.”
“What did those bandits say?”
“Ever since Commander wiped out those bandits on the Lee Mountain, all other gangs have been obedient and very cooperative, but the murderer is still nowhere to be found. I believe that they weren’t lying. The murderer of Lu Kui is indeed not one of those bandits.”
“Oh?”
“There has been no clue whatsoever except for those blood footprints found in Lu family that night. It seems as if the murderer has disappeared into thin air. We’ve searched every inch of Tanyang as well as all dens of bandits, but the whereabouts of the ruffian is still unknown. I figured that guy is probably not in Tanyang any longer, and he’s not a member of any of those bandit gangs either.”
“Then who do you suspect?”
“Well… I think that the murderer is either a burglar from another city or a local in disguise.”
Bai Jun stated his speculations and waited for Zhang Chong’s response.
Seeming to find the speculation of Bai Jun unsurprising, Zhang Chong asked, “Then who do you think it was that disguised as that burglar?”
“That person is a kung fu practitioner, and his lightness skills are not bad. I’ve investigated all households in Tanyang and I did find a couple of suspects. Right now, they’re under surveillance,” answered Bai Jun.
But Zhang Chong said, “Stop the surveillance. Arrest them directly and interrogate them.”
“Uh… What if Tao Feng intervenes?” Bai Jun was somewhat hesitant.
“What could Tao Feng possibly do about it? Just grab them and conduct the interrogation. I want the results tomorrow. This murder case must be settled immediately.” Zhang Chong had an impatient expression on his face.
Afraid to raise any objections, Bai Jun hurriedly answered, “Yes, Commander.”
On that very night, Bai Jun led his men into the city and restrained the couple of persons he deemed suspicious. The sudden hunt alarmed most residents in the city. Ling Zhang staying at home was also informed of it.
“It was Bai Jun. Why did he suddenly arrest those people?” Ling Zhang was baffled.
Yuwen Tong flicked a glance at the guard who had just come back to report to him. The guard answered, “Bai Jun suspects that one of those people is the murderer of Lu Kui.”
Ling Zhang knitted his brows. Fully aware of the truth about the “murderer” of Lu Kui, he knew those people had been wronged.
“They directly arrested those people without official permission. It seems that they intend to extort a confession by torture. Clearly Zhang Chong doesn’t want to waste any more time investigating. There will be only one outcome if he gives those people the third degree – he’ll be more skeptical of the identity of the murderer of Lu Kui,” observed Yuwen Tong.
After all, whether any of those people was the murderer or not would be made clear immediately after the interrogation was conducted.
“The worst-case scenario would be they make one of those people a scapegoat.”
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