Though Yuwen Tong had put it this way, actually the air emanated by Ling Zhang merely served to put people around him under stress, and it barely had any influence on anybody with a strong will or powerful internal energy.

After the two of them returned to the palace, a large batch of valuables meant as reward were delivered to the abode of the Marquess Fuan. Many people were baffled as to why Yuwen You had first received a visit from the imperial couple and then such a handsome reward. Though some of them had some speculations, none of them connected it with adoption, because that possibility was unbelievable.

The problem was the abode of the Marquess Fuan had been quiet ever since, and there hadn’t been any particular activities in there, which further bewildered many people.

A few days later, Ling Zhang declared he was going to hold a banquet. In the invitations he sent, he made it clear that those invited were supposed to bring their kids to attend the banquet.

They were supposed to bring their kids to attend the banquet? Those who’d been bemused soon came to understand.

The day before the banquet, Ling Maomao, the Second Young Master of the Ling family, was brought into the imperial palace.

On hearing the news, everybody caught on to what it was about. The consort wanted to find his cousin some playmates.

These officials of the capital city, who were far more worldly-wise than common people, after guessing that Ling Zhang intended to find his cousin some playmates, all started to contemplate. Ling Zhang was now the empress, and the emperor cared about him very much. Given that the first thing the emperor had done after his enthronement was to make Ling Zhang his consort, it was obvious that the relationship between the two of them was uncommonly strong. Unless some serious problem came up between the two, Ling Zhang’s position as empress would always be solid, and so would the status of the Ling family. However, Ling Zhang was a man after all, and there was no doubt the emperor would take concubines and have them bear him sons so that he could pick one of them to be his heir. When that happened, Ling Zhang and the Ling family would be in an awkward position, but that was not really a foregone conclusion, because although Ling Zhang was a man, he could adopt a concubine’s son. In that case, Ling Zhang’s and the Ling family’s status would still be unsurpassable.

Within merely half a day, every one of these officials made a lot of assumptions, each more opinionated than the last. Meanwhile, Old Master Ji the Left Prime Minister, Zhao Zheng the Minister of War, and even Chu Liangyan the Right Prime Minister had made up their minds to bring their most valued teenage family members to the banquet the next day.

It was premature to talk about the succession to the throne. Even if the emperor had plans to take concubines, which he didn’t, it would be some time before the birth of his first child, and an even longer period before the princes reached adulthood. The future was full of uncertainties in this regard, which made it more advisable to please Ling Zhang first than it was to dwell on the possible development of this issue. Ling Zhang was now the empress, and was very much in favor with the emperor. Whoever dared to take the banquet lightly the next day would be offending not only Ling Zhang but also the emperor. Anybody, so long as they were not stupid, knew what they ought to do the next day.

After Ling Zhang gave the instruction, numerous people in the capital city were thrilled, a lot of whom hastened to consult with each other in private.

Their acts, which they themselves believed nobody would be able to find out, didn’t escape Yuwen Tong’s men’s notice.

Ling Zhang, though having guessed this, turned a blind eye to it. He didn’t care about the process. What he cared about was the outcome of the next day’s banquet. He wanted to find Ling Maomao some playmates, but these people were so bold as to judge the Ling family first when the Ling family hadn’t judged any of them. They would have to face his anger and the consequences of their actions.

Fortunately, only a limited few were foolish. The next day, most invited guests dressed up and brought their own children or their blood relations’ children to the palace to attend the banquet, and most of the children were around Ling Maomao’s age. Those who didn’t have any family members of similar age brought the most favored ones of the younger generations of their families.

Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong were both very pleased to see that these people were pretty sensible. As regards the small number of insensible ones…

They were scared out of their wits when Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong hadn’t even said anything yet. Nobody knew what these people were thinking – maybe because they were ill-informed or had been tricked by others, they actually had merely brought some of the average ones of their teenage family members. When they noticed that the others had brought sons born of their legal wives or grandsons born of their sons’ legal wives, they almost blacked out, coming to know that they’d made the wrong decisions. Unfortunately for them, it was too late to change their minds. They had no choice but to steel themselves and take their seats, praying Ling Zhang’s and Yuwen Tong’s eyes wouldn’t alight on them.

“They’re so stupid. His Majesty has taken a clear-cut stand in his handling of the matter of His Highness’ advisers, but these people still couldn’t see sense, or maybe they’re just wildly self-important. They seriously believe His Highness and the Ling family would see them differently just because they brought their sons and grandsons born of legal wives? What a bunch of incurable idiots.”

“The matter of advisers concerned His Highness, and this matter concerns the Second Young Master of the Ling family. These people probably see themselves as above the Ling family.”

“Ridiculous. Who are they to give the Ling family the cold shoulder?”

“They’re oafs. What other explanation is there? You’ll see – considering how insensible they are, they’d never go any further in their careers. It would take nothing short of a miracle for any of them to get a promotion.”

A lot of guests were whispering in sarcastic tones or discussing something in private. Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong, though sitting in the high seats, could hear them distinctly, but neither of them showed any sign of their true feelings on their faces, so naturally the guests sitting down there were unable to tell what either of them was thinking.

In addition, on this day, Ling Zhang mobilized his internal energy to change the air about him once again. After that visit to Yuwen You, he had developed a real flair for this. Many of those high-ranking courtiers, who were shrewd and crafty, were secretly startled as their eyes met Ling Zhang’s, and none of them dared to look at Ling Zhang’s eyes again.

The location for this banquet was the imperial garden. It was just a common palace banquet, the purpose of which was to create opportunities for children to get to know each other, so overall, the atmosphere was fairly relaxed.

“Maomao, why don’t you go and show these childes around the garden?”

Ling Zhang looked at Ling Maomao with encouraging eyes, suggesting he show these young childes around the imperial garden. Ling Maomao inclined his head. Slightly poker-faced, he rose to his feet and made towards the group of childes. He appeared somewhat nervous, but his bearing was unhesitating.

Ling Zhang felt relieved for Ling Maomao, watching as the boy walked towards those childes, who were either his age, or slightly older than him, or slightly younger than him. Soon the boy led the group of peers towards the depths of the garden. Ling Zhang arranged for Wang Dashan and some others to follow the group of teenagers to protect them in case any accidents happened.

Ling Maomao slightly twisted his head aside to look at Ling Zhang, who nodded at him, and after that Ling Maomao progressed without another backward glance. Many of these childes looked familiar to Ling Maomao, because they had met once and talked with each other at the banquet on the night of Ling Zhang’s and Yuwen Tong’s wedding day. All of them sensibly took the initiative in striking up conversations with Ling Maomao. With some of them speaking, the atmosphere naturally wouldn’t be chilly. Ling Maomao knew that they were in the imperial palace, and there were men all around who’d been sent here to protect them by his cousin, and there was no need for him to worry about any accidents, so his face slowly relaxed, and gradually things began to go well between him and the other teenagers.

After the children left, the officials naturally wouldn’t let the imperial couple feel bored. Some of them brought up politics, and some others had prepared other topics. There were always subjects they could discuss.

This palace banquet lasted quite a long time and didn’t end until dusk.

Ling Maomao hit it off with a couple of peers. Ling Zhang had observed them and come to know which families they were from, but he had no intention to interfere, because firstly, Ling Maomao had just met them, and although how people felt about each other on first acquaintance mattered when it came to making friends, getting to know each other better was also necessary; those teenagers’ elders, as long as they were not fools, would definitely require them to socialize more with Ling Maomao and see if they could become close friends with him; secondly, Ling Zhang was not inclined to meddle in Ling Maomao’s choice of friends. He preferred to let the kids figure it out on their own, so long as none of those people was up to anything underhand.

There were two fairly important matters to be dealt with after the banquet. The first one was to establish an imperial elementary school. This was a matter of great urgency. Although Yuwen Tong had no children for the time being, Yuwen You’s great grandchildren, Ling Maomao, the two prime ministers’ grandchildren and the six ministers’ grandchildren all needed a place where they could receive education and socialize with their peers. As a result, after Yuwen Tong brought up this matter at the banquet, officials in the imperial court had started discussing it. Barring accidents, a decision would be made in a day or two, and then the selection of teachers would begin. The second one was to make preparations for the Spring Festival which was very close. Even the plan to establish an imperial elementary school wouldn’t be carried out immediately after a decision was made, because the preparatory work for the Spring Festival would be given priority. This would be the first Spring Festival since Yuwen Tong’s enthronement, so everybody in the imperial court set great store by it, especially staff members of the Ministry of Rites, who found themselves up to their eyebrows in work once again. In the past couple of days, dark circles had reappeared under Yuwen Feng’s eyes, and he always had a sulky face when speaking in court meetings. Whenever anybody disagreed with him, he contradicted them hotly. What with this, the mood of court meetings had become considerably more tense in the past few days.

Yuwen Tong sitting on the throne, however, appeared quite unperturbed. The New Year celebration must be taken seriously, but it shouldn’t be an excuse for extravagance, because currently they still had to be sparing with money so that people who were struggling to restore their lives could get more help. However, it shouldn’t be modest either. All the necessary ceremonies should be held with due pomp. Ceremonies meant a lot to the imperial household, and they meant even more to the people. Everybody would be watching when the emperor paid tribute to the gods at a ceremony during the Spring Festival. It would be some kind of comfort to them and thus should on no account be trifled with.

This made things pretty difficult for Yuwen Feng. He had to make the celebration both economical and impressive. Were the emperor not Yuwen Tong, he would have shouted stinging rebuke at the emperor. Since reprimanding the emperor was not an option, he had no choice but to take it out on those who were insensible enough to cross him.

Ling Zhang felt quite sympathetic towards Yuwen Feng after coming to know about it. The very sight of the dark circles under Yuwen Feng’s eyes gave him a twinge of guilt. Still, though feeling sorry for him, this was Yuwen Feng’s job and he was supposed to get it done.

“He is the Marquess Huaiwen (AKA the Marquess of Moderation) and the Minister of Rites, and it’s a natural thing his title and post come with a lot of duties. If he fails to handle this matter properly, he’d have a hard time showing his face in court meetings next year. Though he’s been snapping at a lot of people in recent court meetings, he’s been doing his job pretty well,” observed Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong would pretend not to hear any of the harsh words Yuwen Feng said to the others, so long as Yuwen Feng performed his duties with distinction. He’d started out as a military officer, not a civil official. In the army, officers banged on tables and swore at every meeting, because they’d have difficulty making themselves understood if they spoke in a gentle manner. As a result, he didn’t care how heated the argument between his men was. As long as they could get the job done, he would turn a blind eye to all the bloodletting.

Yuwen Tong’s attitude towards it was very clear. Having served him for quite some time, almost all the courtiers knew what he was like in this regard, and were aware that they must get their job done with flying colors, that the emperor wouldn’t mind if they argued with each other from time to time, but if they argued all the time and didn’t do their job, they might have to face consequences including, but not limited to losing their positions.