Chapter 234 - The Forthcoming Hunt Meeting (1/2)

The wounds Yuwen Tong had sustained in the sudden a.s.sa.s.sination deteriorated, and all court physicians said that he didn’t have much time left.

The emperor, keeping up a pretence of wrath, ordered an intensive investigation into the attempted a.s.sa.s.sination.

The Ling Mansion was besieged circle upon circle by Ling Zhang’s security guards and members of the Palace Guards. Half of the court physicians of the imperial hospital had been dispatched to this residential compound.

Even getting close to Yuwen Tong’s bed was not easy for Ling Zhang. At the sight of Yuwen Tong covered in blood, although he was aware that Yuwen Tong was faking it, his heart still did a somersault, and he felt as though his insides had turned to ice. The fear was unbearable, especially after it became almost impossible for him to approach Yuwen Tong’s room. Originally he had been quite firm in the belief that all this was not true, but because he couldn’t personally confirm it, various unpleasant speculations began to arise in his mind, and his face was terrifyingly pasty.

Yao Yi and the others, however, seeing Ling Zhang’s countenance, mistakenly believed that Ling Zhang was faking it. All of them felt that Ling Zhang was so adept at acting. Every time Ling Zhang tentatively asked them about it, they would cooperate with Ling Zhang in his “acting”, sparing no efforts, thinking that Childe Ling was more discreet than all of them, that even when they were meeting in private, he was still keeping up his pretence in the knowledge that currently there were eyes everywhere both inside and outside this residential compound. They felt that he was really admirable.

But Ling Zhang was actually on the verge of a mental breakdown. No matter what kind of hint he dropped to Yao Yi and the others, the replies they gave were always full of grief. He was growing increasingly uncertain as to whether or not Yuwen Tong was faking his injury.

And maybe Ling Zhang’s unduly pallid and haggard complexion was the very reason why people coming to visit became more convinced of Yuwen Tong’s wound.

Currently, n.o.body was allowed to enter this house except for members of Yuwen family, and it was by a special permission from the emperor that Ling Zhang was staying here.

At this time Yuwen You and all his family as well as Yuwen Zhi and Yuwen Feng were all present. This small courtyard house in the Ling Mansion was crowded with people.

A day pa.s.sed, followed by another. Yuwen Tong seemed to be slowly on the mend, but actually his injury was just no longer worsening. It was under control, but he was far from out of the woods.

Gradually, people from other sides stopped coming to pry, and now n.o.body had any suspicion that Yuwen Tong was faking his injury.

…

“I’ll help you, but you must marry my sister after ascending the throne.” Finally, Shan Congwen made up his mind.

Naturally, the King Hui was overjoyed. He replied, “The hunt meeting is in eight days. Everybody will be there, including that invalid. We’ve already formulated a plan. All you need to do is lend me your crossbows and your marksmen.”

Shan Congwen was unsurprised that the King Hui chose to make his move on that occasion, for this was the only way to eliminate all his rivals in one fell swoop in the near future.

But after hearing that even the Crown Prince who was an invalid would be present, Shan Congwen gave an almost unnoticeable frown. In the presence of the King Hui, he didn’t show any sign of what he was thinking. On his return to the courier hostel, he said to his henchman, “If the plan succeeds, Zhou Mingci’s enthronement will be a.s.sured, but it’s detrimental to us if we let him mount the throne too easily.”

“What do you mean, Your Highness?”

“It’s not every day that such a good opportunity presents itself right in front of us. We stand to benefit much more if we take advantage of this opportunity to throw the Great Yue into civil strife. Figure out a way to let the King Yu or the King Duan survive, so that Zhou Mingci will still have an opponent he could have fun with.”

“You’re so visionary, Your Highness!”

Shan Congwen coldly snorted. He was always visionary. Had it not been for that d.a.m.n Yuwen Tong… No, Yuwen Tong was also about to die, and there was n.o.body in the Great Yue that he should be afraid of now. It was rumored that Yuwen Tong’s injury was no longer deteriorating, but unfortunately, after he helped Zhou Mingci with this plan, he would send Yuwen Tong to meet his Maker!

…

The hunt meeting was almost called off because of Yuwen Tong’s injury.

But surprisingly, Yuwen Tong came around briefly. n.o.body knew what he’d said to the emperor in that rare lucid moment, but after their talk, the latter decided that the hunt meeting would be held as scheduled.

Ling Zhang felt that this was too coincidental, that Yuwen Tong’s timing was too perfect… Finally, after being in violently fluctuating moods and the verge of breakdown for quite some time, he slowly regained his composure. Now he was sure that Yuwen Tong was indeed pretending, though why so many court physicians couldn’t see through it was still a mystery to him.

As the hunt meeting drew near, there seemed to be ominous dark clouds gathering in the sky above the capital city. It was a lull before the storm.

Finally people stopped showing up at the front doors of the Ling Mansion causing disturbance, except for court physicians, palace guards and members of Yuwen family.

Ling Zhang also found a chance to see Yuwen Tong. On entering the inner chamber of the bedroom, amid the strong smells of various kinds of decoction and a faint smell of blood, he smelled another bizarre odor. Very subtle as it was, he still smelled it.

Ever since he’d started following the mental method of the Millennium Pavilion to cultivate internal energy, his five senses had been growing increasingly sharp. His sense of smell was far better than that of common people.

In addition, he didn’t know whether this was an illusion or not, but the furnis.h.i.+ngs in this room struck him as somewhat eccentric, and for an instant he felt that his mind was not very clear. He thought it was just a dizzy spell caused by hunger, for these days he had been in deep worry which had resulted in loss of appet.i.te. He quietly circulated his internal energy for a few moments before his mind became clear again.

Due to his fears for Yuwen Tong’s condition and the limited time, he hurried to the bedside in the knowledge that he shouldn’t dwell on the intense weird feeling lingering in him. Yuwen Tong was lying in bed in a trance, his chest bandaged, pale-faced, his eyes closed. Though having confirmed that his injury was fake, Ling Zhang still couldn’t help but feel sorrowful at the sight of Yuwen Tong in this state.

There was no telling whether it was a coincidence or for some other reason, but there was no court physician in this house at this moment.

But Ling Zhang was worried that someone might be staking out this room, so he still a.s.sumed an air of grief, crouching down beside the bed, holding Yuwen Tong’s hand. As he thought of what he would feel if Yuwen Tong was really hurt, his eyes reddened in a twinge of sadness and he squeezed out a couple of teardrops.

There was no reaction from Yuwen Tong whatsoever except for a slight movement of his fingertips when Ling Zhang had held his hand.

That slight movement gave Ling Zhang a sense of relief, but he still wept for a while crouching at the bedside, swaying as though he was about to pa.s.s out.

When he slumped to the ground, someone walked inside and supported him out of the room.