One month's time was neither long nor short. The atmosphere in the imperial court and that in the borderlands had both become subdued and tense before anybody realized it. It struck many people that this was just the lull before the storm.

The Ling Mansion, however, was unaffected. Contrary to what it was like at ordinary times, the mood in the residence became uproarious.

After Fu Caiwei's return to the capital city, the Ling Mansion had instantly become lively. Both Ling Xingzhong and Ling Maomao had moved back to the Ling Mansion from the suburban manor, and even Ji Yin had moved back as well. It was as though someone had turned the clock back five years. Everybody in the residence had a delighted look on their face and emanated an air of joy when walking.

When Ling Zhang's guard of honor arrived at the Ling Mansion, the residence which had stood quiet for five years thoroughly came alive.

Ling Zhang brought Yuwen Qi, Yuwen Lin and Yuwen Yue with him. The moment they showed up, Ling Xuxu's spirits rose. Ever since he'd returned to the capital city with Fu Caiwei, he had been the only child in the Ling Mansion. Having no acquaintances in this city, he had inevitably been feeling rather lonely. At first Yuwen Qi, Yuwen Lin and Ling Xuxu were a little uptight when having dealings with each other, but since the two brothers had seen Ling Xuxu a couple of times before and were his peers, they soon hit it off. Yuwen Yue kept running behind them, a group of palace ladies and middle-aged handmaids on her heels. Thus, the couple of children scampered around with a group of adults following in their wake.

Even Yuwen Lin, who had always been relatively quiet, lost his inhibitions. At ordinary times the two brothers always had to act courteously, and occasions when they could really relax like this were rather rare, so Ling Zhang didn't put any restrictions on them. He himself went to play Chinese chess with Ling Xingzhong and Ji Yin. Ling Xingzhong was no better a chess player than he'd been many years ago. It was amazing that Ji Yin had been patiently playing Chinese chess with him for such a long time.

Fu Caiwei was sitting in a living room located in another area of the residential compound. The hall was spacious, and sitting in it, she could see the children playing in the large garden. While talking with some middle-aged handmaids, she watched the children chasing a group of palace ladies, laughing all the way. Seeing that Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin who always conscientiously obeyed the rules had shed their inhibitions and were now playing happily with Ling Xuxu and Yuwen Yue, she sighed, "I haven't seen them so lively for a very long time."

When her eyes rested on Yuwen Yue, the look in them became exceptionally gentle. Seeing that she was delicate-skinned and fair-complexioned and followed by a group of nervous palace ladies and middle-aged handmaids, she came to know that the little girl must've been growing amid the love of a lot of doting adults in the palace. Recalling the astonishment that had appeared on the face of everybody, including Ling Zhaowen, when she had told them her decision, she was amazed by how fast time had been going. In what felt like the blink of an eye, the baby had grown into a little girl, who was now chasing her brothers, calling out to them in a silvery, babyish voice, her ruddy and delicate cheeks glowing with vigor.

"...At that time the imperial court were both startled. Fortunately Her Highness didn't consume much, and a court physician prescribed her some mild alexipharmic medicine, so she's okay now." A middle-aged handmaid serving Yuwen Yue was among the group of people talking with Fu Caiwei. Ling Zhang, aware that Fu Caiwei must be eager to know more about Yuwen Yue, had specially told the handmaid to keep Fu Caiwei company and talk with her.

Smiling, Fu Caiwei said, "That sounds like something Maomao would normally do when he was younger. When Maomao was a little boy, he also liked to put all kinds of things into his mouth. On one occasion, Zhang'er was caught flat-footed and got his arm bitten by Maomao. The bite was so hard that it left a bruise on his arm. Maomao refused to let go no matter how hard Zhang'er tried to convince him."

Ling Maomao, who was keeping an eye on his mother as well as the couple of children playing in the garden, blushed. "Mother, what are you talking about?"

Everybody in the room clapped a hand to their mouth and snickered. Fu Caiwei looked at him and said, "There's nothing to be ashamed of. Every child grinds their teeth sometime, and it's a normal thing that children like to bite things. They tend to put everything they could get into their mouths. Her Highness is doing what every child her age would do. You used to be like her as well."

His face suffusing with color to the snicker of the women in the room, Ling Maomao simply rose to his feet and said, "I'm going out there to check on them."

After saying this, he ran out as though fleeing and the people in the room burst into laughter.

Ling Zhang, who was in the room next door and had a sharp sense of hearing, naturally heard every word of the conversations between people in the living room, and so did Ji Yin sitting beside him. The old man tossed Ling Zhang an amused glance and asked, "You really got bitten?"

Ling Zhang smiled, "Maomao was like a puppy, and his bites were quite painful. At that time Uncle Zhaowen was a busy man, and Aunt Caiwei had to help with the family business from time to time, so I was made a babysitter. Maomao not only liked to bite people but also was running around all the time. I was twelve and it never occurred to me that babysitting a kid could be so challenging. Sometimes Maomao pissed me off to such a degree that I was on the verge of tears."

Ling Xingzhong, though not having heard the conversations between people in the next-door room, could divine what that was about from his grandson's words. On hearing the story, he dissolved into laughter. After he finished laughing, he said, "You were not just on the verge of tears. You were literally reduced to tears. Your eyes were red, and you gritted your teeth, but there was nothing you could do with Maomao."

Ji Yin, who had really never heard of this kind of childhood stories about Ling Zhang before, flicked a searching glance at Ling Zhang's eyes, as though picturing what twelve-year-old Ling Zhang had looked like when sulking with red eyes and clenched teeth.

Ling Maomao, who had just escaped from his mother and was planning to tell his elders that he was going out to check on the three children, had just entered when he heard Ling Xingzhong's words which made him feel very much like sinking through the floor. He had been very young when those things had happened, and he couldn't recall any of them clearly. He really didn't know that he had once made Ling Zhang that angry.

Fortunately for him, Ling Zhang, who observed him walk inside, specially changed the topic in an effort to spare him the embarrassment. "Go and keep an eye on Crescent. She's too young to outrun her big brothers, and she might cry when she fails to catch up with them."

Ling Zhang knew his daughter very well. Shortly after he stopped speaking, Yuwen Yue's deafening weep issued from the garden. Ling Maomao spun around and trotted out.

Ling Zhang went out as well and saw Ling Maomao run up to Yuwen Yue like the wind, scoop her up, coax her for a moment and then affect an air of ferocity before going after Yuwen Qi and the other two boys, sending Yuwen Yue laughing through tears, screaming excitedly.

Ling Zhang shook his head resignedly. Fortunately it was a windless day, and the sun was quite warm, so it was okay to let the children roughhouse a little.

In the room, Ling Xingzhong and Ji Yin were still talking about Ling Zhang's childhood. After a while, Yuwen Tong finished work and came out of the palace. He entered the living room and paid his respects to the two elders. "Paternal Grandfather, Maternal Grandfather."

Because of his identity, Ling Xingzhong and Ji Yin didn't dare allow him to actually kneel before them.

"May I ask what you were chatting about? I heard your laughter a long distance away," said Yuwen Tong, throwing Ling Zhang a significant glance.

Ling Xingzhong also cast a look at Ling Zhang, who simply rose to his feet and took his leave. "I'm going to keep Aunt Caiwei company and talk with her."

Well, this time around Ling Zhang was the one making an excuse to leave, which was something Ling Maomao had done a short while before.

But him taking his leave meant that he didn't mind if Ling Xingzhong talked about his childhood.

Now Ling Xingzhong had no misgivings. Both these two people loved his grandson, so he naturally felt it unnecessary to keep anything back from them. Therefore, he confided to them many funny stories about Ling Zhang's childhood, with an emphasis on the period when Ling Zhang had been babysitting Ling Maomao. Ling Xingzhong had felt quite amused when he had seen Ling Zhang who had always been a polite well-behaved grandson stamping his foot in anger with teary eyes because of a toddler. That period had lasted quite some time, and only when Ling Maomao had been several years older and less naughty had Ling Zhang been rid of the ordeal.

As Yuwen Tong listened to these stories about Ling Zhang, many images naturally came into his mind, his eyes gleaming with amusement. That version of Ling Zhang struck him as precious and different in the sense that he had been innocent at that time. Ling Zhang had been brought up by Ling Xingzhong, so his personality bore some likeness to that of his grandfather. Also, twelve-year-old boys tended to believe that they were supposed to behave like adults, so Ling Zhang at that time definitely had been courteous, innocent, kind-hearted and quite methodical in speech and action, a teenager like an opening bud, who hadn't been through rebirth or any of the upheavals that had happened afterward, who had been like a piece of blank white paper that hadn't been stained by any of the colors that had afterward made it iridescent, but who had been adorable in a unique way regardless. Thinking about this, Yuwen Tong felt rather regretful. Why had he not found out about the marriage contract between them sooner? Had he done that, he would have met the twelve-year-old Ling Zhang. However, this was probably what people meant when they said "Sometimes the providence is just not in the mood for granting people the happy endings they want."

Hearing Ling Xingzhong in the next-door living room talk about his childhood, Ling Zhang, who was keeping Fu Caiwei company, also had a somewhat distant look on his face. It was in not only his childhood but also his last life that those things had happened. Sometimes he felt that it had been only an instant since the occurrence of those events, but sometimes he felt that it had been decades, and those memories of his seemed to have blurred somewhat.

"Zhang'er?" called Fu Caiwei apprehensively as she noticed the distant expression on his face. "Is something bothering you?"

Ling Zhang pulled himself back to the present and said, "No. It's just the sight of them playing reminds me of my childhood."

Fu Caiwei smiled, "You were much more well-behaved than them when you were their age. You were always meek and polite. They are a bunch of naughty little devils."

Ling Zhang was not Fu Caiwei's natural son, and he'd been almost ten when Fu Caiwei had married into the Ling family, but at the age of ten, he had been shorter than his peers and looked as though he were seven or eight. Also, he'd been delicate-skinned and fair-complexioned, and his eyes had been exceptionally bright and always had an appraising look in them when Ling Zhang had been quietly looking at someone. He had been a boy of few words but quite lovable. Fu Caiwei had taken a liking to him on first acquaintance and, after being informed of what had happened to his parents, developed a sympathy for him. Over time, she had come to regard him as her own son. Before the birth of Ling Maomao, Ling Zhang had been like a firstborn to her. He had been obedient, sensible and quite thoughtful, so all her memories of his childhood, naturally, were sweet and pleasant.

His aunt's words sent Ling Zhang into fits of chuckle. After sitting there for another few moments, feeling that these women's topics were not very becoming for him, he rose to his feet, took his leave and went to look for the children who had run to the other side of the garden to play. Judging from the color of the sky, lunchtime was near. It was about time he had them come back, wipe up their sweat and change out of their sweaty clothes.

...

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong, along with their children, had lunch in the Ling Mansion and then chatted with their elders for some time. It was shortly before the time when Ling Xingzhong would normally go to have an afternoon nap that the two of them brought the children back to the palace. After their return to the palace, it was time to deal with the matter of Yuwen Tong's absence from future court meetings. Naturally, in order not to arouse anybody's suspicions, they had to make some arrangements to prevent that from happening, and to do that, they needed some help. Having nobody else at his service whom he deemed trustworthy enough to be entrusted with the task, Yuwen Tong had got his eye on Yuwen Jin, who had successfully passed the Imperial Martial Arts Examination and had been trying to toughen himself in the Western City Garrison Battalion over the past few years.

The weather this spring had been very good, with gentle breeze and timely rain, which was why people of the Great Wen all had smile on their faces. During these five years of Yuwen Tong's reign, the yearly harvest had been growing steadily. Though there had been occasional natural disasters, the imperial court had carried out rescue and relief operations promptly and fruitfully. With a reliable government at their back, the people were now more confident about their future, and naturally their living conditions were improving. And Yuwen Tong's prestige had been rising correspondingly year by year. During this year's Spring Rite, the number of people attending the ceremony had hit a record high. Though it had been quite some time since the end of the ceremony, a lot of residents of the capital city were still talking about the pomp of it.

The people were in high spirits and kept feeling that they needed to find another way to vent the joy swelling in them. As a result, the ship-lantern show scheduled for the middle of this month became their target. Unlike previous years, this year's ship-lantern show featured a segment where fleets of pleasure-boats would drive along the river circling more than half of the capital city. The riverbanks had been adorned with colorful lanterns. On the fifteenth day of this month, all those lanterns would be lit, and there would be a panorama of the sea of lanterns from the high palace ramparts.

In response to the people's enthusiasm, Yuwen Tong decided to hold a kung fu contest at the palace gates on the fifteenth day of this month.

The announcement of the contest sent a ripple of thrill through the whole city, for according to the announcement, anybody having no criminal record was eligible to enter the contest, irrespective of status and family background, and those finishing in the top twenty in the contest would be rewarded handsomely. Given the large population of the capital city, it would be impossible to finish the contest in merely one day. Therefore, it was decided that an elevated fighting arena would be set up five days in advance for a qualifying competition in which the top a hundred contestants would earn their qualification for the contest scheduled for the fifteenth day of this month. The imperial couple would present themselves on the palace ramparts to spectate the event. In order to win the laurels, all residents having some acquaintance with martial arts entered for the contest.

Ever since Yuwen Jin had finished first in the Imperial Martial Arts Examination five years ago, he had been in the limelight all along. After he had joined the Western City Garrison Battalion with the intention to toughen himself and later had been promoted to assistant commander, many people pursuing a career in martial arts idolized him, because they could tell that Yuwen Jin had got the position as assistant commander utterly unaided, that he had never had any of his relatives in the imperial clan pull strings for him.

"Are you entering the contest to be held at the front gates of the palace, Assistant Commander?"

Ever since news of the kung fu contest had spread, all soldiers of the Western City Garrison Battalion had been looking forward to hearing Yuwen Jin's decision to participate in it. He had lost count of the number of times he had been asked about it on his trip from the tent to the drill ground earlier this day. Even if Yuwen Jin were not inclined to get involved, the expectant eyes of his men would have rendered him powerless to say no, not to mention that Yuwen Tong had assigned him a task.

The very thought of what he would have to do in the contest gave Yuwen Jin headaches. Were his second cousin not the emperor, he would have directly left with a flick of his sleeve immediately after Yuwen Tong finished speaking that day. What kind of man did this to his second cousin?!

...

On the fifteenth day of the month.

A spacious, substantial, elevated fighting arena had been built near the entrance to the imperial palace five days ago. It was now heavily guarded. Colored flags positioned along the ramparts fluttered constantly in the spring breeze.

Residents of the capital city had gathered around the arena some time ago. All of them maintained order on their own account, expressing their enthusiasm only by discussing the event loudly. The whole place was in incessant hubbub and uproar.

The fighting arena was flanked by seats meant for qualifiers. The imperial couple and the courtiers would be spectating on the palace ramparts. At this moment most of the qualifiers had arrived, but there was nobody on the ramparts except for densely posted guards.

In the Infinite Fortune Palace.

Ling Zhang helped Yuwen Tong who had just returned from a court meeting change into a skintight outfit. After changing out of his solemn imperial robes, Yuwen Tong wearing close-fitting attire appeared taller and upright, his bearing brisker, his movements stamped with less regal dignity but more masculine charm. Ling Zhang walked once around him. Though he saw Yuwen Tong every day and was familiar with every part of his body, at this time, looking at Yuwen Tong, he still felt an involuntary surge of intense affection. He slightly blinked twice unawares, a faint flush spreading over his cheeks in spite of himself.

At the sight of him staring unblinkingly at him, Yuwen Tong was secretly self-satisfied. Though there were a large number of young men gathered outside the palace, he was the one appealing to Brother Zhang the most.