The Glory After Rebirth

370 - 372

C370: The Enthronement Ceremony and a Bowl of Noodle (2)

Yuwen Tong lifted his brows, coming to understand what Ling Zhang meant. Then his hand which was kneading Ling Zhang’s waist instantly slid elsewhere and gave Ling Zhang a little squeeze. “Yeah. This one’s exclusive to me.”

Ling Zhang had originally just wanted to make a sly little dig at Yuwen Tong. It hadn’t crossed his mind that Yuwen Tong would feel him up. He hurriedly took Yuwen Tong’s hands off him and said, “What are you doing? People might see us.”

“They are all outside,” sniffed Yuwen Tong, putting his arms around Ling Zhang again.

Ling Zhang stayed in his embrace for a while and then said, “Okay, that’s enough. We should get going. It’s inappropriate to keep that many people waiting too long.”

It was only then that Yuwen Tong released Ling Zhang. The two of them walked out together and went to the great hall of the Taiqing Palace.

All the courtiers and members of diplomatic corps had arrived. Both the hall and the square in front of the hall were packed with seated guests. Naturally, when Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang entered the hall, all guests rose to their feet and then sunk to their knees to pay their respects.

Ling Zhang lagged a pace behind Yuwen Tong and stood there. Yuwen Tong furrowed his brows and looked over his shoulder at him.

Ling Zhang gave him a gentle push and breathed, “Keep going. Hurry.”

Yuwen Tong stared at him for a few moments before pivoting around to resume progressing.

Ling Zhang unnoticeably let out a sigh of relief and then followed Yuwen Tong to the seat of honor.

“My courtiers, envoys of neighboring countries, you may all rise.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Yuwen Tong sat down in the seat of honor. Ling Zhang, who didn’t want to be obtrusive, settled himself in a right-hand seat.

Although Ling Zhang wasn’t an official, everybody present knew about his identity, so even if he took the seat beside the seat of honor, nobody would dare say anything about it, but Ling Zhang didn’t want to steal Yuwen Tong’s thunder. This night belonged to Yuwen Tong, who was supposed to be the shiniest star, and nobody would be able to pull focus from him.

Of all those present, apart from the civil officials and military officers of all descriptions and members of diplomatic corps of the three foreign countries, there were also some others who were fairly conspicuous—members of the Ling family.

The Ling family were the only ones present who hadn’t been rewarded. Everybody else speculated that they would be rewarded after the wedding ceremony.

Aside from the Ling family, there were yet another two persons who attracted many people’s attention—Ji Yanlai and his nephew, Ji Xiaocong. Ji Yanlai had unnaturally attractive looks, and Ji Xiaocong was fair-skinned and quite adorable, but nobody knew who they were. The courtiers merely heard that the two of them were presently living with the Ling family, that their surname was Ji, that they and Ling Zhang’s maternal grandfather were from the same clan. Nobody knew anything more about them. Their identity and background were both cloaked in a shroud of mystery.

Some people had tried to fish for information, but the Ling family gave those people a perfunctory reply and dismissed them. Even when someone asked Ji Yanlai directly, the latter just pretended not to have heard them.

Some got angry, but they didn’t dare show any sign of their anger, what with the occasion. Most importantly, both Ling Zhang and the Emperor were very polite to Ji Yanlai, which further deterred those people from saying anything offensive to Ji Yanlai.