Early the next morning, Yuwen Jin came to pick up Ling Zhang and the two of them went to the Imperial College together.

In the carriage, apart from Ling Zhang and Yuwen Jin, there were also Yuwen Jin's study-servant (a boy serving in someone's study) and that of Ling Zhang. The latter was Miao Shiba, the youngest member of the squad of bodyguards of Yuwen Tong, who was thin and seemed to be fifteen or sixteen but was actually nineteen. He was also younger brother of Miao Shisan who accompanied Ling Zhang to the trading center to check the store on that day. Both of the two brothers were Yuwen Tong's personal bodyguards.

Yuwen Tong had eighteen personal bodyguards in total, whom outsiders called "the Eighteen Guards". Everyone of them was kung fu expert. When on the battleground, they were also valiant and well-trained soldiers. Currently there were fourteen of them around Yuwen Tong, the other four staying in border areas. They were also Yuwen Tong's most trusted subordinates.

Since Ling Zhang was going to study in the Imperial College, Yuwen Tong had had Miao Shiba disguise himself as Ling Zhang's study-servant to provide protection.

Miao Shiba looked even thinner than Ling Zhang, which was why even Yuwen Jin didn't suspect his identity.

Students who had come to the capital city from other parts of the country to study in the Imperial College lived on campus. Those who were locals, in the normal course of events, would choose to live at home. As a result, when Ling Zhang and Yuwen Jin arrived at the Imperial College, there were a lot of horse-drawn carriages parked on the broad level ground in front of the gateway of the college. The time they arrived was still relatively late, so they had to hastily find a vacant lot and parked their carriage.

The two of them got out of their carriage. Before they came, they had changed into Confucian scholar's robes which were the same as what other students were wearing, so they didn't attract anybody's attention.

Miao Shiba and Yuwen Jin's study-servant named Changle closely followed in the wake of Ling Zhang and Yuwen Jin.

Right at this moment, there was a disturbance at the front gate. A gorgeous broad horse-drawn carriage drove up. There were some other resplendent horse-drawn carriages parked on the open space, but none of them was as magnificent as this one. Besides, this horse-drawn carriage was escorted by a team of guards, which was even more ostentatious than an official on his way to a court meeting.

"Pooh, will we never be rid of him?" Yuwen Jin's face darkened as soon as his eye fell on that carriage.

After a brief moment's pondering, Ling Zhang queried, "Jiang Yu?"

"Who else could be so flaunty other than him? This guy's only too anxious to have the whole world know who he is," sniffed Yuwen Jin.

That horse-drawn carriage came to a halt precisely at the gateway of the Imperial College, and the team of guards also blocked the path of students on the open space. Ling Zhang and Yuwen Jin, who had just got out of their carriage, hadn't had the time to enter and thus their path was also blocked.

Ling Zhang observed that a lot of students hastened to make way for that carriage as they saw it. There were also some who specially walked closer to look on. Some others furrowed their brows at the sight of the horse-drawn carriage and then strode away without a backward glance.

"Those who made way were trying to avoid offending Jiang Yu or Jiang family; those who stepped closer to look on are either on good terms with Jiang family or want to curry favor with Jiang Yu; most of those who swaggered off are ill-disposed towards Jiang family."

Yuwen Jin on the side, who noticed Ling Zhang's gaze, explained the situation to him. So although this guy appeared quite naughty, he was also pretty observant.

Ling Zhang inclined his head and, along with Yuwen Jin, stood silently where they were, waiting, for they didn't really have another choice...

There were many other students waiting not far away from the two of them, a group of whom happened to be standing on their left side; and Ling Zhang noticed that this group of students all seemed to dislike Jiang Yu, for they either had a frown or a sulky face, and they clustered around two students who seemed to be their leaders. The two seemed to be of similar height and weight, but one of them was handsome, and the other somewhat rugged.

"Those are Qian Qingchuan and Shi Changgen. Both of their families had sour relations with Jiang family, and they are on hostile terms with Jiang Yu," Yuwen Jin gave another explanation.

Ling Zhang quickly matched the information he had heard with these two people and asked, "So one of them is a childe from the family of Qian Kang who's Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs, and the other a childe from the family of Shi Dongming who's Assistant Minister of Taichang Temple (a department in charge of religious affairs)?"

Yuwen Jin looked at him in dismay. "You know them?"

'It seems that I guessed right.' Ling Zhang replied, "I just heard of them before."

Yuwen Jin nodded. "That's true. Qian Qingchuan is Qian Kang's son. Shi Changgen is Shi Dongming's grandson."

Then he craned to Ling Zhang's ear and informed him in a lowered voice, "Both Qian Kang and Shi Dongming are on friendly terms with Gu family. The Crown Prince's mother is a member of Gu family. Back in that year, Gu shi, the Crown Prince's mother, and Jiang shi, a lady from Jiang family, were married to His Majesty at the same time. Eventually, Gu shi became queen and Jiang shi died in the palace without bearing any children. It is widely rumored that Gu shi was the one who murdered Jiang shi. Anyway, after that, Gu family and Jiang family became deadly enemies, but both of them are kin to His Majesty. One of them is His Majesty's uncle, and the other his father-in-law. In a word, Jiang family wouldn't be able to get the best of their wrangle with Gu family nor vice versa. Their respective followers have also been in intense strife, so naturally Qian Qingchuan and Shi Changgen are on hostile terms with Jiang Yu."

Ling Zhang, after hearing this, generally grasped the core of the situation and said, "Shi Changgen's grandfather is the Assistant Minister of Taichang Temple, so that Professor Gu we met yesterday is..."

"He's a member of Gu family as well, the Crown Prince's mother's uncle. According to the family hierarchy, he should be the Crown Prince's maternal granduncle." Yuwen Jin had a somewhat worried look on his face while talking about this man, which was a clear indication that the old man's ruler inflicted some kind of psychological scar on him that day.

Ling Zhang couldn't help but secretly sigh in sentiment, thinking, 'It's indeed too easy to meet children of dignitaries in the Imperial College. There are so-and-so's so-and-so everywhere. Besides, speaking of the Crown Prince, this is my first time dealing with someone related to him.'

It was said that the Crown Prince, whose name was Zhou Mingtang, was ill and hadn't shown his face in the imperial court for quite a long time, which was why he and Yuwen Tong hadn't seen him after entering the capital city. Yuwen Tong had told him that, after the Crown Prince fell ill and the Sixth Prince was brought down, the balance of power in the imperial court had been through a quick realignment before the two of them entered the capital city, that the King Duan, the King Hui and the Fifth Prince – also known as the King Yu whose name was Zhou Mingyi – had formed a situation of tripartite confrontation. In order to have their own subordinates fill the vacancies left by the Sixth Prince's followers, the three sides had been fighting each other intensely all along. Because of this, Yuwen Tong couldn't even be bothered to attend the daily morning meeting in the imperial court and directly took a sick leave. He would rather stay at home than go there and watch their undignified quarrel.

"He's getting out," said Yuwen Jin.

Jiang Yu got out of his carriage, followed by a study-servant and two bodyguards. His horse-drawn carriage and the team of bodyguards left heading in the other direction. With that, the congestion at the front gate of the Imperial College was greatly eased.

All those waiting for Jiang Yu to get out of his carriage gathered around him, but Jiang Yu appeared quite bland.

"Pooh, putting on airs? I can do that as well. But I feel it's tiring and boring to live the way he does. Do you agree with me, Zhang?" said Yuwen Jin.

Ling Zhang hesitated for a brief moment and then replied, "Yeah."

From the time when Jiang Yu got out of his carriage until the current moment when he was surrounded by students, Yuwen Jin had whispered criticism of Jiang Yu in his ear several times, each of which had ended with a question. If Ling Zhang made no reply, he would ask again, showing great "perseverance".

"Oh, Childe Jiang, look, aren't those Qian Qingchuan and his errand boys? They have such unhappy faces at such an early hour, as if someone owed them eight hundred taels of silver and refused to repay the debt." One of those clustering around Jiang Yu suddenly made this remark and with that all others' eyes darted in this direction.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Jin fell speechless.

"Yuwen Jin?" Someone recognized Yuwen Jin.

Abruptly all people nearby lapsed into silence and looked in this direction.

Ling Zhang couldn't help but secretly suspect that Yuwen Jin had committed some heinous crime to arouse widespread indignation and discontent, which was why all people fixed their eyes on him immediately after they heard his name.

Yuwen Jin himself was also secretly startled. He glared at them. "What are you looking at? You've never seen anyone as handsome and elegant as me?"

On hearing this, a lot of people rolled their eyes upwards. As a matter of fact, it was not Yuwen Jin but Ling Zhang that they were interested in.

"So that's Ling Zhang?"

"He's quite plain-looking."

Just like this, those students started either discussing Ling Zhang's appearance or criticizing him from head to feet, and everyone of them ended their remarks with the same question asked in astonishment – "That's Marshal Yuwen's betrothed? The guy who caused the Ninth Princess to be sent to a temple, Peng Fang to be thrown into prison, and Yuwen Qi's leg to be broken?"

All these people were discussing in very low tones, believing that Ling Zhang couldn't hear them, but Ling Zhang'd hearing was now amazingly good and he could distinguish words of everyone present at the front gate of the Imperial College if he wanted to.

"I heard that yesterday Jiang Yu tried to stop Marshal Yuwen and was abused roundly on the spot by Ling Zhang. Professor Gu rejoiced over this and praised Ling Zhang up to the skies for his essay, as if only a god could write an essay like that."

Ling Zhang's face was full of embarrassment as he heard this. 'It's been merely one day, yet rumors have already grown so dramatic?'

"So you are Ling Zhang?" It was not Jiang Yu and his followers but Qian Qingchuan and his friends standing in front of them on their left who were the first ones to come up to the two of them.

"I'm Qian Qingchuan. He's Shi Changgen. We're both students of the Imperial College. Would you mind going in with us?" said the one at the front of the group, who was relatively well-featured.

"You're nothing but two dogs of Gu family. Childe Jiang is still here. You are in no position to speak," remarked someone among those clustering around Jiang Yu.

The speaker was the same person who had yelled "Aren't those Qian Qingchuan and his errand boys?" and then Yuwen Jin's name causing all others to fix their eyes on Ling Zhang.

"Yet another nuisance showed up," observed Yuwen Jin in disgust.

"Who is he?" Ling Zhang looked at the speaker among the group, a somewhat cold expression in his eyes. Clearly this man was deliberately working against them.

That person standing among the crowd had thought that Ling Zhang wouldn't be able to spot him, but unexpectedly, Ling Zhang suddenly stared squarely at him. His calm eyes seemed to be seeing right into his soul, which made him subconsciously tense his back muscles.

"Zuo Yuanping, son of Zuo Yi who works for the Ministry of Works. He's Jiang Yu's lackey, and his father is no better," responded Yuwen Jin.

'Zuo Yi working for the Ministry of Works?' Ling Zhang immediately recalled the couple of officials who privately talked about him at the front gate of the imperial palace and, after being shot down by him, flushed scarlet and nearly passed out with fury. 'It turns out that this Zuo Yuanping guy is Zuo Yi's son. Now I know why he's working against us.'

"This is so funny. Jiang Yu's dog is barking. Look, Shi, he's barking so happily. Pity he's not speaking human language. Probably only his master can understand him. He's indeed a good dog which is good at currying favor with its master."

Qian Qingchuan and Shi Changgen standing on the side, whom Zuo Yuanping called dogs, had started swearing back at the other side. Both their reactions and their speed of speaking were very quick, which was an indication that these two opposing sides verbally dueled with each other quite often.

Ling Zhang fell speechless as he heard this.

He wondered whether it was too late or not for him to request the emperor to rescind his decision, feeling a trifle unaccustomed to this kind of "verbal morning exercises" of students of the Imperial College.

"Guard your tongue," reprimanded someone among the group of people clustering around Jiang Yu.

"Surely you know very well who started this, don't you?" sneered Qian Qingchuan.

Jiang Yu, with a frown on his face, raised his hand and said, "Enough. We're at the front gate of the Imperial College. It's undignified to quarrel here."

Qian Qingchuan coldly gave a snort and made no further remarks, but he seemed just as hostile to Jiang Yu as he was to the others. Then he looked at Ling Zhang, softened his tone and asked, "Childe Ling, shall we?"

Surprisingly, Jiang Yu standing on the other side looked in this direction and also spoke. "Childe Ling, given that you're new to the Imperial College, I suggest you be more cautious about your choice of friends. And you should bear in mind your identity. Your each and every move might affect the Marshal and even cause him trouble."

As the main focus of attention, Ling Zhang merely replied with one sentence in a calm tone of voice, "Thank you for reminding me, Childe Jiang, but I'm fully aware of what I should do, so there's no need for you to bother worrying about it."

Jiang Yu furrowed his brows and fixed Ling Zhang with a stare. "Childe Ling seems to be a rather poor judge of character."

Ling Zhang cast him a perplexed look. "I find your words confusing, Childe Jiang. If my memory serves me correctly, this is the first time that we're talking with each other. We're not really well acquainted, and neither do you know much about me, yet you precipitously put yourself in the position of my betrothed, laid comment on me and made this ungrounded charge against me. Don't you think you overstepped the mark a little?"

"Tell me about it. Elder Brother Zhang is my cousin's betrothed. Of course he'll always take my cousin into consideration. You are so unreasonable, Jiang Yu. You sound as if you have the final say in my cousin's business. From what standpoint are you saying this? What's your intention?" Yuwen Jin questioned in a sarcastic manner.

After hearing this, others present had a subtle expression in their eyes when they looked at Jiang Yu, and Jiang Yu became the focus of all kinds of speculative gaze. They all knew about the engagement between Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong, feeling that this conduct of Jiang Yu's was so strange. 'Does he by any chance have feelings for Marshal Yuwen? If that's the case, there would be high drama once again in the capital city,' many of them thought.

Jiang Yu, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, was of noble blood. Never once had anybody fixed him with this kind of stare since he'd enrolled in this college. He felt as if he were stripped naked, as if his private thoughts had just been roughly pulled out of his mind and exposed to numerous prying eyes, leaving his heart filled with shame and anger. 'Who are these people to affront me like this? They are just a bunch of lowly people who are too cheap to even hold shoes for me. Who do they think they are? How dare they look at me like that! They'll pay for this!'

"Now I have no doubt you're the one who shot down the Ninth Princess rendering her speechless and also made mincemeat of Lord Yuwen at the palace banquet. Today I saw with my own eyes how you can make black look white, and white look black, Childe Ling. No matter whether you believe it or not, I just gave you a reminder out of goodwill. Marshal Yuwen is a national hero of the Great Yue, and I said that because I didn't have the heart to see him subjected to gratuitous abuse because of you. Now that you have no appreciation for my kindness, I have nothing else to say."

After saying this, Jiang Yu turned around with the intention to leave, but Ling Zhang said in a deep tone, "Wait a moment."

Jiang Yu paused, looked at him and asked flintily, "What else do you want to say?"

"You're better with words than I am, Childe Jiang. The Ninth Princess is a noble member of the imperial family. No matter what happened in the past, as a subject of His Majesty, I should lay no more remark on her, but just now you said that I confused right and wrong. Were you suggesting that what happened and has already been confirmed previously by His Majesty was a mistake? If you have any evidence to prove it, I don't mind accompanying you to the palace of His Majesty and make things clear. After all, this is not a small issue," Ling Zhang said to Jiang Yu with his eyes on him.

Ling Zhang's tone was sincere, and his countenance unhurried, but Jiang Yu's face darkened, his eyes chilly.

Ling Zhang directly suggested the two of them confront each other in front of the emperor, which was a manifest indication that he was not afraid of getting into trouble. Of course Jiang Yu didn't fear Ling Zhang, and neither did he fear to see the emperor, but if they went to the emperor and he couldn't show any proof... And Ling Zhang's bearing unmistakably indicated that he had something secure to rely on, and it was only too evident who his backer was. The more Jiang Yu thought about this, the sullener his face grew.