The Glory After Rebirth

After Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong walked far away, Yao Yi and some others exchanged glances. Even if they hadn’t heard any sounds issuing from the pavilion the night before, they would have come to know what had happened, because this morning, when their Marshal had come back from the pavilion on the hill and instructed servants working in the kitchen to prepare congee and deliver it to the pavilion, there’d been a smile on the corners of his mouth all along, and now he was acting as though Childe Ling were the only person his eyes could see, showing a total disregard for the others.

When Ling Zhang arrived at the place, he found that there were indeed a lot of animals as Zhao Shude had previously told him: pheasants, rabbits, roe deer, and so on, all of which had been caught on the hill and then brought back. Also, servants of the manor had designated a large area to keep them as fowls and livestock, which was something typically only rich people would do.

Ling Zhang was somewhat hesitant. After all, these animals were supposed to be their food. He would eat them someday, so it was inadvisable for him to forge a bond of any kind with any of them. ‘Alas.’ Ling Zhang who hadn’t eaten any meat this day secretly felt sad for himself.

As a result, he asked the stockman, “Are there any other animals on nearby hills?”

“Yes. You feel like hunting, Childe Ling?” queried the stockman. As Ling Zhang was asking about animals on the hills instead of these domestic ones, the stockman felt that Ling Zhang wanted to go hunting. After all, it was very common that childes of rich families in the capital city went hunting on a whim.

It was inconvenient for Ling Zhang to tell the stockman about the test he was going to carry out, so he nodded — at least going hunting was a normal excuse.

He and Yuwen Tong left the manor and detoured to a mountain on the other side of a creek. Originally Yuwen Tong had disagreed to go so far for fear that Ling Zhang might tire himself out, but Ling Zhang had insisted, leaving him no choice but to compromise.

Walking did make Ling Zhang feel somewhat uncomfortable, but as Yuwen Tong had promptly applied pretty effective ointment to his body and massaged his muscles with his internal energy this morning, Ling Zhang found the remaining soreness endurable.

They caught sight of a couple of rabbits, which were instantly on full alert as they saw two humans, but when Ling Zhang approached them, they didn’t flee and just stayed where they were, goggling at Ling Zhang curiously.

Yuwen Tong didn’t get close to the rabbits. He stood watching from a distance.

Ling Zhang tentatively walked up to them, treading quietly, trying his best not to look hungry and eager to eat meat. While he closed in, the rabbits fidgeted briefly but still didn’t try to escape. Ling Zhang kept edging closer and eventually crouched down before them, slowly stretching out a hand to stroke one of them.

The rabbit dodged aside, but when Ling Zhang tried for a second time, it let him. Its body was soft and warm to the touch. Ling Zhang stroked each and every one of them and then swiveled his head around to look at Yuwen Tong.

With that Yuwen Tong walked up to him, but the moment he approached, those rabbits pricked up their ears. Before Yuwen Tong could get any closer, they fled in all directions like the wind.

Ling Zhang rose to his feet and said, “It’s indeed me alone who has some kind of influence on them.”

And then he and Yuwen Tong did the same thing to some other animals, all of which reacted the same way. When Ling Zhang was the only one present, they were all very obedient and meek, but once Yuwen Tong approached, most of them got scared and ran away.

After confirming their conjecture, the two of them returned to the manor.

Lunch was still congee, which Ling Zhang drank with an impassive face. The moment he finished the bowl of congee, he scooped up Whitie the fox and left. Yuwen Tong, in the knowledge that Ling Zhang was displeased with the meatless meal, drank his own congee in two gulps and quickly followed him outside.

Ling Zhang was sitting in the corridor near the doorway of the bedroom, which was overshadowed by big trees. Though it was noon, this place was quite cool. A servant had put a deck chair there and placed some fruits, snacks and tea on a small table beside it. What with the two meatless meals he’d had this day, Ling Zhang was rather unhappy and naturally found the fruits and snacks unappealing. He merely took a sip of the tea and then lay down in the deck chair with the little white fox in his arms, unnoticeably wiggling his waist and hips.

Yuwen Tong entered the room just in time to see this. At the sight of the slight frown on Ling Zhang’s face, he came to realize that Ling Zhang was probably beginning to feel a little miserable now, because he’d walked for almost the whole morning.

He stepped over, motioned the servant to leave with a wave of his hand and then started massaging Ling Zhang’s waist gently. “You feel uncomfortable?”

Ling Zhang opened his eyes, slid a sideways glance at him and then closed them again with a snort.

Yuwen Tong looked at the little white fox in his arms, thought for a brief moment and then scooped up Ling Zhang. The fox got alarmed and jumped off Ling Zhang with a squeal.

Ling Zhang who had been abruptly scooped up like a child by Yuwen Tong was thrown into perplexity. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Getting you to the bedroom where I’ll give you a massage,” Yuwen Tong said, carried Ling Zhang into the bedroom and shut the door in Whitie’s face.

Ling Zhang felt that it was lucky of him to have been seen by no one just now. Had anybody caught sight of him being carried like a child by Yuwen Tong, he would feel terribly ashamed.

“It’s the only way to ease the soreness in your waist,” added Yuwen Tong in an effort to explain.

Originally Ling Zhang had been on the verge of losing his temper, but after hearing his explanation, the anger in him ebbed away. Still, he sniffed, “Why don’t you just let me walk there myself?”

Yuwen Tong said, “I want to carry you in my arms. I haven’t done this since we returned from the hill.”

Ling Zhang’s face glowed at his explicit words. Yuwen Tong had only his own conduct to blame for that — he’d woken up early in the morning to a grumbling stomach but only been provided with a bowl of congee; and the night before, he told Yuwen Tong he didn’t want any more sex, but this guy who was formidably energetic kept pestering him and eventually did it another several times; he was even suspecting he might die on the bed.

Yuwen Tong carefully put him down on the bed, looking at him earnestly. “Don’t be mad. I’ll let you vent your anger on me.”

Ling Zhang kept silent, eyes on him.

Yuwen Tong raised his hand and stroked his slightly blushing face, his thumb gently fingering the corner of Ling Zhang’s eye as the expression in his own grew deeper. “You may beat me and call me all the names you want.”

Hearing him put it this way, Ling Zhang found himself enjoying this pretty much but also felt that something was not quite right. Eventually, he said, “I’m not the kind of person who’d do unreasonable things like that.”

Yuwen Tong smiled, craned over and planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth. “I know. It was me who was being unreasonable.”

Ling Zhang, “...”

Yuwen Tong had him lie prone on the bed and then mobilized his internal energy to ease the soreness in Ling Zhang’s waist and thighs, his every movement scrupulous.

Ling Zhang lying in bed twisted his head aside but couldn’t see Yuwen Tong’s countenance, only his profile. However, seeing Yuwen Tong so quiet, he couldn’t help but wonder whether he was being too hard on Yuwen Tong and hurting his feelings.

But in fact Yuwen Tong was now staring fixedly at Ling Zhang’s waist and hips, longing glinting in his eyes. Maybe because he was reliving in his mind the pleasure of what the two of them had done in the afternoon and at night the day before, his desire was growing increasingly intense.

“Hey, I was just saying. I’m not really mad at you.”

Ling Zhang suddenly spoke, jerking Yuwen Tong out of his fantasies. The corners of Yuwen Tong’s mouth curled as he distinguished Ling Zhang’s words, but his voice was still low and deep. “I know. You just want to eat some meat.”

Ling Zhang, “...”

Why was this guy being so blunt?

But...

“What Uncle Zhao had them cook yesterday was so delicious,” muttered Ling Zhang, his voice heavy with yearning.

Yuwen Tong almost burst into laugh, but he stifled it for fear that Ling Zhang would be infuriated if he laughed on this occasion. In a toneless voice, he said, “I’ll roast some rabbits for you to eat. I’m not really good at cooking other dishes, but roasting meat is kind of my forte.”

Ling Zhang’s eyes lit up at this, and he recalled the roast meat Yuwen Tong had made for him during their journey from Tanyang to the capital city, his mouth watering. “Really?!”

Yuwen Tong nodded. “Of course.”

The corners of Ling Zhang’s mouth curled in a smile. In a much better mood, he snorted, “Okay then. I think I’ll just manage another bowl of congee as dinner.”

Yuwen Tong said, “I’ll apply some ointment to your body again in a while, and once again before you go to bed at night. You’ll fully recover by tomorrow morning.”

First Ling Zhang inclined his head, but then he inquired, “How did you come to be so good at this?”

Wasn’t this kind of ointment supposed to be known to experienced men only? Yuwen Tong had never been in a relationship before, so where did he learn about this kind of stuff?

Thinking about this, Ling Zhang propped himself up on his elbows and turned his head around to piercingly look at Yuwen Tong, heedless of the fact that Yuwen Tong was in the middle of massaging him.

Yuwen Tong was fleetingly astonished and then hastily replied, “A physician told me!”

“Which physician?”

On hearing this, Ling Zhang was relieved, and then went uptight again, wondering which physician Yuwen Tong had consulted. Hadn’t the physician come to know what Yuwen Tong was going to do?!

Yuwen Tong said, “A court physician working in the imperial palace. My grandfather once did him a favor, so I have some acquaintance with him in private. He specialized in treatment for this kind of conditions before he was hired as a court physician, but has been prescribing medications for headaches and fever ever since he entered the palace.”

“He specialized in this kind of conditions?” Ling Zhang was amazed. “There are actually such physicians?”

Yuwen Tong chuckled, “Of course there are. It’s just that you’ve never met or heard about one before. Xie Shi checked the ointment he gave me and confirmed it’s safe to use. How did you feel this morning after I applied it to you last night?”

Ling Zhang answered, “I did feel a lot better.”

Yuwen Tong said, “So it’s pretty effective.”

Ling Zhang gave a nod. After a while, his face went set. Why was he talking about this kind of thing with Yuwen Tong so casually? It was clearly such an embarrassing topic... Yuwen Tong had successfully steered their conversation away once again.

Ling Zhang lay back onto the bed and said, “That court physician won’t breathe a word of it, right?”

Never mind. Given that the talk had already gone this far, he would appear stagy and also feel awkward if he acted bashfully.

Yuwen Tong’s hands had moved to Ling Zhang’s hips, eyes gazing on the two half-moons, his nose itchy, his throat terribly dry. In a husky voice, he said, “Rest assured, he won’t.”

Ling Zhang failed to immediately sense that something about his tone was not right. He relaxed safe in the knowledge that the court physician wouldn’t disclose it to anybody else. What he feared the most was him returning to the capital city only to find that rumors about Yuwen Tong getting some ointment were spreading through the whole city. He wouldn’t be able to show his face in front of anybody else if that were the case.

It was not until after quite a while that Ling Zhang pulled his mind back to the current moment from these thoughts, and the reason for this was that the hands of Yuwen Tong massaging him had moved to his crotch and were even...

A hot breath was spurted onto his butt and Ling Zhang’s whole body went rigid as he realized what was going on.