Heedless of his unwillingness to part from his family, the day for departure still arrived.
On this day, all people of Ling family got up very early and started bustling around loading prepared baggage onto horse-drawn carriages. Those working in the kitchen were also racing time preparing breakfast for their masters. Servants on the go could be seen everywhere in the residence.
After clothing himself presentable, Ling Zhang scooped Ling Maomao out of bed, helped him wash his face and dressed him.
“Old Master, Second Master and Second Mistress are on their way to the ante-room, Young Master. The Marshal is ready. He’ll come here to pick you up and then go there with you,” Xia Feng informed him after walking inside.
That talk he had with his young master on that day had brought many changes of Xia Feng, the most noticeable one of which was that he had indeed managed to get access to all intelligence within his grasp in Ling family, and stay well informed of what was happening and was going to happen, and all servants of Ling family were rather obedient to him.
“I see.” Ling Zhang patted Ling Maomao on the shoulder. “Let’s go. It’s about time.”
“Okay,” Ling Maomao answered, but he sounded in low spirits. His elder brother was going to depart for the capital city on this day, which meant that they wouldn’t be able to see each other for a very long time.
The two brothers walked out of the house together. Servants in the courtyard were occupied carrying prepared baggage outside. On seeing Ling Zhang and Ling Maomao coming out, they all stopped and respectfully greeted them. “Young Master, Second Young Master.”
Ling Zhang bobbed his head. Since Xia Feng would stay in the courtyard taking care of the loading of baggage, he and Ling Maomao left the courtyard.
Yuwen Tong, who had just arrived, flicked a glance at the bustle in the courtyard and said, “Let’s go. Don’t keep the elders waiting too long.”
Ling Maomao looked at him, walked to the other side of his elder brother and held his hand, ignoring Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong fell speechless.
He cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at Ling Zhang, as if asking why Ling Maomao was acting like this.
‘This is the first time that this little boy has refused to greet me at a meeting,’ he thought.
Ling Zhang looked back at him, helplessness on face, as if replying, “What else could the reason be? This little guy doesn’t want me leaving, and he is blaming you for it.”
Yuwen Tong’s eyebrows lifted. Since blame from a child wouldn’t really do him any harm, he decided to let it be.
There were also many people packing things in the Green Bamboo Mansion. Yao Yi and some others, who had worked very quick, had already got their baggage ready.
They walked into the ante-room and saw that Ling Xingzhong and others had been waiting for them.
All members of Ling family and Yuwen Tong sat down and had breakfast. At this time, servants had already got all baggage loaded onto horse-drawn carriages which had been driven to the front gate, waiting for their master to give the order to depart.
After breakfast, they sat in the ante-room talking for a while, and then it was time for departure.
Ling Zhaowen and Ling Maomao would see them out of the city, but Ling Xingzhong and Fu Caiwei had to bid them farewell at the gateway.
Before leaving, Ling Zhang respectfully knelt down and kowtowed to his grandfather and aunt.
Fu Caiwei, eyes red, raised him to his feet and exhorted him to be careful on the journey, send a letter back after reaching the capital city and not to be sparing with money when it came to food or clothing or accommodation…
Though having heard these words many times during the past few days, Ling Zhang still gravely promised that he would do as told to.
Eventually, Ling Xingzhong instructed him, “Go. Don’t keep the Marshal waiting too long.”
“Yes, Grandfather,” Ling Zhang replied, clenched his teeth to fight down his sorrow, turned around, walked down the stairway and mounted his horse. He didn’t dare to glance back, which he knew positively would shatter his determination instantly.
Yuwen Tong raised his hand and gave the order bringing the long fleet of horse-drawn carriages to departure.
When they were turning into another street, Ling Zhang failed to forbear to toss a glance over his shoulder. The sight of his grandfather and aunt who were still standing at the gateway instantly reduced him to tears.
“If some day you get homesick, I’ll come back here with you. Or maybe when the occasion arises, we’ll be able to take your grandfather to the capital city,” Yuwen Tong consoled him.
At this time, they had already turned into another street and the residence of Ling family was no longer in sight.
Ling Zhang twisted his upper body back and, after a long silence, replied, “I know. It’s just that my heart aches at the prospect of being away from home for such a long time.”
When he had been at home, he had never felt it so strongly, but when he was really parting with his family, he couldn’t help but miss them.
Yuwen Tong had spent many years in the border areas, and all his elders he used to be close to had passed away. Nevertheless, he still had a hearty empathy for Ling Zhang’s feelings.
He didn’t say anything but just kept Ling Zhang company.
Ling Zhaowen and Ling Maomao were in the horse-drawn carriage following in their wake. Seeing his elder brother so sad to leave home, Ling Maomao asked his father, “Why is elder brother going to the capital city when he’s clearly so unwilling to leave us?”
There was no sulkiness on Ling Zhaowen’s face when he answered the boy’s question, which was rather rare. “You’ll come to understand when you are old enough.”
Ling Maomao curled his lip. ‘This is so cliché. When will I be old enough?’ The boy felt that he had grown up quite some time ago.
When the procession was getting close to the city gate, many residents showed up of their own accord to see Yuwen Tong off.
It took the procession quite a while to get to the north city gate due to the crowd.
At the north city gate, Tao Feng and a lot of officials of different ranks working in Tanyang also turned up to bid farewell to them, which inevitably entailed a lot of pleasantries exchanging and formality.
These people offered to go with Ling Zhaowen and others to see them out of the city, but Yuwen Tong declined.
Tao Feng secretly winked at Ling Zhang. Ling Zhang took the hint, bobbed his head and arranged for the horse-drawn cart brought by Tao Feng to join the fleet.
Apart from Tao Feng and his subordinates, the eunuch and some palace guards were also present. They had been waiting outside the city gate and seemed to have the intention of going to the capital city with Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhang, who had little acquaintance with them, merely exchanged civilities with them, making no further remarks.
But when those people looked at Ling Zhang, the expressions in their eyes were different from the one Ling Zhang had in his eyes when he looked at them. Seeing the long fleet of horse-drawn carriages and carts, those servants and the twenty-four security guards, they believed that even a childe from a rich and aristocratic family couldn’t have been more ostentatious when departing from home, yet Ling Zhang was merely the nephew of a petty Tongzhi of Tanyang.
“This Ling family really possesses such wealth? It seems that they wouldn’t necessarily be bullied when they are in the capital city,” an eunuch observed in a muted voice.
“With these? It’s hard to say how Ling family will turn out, but this Ling Zhang guy has indeed got himself someone he can rely on.” At first, Zhang Xi, the head eunuch, was disapproving, but he seemed to be sighing in sentiment while making the latter half of his remarks.
“Rely on? Whom could he possibly rely on? Ling family has no relatives or any other social contacts in the capital city.”
“You dumb-ass. Isn’t it obvious enough that Yuwen Tong is his most powerful backer? It’s been so many years, yet this is the first time that I’ve seen Yuwen Tong care about anybody so much. This matter… Ha… We’d better keep our mouths shut… ”
The sight of the disbelieving expression on the face of the young eunuch standing on the side brought the corner of Zhang Xi’s mouth to a brief, involuntary twitch. “Time to go! Get on the carriage and catch up with them! Hurry!”
“Yes, yes!” the young eunuch hastily replied, guided Zhang Xi onto their horse-drawn carriage, sat down in the seat beside the carriage driver and instructed aloud, “Depart!”
At a place called the Wuli Pavilion not far from the city, the procession came to a halt.
Ling Zhaowen and Ling Maomao had to bid farewell to Ling Zhang at this place.
Having already told his nephew all he needed to be told, Ling Zhaowen just exhorted Ling Zhang to take good care of himself during the journey.
Ling Maomao fixed his red eyes on Ling Zhang, which made Ling Zhang’s heart ached terribly. He talked with the boy for quite a while and finally managed to coax him out of sorrow.
They stayed at this place for a long time. Those palace guards at the rear didn’t dare to hurry them, since Yuwen Tong was standing right beside Ling Zhang. Who would dare to show impatience when even the Martial was patiently waiting?
However, long or short, every farewell had an end. Eventually, Ling Zhang grudgingly took his leave of Ling Zhaowen and Ling Maomao, mounted his horse and departed again.
In the distance, he waved at his uncle and younger brother and told them to go back to spare themselves longer exposure to the strong wind.
But Ling Zhaowen and Ling Maomao refused to leave so soon. It was not until Ling Zhang and the others were completely out of sight that the two of them turned around to get back.
Ling Zhang, who was riding side by side with Yuwen Tong, didn’t utter a single word. On this occasion, he was not in the mood for talking.
It was not until they crossed the boundary and entered another prefecture that he gradually recovered from deep sorrow and other expressions found their way back to his face. And at this time, it was almost noon.
Their pace was not fast, which was why they had not yet reached the next town.
“It’s noon. We shall take an hour’s rest where we are and then resume our journey.” Yuwen Tong gave the order to rest.
Ling Zhang raised his hand and stroked his chest where the inner pocket was. The letter given to him by his uncle was still there, but now was not the right time to take it out and read it. He felt that at least he had to wait until they were having a rest in a courier station or an inn.
It had not been long since their departure from the city, so most of the foods they brought with them were still fresh. Yao Yi and his fellows, together with servants of Ling family prepared lunch and all of them enjoyed a hot heal.
Palace guards bringing up the rear wasn’t lucky enough to enjoy such treatment. All of them ate solid food that they had brought with them.
Yuwen Tong had a subordinate deliver some hot food to Zhang Xi, who accepted it and specially came over to express his gratitude.
“There’s no need for formalities, Gonggong Zhang (Gonggong is a respectful form of address for an old eunuch whose rank is higher than that of common eunuchs). It’s just some food. You should go and get some rest. We’ll resume our journey when the time is up.”
“Thank you for reminding me, Marshal.”
With a smile on his face, Zhang Xi returned.
After Zhang Xi left, Ling Zhang flicked a glance at Zhang Xi’s receding figure. Yuwen Tong had once warned him that he should try not to stare at these eunuchs, because they were very sensitive to other people’s gaze due to their living in the imperial palace, a place full of conspiracies and intrigues, year in year out as well as some other particular reasons.
“Does the emperor trust Zhang Xi much?”
“The emperor has a suspicious mind. Wang Lubao is the only one he trusts. Zhang Xi and another two, Dou He and Zhu Xiang, could be counted as his favored eunuchs. You might get a chance to see them some day.”
Ling Zhang inclined his head. Holding a bowl of hot soup in his hand, he took a sip of it and then couldn’t help but subconsciously reached out the other hand to stroke his chest so as to confirm whether the letter was still in there.
This movement of his was rather plain, and he did it in a natural way, so there was nothing affected about it, and it wouldn’t raise any doubts in common people’s minds.
It took Yuwen Tong only a few extra moments’ observation of Ling Zhang to come to realize that this movement had some special meaning in it.
But he didn’t say anything but just conjectured that there was probably a letter or something like that in the inner pocket of Ling Zhang.
He did some careful recollecting and then had a shrewd idea where Ling Zhang had got that thing. ‘It is ever since Ling Zhang returned from that meeting with Ling Zhaowen on that day that Ling Zhang has been acting like this.’
‘What kind of letter is making Ling Zhang so nervous?’
Yuwen Tong pondered for a while. The only secret of Ling Zhang’s that he had not yet found out about was the origin of those formations. ‘Is this what it is about?’
The inquiry into Ling family’s background that his men were carrying out seemed to have reached a bottleneck. Yuwen Tong had always been very confident about the competence of his subordinates. He believed that either his subordinates were not as competent as he believed them to be, or some people had been keeping this matter highly confidential. Or maybe the inquiry had been going in the wrong direction.
Yuwen Tong’s face instantly went grim. He felt that maybe he had indeed directed the inquiry towards the wrong direction.
“What’s wrong?” Ling Zhang, who had just called Yuwen Tong’s name but received no response, was confused.
Yuwen Tong collected his thoughts. “Nothing. I was just thinking about something.”
Ling Zhang bobbed his head and didn’t persist with his questioning in the knowledge that Yuwen Tong had too many secrets, some of which he felt it inconvenient for him to ask about.
“You want to get some rest?” Yuwen Tong asked him.
Ling Zhang shook his head. “Not really. I’d like to go for a walk. And we may depart as soon as I get back.”
Yuwen Tong rose to his feet. “Let me keep you company.”
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