He had tried to refuse, but for him, this was a new and thrilling experience as well. Also, he was in his youth and full of enthusiasm. How was he supposed to control himself? Every time he attempted to walk away, Yuwen Tong would persist and he would soon succumb to temptation.

Yuwen Tong's tongue moved from his shoulder to his shoulder blades, and then the back of his neck. Ling Zhang nearly lost his balance because of the itch, involuntarily pulling his shoulders in, his chest out. Yuwen Tong's hand went through his open collar, sliding straight downward. The smooth and fine touch of Ling Zhang's back made Yuwen Tong's lower abdomen abruptly contract and with that his palm quickly moved to a half-moon...

The towel with which Yuwen Tong had wiped Ling Zhang's hair dropped to the ground, and Ling Zhang's clothes to the crook of his arm. He reached out a hand and grabbed Yuwen Tong's wrist but couldn't at all stop him.

"Ah."

Suddenly, Ling Zhang's eyes widened and went dazed, an unnaturally seductive look on his face. Yuwen Tong's hand stroking his chest slid upwards and held his cheek, his thumb fingering Ling Zhang's lips, and with that his Adam's apple bobbed and his mouth took the place of the hand.

...

Yuwen Tong made out with him for a whole night. The next day, when Ling Zhang arrived at the Imperial College, his waist and legs were still fairly limp. He inwardly cursed Yuwen Tong for a few moments.

After Ling Zhang walked inside, Yuwen Jin told him under his breath, "Let me tell you something – that student who tried to provoke you yesterday has been expelled from our college. It seems that he was found to be guilty of some kind of misbehavior. This morning someone said that he packed up his stuff and left the city with his tail between his legs last night."

"Last night?" After sitting down, Ling Zhang didn't dare change his position, trying to make himself appear normal.

"Yeah. He's already left," said Yuwen Jin.

Ling Zhang had a thoughtful look on his face. Because of Miao Shiba's deed and Yuwen Tong's cautious questions the day before, it was not difficult for him to guess that the qin master must be the one who'd appeared at the King Duan's banquet that day. As things stood, someone had done something.

After hearing about how that student had ended up, Zhao Jiusi on the side slightly paused. The day before, after seeing that student, he'd felt rather weird but hadn't figured out the reason immediately. It'd been after he returned home and did some careful thinking that he realized that that student's figure bore some resemblance to Ling Zhang's, and his looks slightly resembled Ling Zhang's as well. Originally he'd worried that this person would work against Ling Zhang with some subterfuges, but unexpectedly, he'd been forced into leaving the capital city so soon.

Maybe because the weather was getting hot, students were more inclined to gossip than usual. They talked about this matter for quite a long time, making all kinds of speculations about whom that student had offended. Ling Zhang listened for a while and then lost his interest. He asked the college for two days off. The next day he was going to the new manor to meet his grandfather and see if there was anything he could help with.

He hadn't told Yuwen Jin and the others about the manor yet, planning to wait until the revamp was over.

"All the fuss over such a petty matter. I wonder whether they could get the better of those courtiers in an argument if they're brought to the imperial court."

Ji Feng took the folding fan his study-servant (a boy serving in someone's study) handed him, unfolded it with a jerk of his hand and started fanning himself vigorously. What with the hot weather, all students were sweating buckets, and even their tones were slightly more confrontational than usual. This was the time when everybody was particularly prone to pick a fight at a minor disagreement.

"What happened in the imperial court?"

Ling Zhang asked about it. Yuwen Tong hadn't been attending court meetings and couldn't be bothered to pay any attention to what the courtiers were disputing about, so when it came to the situation in the imperial court, Ling Zhang was not as well informed as Ji Feng and the others whose elders attended court meetings regularly.

"The appointment of new officials, of course. What else could it be? The Gu family recommended someone, vouching for his competence. This guy is a toady and wily old fox, who seldom does anything practical and spends most of his time currying favor with superiors. My grandfather believes that allowing a man of this sort to be promoted will undermine the foundation of our country, so he raised a strong objection, but His Majesty clearly had already been convinced by Gu family and would probably appoint that guy to the position in the next two days. My grandfather's so angry that he couldn't even eat."

Ji Feng, a scornful look on his face, evidently loathed the one that the Gu family had vouched for. Xie Qing's and Zhao Jiusi's countenance also changed somewhat, seeming to have also heard about this matter from their elders as well.

Yuwen Jin asked curiously, "Someone the Gu family recommended and vouched for? Who is it?"

Ji Feng gave a soft cough and confided in an undertone, "Wang Cai."

Wang Cai? This name was completely strange to Ling Zhang. He'd been in the capital city for quite a few days and the inquiries he'd made should be enough for him to know about all those he needed to know, but he'd never heard of this Wang Cai guy before, as though he was a newcomer.

Not only Ling Zhang but also Yuwen Jin and Xun Huo appeared puzzled.

"Wang Cai is a member of the Wang family in Haizhou. The Wang family used to be very powerful in the reign of the former emperor, but afterwards returned to Haizhou in dejection due to mishandling of a particular event. It's been a couple of decades and they seem to have gathered enough strength and want to gain a foothold in the capital city again, so they hooked up with the Gu family. People of the Gu family have been losing their sense of propriety these years, recommending all kinds of people to His Majesty, heedless of their qualifications, stopping at nothing to expand the Crown Prince's faction."

Ji Feng made these remarks in a very low voice audible only to Ling Zhang and the couple of others.

"After the Sixth Prince and the King Hui were brought down in succession, the King Duan, the King Yu and the Crown Prince carved up their forces. As the Crown Prince had been nursing his illness for years, the other two princes got larger shares. Now the Crown Prince has returned to the imperial court, so the Gu family, naturally, wants to help him gather enough helpers so as to oppose the other two sides. His Majesty adopted the suggestion of the Gu family and decided to give the post to this Wang Cai guy because he wants to use him as a counterbalance to the powers of the other two princes. My grandfather said that His Majesty..." Ji Feng let out a cough and continued, "Anyway, if Wang Cai gets promoted, he'd be nothing but a disgusting douche bag."

After hearing Ji Feng's words, Ling Zhang couldn't help but inwardly heave a sigh. The emperor was indeed inextricably bogged down in the idea of checks and balances; all he could think about was how to enforce his rule, and these years he hadn't really made any achievements in terms of improving people's lives. The riot in Xiang City of Cangzhou, on the surface, had been caused by local officials, but in fact, the political climate in the whole Great Yue was fairly degenerate these years, and people had long been in discontent.

"If it were in the past, the Jiang family would definitely have intervened and make life difficult for the Gu family, but because of the matter of Jiang Chengfeng, Jiang Shennian has been keeping his head down lately, and my grandfather is unable to handle the many underlings of the Gu family single-handed, so there's nothing he could do. He just stays at home sulking in his room."

"The King Duan and the King Yu just stood by watching it happen?"

"They want to stop it, but recently His Majesty has been cold-shouldering the two of them because of the King Hui's attempted usurpation. They don't dare risk antagonizing him further."

Hearing them talk about the situation in the imperial court, Ling Zhang came to realize that the outcome of this matter was probably a foregone conclusion now, which was why Ji Feng's grandfather was so angry.

"All right, let's stop talking about these unpleasant things. Would you like to go to the summer house of my family in a day or two? It's so hot, and I think we could all use somewhere to get out of this heat," suggested Ji Feng.

Naturally all others agreed willingly. The summer house of the Ji family had been built after they saw the manor of the Yuwen family. It was also far away from the city and near the manor that Ji Yin had just purchased. Ling Zhang, thinking that he was going to visit the new manor anyway, agreed. "There's some business I have to attend to these days. You guys fix a date first, and I'll go directly to you on that day."

Thus they agreed to meet three days later.

...

Ling Zhang was sitting in a horse-drawn carriage and it was a long, bumpy ride. He'd departed early in the morning, but it was shortly before dusk that he arrived at the new manor.

Ling Zhang had brought Wang Dashan and other security guards with him, planning to let them stay in this place, help with the revamp and meanwhile learn some moves from Ji Yin.

He got out of the carriage. Whitie the fox crouching on top of his head was unwilling to get down and Ling Zhang resignedly let it. Not many people could bear wearing a fluffy "hat" in such hot weather.

"Whitie, here we are. Get down."

Whitie, probably feeling intolerably hot as well, let out a cry, jumped to Ling Zhang's shoulder and then to the ground. After another soft cry, it streaked forward and soon disappeared, seeming to have set off to find somewhere cool to stay.

The hotness had made a cool spot much more appealing to it than Ling Zhang was.

Ling Zhang gave a slight sigh of relief and looked up at the manor in front of him.

Before his departure, Yuwen Tong had been called to Yuwen You's place and would arrive later. At this time Ling Zhang and his security guards were the only visitors.

The group of them walked up to the front gates of the manor and were stopped. "Please identify yourselves. Our master has purchased this manor. If you're here for an audience with the Marquess Ning'an (AKA, the Marquess of Peace), you'll have to go back to the capital city to find him."

Ling Zhang's eyes appraised the two tough hombres guarding the gates, who were tall and thickset. Due to the heat, they were bare-backed, but it didn't make them any less ferocious-looking. Those not bold enough might be deterred from getting close to the gates.

"We're not here for an audience with the Marquess Ning'an. It's the new owner of this manor that we came here to see. I'd appreciate it if you informed him of my presence. My name is Ling Zhang."

The strong men neither knew Ling Zhang nor had heard of his "wide" reputation. After hearing Ling Zhang's words, one of them told him to wait a moment and then went inside to report.

After a while, Ji Yin walked outside and said with a smile, "Why did you come so soon, my boy? Grandfather hasn't finished the revamp yet."

"I cannot let you carry the burden all on your own, Grandfather. I'm here to help."

The two strong gatekeepers sized up Ling Zhang in amazement. It was not until this moment that they came to know this childe they'd just stopped was grandson to the owner of this manor.

Ji Yin had changed out of his Confucian scholar's robes, dressed like a common rich old man, looking unobtrusive. In the capital city, apart from students of the Imperial College, very few people had laid eyes on him, and there was certainly no need for him to worry about anybody recognizing him in this manor.

Hearing that Ling Zhang wanted to help, Ji Yin smiled, "It's just a little thing. The craftsmen will handle it. Also, quite some people came here to help yesterday."

Ling Zhang knew Ji Yin was referring to the helpers sent by Yuwen Tong. Walking into the manner with Ji Yin, he told him, "Something's keeping him. He'll be here later."

As there were outsiders present and Ling Zhang, Ji Yin and Yuwen Tong all preferred to keep a low profile, neither of them mentioned Yuwen Tong's name.

Fully aware of the situation, Ji Yin nodded and said, "This place is not very habitable for the moment, and all artisans have arrived, so you may tell him not to come. Doesn't he have a manor nearby? Tell him to live there. I want you to stay here with me for a couple of days."

This might not be a bad idea, for he happened to need a break. These days Yuwen Tong had been snatching at every chance to do that thing with him, which had made him begin to wonder whether he was going to die of Shenkui (a culture bound syndrome native to China in which the individual suffers somatic symptoms with anxiety, believed to be caused by a loss of semen). It would be a terrible shame to die a death like that. He could also take advantage of this opportunity to figure out how to get on top of Yuwen Tong. Humph.

Thinking about this, Ling Zhang raised his head, turned around and instructed Wang Dashan, "Have someone deliver a message to them. Make sure they're aware of my grandfather's decision."

Wang Dashan secretly snickered and answered, "Yes, Young Master."

Ling Zhang accompanying Ji Yin had a walk around the manor. As this manor was being expanded by incorporating several next-door summer houses, it covered a vast area and a stroll around it would take a long time. Also, some walls separating this manor and the summer houses were being demolished, and it was inconvenient to go there.

Artisans could be seen bustling around everywhere. At the sight of Ling Zhang, all of them greeted him in the knowledge that he was also an owner of this manor.

Ling Zhang had Liu Yi and some others buy some melons, cool them in a well, cut them into slices and deliver them to the artisans. He also instructed a servant to cook some mung soup which helped relieve summer-heat, cool it in the well and proffer it to the artisans, so that they wouldn't catch heatstroke. Servants had been instructed to do this daily until the revamp was over.

It wasn't everyday these artisans met an employer so kind. They were all very happy and thanked him respectfully.

"Thank you for coming to help in such a hot weather. Each of you will get an extra ten-percent of the agreed remuneration as a bonus when the revamp is finished." After saying this, Ling Zhang said to Ji Yin under his breath, "I'll pay this extra money, Grandfather."

Ji Yin didn't try to stop him and happily nodded. "Okay. Do it your way."

On hearing that they were getting extra pay, all artisans became even more excited and motivated and, naturally, worked harder, paying more attention to the details, trying to make everything perfect, and sure enough their work was different from that done by perfunctory craftsmen. The revamp of a building, no matter in terms of woodworking or tiling, entailed a lot of techniques unknown to outsiders. Some artisans who knew about some underhand methods, when they encountered a mean employer or a foe, would resort to dirty tricks and have them suffer losses without knowing how. Of course this kind of artisans were few in number. Most craftsmen were honest and moral, and always repaid kindness with kindness. Ling Zhang was kind to them because he was considerate enough to empathize with them. Laboring in such hot weather was a miserable thing to anybody. It didn't really cost him much to make it easier for these artisans, who would work harder for him in return.

Before long, it was time to knock off, and all artisans returned to their temporary accommodation. Ling Zhang and Ji Yin also went to the courtyard house that Ji Yin would be staying in for the duration of the revamp project. The layout of it was not bad, and it was spacious, too. Beside it was a pond. At night, when breezes blew by, it was pretty cool.

Whitie the fox finally had enough fun out there and rushed back. Once he was in the house, he threw himself onto Ling Zhang, oblivious of the stains he was leaving on Ling Zhang's clothes, crying softly as if trying to look cute, his black, beady eyes sparkling, rubbing himself against Ling Zhang in an effort to cotton to him.

"You got yourself dirty all over and now you came back to stain my clothes. You're not behaving, Whitie."

Ling Zhang resignedly let out a sigh, reached out a hand and gently hit Whitie's head with his knuckles. Whitie instantly put on an aggrieved face, looked at Ling Zhang with his piteous, watery eyes, and softly whimpered at him.

"It's no good playing pitiful. Now you're not Whitie but Darkie."

The fox was dusty from head to pad. Ling Zhang had no idea where he had been.

"Tell me – did you get into some hole?" queried Ling Zhang, looking down at him.

Whitie swished his fluffy tail, wrapped it around Ling Zhang's wrist, and innocently whimpered at him again as though saying, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a good boy. Go easy on me."

Amused, Ling Zhang curled the corners of his mouth in spite of himself. Sharp-eyed Whitie noticed it and immediately got excited, raising his head high and crying.

Ling Zhang shook his head. "Be good. I'll give you a bath in a while."

Ji Yin caught sight of Whitie in Ling Zhang's arms and observed, "This little white fox looks pretty intelligent."

Talking about Whitie, Ling Zhang recalled that he needed to ask about the changes in him. "There's something I'd been meaning to ask you about but forgot, Grandfather. Does the mental cultivation method of internal energy of the Millennium Pavilion bring changes to... the cultivator's body? I've noticed that apart from Whitie and Snowflake, all other animals don't fear me as well."

Ling Zhang told Ji Yin about the squirrel jumping to his shoulder, the horses in the racecourse, as well as he and Yuwen Tong testing it on some animals on the hill that day. Then he added, "The moment Yuwen Tong approached them, they get scared and immediately fled."

Gratified, Ji Yin inclined his head, looking at Ling Zhang with glinting eyes. "The Force of Blood in you is indeed very powerful."

'I knew it.' Ling Zhang, who had got a shrewd idea of the reason, was not surprised to hear Ji Yin mention the Force of Blood. And then Ji Yin continued to explain it.