The arrow was like a shooting star as it went straight through the cobweb-like ropes under the twenty red-headed kites and into the back of the tiger's neck.
It was unknown how powerful this arrow was, but with a "pu" sound, it actually pierced through the tiger's head. After a loud noise, it staggered and fell to the ground. It didn't even make a sound, and died cleanly and neatly.
Gu Yun's fingers did not stop moving. She turned around and pulled the bowstring again, directly nocking the second arrow. With her back against the door of the private room, she turned at an angle. Almost without aiming, another arrow left the bowstring and hit the observation post where the golden leaf had been thrown down.
Cries of alarm rose from the observation post. The arrow brushed past the scalp of a foreigner and nailed his hat to the post. The tail feathers were still trembling.
The man was so frightened that he fell from the chair.
Gu Yun put away her longbow and expressionlessly said to the black-armored guard holding the copper roar on the mast, "Take him down for trial."
It was only then that the person who was pinned down by the dead tiger came back to his senses and let out a soft sob. The people around him who had just come back to their senses were still in shock and hurriedly dug him out.
Below the kite landing platform, an inconspicuous thin figure passed through the crowd and took advantage of the chaos to board a boat on the lake not far away.
As soon as he boarded the boat, he took off his headscarf. He was actually a foreigner with black hair and black eyes who looked a bit like someone from the Central Plains. He was quickly let into the private room on the boat to see the person who had been waiting for him.
It was a man between a young man and a middle-aged man. He wore a white shirt and a red robe with complicated patterns draped over his back. A strange-looking scepter stood to the side. His dark brown curly hair was neatly combed over his shoulders and he wore a grand ring on his finger.
It was the messenger sent by the Pope.
The short black-haired foreigner respectfully half-knelt down. "Your Eminence."
The Bishop leaned forward slightly to show that he was paying attention.
"I'm afraid the result is as you expected," the black-haired foreigner said. "Gu Yun and his family are almost symbolic to these Easterners. As long as the 'black crow' flies across the night sky, no matter how big the crisis is, the foolish people will be blindly appeased like sheep who have found a shepherd dog. This kind of unreasonable belief is hard to understand, even if I think some of them can't even say Gu Yun's full name."
The Bishop's expression was gloomy as he pondered for a moment. "The 'seed' didn't cause any casualties."
"Almost none," the black-haired man lowered his head. "The Marquis of Stability happened to be on the red-headed kite. He seemed to have placed guards in the crowd. I don't know if our people leaked our whereabouts, or if he has an extraordinary sensitivity to critical situations. As soon as we planted the seeds, the black crows immediately reacted. Gu Yun shot the 'seed' to death from the red-headed kite and caught the 'sower'."
The Bishop leaned on the carved chair, his finger hovering over his lips as he rubbed his beard. "This is not his personal prestige, but the accumulation of three generations. The people of the Central Plains blindly believe in these black crows, almost forming a kind of belief in the Gu family."
The black-haired man said, "The Church has long discussed why eastern societies are full of loopholes but the people can maintain peace. I think this belief is one of the reasons."
The Bishop stood up and paced a few steps on the boat with his hands behind his back.
"This is our chance," he murmured in a low voice. "It's not a bad thing. I'm going to write a letter to the Pope. We can immediately start the Loulan Plan."
At this time, the order below the kite building had been preliminarily stabilized. The Imperial Guards quickly came to rescue the situation. Gu Yun glanced at them and saw that there was nothing for him to do. He was about to signal to Shen Yi to leave. His vision was very blurry, his hearing was deteriorating, and the hubbub of voices around him had quieted down.
Gu Yun said to the Black Eagle guard, "I have something to do, so I'll leave first. You follow His Highness. If they want to go home, wait for it to be peaceful outside before sending them back. If they want to play on the red-headed kite for a while, it's fine. I don't know if there will be more performances later."
Changgeng hurriedly asked, "Godfather, what about you?"
Gu Yun couldn't hear what he said at this time. He just patted him on the shoulder and hurriedly left.
There was a heavy rumbling sound under their feet. The red-headed kite they were sitting on temporarily landed on the kite platform. Gu Yun and Shen Yi strode away side by side. The night was cold and frosty. Changgeng picked up the cloak that Gu Yun put aside. Just as he was about to chase after them, he was stopped by the Black Eagle beside him.
The Black Eagle said, "Your Highness, please wait. The Marshal doesn't wear winter clothes in the capital. It's chaotic outside. Please don't leave this subordinate's side."
Changgeng's suspicions rose sharply. Why didn't he wear it? With Gu Yun's body, it was obviously not because he wasn't afraid of the cold.
Also, Shen Yi's anxious shout of "your eyes" made Changgeng feel as if a fishbone was stuck in his throat. He couldn't help but think of Shen Shiliu who "pretended to be deaf and blind" in Yanhui Town. Of course, Shen Shiliu's inability to see and hear was mostly because he wanted to act shamelessly. However, Changgeng was sure that he really couldn't see clearly when he was in Yanhui Town. Was it just to confuse the Xiu Niang and those barbarians who wanted to infiltrate the northern border?
When people think too much, they would easily become anxious. Changgeng suddenly felt uneasy. Even when the Black Eagle dutifully sent them back to the Marquis's residence, it didn't ease.
When Changgeng returned to his room, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep. After dismissing Cao Niangzi and Ge Pangxiao, he quietly wrapped his outer coat tightly and ran to Gu Yun's room to wait.
Gu Yun's room was very clean, with a kind of neat and tidy unique to military personnel. There weren't any superfluous decorations. There were a few books on the table and an old gas lamp. There was a piece of calligraphy hanging on the wall with the words "the world cannot be avoided" written on it. It was obvious that it was Gu Yun's own handwriting.
Other than a brand new fox fur coat hanging at the head of the bed, Marquis An's bedroom was so poor that it was almost shabby.
Changgeng waited for a while and unknowingly fell asleep on the small table. He hugged his chest and soon had a chaotic dream.
In a trance, Gu Yun seemed to be standing in front of him with his back facing him. In his dream, Changgeng didn't have any restraints and was much more unbridled than in reality. He intimately hugged him from behind, "Godfather."
Gu Yun slowly turned his head. His eyes were empty and two lines of blood flowed down his cheeks like tears, "Are you calling me?"
Changgeng suddenly woke up with a loud cry. He was hit by the cold wind that blew in from the door and stared blankly at the person who walked in from outside.
Gu Yun didn't expect him to be in his room. He hurriedly closed the leaky door and asked, "Why are you here?"
His voice was somewhat hoarse and his expression was very unsightly.
The moment Changgeng saw Gu Yun, he finally spat out the cold air that was hanging in his chest. For a moment, he couldn't distinguish between reality and illusion. He almost had a kind of ecstasy of regaining something that he had lost.
Gu Yun held the door frame and stood for a moment. He endured a wave of dizziness and weakly waved to Changgeng, "Come and help me up. I still have to bring you to the palace tomorrow to pay a New Year's visit to the Emperor. Be careful and you won't be able to get up."
Changgeng took his elbow and helped him to the bedside, "Godfather, what happened to you?"
"On the way back, they dragged me to Beidaying. I drank too much." Gu Yun didn't even take off his shoes and fell on the bed. He had just drunk the medicine and his head was buzzing. He weakly said, "Go back and rest early."
Changgeng frowned. Gu Yun's body indeed reeked of alcohol, but it wasn't heavy. Furthermore, he spoke clearly and didn't look like he drank too much.
However, before he could ask again, Gu Yun had already stopped making a sound. It seemed that he had fallen asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
Changgeng had no choice but to remove his shoes and socks by himself. He pulled the quilt over and wrapped it around him. He felt that the chill on Gu Yun's body couldn't warm him up, so he heated up the steam brazier in the room. He leaned against the bedpost and quietly watched Gu Yun's sleeping face.
"I'm not imagining things." He silently repeated these words three times. Then, like a trembling little animal, he slightly moved closer to Gu Yun. It was as if he wanted to smell his body, but he couldn't help but hold his breath.
The next day, Changgeng felt that he had just closed his eyes. He didn't even have time to have a complete nightmare before he was picked up by Gu Yun. After being tormented, he followed Marshal Gu into the palace in low spirits to pay his elder brother in name, the Emperor Long An.
On the way, Gu Yun said, "You don't have to care too much about what the Emperor does to you. Back then, when the Empress Dowager was alive, she had some disagreements with the Imperial Consort. However, that's a matter of the previous generation. It has nothing to do with you … Tsk, unlucky."
Changgeng responded absent-mindedly. When he heard Gu Yun curse in a low voice, he looked up and saw that Gu Yun was directing his Qi in front of a carriage.
It was the Huguo Temple's carriage.
Daliang's imperial family was a firm believer in Buddhism. Even Gu Yun's decisive grandfather was no exception. This was especially true for the crown prince of the current Emperor. Whenever he had free time, he would want to have a chat with the great monks about Zen.
However, the thing that annoyed Gu Yun the most in his life wasn't the barbarians, but these baldies.
Especially the bald donkey abbot of Huguo Temple. He didn't know what oral hygiene was and had a perverse crow's mouth. Since he was young, he asserted that Gu Yun would bring bad luck to his six relatives when he grew up.
Even now, the Marquis of Stability vented his anger on the monks of Huguo Temple for being a bachelor.
When Emperor Long An Li Feng's personal eunuch saw him, he hurriedly trotted over.
He was tall and burly, almost as tall as Marshal Gu, but three times as wide. He was born with a pair of small feet that were four inches long. When he took small steps, he looked like an iron tree with large leaves swaying in the wind. He was very graceful and charming.
This person's surname was Zhu. Others called him Eunuch Zhu in front of him, but behind his back, they called him Zhu Xiaojiao.
Zhu Xiaojiao had a bad reputation. He had two greasy-haired and powder-faced 'adopted sons' outside the palace. It was unknown what they were used for.
Because Daliang opened its sea trade early, the people's customs weren't as conservative as the previous dynasty. There was no end to the scandalous affairs between the high officials and nobles, so it wasn't a big deal. However, it would be even better if this eunuch didn't connive with his adopted son to use his name to collect money.
Zhu Xiaojiao smiled and moved closer to Gu Yun, "Marquis and His Highness the Fourth Prince are here? Abbot Le Chi of Huguo Temple is talking to the Emperor. He said that if the two of you arrive, you can go in directly. Abbot Le Chi hasn't seen you in a long time — — Oh, what a coincidence, the masters are coming out! "
While they were talking, two monks came out one after another.
Gu Yun knew the one in front. He had a wrinkled walnut-like face and looked distressed, as if he had never eaten a full meal in his life. He was the abbot of Huguo Temple, Monk Le Chi.
Gu Yun's gaze couldn't help but fall on the person behind him. He was also a monk who looked to be in his twenties or thirties. He wore a snow-white kasaya and had picturesque features. His clean monk's shoes stepped on the small path of the Imperial City, as if he was an immortal who walked in the snow.
Even though Gu Yun hated baldies, at that moment, she couldn't help but think of the eminent monk from the previous dynasty who went to India.
The young monk seemed to have sensed something and raised his head to meet Gu Yun's gaze. His gaze was clear and there seemed to be a quiet and vast sea of stars in his eyes. It made people sink into it with just a glance.
The young monk put his palms together and bowed to Gu Yun from afar.
Gu Yun looked away as if she had just woken up from a dream. She thought, "Why am I staring at a baldie for no reason?"
He didn't pay attention to the other person and rudely looked away. He asked Zhu Xiaojiao, "Who is the pretty boy led by the old bald donkey?"
Zhu Xiaojiao had watched him grow up and knew his temper. She hurriedly said, "That is the abbot's junior brother, Master Liao Ran. He just returned from overseas."
Gu Yun thought, "What kind of bullshit Dharma name is. It sounds unlucky."
Who knew that even though he didn't like others, they would still come to him.
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