Ling Zhang had thought that Ling Zhaowu would say the same thing, but the latter didn’t.
“You should have Yuwen Tong cancel his sleepover in your house tonight. If there’s a rule you’re supposed to obey, you ought to obey it,” said Ling Zhaowu.
“Yes, Father,” answered Ling Zhang, his face burning slightly, planning to have Miao Shiba deliver a message to the palace in a few moments.
“Sit. Let’s have a little father-son talk.”
Ling Zhang took a seat, looking at Ling Zhaowu, who looked back at his son with mild eyes for quite a while before he began, “Today I’m not going to talk about any other things. After you marry Yuwen Tong, you two will be sharing both your honor and your disgrace together. I have only one hope for you, and that is you two will be by each other’s side and take care of each other for the rest of your lives.
Back at the time when I married your mother, we also swore an oath that we’d live together till old and gray. Pity providence didn’t give us the chance to honor it. Your mother was taken from me only a few years after she married me, but I could still remember vividly her every frown and smile. Recently I’ve gone back quite often to the time you were just born. Sometimes, when I’m in a daze, those happy moments of the three of us being together feel like yesterday. These two incarnations of mine strike me as an instant, but everything that happened in those days remain clear and distinct in my mind. My greatest regret is that your mother and I couldn’t grow old together, but you and Yuwen Tong still have a chance to do that. I hope you two will live happily together for the rest of your lives. If you do, I’ll be able to look your mother in the face in the underworld.”
“Father…”
After hearing Ling Zhaowu’s words, Ling Zhang felt sorry for him. The deceased were gone for good, and the living tended to have to endure even more pains, especially when they used to love each other so much they couldn’t bear the shortest separation. The reason why his father had gone crazy previously had also been because the death of his mother had been too heavy a blow for him, which showed how unbearable the loss of a loved one could be.
“I’ll never be able to rid myself of the regret that I failed to protect your mother, so I hope things will work out between you two. When two people are together, sometimes they quarrel, and that’s especially the case with you two, considering both of you are men. There will inevitably be moments when your temper fray, and you lose your cool or even go berserk, but on no account should you impulsively hurt each other’s feelings. The right thing to do is show more patience, figure out a way to calm down and try to understand each other. It takes only a bad choice of words to hurt your lover badly, because you have an intimate knowledge of where the softest and most sensitive part of your lover is.
Yuwen Tong is several years your senior. He’s well informed, resourceful and poised. All this time he’s been quite protective of you. Everything you’ve been through so far, he’s been through the same. Even when you’re in a mood, he could quickly fathom out why you’re mad, and he knows how to dissolve your anger with patience and tolerance and wouldn’t let a minor discord sour your relations, which is something you should feel lucky to have. However, the Great Wen has just been built, so after you marry him, you’ll have to face a lot of problems, and there will be an endless list of things you’ll have to deal with in the next one or two years: things you’ll have to learn, things you’ll have to do, pressure from inside and outside the imperial court, affairs in the imperial harem, etc. You’ll find yourself overwhelmed by all those things, which will make you feel drained and irascible. When that happens, it’ll be a test to see if what you two have is firm enough. I hope you two will be able to tough it out. The key is to have faith in each other.
By the way, I’ll be staying in the capital city for the next half a year. You may talk to me when you encounter any difficulties. I’ll do what I can to help you out.”
Ling Zhang heard Ling Zhaowu’s words very clearly and knew that his father meant every word he said. He was also aware of what kind of issues he and Yuwen Tong would have to face after their wedding. “I know what you mean. I’ll bear your words in mind.”
“You said that you’ll be in this city for the next half a year. Are you going anywhere next summer?” Ling Zhang asked.
“I’m going to Shengzhou to look up your uncle and set up a Chamber of Commerce,” answered Ling Zhaowu.
Ling Zhang was amazed. “A Chamber of Commerce? Why do you want to establish a Chamber of Commerce in Shengzhou?”
“Shengzhou is a border city bordering the Wan Kingdom. To the north of it is Youzhou, and further north the Luohai Kingdom. In fact the most ideal location is a city on the borders of the three countries. Pity such a city doesn’t exist, what with the Sanguan Mountains. If you are to build a business empire and an underground intelligence network covering the three countries, a Chamber of Commerce would be a must. It’ll make it more convenient for us to open markets in the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom. Furthermore, a Chamber of Commerce would make a perfect smokescreen. On the surface, members of a Chamber of Commerce are from various forces, but in fact, as long as those forces are secretly united, the Chamber of Commerce will actually be in our hands, and it won’t arouse anybody’s suspicions.”
Ling Zhang caught on to Ling Zhaowu’s explanation. It seemed that his father had to pay a visit to Shengzhou. After all, it’d take quite some time to establish a Chamber of Commerce. The sooner his father went there to get started, the sooner he would start to benefit from the trading network certered around the Chamber of Commerce.
But it would, without doubt, cost a lot of money. Without enough money to pave the way, it’d be much more difficult to set up a Chamber of Commerce. Ling Zhang immediately thought of his trousseaus, beginning to consider how to convert them into money after the wedding so that his father could put it to good use.
“Zhang’er?”
Ling Zhang jerked out of his trance. “What’s the matter, Father?”
“What are you thinking? You look so absorbed in thought.”
“I’m thinking about money.”
“Money?”
Ling Zhaowu was confused for merely a brief moment before he came to understand what his son meant. “There’s no rush to prepare money. I have an idea how to solve that issue.”
“I still have some money, which, coupled with my trousseaus, should be enough,” Ling Zhang said.
Ling Zhaowu was not in a hurry to discuss this matter. He preferred not to use Ling Zhang’s trousseaus unless he really had to. “We may talk about these things after your wedding. There’s still half a year for us to make preparations. We may take our time.”
Ling Zhang inclined his head. “Incidentally, did you mention this to my paternal grandfather?”
“I did. Your uncle will go to Shengzhou to take office right after your and Yuwen Tong’s wedding. Your aunt will be staying here. I’ll depart for Shengzhou around the time their baby is born next year, and I can conveniently bring them to Shengzhou to be reunited with your uncle. As regards our family, your paternal grandfather said that he wanted to move into your maternal grandfather’s manor so that the two of them could keep each other company. Mr. Mu will stay in this city, and he’ll move into that manor as well. Everybody has a place to go to.”
This meant that after half a year, there would be barely anybody staying in the Ling Mansion. For a few moments, Ling Zhang was at a loss for words.
Right now the whole family were in the same residence enjoying the sweetness of family life, so it really disheartened Ling Zhang somewhat to learn that they would have to go their separate ways in half a year.
…
In the imperial palace.
Miao Shiba delivered a message to the palace. Yuwen Tong, after being informed, furrowed his brows slightly.
As a matter of fact, the word of warning from the Ling family was not the only that he had received. Yao Yi and some others had also reminded him in a roundabout that it was inappropriate for him to go to the Ling Mansion on this night, that it’d be more auspicious if he waited until the next day to meet Ling Zhang.
The very thought of sleeping alone this night made Yuwen Tong feel rather frustrated, but he had no choice but to put up with it.
The imperial palace, decorated with red silk everywhere, was beautiful and uproarious.
Ling Zhang’s wedding robes had been sent to the Ling Mansion some time ago, leaving Yuwen Tong’s in the Infinite Fortune Palace alone.
“Jiang Xi and Jiang Ke said they wanted to train the troops. How did it go?”
Yuwen Tong asked Yao Yi about it. The next day Yuwen Tong would personally go out of the palace to pick up Ling Zhang in the Ling Mansion, and a thousand crack soldiers of the North-western Army would be the guard of honor. Jiang Xi and Jiang Ke, two of Yuwen Tong’s most trusted generals, would go with him. In order to do Yuwen Tong proud on the wedding day, the two of them had been training the one thousand crack troops for quite some time.
“Tell them to go easy on the soldiers. I don’t want them to exhaust their men. They need to save some strength for tomorrow.”
On hearing this, Yao Yi immediately replied, “The one thousand soldiers are fully prepared. I’m sure they’ll be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow.”
“What about Jiang Xi’s and Jiang Ke’s robes? Tell them to make themselves presentable lest they be an embarrassment to me.”
Jiang Xi and Jiang Ke were military officers, and their taste in clothes struck Yuwen Tong as rather poor, which was why Yuwen Tong was worried that they’d fail to make themselves presentable the next day.
After hearing this, Yao Yi hastily undertook that he would deliver the message to the two generals.
“Have the Ministry of Rites got everything ready? If anything goes awry tomorrow, I’ll wring their necks with my bare hands.”
For an instant Yao Yi was concerned about the neck of Yuwen Feng, the Marquess Huaiwen (AKA the Marquess of Moderation). Then he said, “Rest assured, Sire, everything is in readiness.”
“What about the palace? I feel that the decoration in the Taiqing Palace is not gorgeous enough. Get some red silk over those railings at the front gates.”
Yao Yi, “…”
“Sire, the last time Childe Ling came to the palace, he said that we must not get red silk all over this place, because it would dazzle him, so there shouldn’t be any red silk on the railings. How about I have some men scatter some petals there tomorrow?”
Yuwen Tong kept silent for a few moments, attentively picturing what it would like to have petals all over the ground, seriously considering the feasibility of the suggestion.
“Let’s go with petals.”
“Yes, Sire,” Yao Yi immediately answered, preparing to instruct some men to start looking for suitable flowers in a few moments, pick them early the next morning and then scatter the petals over the ground. As for how great a disaster it would be for the flowers in the palace, Yao Yi didn’t take it into consideration at all. Even the idea of scattering petals was from a subordinate of his. At that time he hadn’t taken the advice, but now it turned out to be quite helpful, which surprised him.
However, scattering petals at the front gates of the Taiqing Palace wouldn’t be impressive enough. He felt that they needed to do the same thing in the Infinite Fortune Palace and the imperial garden as well.
Ling Zhang, who was still in the Ling Mansion, was unaware of what kind of plan the master and servant in the palace had come up with, and he certainly didn’t know how long he’d be in a shower of petals the next day. Otherwise he would definitely rush into the palace to have them drop the idea.
“Sire, apart from this, is there anything else you want done?” asked Yao Yi after writing down the requirements Yuwen Tong laid down one by one.
Yuwen Tong flicked him a glance. “That’ll be all for the moment. You may leave.”
Yao Yi readily took his leave immediately.
This was merely a man who was having a tantrum because he couldn’t sleep with his lover in his arms for one night. If he stayed any longer, Yuwen Tong might give him some other weird instructions, which would increase his workload considerably.
Yuwen Tong knew his subordinate was secretly complaining about him, but he didn’t mind. Right now the only thing he was thinking about was how Ling Zhang was doing with the preparations. The next day was their wedding day, and he wondered whether or not Ling Zhang would be too happy to be able to sleep on this night. Yuwen Tong believed that he himself was bound to have a sleepless night.
“Yao Yi!”
On hearing Yuwen Tong call his name from behind, Yao Yi, who had only walked a short distance away, came to a halt, the corners of his mouth twitching, and with that he hastened to pivot around and doubled back.
“Is there anything else I can do for you, Sire?”
“Will Brother Zhang be riding Snowflake tomorrow? Where’s North Wind? I haven’t seen him for some time. Get him out of the stable immediately. I want him well groomed.”
Yao Yi was amazed. “Now?”
“Yeah. Hurry!”
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