"At today's morning court meeting?"

"Yeah. Just now I saw Jiang Yu make haste to go back home."

"Tsk, tsk. It caused so many deaths and also a riot, yet his punishment was merely removal from office."

"That's how things work here. He's a member of Jiang family, and also kin to the emperor."

"Jiang Changfeng is unaffected?"

"Not to my knowledge. I think he's fine. After all he's His Majesty's uncle."

At midday break, news of this matter quickly spread across the college and there were people discussing it everywhere.

Ling Zhang shared a table with Yuwen Jin and the others at lunch time. Yuwen Jin was so excited to hear the news that he could barely keep from jumping up and setting off firecrackers to celebrate. "About time! People of Jiang family have always been so cocky. Now they got their just deserts."

Ji Feng and the other four, who were not as ill-disposed to Jiang Yu as he was, didn't react so dramatically, but this was big news after all, so they also couldn't help but fall into discussion. "Jiang family must've been thrown into total confusion."

"Jiang Changfeng's still in office, so the situation in their family won't be serious. Although Jiang Yu's father was dismissed from his position, he was still His Majesty's cousin. After some time, when the waters are calmed, maybe he'll be reinstated in his post."

"Even if he is reinstated, his standing won't be restored to its original height, and there'll be a long trying time ahead of him. Jiang Changfeng is getting old, and there's no telling how much longer he could hang in there."

"It's hard to say. Actually Jiang Changfeng looks pretty robust."

Yuwen Jin was unhappy to hear this. "He made such a serious mistake, and you think His Majesty will reinstate him some day?"

Having been socializing with Yuwen Jin during these days, Zhao Jiusi and the others had come to know the personal history between him and Jiang Yu, so they found his indignation understandable.

"It's His Majesty's call."

"Yeah. There's no need for you to be frustrated."

Yuwen Jin was not frustrated but angry. Since his excited reaction just now had already been conspicuous enough, Ling Zhang had him by the shoulders in an effort to keep him from showing his anger in a noticeable way, lest there be any unfavorable rumors.

It had never crossed Ling Zhang's mind that Jiang Yu's father would be removed from office, but what had happened in the Xiang City was such a serious event. A riot was no joke, and citizens would never have done such a thing had life not been unbearable. It'd been Jiang family who'd recommended the prefectural governor of the Xiang City, and in the normal course of things, all members of Jiang family would have been punished. Like those students had commented, the emperor had shown mercy to Jiang family by merely dismissing Jiang Yu's father from his position.

"Why did the prefectural governor of the Xiang City have those over ten commoners executed? Have any details been disclosed?" queried Ling Zhang.

"There hasn't been any news about the specific reason for that. I'll have to wait until school is over to ask my father about it and find out, but it's always about those dirty, mean tricks."

"Given that local yamen of Cangzhou had been keeping it secret for such a long time, the chief and many others were definitely involved. This'll be another case of the whole leadership being thrown into prison."

"Tell me about it. On top of that, Cangzhou is so close to the capital city. Think about it, had the riot escalated into something bigger, there might have been unimaginable consequences. Although His Majesty merely dismissed him from his position for the sake of Jiang family's reputation, he actually... must be very angry," Ji Feng remarked, lowering his voice.

Ling Zhang looked at him, a thoughtful expression on his face. 'Ji Feng's got a point. Cangzhou is so close to the capital city. Given the severity of this event, at least the emperor's anger at Jiang family won't subside any time soon.'

People in Cangzhou were shocked. Apart from officials in Cangzhou and Jiang Yu's father, some courtiers would definitely be held responsible as well, for it undoubtedly had taken more than Jiang family to hush up an event like that.

"I think Jiang Yu won't be coming to school for quite some time," Ji Feng added.

Yuwen Jin replied, "It won't really sadden me if he doesn't. The very sight of him gives me an urge to kick his ass."

Because of this matter, all their classmates were too occupied sharing news of Jiang family to pay any attention to their new professor.

In the afternoon, they had a music class. More than half of the students were absent-minded and didn't hear a single word of what their professor had said.

In fact, they were not the only ones whose minds were wandering. Ling Zhang was also somewhat inattentive.

After school, he returned home in haste, found Yuwen Tong and asked him about what had happened at the morning court meeting.

Yuwen Tong, who was drawing a diagram of a martial formation with a calm look on his face, replied, "His Majesty removed Jiang Chengfeng from office and had him stay at home introspecting about his faults. He also dispatched some men to the Xiang City to arrest others involved. Some courtiers who'd helped hush things up for officials of the Xiang City were also sent packing. These people were not as lucky as Jiang Chengfeng. All of them are now in prison. After apprehension of those in the Xiang City, they'll go on trial together and receive punishment. Almost all of them have complicated relations with Jiang family one way or another, so this'll be a rather heavy blow to Jiang family."

From his calm face, Ling Zhang came to realize something. "You went to the imperial palace earlier today?"

"No. This concerns only those courtiers. I'm still on vacation. The emperor won't be missing me unless there's a fight in the northwest," replied Yuwen Tong.

"We once went past Cangzhou but didn't notice anything unusual. It never crossed my mind that those officials would be so bold as to do this kind of thing. Do you know the root cause of it?" asked Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong answered, "It's about fields. Brother-in-law of the prefectural governor of the Xiang City forcibly occupied some fertile paddy fields, exploited tenant farmers, forced a commoner's daughter to be his concubine and also caused several deaths. People sued him in the prefecture yamen, but the prefectural governor, instead of dealing with it in a just fashion, had the accuser thrown into prison and beaten to death, which aroused public indignation. After angry citizens ringed the prefecture yamen, he had all of them arrested and imprisoned. In the prison, another couple of people were killed. During the whole process, nearly twenty people lost their lives. Eventually, a riot broke out. Many civilians participating the riot got killed during the suppression and a lot more were executed after the suppression. In total, there were almost a hundred casualties. Some people intended to come to the capital city to report this to the emperor but were intercepted by his men and then directly executed as well. People there were intimidated by his brutal means and nobody dared to come to the capital city to charge him any more. On top of that, those bureaucrats shielded one another and paid hush money to persons higher in the hierarchy. Those who were bribed hushed up the whole thing for him, making sure nobody else found out."

The frown on Ling Zhang's face deepened as he listened. 'That was virtually atrocious and utterly inhumane. He killed so many people.'

"When did this happen? And how was it brought to light?"

Yuwen Tong put down his writing brush and looked at the diagram of the formation he'd just finished. Feeling fairly satisfied, he replied, "That was about half a year ago. As regards how it was brought to light... Someone had the commoners involved found, escorted to the capital city and then to the doorway of the public procurator. With so many people involved, there's no way the public procurator could hush it up even if he wanted to, which was why it was brought to light."

Ling Zhang got the key point. "Someone had the commoners involved found and escorted to the capital city? You mean somebody had this planned out?"

Yuwen Tong gave a bob of his head. "Yeah."

Ling Zhang couldn't help but persist, "Who?"

Yuwen Tong flicked a glance at him but made no reply.

At first Ling Zhang didn't realize the truth, gazing at Yuwen Tong who was silent. After a while, he widened his eyes. "Were you... the one who did this, by any chance?"

Yuwen Tong responded, "It took some doing."

'It's indeed Yuwen Tong who did that!' Ling Zhang was astonished and some kind of inexplicable pride rose inside him, which was approximately the kind of feeling he'd have when finding that Yuwen Tong was indeed the kind of person he'd always known to be. But after cooling down, he asked in a worried voice, "When did you find out about this matter? You were making enemies of Jiang family and those officials by doing this. If by any chance they find out, wouldn't they retaliate against you? Is there anybody else who knows you did this?"

Yuwen Tong answered these questions one by one. "Originally I just wanted to teach them a lesson for you. People of Jiang family definitely have done quite some sordid things to get to where they are today. It never crossed my mind that my men would find something so big. It was not long ago that they found out about this. Don't worry. I did it in a very secret way. Nobody's going to discover I was the one behind it."

Ling Zhang was still concerned. "But what about those commoners? Wasn't you who had them brought to the capital city? If by any chance they rat you out..."

Yuwen Tong said, "I never personally interfered. My men just covertly helped them escape from Cangzhou. Though the riot was suppressed, a lot of people remained unreconciled to the situation and wanted to come to the capital city to prosecute. I just bought them some time and paved the way for their arrival in the capital city."

Ling Zhang was slightly relieved. At this moment, that remark of Yuwen Tong's – "teach them a lesson for you" – involuntarily appeared in his mind. "Were you... referring to that matter of Professor Du?"

Yuwen Tong gave a nod. "Yeah. They dared to try to have you expelled from the Imperial College. How could I not return the favor?"

Ling Zhang opened his mouth and watched Yuwen Tong's face, the expression on which seemed to be suggesting that what he'd done was a matter of course. He felt his heart pounding violently and his throat felt as if it were blocked by something. He wanted to speak but was afraid that something might be exposed if he did, so he just gazed at Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong gave a light cough and then directly opened his arms at Ling Zhang.

Ling Zhang quietly walked up and hugged him.

Smiling, Yuwen Tong gave him a kiss. "Do you feel revenged?"

Ling Zhang inclined his head. After a few moments' efforts, he cooled down and replied, "Yeah. I'm just worried that people might find out you were the one who did that. The timing was too perfect."

Yuwen Tong coldly gave a snort. "People of Jiang family have a great number of political opponents. Even if they suspect me, they won't be able to find any proof to confirm it. Even if they confirm that it was me who did it, what could they possibly do about it? I was indeed targeting Jiang family, and I did that to send them a word of warning. They'd better see sense, do the right thing and keep Jiang Yu on a leash, making sure he never bites anybody else."

Ling Zhang tightened his arms around Yuwen Tong's waist, rubbed his face against Yuwen Tong's chest and asked, "What about His Majesty?"

"When there are too many debts, one stops worrying about them."

"Ah?"

"The emperor has been wary and skeptical of me for quite a long time. He won't be able to find anything, and even if he did, there won't be anything I should be concerned about either."

Ling Zhang knew that Yuwen Tong had always been so arrogant. Previously he hadn't felt this, but recently he'd kept feeling that something was not quite right. Yuwen Tong's attitudes towards the emperor seemed to have never changed. He was not afraid of the emperor – truly not afraid. It struck Ling Zhang that Yuwen Tong had strong backing, that he had something in hand that could effectively keep the emperor under control... Ling Zhang didn't know whether this was merely his misconception or not.

"Did the old man who gave you the handbook on internal energy talk to you today?" Yuwen Tong inquired of him.

Ling Zhang shook his head. "No. In addition, Ji Feng and the others asked their elders after returning home last night but didn't find anything out about the background of that old man. All of them speculate that the old man is from some provincial city. They want to ask the principal about it."

Yuwen Tong gave a mysterious smile. "I got something."

Ling Zhang raised his head from Yuwen Tong's chest to look at him. "What did you find out?"

"Professor Gu recommended that old man, and the principal gave his consent," replied Yuwen Tong.

'Professor Gu? The old man who gave me and Yuwen Jin a test that day?' Ling Zhang was amazed. "It surprises me that he knows someone from the Mille–"

Realizing what he was disclosing, Ling Zhang stopped in time and didn't finish his sentence. He was really astonished. 'Aren't members of the Millennium Pavilion forbidden to go into the society? How come Professor Gu is acquainted with a member of the Millennium Pavilion? He even recommended him and helped him get into the Imperial College. Professor Gu would never have done this if he doesn't know the old man well enough. Professor Gu has acquaintance with the Millennium Pavilion?'

Though Ling Zhang had broken off promptly, Yuwen Tong still heard the syllables "mille". It was just that he was not sure whether it was "mille" or a homophone of it. Yuwen Tong came to realize that undoubtedly, Ling Zhang knew about the background of the old man. Back then when Ling Zhang'd shown him the handbook on internal energy, he'd expressly told him that there were still some secrets he couldn't tell him about...

Moreover, Ling Zhang's reaction at this moment seemed to be suggesting that Professor Gu was not supposed to know about the old man's true identity. 'It seems that this old man's background is even more mysterious than I imagined,' thought Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong looked at him. "Do you feel that Professor Gu should have no acquaintance with the old man?"

Ling Zhang inclined his head. "To my knowledge, it should've been the case. They're supposed to keep their identity secret from others, for severe penalties will be meted out to them if they don't."

Yuwen Tong contemplated for a few moments. 'Severe penalties? What kind of organization has this kind of rules?' he wondered.

In astonishment, Ling Zhang was unable to calm himself down for quite a while. He felt that there was one particular thing he needed to figure out first, which was whether Professor Gu knew about the old man's background or not. If he knew, then it would be a proof that members of the Millennium Pavilion were not really secluded, that they were still in contact with some courtiers. If that was the case, Ling Zhang believed that it would be totally unnecessary for him to have so many misgivings, that he at least had to tell Yuwen Tong everything down to the smallest detail.

'But how can I find that out?'

After giving it some careful thought, Ling Zhang decided to directly go to the old man and ask him about it. The old man had already shown himself on his own account, which he believed was an unmistakable implication that he was welcome to go and talk to him.

With this in mind, the next day, after arriving at the Imperial College, Ling Zhang made a few inquiries and found out where the old man was staying. At midday break, he went there.

Fortunately for him, when he found it, the old man happened to be in. The tricky part was that Professor Gu was also present.

Professor Gu, who was somewhat surprised to see Ling Zhang showing up, asked, "What business do you have here?"

Ling Zhang was not sure what kind of attitude the Millennium Pavilion had, and neither was he certain whether Professor Gu knew about the relationship between him and the Millennium Pavilion. Unwilling to let his relations with the Millennium Pavilion come to the knowledge of anybody else, he replied, "I'm sorry to have disturbed you, professor, but there're some study questions I'd like to consult Professor Li about."

After hearing this, Professor Gu looked at the old man and said, "This is surprising – you've given them only one lecture, but a student came here to ask you questions."

The old man, whose smiling face gave little away, replied, "We may continue our game of chess tomorrow."

Clearly he was showing Professor Gu the door, but Professor Gu didn't take offence. He rose to his feet and said, "Then I'll wait for you tomorrow."

Professor Gu left and Ling Zhang felt a sense of relief. Originally, he had worried that he wouldn't be able to ask about it in the presence of another professor. After the old man specially had Professor Gu leave, Ling Zhang wondered whether or not this was an indication that Professor Gu was unaware of his relations with this old man – or with the Millennium Pavilion; or that maybe Professor Gu simply didn't know about this old man's true identity yet.

"I thought that you'd come to me yesterday. Your restraint surprised me." The old man looked at Ling Zhang, a smile on his face. "You've already reached the second layer of the mental cultivation method of internal energy. This is impressive. You showed great perception, and you're more talented than all those in the organization, which is a proof that the Force of Blood you inherited from your mother is very strong. In so many years, this is the first time that I've seen a clansman with such strong Force of Blood."

Ling Zhang looked deeply at the old man, his mouth a thin line. "May I ask why you gave me that handbook?"

He had many questions to ask, but eventually he asked this one first, because giving him a handbook on internal energy had been an overture to him, which he couldn't quite understand.

"Given that you have the blood of Ji family coursing in you, and someone unblocked your meridians, wouldn't it be a pity that you don't cultivate?" replied the old man.

"Are you not afraid that I might disclose it to other people?" queried Ling Zhang.

"But you didn't, did you?" said the old man. Ling Zhang was still gazing fixedly at him, a very confused look in his eyes, as if he had a lot to say. Seeing this, the old man couldn't help but sigh, "I've been keeping watch on you. Of course I'll stop you if you want to disclose the mental cultivation method to other people."

Ling Zhang slightly moved his lips but refrained from telling him that he'd already let Yuwen Tong read the handbook, for he didn't know whether or not the old man would do Yuwen Tong harm if it came to his knowledge.