Yuwen Tong looked at his two sons and asked them, “Have you finished today’s homework?”
Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin inclined their heads in unison and with that the former replied, “Yes, we have, Father. Our teacher gave us permission to take half a day off from school.”
The two boys had been getting up early in the morning every day and working hard since a very young age. Their first teacher, who was still teaching them, was a distinguished scholar, and they themselves were quite intelligent and diligent, so their academic performance had always been pretty good. Earlier this day their teacher had given them a test, which they both had passed with distinction, so their teacher had allowed them to take half a day off.
Yuwen Tong, who on occasions asked the teacher about his sons’ progress in their studies, knew what this was about, and he normally wouldn’t interfere with the teacher’s decision, so he said, “In that case, you two may come with us.”
Then he told the eunuchs to go and get each of the two princes a cloak.
“Thank you, Father.”
Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin were both very happy. Though they regarded Yuwen Tong with reverence, they also held him in deep filial affection. They would be lying if they said they didn’t feel any jealousy when seeing Yuwen Tong hold Crescent in his arms and gently coax her. Yuwen Tong had never hugged either of them since they’d turned three. He was very strict with them and had been drumming it into them that they must learn to be independent. As a result, envious as they were, they didn’t dare show it on their faces. At this moment, they were, naturally, both overjoyed to hear that they were allowed to go to the imperial garden to play as well.
Thus, Yuwen Tong carrying Yuwen Yue went first. Ling Maomao followed in his wake, keeping an eye on the two young princes, heading for the imperial garden to view the flowers.
At first Crescent was in high spirits, but after playing for some time, she suddenly refused to share her flowers with others, nursing them as though they were treasures.
“What’s the matter?” Yuwen Tong was baffled as to why his daughter suddenly became unwilling to share the flowers with others and appeared fairly glum.
“I want to save these flowers for Daddy,” replied Crescent in a babyish voice, looking at Yuwen Tong with her big eyes brimming with anticipation. “Father, when is Daddy coming back?”
As she mentioned Ling Zhang, both Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin paused briefly and with that they shifted their gaze to Yuwen Tong in unison, the same anticipation in their eyes.
Beneath the expectant gaze of his children, Yuwen Tong was having a hard job maintaining the smile at the corners of his mouth. Feeling a throb of pain in the heart, he raised his hand to stroke Crescent’s head. “Daddy has something important to attend to. He’ll be back when it’s done.”
The anticipation in Crescent’s eyes ebbed somewhat. She was still looking at Yuwen Tong with her big eyes, but the corners of her lips were hanging. “I miss Daddy.”
Holding the flowers so tight as though they were the possibility of her Daddy coming back, the little girl seemed somewhat crestfallen, the boisterous air she’d been emanating a moment before now gone, clasping her sleeve with her fingers unawares.
Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin were older and thus had a better understanding of the situation. On hearing their father’s reply from which a definite date of return was absent, they came to realize that their Daddy wouldn’t be back anytime soon, their faces etched with disappointment as well.
Yuwen Tong, who was crouching, opened his arms. Crescent, head down, leaned into his embrace and rubbed her face against his shoulders. Before long, she started sobbing.
His heart aching, Yuwen Tong hugged his daughter and patted her back consolingly. “Be good, Crescent. Daddy will be upset if he knows you cried. Cheer up, Crescent, so that Daddy will be happy when he comes back.”
Crescent made no reply, burrowed her face into Yuwen Tong’s shoulder, sobbing, still holding her flowers in her arms.
Both Yuwen Qi’s and Yuwen Lin’s faces became somewhat downcast as well at the sight of Crescent crying. They were also still children after all. Except for an interlude of Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang going to the south-west when they’d been younger, they’d never been separated from Ling Zhang for such a long time. Ever since Ling Zhang’s departure, the two of them had been almost every day anticipating hearing the sound of people welcoming Ling Zhang’s return at the front gates of the palace.
Infected by the children’s dejection, feeling a bit upset as well, Yuwen Tong scooped up Crescent. Patting her on the back, he made an attempt to distract the children’s attention. “How about I take you kids to see some foals? A few days ago I had them make some children’s saddles. Qi and Lin may try getting on horseback.”
On hearing that they were going to see some foals and may try riding them, Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin were immediately distracted and the despondency on their faces finally disappeared.
Crescent, with her face buried in Yuwen Tong’s shoulder, sobbed for another few moments. With her father consoling her, she slowly grew tired for sobbing and stopped. When they arrived at the livery stable, her attention was instantly drawn to a snow-white foal. Staring at it with curious eyes, she had Yuwen Tong put her down and then walked up to it to stroke it, forgetting what she’d felt sad about a short while before.
Seeing this, Yuwen Tong finally heaved a sigh of relief. These children got emotional so easily that he was really a little worried that he might not be able to handle this kind of situation properly.
Ling Maomao, who’d been following him all along, also gave a gasp of relief, holding the flowers that Crescent had entrusted to him. As he saw that his nephews and niece were fascinated by the three foals, he hastened up to them to make sure none of them got hurt.
Those foals were all descendants of thoroughbreds of rare species. The black one with white patches on its skin was the son of North Wind and Snowflake; the other two were born of another pedigreed horse. Yuwen Tong had specially prepared these foals to feast his children’s eyes.
Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin, under the close protection of guards, got onto the foals’ backs. The foals were quite docile and didn’t overreact after the two princes mounted them. As the foals slowly walked around, Yuwen Qi shouted with joy. Even Yuwen Lin who had always been rather quiet couldn’t help but feel thrilled, his face registering excitement.
Crescent also wanted to get onto a foal like her brothers did, but she was too young to be on horseback on her own, so Yuwen Tong mounted North Wind and, carrying her in his arms, had North Wind slowly walk around the field. A while before, when crying, she’d appeared a gentle and quiet little girl, but at this moment she was so happy as though she were losing her mind. She laughed and screamed in delight and urged Yuwen Tong to have the horse run.
Once North Wind started running, it wouldn’t be easy to get him to slow down. Worrying that the little girl could easily catch cold in the airflow, Yuwen Tong, naturally, wouldn’t have North Wind gallop. He just trotted the horse to stay ahead of Yuwen Qi’s and Yuwen Lin’s foals. However, even so, Crescent got very excited and smugly “derided” her big brothers.
Standing on the spot, watching the children yelling excitedly on the field, Ling Maomao couldn’t help recalling that when he’d been their age, he’d learned to ride in the same way. It’d been Ling Zhang who taught him, and at that time they’d still been in Tanyang.
The Ling family had been through so much after moving to the capital city that Ling Maomao, recollecting his childhood, felt as though those things had been in the long distant past. Ever since he’d come to the capital city, he’d never returned to Tanyang again. During the last Spring Festival, his elders had talked about paying a visit to Tanyang later this year, but what with his mother’s pregnancy, he had a feeling that the plan could well be put on ice.
However, though he wouldn’t be able to return to Tanyang anytime soon, he wanted to pay a visit to Haizhou. Ever since he’d gone to Shengzhou, he’d never got a chance to come back to this city until a couple of months before, and neither had he ever got a chance to go to Haizhou. Previously he’d promised Ji Xiaocong that he would go to that island to look up him and his family, but the occasion had never arisen…
Right now he was learning kung fu from Ji Yin. Though what he’d been learning didn’t include the unique method of cultivating internal energy of the Millennium Pavilion, Ji Yin had been teaching him some long-lost kung fu skills of the Millennium Pavilion. He would become a first-rater in the martial arts world if he mastered all of them. He was grateful to Ji Yin, and every time he saw the old man, he recalled Ji Xiaocong’s and his uncle Ji Yanlai’s stay in the capital city and the promise he’d made Ji Xiaocong, and his desire to pay a visit to Haizhou intensified somewhat. He had asked Ji Yin about it and been told that he had to wait until he’d learned from Ji Yin for a solid year to get the permission to go to Haizhou. This one-year period was crucial in the sense that he was supposed to lay a solid foundation during it, so he must not slack off and had to tough it out.
Still, he wondered what Ji Xiaocong looked like now. It’d been five years and Ji Xiaocong had also grown into a teenager…
“Ha-ha…Hurry, Father! They’re catching up!” Crescent’s voice was high-pitched and sonorous and could be heard from a long distance.
…
In the Luohai Kingdom.
A carrier pigeon carrying a letter containing news of Ling Zhang’s two-day closed-door cultivation quickly traveled past one mountain after another. The messages were soon delivered to Youzhou. After reading the letter, Ling Zhaowu had a shrewd idea of why his son had started closed-door cultivation. He thought about the situation in the Luohai Kingdom for a while before deciding to go to that country. Then he quickly made a series of arrangements.
Meanwhile, these messages were also being rapidly delivered to the Great Wen. It was two days later that Yuwen Tong received them.
“Closed-door cultivation?” Yuwen Tong knitted his brows, worrying that it was because something had gone wrong during Ling Zhang’s cultivation of internal energy, for the Luohai Kingdom was not a fit place for Ling Zhang to conduct closed-door cultivation. When he’d patiently finished reading the letter, he came to understand the reason and was relieved. At the same time, it came to his knowledge that Ling Zhaowu had sneaked into the Luohai Kingdom.
A chuckle escaped his lips. Ling Zhaowu hadn’t changed a little bit during so many years – he always dealt with things in an unhurried fashion, except when his son was concerned. However, Yuwen Tong soon realized that he himself was just like Ling Zhaowu, that he would have left with Ling Zhang if it weren’t for the fact that there’d been too many state affairs in early spring which had kept him fully occupied.
“Yao Yi, I need you to go to the manor to deliver a message to the two old men. Tell them the news about Brother Zhang. Inform Mr. Ji of his closed-door cultivation. Old Master Ling only needs to know Brother Zhang is safe.” Yuwen Tong summoned Yao Yi and instructed him to deliver a message to the suburban manor.
Yao Yi accepted the orders and soon exited the city, heading for the manor on a fast horse.
After receiving the message, Ling Xingzhong came to know that Ling Zhang was fine, and his mind finally stopped dwelling on the dream he’d had several days before. Half of his worries dissolved, but the other half might well linger in his head until he saw Ling Zhang return safely.
Meanwhile, Ji Yin, after being informed of Ling Zhang’s closed-door cultivation, guessed that Ling Zhang was trying to gain more control over his powers. Ling Zhang had just reached the sixth layer, and it would indeed be an inconvenience if he kept emanating a brooding air unawares. Ji Yin had also come to know that Ling Zhaowu had entered the Luohai Kingdom, but it was unnecessary for him to worry about Ling Zhaowu. He said to Yao Yi, “Thank you.”
…
Ling Zhaowu, whom nobody was worried about, headed straight for the capital after entering the Luohai Kingdom.
Ling Zhang was unaware that his own father had come to this country as well. He had just finished his closed-door cultivation and was now performing Qi circulation. During the two-day closed-door cultivation, he had finally learned how to better control his internal energy of the sixth layer. He felt that he could mobilize any proportion of it at will, that this time around, if he deliberately kept it under control, people should no longer be deterred from glancing at him.
After he opened the doors, the first thing he did was summon Yang Liuzi and some others to give it a test run.
On entering the house, Yang Liuzi and a couple of others distinctly felt the change in the air about Ling Zhang, their faces etched with astonishment. “Young Master, why are you…”
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