The Glory After Rebirth

There were five lighted candles in the tent, all of which had been carefully placed in proper positions.

“Childe Ling, all these ten prescriptions have been filled,” said a paramedic. The teenager’s voice was quite crisp and full of vigor, though he had had a hectic day.

“Now that the job is done, you may go back and get some sleep. It’s pretty late,” said Ling Zhang.

“How many more prescriptions do you have to fill, Childe Ling? Let me help you,” said the young paramedic, walking up to Ling Zhang and leaning over.

Ling Zhang smiled, “Only two. I’ll get it done in just a few moments. Just go back and turn in.” Then he turned to the other paramedics and said, “You guys, too. If you finished filling the prescriptions, go back and get to sleep right away. We’ll handle the rest tomorrow.”

“Please let me help you, Childe Ling. If we each fill one, this will be done sooner.” The paramedic was quite insistent, but his eyes which were looking at Ling Zhang were sparkling.

Ling Zhang was always nice to everybody in this place, had much acquaintance with medicinal herbs and gave these paramedics directions from time to time, so they all liked him very much.

Seeing his gleaming eyes, Ling Zhang didn’t have the heart to decline the offer once again and decided to accept it. “Then–”

“I’ll do it. You guys may all go back and get to sleep.” Yuwen Tong, who had been standing in the doorway for a moment, walked inside, his eyes raking the paramedic. It had never crossed his mind that these people would grow so fond of Ling Zhang. All their eyes were glinting when they looked at Ling Zhang. On top of that, these people were all fourteen or fifteen years old, which meant they were only three or four years Ling Zhang’s junior, and this was a small age gap…

The paramedics were startled by Yuwen Tong’s sudden arrival. Ling Zhang, who was taken aback as well, said, “Why did you come here? You’ve got everything handled?”

“Yeah. How many unfilled prescriptions are there? I’ll help you fill them all.” Yuwen Tong walked up to him, naturally took the prescription from the paramedic’s hand, pivoted around and made towards the medicine shelves to get the required herbs.

Astonished, the young paramedic opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

Seeing this, Ling Zhang said in a low voice, “It’s okay. We’ll handle it. You may all go back.”

The paramedic’s cheeks flushed faintly red as his eyes met Ling Zhang’s gentle ones. He inclined his head and then left with the others.

Yuwen Tong tossed a backward glance just in time to see the young paramedic leave with a flush on his cheeks. Instantly, his face darkened somewhat.

When the two of them were the only ones left in the tent, Ling Zhang said, “Put it down and let me handle it. You had quite a busy day.”

Watching the back of Yuwen Tong who was quickly filling the prescription, Ling Zhang was a little worried that he might get the herbs wrong, but he didn’t dare say it explicitly, so he reminded Yuwen Tong in a tactful way.

Yuwen Tong didn’t twist his head back. After filling the prescription, he walked over with the herb holder, put it down onto the table and reached out an arm to wrap it around Ling Zhang’s waist, looking him in the face. “Are you worried that I’d get the herbs wrong?”

Ling Zhang, “…”

He didn’t show any signs of his true thoughts. How did Yuwen Tong come to see through him?

A flicker of guilt appeared on his face in spite of himself. “No, I’m not. You’re imagining things.”

Yuwen Tong glanced from the herb holder in Ling Zhang’s hand to his eyes. “You’re having a good time here?” he asked.

Ling Zhang bobbed his head. “It gives me a little peace of mind knowing that I’ve been making myself useful. Occasionally I get to help change wounded soldiers’ dressings with my father. The physicians are all very busy, and I can give those young paramedics some directions about the identification of medicinal herbs that they have difficulty identifying.”

Yuwen Tong said, “Didn’t you say that you didn’t want to come to this place? That ointment thing doesn’t concern you anymore?”

Ling Zhang’s face darkened slightly. What a nuisance. He had had a job to dismiss that from his mind. Why was this guy bringing it up again? “I’ve been bustling around in this tent for days, and I’m pretty sure those who find that funny have laughed enough already.”

With an arm around Ling Zhang’s waist, Yuwen Tong gave Ling Zhang a playful pinch on the side of his waist and said, “You specially came here to keep me company, right? With you being here, we can only see each other by night. Just leave these things to those guys and go back to stay with me.”

Ling Zhang looked at him confusedly. “I thought we talked about this. We’ve been… been together every night. Besides, there’s nothing I can do to help with any of those matters you’ve been dealing with, and it’s inappropriate for me to offer my opinions about any of them either. I can be of help in this place. Isn’t this a good thing?”

Yuwen Tong lapsed into silence, took the herb holder from Ling Zhang’s hand, put it down onto the table and interlocked his fingers with Ling Zhang’s. It was indeed a good thing, but the very thought of people staring at Ling Zhang with gleaming eyes every day made him feel rather uncomfortable.

Ling Zhang looked at him apprehensively. “What’s the matter? Did something happen? Don’t be like this. Your silence is making me very worried.”

Yuwen Tong rested his head on Ling Zhang’s shoulder, cuddling him. “I just want you to be by my side all the time. I haven’t seen you for a whole day and it makes me feel awful.”

A pink flush slowly spread over Ling Zhang’s ears and he rested his head on Yuwen Tong’s shoulder. “But it’s wartime, isn’t it? Now that I’ve already come here, I need to do something, and so do Wang Dashan and the others. You should give them some jobs as soon as possible. They’re only too anxious to help. Considering they’ve developed a decent level of proficiency in formations, I’m sure they’ll prove themselves helpful. As for those guards from the Millennium Pavilion, if you don’t think they’re trustworthy, tell them which areas are off-limits to them.”

Yuwen Tong was relieved that Ling Zhang was unaware of what was concerning him, but at the same time worried that those people that had been staring at Ling Zhang might take advantage of him. Although Yuwen Tong knew intellectually that none of the young paramedics harbored any evil attentions, in his heart of hearts he found this fairly intolerable.

“Okay. Let’s return to our tent after I fill this prescription. And from now on… from now on I’ll go back earlier every day,” said Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong rose to his feet and said, “Okay.” Though still reluctant to let him stay here, he couldn’t bring himself to pressure Ling Zhang to give up. In addition, he could feel that Ling Zhang had been somewhat uptight since his arrival at this encampment, and this infirmary was the only place where he was relaxed.

He lowered his head to nibble Ling Zhang’s lips lightly, parted them and with that his tongue reached inside…

Hugging, they kissed for a long moment before they let go of each other, and they stopped only because they felt each other’s bodily response, knowing that they would lose control of themselves if they continued.

It took Ling Zhang quite a while to cool himself down a little. Then he made up the prescription in his hand as quickly as possible, tidied up the table, put out the candles and fastened the fly of the tent. The soldiers on night duty saluted them and saw them off.

…

While Ling Zhang was helping with medical matters in the infirmary, he heard a rumor that Shao Feng and Yuwen Tong had a bitter quarrel owing to a divergence of opinions when discussing a military affair. As soon as this reached his ears, he came to know that Yuwen Tong and his men had started to carry out the plan.

Predictably, as day after day passed by, the divisions between Shao Feng and Yuwen Tong deepened further. On one occasion, during an engagement with the enemy, Shao Feng disobeyed Yuwen Tong’s order and they nearly lost the fight because of it. After returning to the encampment, Yuwen Tong flied into a rage and meted out punishment to Shao Feng according to military law, inflicting a great humiliation on Shao Feng in the presence of all troops.

At the same time, some negative gossip began to spread in the encampment, saying that Yuwen Tong was being too harsh on Shao Feng, that a lot of officers of Youzhou garrison were displeased with Yuwen Tong’s handling of the matter of Shao Feng and had argued with him several times.

These messages were sent back to the Luohai Kingdom one after another.

…

The headquarters of the allied forces of the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom.

“It seems that this pawn of yours is serving its purpose, General Dong.” Shan Congwen paid Dong Gao a compliment, a broad smile on his face. “And I really admire how well you’ve knocked your subordinates into shape.”

Dong Gao burst into laughter. “Your plan deserves some credit as well, King Ming’en.”

Shan Congwen gave a smile, somewhat disapproving secretly. He had heard about the whole thing and believed that it’d be more reasonable to attribute this outcome to Yuwen Tong’s bad luck than to Dong Gao’s man’s efforts, that it had been because Yuwen Tong was unable to have Shao Feng, the one in charge of the defense of Youzhou, toe the line and let their disagreements go public that Dong Gao’s man took advantage of the situation so easily.

“King Ming’en, do you think we’re ready to make our next move?” asked Dong Gao.

Shan Congwen replied, “I think so. As Yuwen Tong has just punished Shao Feng according to military law, right now officers of Youzhou garrison are all disgruntled at Yuwen Tong. Given how cunning Yuwen Tong is, he would by no means let this situation last long. We have to incite Shao Feng and the others to take action before Yuwen Tong tricks them into letting it go.”

Dong Gao gave a bob of the head. “We happen to have been laying low for some time and everything is in absolute readiness. It’s about time we dealt Yuwen Tong a real heavy blow!”

Shan Congwen observed, “Our ultimate target is Yuwen Tong. It would be best if we could take full advantage of their infighting to confound Youzhou garrison and at the same time kill Yuwen Tong. Otherwise he will remain our biggest trouble.”

Dong Gao appeared awkward. “That won’t be easy. Yuwen Tong has consummate kung fu skills and is under constant protection of many personal bodyguards. It would be next to impossible to dispose of him.”

Shan Congwen said, “You’re not chickening out of this, General Dong, are you? As long as Yuwen Tong still draws breath, he’ll always be a hindrance to our plan to take the border city in Youzhou. The current civil strife of the Great Yue is a golden opportunity for us. Their emperor died and so far there haven’t been any signs of an heir succeeding to the throne. If we don’t seize this opportunity, it’d be of no avail even if we manage to force Youzhou garrison back into the city.”

Dong Gao frowned. “If we are to have Yuwen Tong killed, someone will have to get close to him first, which is something none of my men is capable of.”

Shan Congwen said, “Well, Shao Feng is. Wouldn’t it be much better to have him do it than send our own men?”

Dong Gao looked at him. “You think Shao Feng will take the bait?”

Shan Congwen responded, “Why wouldn’t he? Yuwen Tong’s authority has been weighing Shao Feng down like a mountain. Now that we’ve already set out to play him off Yuwen Tong, why not go the whole hog?”

Eyes on Shan Congwen, Dong Gao said, “I’d like to hear what you have in mind, King Ming’en.”

Shan Congwen inwardly rolled his eyes upwards and cursed Dong Gao for being a fool who could do nothing but sit idle and enjoy the fruits of others’ work, who was totally unworthy of his post as general-in-chief, but there was nothing Shan Congwen could do about it. He had to cooperate with Dong Gao. The Wan Kingdom had mobilized all resources available to wage this war. If they failed to achieve anything this time, they would not only have to pay another huge compensation to the Great Yue but also sustain so heavy losses that they wouldn’t be able to recover for many years. The Luohai Kingdom, however, hadn’t undergone many wars. Though located in the north and not as rich as southern countries, it had many years’ accumulation of wealth and other resources, so if the war was lost, the Luohai Kingdom would suffer a setback but it wouldn’t be as serious as the one the Wan Kingdom would suffer. As a result, though knowing that Dong Gao was, intentionally or unintentionally, sloughing this matter off onto him, he still had to do it.

Secretly clenching his teeth, Shan Congwen confided his plan.

Clapping his hands, Dong Gao said, “Now I can see why you are in your emperor’s confidence, King Ming’en. You’re indeed a resourceful man. I couldn’t admire you more!”