This was a sleepless celebration night. Because of the imperial wedding, there was no curfew in the capital city on this night. The fireworks show lasted hours and didn't stop until shortly before midnight. Such were the spirits of the common folk that after midnight the streets were still seething with people, and the city was still a sea of joy when the banquet in the palace came to an end.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong took their leave first, and then the guests cleared out of the garden one after another. When Ling Xingzhong and Ji Yin were leaving, Ling Zhang showed up and walked them to the front gates of the palace before returning.

"My paternal grandfather drank some wine at the banquet and left at such a late hour. Also, he didn't look very well. It really worries me."

After returning from the palace gates where he'd parted from his elders, Ling Zhang said to Yuwen Tong while on his way to change clothes, "Great-uncle is even older than my paternal grandfather, and he drank even more wine tonight than my grandfather did, but he looked quite robust as though he hadn't drunk any wine at all."

On hearing this, Yuwen Tong, who was also changing out of his many layers of robes, replied, "Great-uncle started learning kung fu from my great-grandfather when he was a little boy, so his constitution is pretty strong. He used to serve in the army when he was at a younger age. It was after finishing his service in the army that he returned to the capital city to enter on a political career. He loves tai chi chuan and has still been practicing it every morning."

Thinking about his paternal grandfather's situation, Ling Zhang couldn't help but feel worried. "It's true that kung fu is a must for men. My paternal grandfather doesn't like exercise very much."

Yuwen Tong was the only one Ling Zhang would talk about this kind of private topic with. It was no good trying to persuade Ling Xingzhong. The old man was pretty stubborn, but there had been a time when he'd been learning some simple tai chi chuan moves from Ji Yin to stretch his limbs and improve his health, probably because he'd been motivated by Ji Yin's young appearance. He'd actually been in better shape than he'd been when he'd first come to the capital city. It was because of the wine and the long hours of banquet that he didn't look very well.

"If it bothers you so much, I'll take you back to the Ling Mansion to check on him tomorrow morning."

Yuwen Tong had wanted to suggest he send a court physician to the Ling Mansion, but then he'd recalled that Mr. Mu was there, so it was totally unnecessary to send a court physician. He could only let Ling Zhang return home to take a look the next morning, for it was the only way to help Ling Zhang find complete peace of mind.

After changing clothes, Ling Zhang thought about it for a brief moment and said, "I'll send Wang Dashan back to check on him. That'll do."

There was no court meeting the next day, but a holiday like this was very rare for Yuwen Tong, and Ling Zhang couldn't bring himself to have Yuwen Tong waste it by accompanying him to the Ling Mansion.

"Since there's no work tomorrow, you should go back home. You've been meaning to bring Maomao and Ji Xiaocong in here to let him play, haven't you?"

"I'll have Wang Dashan and the others bring the two of them here for good measure. Although there's no court meeting tomorrow, you still have a lot to attend to. I'll stay to keep you company."

No word was more persuasive than "I'll stay to keep you company." Yuwen Tong didn't insist Ling Zhang go back to the Ling Mansion the next morning.

"We sat there for quite a long time. How do you feel? Are you feeling any discomfort?"

Reading between the lines, Ling Zhang slightly averted his eyes and replied, "I'm fine."

But in fact, having sat there for several hours, he did feel a little uncomfortable. Yuwen Tong made no remarks on it, stepped up to him, took his hand and said, "Get an early night."

The two of them washed and then went to bed. The red candles were still burning in the imperial bedchamber. When Ling Zhang walked to the bedside, his memories of what they'd done during the day came flooding back. He slightly paused in a faintly unnatural way, unable to believe he'd actually done those things.

"Get some sleep. Tomorrow I'll tell them to pay a visit to the Ling Mansion. You don't have to get up early."

Yuwen Tong drew him onto the bed. Ling Zhang was indeed exhausted this night. After getting onto the bed, he shifted his position, curling up in Yuwen Tong's embrace. When he found his lying position comfortable, he closed his eyes and let out a little sigh. Seeing Ling Zhang lying in his arms like Whitie the fox, Yuwen Tong found this scene quite pleasant and also heaved a sigh of contentment. They had made out during the day, so Yuwen Tong, considering Ling Zhang's physical condition, restrained himself and slept with Ling Zhang in his embrace.

Ling Zhang soon drifted off to a very deep sleep, and maybe because he was too tired to dream, his sleep was almost dreamless. He just vaguely heard the constant sound of fireworks exploding, along with those words that Yuwen Tong had whispered in his ear earlier this night, feeling secure and content.

It was pretty late when he woke up the next day, the sun nearing its zenith. The wedding candles were still ablaze in the imperial bedchamber, Yuwen Tong absent. Ling Zhang groggily opened his eyes, let out a cough and then rolled over to bury himself in the quilt.

"Slow down a little, Cong. I can't catch up with you."

Probably because he'd woken up and recovered his keen sense of hearing, he indistinctly heard a familiar voice which he could immediately tell belonged to Ling Maomao. Half asleep, he didn't feel that there was anything wrong about it, and nor did he wonder why he was hearing Ling Maomao's and Ji Xiaocong's voices in the imperial palace. Subconsciously, he mistakenly believed that he was still in the Ling Mansion, and a hazy thought crossed his mind: why did these two little guys get up so early today?

In a dreamy state, his senses were gradually blunted by drowsiness again. Shortly after retreating into a heap of covers, he fell asleep again. What with his problematic lying position, he started snoring.

Yuwen Tong hadn't entered the imperial bedchamber yet when he heard the snoring. He involuntarily smiled an amused smile which curled the corners of his lips, and told Yao Yi to keep an eye on Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong. He himself went into the bedchamber and took off his overgarment. After entering the inner chamber, he saw a big heap of scarlet quilt on the bed, beneath which loose, long, black hair could be seen and the snoring was issuing from.

Yuwen Tong could tell why Ling Zhang was snoring just by looking at his lying position which struck him as somewhat admiring. He walked up to the bed, reached out a hand to stroke him and shake him gently by the shoulder. "Wake up, Brother Zhang. It's almost lunchtime."

The person beneath the quilt was still snoring, showing no inclination whatsoever to listen to him and wake up. "Sh...Sh..."

Yuwen Tong was sent into chuckle by the sound. He didn't use much strength when shaking Ling Zhang, because he didn't really have the heart to wake him up, so he simply got into bed himself, lifted a corner the quilt, and drew Ling Zhang, who was huddling, into his embrace, intending to have a noontime snooze with him.

On smelling the familiar scent, Ling Zhang immediately burrowed himself into the familiar embrace. The snoring paused for a few moments before continuing, but this time around, it was much lighter, with only a faint intermittent "sh" sound. On hearing it, Yuwen Tong was astonished for a moment and then started snickering uncontrollably, his whole body shaking.

The violent tremble in Yuwen Tong's body awoke Ling Zhang, who, eyes half open, stretched out a hand to push aside Yuwen Tong who had waken him up.

Naturally Yuwen Tong was unwilling to let him out of his embrace, apologizing, still shaking for snickering, refusing to loosen his hug.

Ling Zhang, who was somewhat annoyed and fully awake, demanded in a faintly nasal voice, "What are you doing?!"

"I'm sorry. You may get back to sleep. I won't do that again. Sleep," said Yuwen Tong, exercising all his self-restraint to subdue his urge to laugh.

Ling Zhang snarled, "Then why were you shaking? I was just sleeping. What's so funny about that?!"

How was he supposed to get back to sleep when his temper had driven all his drowsiness away? Ling Zhang was very irritated. Clearly he'd been in such a sound and comfortable sleep. He wondered what had got into Yuwen Tong who'd awoken him.

However, at this moment, even him being in a temper struck Yuwen Tong as pretty interesting. With the twinkle of a smile in his eyes, Yuwen Tong leaned over, kissed him and said, "Don't be mad. I couldn't help it, because your snoring was so interesting."

"Bullshit. I was never a snorer!" Ling Zhang didn't believe it. Nobody had ever mentioned to him anything about him snoring.

As a matter of fact, Ling Zhang indeed seldom snored. He only snored when he was too tired or in a problematic sleeping position, just like he'd been a few moments before.

Yuwen Tong aped Ling Zhang's snoring beside his ear. When doing an impression of the "sh" part, he burst into snicker once again. Ling Zhang was somewhat incredulous. "You're definitely lying."

"I'm not," affirmed Yuwen Tong, an innocent look on his face.

Ling Zhang, who was pissed off, pushed him aside and sat up. "Who snores with that kind of 'sh' sound? You really need to work on your mimicry."

'You, of course,' Yuwen Tong answered inwardly, but judging from the irritation on Ling Zhang's face, he realized that Ling Zhang would definitely get angry if he didn't compromise. "Okay, okay. I'm just joking. You see, it's pretty late now, and you've already woken up. You haven't eaten anything for a long time. Are you hungry? Lunch is almost ready."

If Ling Zhang snored with the "sh" sound again, he would be the only one hearing it anyway. This was an enjoyment of him alone, and it was okay if Ling Zhang refused to admit it, for he could still find pleasure in it.

It was after being reminded by him that Ling Zhang noticed it was almost noon. Yuwen Tong was not wearing pajamas but fully dressed. Clearly he had left the bedchamber and then returned. Then Ling Zhang recalled he'd hazily heard Ling Maomao's and Ji Xiaocong's voices when he'd been half asleep, so he asked Yuwen Tong, "I seem to remember hearing Maomao ask Ji Xiaocong to slow down. Did you bring them both to this palace?"

"Yeah. This morning I had Yao Yi and Wang Dashan go to the Ling Mansion to check on your paternal grandfather. Last night, after he returned home, Mr. Mu sobered him up and soothed his nerves. He had a good night's sleep and looked much better this morning. He also practiced tai chi chuan to have a stretch as usual. There's no need to worry. As for the matter of the two boys, we agreed on it last night, so I had Yao Yi and Wang Dashan bring the two of them here for good measure. In a few days your maternal grandfather and Ji Yanlai will set off to return to the Sanguan Mountains to start making preparations for the transfer of the Millennium Pavilion. You'll be fulfilling your promise by letting the two of them stay here for a couple of days."

Yuwen Tong told Ling Zhang about the arrangements he'd made earlier this morning, and then conveniently pulled Ling Zhang out of bed to let him stand for a while to be rid of the lingering sleepiness. "What about you? Does your body still feel uncomfortable?"

After hearing Yuwen Tong's words, Ling Zhang gave a big yawn, stretched and replied, "I'm fine. All the discomfort has gone."

Then he walked out barefoot to relieve himself. Yuwen Tong stared unblinkingly at Ling Zhang's white-skinned feet as the latter trotted out. When Ling Zhang had returned, he reminded Ling Zhang to put on his shoes. "You've just got out of bed, and the weather is getting cold. You are not to walk around barefoot again."

Though he could hardly wrench his eyes off that pair of feet, he still couldn't allow it.

Ling Zhang obediently put on his shoes and said, "Okay. I'm not a kid. You think I'm Ling Maomao's age or something?"

Yuwen Tong said, "Leave Maom

ao out of this. He's not running around barefoot any longer."

The corners of Ling Zhang's mouth twitched. Was Yuwen Tong implying that even Ling Maomao had more common sense than he did? They had just got married. He couldn't help but slide Yuwen Tong a sideways glance and give two snorts.

Yuwen Tong dissolved into chuckle with amusement. "Okay, okay. Go and wash yourself and get dressed. You really need to fill your belly as soon as possible. It's been empty for too long."

Ling Zhang involuntarily stroked his belly. After being reminded by Yuwen Tong, he found that he was indeed hungry. No longer in the mood for discussing Yuwen Tong's "poor choice of words", he washed his face, dressed and then walked out of the bedchamber.

As chance would have it, Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong, who'd been having a blast, came out of nowhere. At the sight of Ling Zhang, they quickly ran up to him.

"You finally woke up, Big Brother. You should've got up some time ago. It's almost lunchtime!" exclaimed Ling Maomao, who'd been having some serious fun, his forehead and cheeks drenched with sweat.

On hearing this, Ling Zhang gave him a dirty look. With the advantage of being the big brother, he easily faced the little boy down. "I'm your big brother. You're in no place to judge me."

Ling Maomao curled his lip. "Which is so unfair."

"Brother Ling." Ji Xiaocong popped out from behind Ling Maomao and greeted Ling Zhang. Just like Ling Maomao, he was also all sweaty.

Ling Zhang furrowed his brows. "What have you two been doing? Racing each other? You're soaking wet. Where are your changes of clothes? Go and change. You may catch cold if you don't hurry. You're not to have lunch before changing out of these wet clothes."

Being the big brother indeed meant something. At the sight of the frown on Ling Zhang's face, the two little boys didn't dare disobey, obediently went back into the house, toweled themselves and changed clothes.

At lunch table, the two of them were sitting shoulder to shoulder, both looking well-behaved.

Ji Xiaocong was too young to eat all on his own, so there was a court lady standing behind him, keeping an eye on him in case he needed help. Ling Maomao flicked her a glance and said, "There's no need for you to be here. I can take care of Cong."

On hearing this, Ling Zhang looked at him and saw Ling Maomao pick up a piece of rib, get rid of the bone in it and put the meat into Cong's bowl in a quite skillful way.

In the Ling Mansion there were too many people, and it was too much trouble to get the whole family together for meals, and it was difficult to make sure the food was to everybody's liking too, so the Ling family had most of their meals in their respective courtyard houses and only ate together occasionally. Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong, who'd been getting their freak on with each other, always ate and slept together, and they'd even forgotten about Ji Yanlai, Ji Xiaocong's uncle, so Ling Zhang really hadn't known that Ling Maomao had become so good at taking care of Ji Xiaocong.

"Maomao, did you look after Cong this way when you two were at home?"

"Yeah, and Uncle Ji praised me for it, saying that he entrusted me with the task of looking after Cong from that day on."

The corners of Ling Zhang's mouth twitched at these words. Knowing what kind of person Ji Xiaocong was, Ling Zhang believed that Ji Yanlai probably felt it a good thing to have someone take care of his nephew, not taking into consideration Ling Maomao's age at all.

Ji Xiaocong took a bite of the meat in his bowl and said, "Brother Maomao always removes the bones for me."

"Good job." Ling Zhang paid Ling Maomao a compliment.

The words had hardly left him when a piece of meat dropped into his bowl, which was also boneless. Ling Zhang, who didn't feel anything particular at the sight of the meat, picked it up and ate it. It was not until the meat was in his mouth that he came to realize that something seemed to be not quite right. Then he noticed that Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong were both looking at him, a somewhat quizzical expression on their faces.

Ling Zhang knitted his brows. "What's the matter?"

"You need His Majesty to remove the bones for you, Brother Ling?" Ji Xiaocong bluntly expressed his confusion, so quick that Ling Maomao failed to stop him.

Ling Zhang, "..."

He chewed with difficulty for a moment. The meat still tasted pretty good, but the gaze from the two little boys was almost making the hair on his scalp prickle.

"No. Your big brother didn't have breakfast and is now very hungry, but you've been talking with him non-stop, so he doesn't have the time to remove the bones."

Yuwen Tong on the side explained to them in a matter-of-fact tone. After hearing this, the two boys inclined their heads, comprehension dawning on their faces. Ling Maomao, appearing quite guilty, said, "Sorry, Big Brother. We'll stop talking and let you enjoy your meal."

Ling Zhang managed an "Um" in response and then twisted his head aside to glare at Yuwen Tong.

Although Yuwen Tong had been serious when making those remarks just now, Ling Zhang, who knew him very well, was sure that inwardly Yuwen Tong was probably laughing himself into convulsions.

In fact, at ordinary times, Yuwen Tong picking meat from the bones for Ling Zhang was not really a rare occurrence, and Ling Zhang had got used to this kind of romantic addition to marital life, so he didn't feel that this was something worth making a fuss about, but on this occasion, the two little boys were both present, and he had just complimented Ling Maomao when Yuwen Tong had picked a piece of meat from bones for him. He was positive that Yuwen Tong had done it on purpose!

"Hurry, eat your meal. Don't let your belly stay empty for too long," urged Yuwen Tong, offering him more food with an affected air of concern, scarcely able to conceal the amusement in his eyes.

Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong both looked in their direction again, but because of Yuwen Tong's previous words, the two boys didn't suspect anything, looked away and resumed eating.

After the boys took their eyes off him, Ling Zhang stamped on Yuwen Tong's foot under the table and hissed, "Behave yourself."

He was the big brother now, and he couldn't afford to have his authority undermined in the presence of the two little boys.

While Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong were not paying attention to them, Yuwen Tong leaned over, gave Ling Zhang a kiss and said, "Okay, I'll stop. Finish your lunch."

Ling Zhang was within an inch of losing his temper. Seeing Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong hadn't noticed, he felt a sense of relief and stamped on Yuwen Tong's foot again.

...

Yuwen Tong took a day off this day, but he'd still had a hectic morning. After that, he cleared his afternoon to have some rest with Ling Zhang.