"Lord Yuwen, His Majesty demands your and Mrs. Yuwen's presence in the Palace."

Yuwen Mansion was the home of Yuwen Tong, who was the most powerful Marshal of Great Yue. Yuwen Zhi smiled and bribed emperor's eunuch who called Wang Baolu. "Eunuch Wang, do you know why His Majesty summons us so suddenly?" Yuwen Zhi asked.

Returning the money to Yuwen Zhi, Wang Baolu said with a bothered tone, "Not that I don't want to tell you, my lord, but I really don't know what His Majesty wants. But rest assured, His Majesty looks peaceful."

Bribing the eunuch didn't work, so Yuwen Zhi felt a bit vexed. Though he kept scolding the eunuch inwardly, he still pretended to be grateful. "Thank you for letting me know. I will go to see His Majesty with my wife right away," Yuwen Zhi said.

"Lord Yuwen, that's very kind of you. I will be going then. And I will await your arrival in the Palace," Wang Baolu said.

"Eunuch Wang, take care," Yuwen Zhi said.

As soon as he saw Wang Baolu off, Yuwen Zhi immediately went to find his wife, Zheng shi.

"Why would His Majesty suddenly summon us?" Zheng shi asked with puzzlement while changing her clothes under the serve of her maid. Although she was nearly forty years old this year, she didn't look her age and still kept her charm.

"I don't know. Wang Baolu didn't want to tell us anything. He returned the money I gave him as well." A dark look formed on Yuwen Zhi's face as he spoke.

"What? Is there something wrong?" Zhang was shocked. And she became hesitant while dressing herself.

"No matter what happens, we must to o the Palace right away. Be flexible, this time His Majesty specially asks me to take you, he will definitely ask you some questions. Leave it to me when you don't know how to answer and I will do it," Yuwen Zhi said.

Zhang responded in panic. After getting dressed, she went to the Palace with Yuwen Zhi.

In the Palace, the Emperor looked at them with no expression on his face.

"Your Majesty, what is your order for me and my humble wife? " Yuwen Zhi said after secretly observing the Emperor's countenance.

Zheng stood behind Yuwen Zhi and lowered her head. The emperor's silence frightened her.

"Yuwen Zhi, do you know where my Marshal is?" The Emperor was sitting in there and said slowly.

Yuwen Tong? Yuwen Zhi was confused as he replied, "He should be on his way back to the Capital."

The Emperor looked at Yuwen Zhi for a long time with his sharp eyes before speaking, "It seems that you don't know where he is either."

"Your Majesty, did he do something wrong? If so, please forgive his mistake for the sake of his devotion to defending the territory of Great Yue," Yuwen Tong knelt on the ground and said.

Zheng also hurriedly dropped to her knees.

"Don't be nervous. I didn't say he did anything wrong. You make excessive demands on Yuwen Tong," the Emperor said.

Yuwen Tong admitted his error and asked for punishment in a hurry, Zheng did the same.

"Get up. I have something to ask you," the Emperor said.

Yuwen Zhi and Zheng stood up. He said, "Please, your majesty. I will tell you everything I know."

"When did Yuwen Tong get engaged? Why are you keeping this secret?" the Emperor said.

What the Emperor said stunned Yuwen Zhi and Zheng. Engagement? What was that?

"Engagement? There's no such a thing." Zheng wore a puzzled look as she turned to Yuwen Zhi.

The Emperor glanced at Zheng then tat Wang Baolu, who, after getting the hint, said, "Marshal Yuwen has gone to Tanyang to look for his fiancé."

Tanyang? Zheng was still confused, but Yuwen Zhi's face changed drastically.

The Emperor's eyes had changed too, he stared at Yuwen Zhi and asked, "Do you recall anything?"

At first Zheng looked at her husband in bewilderment, whereafter, something occurred to her. She gradually widened her eyes. "That's impossible!"

"How dare you! Are you questioning His Majesty?" Wang Baolu berated.

Zheng was shocked to repeated kowtows, "Your Majesty, please spare me. I was just surprised to Yuwen Tong's engagement, I absolutely dare not question you. Please forgive me."

Yuwen Zhi also joined in the kowtows as he pleaded, "She was indiscreet. Let me take her punishment."

"Take it easy. Not a big deal, don't make a fuss. Wang Baolu, don't scare Mrs. Yuwen," the Emperor said.

"That's my fault," Wang Baolu said.

"Yuwen Zhi, what was on your mind?" the Emperor asked.

Looking at his trembling wife, Yuwen Tong knew that if he didn't tell the truth, the Emperor would not let him go easily. And the most crucial thing was that Yuwen Tong exposed this matter himself. According to his tough personality, there was no way he could hide this matter. "I just remembered an old past. Please forgive me for not answering your question in the first place."

"Ah? An old past?" the Emperor sounded interested in this matter.

"This engagement was settled twenty years ago. The other side is the eldest grandson of Ling Xingzhong, who used to serve as the Shilang (Vice Minister), " Yuwen Zhi said.

The Emperor frowned, as if he were trying to recall. After a while, he suddenly realized, "It's him. I remember that he resigned and returned home very early."

"Your Majesty, you are so wise. Lord Ling did return to his hometown, Tanyang. When my father and Lord Ling set this marriage contact, the eldest son of Lord Ling was just married, and his elder daughter-in-law was just pregnant. They all didn't know the gender of the kid, so it was a sloppy decision. Later, Lord Ling returned to Tanyang and our two families didn't contract each other anymore due to the far distance. Then I heard a businessman from Tanyang who said that Lord Ling's daughter-in law had a son. At that time, I thought that since his family got a boy, the marriage contact was invalidated. After so many years, I have almost forgotten this matter," Yuwen Zhi said.

"Really? A boy?" the Emperor smiled. "That is a bit unexpected. Then why Yuwen Tong said that he was going to Tanyang to find that boy? What's going on here?"

"This... Your Majesty, I haven't seen my nephew for three years. I never wanted to tell him about it. And I have no idea exactly where he learned about it. I never thought he'd go to Tanyang to find the boy. After all, they are both men and can't get married," Yuwen Zhi took it for granted.

An ambiguous smile appeared on the Emperor's face, "You are too blinkered. The empress of the founding emperor of our country is a man. The marriage of two men is no longer a novelty in our civilized country."

Yuwen Zhi froze. 'What does the Emperor mean? Does he support Yuwen Tong marry Ling Family's eldest grandson?'

"Your Majesty, what do you think of it?" Yuwen Tong didn't dare to make a final decision.

The Emperor's answer was very ambiguous, "We can talk about it after Yuwen Tong comes back to the Capital. No need to rush things."

Yuwen Tong hurriedly said, "Yes, your majesty."

Zheng, beside Yuwen Zhi, turned pale. After getting out of the Palace, she asked in a hurry, "Master, how could Yuwen Tong know about this engagement? We never told him."

"The most important thing now is not how he learned about it, but this matter has been known by the Emperor!" Yuwen Tong looked extremely gloomy.

"What should we do? Our plan..." Zheng shi asked anxiously.

"Put it aside. Let me think it over," Yuwen Zhi said. "His Majesty's attitude towards this matter was so strange just now. So we have to stop finding in-laws for him."

Zheng was shocked, "But, but didn't we just promise..."

"Hum, promise? It's just a polite formula," Yuwen Zhi said.

Then he hit the wall of the carriage angrily. That sound startled Zheng.

"Master," Zheng yelled.

"What exactly is he thinking? He hasn't come back home in so many years, and every time I talked to him about his marriage, he never cared. Now he went to look for the man who comes from a declined family. Now this scandal is well known. Does he mean to disgrace our Yuwen Family?" Yuwen Zhi said angrily.

"Master, now we just sit by and see him marry that man?" Zhang said unwillingly.

"I will never agree to it," Yuwen Zhi said.

Zheng wanted to say something, but stopped while seeing Yuwen Zhi was in a temper.

*

Tanyang...

The wonderful feeling of warmth was flowing around Ling Zhang's whole body, which made him feel amazing. Ling Zhang couldn't help but ask Yuwen Tong, "Is this inner power?"

"Yes." Yuwen Tong looked up at him and said, "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm good now," Ling Zhang said. Seeing that Yuwen Tong's hand was still on his ankle, he hurried away. "That's enough."

Yuwen Tong got up and said, "I have found that some parts of your body's meridians are not very smooth, which will affect your heath. If you like, I can help you to improve it."

After listening to what he said, Ling Zhang was very interested. But as soon as he thought that doing so might bother Yuwen Tong, he hesitated.

"To help you clear your meridians not only requires my inner power, but also a medicated bath. I found a lot of herbs in Tanyang, so it is not difficult for you to find those herbs. When the meridians of your whole body are cleared, your body will improve, and it'll also be easier for you to learn martial skills," Yuwen Tong said.

Ling Zhang was tempted. He had been practicing every morning so that he could learn martial arts. Yuwen Tong's suggestion was perfectly tailor-made for him, which was difficult for him to refuse."Of course, you can take your time to think about it carefully. I'm not in a hurry to leave," Yuwen Tong said.

Ling Zhang agreed without much hesitation, "Would it bother you much?"

"It doesn't matter. It is also a kind of inner power training for me," Yuwen Tong said.

"Thank you, please then," Ling Zhang said.

"That's easy. I'll give you the prescription when we get back. And then you can ask someone to prepare these things for you. These two methods must be used together for good results," Yuwen Tong said.

Ling Zhang nodded, "Okay, I will have the herbs ready as soon as possible."

Ling Zhang's attitude towards Yuwen Tong softened unwittingly because of this offer. Ling Zhang didn't think he could accept Yuwen Tong's kindness yet treat him uncivilly after. He was never a man so ruthless.

The two returned to the woods to lead their horses out, and headed back to Tanyang. After giving the horses back to the shop, they walked back to Ling Family. However, they heard the some noises before they got into the house.

"What happened?" Ling Zhang quickened his steps.

Yuwen Tong followed closely after and, with good eyesight, already got a clear view of what was happening.

There were four men and four women in costly raiment kneeling at the gate of Ling Mansion and kowtowing. They seemed to keep shouting something like, "Young master Ling, please let go of our son." The Ling Mansion's servants tried to drive them away, but this group of people still lingered around and wouldn't go. The servants couldn't drive them away by force but only prevented them from entering. Ling Zhang frowned when seeing the stalemate.

After approaching, Ling Zhang heard and saw who these people were.

"It's them," Ling Zhang sad with a scowl.

"Who are they?" Yuwen Tong asked.

"They are the parents of the four people who had conspired with Jia Yuanling to frame me. Jia Yuanling, the ringleader of the affair, was sentenced to exile; the four men, each of whom being punished differently, are now in the prison of the Prefecture Yamen," Ling Zhang said.

Their sentence had been announced for long ago. Why did their parents suddenly show up here at this time and act as disgusting rascals?

Ling Zhang walked over with a cold face, "Are you looking for me?"

As soon as Ling Zhang appeared, these people immediately surrounded him. As if some fresh meat thrown towards a pack of hungry wolves. Ling Mansion's servants quickly stood in front of Ling Zhang to prevent him from getting hurt.

These men knelt on the ground with a thud.

They cried, "Please give my son a break! My son was drunk; he wasn't in his right mind, which was why he did something shameless. Young master Ling, please put a word for my son and let Lord Tao show mercy!"

"Young master Ling, please! Please forgive my son! I'm willing to do anything for you!"

What happened in front of the Ling Mansion attracted many onlookers.

Seeing this, Ling Zhang's look turned colder.

"If I kill them and ask for your forgiveness, will you forgive me?"

"What do you mean? Young master Ling, why do you want to kill my son?" a man shouted.

"Then why should I forgive them? Just because you kneel down to me and beg my pardon? Get them out of here! If they refuse to leave, go to the Prefecture Yamen and call the Yamen runners. Tell them that some people here are trying to break into the Ling Mansion, they act insanely as if they are going to do violence," Ling Zhang said.

"Got it!" a servant said.

Wang Dashan came with the guards, planning to drag them away.

"Ah...they are trying to kill us, the Ling Family's people want to kill us! There is no justice at all!" This man who was dragged by Wang Dashan kept talking nonsense, which attracted a lot of onlookers.

"That's enough. There is no time to waste. Sue them," Ling Zhang said.

Wang Dashan nodded then sent someone to notify the government in a hurry.

"Ling Zhang, on what ground are you suing us? My son just got drunk and made a small mistake, why did you ruin him? You are so cruel. Now you want to put us in jail, too? We have no crimes and you can't do that. Do you want to bully us because your uncle is a government official?"

"Young master, this..." Wang Dashan frowned.

"Ignore them," Ling Zhang said.

"Ooh, my god. The Ling Family's people are so unreasonable. We didn't do anything wrong, we just ask for forgiveness here. But they not only refused our apology, but are trying to put us in jail and kill us. They want us dead!"

"The Ling Family wants to misuse their power to oppress us. They flout the law themselves, though they keep telling everyone to obey it. They think they can look down on us, just because someone in their family is an official."

They were going too far and there were more and more onlookers. Funny thing was, the onlookers blindly sympathized with those who looked weak. No matter what the truth was, they were already gossiping about Ling Family.

Ling Zhang looked at their charade with a cold look. If this happened in the past, he must have panicked. As for now, he had become very composed. What could these people do except gossiping? They wouldn't make any difference. Everything would come to light after going to the court.

No matter how loud those people shouted, Ling Zhang didn't care. However, Ling Family's servants could not help but worry because these shameless guys redoubled their efforts to slander when seeing the servants not taking any measures at the behest of Ling Zhang.

Though there were more and more onlookers, the Ling Family's people still stayed perfectly cool, calm and collected. These people were shouting even harder, louder and more outrageously.

Those gossips gradually quieted down. Especially after Yuwen Tong, who was behind Ling Zhang, unleashed his powerful aura. Many people here were silenced by his imposing temperament.

These people were beginning to lose patience when they saw that the head constables of Yamen were about to coming. One of them tried to break free from the guards and rushed to a pillar in front of Ling Family's gate, but was caught before he could break through and pinned to the ground.

"Indecent assault..."

Her shouting came to sudden stop as a stone hit the woman's mute acupuncture point.

Ling Zhang pretended not to see anything, though he clearly saw the stone shooting from behind him. This was obviously done by Yuwen Tong.

The woman looked pale when she found herself suddenly speechless. She tried to break free, but failed.

Ling Zhang had seen through the tricks of these people already. What they wanted to do was to make some trouble so as to turn Ling Family into the target of public criticism.

More importantly, Ling Zhang's uncle would be promoted to left Tongzhi in a few days. If something bad happened at this critical moment, the promotion of his uncle would come to nothing.

In his previous life, they had taken advantage of Ling Zhang's youth, ignorance and recklessness to make his uncle lose his position. And now they wanted to use the same dirty tricks in this life. How disgusting they were!

"Stop! What do you want to do? How can you do this..."

Two thuds sounded in succession, the man froze suddenly not able to either speak or move. Ling Zhang sneered at this man. He knew that these men were in desperation, they just tried to humiliate the Ling Family in public. But what a pity! As long as Yuwen Tong was present, he would certainly not let them do what they want.

Suddenly another man appeared in the crowd, trying to say something in anger. Then another two sounds of little puff came, which froze the man before he could speak.

Finally, someone in the crowd sensed something strange and changed their countenance. Although they didn't know who did that, they could feel that the person must be a Kung Fu master and they couldn't afford to mess with him. These people looked around themselves, trying to find the one doing this.

It was interesting that Yuwen Tong was standing behind Ling Zhang, head slightly lowered, and his powerful aura restrained, which made him difficult to be found by others. In this way, those people would only regard him as Ling Zhang's subordinate, rather than the master they were looking for.

The people of the Prefecture Yamen also came at this time, which made those men completely lose their opportunity to frame Ling Family.

Together with these Yamen runners, Ling Zhang escorted the four men and four women to the Prefecture Yamen. Tao Feng was willing to offer a helping hand, and cooperated with Ling Zhang to do the same thing they did last time. Tao Feng allowed all the people to watch the trial process and figured out the culprits. In the end, he punished everyone with ten lashes then released them.

It was indeed a fact that Ling Zhang couldn't do anything to these people, but the punishment was enough to keep them in bed for a while.

Ling Zhang had already known who was behind this.

"Zhang'er, you should be grateful to the Marshal for helping us today. Otherwise, this matter can't be handled smoothly," Ling Zhaowen whispered to Ling Zhang.

Ling Zhang looked at his uncle with a mixed feeling. He began to doubt if his uncle was still on his side. It seemed Yuwen Tong had won his uncle over.

"What's up? Why do you look so strange?" Seeing Ling Zhang walk over, Yuwen Tong asked with doubt.

Ling Zhang glanced at him and said, "Thank you for your help."

Yuwen Tong smiled, "Never mind. It's a piece of cake."

He seemed to know why Ling Zhang looked so strange. It turned out that this little hedgehog was not used to apologizing to or thanking him.

"Let's go back. Don't keep Lord Ling waiting," Yuwen Tong said.