While Ling Zhang was standing outside the tent, Wang Dashan who had waited in vain for quite some time came to look for him. He was astonished at the sight of Ling Zhang biting his own fist with his whole body tensed. He had never seen Ling Zhang so nervous as to look vulnerable. Ever since Ling Zhang had become the empress of the Great Wen, nobody had seen him look nervous or scared, not to mention helpless.
“What’s the matter, Young Master?” asked Wang Dashan immediately, hurrying up to him.
Ling Zhang looked up at him, released his fist from his teeth and put it down, his grave eyes on Wang Dashan. “I’ll write a letter to Mr. Mu, and I need you to have it delivered by a carrier hawk right away!”
Wang Dashan had a hunch that something had happened, but Ling Zhang didn’t tell him what it was about, so he didn’t persist with his questioning. Instead, he promptly left to prepare paper and a writing brush for Ling Zhang.
Ling Zhang quickly wrote a letter and had Wang Dashan arrange for a carrier hawk to deliver it to Mr. Mu. If the bird was fast enough, there would be a reply in three days, but before that, he would have to wait.
Ling Zhang glanced over his shoulder at the tent and recalled that his grandfather had once told him he had power over animals because of the Force of Blood in him.
He didn’t know whether it would work on creatures like Gu worms.
But he wouldn’t dare try that unless he had to, because if by any chance the method had the opposite effort, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
He decided that he and Yuwen Tong should stay out of each other’s sight in the next three days.
However, before he could tell Yuwen Tong about this decision of his, Yuwen Tong’s disapproving voice issued from inside the tent. “Get that thought out of your mind. I’d rather die right away than not to see you.”
Ling Zhang immediately turned on his heel, and, facing the fly of the tent, took in a large gulp of air and said aloud, “Shut up!”
If Yuwen Tong said the word “die” once again, he would have Yuwen Tong regret it!
There was a few moments’ silence inside the tent. Then he heard Xie Shi say after a cough, “Sire, your pulse is getting irregular again. Please calm down.”
On hearing this, Ling Zhang outside the tent was torn between worry and anger. At the thought that Yuwen Tong was suffering pain in there, he couldn’t bring himself to make any more reproachful remarks.
Yuwen Tong was indeed a strong-willed man. Though having lost his composure, he could recover himself quickly if he wanted to. He was still in pain, but the pain was now bearable.
Before Xie Shi came out, Ling Zhang kept waiting outside the tent, not even having any room in his head to think about going to check the suspicious thing brought back from the city by Yang Liuzi and the others.
“Sire has calmed down. I’ll go and decoct some medicinal herbs. You … ahem … should stop being angry lest Sire get worked up.”
“I see. You may go.”
Xie Shi inclined his head and hastened off to decoct medicinal herbs for Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhang didn’t enter the tent immediately, unsure as to whether it was the right thing to do to meet Yuwen Tong, who had had a hard job cooling down. What if Yuwen Tong let his emotions get the better of him once again? There would be only three days before the arrival of Mr. Mu’s reply, and he was positive that Mr. Mu had a way to temporarily hold the Gu worm inside Yuwen Tong’s body at bay. The two of them hadn’t seen each other for quite some time, and it was indeed a torture for them to stay out of each other’s sight when they were so close to each other, but they only had to endure it for three days.
“I–”
“Get in here.”
Ling Zhang wanted to tell Yuwen Tong that they should not meet in the next three days, that the latter should have a rest cure, but he had just uttered one word when Yuwen Tong interrupted him.
“Help me change clothes. They’re soaking wet with sweat.”
Ling Zhang hesitated for a brief moment, recalling that Yuwen Tong had indeed been drenched with cold sweat a while ago. Summer was not yet in sight, and the weather was still rather chill. Things would get tricky if Yuwen Tong caught cold, especially when there was a Gu worm inside him.
However, he had just pivoted around and touched the fly when he withdrew his hand. No. Yuwen Tong would suffer pain at the sight of him. Helping him change clothes was an easy job, and a lot of others could handle it. “I’ll have someone else help you change clothes.”
Yuwen Tong had risen to his feet inside the tent. On hearing this, he clenched his teeth. After standing there for a few moments, he walked up to the fly, reached out a hand and drew Ling Zhang inside. “I would be suffering even worse pain if you stand out there tantalizing me,” he observed through gritted teeth.
Startled, Ling Zhang hastened to look at him. “Then I’ll go a little further away.”
Yuwen Tong, “…”
No. Calm down.
He took a deep breath, trying his best to clear his mind. “Help me change clothes.”
Ling Zhang freed himself from his embrace with the intention to feel Yuwen Tong’s pulse, but he had just stretched out his hand when he felt it was a bad idea and snatched his hand back. As he saw that Yuwen Tong was stubbornly staring at him, silently insisting on his helping him change clothes, the lines around his mouth tightened. After a while, he said, “Okay.”
He followed Yuwen Tong into the inner compartment of the tent, fished out a change of clothes of Yuwen Tong’s, and then told him to stand still.
“You are not to do anything. I’ve written Mr. Mu a letter, and his reply should arrive in three days. I think he has a way to temporarily keep the Gu worm inside you at bay. All you have to do is hold on for another three days.”
On hearing these words, Yuwen Tong, who wanted to hug him, was surprised and drew back his hand. “Really?”
Ling Zhang said, “I trust Mr. Mu.”
Yuwen Tong gave it some thought. Feeling that Mr. Mu was indeed the best physician he had ever seen, he said, “Okay. Three days it is.”
Ling Zhang glanced up at him and then quickly lowered his head. “Take off your clothes by yourself. Do it quick.”
Yuwen Tong furrowed his brows, somewhat hurt that Ling Zhang was unwilling to undress him. No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than he felt an excrutiating pain in his heart and had no choice but to shift his attention elsewhere. He silently unclothed himself, appearing rather sullen.
Ling Zhang didn’t raise his head, but he could tell from Yuwen Tong’s silence that the latter was unhappy. Still, there was nothing he could do. He really didn’t dare touch Yuwen Tong once again.
After Yuwen Tong stripped, he handed Yuwen Tong one after another the clothes he needed to change into. “Put them on by yourself.”
It was a few moments before Yuwen Tong quietly took the clothes and put them on one by one. The silence struck Ling Zhang as rather insupportable. Even he, who was in good health, found it unbearable, let alone Yuwen Tong who was suffering from a special condition. Therefore, he brought up something else to distract their attention. “Do you have any idea who that old gray-robed man might be?”
Yuwen Tong replied in a husky voice, “No.”
Half of the time he was straining every sinew to clear his mind, and the other half, he was looking at Ling Zhang, which was why he was too ambivalent and distressed to recall anything particular about the possible identity of that old gray-robed man.
“Then let’s forget about that old gray-robed man for the moment. We don’t know for sure whether he’s the one Shan Congyi once mentioned anyway. But there’s a very high chance the one who put a Gu worm in you was the very person Shan Congyi talked about. All Gu worms, one way or another, have something to do with South Xinjiang. The only Gu master from that area we had dealings with was the one who assisted Yuwen Zhi with his conspiracy to usurp the throne belonging to you. I don’t know whether there are any links between the two matters. If there are, it would be fairly understandable that someone wants to take revenge on you.”
This was what Ling Zhang had thought of when he had seen the Gu worm in the envoy’s body. It had just never crossed his mind that Yuwen Tong would still fall victim despite the fact that he had forewarned Yuwen Tong and come to this encampment as quick as he could. This made him feel rather depressed.
Yuwen Tong finally managed to spare some attention to that so-called Gu master. “Sooner or later I’ll have South Xinjiang flattened,” he said with a sulky face.
Ling Zhang sighed, “But presently our first priority is to rid your body of that Gu worm. I wonder what kind of Gu worm it is. Even Xie Shi doesn’t know how to handle it. I’m really worried.”
Yuwen Tong said, “There’s no need to concern yourself. If worst comes to worst, I’ll just force it out of my body at the cost of all my internal energy.”
Ling Zhang frowned. That should be regarded as a last resort. Deep down there he was utterly unwilling to see things come to that.
“I could start all over again if my internal energy is gone. Besides, I’m an emperor now, not a marshal, and I have a lot of people protecting me. It makes no difference to me whether I have kung fu or not,” said Yuwen Tong, sounding surprisingly optimistic.
Ling Zhang might have believed Yuwen Tong had he not cultivated internal energy himself. However, his internal energy was pretty powerful as well, so he naturally knew that it made a big difference. There was no way Yuwen Tong could fool him on that score.
“We’ll talk about that later. Let’s just wait for Mr. Mu’s reply, and we should try to avoid seeing each other in the next few days.”
“I can do that.”
Ling Zhang looked up at him and then said, “Come and sit here.”
Yuwen Tong was confused, but he still walked up to the bed beside Ling Zhang and sat down and with that Ling Zhang suddenly thrust a pill into his mouth. “Swallow it.”
Yuwen Tong knitted his brows, swallowed the pill and then asked, “What is it?”
Ling Zhang looked at him. “You should have asked first before swallowing it. Are you not afraid I might poison you?”
Yuwen Tong was just about to contradict him when he felt a surge of drowsiness. “Hypnotic drug?”
“Sort of. Have some sleep. I’ll be here making sure everything’s in order. The city has been taken. General Xiao and the others can handle the rest, and it’ll be some time before the army could finish regroupment and be ready to depart for Jifang City, so just relax and sleep,” said Ling Zhang.
Yuwen Tong disagreed. The two of them hadn’t seen each other for such a long time. He wanted to spend some time alone with Ling Zhang, though he would be suffering pain while doing that. How could he lie down and sleep? However, the pill Ling Zhang had given him was quite potent. On top of that, in the past few days his mental energy had been depleted, and a while ago he had had yet another battle against pain, so he failed to resist the effect of the pill and soon drifted off.
As he saw Yuwen Tong fell asleep, Ling Zhang felt relieved, carefully adjusted Yuwen Tong’s sleeping position, took off his overgarment and shoes, and then tucked him in. At the sight of the dark circles under Yuwen Tong’s eyes, a twinge of sadness swept over him.
Not feeling like finding himself a chair, he directly crouched down at the bedside, holding Yuwen Tong’s hand, looking at his sleeping face. Feeling Yuwen Tong’s pulse becoming perfectly steady and even after he fell asleep, Ling Zhang inwardly heaved a long sigh of relief.
He kept holding Yuwen Tong’s hand, unwilling to let go. He had really been scared earlier this day. He hoped that Mr. Mu had a way to get rid of that Gu worm in Yuwen Tong’s body. Otherwise he would have to use his Force of Blood, but even if it worked, the worm would only be restrained temporarily, and if the problem was to be solved thoroughly, Yuwen Tong would have to, like he himself had said, force the worm out of his body at the cost of all his internal energy, but that would no doubt take a heavy toll on Yuwen Tong’s health.
He didn’t want to see things come to that. He wanted Yuwen Tong to stay healthy, to have powerful internal energy to protect himself, to enjoy longevity. It was at that very moment that Ling Zhang suddenly lost interest in unifying the three countries, feeling that all those things paled in comparison with Yuwen Tong being safe and sound, that if Yuwen Tong died, his life would cease to be worth living.