When Chang Geng came, he was in an orderly manner, and the whole world seemed to be in his hands. But when he left, he had become a ball of paste, and he didn't know which leg he left first.

In the night when the temperature was still cold, the breath flowing in and out of his chest was like a living fire.

Chang Geng fled back to his own courtyard in panic, let out a long sigh, and leaned his forehead against the sword-serving puppet at the gate of the courtyard.

Many years had passed, and the iron puppet had long since died and could no longer be controlled by humans. However, Chang Geng was reluctant to throw it away, so he had someone place it in his yard as a decorative hanging lamp.

The cold iron quickly calmed Chang Geng's burning skin. He looked up at the big guy and recalled some old memories from his youth - he remembered that he used to let it carry a basket filled with snacks before dawn every day, and then he and the puppet would run to Gu Yun's yard and listen to him talk nonsense about all sorts of things.

And when it was Gu Yun’s birthday, they wrapped it in ridiculous silk and satin and made it hold a bowl of ugly noodles to celebrate his birthday...

As he thought about it, Chang Geng couldn't help but smile a little. All his fun and warm memories were actually related to Gu Yun.

Chang Geng hung the lamp in his hand on the outstretched arm of the iron puppet, and patted the exposed gears on the back of the iron puppet's neck affectionately. Thinking of the two sentences Gu Yun had just said, he sighed and his eyes dimmed.

He thought Gu Yun would either be furious or would repeatedly advise him, but he never expected Gu Yun to have this attitude.

Gu Yun stated his position in a gentle and warm manner - I am still your adoptive father, I still love you the most, no matter what you think, I will remain the same, I will forgive your offenses, and I will not take your lies to heart. I will never indulge your unethical delusions, but I also believe that one day you will return to the right path.

Chang Geng pasted a "Strong without Desire" sign on himself, and Gu Yun gave him a "Unmoved" sign.

"You're using all that cunning on me." Chang Geng thought, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "Why don't you be a little selfish in front of that person in the palace?"

Chang Geng knew why Gu Yun suddenly stopped responding to him. It was not because he was upset with him and wanted him to get out of here as soon as possible, but most likely he guessed what he was going to say next and hinted to him not to mention it. Avoiding the limelight for a while was the worst option. For Gu Yun, the best option at the moment was of course to use military power to control and replace the political power, so that the military and the political power would be integrated from then on.

If there is an army that can be dispatched overseas at any time to conquer the world, the rules of sea transportation and the Silk Road can be modified at will. By then, Daliang can advance or retreat, and its prestige will be so great that it may tolerate the lifting of the ban on purple gold among the people.

Unfortunately, underneath Gu Yun's ruffian skin and his murderous iron blood, he actually has the bones of a gentleman who is incapable of doing anything to plot against the emperor and steal the country.

Chang Geng walked slowly into the house. At this time, a familiar sound of bird wings was heard in the air. Chang Geng reached out to catch the tattered wooden bird, opened it, and saw a letter from Chen Qingxu.

She wrote in such a messy and sloppy manner that Chang Geng could only decipher it with great difficulty. It said: "I have found the source of the poison that the Marshal was poisoned with. If I can find the secret recipe, I may be able to make an antidote."

Chang Geng's footsteps suddenly stopped.

However, before he could feel the ecstasy in his heart, he saw Chen Qingxu's next sentence: "But his eyes and ears have been damaged for many years, and he has been fighting poison with poison. Over time, the poison can be cured, but the serious illness is difficult to cure. Your Highness, be prepared."

There was another line of even more sloppy small characters below, Chen Qingxu wrote: "I suspect this item is the secret of the Barbarian Goddess. Because the last Goddess married into the palace, it is difficult to find her outside the Great Wall. If it is convenient, you can look for one or two in the palace at the same time."

Chang Geng read it from beginning to end, burned the paper, but his heart sank.

The Marquis of Anding had been soldiers for generations and had received great favor from the emperor. The mansion was also specially granted to him. When Chang Geng looked up from the small courtyard where he lived, he could see the magnificent eaves of the palace under the moonlight. Chang Geng glanced in the direction of the palace intentionally or unintentionally, and there seemed to be thunder and lightning surging in his eyes.

It was just a thrilling flash, and then he restrained it without leaving a trace.

The next morning, Gu Yun did as he was told and had his memorial delivered to the palace.

He first wrote down the results of his reflection point by point, sincerely admitted his mistakes to the emperor, and claimed that his old injury had relapsed and he was afraid that he could not take on the heavy responsibility, so he asked the emperor to take back the seal of command.

Claiming illness has always been a common excuse, but this letter from Marquis Anding surprisingly did not seem like an excuse, because at the end he listed all the details of the handover of military affairs in his own small regular script, which was quite famous among the people - and finally he made a final push, asking the emperor to agree to move the place of his closed-door reflection to the outskirts of the capital.

No matter how elegant the words are, they cannot conceal the meaning between the lines: "I have finished reflecting on myself, let me go out and play."

This memorial was written in the style of Marquis Anding, with a touch of unbridled authenticity, and it was obvious at first glance that it was not written by a counselor's ghostwriter.

Emperor Long'an kept the memorial in his hands for a day. The next day, he bestowed a lot of precious medicinal herbs as a token of his favor and lifted Gu Yun's house arrest order, which was considered as his tacit approval of Gu Yun's resignation. However, just to save face, he did not find a replacement, but left the seal vacant, comforted him with gentle words, and declared that he would return the seal to Marquis Anding when he recovered from his illness and returned to the court.

During a nap in the afternoon that day, Li Feng somehow found a book he had read in his youth, and a copy of calligraphy fell out of it. Compared with the letter on his desk, the handwriting was a little childish, and the wrist strength seemed to be a little lacking at the turning points, but it already showed the character of the future.

Li Feng took it out and looked at it for a long time. Suddenly, he asked Zhu Xiaojiao with a sigh, "Do you know who wrote this?"

Zhu Xiaojiao pretended to be confused and said, "This... I can't tell whether it's good or bad, but since it was kept by the emperor, I guess it must be an authentic work of some famous artist, right?"

"You are a good talker - but you can be considered a famous calligrapher, right? This was written by the Sixteenth Uncle." Li Feng gently placed the copybook on the table and flattened it with a paperweight. As if he remembered something, his eyes became distant and he said to Zhu Xiaojiao, "When I was young, I was impatient to practice calligraphy and was scolded by my father. When my uncle found out, he went home and stayed up all night, and the next day he wrote a dozen copies of calligraphy and gave them to me..."

Gu Yun's eyesight was not good during the day, and he could not see clearly at night. He could only wear glass glasses. After a night of sleep, his eyes became red. The next day, he had a pair of rabbit eyes, but he still had to put on a serious look in front of them.

As Li Feng was talking, he began to reminisce about the past, muttering with some nostalgia: "You said that the emperor's uncle was so introverted when he was a child, and didn't like to get close to people at all. It's really a world of difference from now - Oh, by the way, where is he?"

Zhu Xiaojiao replied politely, "I heard that he went to the hot spring resort in the north to recuperate."

Li Feng didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "He really went there to have fun? Forget it... Jiangnan Spring Tea has just been delivered, you can ask someone to bring some to him to taste, and then ask him to write a plaque for my palace in the north."

Zhu Xiaojiao agreed promptly and didn't say anything more - he felt the time had come.

That afternoon, an urgent message arrived from the Northwest Protectorate, which had traveled eight hundred miles to report unusual movements by foreign tribes at the border, and that the Black Iron Camp had refused to heed the order to beat the drums and had brazenly detained Protector General Meng.

Emperor Longan was reminiscing about the past, so he let the matter go lightly. He only sent someone to reprimand He Ronghui for disregarding the law of the country, fined him some salary and let the matter go. He also ordered the Xuantie Camp to be on high alert against any unexpected events on the border.

When Chang Geng finally spared some time to go to the hot spring villa in the northern suburbs to tell Gu Yun about the follow-up, he saw Gu wrapped in a bathrobe, his feet soaked in the hot spring, his hands never leaving the cup, and two beautiful waitresses beside him massaging his shoulders and back. He was so happy that he almost became an immortal.

Gu Yun said he was going to "recuperate", and he actually went to recuperate very seriously!

The half-deaf man didn't hear someone coming, and he turned his head and said something to the girl next to him. The waitress didn't say anything, but just smiled with her face flushed.

Chang Geng: “…”

Seeing that the waitress blushed adorably, Gu Yun almost wanted to raise his hand to touch her. However, just as he raised his hand halfway, he saw the two girls hurriedly bowed to someone and then left of their own accord.

Gu Yun turned around and couldn't see who was coming, so he had to touch the glass mirror and put it on his nose.

Seeing Chang Geng, this old frivolous man didn't feel embarrassed at all. He even called him over happily and got up lazily: "I haven't rested like this for a long time. My bones are so soft."

Chang Geng: "...I'm afraid it's not a lie, right?"

As soon as he said this, he regretted it.

"Hmm?" Gu Yun seemed not to have heard clearly, and asked with a puzzled look, "What?"

Somehow, Chang Geng recalled the time when this man and Shen Yi pretended to be down-and-out hermits and lived in Yanhui Town, and this man would not hear anything he didn't want to hear.

He is an expert at pretending to be ignorant, and once he becomes deaf, he is even more powerful.

I only heard the Anding Marquis, the best in Daliang, asked excitedly: "By the way, did you bring me the medicine? I'll take you to Xuemeizhai in the back tonight. There are a few new singers there. It is said that they are all competing to sing the first song in Yuanlou at the end of the year. Let's go and identify them in advance."

Chang Geng thought that Gu Yun asked him to bring medicine because of something important. He thought that he was just complaining about drinking wine while being deaf. He smiled and said, "Medicine is three-quarters poisonous. Since godfather has nothing important to do, it's better to drink less medicine."

Gu Long replied in an irrelevant tone: "Yeah, okay, I brought it with me. The water here is very good. You can soak in it for a while and relax."

Chang Geng: “…”

He didn't want to reason with Gu Yun anymore. He sat upright beside the hot spring and gestured without even raising his eyelids, "The emperor has received the report from the northwest. Everything is fine. Don't worry."

Gu Yun nodded slowly: "Well - since you are here, why don't you take a bath with me?"

"...No," Chang Geng said expressionlessly, "Godfather, enjoy it yourself."

Gu Yun uttered a "tsk" sound, and then he did not shy away from Chang Geng at all, as if he did not think there was anything to be shy about, and he went into the water with a frank attitude.

Chang Geng was caught off guard and hastily looked away, with nowhere to put his eyes. He grabbed a wine glass in a mess and took a sip as if to hide something. When he touched his lips, he remembered - this was Gu Yun's glass.

He stood up suddenly, almost knocking over Gu Yun's small table, and said in a dry voice: "I just came to tell my foster father, it's good that you know, I...I have something else to do when I go back, so I'll take my leave first."

"Little Chang Geng." Gu Yun called him and put aside the glass mirror that was frosted by water vapor. Only the long sight was a little out of focus. He lay on the shore like a dragon king in charge of water. He said nonchalantly, "We are all men. What I have, you have, and what you don't have, I don't have either. What's so new?"

Chang Geng held his breath and finally raised his eyes. Gu Yun's figure was a little blurry, but the scars all over his body were shocking and glaring. There was a scar running from under his neck across his chest, making his upper body look like it was split in half and sewn together again.

Gu Yun understood human nature very well, and knew that the more taboo something was, the more it would be difficult to give it up, so he simply let him watch it openly - there was really nothing to see anyway.

"Everyone has deep feelings for their parents, not just you, I am the same," Gu Yun said, "My biological father is a live animal, he only knows how to gather a group of iron puppets to chase me and chop me. The first person who held my hand to write was the late emperor, and the first person who coaxed me to take medicine and gave me candied fruit after eating was also the late emperor. When I was a child, I also felt that he was the only one who loved me. Sometimes this kind of feeling is too deep, which may give you a little illusion. It's okay after this period. The more you take it to heart, the more you feel overwhelmed, and the more it will entangle you."

Chang Geng opened his mouth, but Gu Yun took advantage of his inability to hear clearly and did not care whether Chang Geng replied or not, and continued to speak: "Foster father knows that you are a good child, but you are too prone to burden yourself. Let it go for a while and stay here with me for two days. What does it mean to be like an old monk all day? There are so many good places and interesting things to do. Don't be complacent."