Chapter 147: Arrival of Troops
Translator: DavidT Editor: celllll
But a single casual phrase which Yang KongQun said before he left completely destroyed all of his good mood!
The moment Yang KongQun met the Emperor, he felt that Long Xiang was in a good mood today. Before leaving the palace, he saw the little eunuch in charge of serving the Emperor and make a casual remark, "The Emperor seems to be in a good mood today."
That little eunuch laughed and replied respectfully, "Replying to Sir Yang, the Emperor is in an extremely good mood today. Yesterday, there was news that Consort Ling Ran is pregnant and the Emperor is preparing to give amnesty to the empire as celebration for Consort Ling Ran."
With this reply, Yang KongQun’s quick pace stopped as his face turned ugly.
The Yang and Ling family were both part of the Eight Great Families and had their roots in the Sky Bearing Empire. The daughter of the Ling family was the Emperor’s consort while the daughter of the Yang family was the current Empress. Ever since Ling Ran entered the palace, her stomach had not been living up to expectations and she had only given birth to a single princess. As for the Empress, she had already given birth to two princes with one of them being the crown prince.
As such, the Yang family had adopted a more patronizing attitude in their conflict with the Ling family. Their meaning was — the empire would belong to my grandson in future, why is there a need for me to fight with you? Together with having Ling Kong as a trump card, Yang KongQun was unconcerned about the increase in the Ling family’s strength over the past few years. In fact, he even had the mentality of letting them do as they pleased. After all, Yang KongQun felt that everything would belong to him eventually anyway.
Furthermore, the stronger the Ling family becomes, the warier the imperial family would be to the Ling family. At the same time, the imperial family would rely more and more on the Yang family. With their relationship to the crown prince, the imperial family would inevitably have closer ties to the Yang family. As time goes by, the Yang family would also grow more prosperous and would definitely not fall.
A long term wish of Yang KongQun was that if the emperor was sick, he would definitely not be assured to let the crown prince ascend the throne with the Ling family present. At that time, the emperor would definitely eliminate the Ling family to ensure the stability of the empire. To eliminate the Ling family, the emperor would definitely need his Yang family!
As such, the final victor between the fight of the two families would definitely be his Yang family! This was the plan which Yang KongQun had in his heart. Before this, things had indeed been developing according to his wishes. But in just a single day, all of his plans were ruined!
First was him losing contact with the northwest horse ranch, being unable to contact Ling Kong. In order to conceal this matter well, there was only a one-sided communication between Ling Kong and himself. In the family, there were only three to four people who knew about this matter including himself. How would it be easy for him to find another person who was loyal, wise and scheming enough to restore his communication with Ling Kong? As such, Yang KongQun was extremely frustrated about that matter.
Today, Yang KongQun had felt that his brilliant plan would be able to draw the Ling family into this mess completely, weakening the Ling family to cover up for their losses at the northwest horse ranch. However, he didn’t expect to hear the news about Consort Ling Ran being pregnant! This piece of news had destroyed Yang KongQun’s good mood completely!
Long Xiang had always doted on Ling Ran more than Yang Xue. In these few years, Yang Xue had been extremely domineering in the way she handled things in the palace because of her status as the mother of the crown prince, making Long Xiang extremely displeased. Without any other competition, the two princes had always fought amongst themselves for the position of the crown prince. The crown prince wanted to protect his own position and the second prince wanted to seize that title. After fighting countless of times, the both of them had troubled the Emperor with their quarrels more than once already. As the Emperor of the empire, Long Xiang was also extremely frustrated by all the troubles his two sons caused. As such, Long Xiang was also completely disappointed in both of his sons.
Now that Ling Ran was pregnant again, this piece of news was definitely enough to stir that sensitive heartstring of the emperor! If Ling Ran gives births to a prince, there would probably a big change in the harem of the imperial family, with how Long Xiang was so disappointed in Yang Xue and her two sons.
Originally, Yang KongQun would be able to stop this with his Yang family. But after this commotion in the capital, he revealed the hidden strength of his Yang family and made Long Xiang even more suspicious of him. If he were to embroil himself in the conflicts of the imperial family, it would probably make Long Xiang more resolute for change!
Any sort of change is something that Yang Xue and Yang KongQun would definitely not be able to accept!
Bad news came one after another and Yang KongQun rushed back to his residence with an ashen face. It seems like I will have to make plans! The moment things are irreversible, it would be too late for regrets!
In order to catch the green dressed fortune teller at the Ling family, Yang KongQun had made the resolution to handle the matter personally. Ling Zhan’s temper was fiery, Ling Xiao’s temper was stubborn and Ling Tian was domineering and arrogant. If Yang KongQun were to send anyone else over, the three of them would definitely not hand the green dressed fortune teller over. He would only be alerting the Ling family and nothing must go wrong in their plans to deal with the Ling family!
No matter how things turn out in future, I have no choice but to take one step at a time.
Ling Tian walked out of his room, enjoying the morning breeze. He took a large breath and felt as though his whole body was extremely relaxed.
Underneath the rack of grapes, there was a white dressed graceful figure standing there, she was Yu BingYan.
"Tian’ge, you’re up already." Yu BingYan walked over, looking as though she had something to say. By the side, Ling Chen was already walking over with a basin of water for Ling Tian to wash his face.
Ling Tian’s mood was extremely good today. Feeling the little paper bag in his bosom, it was as though he could feel the softness of the strand of hair and he could not help but feel a tender affection in his heart.
Seeing how Yu BingYan was looking so awkward, he wanted to defuse the situation for her. Thus, he joked, "Haha, Yan’er, this question is a strange one. This brother here walked out from my room with my clothes on neatly. Since I am not naked, of course I am up already. Haha…"
"You… irritating!" Yu BingYan’s face turned red from what Ling Tian said as she stomped her feet and shouted, "The matters yesterday, this little sister apologizes."
In embarrassment, her apology was extremely aggressive, as though she was here to condemn Ling Tian. The moment the words left her mouth, she realized her mistake. Who would make an apology like that? This was even more forceful than being forceful, obviously looking as though she was trying to condemn someone. Her face then could not help but turn red.
Ling Tian was startled as he asked carefully, "Err, Yan’er, is this an apology? Why are you trying to condemn someone early in the morning? Why does it seem as though you want to eat someone alive?"
A loud laughter then sounded, "This is definitely not an apology! This is obviously condemnation. Oh, no, one would not be so fierce even if they want to condemn others. She obviously wants to eat someone up alive!" as Ling Tian and Yu BingYan turned to look, a green dressed man with white hair appeared. He was none other than Ye QingChen.
Yu BingYan was both angry and anxious as she retorted, "Two big grown man bullying a weak little girl. To think that the both of you are still so happy about it!"
Ye QingChen gave a hearty laughter and began to twiddle with his beard, "Lass, you are wrong about that. The way this old man sees it, this poor brother of mine would definitely be eaten by you if I don’t come out. The way you were just now, it was really scary."
Ling Tian nodded his head in agreement, "That’s right, that’s right. It is all thanks to old brother for appearing in the nick of time to save the life of this little brother. This life saving grace, restoration grace, benevolence…, this little brother will always remember it in my heart!"
Yu BingYan was exasperated as she glared at the both of them without replying. Ye QingChen and Ling Tian burst out into laughter as they glanced at each other.
All of a sudden, a large commotion sounded by the door, as though there was a large troop of soldiers. If not, the commotion would definitely not have travelled into his own courtyard. Following which, a family servant ran into Ling Tian’s courtyard gasping for air, "Young noble, things are bad! The Yang family head led his troops to our doorstep and said that he is here by the order of the Emperor to ask young noble to hand over the culprit who murdered NanGong Le!"
Ling Tian’s eyes narrowed as he thought to himself, "This old fellow’s news outlet is so efficient? But how does he know that the culprit is definitely from my Ling family! He really has some capabilities!" Ling Tian then shouted, "Culprit? What culprit? What else did he say?"
The eyes of that family servant darted around as he mumbled, "He said… the culprit is a con artist dressed as a fortune teller. He wants the young noble to hand over the culprit quickly. If not, he will lead his troops into our Ling family to apprehend him."
As the family servant said that, Ling Tian and Ye QingChen were both stunned for a moment. They then looked at each other and burst out into laughter — so that was the case! As Ling Tian laughed, he thought to himself, "I still thought that Yang KongQun was extremely smart, being able to guess that the culprit was from my Ling family. Now, it seems that he just isn’t willing to let his Yang family be the only party losing out and wants to drag my Ling family in as well. With Ye QingChen’s loud roar yesterday, it obviously revealed his profound inner strength. Under normal circumstances, Yang KongQun would definitely not dare to offend such an expert. But with the precarious situation currently, it made Ye QingChen become the largest suspect! This also gave Yang KongQun a so-called excuse!"
"Hahaha… old brother, you are really strong. I didn’t know that you have such an ability to bring that NanGong Le back from hell and kill him again! Haha… I am going to die from laughter!" Ling Tian held onto his stomach as he laughed, almost unable to stand up straight. Looking at the anger hidden in Ye QingChen’s eyes, Ling Tian could not help but want tell Yang KongQun, "Be careful old Yang, do you think this Mister fortune teller is someone who everyone can provoke?!"
While Ling Tian was still unable to determine Ye QingChen’s identity, Ling Tian was certain that Ye QingChen was definitely someone from a large power, from how he was extremely familiar with the matters of the past. Furthermore, Ye QingChen was obviously someone who was not from the Eight Great Families and definitely did not place any of the Eight Great Families in his sight at all. Who was Ye QingChen? What kind of a status did Ye QingChen have? What kind of a power is behind him? While the answer was still hazy, it was definitely one which was hard to fathom!
Whenever Ye QingChen talked about ‘Beyond Heaven’, there would definitely be a strange look in his eyes. It was as though he was reminiscing and filled with admiration. Ling Tian already had his own suspicions in his heart. Adding together how Ye QingChen had profound martial arts, deep knowledge, ambition but yet not entering into the secular world, roaming the world with a simple dressing, unafraid of authority and powers, Ling Tian was certain that Ye QingChen was definitely from ‘Beyond Heaven’!
Without a doubt, Yang KongQun had really provoked a beehive this time! Furthermore, it was the most venomous kind of beehive!