The enthronement ceremony was interminable and complicated. Before daybreak, Yuwen Tong would have to climb to the top of a high alter to offer sacrifices first to the gods and then to his ancestors. After that, he was to kowtow to the people to pay his respects. It would be after all the sacrificial ceremonies that the enthronement officially started.

Yuwen Tong got up at early Yin Hour (03:00-04:59). After a staff member of the Ministry of Rites delivered the ceremonial robes to the imperial bedchamber, Ling Zhang crawled out of bed to help Yuwen Tong change, yawning constantly. In order to figure out how to put on the ceremonial robes, Ling Zhang had spent a solid day in the Ministry of Rites familiarizing himself with all the details.

Before changing into the robes, they had to bathe first and then burn some incense. With some officials of the Ministry of Rites repeating prayers, Ling Zhang helped Yuwen Tong change into the robes one by one, carefully smoothing every inch of them. It took him an hour to get it done. While he was dressing Yuwen Tong, the latter was looking down at him all along, Ling Zhang’s reflection the only thing in his eyes. As he watched Ling Zhang bustling around him to adjust his robes, even his eyes seemed to be beaming.

When it was finally done, Ling Zhang’s hands were limp with tiredness. Seeing Yuwen Tong’s waist which was now considerably thicker, Ling Zhang gave a little snicker in spite of himself and then hurriedly wiped the smile off his face.

Yuwen Tong reached out a hand to give him a pinch on the cheek. “What are you smiling about?”

“Your waist is so much thicker. Is this what they mean by saying ‘a thickset tough hombre’?” said Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong, “…”

On the side, the officials of the Ministry of Rites, Yao Yi and some others all couldn’t help but chuckle despite their efforts to restrain themselves.

“Do they feel heavy?” Ling Zhang asked him.

The number of the layers of the robes was daunting, and Ling Zhang couldn’t imagine what he would look like if he were the one in these robes. He probably wouldn’t even be able to walk, he thought.Visit website our Listnovel.com

Yuwen Tong, however, turned slowly on the spot and replied, “Not quite.”

Ling Zhang blinked his eyes and could barely took them off Yuwen Tong. Although these robes had so many layers and were heavy and difficult to put on, it was undeniable that Yuwen Tong looked unbelievably handsome in them, oozing with dignity, grace and valour, emanating an almost palpable air typical of an emperor.

At the sight of Ling Zhang staring fixedly at him, Yuwen Tong came to know that he’d done the right thing by changing into these robes. He didn’t interrupt Ling Zhang and just stood there, willingly let Ling Zhang feast his eyes.

Ling Zhang’s eyes were on his robes, while his eyes were on Ling Zhang’s face. Ling Zhang couldn’t take his eyes off his robes, and he couldn’t take his eyes off Ling Zhang’s face. Ling Zhang was fascinated by his attire, while he was fascinated by the infatuation gleaming in Ling Zhang’s eyes.

It was quite a while before Ling Zhang jerked out of his trance and noticed that Yuwen Tong, who only had eyes for him, was tenderly gazing at him with a smile on his face.

Throat feeling somewhat dry, Ling Zhang gave a little cough, swallowed hard and glanced around him only to find that those officials of the Ministry of Rites and the guards were all gone, that he and Yuwen Tong were the only ones left in the bedchamber.

“Why did they all leave?” Ling Zhang looked left and right, not daring to make eye contact with Yuwen Tong again, a faint flush over his cheeks.

Yuwen Tong raised his hand and stroked Ling Zhang’s face, the strings of beads hanging from the edge of his crown shaking, tinkling slightly. “Because I told them to.”

“Oh, then let’s go out as well,” said Ling Zhang, his eyes hastily moving away after meeting Yuwen Tong’s.

Right now Yuwen Tong struck him as unnaturally attractive, and the strings of beads seemed to be tickling his heart with their every wag, making him itch so terribly to do something about it.Visit website our Listnovel.com

“You don’t want to give me a kiss?” asked Yuwen Tong in a low and deep voice.

Ling Zhang paused, looking at him earnestly. “I do.”

Yuwen Tong looked encouragingly back at him, as though saying, “Then what are you waiting for?”

Ling Zhang took in a large gulp of air, gently moved aside the strings of beads attached to Yuwen Tong’s crown, leaned over, slightly tilting his head, and planted a kiss squarely on Yuwen Tong’s lips.

Their lips were locked. The kiss was not wild but very long.

It was quite some time before the two of them parted. Ling Zhang’s lips were wet, red and swollen. Staring fixedly at them with burning eyes, Yuwen Tong breathed heavily, unwilling to take his eyes off them.

Ling Zhang pressed his hands against Yuwen’s shoulders to stop him from getting closer. “We should get going right now, or we’ll be late.”

Yuwen Tong looked deeply into his eyes, reluctantly backed away a pace, raised his hands to hold Ling Zhang’s and take them off his shoulders, and then walked out of the bedchamber abreast of him.

The moment they left the imperial bedchamber, they were greeted by a large group of courtiers who knelt before them to pay their respects.

Ling Zhang slightly shook, but Yuwen Tong gripped his hand tight.

…

It was a long and tiring day. When Ling Zhang watched Yuwen Tong standing at the top of the altar to the thunderous chants of ‘Long Live the Emperor!’ from the people, he had a somewhat unfocused look in his eyes, recalling that on the day of the abdication ceremony, the scene had been equally awe-inspiring. On that occasion, he had been awestruck because he’d never seen anything like that before, but on this occasion, he was awestruck because he’d got himself all psyched up.

The location for the last part of the enthronement ceremony was the Taiqing Palace. Yuwen Tong, standing at the top of the long flight of stairs, watched as everybody knelt before him.

From this day on, Yuwen Tong would be the monarch of this country, the founding emperor of the Great Wen.

…

After Yuwen Tong went into the great hall of the Taiqing Palace, all the officials followed him inside and paid their respects to him one by one. The process lasted a whole afternoon. And then, in the hall, Yuwen Tong issued a series of imperial edicts as a gesture of kindness.

Firstly, he granted a general amnesty for the people of Cangzhou; secondly, he abolished many unnecessary heavy taxes to allow the people to restore their lives; thirdly, he ordered retrials of all the cases in all prefectures in which there were still questionable points, and some imperial commissioners would be sent to go on a nationwide tour of inspection to make sure that there were no injustices or misjudged cases.

Then an imperial examination was scheduled for half a year later.

After that Yuwen Tong declared that the imperial court would soon start recruiting talents, that officials of provincial cities were welcome to make recommendations. The Great Wen had just been established and was in dire need of gifted, moral people who were willing to devote themselves to nation-building. By doing this, Yuwen Tong sent a timely signal to the whole country.

Then there was the award presentation. The North-western Army and the Shengzhou garrison were rewarded for their meritorious service. Yuwen Tong conferred the title of marquess on some officials. Also, there were some changes in a couple of important military positions. Some civil officials were promoted…

On the heels of that was the issue of a series of decrees and policies beneficial to the people, copies of which would be delivered to all prefectures on this very day.

In the end, Yuwen Tong passed sentence upon all those people whose punishments hadn’t been decided before the enthronement.

After all these lengthy steps, there was a banquet at night.

Ling Zhang, who had undergone the whole rigmarole with Yuwen Tong on this day, believed that he wouldn’t have been more tired even if he had been practicing kung fu for a whole day. Before the banquet, the two of them returned to the palace and changed into lighter robes. Ling Zhang reached out his hands to massage Yuwen Tong’s shoulders.

“How do you feel? Are you shoulders sore?”

Yuwen Tong moved his arms slightly. “Not really. This is nothing. What about you? Is your waist okay?”

Ling Zhang, “…”

He quietly placed a land on his waist and kneaded the small of his back.

Actually the night before, the two of them hadn’t made out for too long, so Ling Zhang felt fine. The problem was that during the day there had been more occasions when he had to stand still than he’d expected, and on one occasion he had even stood there motionlessly for two hours. If it weren’t for his internal energy, he really wouldn’t have made it though the whole thing. In this regard, he found those courtiers quite admirable, all of whom hadn’t shown the slightest change in their countenance throughout the enthronement ceremony. It seemed that being a courtier indeed entailed enduring things common people couldn’t endure.

Yuwen Tong reached out his hands and massaged Ling Zhang’s waist for a while. “You may leave the banquet early and come back here to rest if you don’t feel like sitting there.”

Ling Zhang shook his head. “I’ll tough it out. Besides, at the banquet we’ll be sitting, not standing. I’ll be fine.”

Yuwen Tong heaved a sigh of contentment, took Ling Zhang in his arms and said, “From now on nobody in this world will ever dare do you any harm.”

Ling Zhang gave a smile. “It’s true that nobody will ever dare do you any harm. As regards me, I’m not so sure.”

“Who do you think would dare harm you?” asked Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang flicked him a meaningful glance which told him that the answer was right in front of him.