The Glory After Rebirth

As Ling Zhang heard these remarks of Ji Feng’s, a particular thought occurred to him and he inquired, “Is there a certain kind of relation between that Professor Du and Jiang family?”

After he asked this question, Ji Feng and all the others fell silent. After a few moments, Zhao Jiusi flicked a glance at him and replied, “It seems that you guessed it.”

Ling Zhang gave a smile and said, “Jiang Yu obviously loathes me, which makes it difficult for me not to connect the two of them.”

“I did hear that Professor Du had dealings with Jiang family. Many people know about this matter,” Ji Feng also said.

Tao Yi, who had just got acquainted with them earlier this day, didn’t know who Professor Du was, but he did know about Jiang Yu and Jiang family, so he queried, “What about Jiang Yu? Is there a problem with Professor Du?”

Ji Feng was well disposed towards Tao Yi, so after hearing this, he told him about what happened the day before.

Tao Yi went indignant. “This is sheer effrontery. They were so insidious. Brother Zhang would’ve fallen prey to their tricks had his impulse got the best of him.”

Ji Feng exchanged glances with the others and then informed Tao Yi, “Ling Zhang is more badass than we gave him credit for. Professor Du paid dearly for his deed.”

“Maybe you should transfer to the Oriental Rite Academy, which you originally planned to enroll in,” said Tao Yi.

After hearing this, Ji Feng and all the others looked at Ling Zhang.

Ling Zhang responded, “I have orders from His Majesty to study in the Imperial College. An imperial edict is not to be defied.”

Tao Yi furrowed his brows and asked, “Can’t you have the Marshal talk to His Majesty about it?”

Ling Zhang replied, “I’d be admitting defeat if I leave in these circumstances. Don’t worry. I’ll be cautious. Besides, this troublesome matter was the very reason why I got acquainted with Brother Zhao, Brother Ji, Brother Xie and Brother Xun, which could be deemed a blessing in disguise.”

Tao Yi looked at Ji Feng and the others. In the knowledge that some of his opinions shouldn’t be expressed in the presence of these students of the Imperial College, he observed, “That may be true, but there might be more trouble if you keep staying there.”

“I’ll figure something out and handle whatever it is that’s coming for me. Nothing scares me,” said Ling Zhang.

“That’s right. You’re just unacquainted with the Imperial College because you’re new. After you familiarize yourself with it and the situation in it, things will be a lot easier,” commented Ji Feng.

After hearing this, Tao Yi felt it inappropriate for him to make any further remarks. He just suggested Ling Zhang reconsider it with discretion.

...

After another few rounds, Ji Feng and the other four, along with Tao Yi, returned to the city first.

Ling Zhang didn’t go back with them. They all had a shrewd idea of the reason but willingly left without asking any questions.

After seeing them off, Ling Zhang inquired of Zhao Shude, “Where’s Yuwen Tong?”

“The Marshal is waiting for you in the Roosting Dragonfly Pavilion, Childe Ling,” answered Zhao Shude.

Ling Zhang gave a bob of his head and had a servant lead him to the Roosting Dragonfly Pavilion. On his arrival at the banks of a lake in the north part of this manor, he was greeted by a two-story pavilion by the lakeside.

He vaguely saw that, half a lake away, on a platform extending from the pavilion to the middle of the lake, Yuwen Tong was standing before a table drawing something, head down.

Ling Zhang hurried up, entered the waterside pavilion and walked to Yuwen Tong’s side. To his surprise, Yuwen Tong was drawing a picture. “You’re drawing a picture?” asked Ling Zhang.

“When I was young, my grandfather didn’t allow me to read only books on the art of war and ignore calligraphy and painting, so he specially hired someone to teach me. Afterwards, my grandfather and my parents died, but I don’t dare forget what they wanted me to learn, so I practice it whenever I have the time, which I take as something done in honor of them. As time passed, I developed enough proficiency to draw a presentable painting,” said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang felt that this painting was not just presentable. It was indisputably a fine work, better than paintings of most of the literati. Moreover, it was of a heroic style and also exuded boldness and generosity, which works of many men of letters lacked.

It was a drawing of the lakeside scenery on the opposite side of the lake. In it, there were an old man and a child, who sat side by side fishing by the lake. Of course, at this moment there wasn’t an old man nor a child on the opposite side. Ling Zhang conjectured that they were Yuwen Tong and his grandfather.

Yuwen Tong confirmed Ling Zhang’s conjecture. “I used to live here when I was a boy. My grandfather would take me here to fish after I finished practicing kung fu. He’d tell me war stories. Sometimes we didn’t get any fish after fishing for half a day, probably because our voices scared the fish away.”

After a while, Yuwen Tong put away his writing brush and looked at Ling Zhang, “They all left?”

“Yeah.”

“How was it? Did you get along?”

“Not bad. They’re basically as I’d imagined.”

Yuwen Tong inclined his head. He was fully aware of what Ling Zhang and his friends had done during this day, and he had got a general idea of what kind of people they were. Apart from this, previously he had conducted an inquiry into the background of these people.

“What do you think of Tao Yi’s suggestion?”

At first Ling Zhang was confused, and then he realized what Yuwen Tong was referring to, and it was not a surprise to him that Yuwen Tong knew about this. He replied, “Now that I’ve already enrolled in the Imperial College, I will not shrink back.”

Yuwen Tong, who had anticipated Ling Zhang’s choice some time ago, was not surprised by this.

Since those causing disturbance had finally left, Yuwen Tong took Ling Zhang to the hill behind the manor for a walk and they picked a lot of seasonal fresh fruit. There was a large mulberry tree, which astonished Ling Zhang who had thought that this kind of trees were peculiar to the south. He couldn’t help but pluck a lot of mulberries and eventually his stomach was filled with them, his lips, tongue and hands dyed blackish purple. Amused, Yuwen Tong burst into laugh several times.

Ling Zhang silently gave him a dirty look, unable to understand what was so funny about this.

Seeing he was annoyed, Yuwen Tong walked up to him and kissed him, holding the back side of his head, the other arm around his slim waist...

It was not until after quite a while that their lips parted. The two of them hugged each other for quite a while and finally cooled down.

Yuwen Tong said, “Now my lips are dyed purple as well, so I’m in no position to laugh at you now.”

Ling Zhang, “...”

‘Purple my ass.’

At dusk, Yuwen Tong went fishing at the lakeside. Ling Zhang, for fear of scaring the fish away, quietly stared at the float all the time until his eyes went sore. He was just about to give up when Yuwen Tong got a bite and caught a big fat grass carp. Since hardly anybody had come to this lake to fish during these years and servants in this manor regularly threw fish food into the lake, fish in it were fat and in great numbers. With this one as the start, Yuwen Tong soon caught over twenty fish, which crowded two big barrels. The very sight of them made Ling Zhang’s mouth water.

Zhao Shude had a servant take the two barrels of fish to the kitchen. Yuwen Tong told them to reserve two servings of fish for him and Ling Zhang and share the rest among the others. Wang Dashan and other security guards were in for a real treat. Thus all people in the manor enjoyed fish on this night.

Chefs prepared these fresh fish in various ways, and the fish soup was very appetizing. Ling Zhang, who failed to refrain and overate once again, sprawled on his chair with a full stomach for quite a while before being drawn out of the dining room by Yuwen Tong to go for a walk.

It was pitch-dark everywhere in the manor, so they just walked around the courtyard house in which they were going to spend the night. Eventually they arrived at the side of the drill ground. Yuwen Tong reached out his hand to stroke Ling Zhang’s belly. Ling Zhang got an itch and kept feeling his flesh creep, so he slapped Yuwen Tong’s hand away.

“We spend the night here. Tomorrow morning we get up early and hurry back.”

Ling Zhang had guessed Yuwen Tong’s plan some time ago, for Yuwen Tong had never mentioned a word about going back. It seemed that in order not to be late for school, he would have to ride back to the city the next day, which would cut the time he’d have to spend on the road in half.

“Do you feel better?” Yuwen Tong asked him.

After the two of them circled the courtyard house for another couple of times, Ling Zhang stroked his belly and said, “I think I need to walk a while longer.”

On hearing this, Yuwen Tong failed to forbear from laughing again.

Ling Zhang, who had developed a thick skin, ignored his laugh and just kept strolling.

Seeing him stroking his belly, Yuwen Tong informed him, “In the past, there were several occasions when the North-western Army was in short of food during a war; my troops and I could hear our stomachs grumbling almost every time before a meal. Afterwards provisions were finally delivered to the encampment and I had cookhouse squads prepared food enough for all people to have their fill. At that time, everybody, just like you, didn’t stop eating until they overate. After that meal, the encampment was swarming with soldiers stroking their bellies strolling around to help digestion. Jiang Xi joked that they seemed like pregnant women going into labor, that if they really gave birth to children, the North-western Army wouldn’t be able to support so many babies.”

After hearing this, Ling Zhang tossed a quick glance at him but didn’t take his hand off his stomach. He kept kneading it leisurely and queried, “And then? Did you win the war?”

“Yeah. We recovered the last lost territory and chased armies of the Wan Kingdom away,” replied Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang thought that though Yuwen Tong was telling the story in a relaxed way at this moment, the actual situation at that time might be quite difficult.

“Why were you in a shortage of provisions that dire? Was it because the imperial court was unable to gather enough provisions for you?”

“Not because they were unable to gather enough provisions but because those glib-tongued civil officials in the capital city were being a drag on us, and the team delivering provisions were delayed for some time on the journey, which was why the whole army suffered from hunger. Fortunately my troops’ morale was not affected and the war was won. After winning the war, I returned to the capital city with a stomachful of anger and had the couple of black sheep removed from office with some finesse. From then on, delivery of provisions for the North-western Army has never again been delayed for that long.”

Ling Zhang slowly exhaled and said in a deep voice, “I’m sorry you have to been through that.”

Slowly walking around the courtyard hourse with him, Yuwen Tong gave a smile and said, “Although I was not a marshal at that time, I was the commander-in-chief of the whole army and the last person who would suffer from hunger. It was just that empty bellies of my troops meant lower hope of winning the war. Those people must be soft in the head to do such wicked things in a crucial moment.”

Afterwards, in order to prevent similar things from happening, Yuwen Tong had begun to set great store by the capital city which was the home front, making a lot of covert arrangements. After so many years, these arrangements had thrived like seedlings that had grown into towering trees. Nobody would dare to lay hands on the provisions for the North-western Army.

It would probably take more than three days and three nights to tell Ling Zhang all these matters, and Yuwen Tong didn’t want to upset Ling Zhang with these, so he steered the conversation away to another topic.

Ling Zhang had just had his fill and was not as sharp-minded as usual, so he failed to notice that Yuwen Tong was changing the topic, his attention soon distracted.

It was not until the two of them strolled for quite a while that Ling Zhang’s stomach no longer felt overfilled and they returned.

After taking a bath and changing clothes, Ling Zhang had a feeling that his body was lightened. He didn’t know whether Zhao Shude had received instructions from Yuwen Tong or not, but only one room was prepared for the two of them. On entering the room, Ling Zhang saw that Yuwen Tong had also bathed and changed into pajamas and was now sitting there reading a book. Seeing him walking in, Yuwen Tong tossed the book aside, walked up to him, took his hand and said, “It’s time to sleep.”

Ling Zhang, “...”

“This is such a huge manor yet they prepared only one room for us?”

“Given our relationship and the fact that we’ve slept together so many times, surely you don’t have the heart to have me sleep alone, do you?”