After a heavy rain in the capital, the hidden chill rose up, revealing the bleak and cold atmosphere inside as dew was about to turn into frost.

Chang Geng followed a bunch of strangers to see the old emperor off in a daze. On the day of the funeral, eight horse-drawn carriages pulled the nine-dragon coffin. A hundred thousand steam horns were erected on both sides of the road, playing funeral music spontaneously and spraying out white smoke like a canopy, covering the entire imperial capital. Heavy armor separated the city from the outside world, and outside the armor array, there was a huge crowd of spectators, including people from Daliang, Yi people, Baiyue people, barbarians... and even countless Western foreigners.

Countless prying and speculative eyes fell on Chang Geng, the fourth prince Li Min, whose life story was a mystery. Unfortunately, no one dared to approach him and talk to him under the eyes of Marquis Anding. Chang Geng was blatantly hidden by Marshal Gu. For several days, except for the crown prince and the King of Wei who each walked around in front of him twice, he had no contact with any outsiders.

When all the dust settled, Chang Geng was brought to the Marquis of Anding's Mansion.

The Marquis' Mansion looked extremely majestic from the outside. The gate opened in an eight-character shape and had two animal heads with green faces and fangs hanging on them. White steam was spewing out of their mouths and noses. Thirty-six gears were turning at the same time, and the heavy bolt was lifted up with a "creaking" sound, revealing a tall and strong iron puppet on one side of the door.

Two sets of black iron military armor were hung on the screen wall. The gas lamp was dim, and the family guards were on the side. A cold and murderous aura was blowing in the air.

Of course, when you walked in, you found that the only imposing thing in Marquis Anding’s Mansion was the gate.

Although the courtyard of the Marquis' Mansion was deep, the vegetation was very sparse, and the facade was frighteningly majestic. There were actually a few taciturn old servants inside. When they saw Gu Yun, they just stopped and saluted without saying much.

Most puppets and lighters in the folk are powered by coal, and only a small portion are powered by purple gold, usually huge objects such as large dams and land reclamation puppets, which are owned by the local government. As for those precious small parts, only high-ranking officials of a certain rank are qualified to use them.

Of course, regulations are regulations, but whether the people abide by them is another matter. For example, the rank of Yanhui Governor Guo is not enough, but he has more than one purple gold artifact in his house. Although Marshal Gu's rank is very high, his mansion is unexpectedly poor and simple. Apart from a few iron puppets, there are almost no purple gold artifacts.

The most valuable items in the entire mansion are probably a few plaques written by the great scholar Mr. Lin Mo Sen. It is said that Mr. Mo Sen was the enlightenment teacher of Marquis Anding, so these plaques must have been obtained in vain.

Fat Ge and Madam Cao moved in with Chang Geng. The three country kids who had never seen the world poked their heads around. Fat Ge said without restraint, "Sixteenth Uncle..."

Madam Cao scolded softly, "That's the Marquis!"

"Hey, Lord Marquis," Fatty Ge approached and asked with a playful smile, "Your home doesn't seem as exquisite as Lord Guo's."

Gu Yun smiled indifferently and said, "How can I compare with Lord Guo? They live far away from the emperor and are extremely rich. Unlike me, I have to go to the palace for free meals during festivals in order to save some money."

This sounded like a joke, but Chang Geng, who was listening nearby, had a vague feeling that he was speaking with more meaning.

Before he could think about it, Madam Cao muttered to Fatty Ge, "Didn't the opera say that the young masters of noble families all have garden swings and beautiful maids?"

Fatty Ge seemed to understand a lot, and said with his belly sticking out, "The gardens are all in the back. Women from wealthy families, whether they are masters or servants, cannot show their faces in public at will. Are they for you to see at will? Don't ask nonsense if you don't understand."

Gu Yun smiled and said, "I don't have any maids in my house, just a bunch of old men and old women. To be honest, the most beautiful person in the mansion should be me. If you want to see, you can look at me."

As he spoke, he winked coquettishly and smiled with his white teeth.

Madam Cao quickly turned her eyes away shyly. Fatty Ge did not expect that the dignified Marquis of Anding would be as shameless as "Shen Shiliu", and was also stunned.

Gu Yun put his hands behind his back, playing with the old Buddhist beads left to him by the previous emperor, and walked through the deserted courtyard leisurely: "My mother died early, and I haven't married yet. I'm still a bachelor, what do I need so many beautiful girls for? It seems weird."

It sounds like he is a serious person.

Madam Cao didn’t dare to look at Gu Yun directly—she didn’t dare to look at handsome men, and asked timidly from the side: “Marquis, people say that ‘Once you enter a marquis’s house, it’s like entering a deep sea’…”

Gu Yun couldn't help laughing and asked teasingly, "Why, you want to leave Xiao Lang and marry me?"

Madam Cao's whole body turned red like a slender monkey butt.

Chang Geng's face darkened: "Adoptive father."

Gu Yun then remembered his status as an elder, and hurriedly calmed down with difficulty, putting on a poorly kind face, and said: "I don't have any rules here. Just tell the kitchen what you want to eat. There is a study, an armory, and a stable in the backyard. You can study, practice martial arts, or ride horses as you like. Shen Yi will come over when he is free. If he is busy, I will hire another teacher for you. You don't have to let me know when you go out to play. Just bring your guards and don't cause trouble for me when you go out... Well, let me think about what else."

After a moment of silence, Gu Yun turned around and said, "Oh, by the way, some of the old servants at home are old, so their reactions are inevitably slow. Please be more patient and don't rush them."

He just said it in a plain way, but Chang Geng's heart was inexplicably melted by the rare warmth in his words - although the warmth was not directed at him.

Gu Yun patted his back: "It's a bit quiet here, so you can take this as your home from now on."

After that, Chang Geng hadn't seen Gu Yun for a long time. The new emperor had to ascend the throne, the King of Wei had to be punished, the barbarian prince kidnapped from the northern border had to be dealt with, and the barbarians had to be explained for breaking the agreement and invading without reason... There were also countless social events, countless tests, and so on.

Chang Geng thought he was diligent, but every morning when he got up, Gu Yun had already left, and at night when he woke up from a nap, Gu Yun had not returned yet.

In a blink of an eye, the hot summer is over, and after a quick autumn, it is time to light the stove.

Late at night, a thin layer of snow as light as eyelids covered the stone road, and a slight white mist rose in the air. The sound of horse hooves came from the end of the path. Soon, two pitch-black horses pulled a carriage out through the mist and stopped at the back door of the marquis's mansion.

The carriage made a soft "puff" sound, and three warm pipes around the body of the carriage released white steam. The door opened from the inside and Shen Yi crawled out.

Shen Yi exhaled a breath of white air, turned around and said to the people in the car: "I think you don't need to get out of the car. Just ask someone to open the door and drive in. It's too cold."

The person in the car responded. It was Gu Yun. He looked very tired, but seemed to be in good spirits. He told the driver, "Open the door."

The driver trotted away. Shen Yi stamped his feet and asked, "Has the effect of the drug worn off?"

Gu Yun said lazily, "It's over. It's no problem to kill a few more Calais Yinghuo."

Shen Yi: "What did the emperor say when he asked you to come to the palace today? I heard that the Tianlang tribe sent an envoy?"

"The old cripple shamelessly presented a memorial, almost snotty, saying that he would return the annual purple gold tribute to us with an additional 10%, and asked the emperor to release his son because of his young age and ignorance. The old cripple was willing to take his own life and be a prisoner himself." Gu Yun was not in a good mood and had nothing nice to say, "You bastard, you have already given birth to seven or eight cubs, but they are still young and ignorant. Is it because the soil outside the Great Wall is not good and the seedlings grow slowly?"

Shen Yi frowned: "You didn't lose your temper in court?"

"Why do I have such a bad temper? But if I hadn't lost my temper, that poor and crazy Minister of Revenue would have dared to agree to it." Gu Yun said coldly, and then he changed his tone and sighed, "All the saints in the court don't know how to write the four words 'let the tiger go back to the mountain'."

When the barbarians invaded Yanhui, they wore heavy armor with a short cannon mounted on their chests. This was a Western design. The bones of people in the Central Plains are naturally thinner, and even the generals in the army are generally not that strong. The design of heavy armor also focuses on lightness and agility, and they usually don't play the "chest-breaking stone" trick on the battlefield.

There is no doubt that the people behind the Mars Calais are the Westerners who have always coveted Daliang.

Gu Yun lowered his eyes, looked at the lightly reflecting snow on the ground, and whispered: "Outside the four borders are all tigers and wolves."

He wanted to ride a dragon into the sea, go straight to the West Ocean, and fight all the way to the lair of those foreign countries, but after years of war, the treasury of Daliang was almost emptied. Now, because Gu Yun supported the new emperor to take the throne, it was like timely rain to calm down the King of Wei who was ready to make moves when the previous emperor was critically ill, and the new emperor gave him some face in everything.

But face...can it last forever?

Shen Yi shook his head: "Let's not talk about this. How is the Fourth Prince doing with you?"

"Fourth Prince?" Gu Yun was stunned. "It's fine."

Shen Yi asked: "What does he do every day now?"

Gu Yun thought for a moment and answered uncertainly: "... Let's play? But I heard from Uncle Wang that he doesn't seem to go out much."

As soon as Shen Yi heard it, he knew that Marshal Gu treated the Fourth Prince like a sheep - he fed him grass every day and didn't care about anything else. But he couldn't blame him because that was how the old marquis and the princess fed him in the past.

Shen Yi sighed, "How did the late emperor treat you back then? Have you forgotten?"

Gu Yun's face flashed with embarrassment. He actually didn't really understand how to get along with Chang Geng.

Chang Geng was no longer at the age where he could act like a spoiled brat and ask for candy from adults, and he was also precocious in character. When he was in Yanhui Town, that kid even took better care of his not-so-good foster father.

It was impossible for Gu Yun to play with a group of children all day long, but it was also difficult for him as an elder to provide any guidance to Chang Geng.

Because he was really forced into this job and he doesn't have the age or qualifications to be a good father.

Although Gu Yun said that he wanted to leave the Black Iron Camp to Chang Geng in the future, it was just a joke after all, and he knew in his heart that it was impossible. Besides, Gu Yun knew very well how much hardship one would have to endure if he wanted to make a name for himself in the army. As long as he was alive and could still take on the responsibility of the country, he didn't want Chang Geng to experience the same hardship.

However, at the same time, he also hoped that the little prince handed over to him would have a promising future, or at least be able to protect himself in the future.

So how can a person avoid hardship and still achieve success?

Parents throughout the ages have been trying to find the answer to this question, let alone him, a half-baked adoptive father. He had no choice but to let Chang Geng grow up freely.

The driver had already opened the door, turned on the light, and was waiting for Gu Yun to speak.

Shen Yi said to Gu Yun: "It's too much to expect you to be meticulous and considerate, but he has suffered a great change, and you are the only relative left around him. You should be more honest with him. Even if you don't know what to do, it's good to show up in front of him from time to time and write a few calligraphy pieces for him."

Gu Yun probably listened to it this time, and replied patiently: "Yeah."

Shen Yi unloaded a horse from the cart and took the reins.

He had already mounted his horse and was about to leave, but after a few steps he could not help but turn back and grumble, "General, your ignorant young son and your long-ill old father are both there to teach you to be an adult. You are lucky to meet either of them."

Gu Yun rubbed his brows in pain: "Mom, you single chatterbox, please, get out of here!"

Shen Yi laughed and cursed, then rode away on his horse.