In a person's life, there would always be a moment when one's heart would be unable to let go of anything other than some absurd idea that came out of nowhere. The powerful desire seemed to be able to swallow up one's entire soul. No matter how much reason scratched at the door outside of one's head, one could ignore it.
For example, many years ago, Gu Yun was in the wastelands of Western Bei Man. Her brain was a lump of paste, and she had no distracting thoughts in her mind as she thought about leaving her post and wandering the world.
For example, many years later, Chang Geng walked out of the forbidden palace where the breeze brought snow. His mind was free of distracting thoughts as he wanted to see Gu Yun, who was thousands of li away.
Chang Geng ran back to the marquis's fu in a daze. The two iron puppets at the door turned around and silently watched him. When his gaze met with the puppet that was suffused with purple light, his footsteps suddenly stopped.
As if he had just woken up from a dream, Chang Geng and the two iron monsters looked at each other in dismay for a long time. Finally, he slowly recovered from the state of being almost possessed by the devil. He sighed softly and reached out to touch the iron puppet's ice-cold arm. He slowly lowered his head, bent his waist, and spat out a mouthful of dense and oppressive white steam.
In the past, he and Gu Yun were separated and reunited. Even when they hadn't seen each other for four years, it didn't seem to be as unbearable as this time. Chang Geng didn't know whether it was because he was becoming more and more delicate, or because he was becoming more and more insatiable towards Gu Yun. It was as if there was a string in his heart that had been pulled taut ever since Gu Yun had suddenly and inexplicably written a letter saying that she missed him.
Every time a soul-stirring battle report from the south reached the capital, that string would be pulled a little tighter. And every time the situation in the imperial court became more dangerous and more complicated, that string in his heart would be pulled a little tighter. Until just now, it suddenly snapped without warning.
At this moment, the main door opened from the inside. The person who came out was the marquis's fu's family commander, Huo Dan.
Huo Dan saw Chang Geng's ghostly appearance and was shocked. "Uncle Wang sent me to find you. Your Highness, what happened to you?"
Chang Geng's eyes were slightly red, but he used the fastest time to adjust to a smile. He stood up straight and patted off the snow on his body. "It's nothing. I walked too quickly and felt a little dizzy. Uncle Wang, to find me?"
Huo Dan was a rough person and didn't see anything unusual. He went forward to help him up and said in a low voice by his ear, "There's a guest who can't show his face. He said he has an urgent matter to report. He can't go to the Grand Council to ask for an audience, so he can only come to the marquis fu."
It was a man in his mid-thirties. Chang Geng didn't recognize him, but he must have seen him somewhere before. He looked familiar. He quickly adjusted his chaotic mental state as he tried to recall the identity of the visitor.
Fortunately, that person took the initiative to come forward and explain. "This lowly official is Liu Zhong, Deputy Supervisor of the Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Mission. Greetings to Your Highness."
The so-called "Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Mission" was a group of people from the Ministry of War who were thoroughly in favor of peace. It was unknown how they got involved with the Honglu Temple. Because they were afraid of offending the Emperor Long An, they didn't even dare to call themselves "Peace Negotiators". They could only use the nonsensical title of "Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Mission" under the banner of "one civil and one military". The bullshit excuse of "retreating through other means" from the frontlines was purely to cause trouble for Gu Yun.
Chang Geng frowned. He didn't have a good impression of this person, but he didn't show it due to his poise. He nodded indifferently and said, "Lord Liu is about to leave. Is there something urgent that you came to visit so late at night?"
Liu Zhong suddenly took a step back and knelt down. He pointed a finger at the sky and said, "If this lowly official's words are false, I will be struck by lightning. My parents will not be able to rest in peace even in the underworld."
Chang Geng took half a step to the side. "Lord Liu, what are you doing? Quickly get up. "
Liu Zhong refused. "Does Prince know that my immediate superior, this lowly official's immediate supervisor, was once a student of Grand Scholar Fang?"
Of course Chang Geng knew. Not only did he know, he was disgusted for a long time. If it weren't for the fact that he was busy with other matters, he would have dragged out the bunch of traitors who facilitated the Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Mission one by one and put them to death by a thousand cuts.
"Please allow me to report, Prince." Liu Zhong quickly told Chang Geng what Grand Scholar Fang had secretly instructed the Foreign Affairs Diplomatic Mission. He then said, "Only a few of the supervisor's trusted aides know about this matter. This lowly official is incompetent and is one of them."
Chang Geng's fingers tapped on the small table beside him. "Daren's visit to the Marquis's fu so late at night isn't the work of a trusted aide, right?"
Liu Zhong gave a deep bow. "This lowly official's ancestral home is Hangzhou. My birth parents died early. I grew up with the elders of the clan from childhood. Later, I traveled around to study. I once worked as an aide in a noble family. Due to a chance encounter, I caught the eye of the Fang Family's eldest master and was recommended to become an official. Naturally, I cannot repay his kindness."
Chang Geng's eyebrows rose slightly.
"This lowly official had a childhood sweetheart. The two were innocent. We were originally engaged but had not yet married." Liu Zhong's head was very low and his shoulders were curled up. "This lowly official wanted to return to his hometown to ask for her hand in marriage. Who knew that before this day came, a strong force would suddenly invade …"
Liu Zhong lowered his head and wiped his face. He kowtowed heavily to him. "Although the dead are gone, the living cannot be at peace. Thank you, Prince, for your pity."
Chang Geng sighed softly. "Official Liu, stand up and speak."
The two had been secretly investigating for a long time. When they sent off Liu Zhong, there was already the sound of the night watch on the street. Chang Geng stood at the door for a moment. He pinched the space between his eyebrows and tilted his head to speak to Huo Dan. "Commander, please see if Miss Chen is asleep. If she is still awake, ask her to come over."
These days, Chen Qingxu had been staying in the Marquis' fu. He was preparing to begin treating Chang Geng's Wu 'er Gu. However, this was going to be a very long process. Yan Wang was always busy. He might not have the time to come back for ten days or half a month.
As soon as Chen Qingxu saw Chang Geng, he felt that there was something wrong with his complexion. "Your Highness, the more you think, the harder it is to control yourself. Have you been too tired recently?"
Chang Geng laughed bitterly. He had intensified the conflict in advance. In reality, there were many things that he hadn't had time to prepare. Every step he took was like a soldier walking on a dangerous path. He didn't know when he would step off a cliff and miss.
However, he didn't have time.
He was afraid that his enemies wouldn't give him this time. He was afraid that Gu Yun would only report the good news but not the bad. He was afraid that she would suffer in a place that he couldn't see.
Chang Geng said, "If it's convenient for you, Miss Chen, you might as well start the acupuncture treatment today."
Chen Qingxu was stunned. "The process may be very painful. Your Highness is busy with court affairs during the day. Can you bear it?"
Chang Geng shook his head. "I don't know. However, I have a bad feeling. Recently, I've been suppressing it more and more. Let's just say that there is no construction without destruction."
Two hours later, Chang Geng realized that he had underestimated the "pain" that Chen Qingxu mentioned.
Chen Qingxu placed a bowl of medicinal soup in front of him and prepared the silver needles.
Chang Geng reached out and took it. "What is this?"
"When Your Highness is no longer trapped by Wu 'er Gu, I'll copy the prescription to you," Chen Qingxu said. "However, it's best that you don't ask before you drink it."
Chang Geng was speechless.
He didn't know why, but in his impression, anything related to the voodoo of the barbarians was suffused with a gloomy smell of corpse oil. After hearing this, Chang Geng suddenly had a lot of bad associations. He immediately stopped asking. He tried his best to curl his tongue, pinched his nose, and drank the soup in one gulp.
Chen Qingxu bent over and lit a calming powder. The tranquil cold fragrance spread in the room. She sat cross-legged three steps away from him and said seriously, "Your Highness, after I start the acupuncture treatment, you must always maintain a clear mind. Otherwise, no one will be able to wake you up. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Chang Geng nodded.
Chen Qingxu said, "When this calming powder burns out, I'll start the treatment. Your Highness, please use the time it takes to burn a stick of incense to clear your mind and eliminate all distracting thoughts."
At first, he didn't feel anything. Chen Qingxu's acupuncture was steady and accurate. Her movements were very nimble. Chang Geng just closed his eyes to rest. Suddenly, a chill filled with fear rose from his back — — as if he couldn't avoid seeing someone raise a lethal weapon and could only close his eyes and wait to be hit. The muscles on his back involuntarily contracted. Although he couldn't move, he subconsciously made a dodging movement.
Chen Qingxu's acupuncture immediately stopped. Her expression became serious. "Your Highness."
Chang Geng felt an invisible whip fiercely lashing his back. There was a cacophony of noise in his ears. The curses of the woman who died more than ten years ago exploded in his ears.
Mixed in with the nightmares of those years, Chen Qingxu's voice, mixed with the calming powder, pierced his ears. "Your Highness, this is the House of Marquis. Can you hear me?"
Chang Geng trembled violently and used all his strength to slightly nod his head.
Chen Qingxu inserted the next silver needle. The second calming powder had already burned out. She glanced at the western clock on the table. "This is just the beginning. Does Your Highness need to get used to it?"
Chang Geng gently bit the tip of his tongue. "No, continue."
Chen Qingxu didn't waste any more words. The needles flew as if they were flying. The hallucinations that had just faded away came back again. The various pains inflicted on his body by Xiu Niang when he was young reappeared one by one.
Chen Qingxu's expression tensed. She saw an old scar on Chang Geng's collarbone suddenly become red and swollen for no reason. A thin line of blood seeped out. The web-like blood vessels under the skin split open on both sides. It was very sinister.
"Your Highness, His Royal Highness Yan Wang!" Chen Qingxu called out to him.
Chang Geng didn't respond.
Chen Qingxu didn't dare to move again. Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of iron shoulder armor hanging at the foot of the bed. It looked quite old. The steel armor in the army had long changed its style. Chen Qingxu suddenly remembered that when she talked to Chang Geng about the symptoms of Wu 'er Gu in the early years, he seemed to have inadvertently mentioned that the first time he broke free from the nightmare was when Gu Yun hung a set of his armor at the head of the bed.
Chen Qingxu swept her long sleeves. The iron shoulder armor made a clear sound of collision. The sound of metal and stone swept through the quiet room. Chang Geng's increasingly rapid breathing suddenly stopped.
There were layers of demonic barriers in front of his eyes. First, he was trapped in his own body when he was young. The sharp hairpin, the red-hot poker, the dirty horsewhip, the woman's hand that was as sharp as an iron clamp … At the end of all of this, there was a Gu Yun wearing half of her armor. After so many years, she was silently watching him.
Chang Geng stared at him like he was grasping at straws. He struggled to maintain a thread of clarity in his mind. After an unknown amount of time, the demon-like hallucinations around him gradually faded away. Chang Geng came back to his senses, exhausted. He saw that the calming incense on the table had burned out. Chen Qingxu was putting away the silver needles.
Only then did he realize that he could move again.
Chen Qingxu asked, "How do you feel?"
Chang Geng moved his hands and saw that there were many small abrasions on his arms. He didn't know when, but they had quickly scabbed over and were a little itchy. He tried to clench his fists, "It seems that I have crawled out again."
After Chen Qingxu left, Chang Geng fell asleep. For so many years, his sleep was like a flat lake that could be broken by a stone. Other than fainting due to blood loss, he rarely had such a feeling of drowsiness. It was also the first time that he didn't have nightmares.
He dreamed of a tall watchtower. There was a distant fire in the distance. The camp was heavily guarded, and there was a sense of readiness. A group of soldiers who had just returned from patrolling the camp were tightening the reins of their horses. Suddenly, the leader turned around and looked in his direction. It was actually Gu Yun. She was wearing a glass mirror that was fancier than a mask. The silver edge and the black armor complemented each other. She smiled mischievously at him.
In the dream, Chang Geng laughed and said, "What kind of outfit is this?"
Gu Yun stretched out a hand from the horse's back. Her iron arm that was burning with purple gold lightly pulled him onto the horse's back. She hugged him from behind and laughed in his ear, "It's lonely in the army. You should hook up with a few more beauties."
People didn't know how to hide their subtle thoughts in their dreams. Even though he knew that Gu Yun was joking, Chang Geng still felt a little wronged in his heart, "I can't rest at night in the capital. I'm afraid that I'll take a wrong step. Every day, I only hope to hear a few words from you, but I can't wait."
Gu Yun said helplessly, "Your Highness, you came all the way here just to act coquettishly?"
When Chang Geng heard this, he thought that Gu Yun was right. He really wanted to act like what was written in the folktales, and make trouble for Gu Yun without reason. However, when it came to using the folktales, he regretted that he didn't have enough knowledge. He wasn't skilled enough, so he was a little stuck and didn't know where to start. However, Gu Yun raised her hand and took off the glass mirror on her face. She tilted her head and kissed his face, "If you don't like it, I won't wear it."
Early in the morning, Chang Geng woke up to Gu Yun's terrifying flute music. He got up in a daze and rubbed his eyes. He felt that the demonic music was still lingering in his ears. He rubbed his sore and numb ears in pain, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.
This was really the most beautiful dream in his life.
With Gu Yun's earth-shattering music as accompaniment, even if there were really bad people in front of him, he wouldn't be afraid.
What Chang Geng didn't know was that on the night before the frontline, when Gu Yun returned from patrolling the camp, she suddenly felt that someone was looking at her from behind. She couldn't help but turn her head, and happened to throw the glass mirror off her face. This time, the glass mirror wasn't broken, but a corner of the exquisitely carved lace was knocked off her shoulder. She could only gloomily admit that this thing looked good but was useless, so she changed it back to a normal one.
The next day, when Shen Yi heard about it, she pointed at him and laughed, "Maybe some deity doesn't like your showy look."
"Then this deity is really meddlesome," Gu Yun boasted shamelessly, "Maybe she sees that I'm handsome and is in a hurry to be my wife."
Shen Yi, "…"
Before General Shen could spit out the food he ate last night, a soldier came to report, "General, the messenger you sent to Dongying has replied."
Gu Yun, "Bring it in."
A batch of the Western Army's supplies was sent from the outer sea with the cooperation of the Dongying people. In normal wars, the Dongying people seemed to have always been involved, but they were cunning and refused to show themselves. Even when Le Chi brought dozens of Dongying samurai disguised as monks to kidnap the Emperor Long An, it was because of his personal grudge, and the Dongying people didn't really stand up for him.
Shen Yi, "What do you mean?"
Gu Yun shook his head, "They said that they were courteous to them, but their attitude was ambiguous. When the messenger wanted to talk about business, those who were in charge would avoid meeting him and find a group of white-faced dancers to accompany the guest … The Dongying people have their own little calculations in their hearts. If the foreigners can take root in our country, they can eat a mouthful of rotten meat. But if the Western Army's ships are defeated, they will still have to live next to us in the future. Therefore, they are willing to contribute but are unwilling to completely offend us."
Shen Yi frowned, "Fawning on both sides, what kind of thing is this?"
"It's good." Gu Yun smiled, "I'm relieved that they are so indecisive. Wait and see, it will be of great use."
Shen Yi shook his head, "We can't wait any longer. The battle line in the south is too long, and the Purple Gold is too tight. Even if you deploy it, there will inevitably be times when you can't keep up. Besides, I'm worried that if we continue to fight like this, there will be noise in the imperial court."
Gu Yun's expression dimmed.
Shen Yi reminded again, "I heard that the imperial court thinks that we shouldn't just keep fighting, but should have a carrot and a stick. Recently, a new batch of Foreign Affairs Emissaries has been formed. If these people are really here to give carrots, then it's fine, but I'm afraid that they are here to cause trouble."
Gu Yun pondered for a moment, "When will they arrive?"
"It's almost time to move," Shen Yi replied, "It's only ten days or half a month. Zi Xi, what do you want to do?"
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