Gu Yun had actually seen Wu 'er Gu act up before, but at that time, he was still in the dark. Coincidentally, Changgeng's condition was not very serious, so he always mistook it as Qi deviation. He had never seen such a scene before.
Changgeng's entire body curled up into a ball. The muscles all over his body were tight and as hard as iron. Not long after, he began to tremble violently, as if he was enduring great pain. Moreover, his strength was so great that Gu Yun could not hold him down.
Changgeng suddenly shook off his hand. His ten fingers were like eagle claws, fiercely clawing at himself. Of course, Gu Yun could not watch him harm himself. He stretched out his hand to block his arm and shouted in a low voice, "Changgeng!"
His voice seemed to bring a glimmer of clarity to Changgeng, but it only made him pause for a moment.
The gas lamp hanging at the head of the bed that dropped the chain at the crucial moment creaked for a while before it finally lit up again. The light was dim and unstable, illuminating Changgeng's blood-red eyes from time to time.
Gu Yun was shocked. He saw that Changgeng's face and lips were deathly pale, as if all the blood in his body was enveloped in his eyes. Moreover, there was a vague double pupil in his originally normal eyes.
He really looked like an evil god in the legends.
When Gu Yun heard the name "Wu 'er's bone" from Miss Chen, he only felt distressed and didn't really believe in some of the unbelievable parts. Until now, a chill slowly crept up his spine. Chang Geng's eyes, which were emotionless and full of vigor, actually made this veteran general feel a chill all over his body.
Their gazes met. Gu Yun suddenly had the illusion that he had encountered a wild beast in the wilderness. He did not dare to look away for a moment. He slowly spread out his empty hand and tentatively reached out to Changgeng. Changgeng did not dodge. The moment the warm palm touched the side of his face, he slightly lowered his head and indifferently rubbed Gu Yun's hand.
Gu Yun asked in a low voice, trembling with fear, "Do you still know who I am?"
Changgeng lowered his eyelashes, which were thicker than those of ordinary people from the Central Plains, and called out in a low voice, "… Zi Xi."
It was good that he could still recognize people. Gu Yun did not notice the strangeness in his tone and heaved a sigh of relief. However, he was relieved too early. Before he could relax, Changgeng suddenly reached out a hand and grabbed his neck, "You're not allowed to leave!"
Gu Yun, "…"
The throat was a vital part of the human body. Gu Yun instinctively leaned back and blocked the cold hand. Changgeng took the opportunity to grab his wrist and fiercely pushed it down. Gu Yun had no choice but to bend his fingers and hit the tendon between his elbows. In the extremely narrow space, the two exchanged several blows. The lunatic was originally skilled in martial arts. At this moment, he seemed to be possessed by an evil god and had infinite strength. He was rampaging. Gu Yun was afraid of accidentally hurting him. He was sweating profusely and cursed in exasperation, "I just came back. Where are you going?"
Changgeng suddenly paused. Gu Yun's hand that landed on the side of his neck also stopped. He used the back of his hand to gently slap his chin, "Wake up!"
This light slap might not have been strong enough. Not only did it not wake him up, but Changgeng's eyes that looked like they were about to bleed suddenly narrowed. Like an enraged leopard, he turned around and bit Gu Yun's arm.
Gu Yun, "…"
If he had known earlier, he would have slapped him!
Gu Yun hissed softly. The corner of his eyes twitched fiercely. In his life, he had been hacked, bombed, and bitten by someone who wanted to swallow him alive. However, this was the first time he had experienced this. He really wanted to fling his arm and break the lunatic's front teeth.
However, his arm stiffened for a long time. In the end, he could not do it. After a while, Gu Yun slowly relaxed the muscles on his arm. He pinched the back of Changgeng's neck from time to time. He gasped and said softly, "Skin you, pull out your tendons, and eat your flesh. Do you hate me that much?"
These words seemed to have touched Changgeng's nerves. He blinked his eyes slightly, and then two streams of tears flowed down without warning.
Changgeng did not make a sound. He only held Gu Yun's arm in his mouth while crying silently. The tears seemed to have diluted the terrifying bloody light in his eyes. After a long time, Changgeng's teeth actually loosened slightly. Gu Yun tried to pull out his bloody arm. He glanced at it and cursed softly, "Bastard."
However, although he cursed, he still pulled Changgeng into his arms. He reached out to wipe away the tears at the corner of Changgeng's eyes and patted his back from time to time.
Changgeng leaned on his chest for almost an hour before he gradually recovered from the chaos with difficulty. It was as if he had just woken up from a dream. He was at a loss for a long time before those messy memories gradually came back.
Once he remembered what he had just done, Changgeng's hair stood on end. He was originally a lump of mud. With such a sudden stiffening, Gu Yun knew that he had recovered.
"You're awake?" Gu Yun pretended to be calm and lifted his shoulder. He moved his stiff shoulder slightly and stretched out his hand to ask, "How much is this?"
Changgeng's heart was in a mess. He did not dare to look at him. He lowered his head and saw Gu Yun's arm that had already scabbed over. His expression became even uglier. He held it with both hands. His lips trembled, but he could not speak.
"Oh, it was bitten by a dog." Gu Yun glanced at it indifferently. Then, he said sarcastically, "The dog's teeth are quite intact."
Changgeng staggered slightly as he got up. He found a fine silk cloth and clean water and lowered his head to wipe his wound. He looked as if he had just been ravaged. His three spiritual and seven physical souls were not at home. It was indescribably miserable.
However, for a man like Gu Yun who was born with an excessive desire to protect, regardless of feelings, "frailty" would probably move him the most based on what he saw with his eyes. Beauty came second. His gaze immediately softened. He raised his hand and clasped his five fingers together. He gently tidied up Changgeng's messy hair.
"Last autumn, Ji Ping and I went to the Central Plains. On the way, we encountered a group of bandits who used the name of 'uprising' to loot a burning house." Gu Yun used a tone that was gentler than the movement of his hands. He said slowly, "We joined forces with Elder Cai to deal with this group of scourges and captured the bandit leader. The bandit leader called himself 'Fire Dragon'. He was covered in scars and had even been burned by fire. During the interrogation, we found a barbarian woman's knife on his body … It belonged to Hu Ge 'er."
Changgeng's hand trembled violently. The fine silk cloth in his hand fell to the ground. He lowered his head to pick it up with a stupefied expression, but Gu Yun caught his hand.
Gu Yun: "How can you remember at such a young age?"
Changgeng's hand was as cold as a corpse's.
Gu Yun sighed, "Actually, Miss Chen has already told me. About that …"
Changgeng cut him off, "Don't say anymore."
Gu Yun obediently kept his mouth shut and looked at him silently.
Changgeng sat stiffly for a moment. His movements suddenly became nimble. He quickly dealt with the bite and then stood up abruptly. With his back facing Gu Yun, he said, "It has been a few years since Yan Wang's residence was built. No one has been managing it. It's not right. I … I'll return to the Grand Council at dawn. After I'm done with this, I'll move in … "
Gu Yun's face darkened.
Changgeng suddenly stopped talking incoherently. He couldn't help but think of Gu Yun's flattering attitude when he went to the northwest to reward the army at the end of the year. So, he only knew the truth about Wu 'er Gu? Was he just pitying him?
It seemed unreasonable. Changgeng could unscrupulously display his old scars in front of Li Feng, but he didn't even want Gu Yun to see any clues. Who knew that even though he thought he covered it up tightly, the wind still leaked out through the gaps between his fingers. Changgeng clenched his teeth tightly. He could still feel the blood in his mouth from when he went crazy just now.
It was fishy and sweet.
Ever since he received the report that Gu Yun was preparing to return to the capital to report on his work, he had been looking forward to it day and night. Every moment felt like he was dragging on. However, when the person he had been waiting for finally came, Changgeng wished he could immediately escape from Gu Yun's sight.
His mind was in a mess. He subconsciously wanted to escape, so he turned around and walked out.
Gu Yun: "Stop, where are you going?"
Changgeng was muddle-headed and ignored him.
Gu Yun suddenly shouted in a low voice, "Li Min!"
Ever since he was young, Gu Yun had never spoken harshly to him. It was even rarer for him to be angry. However, he had always been a man of his word in the army, and his authority was extremely high. Chang Geng shuddered and instinctively stopped in his tracks when he heard his slightly angry shout, which carried a faint murderous tone.
Gu Yun sat by the bed with a gloomy face, "Get back here."
Changgeng said blankly, "I …"
"If you walk out of this door today," Gu Yun said coldly, "I will break your legs. Even the Emperor won't be able to save you. Come back, don't make me say it a third time!"
Changgeng: "…"
Chang Geng was the first person who dared to say that he wanted to break Gu Yun's legs after King Yan took over the Grand Council. Chang Geng was stunned by Gu Yun's sudden outburst. He did not dare to walk out of the room for a moment. He gathered his courage and turned around to look at Gu Yun. All kinds of grievances and pain that he could not express in words surged up from his chest.
… However, there were still traces of tears on his face. He was too sober and couldn't cry.
Gu Yun couldn't stand his gaze. He had no choice but to compromise and get up. He hugged Changgeng from behind and threw him on the bed half-forcefully. He pulled the cold blanket over him, "Why didn't you tell me all these years?"
Changgeng took a deep breath and whispered, "… I was afraid."
Afraid of what?
Gu Yun was slightly stunned. Then, he lifted Changgeng's face with one hand, "Afraid of who? Me? "
Changgeng looked at him deeply. This look made Gu Yun understand what "fear born from love" meant.
Gu Yun originally wanted to ask, "Afraid of what? Afraid that I will dislike you? Is he suspecting you? "But he swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth. For a moment, he had nothing to say, so he directly made his move. He grabbed Chang Geng's collar and kissed him fiercely. Chang Geng's breathing suddenly became heavy.
Gu Yun put his hand on the side of his ear and raised his eyebrows, "Are you still afraid now?"
Changgeng, "…"
Gu Yun looked at him condescendingly. His heart suddenly felt warm. He licked his lips. He planned to play the rogue to the end. He raised his hand and reached for Changgeng's messy clothes.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, there were a few knocks on the door that spoiled the mood. An unlucky person with the surname Huo shouted from outside, "Prince, it's almost time. It's time to prepare for the morning court. Do you want to change your clothes?"
Gu Yun, "…"
It turned out that after this torment, the sky had already begun to brighten.
Huo Dan knocked on the door, but no one answered. He thought that Changgeng was too tired to hear him. Just as he was about to knock again, the door suddenly opened from the inside. Commander Huo was shocked when he saw the person who came in. He said in shock, "Hou, Marquis!"
When did their family's Marshal Gu, who was behaving more and more strangely in private, return? How did he come in without alerting a single family guard?
Did he jump over the wall?!
Changgeng, who was in the room, was a little embarrassed. He tidied up his miserable appearance and replied, "I'll …"
Gu Yun interrupted him without any explanation, "Go and tell Prince that he's on sick leave. He won't be going today."
Huo Dan was shocked and hurriedly asked, "Then … should we call for an imperial physician?"
"Imperial physician? Imperial physicians are all good-for-nothings. " Gu Yun said in a bad mood. He turned around and entered the room, instructing, "Don't disturb us if there's nothing important. Leave quickly."
Huo Dan, "…"
Changgeng, who was grounded, looked helplessly at Gu Yun, who acted on his own initiative, "I'm not sick."
"If you're not sick, do you think I'm sick?" Gu Yun took out a small handful of nerve-soothing incense and lit it on the incense table at the side. Now that things had come to this, there was no need to hide anything, "Miss Chen asked me to bring this back for you."
A refreshing fragrance filled the room. Changgeng sniffed it lightly, "Miss Chen changed the prescription?"
Gu Yun rubbed the teeth marks on his arm, "It's specially used to treat little lunatics who bite people."
The nerve-soothing incense quickly took effect. It filled the lungs and made people feel lazy. They couldn't muster up any strength or anger. Changgeng leaned against the headboard, exhausted. His gaze was empty as he stared blankly at Gu Yun. He looked haggard, his hair was messy, and his confused eyes kept chasing after her. He looked a little sickly and didn't look like he had a mouth of "iron teeth".
Changgeng murmured, "Zi Xi, can I hug you?"
Gu Yun said in her heart, "You're so lovey-dovey."
Then she walked over and sat next to him, allowing him to unrelentingly lean over and hug her waist.
"Let's call in sick." After a long while, Gu Yun suddenly said, "Isn't there already a Grand Council? Jiang Hanshi could also be considered capable, but he lacked some opportunities in the past. This time, he was unexpectedly promoted, so presumably, he would be able to make a big difference. The purple gold tribute from the Western Regions has almost arrived in the capital, so we can rest and recuperate for a year or two. The barbarians don't produce anything. We can afford to delay, but Calais Yinghou can't. The war situation in the north will change as time passes. There's only Jiangnan left … After all, the foreigners came from thousands of miles away. They spent a lot of money. Even a strong dragon can't suppress a local snake.
Changgeng lay in her arms and opened his eyes slightly. He felt Gu Yun's calloused fingers unconsciously shuttling back and forth between his head and neck, making his scalp itchy and numb.
"The reform of governance has just begun," Gu Yun said in a low voice, "Although this matter was initiated by you, I think the officials didn't cause much of a stir. They basically tacitly agreed. If you withdraw now, whether you succeed or fail in the future, the merits and demerits will belong to others. If we don't fight for the merits, we might not fall behind … Don't care about those things. Go home and recuperate for a few years, okay?"
Of Shen Yi's thousands of words, only Gu Yun heard "how will it end in the future."
The Gu family had been conferred the title of Marquis for generations, and they were also relatives of the emperor. He had seen the rise and fall of power and the ups and downs of the officialdom. He was also well aware of the fate of powerful officials and valiant generals. Even if they were of noble descent, if they were in the limelight, could they avoid being punished by those in power and the Spring and Autumn Annals?
"We can't withdraw," Changgeng said in a low voice after a while. "The first cut of the reform of governance has already been made. It's like scraping someone's bones to treat poison. His skin and flesh have already been cut open … If we withdraw now, should we let him wait with his skin and flesh exposed, or should we sew it back up again?"
The reform of governance was only the first step. If they only saw it as a means to promote the fire beacon ticket, they would stop at this step. After the war in the future … even before the war, there would be a situation in the imperial court where everyone would fight for the fire beacon ticket. At that time, not only would corruption become the norm. If there was no sensible person to check, the fire beacon ticket would end up worthless in the end, and Daliang would probably die even faster.
Gu Yun's hand that was hugging him tightened. When Changgeng opened his eyes again, the blood-red color and double pupils in his eyes had faded. He suddenly turned over and pressed the person he had been thinking about day and night on the soft and light brocade quilt clumsily. "Zi Xi, do you know what Wu 'er Gu is?"
Gu Yun was slightly stunned.
"Wu 'er Gu is a kind of evil spirit. It's also the most ancient curse of the barbarians. When their entire tribe was destroyed, they would leave behind a pair of children and cultivate them into Wu' er Gu. The person who cultivated them like this would have unparalleled power and would definitely bring about a reign of terror. Even the greatest enemy could be ended." Changgeng leaned on her. His chest trembled slightly as he spoke. His voice was as gentle as before, but there was an indescribable hoarseness. "Before Hu Ge 'er died, he said to me,' My heart has only been filled with hatred, brutality, and suspicion. I will definitely be brutal and bloodthirsty. Wherever I go, there will be a reign of terror. I am destined to drag everyone down with me to a horrible death. No one loves me, and no one treats me sincerely. '"
Gu Yun sucked in a breath of cold air. In the past, he always felt that Chang Geng had too many thoughts when he was young. There were countless twists and turns hidden in his mind, making people unable to figure him out. However, he didn't know that behind the countless twists and turns, there was actually such a heart-wrenching sentence.
"But there are people who love me, and there are people who treat me sincerely … right? You were the one who called me back just now. " Changgeng whispered, "She has never shown me any warmth, and I will never do as she wishes. Do you believe me? Zi Xi, as long as you say a word, I will walk through a mountain of swords and a sea of flames. "
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
