‘He chose to tease me under these circumstances. Is he not worried that I might refuse to marry him because of this?’
Ling Zhang quietly stared at Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong could scarcely stop himself from laughing, “Okay, okay. Dig in.”
‘Then stop laughing!’ Remaining silent, Ling Zhang cast another glance at him and privately snorted. If it weren’t for the fact that he still had a guilty conscience due to what happened yesterday, he would never have tolerated Yuwen Tong laughing so arrogantly.
After breakfast, Ling Zhang changed clothes and then went to Lu family with Ling Zhaowen. Yuwen Tong, heedless of his identity, decided to go with them.
“With you accompanying us, there will no doubt be a sensation. We’ll be besieged by those people,” observed Ling Zhang.
“Relax. They won’t dare,” replied Yuwen Tong, clearly very confident about his experience of handling that kind of situation.
It turned out that those people indeed didn’t dare to approach. When they were in Lu family, Yuwen Tong maintained a sulky face from start to finish, deterring everyone who had the intention to have a close look at him.
They did admire this legendary war hero of iron will, but they couldn’t withstand his killing intent and the air of coldness about him.
Lu Fengnian and Lu Kui walked up to them. Originally, they had meant to accompany Yuwen Tong, but Yuwen Tong drove them away with just a couple of remarks and then stayed by Ling Zhang’s side from beginning to end.
Those people indeed didn’t dare to approach, but they seemed to have trouble guarding their eyes. Each and every one of them kept looking in his direction, which made Ling Zhang feel very uneasy.
The Taoist priest who was going to perform a ritual even observed that Yuwen Tong was the incarnation of the God of War, that around him was an aura of sacredness deterring all ghosts and evil spirits, that his presence in Lu family was more effective than his performing dozens of rituals.
His remarks sent Ling Zhang into silence. ‘If it’s really so efficacious, shouldn’t I and my family count ourselves extremely lucky?’
Yuwen Tong even whispered into his ears, “Now you know how much good I can do, don’t you?”
Ling Zhang was sent speechless with astonishment.
‘What a narcissist.’
After quite a long time, the ritual in Lu family was still ongoing. In the realization that they wouldn’t be able to make it back in time for lunch, Ling Zhang bade a servant to hurry back home to inform them lest his family chef be kept waiting.
Finally, at noon, the ritual was over. Normally, it was time for guests to take their leave, but due to Yuwen Tong’s presence, everybody remained on their seat. None of them had the intention of leaving.
Ling Zhaowen was a close friend of Lu Kui’s, so he couldn’t be the first one to leave.
Resigned, Ling Zhang had no alternative but to leave with Yuwen Tong first on the pretext of having to return home to change fresh dressing for his wound.
The moment they left, all guests sighed regretfully and then took their leave one after another.
Lu Kui had been busy for a full day, which made his meagre face seem even thinner.
“You really don’t look very well. Has anything been bothering you?” asked Ling Zhaowen in a worried tone of voice.
“No. It’s just that I’m trying to lose weight. I gained a lot of weight a few days ago and the physician said that I should keep in shape, and I was vexed about it for quite some time. Now it’s no longer a problem,” laughed Lu Kui heartily. Though looking rather thin, he was in pretty high spirits.
Seeing this, Ling Zhaowen was relieved. “You’ll be inaugurated as the Right Tongzhi in the Prefecture Yamen in a couple of days and there will be tons of work waiting for you. You should take some tonics to improve your health before taking office, while you still have the time.”
A lot of officials in Tanyang, high-ranking or low-ranking, had been relieved from office. As a result, Tao Feng and Lu Kui had been having quite hectic schedules and wished that if only they had the ability to magically conjure up half a dozen duplicates of themselves to share the burden. If it weren’t for the fact that Lu Kui was obliged to be present at this ritual of Lu family, Tao Feng would actually never have granted him the permission to take a day off.
Lu Kui smiled, “Rest assured, I’ll manage. In fact, I think there’s no need for me to wait for a couple of days. I’ll go there tomorrow.”
But Ling Zhaowen disapproved. “That’s not a good idea. You should take some tonics first. Just rest during the next few days.”
Seeing the insistent look on his face, Lu Kui had no choice but to agree.
“The vacancies for county magistrates of the Wu County, the Tai County and the Qi County are a matter of the official circle. What about the others?” asked Lu Kui.
Ling Zhaowen slid a sideways glance at him. “What are you trying to say?”
“This is a golden opportunity!” Lu Kui craned closer to him and observed in an undertone. “None of those rich merchants and squires deeply involved in Zhang Chong’s revolt is going to get away with it this time. There are so many properties registered in their names that we can make use of. I’m not talking about doing anything illegal. What I’m saying is that we can buy those properties fair and square. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It will be such a shame if we let it slip away!”
Ling Zhaowen gave a smile and replied, “Had I waited for this to occur to you to take action, it would have been far too late. Rest assured, I’ve already consulted with Zhang’er and started handling procedures concerning those that we can buy or directly take for free.”
“What?! You are leaving me out of this?!” On hearing this, Lu Kui went anxious.
The corners of Ling Zhaowen’s mouth briefly twitched. With that he gave two snorts and fished a piece of paper out of his sleeve. “Take it. Stop acting like I abandoned you. We are not really that close.”
Bursting with impatience, Lu Kui hurriedly took the paper and unfolded it. While reading it, he smiled, “How could you say that? We’ve been friends for so many years. You really have the nerve to deny it?”
His remarks sent Ling Zhaowen utterly speechless.
Lu Kui carefully put away the piece of paper, as if it were some kind of treasure, and then beamed from ear to ear, “Thanks, bro. I’ll stand you wine some other day.”
Ling Zhaowen, whose favor was going to be returned in merely some wine, angrily rose to his feet, snorted and left.
Lu Kui, who didn’t mind at all, turned around and went to make arrangements.
Ling Zhang and Ling Zhaowen had some time ago consulted with each other on the issue of how to take advantage of this opportunity to enhance Ling family’s strength. With what Ling family currently had and Yuwen Tong’s support, they could achieve anything. But Ling Zhang and his uncle decided not to go too far. Though their family could never be too powerful, and they could never have too much money, they believed that it would be better if they helped their allies thrive with them.
There were many other business owners whom Zhang Chong had been bullying and exploiting for many years. Many of them had been oppressed by Zhang Chong in this way because they had been unwilling to collude with him, so they were morally worthy of cooperation.
Ling Zhang had secretly sent Butler Li to contact with these people and offered them some advice.
All these people appreciated Ling family’s advice very much. They were also aware that Ling family and Ling family’s backer, Yuwen Tong, were the ones who had managed to change the situation in Tanyang, that they owed it to people of Ling family. As a result, all of them were very cooperative, poised to bring the balance of power in Tanyang to a radical change once the occasion arose.
And this was merely a matter of time. After the new Prefecture Guards eradicated those bandits, they would make their move.
From now on, there would be a situation of tripartite confrontation.
Tao Feng and his subordinates and allies were one of the three forces. The new Prefecture Guards of Tanyang was another. And the third force was the one headed by Ling family.
Among the three forces, given the personal relationship between Ling Zhaowen and Tao Feng, these two forces would be on the most harmonious terms. At least people of Ling family knew very well what they were supposed to do. Ling Zhaowen was not a fool, and he was fully aware of where Ling family should stand with the other two forces.
As regards the new Prefecture Guards, the troops number of it would definitely suffer a significant reduction, given the revolt of Zhang Chong. On top of this, the threat from bushrangers and bandits no longer existed, so the Prefecture Guards would never be able to rid itself of Tao Feng’s authority over it, which meant that, eventually, it might be partially under Tao Feng’s command.
But the case of Ling family was too special. Under no circumstances would Tao Feng be stupid enough to offend Ling family or their backer, Yuwen Tong, so it was hard to say which force the new Prefecture Guards would side with. It was a mystery yet to be solved by time.
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