Chapter 22: Family Came Back
Translator: DragonRider
With the dream as disguise and his uncle believing him, Ling Zhang had no qualms and told what happened in his last life clearly.
Defenseless against his Second Uncle, Ling Zhang tried his best to describe specifically to help Ling Family survive.
So he didn’t know how shocked Ling Zhaowen was.
No one’s dream could be so logical and specific that he even remembered every detail clearly, as if he had experienced these things personally!
No wonder his nephew fell into the illusion just now, Ling Zhaowen thought. Put in his nephew’s shoes, he would also have fallen into it.
Were the children from that clan really as powerful as the legend described?
Despite the countless thoughts in Ling Zhaowen’s mind , he didn’t show it on his face. At the same time, he didn’t miss any details that Ling Zhang said.
At the end, Ling Zhaowen’s face was as cold as irons.
“… All members of our Ling Family died of long exposure to the hot sun.” Ling Zhang choked with sobs as he spit out the last words. He still remembered everyone’s painful groans at that time. The mere thought of the memory would make him feel painful and hard to breathe as if the coldest water was poured into his heart.
Maybe the coldness wasn’t from the winter, but from the h.e.l.l. So many ghosts, who were wrongly put to death, were gazing at Ling Zhang and asking him to revenge for them.
Ling Zhaowen clenched his fists tight as he pictured the tragic scene in his mind.
“How about you?” Ling Zhaowen didn’t forget his nephew.
How about him? Ling Zhaowen drooped his eyelids and said, “They broke my legs, threw me in to a deep hole in ma.s.s graves and smashed my head with a stone.”
Ling Zhaowen’s breath was paused for a moment. He had a lot of pent-up anger to release.
“Tanyang at that time was like a h.e.l.l for Ling Family. Uncle, Ling Family has been on the brink of danger. I will save Ling Family and destroy the threat completely!” Ling Zhang said coldly.
Ling Zhaowen sneered, “Let’s begin with Jia Family.”
“Jia Zhong, the stupid man, dares to covet my position. I must kill him.”
Ling Zhaowen unleashed his scaring vigor and his eyes showed his intention to kill.
“However, Zhang, you shouldn’t tell other people what you just said to me. Understand?” Ling Zhaowen warned Ling Zhang seriously.
Ling Zhang wasn’t stupid to tell others. He was not sure if people would believe what he said. But he could almost foresee what disaster they would face if he told others.
However, Ling Zhang felt his Uncle seemed to be hiding something behind his serious att.i.tude. He wanted to observe that, but Ling Zhaowen had went to sit down behind the desk.
“What about grandfather?” Ling Zhang asked.
Ling Zhaowen paused for a while and said, “It all depends.”
Ling Zhang nodded. It was good, he thought. Grandfather didn’t need to worry about such things.
“Sit down. Don’t stand there,” Ling Zhaowen said. They had stood for a long time because they had just paid attention to the talking.
Ling Zhang sat down and asked, “Uncle, do you have any plan to deal with Jia Zhong?”
“It’s not hard to deal with Jia Zhong. But Zhang Chong has developed strong and wide connections in Tanyang, just like a huge net. We can’t confront them directly.”
Ling Zhang’s eyes lit up. He said, “I know what you mean. I’ve also thought about how to deal with Zhang Chong before. If he is isolated by his partners, it will be easier to beat him. Now the relations.h.i.+p between Jia Family and Zhang Chong has been broken. We should seize the opportunity to destroy Jia Family to make a breach in Zhang Chong’s net. It will help to tear the whole net apart.”
Ling Zhaowen was gratified to smile, “Yes. Killing Jia Yuanling is the important step to ruin their relations.h.i.+p.”
Although Jia Family’s mine wasn’t large, Zhang Chong could use the output offered by Jia family to do many things. So Zhang Chong would never break up with Jia Family completely. He also had to do something for Jia Family if he wanted Jia Family to support him. Obviously, Jia Family would ask Zhang Chong to save Jia Yuanling. And Zhong Chong must agree.
But if Jia Yuanling died, there would be a huge crack in the relations.h.i.+p between Jia Family and Zhang Chong even if they remained friendly superficially.
“And Lu Family. Uncle, we must comb out the spies in our family,” Ling Zhang said.
Ling Zhaowen nodded, saying with a cold face, “It’s time to find out these pests.”
“I have a plan,” Ling Zhang said.
Ling Zhaowen looked at him, gesturing him to elaborate.
“Can we outwit them with their own trick? Let’s cooperate with Lu Family to kill all the bandits. It will be better if we know who they are working for by interrogating.”
Ling Zhaowen thought about it for a while and said, “This plan needs many people to carry on. Only we and Lu Family can’t find too many hands who can fight with bandits.”
This was really a problem. Ling Zhang thought of Tao Yi who had wanted to make friends with him. He asked, “What about the yamen runners?”
Ling Zhaowen’s eyes lit up before he considered it silently for a moment and asked, “Did your dream show how many bandits were there?”
Ling Zhang knew it roughly. After the entire Lu Family were killed, there was a rumor in Tanyang saying that more than 30 bandits appeared at that night.
“It’s about 30 bandits.”
Ling Zhaowen nodded. But he was shocked again in his heart because Ling Zhang gave a specific number to him.
The dream was way too specific and real.
“It’s not hard to mobilize thirty people from prefecture yamen. But the bandits are so cruel and fierce that yamen runners are no match for them. We need to figure out a way to get them all.” Ling Zhaowen said.
Ling Zhang also knew it. If yamen runners were competent enough, the banditry problem wouldn’t be so serious around Tanyang.
“Leave the matter to me. The top priority for us now is to find the spy in our family,” Ling Zhaowen said.
Ling Zhang’s face turned gloomy immediately at the mere thought that a spy, harboring malice against Ling Family, was lurking somewhere to watch them. He agreed, “Yes, uncle.”
“Second master. First young master!”
A servant ran in from outside and wheezed, “Master comes back! Second madam and second young master also come back!”
Ling Zhang suddenly pressed on his chair’s armrests to stand up. Then he shouted, “Where are they now?”
“They have already entered the city,” The servant standing outside replied.
Ling Zhang instantly went out. He couldn’t wait to see his family, his grandfather, aunt and his younger cousin.
Ling Zhaowen also followed him to go out. But before he left, he glanced at Ling Zhang’s chair in confusion. His glance came to a pause at its armrests before turning to Ling Zhang’s legs.
The first thing came to him was that his nephew’s legs were uncomfortable. Because according to his nephew’s action, it seemed that his legs were weak. But then Ling Zhang was walking fast. Though confused, he decided to put his doubt aside.Ling Zhang directly ran to the gate. The carriages hadn’t come over at that time. So he just stood at the gate and craned his neck to look at the road. It seemed that he really wanted to see his grandfather.
Ling Zhaowen was behind him and when seeing that, Ling Zhaowen’s heart began to ache again for his nephew.
He got the feeling that his nephew had been separated from them for a long time, especially when they hugged each other in the study.
Ling Zhang waited patiently for them for a long time. Then he finally saw several familiar coaches turning the corner and coming toward him.
Quickly running down the steps, Ling Zhang stared at the coaches that were approaching slowly.
Right at this point, the heavy curtain of the second coach was suddenly lifted a little and a downy head poked out. It barked excitedly when seeing Ling Zhang.
Ling Zhang exclaimed in surprise, “Ada!”
Hearing his voice, the curtain was lifted wider and another head poked out. This was a boy who was 7 or 8 years old. His face was chubby but he looked pretty and cute. When seeing Ling Zhang, he shouted with bright eyes, “Elder brother!”
“Maomao!” his eyes turned red. He couldn’t wait for the coach to stop in front of the gate and ran to them immediately. His heart raced excitedly. Standing in front of the coach, he stretched out his hands.
The boy was so happy and went out of the coach to throw himself into Ling Zhang’s arms!
Ling Zhang held his cousin steadily and hugged him tightly.
“Be careful!” A woman’s voice, gentle and familiar, came from the coach with the tone of a little blame.
Ling Zhang just embraced the kid in his arms firmly.
This was his lively and alive younger cousin.
“Elder brother, I miss you so much.” The boy put his arms around Ling Zhang’s neck, buried his head in Ling Zhang’s neck and nuzzled. Then he raised his head to look at Ling Zhang, “I bring you many gifts that were all chosen by me. You must like them!”
“Bark, bark.” A yellow and white dog jumped off the coach. Its four limbs looked quite strong. The dog closed to Ling Zhang, walked around him and rubbed against him. The dog also put its two forelegs on Ling Zhang’s waist from time to time, as if it also wanted him to hug it.
Ling Zhang hugged his cousin for a long time before letting him go. He couldn’t help kissing on his cousin’s cheek and said with red-rimmed eyes, “I miss you, too.”
The kid who was kissed giggled happily. Then he lowered his head and said to the big dog that tried hard to climb onto Ling Zhang, “Ada, don’t try to rob my elder brother.”
As if understanding the words, it barked in a low voice unhappily and stopped putting its forelegs on Ling Zhang’s waist. But the dog still walked around Ling Zhang and wagged its tail.
Ling Zhang freed one of his hands to pat the big dog’s head and touched its fur from head to back. The big dog became quiet and stopped to let him stroke its fur.
Meanwhile, the first coach was almost close to the gate. Ling Zhang held his cousin to walk forward. “Maomao, let’s go to greet grandfather and your mother.”
Hearing Ling Zhang’s words, Ling Maomao looked forward and instantly saw Ling Zhaowen who was staring at him. Ling Maomao quickly embraced Ling Zhang’s neck firmly and said to him anxiously, “Elder brother, I didn’t do anything wrong recently, right? But my father looks so fierce.”
Ling Zhang didn’t stop walking and hugged his cousin more tightly while comforting, “It’s all right. Uncle just wants you to embrace him.”
Ling Maomao didn’t believe his words at all. He said in a low voice, “I won’t hug him. He will scold me for being unmanly.”