The Glory After Rebirth

283 - 285

C283: We Could Also Use Them a Little

After consulting with Ya, Ling Zhang went inside to check on Ling Zhaowu, who still hadn’t woken up and would probably stay asleep for some more time.

“Your father won’t wake up so soon. Besides, Ya is in the house. Come here and take a look at this. You two have come a long way to be here with the Prime Elder and haven’t had a moment’s rest so far. The south wing-room is unoccupied, and Ya has just cleaned it. If you don’t mind its narrowness, you may take it as a temporary convenience. You can wash and change clothes there,” said Mr Mu, walking inside.

Ling Zhang nodded. He indeed could use a room to talk with Yuwen Tong about something private.

The south wing-room was not big, with only a bed, a table, a couple of chairs and a wardrobe inside, but neither Ling Zhang nor Yuwen Tong was picky. Besides, they were in someone else’s house. They each had a quick bath and changed. After everything was handled, they sat down to talk.

“Back there in the great hall, why did you take Ji Yanlai’s offer without asking about the details first? The Millennium Pavilion is not just any organization. What he wants is definitely something big. What if his terms are too difficult for us to meet? What are we going to do then?”

Ling Zhang had given it a lot of thought and still felt that Yuwen Tong’s immediate acceptance of Ji Yanlai’s conditions had been too risky a decision.

Yuwen Tong replied, “What Ji Yanlai wants undoubtedly has something to do with the Millennium Pavilion. With the strength of this clan, they could have thrown the whole Great Yue into chaos over the past hundreds of years and one of their leaders could even have taken the throne, but they didn’t do that and have been living in seclusion all along, which shows that it’s not power that they seek. As long as they don’t want to wreak havoc on this country or put the common people’s lives in danger, for the handbook they gave you on mental cultivation method alone, I would’ve agreed to the deal, not to mention that this will save Uncle Ling. I think it’s a pretty good deal.

On top of that, the miracle drug is the very thing we came here for. Since Ji Yanlai is willing to give it to us, we will have to accept his terms eventually, no matter how hard we try to delay it. He had a quite straightforward take on this, which made it inappropriate for us to hesitate. Think about it, if he’d changed his mind because of our hesitation, wouldn’t we be regretting not having taken his offer while it’s available?”

Ling Zhang knew in his heart of hearts that even if Yuwen Tong hadn’t agreed today, sooner or later he himself would have to accept Ji Yanlai’s terms. He just wanted to find out more details about what Ji Yanlai might ask him to do. After all, Ji Yanlai had made it very clear that he’d need Yuwen Tong’s help to fulfill his end of the bargain. If it endangered Yuwen Tong’s life, he would never agree to it. It was true that he wanted very much to save his father, but Yuwen Tong was not someone that could be sacrificed to that end.

“Take it easy. I know what I’m doing.” Yuwen Tong held Ling Zhang’s hand. “You forgot what I talked with Ji Yanlai about on our way in here?”

Ling Zhang looked at him in puzzlement. “What did you talk about?”

He remembered that Yuwen Tong had seemed to be having some small talk with Ji Yanlai at that time.

Yuwen Tong explained with a smile, “Actually Ji Yanlai was confiding something to me at that time. Yes, he’s the leader of the Millennium Pavilion, but the yearning for another life of the younger generation of this clan have been getting increasingly intense. Your uncle was the first one to put it into action, and there might be others following his suit. All these people are yearning to get out of this place and see what the world outside is like. No matter how beautiful or good this secluded place is, it’s a prison for youngsters, and they want to break out of it. Although Ji Yanlai, having the big picture in his mind, is unwilling to let them go, he knows very well that he cannot force them to toe the line forever, because if he tries to do that, sooner or later it’ll backfire on him very hard. In comparison with holding them back, channeling their enthusiasm would be a wiser choice. Ji Yanlai disclosed some of his thoughts to me during that talk. He was considering whether or not he should move the Millennium Pavilion somewhere else and give the younger generation a chance to seek their fortune in the world outside. Maybe at that time, though having made up his mind, he still had some concerns about his plans, and the reason why he asked me about it was that he wanted to hear my opinions. I told him expressly, so he made his choice. As a result, Ji Yanlai’s so-called terms definitely have something to do with transferring the Millennium Pavilion elsewhere—at least with the future of the younger generation of this clan.”