The gateway of the imperial palace was thronged with people and horse-drawn carriages. All palace lanterns were ablaze with light, making the compound so bright that it seemed as if daytime had not yet come to an end. There was a welcome reception meant for Yuwen Tong on this night. Surprisingly, apart from all court officials of all ranks and descriptions who had come here to help entertain the guest of honor, there were also a group of people wearing foreign-style attire present.
Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang were sitting in a carriage. Lifting up the curtain, Yuwen Tong looked out of the window. The sight of this group of people instantly filled his eyes with amusement.
“What are you looking at?”
Ling Zhang, who couldn’t see the outside from his position, had no idea what Yuwen Tong was looking at, but judging from the mischievous look in his eyes, he believed Yuwen Tong must have come up with a stomachful of pranks.
“Those fools from the Wan Kingdom are still in our capital city. This welcome banquet is meant for me, yet they are so thick-skinned as to take the liberty of coming here as well. It seems that they could use another lesson.”
Yuwen Tong twisted his upper body aside and pointed at a group of people at the gateway of the palace to show Ling Zhang. Ling Zhang craned over, looked out and asked in dismay, “How come they are still here?”
“Who knows what they are dragging out their stay in our capital city to plot? They are not really on good terms with me. It’s very likely that they’ll stoop to dirty tricks. Stay close to me when we’re in there,” exhorted Yuwen Tong.
“This is the capital city of the Great Yue. Surely they won’t dare to do anything stupid with so many people present?” commented Ling Zhang.
“It’s hard to say. After all, they are a bunch of morons. Don’t try to gauge their thoughts from a normal people’s perspective.” Yuwen Tong’s comments on this group of people from the Wan Kingdom were utterly harsh and critical.
Ling Zhang inclined his head. “I’ll be careful.”
All guests ahead of them got out of their carriages and palanquins at the gateway of the imperial palace. The horse-drawn carriage of Ling Zhang also slowly drove up to the gateway and came to a halt. The plain carriage was a rather sorry sight and naturally attracted a lot of people’s attention. On top of that, there was no coat of arms or emblazonment of any kind on it, which gave people the impression that it had come to this place by mistake. As a result, some palace guards on duty at the gateway immediately walked up to the carriage with grim faces.
“Stop. This is the imperial palace. Identify yourselves.”
A team of palace guards surrounded the horse-drawn carriage, their weapons pointed at it.
Some of the people who were about to walk through the palace gate paused and turned around to look on, while others, who had a good opinion of themselves and scorned to waste their time watching the follow-up of some ignorant commoners’ failed attempt to sneak into the imperial palace, ignored this and entered the palace. Some sharp-eyed ones of those who stayed noticed that though this plain carriage bore no coat of arms, there was a makeshift identity board overhanging its door frame, which was engraved with the words “Ling Mansion”.
“The Ling Mansion?” someone exclaimed in a muted voice.
As if the two words “Ling Mansion” were something that could stimulate their nerves, all of them instantly focused their attention on that carriage.
“Is he by any chance the one who just entered the city earlier this day?”
“Marshal Yuwen’s betrothed?”
“The one who angered the Ninth Princess to tears at the city gate?”
Immediately, all lookers-on fell into private discussions with each other, staring at the carriage while talking. Some of them were merely curious, but more were waiting to see how the one inside the carriage would tackle this situation, malice glinting in their eyes.
“It is rumored that earlier this day, that Ling Zhang guy did something wildly arrogant –he was bold enough to talk back to the Ninth Princess. Yet he still dared to come here to attend the banquet. Has he taken leave of his senses? He’s but a countryman with neither scholarly honor nor an official rank. Does he seriously think he can get the permission to attend a palace banquet?”
“He’s really taken himself for somebody. Marshal Yuwen has not married him yet. Isn’t this kind of behavior too cocky?”
“And he’s a man. Tsk, tsk.”
These people sneering thought that their voices were low enough, but Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong, with their excellent hearing, naturally heard each and every single word. Yuwen Tong’s face fell frosty, and the air about him changed drastically, as if he were giving off an aura of iciness.
Ling Zhang was impassive. Though he had some time ago guessed that some people in the capital city would gossip about him, it had never crossed his mind that they would do this as soon as he arrived at the palace gate, and in the presence of the envoys from the Wan Kingdom. ‘These guys are virtually like those gossipy women on the streets of Tanyang.’ Ling Zhang pulled a wry face. ‘This is how court officials of the Great Yue are like?’
“What? Yuwen Tong’s betrothed? The one for whom Yuwen Tong went to Tanyang and stayed there for a month? I heard that it’s a man. Well, this is new. As a man with a king’s title, I’d like to find out how charming a man has to be to bewitch Yuwen Tong. Had I known this earlier, we would never have resorted to war. We send a handsome male entertainer to Yuwen Tong and our victory will be certain, without a single casualty. Alas, what a misjudgment.”
There words were followed by some even meaner remarks. The man spoke with a heavy Wan-Kingdom accent, which was an unmistakable indication of his identity.
“There’s something you don’t know, King Ming’en. That Ling Zhang guy is merely a countryman. How charming could he be? Our Marshal will never let a person of this kind cloud his judgement,” an official of the Great Yue commented contemptuously.
“You don’t know that. Hey, you, Yuwen Tong’s chick inside the carriage, why don’t you come out and let us behold your beauty?” the previous speaker yelled at the carriage.
The curtain of the carriage was lifted up and all people stared unblinkingly. However, at the sight of the one emerged from inside, they were thrown into franticness and all the color drained from their faces.
‘Mar–Marshal Yuwen?!’
The palace guards besieging the carriage forgot to lower their weapons, goggling at Yuwen Tong in shocked silence, unaware of how come Yuwen Tong was on a carriage like this.
Yuwen Tong stood on the horse-drawn carriage. His piercing, cold eyes slowly swept through the people present, the anger and killing intent in them so horrifying that all people who had gossiped just now couldn’t help but give a cold shiver of fear. Everybody hung their head and didn’t dare to make eye contact with Yuwen Tong, their eyes darting back and forth.
A hush instantly descended over the crowd at the gateway of the palace. Even the sound of a needle falling to the ground would have been heard.
Among the diplomatic corps of the Wan Kingdom, face of a man dressed in sumptuous clothes also froze when his eyes met Yuwen Tong’s. The air about Yuwen Tong was so powerful that the man could barely breathe. He managed to force a smile and said, “It turns out Marshal Yuwen is also here. How come you traveled here on such a nondescript carriage?”
Yuwen Tong ignored him, turned around, lifted up the curtain and guided Ling Zhang outside.
Disregarded, the richly clothed man clenched his fists, but when he saw Yuwen Tong guide a young man out of the carriage, he found that the man was indeed exceptionally handsome. Wearing an exquisite, sapphire blue garment, in the light of the palace lanterns which were making this place as bright as day, the man looked like a jade statue coming to life, cutting quite a fine figure.
Expression in the eyes of the man in rich attire briefly changed. ‘This must be Ling Zhang, the one all those rumors are about, Yuwen Tong’s betrothed.’
It was not until Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang got off the carriage together that those palace guards collected themselves, hurriedly put away their weapons and lowered their heads, sweating buckets.
Without even glancing at them, Yuwen Tong walked up to the diplomatic corps of the Wan Kingdom.
Seeing Yuwen Tong walking up to him, the sumptuously clothed man involuntarily straightened his back and was just about to say something when his vision briefly blurred, and with that someone kicked him hard sending him flying. He landed on the ground and his inner organs felt as if they had been displaced. The pain was so sharp that stars were dancing before his eyes.
“Your Royal Highness!”
All people present were startled. In alarm, members of the diplomatic corps of the Wan Kingdom hurriedly ran up and raised the gorgeously clothed man, who was unable to stand up by himself, to his feet.
“Why did you do this, Yuwen Tong?! Do you wish to see the peace accord between our countries invalidated?!” Envoys of the Wan Kingdom were both shocked and indignant, but they couldn’t help but feel afraid when they saw the frosty face of Yuwen Tong.
“I’m teaching him how he’s supposed to conduct himself.” Yuwen Tong walked up to the man again. Seeing this, those envoys of the Wan Kingdom hastily guided the gorgeously clothed man backwards for fear that Yuwen Tong might resort to violence again.
“Shan Congwen, if you wish to die sooner, I can offer you some help with that.” Standing before the gorgeously-clothed man, Yuwen Tong flintily looked down at him, stooped down and said in a low voice, “Why do you think I merely took seven cities of yours this time? Your head is on your shoulders only temporarily. If you have a death wish, I don’t mind taking it from you ahead of schedule.”
This remark struck fear into all envoys’ hearts. “You–You are way too arrogant!”
“Arrogant?” Yuwen Tong straightened himself, looking askance at them. “You may have a try if you want. Sooner or later I’ll collect the huge debt of blood you owe to Yuwen family.”
‘What does he mean?’ All envoys were rooted to the spot by this remark.
The gorgeously clothed man eyed fixedly at Yuwen Tong with hatred.
Yuwen Tong turned around and said, “If I were you, I would cower like a rat lest I can’t even make it out of the Great Yue.”
Then he returned to Ling Zhang’s side and exchanged glances with him. Ling Zhang briefly bobbed his head and then walked to the palace gate hand in hand with Yuwen Tong.
While walking past the couple of officials who had just gossiped about him, Ling Zhang suddenly halted and slightly raised his chin. After his eyes ran down their faces, he queried in a casual tone of voice, “May I have your names, Your Lordships?”
The couple of officials who were asked forced an awkward smile.
“I’m Zuo Yi working for the Ministry of Works.”
“I’m Zhang Zhengqing working for the Ministry of Vehicles.”
“I’m Ji Ting working for the Ministry of Vehicles.”
Ling Zhang could vaguely connect their names with the information that Tao Feng had told him previously. Zuo Yi, that Councilor of the Ministry of Works, was Peng Fang’s immediate subordinate. Zhang Zhengqing and Ji Ting, both of whom worked for the Ministry of Vehicles, were pretty old and mediocre. Except for Zuo Yi, all of them were the kind of people who held an office and enjoyed all the privileges without doing a stroke of work.
“Just now, I heard your words and feel that you have amazing eloquence. I’m Ling Zhang, a worthless person. I just arrived in the capital city earlier this day. A couple of my servants went to the market to buy food but were bullied due to their lack of acquaintance with the rules of this city. If they were as eloquent as you, that would never have happened. May I ask when you will be at your leisure? I’d like to take them to your places to learn from you.”
At first, people nearby didn’t understand what he meant. When they saw the light, the expression on their faces became weird.
Cheeks of Zuo Yi and the other two, in particular, flushed as scarlet as the color of pig liver with rage. “You mean fellow. Y–You!”
“You are unwilling?” Ling Zhang affected a confusion he didn’t feel. “I once read this sentence in a book, ‘An official should regard bringing commoners fortune and happiness as his meritorious service, and bringing them poverty and misery his sin.’ I thought that this was a general consensus among all high-ranking officials, that they all wanted the best for the people and were readily willing to help the people. All of us are from the countryside, and we had no one to help us get justice after being wronged. When I saw your amiable faces, I thought that you must be the kind of good officials that some people kept talking about, but it turns out that I, a countryman, was mistaken. The capital city swarming with high-ranking officials is literally overshadowed by Tanyang, which is a small city surrounded by rice paddies, for our Lord Tao is a good official who truly wants the best for his people.”
Eventually, he added, “Yuwen Tong, now I really regret having come to this city with you. It falls far short of what you described.”
Yuwen Tong took the hint and was very cooperative. He flicked a glance at the three officials, who were on the verge of fainting due to fury, and said coldly, “This came as a surprise to me as well. It seems that the capital city has changed during my several years’ absence.”
Feigning astonishment, Ling Zhang looked at him. “It turns out that you didn’t know this either. Alas. It makes sense. If I were you, I would have been unwilling to return to this city as well. It’s been less than one day since your return, yet people here have already started pointing at you and gossiping about you. Poor guy, you have so little respect from others for a marshal.
Let’s just go. The stink here is penetrating.”
“All right.”
Upon saying this, the two of them entered the palace, leaving the three officials consumed with rage and others transfixed with shock.
Inside a horse-drawn carriage that had just approached sat two old men. One of them said, “That man is Ling Zhang?”
“He’s quite sharp-tongued and has a gift of gab. Look at those fools, they were nearly reduced to coma due to anger,” the other one laughed.
“This afternoon, he had a visitor’s card sent to my place, saying that Tao Feng had had him deliver some stuff here, that he wanted to inform me first before visiting me so as not to cause me disturbance. This kid’s pretty polite.”
“You’re getting gifts as well? Me, too. Tao Feng is still as thorough as always.”
“You are his son’s teacher. How dare he not send you gifts? You might abuse your power and deliberately make life difficult for his son if he hadn’t.”
“What do you take me for?!”
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