Neither of them lifted the curtain, but they both knew what it was that they were referring to.
The next day, the two of them went to the Ling Mansion. This was the first time that Yuwen Tong had visited the Ling family as an emperor after his enthronement. Understandably, the imperial guard of honor’s arrival at the front gates of the Ling Mansion caused quite a sensation.
All members of the Ling family went out to welcome Yuwen Tong, who spared them the formalities and entered the residence very soon.
After walking inside, everybody felt more at ease and behaved more naturally.
Yuwen Tong talked with Ling Xingzhong and Ji Yin for a while before he found an opportunity to speak with Ling Zhaowu alone.
Ling Zhaowu, who had had Yao Yi relay a word of warning to Yuwen Tong the day before, had originally thought that Yuwen Tong would avoid him. It hadn’t crossed his mind that Yuwen Tong would come to talk to him on his own initiative, so he quite admired Yuwen Tong’s courage.
“Soon you and Zhang’er will be married. There’s no need to rush into anything. I don’t understand why you’ve been so impatient in the past couple of days,” said Ling Zhaowu.
Yuwen Tong inwardly gave a little cough, fairly surprised that Ling Zhaowu was being so explicit.
“The wedding ceremony involves a lot of complicated ritualistic formalities. I was worried that we’d be flustered on the wedding day if we didn’t do a dry run,” explained Yuwen Tong, looking composed.
“What about this visit? You don’t really have to come here with such fuss on this day,” said Ling Zhaowu.
Yuwen Tong smiled, “I’ve been meaning to pay you a visit after my enthronement for quite some time. After this visit, those insensible characters in this city would gossip less about your family.”
Ling Zhaowu lifted his brows. ‘Not bad. This explanation is pretty reasonable,’ he thought.
Not many people living in this residence were aware that Yuwen Tong had been slipping in here by night over the past few days. Except for kung fu experts like Ji Yin and Ji Yanlai, nobody could sense Yuwen Tong’s existence without seeing him, but Ling Zhaowu was different. Though he couldn’t hear Yuwen Tong slink in, he could deduce it from Ling Zhang’s behavior and reaction in daily life.
Considering the two of them were going to get married, Ling Zhaowu had no interested in stopping them from secretly meeting each other at night. However, Yuwen Tong’s being unwilling to let Ling Zhang leave the palace struck him as faintly provocative. The reason why Ling Zhaowu had involuntarily made those remarks the day before was because he’d wanted to remind Yuwen Tong that he was his future father-in-law, that he needed to show some self-restraint.
By making this visit, Yuwen Tong proved he was not a coward.
Now that Yuwen Tong had come here, Ling Zhaowu took advantage of this opportunity to ask him some questions that he’d been meaning to ask him for quite some time.
“You two will be married in a few days, and there are some issues that you’ll have to face up to sooner or later. Given that you’re now the emperor, there’s no doubt some day people will start asking about the matter of your heir, though nobody has brought it up so far. How do you plan to handle it?”
Ling Zhaowu’s question was very direct. Fortunately Yuwen Tong had meant to talk with Ling Zhaowu about this matter from the very beginning, and had some time ago made preparations for it.
“I heard that you still haven’t set out to deal with the matter of the imperial seraglio. What are you planning to do?” Ling Zhaowu asked another question. “Have you made a mental list of your future concubines already?”
Ling Zhaowu appeared very calm when asking these questions. He even asked Yuwen Tong of his own accord whether or not he had any plans to take concubines, seeming not to be angry about this matter at all, as though finding it quite understandable.
But Yuwen Tong knew that Ling Zhaowu wasn’t being understanding. Although there hadn’t been many occasions when he’d talked with Ling Zhaowu in private, he had found through personal experience that Ling Zhaowu was quite secretive. The latter was a man who had been through a rebirth and was very poised and unhurried in his dealings with others. Nobody knew what he had been through in his last incarnation.
Although Ling Zhaowu seemed unruffled and quite understanding at this moment, Yuwen Tong would bet that if he really took some concubines and set up an imperial harem of his own, his and Ling Zhang’s wedding would almost certainly be called off, and Ling Zhaowu would get the wedding canceled covertly without raising any objections openly or putting his son in a difficult position, without even letting his son find out about his take on the marriage.
To say the least, even if the wedding was held as scheduled, he wouldn’t never have a chance to take any concubines. What concerned him the most was the possibility that every time he decided to take in a woman as his concubine, she would be found dead in her bedroom shortly after that.
Ling Zhaowu cared about Ling Zhang very much. Ling Zhang’s happiness meant a lot to Ling Zhaowu.
“Brother Zhang will be my only partner for the rest of my life. I’ll never take any concubines,” said Yuwen Tong beneath Ling Zhaowu’s seemingly level gaze.
Ling Zhaowu kept silent for a brief moment before he looked seriously at him and asked, “You’ll never take any concubines?”
Yuwen Tong replied, “Yes. Currently there isn’t a seraglio in the palace. All the eunuchs, court ladies and concubines of the former emperor that could be dismissed have been dismissed. Right now the seraglio is totally unoccupied, and it’ll stay that way for good.”
“You’re the emperor, and Zhang’er is a man. If you don’t take concubines, how will you ever be able to have a son? Without a son to be your heir, your throne will be insecure, the future of this country will be insecure. The Great Wen has just been built, yet you’ll let it meet its end in a few decades?” said Ling Zhaowu.
Yuwen Tong smiled, “Don’t worry, Father-in-law. It won’t meet its end so soon. Just because I won’t set up a seraglio and won’t have a son of my own doesn’t meant that I couldn’t have an heir.”
Ling Zhaowu looked at him earnestly. “What do you have in mind?”
“Adoption,” replied Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhaowu didn’t make any remarks immediately. He pondered for a while before he said, “That’s indeed feasible. Whose son are you going to adopt?”
Yuwen Tong answered, “Yuwen Feng or Yuwen Qian. Both their wives are pregnant. Apart from them, there are also some alternatives. I have many cousins, and all of them are blessed with more than one son. I’d discussed this matter with my granduncle and some others before my enthronement. I’ll make a decision about the adoption right after my and Brother Zhang’s wedding ceremony.”
All these people were close relatives of Yuwen Tong’s. They were all Yuwens. It was indeed a solution for Yuwen Tong to adopt their sons.
However, Yuwen Tong seemed to have the inclination to adopt more than one child, which would undoubtedly lead to some serious problems.
“Although all of them are you cousins, their sons are not your biological sons after all. How do you plan to tackle the issue of biological parents’ influence on the kids? If you don’t handle it properly, some day it’ll be the greatest pitfall. Moreover, all those kids are Yuwens, and they have no bonding with my son whatsoever. In the future, my son will be in a quite awkward position if you adopt them. How could you bring yourself to do that?” inquired Ling Zhaowu.
Yuwen Tong replied, “After the adoption, their relations with the Abode of the Marquess Fuan and the Abode of the Marquess Huaiwen will be severed, and Brother Zhang and I will be their fathers. I’ll take those kids into the palace to be raised by Brother Zhang immediately after their birth, and I’ll do everything within my power to strengthen the bonding between the kids and Brother Zhang. As long as I still draw breath, I’ll never let Brother Zhang feel hard-done-by. Also, I’ll make a will soon, so that if one day something does happen to me and one of the kids is to succeed to the throne, he’ll have to be nice to Brother Zhang. Otherwise none of them will be able to take the throne. On top of that…
I won’t have Brother Zhang stay in the palace for the rest of his life. I’ll help him build his team and have his own subordinates, making sure that he has what it takes to protect himself, so that if one day the situation does get out of control, nobody will be able to do him any harm.”
Ling Zhaowu, who’d been quietly listening all along, came to understand what Yuwen Tong meant, and he also caught on to the meaning of the last remark.
By doing that, Yuwen Tong, an emperor, would be like he were keeping a ferocious tiger beside his own bed, which could bite him at any moment.
“This is the best I can do to protect him,” said Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhaowu asked, “Are you not afraid that it’d be like you’re raising a tiger which one day might kill you?”
Yuwen Tong smiled, “Brother Zhang is not a tiger. He’s my partner. The reason why I took the throne was because I wanted him to have no misgivings about being by my side. This country is a weapon I could use to protect him. If one day he wants it, I’ll do my best to help him. I have an ulterior motive. I’m willing to give him anything that’s mine to give, but he must not leave me, and no one must try to persuade him to leave me. This is my line in the sand, and I won’t show any mercy to whoever touches it.”
Ling Zhaowu flicked him a glance. This pal was warning him.
“Have you discussed all this with Zhang’er?” Ling Zhaowu asked him.
Yuwen Tong said, “We haven’t talked about any of this in detail, but we know each other well, so he’s probably guessed my plan.”
Ling Zhaowu gave it some thought and said, “This is between you and him after all, so I’ll stay out of it. I’ll bear these words of yours in mind, and I’ll wait and see if you’ll keep your promise. If you break your word and hurt him, I’ll take him away and kill you, and you’ll have only yourself to blame for it. The future of this country doesn’t mean anything to me, and I have no love for the people in this country. I’m not a kind-hearted man, and I’m not going to consider whether or not this country would descend into chaos. My son is the one I care about the most and I’ll do anything to protect him, which is a point I hope you’ll understand.”
Naturally Yuwen Tong understood. Through this talk, they became fully aware of each other’s line in the sand.
The conversation finished, Yuwen Tong went to play chess with Ling Xingzhong.
Seeing him coming, Ling Zhang who was playing chess with Ling Xingzhong came to realize that Yuwen Tong had finished talking with Ling Zhaowu, looking at Yuwen Tong with a somewhat nervous expression in his eyes.
Yuwen Tong slightly inclined his head, suggesting that the talk was over and the issue had been settled.
Ling Zhang felt a sense of relief.
“Your father probably has something to say to you. You may go and talk to him. I’ll finish the game for you,” Yuwen Tong said to him.
Ling Xingzhong looked at them and then said to Ling Zhang, “Go. I’d like to go a few rounds with His Majesty.”
Ling Zhang nodded, rose to his feet and took his leave.
Ling Zhaowu was still sitting in his chair, seeming to be lost in thought.
As Ling Zhang walked into the courtyard, he immediately perceived it. “Why did you come out? Weren’t you playing chess with your grandfather? How did it go? Did you win a game or two?”
Ling Zhang said, “Grandfather may be old, but his chess prowess is as formidable as always. I’m no match for him.”
Ling Zhaowu smiled, “I know very well how good a chess player your grandfather is.”
Ling Xingzhong’s chess strategy was just as open and above board as himself. It didn’t involve any artifice, and sometimes it could be very explicit. Any adept chess player would be able to acquaint themself with Ling Xingzhong’s style of playing after a couple of games with him. It was not really difficult to defeat him.
“Now that you’ve come here, take a seat. It was Yuwen Tong who told you to come, I suppose?” Ling Zhaowu asked him to sit down.
Ling Zhang was somewhat embarrassed. “Nothing escapes your eyes, Father.”
“Actually I happen to have something to say to you,” said Ling Zhaowu.
Ling Zhang looked at Ling Zhaowu, who related to him his conversation with Yuwen Tong a few moments before.
Although Ling Zhang had guessed what it was about before coming here, he was still slightly astounded as he heard the words “Brother Zhang will be my only partner for the rest of my life. I’ll never take any concubines”, which were repeated to him by Ling Zhaowu.
“Yuwen Tong had no intention of taking any concubines. He’ll adopt a couple of his cousins’ sons. I was worried that he’d be unfaithful to you, but he offered this solution, which surprised me somewhat,” said Ling Zhaowu.
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