Chapter 28: City Gates Rumors
Translator: DavidT Editor: celllll
When Ling Tian got up the sedan and left the city gates, a procession of luxurious carriages covered in a black cloth entered slowly into the city gates. There were golden chrysanthemum flowers weaved upon the carriages’ exterior. As the city gates saw the golden chrysanthemum, they immediately stood at attention, saluting with their spears. They did not even check the carriage at all as it entered the city without reducing its speed. It was as though they were used to seeing the reaction of the guards and did not have any reaction.
As the commander of the guards saw the carriages enter the city, he wiped the sweat which had formed on his forehead as he exclaimed with fright in his voice, "My goodness, what day is it today? Why did this person enter the city?"
By the side, a young soldier with face full of acne asked curiously, "Sir, who is that? Why does he look so arrogant—"
Before he got to finish his sentence, his mouth was covered by the captain, "Little ancestor of mine, will you die if you do not say anything? Are you trying to kill us all?"
All of the older troops then gave a deathly glare at the "genius" who almost caused trouble for them, rushing forward to give him a good beating. A short while later as they saw the carriages leave, the captain said with a trembling voice, "That was so close... It seems that his mood is pretty good today. You bastard! When you go off duty later, go and punish yourself with the whip. In future, don’t ask things that you are not supposed to!" All of the older soldiers began to nod in agreement.
In the front- most carriage, the curtains of the sedan were lifted and a cute head popped out of it. She was a four to five-year-old child with black hair, soft skin and beautiful eyebrows. Her lips were thin with big and shiny eyes. Despite her young age, everyone was able to tell with a single look that she was a beauty. When she grows up, she would definitely be a rare gem.
At that very moment, her red lips were chewing onto some snacks as she asked, "Grandpa, so this is the capital? Wow, it’s so big! There are so many people! Look there, it’s so pretty…" Her voice was extremely attractive. As she said that, she looked around with her black eyes.
In the carriage, an old voice sounded, "Mmm, my good Xue’er, this is the capital. Back then, grandpa stayed here for 20 years…" Speaking to this point, his old voice was already filled with a deep sigh as though he was reminiscing something.
The little girl, Xue’er, was naturally unable to understand her grandfather’s feelings. Her head was still stuck out of the window as she looked around in excitement. At times, she also screamed out, "Wow! Look there, look there, there is a pretty lantern..."
"Grandpa, quickly take a look, there is a monkey on his shoulder... Hehehe... Oi, little monkey…"
"Look there, look there, there are haw balls there, help me buy a stick of that. Yes yes yes, quickly! Oh no, hmph!"
In the carriage, a 50 to 60-year-old man dressed in a pair of purple robes sat on the rocking carriage, looking at his granddaughter scream and shout in excitement excitedly with a doting smile. His eyes then narrowed for a moment as he thought, Imperial capital... I, Xiao FengHan, am back…
Outside the carriage, there were people pulling in sales, sounds of bargaining, the cries of children, various chatters and more. Suddenly, as though the old man heard something, his face changed and he stretched out his right hand from the window and gave a mysterious hand sign.
The whole procession of carriages suddenly stopped. In fact, they did not stop completely; their speed slowed down to a point where it was 10 times slower than before. In the eyes of an ordinary individual, this procession of carriages was as good as stationary...
The little girl was the most excited as she jumped off the carriage and ran towards the hawker selling the haw balls. She then took a stick of them, smiling as she ate it.
The hawker was stunned for a moment; looking at this adorable child, he had forgotten to collect money from him for a moment. After being in a short daze, a large hand stretched out by the side with an ingot of silver falling into his hands. Just when the hawker wanted to give his thanks, the person ignored and walked away. For a moment there, the hawker felt that he was in a dream.
A short distance away from the carriage, there were a few people discussing something, with their saliva flying all around. The thing which drew the attention of the old man in the carriage was the conversation among these men.
In the carriage, the eyes of the old men were shut as the words of the men flowed into his ears without a single word missing.
"...Do you guys know? Something happened at the city gates just now."
"Oh, what happened?"
"Hehe, do you guys know about the Ling mansion? The young master of the Ling family was creating a scene at the city gates just now."
"Ah? You’re referring to young master Ling Tian? I’ve heard about it already. Despite his young age, he is extremely domineering. I even heard that he almost beat his cousin to death on the first lesson with his teacher. Furthermore, he even hit the teacher…"
"Mm mm, I have also heard about that. The rumors are indeed true. Right at the city gates just now, his guards did not offend him and had only called him "young master" once. But he was not willing to accept that address and scolded them on the spot. The words he used were just too unpleasant to the ears, and he even knocked two teeth out from that guard of his. Just what is wrong with his guards calling him young master? Such a young child is really…" As he said that, he shook his head with a look of disdain.
"This isn’t considered much, at least he is still beating up someone from his own family. I heard that in the afternoon on Azure Dragon Street, he beat someone up for no good reason, crippling that person. At that time, the person was tens of feet away from him and did not even provoke him at all. He is just domineering to the extreme…"
"Ah, isn’t anyone from his family going to discipline him?" This person was someone who had just joined the conversation.
"Cheh, what do you know? This young master is the son of general Ling, the only grandson of Duke Ling. Who would dare to discipline him? As for his own family, they can’t wait to dote on him. Discipline? You must be dreaming! With the strength of the Ling family, not to mention beating a few people up, he would be fine even if he killed a few hundred innocent people!"
"Haiz, if this child were to grow up, he will be another plague in the capital!" Someone shook his head with a sigh.
"When he grows up? Brother, he is already a plague in the capital right now!"
"Haiz, I was referring to the large amount of ladies who are going to suffer in his hands when he grows up. I heard that when this young master was going through the "one-year-old catch" ceremony, he caught the fragrance bag of his aunt! I heard that Duke Ling had thrown out all of the fragrance bags from the mansion back then, afraid that he would pick that. In the end, the consort herself had one. But this child refused to pick anything up at the beginning, only catching the fragrance bag the moment his aunt arrived… He will definitely be a lecher when he grows up! Hehehe…"
"Ah? There was this matter as well? Thankfully, I do not have a daughter. If not, she will definitely be destroyed by him. I won’t even have a place to go to if I want to file a report to him…"
"Scram, with that face of yours, it would be good if someone would want your daughter. Just who is young master Ling Tian, would he take fancy to your daughter?"
"..."
"..."
In the carriage, the purple-robed elder’s face became uglier and uglier by the second. As he heard till the end, his face had already turned completely ashen. His chest began to rise and fall with his heavy breathing as his eyes were burning with rage. He then scolded hatefully, "Dammit, you old bastard! This is the grandson-in-law you are giving me?! This old man will not let you off!"