The Glory After Rebirth

463 - 465

C463 A Change in the Air About Ling Zhang

Ling Zhang walked into the Abode of the Marquess Fuan shoulder to shoulder with Yuwen Tong and then casually glanced around.

Yuwen Tong had offered to build Yuwen You a new residence, but Yuwen You had declined the offer, saying that he just wanted to expand this residence. He had purchased the adjoining mansion from a courtier, planning to incorporate it to this residence and revamp them next spring. Therefore, the residence looked the same as usual except for some new furnishings.

The two of them, followed by Yuwen You and his family, entered the main living room and settled themselves in the high seats.

After they sat down, Yuwen Tong gave the permission for Yuwen You's whole family to sit down and they all took seats on the right-hand side of the living room. Yuwen You's manner was deferential, and his family members were also quite discreet about their words. Yuwen Qian and his wife were sitting at the end of the front row, respectful expressions on their faces.

Ling Zhang didn't intentionally look at Yuwen Qian or his wife. He'd appeared calm since he'd sat down, and he hadn't tried to strike up a conversation with any of the people present. The purpose of this visit of his was to make a gesture, so when he sensed the furtive appraising glance from Yuwen Qian's wife, he didn't look back at her.

Though Ling Zhang seemed unperturbed, he was spontaneously emanating an air that deterred the others from trifling with him. Everybody present perceived the change of Ling Zhang. This kind of change seemed to be boring into them as Ling Zhang's eyes were.

His eyes were unemotional, but the others felt as if he were seeing right into their hearts.

This kind of change struck Yuwen Qian and the others as quite astounding. After all, not long before, Ling Zhang had given them the impression that he was an affable person who always smiled genially, but now, Ling Zhang made them feel that... anybody could tell at a glance he was the Empress.

He was the Empress of the Great Wen, a noble man not to be taken lightly.

Yuwen Qian's wife withdrew her eyes after stealing a single glance at him, the curiosity in her eyes concealed, not daring look at Ling Zhang again, doing her best to keep her back straight.

Yuwen Qian had also sensed his wife's fear, having quite mixed feelings about how much Ling Zhang had changed. A few days before he'd been an amiable young master, but now he had developed a becoming air for an Empress.

No wonder his cousin liked Ling Zhang so much, had disowned his own uncle on account of Ling Zhang, treated Ling Zhang as an equal, and even planned to...

As this thought crossed him mind, Yuwen Qian couldn't help but glance at his wife's abdomen and with that mixed feelings surged inside him again. Before this day, he'd been reluctant, excited and had some ideas even he himself couldn't quite understand, but on this day, after meeting Ling Zhang, Yuwen Qian suddenly found that those ideas which even he himself couldn't explain had disappeared. It was not that he was intentionally subduing them but that he had perceived the existence of that gulf which he would never be able to bridge.

By this moment, these thoughts had crossed Yuwen Qian's mind thrice, and the others had also thought about similar things several times. Although Ling Zhang had never cast any appraising glances at any of them and seemed to be listening carefully to the exchange of usual pleasantries between Yuwen Tong and Yuwen You, he actually could sense the subtle atmosphere in this living room acutely, and could distinctly perceive the smallest movement of people present and even the minor changes in their breathing.

He was about to achieve a breakthrough and reach the third layer of his method of cultivating internal energy, and his qi was getting increasingly powerful, his five senses growing sharper and sharper. Therefore, he could hear even the faintest sound in this living room. From the moment he'd entered the Abode of the Marquess Fuan, he had appeared calm and relaxed, but in fact he had mobilized all his internal energy, and the air about him had changed, which was why the others, when their eyes fell on him, felt he'd changed noticeably, especially so when he looked back at them.