Chapter 168 - Refusal of Entrance

The capital city was swarming with spies, which was why news of Yuwen Tong’s leaving the imperial palace soon reached the ears of all those who believed they ought to be informed of it…

Yuwen Tong didn’t go back to the residence of Yuwen family. Instead, he went to a residential compound where a board engraved with the name “Ling Family” had just been fixed above the front door.

Everybody knew Yuwen Tong was going there to see Ling Zhang.

Apart from other people’s reaction, Yuwen Zhi, on being informed of this, smashed his teacup to pieces, an extremely sullen look on his face. Yuwen Tong’s not returning home first after entering the city had already made him feel shamed, and he had been struggling to keep his temper all along, but now, after leaving the imperial palace, Yuwen Tong had gone to Ling Zhang’s place instead of returning home, which he found unbearably humiliating.

Yuwen Zhi had always been highly status-conscious and cared about face very much, regarding himself head and shoulders above all other dignitaries in the capital city. Except for members of the imperial family, he never compromised with anybody in any circumstances, and almost everybody would think twice before doing something that might be offensive to him. It was true that he had not really been on good terms with Yuwen Tong, but in the past, every time Yuwen Tong returned from the border areas, he would always come back home to visit him first. Never once had Yuwen Tong been so disrespectful to him like this.

‘How am I supposed to show my face after this?! What would others in this city think of me?!’

Yuwen Zhi was within an inch of failing to catch his breath, feeling that nobody had ever inflicted such humiliation on him.

“I told you so. That Ling Zhang guy is a male courtesan. Feng’er criticized me for using that word. Now you see what’s happening. Didn’t that male courtesan bewitch Yuwen Tong and have Yuwen Tong in the palm of his hand?! He forgot where his home is. Does he still have a shred of respect for us? Does he still remember you’re his uncle and I his aunt? I doubt he still remembers his surname is Yuwen!” Zheng shi was also very indignant.

Yuwen Tong had repeatedly humiliated them on this day. How was she supposed to show her face in front of those officials’ wives in the future? She felt that she might have to stay at home for the rest of her life!

Yuwen Qi angrily sprung to his feet. “I’ll go to Ling Zhang’s place. I don’t believe that Ling Zhang guy would be so shameless and bold as to take my cousin from us like this!”

Yuwen Feng also had a frown on his face, but he was not an impulsive man like Yuwen Qi was, and neither did he lose his head. “Sit down,” he said.

“Elder Brother! How could you bear to just sit there after this? Yuwen Tong refused to return home, showing a total disregard for our feelings!” Yuwen Qi was very displeased.

“Sit down,” Yuwen Feng repeated, looking at Yuwen Qi.

Consumed with indignation, Yuwen Qi sat back into his seat and replied, “If I’m not to go there, what do you think we should do? Just sitting here watching that Ling Zhang guy swaggering around?”

Brow furrowed, Yuwen Feng said, “Father, I think he’s doing this because he’s angry with you for sending my younger brother to Tanyang. Judging from what happened earlier this day, he cares about Ling Zhang very much.”

Yuwen Zhi looked at him and responded, “Are you laying blame on me?”

Yuwen Feng said, “I don’t dare, Father. I’m just trying to point out the fact to you. Currently, our first priority is to mollify him. No matter how displeased you are with Ling Zhang, it should be a family matter concerning nobody but us, rather than a laughing stock of the whole city.”

“That’s easy for you to say. What do you suggest we should do?”

Though anger was bubbling inside Yuwen Qi, he had no choice but to obey his elder brother. It was just that his obedience was tinged with unwillingness. He didn’t know why, but he just disliked it when Yuwen Feng acted as if he had got everything sorted out, as if he was better than him in everything.

Yuwen Feng rose to his feet. “I’ll go to Ling Zhang’s place.”

On hearing this, Yuwen Qi also stood up and said, “I’m going with you!”

Yuwen Feng declined. “That won’t be necessary.”

Yuwen Qi was displeased. “Why? Why can’t I go there?”

Zheng shi chipped in, “Maybe you should let Qi’er go with you, so that the two of you can keep each other company.”

Yuwen Feng’s brow corrugated in a frown, as if saying that only a three-year-old child needed company. However, it was inappropriate for him to contradict his mother too often, so eventually he inclined his head.

Yuwen Qi gave a smug chuckle, thinking, ‘Mother is on my side. Even Elder Brother has to obey her.’

…

When Yuwen Tong arrived at Ling Zhang’s residence, people in there were still partying. Yao Yi and other bodyguards had not seen Yue Qi for a month. On top of that, they had drunk a lot of liquor with Wang Dashan and other security guards, so they were having a really good time and it seemed as if the party would never end.

Yuwen Tong walked to the sidelines of the drill field, looked around but didn’t see Ling Zhang. Instantly, he fell into a foul mood, his face sulky. “Where’s Younger Brother Zhang?” he asked.

Yao Yi and others had stopped messing around when they saw Yuwen Tong return. On seeing Yuwen Tong’s face darken, all of them flinched.

“Childe Ling was tired, so he went back to his room to sleep,” replied Yao Yi.

“He’s sleeping inside, while you are here partying. Tell me, what do you think you are doing?” asked Yuwen Tong in a flinty tone of voice.

“We shouldn’t have done this, Marshal.”

Yuwen Tong coldly snorted, “Your punishment is standing here. Nobody leaves without my consent.”

Instantly all people on the drill ground fell silent in fear, standing where they were like a group of quails. ‘All right. So much for the party.’

After walking into Ling Zhang’s dwelling, Yuwen Tong first changed out of his travel-soiled overgarment, quickly washed his face and hands and then entered Ling Zhang’s bedroom.

Ling Zhang had fallen asleep. It seemed that he was indeed exhausted, given that he was sleeping so soundly in a strange bed.

The white fox cub, like a ball of fur, was lying beside his pillow, its eyes closed. It was hard to tell whether the fox was having a deep sleep or just a nap.

No sooner had Yuwen Tong walked up to the bedside when it vigilantly opened its eyes. It flicked Yuwen Tong a glance with its sparkling black eyes and then closed them again.

Feeling this reaction fairly acceptable, Yuwen Tong didn’t lay any condemnation on it for occupying the pillow beside Ling Zhang. He reached out his hand, scooped up the fox cub and put it down onto the teapoy at the bedside. There was a wooden box on the teapoy, which had been specially prepared for the fox cub, but sometimes Ling Zhang would carry it to the bed.

The liquid black eyes of the fox cub were full of dismay and displeasure after it was taken away from its master and put into its den to sleep alone. If it could speak, it probably had already been reduced to hurling abuse at Yuwen Tong, and maybe had scratched him with its claws as well.

This little creature could never pose any threats to Yuwen Tong. After putting the fox cub into the wooden box, Yuwen Tong went to bed and lay down in the spot where the fox cub had been lying. Then he put his arm around Ling Zhang and drew him against his chest. Feeling satisfied, he closed his eyes.

Naturally, Ling Zhang was woken up by this movement, but the smell of the man beside him was familiar, and so was the touch of his chest, so he just reached out his hand and gave Yuwen Tong a push. Having failed to push him aside, Ling Zhang ignored him and drifted off to sleep again –he was really tired.

Yuwen Tong gave him a kiss on the cheek and lay down again, then closed his eyes and slept.

The fox cub glanced out the window and then looked at Yuwen Tong who was sleeping with Ling Zhang as if this was how things should be like. Its eyes were full of perplexity.

The bedroom was very quiet, and servants outside didn’t dare to make any sounds.

Surprisingly, Yuwen Tong really fell asleep, which was rather rare.

However, this sleep of his was destined to come to interruptions.

A horse-drawn carriage of Yuwen family halted at the front door of Ling Zhang’s residential compound. Seeing this, guards on duty exchanged glances and wondered, ‘Whose carriage is this?’

When they saw Yuwen Feng and Yuwen Qi get out of the carriage, both of the guards made a bow with hands folded in front and greeted them. “Childe Feng, Childe Qi.”

Face full of impatience, Yuwen Qi flicked a disgusted glance at the wooden board engraved with the name of Ling family, sized up the front door and commented, “What kind of shabby place is this? This guy’s so stingy.”

However, this place was actually by no means shabby. The predecessor of it was the residence of a high-ranking official, who had resigned from office and returned to his hometown. Yuwen Tong had purchased it and converted it into this residential compound. It was not far away from the residence of Yuwen family and was rather convenient for various public facilities as well. It could be said that people couldn’t buy a residential compound like this in the capital city if money was the only thing they had.

After hearing Yuwen Qi’s words, both of the two guards had a bland face and made no response.

“May I ask what it is that you are here about, Young Masters?”

Yuwen Feng gave a smile. “We’re here to see my cousin. It’s said that he came here after leaving the imperial palace.”

The guards were Yuwen Tong’s personal bodyguards, which gave Yuwen Feng a new recognition of how much Ling Zhang meant to Yuwen Tong, and his adopted a more discreet attitude.

“The Marshal is indeed inside. Please allow me to pass word of your presence,” said a guard.

“Pass word of our presence?” Yuwen Qi glared at him. “What do you mean by that remark? You know who we are yet you are having us wait outside? You are guards of Yuwen family not Ling family! Are you soft in the head?!”

“Please wait a moment, Young Master Qi.” Unswayed, the guard turned around and went inside.

“You! Stop right there!” Yuwen Qi yelled angrily and intended to pursue him, but the other guard blocked his path.

Yuwen Qi was just about to hurl abuse when Yuwen Feng stopped him. “Younger Brother, this has always been our cousin’s rule. Show some patience.”

Even when Yuwen Tong was in the residence of Yuwen family, nobody was allowed to enter his courtyard house without his consent, and even his uncle was no exception, which was a fact known to all members of Yuwen family, but this was not Yuwen Tong’s courtyard house…

Yuwen Feng also secretly frowned, feeling that Yuwen Tong was getting too emotionally involved with Ling Zhang.

It was due to his elder brother’s intervention that Yuwen Qi managed to keep from hurling curses at the guard, but still, his face was extremely sepulchral. He couldn’t help but recall how he had been humiliated before being put under house arrest when he was in Tanyang. Rage had been simmering inside him from the very moment he laid eyes on on the board with Ling family’s name on it, and now even his eyes became ferocious.

“Younger Brother.” Seeing this, Yuwen Feng hurriedly shook his head at him, trying to dissuade him from taking any rash actions.

He was even suffering from headaches. He had anticipated Yuwen Qi would be reduced to this kind of reaction, which had been the very reason he had tried to stop Yuwen Qi from coming.

It was after quite a while that a man walked out. He was the guard that had talked to them just now. “Sorry, Young Masters, the Marshal is sleeping. I’ll inform the Marshal of your visit later. Please go back.”

After hearing this, even Yuwen Feng failed to stop Yuwen Qi from flying into a temper. He directly raised his foot and aimed a kick at the guard, yelling, “Bullshit! How dare you talk to me like that, you motherfucker! I’ll kick you to death!”

Yuwen Feng’s face also darkened, but he still had his senses. “Younger Brother, stop!”

The guard’s kung fu was much better than that of Yuwen Qi, so he easily sidestepped Yuwen Qi’s kick. In a flinty tone of voice, he observed, “Young Master Qi, if there’s anything you are displeased with, you can just talk with the Marshal about it after he wakes up and nobody’s going to stop you. Venting your anger on us is a conduct unbecoming to a young master.”

“Is my cousin really sleeping? Hasn’t he just come back a moment ago?” queried Yuwen Feng disbelievingly.

“Childe Ling was sleeping, so the Marshal went to sleep with him,” replied the guard candidly.

‘What? He went to sleep because of that?’ Yuwen Feng wondered in dismay.

“But we came here to see my cousin because our parents asked us to. It would be somewhat impertinent if my cousin has us return just like this, wouldn’t it? I mean, we’re family after all. He’s really going to shut the door on us like we were strangers to him?” remarked Yuwen Feng.