When Ling Zhang was close enough to the encampment, he caught sight of a man standing at the front gate in the distance and stopped dead in his tracks.
On seeing this, the others also paused and looked in that direction. All those with good eyesight spotted Yuwen Tong and came to understand why Ling Zhang was reacting this way.
“Ahem.” Yao Yi let out a little cough and gave the others a significant look with a motion of his hand.
The others quietly backed off.
Ling Zhang was still standing motionless as though in a trance, gazing unblinkingly at Yuwen Tong on the other side, his eyes burning, his breathing growing heavier in spite of himself. The longing which he’d thought he’d be able to restrain instantly burst its boundary, overwhelming him.
There was even an inexplicable pang of injured feeling surging inside him, giving him an urge to run up to Yuwen Tong and hug him tight to ease it.
Thinking about this, he finally moved, rushing forward like the wind.
Seeing him streaking over, Yuwen Tong opened his mouth unawares, staring fixedly at the person who was dashing at him like a tired bird flying towards its nest, his heart pounding so violently that it hurt.
The separation had lasted so many days. He’d missed Ling Zhang every day and every night, fearing that he might undergo hardships or be bullied or get hurt. He’d been kept in suspense all this time. Yuwen Tong had no idea what else he subconsciously took Ling Zhang for exactly. He only knew that Ling Zhang was as important as his own life, that under no circumstances would he let anything happen to Ling Zhang.
Arms outstretched, he welcomed the person darting up to him by sweetly taking him into his embrace, and it was only then that his heart seemed to return to where it should be. He exhaled deeply, holding Ling Zhang so carefully as though he were some kind of precious treasure.
His significant other finally returned to his embrace.
He would be a fool to let Ling Zhang leave again!
Ling Zhang held on to Yuwen Tong’s back tightly, breathing in the familiar mixture of the refreshing faint fragrance and Yuwen Tong’s scent which enveloped his whole body as though it were cleansing every fibre of his being, possessively putting him under Yuwen Tong’s protection. He willingly submitted himself to it, wishing he could cling on to Yuwen Tong like this forever.
Yuwen Tong caught a whiff of a smell of medicine which he could easily tell was some kind of topical vulnerary, and with that he came to himself and recalled his secret bodyguard in that letter had told him that Ling Zhang’s arm was wounded, that he had had to stay in Jiangzhou to nurse his injury…
“Which one of your arms is injured? Let me take a look?”
Ling Zhang was confused when finding himself out of Yuwen Tong’s embrace. Why did Yuwen Tong stop hugging him? He involuntarily looked at Yuwen Tong, a bemused and injured expression in his eyes.
Yuwen Tong’s heart melted by Ling Zhang’s gaze, but he’d gathered his wits. “Let me have a look at your wound first.”
It was only then that Ling Zhang raised his injured arm, glanced down at it and said, “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch, and it has healed well.”
“You seriously expect me to believe that you stayed for days just to nurse a common scratch?” Yuwen Tong’s eyes became stern and with that he lifted Ling Zhang’s arm to scrutinize it. Looking at the bandage almost wrapped around the whole forearm, he knitted his brows.
The wound was so long?
“I’m really okay. It has healed. I’ll be able to remove the bandage after the wound is scarred. It’s just a minor injury,” said Ling Zhang. He really felt that it was no big deal. The wound was healing slowly merely because it was fairly deep, and he’d accidentally put some strain on it when pushing on with his journey, and it’d been affected by his sweat.
“Mr. Mu’s vulnerary is miraculous, and Qiu Bing has been checking my wound and changing my dressing on a frequent basis, so I’m really okay. Don’t concern yourself with it. What about you? You arrived in this city so soon. How’s your journey? You must be exhausted. There’s no need for you to come here to meet me,” said Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong made no reply. After observing Ling Zhang’s countenance for quite a while, he gently put Ling Zhang’s arm down, took his other hand, pivoted around and drew him towards the gate of the encampment.
Ling Zhang walked towards the far end of the encampment with him. At the sight of the commander of the Haizhou garrison and the other two, he hurriedly pulled Yuwen Tong to a halt.
Seeing this, the three men hastened to pay their respects to Ling Zhang and introduced themselves.
“It’s an honor to kneel before you, Childe Ling. I’m Hai Mu.”
“It’s an honor to kneel before you, Childe Ling. I’m Dong Sheng.”
“It’s an honor to kneel before you, Childe Ling. I’m Wu Zhuo.”
Ling Zhang greeted them and said, “There’s no need for formalities, Your Lordships. I’m on an incognito visit as well.” He tossed Yuwen Tong a glance and then added, “Just like him, I don’t want people to know who I am either, so please keep this to yourselves.”
“Yes, Childe Ling,” chorused the commander of the Haizhou garrison and the other two.
The Haizhou governor had met Ling Zhang before. The commander of the Haizhou garrison and the commander of the Haizhou navy, however, hadn’t been able to go to the capital city to attend to Yuwen Tong’s enthronement ceremony or the imperial wedding, for Yuwen Tong had ordered them to stay on the job to guard against any changes in the situation in Jiangzhou. Therefore, this was their first time seeing Ling Zhang, and they couldn’t help but observe Ling Zhang for a few moments.
Recalling his overreaction just now, Ling Zhang was somewhat ashamed, but on the surface he seemed quite natural, calmly looking back at them. The two commanders were both armymen. Though seeming unconcerned, they felt fairly guilty after staring at the empress for longer than was appropriate. As a result, the moment Ling Zhang looked back at them, they hurriedly withdrew their eyes.
Ling Zhang, however, was secretly relieved, still feeling rather awkward.
“I… I’ll bring Brother Zhang back to the encampment to examine his wound. You guys are to return and do what you’re supposed to do.”
“Yes, Sire.”
Holding Ling Zhang’s hand, Yuwen Tong took Ling Zhang back to his tent and then called out of the window, “Qiu Bing!”
“I’m here!” Qiu Bing immediately hurried into the tent.
“How’s Brother Zhang’s arm injury specifically? And when did you last change his dressing?” inquired Yuwen Tong, looking at him with penetrating eyes.
Not daring keep anything back, Qiu Bing gave Yuwen Tong a blow-by-blow account of how Ling Zhang had got injured as well as what Ling Zhang had been through during the journey. “I changed Young Master’s dressing before we set off in the morning. We traveled fast and also climbed over some hills, and Young Master hasn’t had anything to eat yet. He’s still recovering and hunger is bad for the healing process.”
Ling Zhang jerked his head up to glare at him. “What are you talking about?”
Face falling, Yuwen Tong immediately sent someone to get some food. Just now he’d been so concerned about Ling Zhang’s injury that he’d forgotten that Ling Zhang couldn’t have had the time to fill his belly due to the great haste with which he’d journeyed to this city, considering Ling Zhang had arrived at this hour. This was a military encampment, which was different from the imperial palace and downtown areas. There was strict discipline in the army, and soldiers working in the cookhouse only prepared meals at regular hours, so right now Yuwen Tong could only try getting Ling Zhang something filling to ease his hunger. Fortunately, Hai Mu had given the soldiers in the cookhouse some instructions beforehand, so Yuwen Tong sent the officer Hai Mu had assigned to serve him to the cookhouse to get something to eat. He should be able to find some in there.
Yuwen Tong was both annoyed with himself for not having realized this earlier and annoyed with Ling Zhang about him going out of the city in such a hurry, believing that Ling Zhang should have filled his belly in the city first, that Ling Zhang wasn’t taking his own health seriously enough.
But eventually his heart ached for Ling Zhang, all his annoyance ebbing away.
What the officer brought back were steamed buns, flatbreads and some other dry food. Ling Zhang ate them with hot water instead of turning his nose up at them.
Yuwen Tong’s face was sulky all along. After Ling Zhang had his fill, he wet a towel and used it to wipe Ling Zhang’s face and body, and then instructed Qiu Bing to change Ling Zhang’s dressing.
Seeing he was angry, Ling Zhang didn’t dare say anything and obediently let Qiu Bing change his dressing.
The sight of the nasty long wound almost rendered Yuwen Tong unable to breathe, his face darkening further.
Ling Zhang had no choice but to stroke him. “Don’t be mad. It’s really just an accident. Nobody could have foreseen that Shan Congyi would carry that kind of stuff with him. Yao Yi and the others did everything they could to protect me. Otherwise I wouldn’t have suffered injuries far worse than a slit, given how close I was to the center of the explosion. They were all wounded as well, to a greater or lesser degree.”
Seeing Ling Zhang still dared intercede for them, Yuwen Tong gave him a dirty look.
But Ling Zhang kept stroking him, and his anger was soon dissolved, leaving him resigned.
“I’m sure there were times when you got wounded on the battlefield. Actually there are still some scars on your body. Now that I’ve come out to help deal with issues involving conflicts, it’s a natural thing that I get hurt in certain circumstances. Soon the wound will heal and I’ll be okay. Please stop being angry. I promise I’ll be extra careful if I’m in that kind of situation once again. I’ll stay far away and keep myself safe, okay?”
While changing Ling Zhang’s dressing, Qiu Bing involuntarily gave a shudder. When he finished the job, he hurriedly took his leave to give Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong some privacy.
After Qiu Bing left, Yuwen Tong scooped Ling Zhang up. “I shouldn’t have told you to come to Haizhou. The right thing to do was let you stay in Cangzhou to nurse your injury.”
Ling Zhang believed otherwise, for he wouldn’t have met Yuwen Tong so soon had he not come to Haizhou. He opened his mouth with the intention to contradict Yuwen Tong, but on second thought, he softened his tone and said in a faintly injured voice, “I wanted to see you. Had you not allowed me to come, I would’ve been upset. I’m happy that I’m with you now. Do you not want to see me?”
Yuwen Tong, “…”
He was unable to say anything reproachful.
“The issue of Jiangzhou is much more important compared with this minor injury of mine. In addition…” Seeing Yuwen Tong’s face softening, Ling Zhang came to know that having Yuwen Tong move past this shouldn’t be a problem, so he hastened to change the topic.
Then he filled Yuwen Tong in on the matter of Shan Congyi in detail.
“About those gold ingots, my idea is to use them on the people of Jiangzhou after the Jiangzhou rebel army is taken care of. What do you think?”
Yuwen Tong said, “The imperial court will allocate a sum of money to Jiangzhou sooner or later. Residents of Jiangzhou will inevitably be in short of clothing and food this winter. It’s okay if you want to give those gold ingots to them, but we have to do it in another way, so those ingots are still to be transferred back to the capital city, along with the money in Zhu You’s vault that your father mentioned.”
Ling Zhang gave it some thought. “You’re worried that someone might embezzle the money?”
“Yeah. Currently the imperial court is on a tight budget and couldn’t afford to allow those people any opportunities to make things worse. We must make sure every coin is put to good use. All those gold ingots are to be transported back to the capital city to be melted and made into ingots bearing government seals. I’ll allocate some money to Jiangzhou later,” said Yuwen Tong.
Feeling that he’d failed to cover all the bases, Ling Zhang replied with a head bob, “I should’ve thought of this.”
Yuwen Tong gave him a kiss. “You’ve just got started. When you become used to it, you’ll naturally get the hang of it.”
Ling Zhang rubbed his face against Yuwen Tong on his own initiative. “Um.”
He would learn.
“By the way, about Shan Congyi’s death… At that time the small iron ball exploded and blast a huge crater in the ground. He was seriously wounded and the explosion was very sudden, and everything within a fifty-meter radius was destroyed. The General Zhongwu’s solders surrounded the wood on the periphery, and nobody saw Shan Congyi escape, so he should be dead, but I couldn’t have complete peace of mind without seeing his dead body.”
Yuwen Tong said in a deep voice, “Don’t concern yourself with that. Even if he escaped from the explosion, he would be grievously wounded, and he would have to suffer a lot if he was to survive. As long as he still draws breath, he’ll do everything within his power to get back to the Wan Kingdom, and once he returns to the Wan Kingdom, there’d be no way he could keep his survival secret.”
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