The Glory After Rebirth

Ling Zhaowu affirmed that he was fine, so after having some rest, Ling Zhang and the others resumed their journey, bringing Chief He with them, but this time they were traveling at a slower speed.

When the innkeeper returned to the inn with some staff members of the local yamen only to find that Ling Zhang and the others had already left, a mood of melancholy descended on him and he sighed, “What an honorable man. He helps people but expects nothing in return.”

Ling Zhang, however, was totally unaware of that innkeeper’s sentimental opinions about him, feeling the tension in the air more distinctly as he got closer to the border city.

Along the way, they saw a lot of residents heading south, most of whom were in groups. Seeing as they were all richly dressed, they were probably from rich families in the city. With the city under attack, they feared that the Great Yue might lose the war, so they decided to temporarily leave the city. There were also some small towns and villages the entrances and exits of which were guarded by townsfolk or villagers. All of them were very vigilant and performing their duties in good order without any panic on their faces.

“The situation here seems not bad. This area is very near to the border city, and these people didn’t flee, which indicates that they’re pretty confident the Great Yue will win this war,” said Ling Zhaowu.

Ling Zhang inclined his head. His face was grave, but the corners of his mouth curled slightly in spite of himself. He believed that the reason why these people were confident was because the one directing operations in the border city was Yuwen Tong. Thinking about this, he couldn’t help but feel proud.

“Let’s keep moving. We’ll get there in another day.” Ling Zhaowu believed that he was pretty observant, and naturally he noticed the corners of his son’s mouth curl. He felt faintly jealous, for his son had a proud look on his face without even hearing anybody mention Yuwen Tong’s name, which showed how deep his affection for Yuwen Tong was. How could he not be jealous?

Ling Zhang was oblivious of his father’s subtle change of mood. He just gave a bob of the head and then spurred Snowflake the horse to continue progressing.

…

It was almost dusk and they could vaguely see the silhouette of the border city now. The huge city was standing ahead. The high ramparts built for defensive purposes seemed quite intimidating. There was no vegetation on the perimeter, and guards were densely posted along the ramparts, all of whom were keeping close watch on passers-by.

There were actually very few passers-by at this hour. Ling Zhang and the others were the only ones approaching the city gates at this moment. As they made a large group, the soldiers on the ramparts were instantly on the alert. The barricades at the city gates were put up, in front of which stood some soldiers with their spears pointing at Ling Zhang and the others.

“Identify yourselves!” yelled the one in charge, his eyes vigilantly appraising the approaching group.

“Dismount and come here to receive security check! One more step and we’ll shoot you!” bawled the officer again.

Ling Zhang raised his hand and motioned for those behind him to stop, slowly reined in Snowflake, twisted his head around and said, “Dismount.”

Then he got off his horse and all others followed suit. Ling Zhang and Ling Zhaowu were walking in front. Wang Dashan and the rest of them were keeping a weather eye on the archers on the gate tower, poised to immediately escort Ling Zhang and Ling Zhaowu away if anything unexpected happened.

The grim look in that officer’s eyes softened slightly as he saw Ling Zhang and the others dismount from their horses, but he didn’t give the order for the soldiers behind him to put away their spears, nor did he instruct the archers on the gate tower to unload their bows.

Leading Snowflake, Ling Zhang slowly approached. The officer asked, “Who are you people? Why did you come to this border city?”

Ling Zhang produced an ID plate from his sleeve to let the soldier see the words embossed on it and replied, “I’m here to look for someone.”

The officer was taken aback at the sight of the ID plate. With an expression of surprise and incredulity on his face, he sized up Ling Zhang. “Who are you exactly? And how did you come to get an ID plate of the Marshal’s?”

“My surname is Ling. I specially came here to see the Marshal. These gentlemen behind me are my bodyguards. They mean no harm. If you don’t believe me, you may search us or send someone back into the city to report it to the Marshal.” Ling Zhang was very polite.

The officer’s eyes widened as he heard Ling Zhang say his surname was Ling, and then, seeing Ling Zhang had a courteous manner and wasn’t putting on airs at all, he became much less wary of Ling Zhang and began to appraise Ling Zhang with a curious look in his eyes. “Are you really surnamed Ling?”

“Of course,” responded Ling Zhang, taking no offence. Although this officer’s eyes were roving on him, inside them was nothing more than curiosity.

The officer was a trifle hesitant, but his attitude was clearly very different from how it’d been just now. In a polite manner, he said to Ling Zhang, “Please wait a moment. I’ve sent someone back to report to the Marshal.”

Ling Zhang smiled, “Okay. Thanks.”

After hearing this, the officer seemed somewhat embarrassed, raising his hand to scratch his head. After a while, he involuntarily looked at Ling Zhang again and then shifted his gaze to Ling Zhaowu who was beside Ling Zhang and the others behind him, his eyes full of curiosity.

Naturally, Ling Zhang could tell from his bearing that he had guessed his identity, that he only needed a final confirmation.

“You… You’re from the capital city?” inquired the officer, the second “You” in honorific form.

Ling Zhang replied, “There’s no need for you to address me with an honorific title. I’m just an ordinary person. I’m indeed from the capital city. I specially came here to take a look because I’m worried about the situation in this border city. I don’t want to disturb anybody.”

The officer’s eyes gleamed slightly. He had got a shrewd idea of who Ling Zhang was and just found it hard to believe that he was actually seeing the Marshal’s partner-to-be in the flesh. It struck him that Ling Zhang was attractive, good-tempered, modest, smiled mildly and talked in a pleasant manner, that the Marshal’s would-be marriage partner was a much nicer person than he’d expected.

“You traveled all the way here? Is everything okay in the capital city? Did you tell the Marshal about it in advance?” The officer asked three questions in one breath.

Ling Zhang smiled, “I wrote him a letter before departure. Everything’s fine in the capital city.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I’m glad to hear that,” grinned the officer fatuously, looking at Ling Zhang, curiosity written all over his face. He had a lot of questions but was too embarrassed to ask any of them, so he just awkwardly smiling at Ling Zhang. After a few moments, he inquired, “Who are these gentlemen? They don’t strike me as bodyguards.”

Ling Zhang’s eyebrows slightly lifted. He had thought that this officer had guessed his identity and wouldn’t ask any questions of this kind, but unexpectedly, though seemingly uptight, the officer had actually noticed this part. Also, since this officer had asked about it, Ling Zhang felt obliged to answer it, for this officer was not a person to be trifled with.

“This is my father, and this couple of gentlemen here are my father’s friends. Those twenty-four men are guards working for my family,” Ling Zhang explained to him.

The officer’s face instantly took on an expression of dawning comprehension and he cast a hearty look at Ling Zhaowu. “So you’re the father-in-law?”

“??” Ling Zhang and the others were thrown into perplexity. What?

As though having realized he said the wrong thing, the officer immediately added, “Oh, I’m sorry. We’ve got used to it and it just slipped out. I mean, are you the Marshal’s father-in-law?”

Ling Zhaowu said with a smile, “It seems that you’re a well-informed man, officer. You even know about the Marshal’s father-in-law. I think it’s safe to say that you’re pretty close to the Marshal.”

On hearing this, the officer embarrassedly scratched his head. “I came to this city with our deputy commander, and so did all the others on duty at the city gates. Of all members of the North-western Army, the deputy commander is the one who enjoys gossiping about the Marshal the most, so we’ve all heard a lot of it.”

The corners of Ling Zhang’s mouth twitched unnoticeably. He ratted on his deputy commander just like this? Was this man slow or sly?

Even Ling Zhaowu pulled a wry face. “Whatever. It’s okay that this matter has come to the knowledge of you guys. I have nothing to hide.

Still, just now you said that you’d got used to it. What did you mean by that?”

Having never expected that Ling Zhaowu would ask about this, the officer uttered “Ah?” with a vacant face and then replied, “Well, we talked about it a lot in private and got used to it. In the North-western Army, the Marshal is like a god, and all of us care about him very much and would lay down our lives to guard him. Not long ago, the Marshal returned to the capital city and got engaged to someone, and after that we heard that the Marshal got a father-in-law. We’re all very happy for him and privately curious about what the person the Marshal is going to marry is like, and we confidentially asked our deputy commander a lot about it.”

Ling Zhang and Ling Zhaowu exchanged glances. This officer’s words contained an undertone. He was telling them that Yuwen Tong was their god, that the soldiers would guard him with their lives. In other words, under no circumstances would they let anything happen to Yuwen Tong, and even if he was Yuwen Tong’s betrothed, these people were also wary of him. This officer was, in a very roundabout way, warning him.

“That’s perfect. My son is the apple of my eye, and I would never let any harm come to him, not even a minor scratch. In my eyes, all precious treasures paled into insignificance beside my son. It seems that your marshal and my son are meant for each other,” observed Ling Zhaowu.

The officer’s face was slightly wooden for a moment but soon returned to normal. “Tell me about it. Given the great presence of your son, he must be an extraordinarily talented man. He and our marshal are a perfect match for each other. Their marriage is predestined.”

Ling Zhang inwardly snickered, feeling that this man was pretty quick-witted and might be a talent, for he’d come to know that the undertone of warning in his words was detected, and after hearing the riposte, he’d immediately extricated himself from the delicate situation without showing a shred of embarrassment on his face.

The quick clatter of horses’ hoofs issued from the city gates. Snowflake led by Ling Zhang reared and gave a long neigh and with that another neigh came from the city gates in response. It was North Wind, on the back of which was, naturally, Yuwen Tong. Behind him were a lot of others, all of whom were staring in this direction with glittering eyes.

Ling Zhang’s eyes lit up at the sight of Yuwen Tong, but as they alighted on the group of officers who were gazing at him with expectant eyes, Ling Zhang inexplicably took a step backward, having a hunch that he was soon going to be besieged by those people and appraised by their eyes.

Moreover, it was at this moment that he noticed that the city was very quiet, and this officer on duty at the city gates looked quite relaxed. It seemed that there was no military operation on this day.

North Wind was very fast and soon galloped up and came to a halt in front of the group.

Yuwen Tong dismounted and strode over to Ling Zhang, gazing at him fervently. Their eyes met and it seemed as though they were about to merge into each other.

But Yuwen Tong still had his self-restraint. After he and Ling Zhang holding each other’s gaze for a long moment, Yuwen Tong withdrew his eyes and paid his respect to Ling Zhaowu first. “It’s a great pleasure to meet you, father-in-law.”

Those officers behind him had all dismounted from their horses and were now looking unblinkingly in this direction. At the sight of Yuwen Tong bowing to Ling Zhaowu, their eyes brightened even further as though they were seeing some kind of pageant.