The Glory After Rebirth

118 - 120

C118: So That Man Is Ling Zhang?

T

he capital city.

“Mr Gu! I finally finished the assignment you gave me. Look! What do you think?”

Tao Yi excitedly ran out of his room, holding a pile of test paper about half a palm in thickness in his hands, so slovenly that he looked like a primitive man who had been living in some cave for years.

“Mr Gu is otherwise engaged. What took you so long? Something big has happened in capital city,” a school friend told him.

“Was it that Marshal Yuwen finally returned?!” asked Tao Yi in excitement.

His school friend looked at him as if he was a weirdo. “Tao Yi…”

“What’s the matter?” Tao Yi had no idea why the man was giving him that look.

“Marshal Yuwen isn’t back.”

“He isn’t? Is it possible that something happened and he was kept? Do you think Country Wan by any chance has gone back on their word and decided to go to war?!”

His school friend shook his head. “That’s not the case. An envoy of Country Wan arrived a couple of days ago. The imperial court is consulting with Country Wan on the details of a peace agreement.”

“Then why didn’t Marshal Yuwen come back?” Tao Yi fell perplexed.

“The very day you went into your room to start writing your article, news spread that Marshal Yuwen didn’t return to capital city but went to look for his betrothed!”

“What? Marshal Yuwen is engaged?! Who’s his betrothed? Which family is that lady from? What does she look like? Is she a match for Marshal Yuwen?” asked Tao Yi emotionally, who nearly threw away the wad of test paper.

His school friend looked at him with a weird smile. “I guessed you would act like this some time ago. I know the reason why you specially came back here ahead of schedule was that you wanted to behold the elegant demeanor of Marshal Yuwen, but you might want to prepare yourself for what I’m going to tell you next.”

“Is it because that lady is awful? But it can’t be. I mean, how would a man like Marshal Yuwen come to be engaged to an awful lady?!”

“It’s not a lady that he’s engaged to.”

“Ah?”

Tao Yi failed to get the point. What does he mean by ‘not a lady’?

“He’s engaged to a man.”

Tao Yi nodded. “Oh… What?! A man?!”

His school friend sighed, “Yeah. It is rumored that their engagement was concluded twenty years ago, that it was the grandfather of Marshal Yuwen who made that decision.”

“Old General Yuwen concluded the engagement? But why did he betroth Marshal Yuwen to a man?” Tao Yi felt that his mind was not big enough to hold so many astounding news.

“Word has it that Marshal’s betrothed wasn’t even born yet at that time.”

“Then the engagement is invalid. How can a man marry another man?”

On hearing this, the school friend looked at Tao Yi with an amused expression, as if silently telling Tao Yi that he was too naïve. “You forgot that the consort of Emperor Gaozu was male. From the times of Emperor Gaozu, the tradition and social mode of our country has been increasingly open and tolerant. There have been a lot of precedents for a gay marriage during the past few hundreds of years. The most recent one is the Governor of Sheng Zhou, Governor Xu, who married a man last year.”