The Glory After Rebirth

466 - 468

C466 The Abode of the Marquess Huaiwen

The name of Yuwen Feng's firstborn son was Yuwen Yi. He was a quite bluff boy with a resonant voice, which made him more like a descendant of a general than his father was. Though only five years old, he was the tallest of all children his age. Ling Zhang had seldom seen him. The first time that Ling Zhang had carefully observed this boy to assess his personality was when Yuwen Feng brought him to the banquet that day, and he'd discovered that the boy liked Ling Maomao pretty much. At that time, the boy had also had a group of peers clustering around him, for he was the Marquess Huaiwen's legal wife's firstborn son, which was a noble identity.

On this day, when Ling Zhang arrived at Yuwen Feng's residence, it was this boy that Yuwen Feng brought with him to the front gates to welcome Ling Zhang. Yuwen Yi was sturdy, almost as strong as a calf.

Yuwen Feng's firstborn son was bluff and stocky, but his second son was much thinner. Also, his second son was very quiet—the complete opposite of his big brother. As regards to Yuwen Feng's two-year-old daughter, Ling Zhang had never seen her. He'd only heard that her mother had been raising her, that she was very like her mother in terms of both looks and personality.

Although Ling Zhang was here to call on Yuwen Feng's wife, he was a man after all, so after arriving at the Abode of the Marquess Huaiwen, he went to see Yuwen Feng after instructing the court physician to feel Yuwen Feng's wife's pulse.

"Thank you for being so kind as to come here to call on my wife, Your Highness. Her condition is much more stable now," said Yuwen Feng. What with the hectic days he'd been having recently, his face, which had become full after a long rest cure, was now sunken again. Apart from the piles of preparatory work for the Spring Festival, the severe understaffing of the Ministry of Rites had also been a contributing factor.

When the Zhou family, the former imperial household, had been brought down, too many officials of the capital city had been incriminated, including a lot of staff members of the Ministry of Rites. To make things worse, the former Minister of Rites had insensibly resigned from office and returned to his hometown. Currently, Yuwen Feng was the only decision-maker in the Ministry of Rites and had to deal with all kinds of matters, which was why he'd been working flat out. Owing to Ling Zhang's visit, he had to take half a day off and stay at home to entertain Ling Zhang. The very thought of the tons of matters in the Ministry of Rites he had to attend to later gave him headaches.

Ling Zhang was aware that Yuwen Feng was a busy man, so he had no intention to linger for long. In fact, he didn't have much in common to talk about with Yuwen Feng, for he didn't know much about Yuwen Feng, and what with the history between them, there were many things that he felt it inappropriate to have an in-depth talk with Yuwen Feng about. After the court physician felt Yuwen Feng's wife's pulse and prescribed her some anti-abortifacient medicine, Ling Zhang offered her some words of comfort and reminded her to take care and then rose to his feet, preparing to take his leave.

Yuwen Yi had been standing beside his father all along. Bluff as he was, he had a sense of propriety and had been quiet all this time. At this moment, seeing Ling Zhang was about to leave, he tentatively looked at Ling Zhang, as though having something to say.

Ling Zhang, who noticed, specially asked him, "Is there something you want to say to me?"

Yuwen Feng, with a whiff of admonition in his eyes, looked at his firstborn son and cautioned him to be on his best behavior, but Yuwen Yi, eyes on Ling Zhang, heedless of his father's warning, asked, "Do you think maybe I could see Maomao, Your Highness?"

Ling Zhang didn't like it when people referred to him as 'the Empress'. All those officials of the capital city who were worldly-wise had drummed it into their family that they were to address Ling Zhang as 'Your Highness' when they met him, that in no circumstances were they to address him as 'niangniang' (a form of address people use to address an Empress or an imperial concubine in feudal China). Yuwen Yi looked up at Ling Zhang, an expectant expression in his eyes.