Chapter 200: A Confrontation with Jiang Yu

“Guard your tongue,” reprimanded someone among the group of people cl.u.s.tering around Jiang Yu.

“Surely you know very well who started this, don’t you?” sneered Qian Qingchuan.

Jiang Yu, with a frown on his face, raised his hand and said, “Enough. We’re at the front gate of the Imperial College. It’s undignified to quarrel here.”

Qian Qingchuan coldly gave a snort and made no further remarks, but he seemed just as hostile to Jiang Yu as he was to the others. Then he looked at Ling Zhang, softened his tone and asked, “Childe Ling, shall we?”

Surprisingly, Jiang Yu standing on the other side looked in this direction and also spoke. “Childe Ling, given that you’re new to the Imperial College, I suggest you be more cautious about your choice of friends. And you should bear in mind your ident.i.ty. Your each and every move might affect the Marshal and even cause him trouble.”

As the main focus of attention, Ling Zhang merely replied with one sentence in a calm tone of voice, “Thank you for reminding me, Childe Jiang, but I’m fully aware of what I should do, so there’s no need for you to bother worrying about it.”

Jiang Yu furrowed his brows and fixed Ling Zhang with a stare. “Childe Ling seems to be a rather poor judge of character.”

Ling Zhang cast him a perplexed look. “I find your words confusing, Childe Jiang. If my memory serves me correctly, this is the first time that we’re talking with each other. We’re not really well acquainted, and neither do you know much about me, yet you precipitously put yourself in the position of my betrothed, laid comment on me and made this ungrounded charge against me. Don’t you think you overstepped the mark a little?”

“Tell me about it. Elder Brother Zhang is my cousin’s betrothed. Of course he’ll always take my cousin into consideration. You are so unreasonable, Jiang Yu. You sound as if you have the final say in my cousin’s business. From what standpoint are you saying this? What’s your intention?” Yuwen Jin questioned in a sarcastic manner.

After hearing this, others present had a subtle expression in their eyes when they looked at Jiang Yu, and Jiang Yu became the focus of all kinds of speculative gaze. They all knew about the engagement between Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong, feeling that this conduct of Jiang Yu’s was so strange. ‘Does he by any chance have feelings for Marshal Yuwen? If that’s the case, there would be high drama once again in the capital city,’ many of them thought.

Jiang Yu, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, was of n.o.ble blood. Never once had anybody fixed him with this kind of stare since he’d enrolled in this college. He felt as if he were stripped naked, as if his private thoughts had just been roughly pulled out of his mind and exposed to numerous prying eyes, leaving his heart filled with shame and anger. ‘Who are these people to affront me like this? They are just a bunch of lowly people who are too cheap to even hold shoes for me. Who do they think they are? How dare they look at me like that! They’ll pay for this!’

“Now I have no doubt you’re the one who shot down the Ninth Princess rendering her speechless and also made mincemeat of Lord Yuwen at the palace banquet. Today I saw with my own eyes how you can make black look white, and white look black, Childe Ling. No matter whether you believe it or not, I just gave you a reminder out of goodwill. Marshal Yuwen is a national hero of the Great Yue, and I said that because I didn’t have the heart to see him subjected to gratuitous abuse because of you. Now that you have no appreciation for my kindness, I have nothing else to say.”

After saying this, Jiang Yu turned around with the intention to leave, but Ling Zhang said in a deep tone, “Wait a moment.”

Jiang Yu paused, looked at him and asked flintily, “What else do you want to say?”

“You’re better with words than I am, Childe Jiang. The Ninth Princess is a n.o.ble member of the imperial family. No matter what happened in the past, as a subject of His Majesty, I should lay no more remark on her, but just now you said that I confused right and wrong. Were you suggesting that what happened and has already been confirmed previously by His Majesty was a mistake? If you have any evidence to prove it, I don’t mind accompanying you to the palace of His Majesty and make things clear. After all, this is not a small issue,” Ling Zhang said to Jiang Yu with his eyes on him.

Ling Zhang’s tone was sincere, and his countenance unhurried, but Jiang Yu’s face darkened, his eyes chilly.

Ling Zhang directly suggested the two of them confront each other in front of the emperor, which was a manifest indication that he was not afraid of getting into trouble. Of course Jiang Yu didn’t fear Ling Zhang, and neither did he fear to see the emperor, but if they went to the emperor and he couldn’t show any proof… And Ling Zhang’s bearing unmistakably indicated that he had something secure to rely on, and it was only too evident who his backer was. The more Jiang Yu thought about this, the sullener his face grew.

“Maybe you should be more careful with your words, Childe Ling. It’s okay that you have little acquaintance with the rules in this city, for you just came here not long ago, but an audience with His Majesty is not something you can have as you please.” Jiang Yu made this remark, turned around and hurriedly left. All those behind him followed in his wake. It was not that they were afraid of Ling Zhang but that they suddenly recalled what Ling Zhang had once done – or what he and Yuwen Tong, his backer, had done during the past half a month since their arrival in the capital city: even the Ninth Princess had been sent to the imperial temple; Peng Fang, the a.s.sistant Minister of the Ministry of Works, had been imprisoned; and Yuwen Qi’s leg had been broken… After Ling Zhang arrived in the capital city, all issues involving him had led to serious consequences. Now even Jiang Yu had left, and these people believed it was inadvisable for them to confront Ling Zhang with toughness, given that they didn’t have powerful family background as the Ninth Princess did.

“Pooh, what a wimp. He got scared the moment you suggested the two of you confront each other before His Majesty.”

Yuwen Jin satirized Jiang Yu, enjoying this moment very much. Ever since he’d made an enemy of Jiang Yu, this had been the first time that he had seen Jiang Yu shot down. Instantly, he couldn’t help but idolize Ling Zhang madly. “Brother Zhang, you’re indeed worthy of my cousin, so bada.s.s.”

Ling Zhang flicked a calm look at him, but there was no triumphant delight on his face. ‘The reason why Jiang family has such high status and Jiang Yu has so many followers is the strength Jiang family represents. What happened today was merely a verbal confrontation, and it won’t cause Jiang Yu any losses, and neither will it shake the foundations of Jiang Yu’s position. Just now Jiang Yu chose to avoid further conflict because he thought highly of himself and didn’t want to lower himself by arguing with me. Now I’ve openly fallen out with Jiang Yu. In the future, the two of us will meet frequently in the College and there will inevitably be a lot more confrontations between us. Once Jiang Yu mobilizes the resources his family possesses to work against me, I might really get the worst of it, given that I have so few allies in this college.

It seems that those words of Yuwen Tong’s might turn out to be a prophecy. The reason why Yuwen Tong told me not to be afraid of getting into trouble was probably that he had antic.i.p.ated this kind of situation and also prepared himself to back me up when I’m in need,’ thought Ling Zhang.

“Let’s go. We’ll be late if we don’t get inside right away,” Ling Zhang said.

At this time, Qian Qingchuan, s.h.i.+ Changgen and some others, who had been waiting on the side all along, issued a second invitation. “Would you care to come along with us, Childe Ling?”

Ling Zhang looked in their direction. Though family members of both Qian Qingchuan and s.h.i.+ Changgen served the Crown Prince, it didn’t mean that making friends with them was totally okay, but since the two of them had made overtures to him, he wouldn’t give them the cold shoulder for no reason.

The invitation from Qian Qingchuan and s.h.i.+ Changgen was accepted. Ling Zhang, Yuwen Jin and their study-servants pa.s.sed through the front gate of the Imperial College with them.

…

Although what happened at the front gate of the Imperial College were merely between students, since the ident.i.ties of those involved – both Jiang Yu and Ling Zhang who had recently been in the limelight in this city – were uncommon, news of this matter was bound to spread through the whole city very soon.

Yuwen Tong, after hearing this, squinted his eyes.

Seeing this, Yao Yi and other bodyguards all didn’t dare to utter a word in the knowledge that Yuwen Tong was angry. In fact they were puzzled as to what Jiang family’s intention was either. ‘Why did they let that Jiang Yu guy pick on Childe Jiang?’

“Prepare the carriage.”

…

This was Ling Zhang’s first day of school in the Imperial College. From morning until noon, he had been the focus of attention all along, and there hadn’t been a single moment when his cla.s.smates were not whispering about him. Even the professor frequently glanced at him. He didn’t know why, but the professor, for several times, specially asked him to express his opinions. Fortunately, what they were learning on this day was not difficult, and the professor was fairly satisfied with his answers and didn’t pick on him.

Yuwen Jin sitting beside him, however, had been in misery the whole morning, as if the textbook were a book from heaven totally beyond his grasp. Every time the professor called Ling Zhang’s name, Yuwen Jin got terribly nervous as if he were the one asked, afraid that he would be the next. But maybe because the professor could tell that Yuwen Jin was never meant for college, he didn’t ask him to answer any questions or have him demonstrate the meaning of the expression “hem and haw”, so Yuwen Jin was greatly relieved.

Ling Zhang was somewhat confused about this. ‘Why people of the offshoot of Yuwen family are so insistent that Yuwen Jin study at this college?’

At noon, they had lunch in the Imperial College. People in the Ling Mansion and Yuwen Jin’s family had lunch delivered to Ling Zhang and Yuwen Jin respectively. The Imperial College was sited in an out-of-the-way area, and they would have to do everything in great haste if they went back home at lunch break. They still had cla.s.ses to attend in the afternoon.

Just like this, he made it through his first day of school in the Imperial College. After the whole morning’s adjustment, in the afternoon Ling Zhang got used to both the gaze others gave him and those whispers. Because of this he had even learned to rehea.r.s.e the pithy formula of the mental cultivation method of internal energy during cla.s.s, which was helpful in concentrating his mind and ignoring those people.

In the afternoon, when students left, Yuwen Jin even heaved a sigh of relief. “Finally I can rid myself of those people’s gaze and finger-pointing.”

Although Yuwen Jin’s hearing was not as good as that of Ling Zhang and he couldn’t hear those people’s discussion, he had still been under great pressure after being constantly eyed and pointed at for a whole day.

Ling Zhang consoled him, “This is the first day. Things will get better.”

Yuwen Jin curled his lip. “I hope so. You’re far more poised than I am, Brother Zhang. You seemed totally unaffected by them.”

Surprisingly, when the two of them left, they encountered Jiang Yu and his followers once again, which made the two of them wonder whether it was true what they said that one couldn’t avoid one’s enemy. Faces of both sides went sullen as they met.

Ling Zhang took his eyes off them and continued walking forward, ignoring them.

“This is such bad luck. Will we never be rid of them?” remarked Yuwen Jin unhappily.

Ling Zhang replied, “The Imperial College is not as vast as it seems, and sometimes it can feel rather small. This won’t be the last time that we encounter them. If you get angry every time, you might not have any time for other things.”

Yuwen Jin responded, “That can’t be true. Please don’t jinx me, Brother Zhang. I really don’t want to encounter them too often.”

While talking, the two of them arrived at the gate of the College. As the two sides approached each other, students nearby who had noticed this all looked in this direction with various kinds of inexplicable expression in their eyes, antic.i.p.ating what was going to happen.

Ling Zhang slightly furrowed his brows, feeling it rather annoying to be watched like a monkey by so many people.

Right at this moment there was another disturbance outside the front gate. It seemed as if some big shot had just arrived, and all students nearby fell into excited discussions with each other.

Ling Zhang distinguished their words and was sent into a brief trance of surprise. He hurriedly walked through the front gate and saw that there was a nondescript horse-drawn carriage parked outside, beside which a man was standing looking over the crowd at him.