On that very night, a figure furtively sneaked into a heavily guarded complex of lofty palaces, and hid himself in the shadows.
“This is precisely what the Marshal conjectured.”
After Nanny Zhong had planted that thing in the storeroom, Yuwen Tong had come to the conclusion that Zheng shi would have a message delivered to the mastermind, so he’d some time ago assigned two of his bodyguards to keep watch on her. The bodyguards had tailed the servant sent by Zheng shi and finally found out who the mastermind was.
One of them angrily smacked a fist onto the wall beside them with a bang. They were both very indignant, for they were fully aware of what this meant.
“Sulking about it won’t help. I’ll keep watching. You go back and report it to the Marshal.”
“Okay.”
A figure zigzagged in the darkness.
In the residential compound of the Yuwen family.
Yuwen Feng woke with a start at midnight, inexplicably feeling that it was uncommonly hot and stuffy tonight, and the mood in the residential compound was subdued as well. Quite fretful, he walked out of his chambers for a stroll. On his arrival at the gateway of Yuwen Qi’s courtyard house, he surprisedly found that there were oil lamps still ablaze inside.
The first thought crossed Yuwen Feng’s mind was that Yuwen Qi’s leg injury had deteriorated again. Alarmed, he hurried up to the gate.
“First Young Master?” Gatekeepers were all startled to see Yuwen Feng come alone at this late hour of the night.
“What’s going on? My brother’s legs are hurting again?” demanded Yuwen Feng sharply.
The gatekeepers hurriedly shook their heads and one of them answered, “No. Second Young Master just has trouble sleeping and is sitting in the courtyard.”
Frowning, Yuwen Feng walked through the gate. None of the gatekeepers dared stop him.
Yuwen Qi had some time ago heard the voices outside. Seeing Yuwen Feng show up, he wasn’t surprised, and merely swiveled his wheelchair to turn his back against the lamplight streaming out of the house, hiding the smug expression on his face which he didn’t have enough time to replace. “Elder Brother.”
After walking up to him, Yuwen Feng first flicked a glance at Yuwen Qi’s legs, and then asked, “Why are you still awake at such a late hour? Is it because of your legs?”
“That miracle-working physician’s drug is very effective. I haven’t felt any pain for days. It’s just that I couldn’t sleep, so I came out to sit for a while. What is it that you came here to see me about at such a late hour?” Yuwen Qi asked back.
Yuwen Feng shook his head. “I just woke up and came out to enjoy the breezes. And then I saw light from your house and walked here to check on you.”
At the same time, Yuwen Feng also found this situation rather strange. He couldn’t sleep because he felt restless and unease and that the weather was sultry. Did his younger brother feel the same way? Was this just a coincidence or was something really going to happen tonight?
Yuwen Feng’s heart instantly went leaden at these thoughts. “The night wind is a little strong in this courtyard. Why didn’t you bring a blanket or something? Having a miracle-working physician’s drugs doesn’t mean that you get to pay less attention to your health. You should go back to your chambers. It’s time you turned in.”
While saying this, Yuwen Feng had begun to steel himself for Yuwen Qi’s impatient contradiction, but unexpectedly, Yuwen Qi didn’t say anything about it. He even smiled, “Okay, Elder Brother. You should go back to sleep as well.”
Yuwen Feng was secretly somewhat surprised, but he didn’t show it on his face, watching a servant wheeling Yuwen Qi back into the house. Before long, servants put out many of the lamps inside, leaving only one alight.
Yuwen Feng left Yuwen Qi’s courtyard house. When walking through the gate, he still felt that just now Yuwen Qi’s reaction had been somewhat weird. Maybe because he had some kind of intuition, Yuwen Feng asked one of the gatekeepers a question, which was not something he normally would do. “Was Second Young Master alone all night long?”
“Mistress had been keeping him company all along tonight and left only a short time ago,” said the gatekeeper.
“Only a short time ago?” Yuwen Feng looked quizzical. His instinct told him that there was something going on, but it was now very late, and Zheng shi no doubt had gone to sleep after returning. As her son, he shouldn’t go to her courtyard house to disturb her at this hour. With the unanswered questions in his mind, Yuwen Feng was in perturbation all night.
The next day, before daybreak, Yuwen Feng got up, preparing to go to the imperial palace to attend the court meeting. Preoccupied with some thoughts, he asked a servant after walking through the front doors of his courtyard house, “Has my mother got up?”
“Yes. She’s gone to check on Second Young Master,” answered the servant.
Yuwen Feng paused. This was unusual. In the normal course of events, his mother wouldn’t have got out of bed at this hour. He could remember very few occasions when she’d risen so early.
He turned on his heel and was just about to make towards Yuwen Qi’s courtyard house when his father called, “Where are you going? You won’t have much time left to go to the court meeting after having your breakfast.”
Yuwen Feng had no choice but to swivel around and walk into the dining room to breakfast with Yuwen Zhi.
“Father, was there anything particular that Mother talked with you about in the past few days?”
Yuwen Zhi directly asked him, “What is this about?”
Yuwen Feng, seeing that Yuwen Zhi did seem to know nothing about it, said, “Last night Mother stayed in Qi’s courtyard house until very late, and today she went there again before sunrise. I’m worried that Qi’s leg injury may worsen.”
Yuwen Zhi slightly furrowed his brow. “Has she sent for a physician?”
Yuwen Feng shook his head. “No. The physician has been unwilling to come ever since Mother chucked him out that day. Recently Mother has been taking Qi to see that miracle-working physician.”
“Then just invite that miracle-working physician around,” said Yuwen Zhi, an unconcerned look on his face. In his eyes, this was merely an insignificant matter.
Their breakfast finished, Yuwen Zhi and Yuwen Feng set off to attend the routine court meeting. Shortly after leaving home, they saw palace guards marching past them one team after another, heading for none other than the residential compound of the Yuwen family.
Yuwen Feng’s brow involuntarily twitched. Heedless of everything else, he yelled, “Stop!”
Yuwen Zhi’s palanquin in front also came to a halt. Yuwen Feng hastily got off his palanquin, walked up to Yuwen Zhi’s and said, “Father, these palace guards seem to be headed in the direction of our home.”
Yuwen Zhi, who was resting his mind with his eyes closed in his palanquin, abruptly opened his eyes at these words.
…
On this day, the residential compound of the Yuwen family was just as uproarious as usual. Almost all servants and handmaids had got up very early. They were bustling around here and there in groups, every one of them holding something in their hands or consulting with someone. Fang shi, Yuwen Chi’s wife, and Liu shi, Yuwen Si’s wife, had also risen at a quite early hour. This was going to be yet another hectic day for the two of them. They first went to inquire after Yuwen You. As luck would have it, Yuwen Tong was also present, who had all servants leave and then had a talk with the two of them.
After about half the duration of drinking a pot of tea (about five minutes), Yuwen Tong left.
Fang shi and Liu shi walked out of the house hand in hand shortly after that. They could feel each other’s tight, sweaty grip, but on the surface they looked totally normal. Servants merely felt that these two mistresses were more serious than usual, and thus were working with greater caution, not daring to make any mistakes.
“Palace guards have taken over the security at all the four city gates.”
After Yuwen Tong returned, Yao Yi immediately came to report it to him. They had noticed the movements of the palace guards the night before. This day, before dawn, palace guards had sealed all the four city gates, guarding them heavily, which had raised a lot of ungrounded speculation.
“They sealed all four city gates. Are they really so afraid of us making our escape?” spat Xie Shi in a very contemptuous and indignant tone of voice.
Yuwen Tong sat down and said with a calm face, “They’re indeed afraid, and they’ll be even more afraid of it after this day. They’re afraid because they’re scared. As long as you stay composed, there would be nothing they could do to you.”
“But Marshal, are you sure you’re going to do this? If you do it, your–”
“It’s okay. Sooner or later it’ll be in my hands again.”
Both Yao Yi and Xie Shi were a little worried. They were not Yuwen Tong, and were unable to remain as collected as him, but they trusted Yuwen Tong. In their sight, Yuwen Tong was like a god. Since Yuwen Tong had said that he would get that thing back sooner or later, they believed it without a shadow of doubt.
“Marshal!” A bodyguard hurried into the room and reported in a deep voice, “Palace guards have been dispatched and are heading our way. They’ll arrive in about the duration of a burning joss stick (roughly five minutes).”
“Who’s leading them?” inquired Yuwen Tong calmly.
“The–The Crown Prince,” said the bodyguard through gritted teeth.
Yuwen Tong sneered, “Good. Let him come.”
…
This day, residents in the city got up as early as usual and made breakfast. After breakfast, students set off to their respective schools, laborers to their workplaces, and idlers to their hang-outs. However, when they had left home, they sensed that the atmosphere in the city was somewhat unusual. Soldiers could be seen on the streets, putting the city under martial law, and large numbers of palace guards were marching towards the residential compound of the Yuwen family!
Some even said that palace guards had sealed the four city gates, allowing entry but forbidding exit, that lines of people waiting to go out of the city stretched from city gates right to the gates of the inner city.
“What happened exactly? Why are they suddenly imposing martial law?”
“I don’t know. Some heard movements on the streets last night and they all thought that it was just yamen runners chasing after a burglar or something, but guess what? Just now I saw teams of palace guards heading for the residential compound of the Yuwen family!”
“What?!”
Palace guards that had filed into the streets without warning bore down on the Yuwen family with unstoppable momentum and soon clustered around the front gates and the back gates, as if they wouldn’t even allow a fly in it to flee. This unforeseen turn of events not only caused quite a stir among common citizens, but also threw all servants of the Yuwen family into panic.
They’d seen the emperor’s corporeal presence as well as his kinsmen’s and other dignitaries’ guards of honor, but never had they ever been encircled ring upon ring like this. None of them had the faintest idea of what this was about. Those palace guards even attempted to break into the residential compound but were held back at the front gates by dozens of crack soldiers who’d suddenly shown up.
“What is the Palace Guards trying to do? What kind of place do you take the residential compound of the Yuwen family for? The one who dwells this place is the Supreme Commander of Armed Forces of the Great Yue, not some Mr. Nobody. You cannot enter as you please!” snapped Yao Yi, who was standing in front of dozens of crack soldiers in the gateway, keeping the palace guards at bay.
“Guard Yao.” Zhao Pingchuan cantered towards the gateway, halted at the bottom of the flight of stone steps and looked at Yao Yi. “Even Marshal Yuwen cannot get away with violation of the law.”
“Violation of the law? What kind of sick joke is this? Our marshal, along with hundreds of thousands of troops, risked their necks fighting the enemies in the borderlands, defending the Great Yue, and you’re saying that was violation of the law? Do you think our marshal is some kind of pushover whom you can treat in whatever way you like? You’ll have to ask whether or not the countless soldiers of the North-western Army will let you do that!”
“We won’t let you!” bellowed the dozens of crack soldiers behind Yao Yi in unison.
These men were radiating a brooding sense of power. Though there were only dozens of them, the air about them was no less powerful than that of the palace guards who crowded the area in front of the gates – no, actually they were even more intimidating than these palace guards.
The Crown Prince, clothed in robes with the pattern of a golden, four-pawed dragon on its front, sitting in a sumptuous carriage not far away, darkly narrowed his eyes, coldly staring at the front gates of the compound and the dozens of crack soldiers who had an alarmingly daunting emanation about them.
“Move forward.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
As the horse-drawn carriage slowly got close to the front gates of the residential compound of the Yuwen family, a eunuch announced the crown prince’s arrival in a loud voice.
“The Crown Prince approaches!”
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