The peddler had fled after getting wind of the hunt, but he was not a stranger to the whole city. Though he’d appeared in that area only occasionally, over the years a lot of people had made his acquaintance.
Yao Yi and some other bodyguards soon found out the peddler’s address and went there.
When they arrived, the peddler’s house was in a total mess, overturned furniture scattered all over the ground. There were also chairs and tables badly damaged by sharp weapons. The peddler’s shoulder was hurt. He was clutching the wound, his robes blood-soaked, face full of horror. At the sight of Yao Yi and the others, he gave a start like a frightened bird and loudly implored them to spare his life.
Plainly there had been a fight in this place, and judging from the scene, it’d been a rather intense one. Apart from the peddler’s blood, there was also someone else’s blood.
“What happened?” Yao Yi queried the peddler.
Still in fright, the peddler didn’t dare speak at all.
With a frown, Yao Yi stepped up to the peddler, hit a couple of his acupoints to stop the bleeding and said, “We’re not here to kill you, but I will if you refuse to answer our questions with honesty.”
The peddler was stupefied with shock. When Yao Yi asked him again, he didn’t dare keep silent any longer.
“So–Someone came here to kill me. I dodged. He stabbed my shoulder. And then a man in black suddenly showed up, killed him an–and took his body away.”
Yao Yi knitted his eyebrows. It was understandable that someone wanted the peddler dead, but who would want to save him?
No matter what, they had found the target, and they must drag the mastermind’s identity out of him, which meant they needed him to stay alive for the moment.
“Who hired you to spread those rumors?” Yao Yi inquired.
The peddler’s face changed at this question, which showed that he knew exactly what Yao Yi was talking about.
“Speak!” Yao Yi whipped out his sword.
The peddler cried in terror, “I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you. Don’t kill me.”
Then he swallowed hard and continued, “Please spare my life, sir. Someone paid me to do that. It was a servant of Su family that hired me to circulate the rumors.”
Su family?
Yao Yi asked, “Which Su family?”
The peddler hurriedly answered, “The family of Su Zhi, the ministry councillor who took office not long ago.”
Su Zhi? Yao Yi’s brow corrugated in a frown. Then he remembered. That was Zheng shi’s brother-in-law.
Yao Yi got a general idea of what had happened. A somewhat disgusted look appeared in his eyes and with that he started worrying about the marshal. That damn Zheng shi had made mischief once again, and it hadn’t been long since the last time she’d been warned. It seemed that breaking Yuwen Qi’s legs hadn’t been deterrent enough for her. She still dared stir up trouble, and this time her target was Childe Ling, who would definitely get angry when he found out about it.
Alas.
But even so, Yao Yi didn’t dare keep the truth back.
He was just about to take the peddler away when a guard rushed over and reported, “Captain, the imperial palace has dispatched some men to carry out a hunt.”
The imperial palace?
“What’s going on?” Yao Yi was surprised.
“It’s because of the rumor about Old Master Ling. Since the former emperor’s reputation was undermined, His Majesty got angry and gave arrest orders for the initiator of it,” answered the guard.
Yao Yi looked at the peddler, hesitating about whether he should take him away or let him stay.
The peddler asked in a trembling voice. “Whi–Which Old Master Ling?”
Yao Yi looked at him suspiciously. “Old Master Ling Xingzhong. Wasn’t you who started the rumor? How is it possible that you don’t know?”
The peddler yelled, “It wasn’t me! I didn’t start this rumor. That servant of Su family only asked me to spread rumors about the Ling’s Drugstore, and those about Marshal Yuwen’s threat to separate from Lord Yuwen because of Childe Ling. I have nothing to do with the other rumors!”
A frown creased Yao Yi’s forehead. After thinking for a few moments, he instructed, “Take him away.”
“Yes, Marshal.”
…
“It wasn’t them who started that rumor? So there’s someone else involved?”
Ling Zhang was confused. If it wasn’t Su Zhi, which meant Zheng shi wasn’t responsible for that, then who could this person be? Had this person deliberately mixed the third rumor with the former two to mislead people into believing that Su family was behind it?
“That market trader also said that he wasn’t the one who started this rumor.” Yao Yi returned from his trip and said, “Childe Ling, Marshal, His Majesty’s men have already traced it to the couple of women. It won’t be long before they track down that market trader. Given how bad secret-keepers those people are, His Majesty’s men will probably soon come to know what we’ve found out. What should we do with the peddler? Let him return?”
Yuwen Tong kept silent. Clearly there was someone else at work. First they’d started a third rumor mixing it with the former two, and then someone covertly rescued the peddler…
“Send the peddler back. Remember, wait until the arrival of His Majesty’s men to release him lest he get killed.”
“Yes, Marshal.”
After Yao Yi marched the peddler away, Ling Zhang said, “Who do you think intentionally started these rumors? What’s their intention?”
“By circulating the rumor about Old Master Ling, they merely made you a target for some gossips, and you didn’t really come to any harm, but by rescuing the peddler, they clearly were trying to expose Su family. Assuming that the one who started this rumor was the same person who saved the peddler, then their target would be Su family; if not, then their intention would be a mystery.”
After pondering for a moment, Ling Zhang said, “This might sound weird, but I have an intuition that it was the same person.”
Yuwen Tong thought for a while and said, “Then let’s find out what the mastermind wants to do exactly.”
What with the couple of women, the market trader selling vegetables, and the peddler, Su Zhi wouldn’t be convicted of calumniation of the former emperor, but conviction for slander was inevitable. The punishment for it ranged from a fine to dismissal from his post, totally subject to the emperor’s will, but in any case, Su Zhi wouldn’t die. What was the mastermind’s intention?
Ling Zhang said, “No matter what, it was definitely Zheng shi who instructed Su Zhi to spread those rumors. Yuwen Zhi promised us he wouldn’t interfere in any of our matters ever again, but Zheng shi’s conduct suggested otherwise.”
Yuwen Tong had a thoughtful expression. “Maybe this is just what the mastermind wants.”
Ling Zhang was puzzled.
Yuwen Tong said, “Though Su Zhi won’t be condemned to death, this matter has indeed reached the emperor’s ears, and given my agreement with Yuwen Zhi, I cannot turn a blind eye to this matter. But I and Yuwen Zhi have just talked with the emperor, saying that I never demanded the two of us break up family and live apart.”
Ling Zhang was startled and immediately came to understand what Yuwen Tong meant. “You mean someone is trying to force you into breaking the agreement?”
Yuwen Tong face darkened. “It seems that way.”
Once he broke the agreement, his agreement with Yuwen Zhi would be invalidated, and Yuwen Zhi would continue to interfere in their matters without scruple and with ever-increasing intensity.
“Do you think it’s possible that… your uncle did this?” Ling Zhang looked at him.
Yuwen Tong didn’t say anything. Clearly he also had such a suspicion, but he wasn’t sure because of the absence of any definite proof.
…
Though Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had got some sneaking conjectures, things changed before they could confirm any of them.
Su Zhi had indeed been found responsible for the circulation of those rumors, but he categorically denied that it was Zheng shi who’d incited him. He merely said that he bore resentment towards Ling Zhang because of Su Yaoyao, who originally stood a chance of marrying Yuwen Tong. Ling Zhang’s engagement to Yuwen Tong had shattered his hopes, so he’d decided to make trouble for Ling Zhang.
Since Zheng shi hadn’t been ratted out, Yuwen Tong naturally didn’t have to break the agreement, which accorded with Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong’s speculations. At least it proved that this hadn’t been yet another Yuwen Zhi’s scheme.
Shortly after that, something even more unexpected happened — Su Zhi died. He committed suicide, allegedly because of his guilt about failing Yuwen family.
This unforeseen event had come as a surprise to everybody.
“I don’t believe Su Zhi committed suicide because of his conscience about letting down Yuwen family. Someone definitely pressurized him into doing that,” said Ling Zhang, frowning.
It’d been in the Court Prison that Su Zhi had died. He’d been in custody under orders of the emperor, who had intended to call a consultation first before deciding his punishment, but unexpectedly, Su Zhi had died shortly after being put in prison.
The most immediate aftermath of Su Zhi’s death was a drastic change of the relations between Ling Zhang, Yuwen Tong and Yuwen Zhi’s branch of the family. Zheng shi’s sister fainted after a long hard wail at Su Zhi’s funeral. Zheng shi and Yuwen Qi in a wheelchair had all attended the funeral. Zheng shi’s sister and Su Yaoyao had been accommodated in a courtyard house of Yuwen Zhi’s branch of the family.
Zheng shi and Yuwen Qi had pinned Su Zhi’s death on Yuwen Tong, and there had been a thorough breakdown in relations between the two sides.
Thinking about the series of changes, Ling Zhang knitted his eyebrows, feeling that something was not right, as if someone had pressurized Yuwen Zhi’s branch of the family into breaking completely with Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Feng was the only one who had been relatively sensible all along, but there was nothing he could do to make a difference.
“If this is what the mastermind wants — you making an enemy of Zheng shi, then what is their final goal? Could the mastermind somehow benefit from this kind of thing?” Ling Zhang was totally bemused.
Yuwen Tong, however, was must more unhurried than him. “Even if Su Zhi was still alive, you think Zheng shi and I would stand a chance of getting along with each other? I forced my uncle into breaking Yuwen Qi’s legs, and she hates my guts because of it. This matter just gave her another reason to hate me more.”
After thinking for a moment, Ling Zhang felt that Yuwen Tong had got a point. In no circumstances would Zheng shi or Yuwen Qi live in peace with Yuwen Tong after that incident.
“That person definitely has an ulterior motive in deepening the hatred between me and Zheng shi,” commented Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong had come up with a plan. Given that Zheng shi and Yuwen Qi harbored resentment against him, there was a very high possibility that they’d been used. As long as he kept close watch on Zheng shi and Yuwen Qi, sooner or later he would find out what the mastermind intended to do by taking advantage of the two of them.
Ling Zhang felt that Yuwen Tong’s analysis of the situation made a lot of sense, his anxiety ebbing.
Surprisingly, after this event, those rumors about the Ling’s Drugstore and Ling Zhang disappeared. People seemed to have forgotten about the whole thing.
Since the business of the drugstore was now on track, Ling Zhang believed it was time he returned to the Imperial College to resume his study.
After hearing that Ling Zhang was going back to the Imperial College, Yuwen Tong, who was still “recovering from his injuries” and thus had a lot of leisure, wishfully said he’d go with him.
Sure enough Ling Zhang refused. How was he supposed to learn anything if this guy went with him?
Thus, after some days off from school, Ling Zhang returned to the Imperial College to continue being a college student.
As luck would have it, this day, on his arrival at the Imperial College in the morning, he chanced upon Jiang Yu, as he had on his first day of school at this college. As usual, Jiang Yu had a group of cronies around him, including Zuo Yuanping who had always been ill-disposed towards Ling Zhang, and who was the son of Zuo Yi, the official working for the Ministry of Works whom Ling Zhang had once taunted at the gateway of the palace.
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