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At the very end of the Bone of Impurity, there was one Gu Yun.
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When Gu Yun finished, he could instantly feel Chang Geng’s pulse beat a little faster. It was almost impossible to count anymore. The wrist that he was grasping in his palm was burning hot, there seemed to be a volcano hidden under the vein at the verge of exploding even with only a touch, wanting to cut Chang Geng’s veins into little pieces.
Gu Yun did not expect that although he had been flexible in this matter, Chang Geng would actually react this strongly. Worried that something had gone wrong, he reached out a hand to Chang Geng’s chest: “Calm yourself, don’t think excessively!”
Chang Geng pulled his hand down, grasping it in his own, the joints of his bone cracking. Gu Yun narrowed his eyes.
Chang Geng’s face was pale, his eyes like blood, infinite phantoms flashing in front of the eyes. There were thousands of troops beating their drums, demon and ghosts swaying, a part of Bone of Impurity drinks the blood from his heart, becoming stronger, countless thorn-filled branches expanding, stuck on his throat, tearing at his insides…
But at the very end of the Bone of Impurity, there was one Gu Yun.
… separated by thousands of miles.
Gu Yun was utterly frightened, his lips moved slightly, but did not know how to proceed.
At this moment, Chang Geng clasped Gu Yun’s hand and held it to his chest. He seemed to have let out a faint choked sound, then closed his eyes, pressing his trembling lips on the back of Gu Yun’s ice cold hand, cracked from freezing.
Although Gu Yun already had a few uneasy speculations, he did not antic.i.p.ate this scene in advance. Chang Geng’s burning breath flowed inside his sleeve, his scalp seemingly wanting to explode. The words ‘Are you mad?’ were about to leave his mouth.
Chang Geng suddenly pushed him away, then retreated half a step. With his whole body curled up, he bent down and vomited out a mouthful of darkened blood.
Gu Yun: “…”
This chain of events happened as fast as a flash of lightning. Gu Yun had yet to feel angry, but panic already came first. Aside from being shocked, all the words stuck inside his throat were painful, he could only stay dumbfounded in one place.
Chang Geng’s face appeared as bleak as ash. After spitting out the bruised blood, his heart had become clearer, his senses gradually returned. He turned his head away from Gu Yun’s outstretched helping hand, whispering: “I have offended yifu, whether you want to beat me or to scold me,…cough, I absolutely will not resist.”
Gu Yun inhaled a whiff of cold air. There were many concerns inside of him, forming into long lectures that could be comparable to quoting Shen Ji Ping’s words, yet he did not dare to say even one of them. The suffocation was unbearable, he thought to himself: “I haven’t tried to question him of his wrongdoing, yet he had already vomited blood first. d.a.m.n it, would I still dare to open my mouth?”
He bent over, holding Chang Geng up and placed him on a board inside the s.p.a.cious carriage. Gathering a heart full of thoughts, he scolded in a low voice. “Shut up, first adjust your internal injuries.”
Chang Geng obediently closed his eyes.
Gu Yun stayed by him and kept watch for a while. When rummaging through the carriage, he wasn’t able to find even a drop of wine. Having no choice, he took the medicine on the stove to drink, the scent of fresh ginger emitting from it causing his head to ache.
He used to think that Chang Geng might be a little confused. It may have been influenced by the actions he did after drinking, giving birth to a few inappropriate ideas. He soon a.s.sumed this child was very smart and keen, he would come to understand with only a few pointers. Who would have expected, he had only slightly touched, yet before he could even “point”, Chang Geng had already exploded first!
How could this be?
Gu Yun looked gloomily at Chang Geng who had closed his eyes and was adjusting his breathing, his head in a complete loss, sitting sadly on the side.
There was an ancient saying – “to cultivate one’s moral character and to manage one’s household will bring peace to the land under heaven”. Gu Yun did not know whether it was because he did not cultivate himself properly or what, but both family and country were all in a mess, exhausting him to death.
It only took a few steps from the palace to arrive at the manor, even if the carriage was being pulled by a tortoise, they would still arrive in an instant.
When Gu Yun stepped out, a wooden bird flew towards him and directly landed on his shoulder, tilting its head and stared at him.
Suddenly, Gu Yun felt an extended hand behind him, he did not know when had Chang Geng quietly got out of the carriage, taking the bird away.
His face appeared just as terrible as before, but its usual calmness had been restored.
Chang Geng held the wooden bird, not rushing to open to see whose letter it was from. While the old butler took the carriage away, he walked over to Gu Yun’s side, whispering: “If yifu feels uncomfortable, I can move out, I will not hang around in front of you to be an eyesore, and I will never act out of line again in the future.”
The bloodish hue in his eyes had all vanished, his lids drooping, his expression appeared cold, revealing a kind of thoughtfulness when one’s heart had turned into cold ash.
Gu Yun stood dumbly for a moment, found that there was truly nothing he could say or do, then turned and left without a word.
Only from early this morning did Ge Chen and Cao Chun Hua knew something had gone wrong the night before. They had soon waited at the door for a long time, right now as they rushed to meet them, yet Gu Yun was completely silent, moving past them with a grave expression.
Chang Geng watched his back, a slight trace of blood still remained on the corner of his lips, appearing even more exhausted than Gu Yun who have been kneeling all night.
Ge Chen: “Big brother, what happened?”
Chang Geng shook his head. Only after Gu Yun’s figure had completely disappeared that he retracted his gaze and reached out to lift the wooden bird’s lower abdomen, taking out a piece of paper from the middle.
The note read: “At the beginning of the new Emperor’s accession, when Marshal Gu escorted the Northern Barbarian Prince, he had fallen seriously ill. The second brother of our family had traveled from Taiyuan for his treatment and did not return until a month later.”
Signed with one word ‘Chen’.
There was no telling how long the wooden bird had been flying for, its two wings showed signs of being worn down.
Chen Qing Xu’s words did not have a proper start or finish, a different person perhaps would not be able to understand. As a cautious measure, Chang Geng tapped the back of the wooden bird, its peak opened up, shooting out a small flame. In the blink of an eye, the paper was burned completely.
Cao Chun Hua carefully asked: “Big brother, recently I saw many wooden birds frequently flying in and out of the manor. Are you checking something?”
“Investigating an old case.” Chang Geng said, “I have always thought that although yifu’s character was the same as before he arrived in the northwest, yet his views on many things seemed to have changed a lot. I originally a.s.sumed it was the result of subtle influence while at the Silk Road, but it seems like that was not the case at all.”
Ge Chen and Cao Chun Hua looked at each other.
Chang Geng briefly recovered from the feeling of loss just now, muttering to himself: “What had happened on the road to the Northern Frontier?”
What could have happened to cause someone who would treat a fallen sky as a blanket such as Gu Yun to fall ill and become bedridden while marching out, even frightening the entire Chen family at Taiyuan?
Chang Geng suddenly said: “Xiao Cao, A Chen, can you both help running a trip for me?”
After Cao Chun Hua secretly departed, Chang Geng began to live the days of a mysterious dragon – appearing at one moment, vanishing in the next.
On this side, Gu Yun had been made restless by concern. He had intended to choose one day to talk it through with Chang Geng, but he discovered that he simply could not find the other! Chang Geng was avoiding him.
With nothing to do from day until night, his mind was running full of thoughts. He even abandoned his medicine, having blinded eyes and deaf ears could be quite peaceful.
But at the same time, the court was submerged in raging waves and wind.
First, Emperor Long An wished to bring back the ‘Rong Jin Law’. This was just announced, the Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of Works had both joined together to immediately bring forth their opposition, even the Ministry of War whom the Emperor had thoroughly reformed into being his own cotton coat showed disagreement.
Li Feng had sealed his mouth shut, stubbornly insisting on carrying things out his way. Not long after, he made his response.
On March 2nd, the head of the Ministry of Revenue was first accused by the imperial censor of ‘receiving bribes from other countries for personal gain’. Later, during the thorough investigation, a series of bribery between various officials were quickly turned over, quickly escalating into the biggest corruption and fraud case under the Long An regency.
The head of the Ministry of Works was quite similar to the Imperial Uncle – although he had the heart that went out for the country and the people, yet he had no courage, immediately fleeing at the sight of smoke. After seeing the Emperor’s att.i.tude, he had instantly understood the situation, shut his mouth and hide away. Afterward, he no longer dared to mention the sensitive matter of the Rong Jin law.
On March 10th, Gu Yun had been under house arrest for a half-month in the manor, a Black Eagle quietly arrived outside the capital from the Northern Camp, replacing his armor with commoner attires and blended in during the night, mysteriously sneaking inside the manor.
Gu Yun finally had the opportunity to see Chang Geng who had been avoiding him as if avoiding snakes.
Chang Geng took the medicine soup in front of Gu Yun, the atmosphere between them was cold to the point of embarra.s.sment: “There is a Black Eagle coming.”
Gu Yun nodded, then picked up the medicine bowl up to drink. Chang Geng had already prepared the silver needles. When he saw him putting down the bowl, he brought the needles up and signaled with his eyes: Is it alright?
He was so polite, so distant, Gu Yun was even at a further loss for what to do.
Chang Geng no longer let Gu Yun casually lie on his lap. He resembled an unfamiliar doctor, only used gestures, or lightly holding on, he even refused to touch Gu Yun.
Gu Yun closed his eyes, letting the effect of the drug begin to kick in, his hearing gradually recovered, and everything in his surrounding immediately became noisy; the sounds of servants outside having a conversation while sweeping the snow, the sounds of the house guards’ weapons and armors colliding, even the rustling of clothing when Chang Geng moved, all were drilling into his ears. Gu Yun had been deaf for more than ten days, momentarily unable to adjust.
Gu Yun resisted his irritability and seized this opportunity to ask: “Chang Geng, can you tell me why?”
Chang Geng certainly knew what it was he referred to, momentarily not speaking up.
Gu Yun: “Is it because… I have had too much that day, I did something to you… um…”
Chang Geng’s hand trembled, and the needle that was about to be pinned down stopped in the air for a moment.
He had been continuously silent, there was no need to discuss how uncomfortable Gu Yun was feeling inside – even if he were to receive more anger from Li Feng, he could still have a clear conscience, looking directly at the heaven and earth and face himself, but with Chang Geng, although Gu Yun was unable to figure out anything, he could always feel this was the fault of both parties.
If he did not have any inappropriate behavior, how can Chang Geng be…
“No.” Chang Geng suddenly replied, his tone incredibly calm: “It was actually that I who had done disrespectful things to yifu first.”
Gu Yun: “…”
“There is no reason,” Chang Geng gently pressed his head, not letting him move, and the tone was unusually ordinary.
“What reason could there be for this kind of thing? If thinking about it, perhaps because I have never been loved by neither my father or mother, except for yifu, no one had ever given me affection. As the years went by, it had given birth to thoughts that I should not be having. You have never noticed it, and I had never intended to mention it to anyone either, on that day I was too furious and accidentally exposed myself.”
Gu Yun could only felt as if a large stone had fallen from the sky, crushing his chest, causing him to unable to breathe – he soon a.s.sume Chang Geng only momentarily stray from his path, who would have thought it was in truth a long time illness!
“There is no need for yifu to take this to heart, just pretend this matter had never existed.” Chang Geng replies with indifferent.
The needles in his hands never faltered. If it was not for him personally admitting to it, Gu Yun would perhaps continue a.s.suming he was old yet improper, overestimated himself and having such insolent thoughts.
But how would he able to pretend it never happened?
Gu Yun felt he was about to go crazy, the feeling of premature aging was arising, for the first time, he discovered that the ‘Northwest Flower’ was no longer youthful – he could no longer understand what young people were thinking!
“The Emperor called me to into the court to listen in these past two days,” Chang Geng abruptly changed the topic, “They are quarreling all day, opening a large case of corruption and fraud, I have also had a general idea of how the Emperor thinks. What does yifu plan to do?”
Gu Yun gave him a blank stare, clearly not in the mood to discuss the political affairs with him.
Chang Geng sighed slightly and reached out and took Gu Yu’s Liuli gla.s.s off and placed it on the side. By this action, he had isolated himself from Gu Yun’s line of sight, his expression firmly conveyed: “I will not tell you anything.”
“I am willing to do anything for you. If you are uncomfortable with me, I can get out of your sight. If you only want a filial and understanding son, I promise I will never cross this line.” Chang Geng said, “Yifu, I have been very embarra.s.sed about this matter — please stop asking what is in my heart, okay?”
A large ‘no’ was written on Gu Yun.
Chang Geng began to unload the silver needle on his body and calmly asked: “Then what do you want me to do?”
Not waiting for him to speak up, he had cut in again: “Anything.”
If Chang Geng truly had disrespectful behaviors, clinging on to bother him, perhaps Gu Yun had already called three hundred house guards to kick him off to the already completed Yanbei w.a.n.g Manor.
Then using a sharp blade to cut through entangling strings – will himself to regard him coldly for a year and a half, everything would be over.
But Chang Geng gave him an ‘even if you were to send me off to the ends of the earth, I would still happily comply’.
Gu Yun’s head hurt immensely, feeling himself resemble a dog biting onto a tortoise’s sh.e.l.l, there was no place for him to sink his teeth into.
After a long while, Gu Yun asked: “Is your injury better?”
Chang Geng nodded, making a ‘hm’ sound in response, saving his words like saving gold.
Gu Yun: “How did it happen?”
Chang Geng said calmly: “After many years of delusions, momentarily succ.u.mbed to madness.”
Gu Yun: “…”
All the more troubling.
Chang Geng carefully packed away the silver needle, turned to the corner of the room, taking a small bit of tranquilizer out to burn: “I’m going to call the Black Eagle brother in, alright?”
“Your Royal Highness,” Gu Yun suddenly called him, his expression incredibly serious. “You are the descendant of prestigious royalty, there is no telling how much more precious your t.i.tle could be in the future. Others all regard you like treasures, like gems, your subject also hopes that whenever and wherever you are, Your Highness will always cherish yourself, do not undervalue yourself nor your status.”
Half of Chang Geng’s face was hidden in the shadow, unwavering even in the face of eight winds flowing, he calmly replies: “Yes, the Marquis, rest a.s.sured.”
Gu Yun: “…”
Chang Geng stood for a while as if waiting for any other instructions he could have, but after a moment, he could only see Gu Yun staying in one place, speechless, only then did he turn away to leave quietly.
Gu Yun leaned back and took a deep breath.
He would rather Chang Geng to strongly argue with him much like in his teenage years, perhaps that would have been easier to deal with, because Gu Yun just now realized – as long as this b.a.s.t.a.r.d no longer desired anything, he seemed to had become invincible.
Gu Yun, who had been thoroughly ‘defeated’, walking back and forth in the room for a few laps, decided that he will never again dream of ‘tender fragrance*’ or ‘red sleeves*’ and the likes, he has had enough.
*refers to the soft and fragrance body of a woman
*refers to a well-dressed woman
At this time, the Black Eagle who had been waiting for a long while knocked on the door and entered.
The Black Eagle probably had hurriedly flown straight here, although he had bathed and brushed his hair, his exhaustion still remained, even his beard hadn’t been shaved.
He knelt down on the floor: “Grand Marshal.”
“Cut the needless courtesy,” Gu Yun regained his energy. “What happened? He Rong Hui sent you here?”
Black Eagle: “Yes!”
Gu Yun: “Let me see the letter”
He unfolded the letter given by the soldier, swiftly read through it. The handwriting of the Eagle faction’s commander He Rong Hui was incredibly hideous, conveying everything in a short and brief manner.
At the end of the month, two small countries at the Western Regions – Ku Cha and Qie Mo have had some dispute regarding the matter of border trade, but the affairs between the countries of the Western Regions were to be resolved within themselves, it was not convenient for officers of Great Liang to intervene, thus they did not pay much attention to this at first.
Lou Lan and these two countries just happened to create a triangle. The King of Lou Lan had sent his brother as an envoy, serving as a connection to help the two sides reconcile, but their group had met their demise at the border of Ku Cha, the entire troop was wiped out.
At first, it was a.s.sumed to be desert bandits. But afterward as the King of Lou Lan made a thorough investigation, they had discovered the emblem belonging to the sword of the imperial guards of the Ku Cha Kingdom among the ruins of the aftermath, thus they had promptly gone to question this country.
Ku Cha kingdom denied everything through and through, claiming that Lou Lan was showing favoritism towards Qie Mo, even humiliating Lou Lan’s envoys. The King of Lou Lan sent their prince as the head, leading three thousand riders to Ku Cha, pressing them to shed light on this matter.
In the beginning, Ku Cha had kept their doors closed and refused to respond, then suddenly opened the gates, with hundreds of ‘Sand Tigers’ inside.
The so-called ‘Sand Tiger’ was a war chariot that ran in the desert, extremely heavy and consumed a great amount of Ziliujin. Their working mechanism was also extremely complicated.
Gu Yun had clashed with them when fighting the rebellion in the Western Region a decade ago. At that time, there were only three large sand tigers on the opponent’s side, yet they had almost managed to trap half of his still inexperienced Black Cavalry, but as far as he knew, those three Sand Tigers were the result of all the Western Region countries pouring their resources together to create.
Gu Yun stood up abruptly, his brows in a deep scowl, his fingers unconsciously spinning the wooden beads in his hands— this was too similar to the case of the Southwest rebellion. He lowered his voice and asked: “Is it truly a sand tiger, not just an empty sh.e.l.l?”
The Black Eagle was quick in his reply: “Marshal, it was indeed the real sand tiger. In a very short amount of time, Lou Lan riders had already been utterly defeated. Their prince almost perished on the battlefield, his soldiers have risked death in order to rescue him.
“On the same day, Lou Lan had sent people to our garrison to ask for help, but the seal on the letter had not even been removed, many soldiers of other nations on the Silk Road have already received this news, all were instantly in a state of fear. Other countries in the Western Region, Tianzhu, and the foreigners all gathered their troops in their respective places. The Northwest Governor Master Meng personally went to the camp, telling us to wait for the ‘Drumming Order’.”
Gu Yun slapped the table: “Ridiculous!”
The soldier thought that he was referring to the Drumming Order, he responded: “The commander of our Black Eagle faction is also saying this. The Black Iron Camp was not supposed to follow the command of the Drumming Order, but Governor Meng had said that Marshal was under house arrest and to reflect on your actions behind closed doors, thus he had ordered us to wait for the imperial decree…”