The next day, Yuwen Tong, as usual, got up before daybreak, preparing to go back to the imperial palace for the court meeting.

Ling Zhang also woke up. After dreamily recalling what Tao Yi had told him the day before, he hastened to inform Yuwen Tong of it.

Yuwen Tong said, “I see. I’ll summon the two old men and talk with them about it in a day or two. You may go back to sleep.”

Ling Zhang shook his head and sat up. “Recently I’ve been sleeping late on a daily basis. I need to stop it, or my family will find out that you’ve been coming here to sleep over every night.”

“Your maternal grandfather and Ji Yanlai have definitely found out about my sleepovers some time ago.”

“I know, but my paternal grandfather and my uncle haven’t.”

Ling Zhang struggled to his feet, giving a big yawn before standing straight, making his lack of sleep manifest.

Seeing this, Yuwen Tong had him sit down, brought Ling Zhang’s clothes over, dressed him and then helped him wash his face.

The moment his face came into contact with the cool water, every trace of his drowsiness was gone.

Ling Zhang took the towel from Yuwen Tong’s hand, toweled his face and then went to gargle by himself.

Yuwen Tong looked at the color of the sky to gauge the time and then said, “I need to get back to the palace. You may make an excuse and come back here to catch up on your sleep later if you still feel sleepy.”

Ling Zhang inclined his head, his face still covered by the towel. “Just go straight away, or you’ll be late for the court meeting.”

Yuwen Tong walked over and gave him a hug and a kiss before leaving.

…

In the morning, Zhao Jiusi was summoned to the palace. Before long, news quickly spread through the capital city that a childe of the Zhao family had made the same decision as Jiang Yu’s and become Ling Zhang’s adviser.

Members of the various forces in the capital city, who had been trying to help their sons or nephews get into Ling Zhang’s think tank, all appeared distressed at the news. It was common knowledge that first come, first served. Previously Jiang Yu had already taken the first seat, and now Zhao Jiusi had taken the second. The later one got on board, the fewer opportunities he would be able to get to prove his abilities to Ling Zhang. However, even so, they still found it difficult to make up their minds to send the most intelligent young members of their families to be Ling Zhang’s advisers.

The wedding ceremony hadn’t been held yet, so they were uncertain about how the situation might develop. More importantly, Ling Zhang was a man, which meant he was unable to bear children. In their sight, the emperor would sooner or later take a woman in as his concubine and have her bear him a son, so it was inadvisable to side with Ling Zhang so soon.

“Zhao Zheng rendered meritorious service by assisting His Majesty in coming to power and was very much in His Majesty’s confidence. Though Zhao Jiusi is not Zhao Zheng’s son, he’s an important member of the Zhao family. Why did Zhao Zheng send Zhao Jiusi to be Ling Zhang’s adviser?”

This was a mystery to many people in the capital city. In their eyes, this decision of the Zhao family’s was very baffling.

However, Zhao Zheng and other members of the Zhao family refused to breathe a word of the reason to anybody, no matter how hard they tried to nose it out, which gave rise to a fair deal of speculations.

Thus, the capital city was cloaked in a shroud of secrecy before Ling Zhang’s and Yuwen Tong’s wedding ceremony.

Zhao Jiusi, after his audience with Yuwen Tong, immediately went to the Ling Mansion to see Ling Zhang.

“Young Master,” Zhao Jiusi called, officially changing the form of address.

Hearing Zhao Jiusi call him this for the first time, Ling Zhang felt a little weird, but even so, he didn’t show anything on his face. Since Zhao Jiusi had become his adviser, they were now not only former college classmates but also superior and subordinate. In order for things to work out between the two of them, he must adjust himself to this change in the form of address.

However…

“We went to college together, so you may call me by my name when there’s nobody else around,” said Ling Zhang.

Zhao Jiusi said, “I’ll never forget our friendship as fellow students, but even if I don’t change the form of address now, after you marry His Majesty, I’ll still have to change it.”

Since Zhao Jiusi had made it very clear, Ling Zhang made no more remarks in this regard.

“You’ve just got started, so I’d like you to make the acquaintance of the others working for me first. There won’t be much for you to do before my wedding, so you may come here more often to get to know Jiang Yu and the others. Also, you may wait until after the wedding ceremony to go to the palace to see me if you like,” said Ling Zhang.

Zhao Jiusi merely gave a smile, showing no inclination to wait until after the wedding ceremony to go to the palace, seeming to plan to come to the Ling Mansion on a frequent basis to get more acquainted with Jiang Yu, Wang Dashan and the others.

Ling Zhang didn’t try to dissuade him and had Jiang Yu take Zhao Jiusi to make the acquaintance of Wang Dashan and the others. Previously Wang Dashan and the other bodyguards had stayed by Ling Zhang’s side quite often, so they were familiar to Zhao Jiusi, though most of their names were unknown to the latter.

After Jiang Yu led Zhao Jiusi away, Ling Zhang gave this matter a lot of thought. Considering Zhao Jiusi and Jiang Yu had their respective talents and abilities, it was inappropriate for him to have them stay in the same place. From the vantage point of the present, the right thing to do was have Zhao Jiusi and Jiang Yu return home to prepare themselves for the exam after the wedding ceremony, and wait until they passed the exam to make a decision.

…

Zhao Jiusi had the intention of establishing good relationships with Jiang Yu, Wang Dashan and the others, so he naturally fit in very soon.

For two consecutive days, he went to the Ling Mansion early in the morning and didn’t leave until dark. It seemed that he had indeed begun to see himself as Ling Zhang’s adviser.

Ling Zhang, however, was brought into the imperial palace by Yuwen Tong. The other night he had agreed to go to the palace to keep Yuwen Tong company for a day and rehearse what they’d have to do during the wedding ceremony.

Yuwen Tong had met Lord Hu and Lord Pei earlier the day Ling Zhang went into the imperial palace.

“How did it go? Are they sure they want to return to their hometowns to live out their lives in retirement after the imperial examination next spring?” inquired Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong replied with an inclination of the head. “They’ve made up their minds.”

Yuwen Tong didn’t feel it regrettable that the two old lords were going to leave. Firstly, Lord Hu and Lord Pei were indeed in their declining years; secondly, the main reason why Yuwen Tong had previously roped them in was because he’d wanted to capitalize on their leverage in the literati so as to pacify the literati and college students. Currently the two old lords were fairly cooperative, which was why Yuwen Tong wouldn’t make things difficult for them.

“But I’ll put them in charge of the imperial examination next spring. It’ll be the last thing I have them do for me, and it’ll also be the first and only thing they do for the Great Wen,” added Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang was amazed. “They’re both of advanced years. Will they be able to handle the workload?”

Yuwen Tong said, “Though at their advanced ages, they’re actually still robust. They’re suffering from minor presbyopia, but their minds are still clear, so they’ll be fine. Besides, I’m putting them in charge only because I need them to lend their weight to the exam. They won’t have to do everything personally.”

Ling Zhang inclined his head. Since Yuwen Tong had already had everything planned out, he said no more.

The imperial palace was tumultuous. With the Infinite Fortune Palace as the center, all palaces nearby had been quickly revamped and redecorated, looking much more lively. Also, it was autumn and flowers in their prime were making the place a blaze of color. The warm sunshine and the festoon adorning every building in sight was enough to brighten everybody’s day.

Ling Zhang looked at the festooned palaces, amazed by the fact that they had changed so much during his short absence.

“Were it not for the short notice, we would be able to directly move into the new imperial bedchamber. Given the current circumstances, I could only have them do some simple revamp and reconstruction within their capabilities. I’m sorry you’ll have to put up with this,” said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang was amused by these words. “Put up with this? Every inch of the imperial palace is stamped with luxury. Besides, it’s not those stuff that I’m marrying you for. Actually, I think the Infinite Fortune Palace is good enough.”

Holding Ling Zhang’s hand, Yuwen Tong made towards the Infinite Fortune Palace. “That’s why I made compromises to marry you sooner.”

Compared with anything else, marrying Ling Zhang was of greater importance, because it would save him sneaking out of the palace by night like a burglar. Also, it’d spare him the ordeal of missing Ling Zhang so much during the day that he could barely eat.

“Your Majesty! Childe Ling!” called an official of the Ministry of Rites, hurrying up to them from behind.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong came to a halt and turned around to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

The official was the newly appointed Assistant Minister of Rites. He was a quite poised and worldly-wise man, but now his face was wet with sweat from the strenuous running. “Your Majesty, Childe Ling, you’re going in the wrong way. The rehearsal of the wedding ceremony is supposed to start from the hall in the front, not the Infinite Fortune Palace.”

This poor newly appointed Assistant Minister of Rites had waited in the hall for quite a long time. After being informed that the emperor and the future empress had been going in the wrong direction, he had run to this place in great haste, which was why he was all sweaty.

Flushing slightly, Ling Zhang hurriedly pivoted around, let out a little cough and said, “We just came here for a walk. We’ll go there right away.”

Yuwen Tong also turned around. “Let’s go.”

The Assistant Minister of Rites’ face crumpled up as he saw the two of them striding towards the great hall with flying feet. How did they come to walk so fast?! Not daring waste any time, the Assistant Minister of Rites, who had just broken out in a sweat for running, hastened to trot forward to catch up with them.

Ling Zhang was somewhat confused when he perceived Yuwen Tong was walking faster than usual. His confusion deepened as he noticed the Assistant Minister of Rites who was panting heavily trying to follow them. Yuwen Tong definitely knew that the Assistant Minister of Rites was having trouble keeping pace with them. Why was he still walking so fast?

“What’s wrong?” Ling Zhang couldn’t help but ask.

Yuwen Tong slowed down a little bit and replied, “Nothing.”

Ling Zhang looked incredulously at him, but seeing Yuwen Tong had slowed down and the official had finally caught up with them, he didn’t give it any more thought.

Yuwen Tong inwardly gave a little snort as he observed that the insensible Assistant Minister of Rites had finally caught up with them. Just now they’d been so close to the Infinite Fortune Palace, and he’d been within an inch of getting into the imperial bedchamber and hiding Ling Zhang in there when this guy had suddenly shown up. It was not like the wedding ceremony was tomorrow. What was the hurry?

Unaware that the emperor was inwardly criticizing him, the newly appointed Assistant Minister of Rites, after wiping the sweat from his forehead, could finally stop trotting and follow the two masters at a normal pace. “Your Majesty, Childe Ling, on the wedding day, a guard of honor will directly escort Childe Ling into the inner city, and the carriage will stop in front of the great hall. Your Majesty are supposed to guide Childe Ling up the stairs in front of the great hall and then offer sacrifices to the gods. After the officials pay their respects to you by getting down on their knees, an important part of the ceremony will be considered finished.”

Ling Zhang had personally made some changes to the main parts of the wedding plan, so he naturally knew about this step. It was some specific courtesies that the two of them would have to familiarize themselves with. “What am I supposed to do specifically after I stop in front of the great hall?”

The Assistant Minister of Rites hastened to lead Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong around the great hall, heading for the stairs in front of it. While walking, he replied, “Childe Ling, what you are supposed to do is…”

He related a lot of details without pausing. Ling Zhang tried to memorize them while listening, but he still felt he was in over his head. When they reached the gateway of the great hall, he saw a lot of people waiting and asked, “There are so many steps. What if I forget some of them?”

The Assistant Minister of Rites responded, “Don’t worry, Childe Ling. I’ll be by your side and cue you on that day. Right now you may acquaint yourself with the process first, so that you’ll be able to handle it with more ease when the time comes.”