Chang Geng stood there stiffly for a long time, then walked to the edge of the hot spring, slowly knelt down, and looked down at the clusters of scars on Gu Yun's body.

Over the years, he had gotten used to being woken up by Wuergu in the middle of the night. After waking up, he would think about Gu Yun over and over again.

Chang Geng liked quietness since he was a child. At that time, he often felt that this overly lively foster father was unreasonable. Later, after thinking about it more, he suddenly had a strange question: Gu Yun...how could he grow up to be such a person?

Think of the only son of the old Marquis of Anding and the eldest princess. He was such an arrogant and noble young man, but he suddenly lost his eyesight and hearing when he was young, and was forced and whipped by his own father like forging iron. His wings were scarred and had not yet fully grown. He experienced the death of both his parents, and the former glory of the Black Iron Camp faded. He was trapped in the deep palace... If a person has suffered too much harm when he was young, even if he will not be extreme and indifferent, at least he will not be a playful person.

Chang Geng was deeply touched by this.

Sometimes he found it hard to imagine how many layers of wounds would have to overlap to wear a person down to this state?

Chang Geng suddenly hated himself for being born ten years too late and not having the chance to hold that person's immature hand in the thorn bush. Just for this reason, he felt that he would be jealous of Shen Yi for the rest of his life.

He walked forward like a demon, pushed aside Gu Yun's long hair that was hanging all over his body, and carefully touched the scar on Gu Yun's chest.

"Hiss..." Gu Yun's scalp was numb from his touch, and he quickly dodged, "I was just reasoning with you, why did you start fighting?"

Chang Geng asked hoarsely: "How did this happen?"

The deaf man didn't hear clearly at first, so Chang Geng grabbed his hand and wrote it again on his palm, word by word.

Gu Yun was stunned for a moment, unable to remember.

Chang Geng wiped the moisture off his glass mirror, put it back on Gu Yun's nose, stared at him deeply, and said in sign language: "Godfather, can we each confess one thing?"

Gu Yun frowned.

Chang Geng: "You have deep feelings for the late emperor. Do you want to kiss him, hug him, and spend your whole life with him?"

Gu Yun lost his voice and asked, "What?"

He couldn't help but think of the late emperor's old face, which always looked sad and miserable, and got goose bumps all over his body.

"Okay, you've answered, now it's my turn," Chang Geng said with a pure and innocent look, "I think."

Gu Yun: “…”

It took him a while to realize what Chang Geng's "I think" meant. He got goosebumps one after another and his hair stood up like a hedgehog.

"I think about it all the time, even in my dreams, and I especially think about it now... I'm also thinking about some other things, but I'm afraid that my adoptive father's ears won't be disturbed if I tell you." Chang Geng closed his eyes, no longer looking at Gu Yun, and gestured to himself, "If it's not so deep, how can it be considered as being possessed?"

Gu Yun choked for a long time and said dryly: "...You should recite more sutras with the monk."

Chang Geng said: "If you had told me this five years ago, maybe if you had let it go then, this wouldn't have happened."

But so many days and nights passed, so many nightmares and quagmires that he could only get through by repeating Gu Yun's name, he kept drinking poison to quench his thirst——

It's too late.

The Anding Hou, who couldn't even eat shit to keep up with the heat, was stunned for a long time and didn't come back to his senses. He was shocked and thought: "Five years ago, I thought you were still a little kid who was still drinking milk!"

"Then let me ask the next question," Chang Geng closed his eyes tightly, "Does godfather think I'm disgusting?"

Gu Yun remained silent for a long time. Chang Geng's eyelashes began to tremble violently, and his hands tightened in his sleeves involuntarily - Gu Yun's body's instinctive reaction just now could not be deceived, and the obvious discomfort was clearly revealed in his goose bumps.

Gu Yun might be able to understand his heart, but he would probably never be able to understand his desires.

Chang Geng heard the sound of water. It was Gu Yun coming ashore and putting on his clothes.

Gu Yun sighed, reached out and patted Chang Geng on the shoulder, and calmly avoided answering: "You know that's impossible."

Chang Geng's mouth curled up slightly, perhaps trying to smile, but failed. He just said in a barely audible voice: "I know, I won't make things difficult for my foster father."

Gu Yun sat down beside him. After a while, he felt that he had recovered a little and was about to speak.

Suddenly, he felt an extremely sharp wind needle piercing his back, and the wine glass that Chang Geng had just put aside reflected a sharp light. Before Gu Yun could react, Chang Geng had already pounced on him.

Chang Geng hugged him and rolled to the side, his arms tightened, and at the same time, Gu Yun's dog nose smelled a faint smell of blood.

An arrow with white steam at the tail grazed Chang Geng's side, and his sleeve opened, revealing the scratched flesh inside.

Chang Geng looked up and saw a sharp metallic color flashing outside the quiet hot spring courtyard. It was a 'light fur coat'!

But the Hot Spring Villa is only five miles away from Beidaying. A fast horse can arrive there in a moment without whipping. Where did this assassin come from?

The assassin's attack failed, but he was not done yet.

The setting sun was sinking heavily, and the man in light fur armor who had just shot the arrow suddenly jumped out from the other side of the courtyard wall.

Steam rose from his feet, and he was like a flash of lightning, approaching in the blink of an eye. Gu Yun pushed Chang Geng away, stretched out his hand and pulled out a steel knife from under the small table where the wine was placed just now, and with a turn of his wrist, he had already exchanged two moves with the assassin.

Gu Yun's kung fu was acquired when he was fighting against iron puppets with his bare hands. Even though the light armor was burning purple and gold, he did not take it seriously. But after two moves, Gu Yun suddenly stepped back - he was shocked to find that his hands were shaking, and the weight of the steel knife made him feel a little overwhelmed.

Chang Geng saw something was wrong at first glance, and reached out to catch him, while holding his wrist. He then used his handheld knife to stab the assassin's chin ruthlessly and accurately, with the tip of the knife hitting the assassin's iron mask. With a "clang" sound, blood mist spurted out.

Chang Geng didn't even look at him, his fingers immediately slid to Gu Yun's pulse, and said in a deep voice: "Someone drugged you."

Gu Yun's chest felt numb and his heart was beating wildly. He made a "hmm" sound and was a little breathless for a moment. The slight numbness quickly spread to his limbs, which made Gu Yun, who couldn't see or hear clearly, feel nervous.

"It's okay," Gu Yun took two quick breaths, "I'm afraid it's not over yet, you..."

Before this crow-mouthed man had finished his words, a dozen men in light fur armor suddenly jumped up from the top of the wall. At the same time, the guards guarding outside the villa were also alarmed and stood up.

I don’t know what was wrong with those assassins’ brains. Even after seeing that the assassination attempt had failed, they still refused to retreat and swarmed towards the family generals as if they were seeking death.

The guards of the Anding Marquis's Mansion were all family generals, who had retired from the battlefield. They were not the same as the thugs who guarded the house. They advanced and retreated in moderation and were highly mobile. Chang Geng only glanced at the battlefield and helped Gu Yun to the side: "Adoptive father..."

Gu Yun raised a finger to his lips, then patted his shoulder, gently supported his injured arm, and signaled him to take care of himself first.

Chang Geng ignored him and simply knelt aside, holding Gu Yun's wrist. At this time, Gu Yun's pulse was no longer as disordered as before. Chang Geng tried to calm down, remembering that Gu Yun was a perennial medicine jar and was much more resistant to drugs than ordinary people.

It's not so easy to knock him down completely. I think it was because he was soaked in hot water just now that the effect of the medicine was released all at once.

At this moment, a loud noise suddenly came from the courtyard, shaking the entire villa, and even the half-deaf Gu Yun heard it.

After only a short fight, the assassins were subdued by the well-trained guards. Just when the commander gave the order to arrest them, all the assassins pierced the golden box on the light fur coat and blew themselves up at the same time!

Gu Yun narrowed his useless eyes and said in a low voice: "Death warrior..."

The commander ordered people to put out the fire while running to Gu Yun and said, "I am incompetent. Please ask the Marquis and His Highness to retreat first."

Gu Yun didn't say anything, as if he was still in a trance.

All of a sudden, his old memories that had faded over the years were dug out in blood, standing before him ferociously with their fangs and claws bared as ever.

That year, the sky outside the pass was blowing with a murderous wind, the land full of black iron was a vast and desolate grassland, large numbers of vultures were lingering around, and when horses ran in the tall grass, they could kick a piece of bone with the teeth marks of wild beasts every few steps.

Little Gu Yun, who was not even as tall as the table, was punished by the old marquis for a small mistake. He was not allowed to eat breakfast and was forced to do horse stance in the camp. Every soldier who passed by could not help laughing when they saw him, and the child, who had an excessive amount of self-esteem since childhood, laughed so hard that tears kept rolling in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

By then, the war had subsided, the purple gold tributed by the eighteen tribes had been deposited into the national treasury, and the goddess had been made a concubine. Everything was originally so peaceful.

But suddenly, a patrolling soldier fell beside little Gu Yun without any warning, still wearing heavy armor, without a single scratch. Then, the guards in his yard fell one after another, and suddenly there was a deafening shout of killing outside. Little Gu Yun had never seen such a scene before, and was almost scared silly for a moment, and instinctively wanted to find a weapon.

But he was too small, and he couldn't lift even the lightest knife with his hands.

The soldiers who broke in that day were also a group of death warriors in light armor. They moved as fast as the wind and approached like gods and demons. One of the soldiers who had just laughed at him struggled to his feet, like a dying bird, and tightly protected Gu Yun under him. He watched helplessly as those people fell one by one in the camp with blood and flesh flying everywhere like pigs and dogs to be slaughtered. He didn't know what had injured his back, and it was excruciatingly painful.

But the pain soon became numb, and gradually, he felt that his limbs were cut off from him, and the sounds and colors around him dimmed. His fading consciousness was trapped together with his heart that was about to burst through his chest, and he couldn't breathe...

He had also heard such an earth-shattering noise in a semi-comatose state - the princess arrived with her men, and those men blew themselves up in their light armor.

Chang Geng pressed his shoulder and said, "Godfather!"

Gu Yun's unfocused eyes finally slowly gathered a little, and he murmured, "Is there a wolf head tattoo on the unburned body?"

Chang Geng: "What?"

The commander was stunned at first, then suddenly raised his head - the household general of the Gu Mansion had a deeper impression of that incident than the then young Gu Yun: "The Marquis is saying..."

"Let's check after the fire is out," Gu Yun said expressionlessly, "There is someone who drugged me..."

As he spoke, he felt the effect of the medicine on his body was wearing off, and he supported himself with Chang Geng's hand to stand up.

Chang Geng was surprised to find that his hand was as cold as a dead person, but Gu Yun let go immediately after touching it, as if he suddenly didn't want to have any contact with others.

Gu Yun walked forward in a state of near despair. The glass mirror had just fallen to the ground and shattered. He could not see clearly and nearly stepped into the hot spring pool. Chang Geng jumped up with a rare unsteady move and hugged Gu Yun from behind without saying a word, protecting him all the way to the courtyard.

Gu Yun's mind was not at home at all, and he didn't even push him away.

Chang Geng helped him into the house, pulled a thin blanket over him, and was about to check his pulse again when Gu Yun suddenly said, "Bring me some medicine."

Chang Geng frowned: "No, you still have..."

Gu Yun's expression faded, and his tone became slightly heavier: "I said bring me the medicine."

Chang Geng was stunned, and intuitively felt that Gu Yun was really angry.

An expressionless murderous aura was revealed, and the brutality condensed from the millions of pieces of armor caught Gu Yun's blind eyes. For a moment, the handsome man seemed like a fierce god that had awakened, but only for a moment.

However, Gu Yun quickly came back to his senses, his expression eased a little, and he fumbled and patted Chang Geng's hand: "Go check the injury first, and then help me boil a dose of medicine - you're not listening so soon, huh?"

Chang Geng was silent for a moment, then turned around and walked out, punching the pillar at the door.

At this time, a bigger storm was approaching the capital city with its night lights on without warning.

That night, in the alleys of the capital, an old man with thinning hair and no beard took a last look at the blood-written letter on the table, then hanged himself from the beam of the house, ending his life in the morning light.

When Gu Yun was upset, he forgot to instruct the guard commander to block the news. The hot spring villa was almost next door to the North Camp, and the news spread quickly like wings.

Tan Hongfei, the commander of the North Camp outside the capital, was an old member of the Black Iron Camp. Upon hearing that his commander had been assassinated in the important area of ​​the capital, right under his nose, he was furious on the spot and immediately sent out a patrol battalion to conduct a thorough investigation.

No one could hide such a big commotion, but in a moment, the news of Gu Yun's assassination in the suburbs of Beijing spread like wildfire, and this was just the beginning.

The next day, when Gu Yun recovered his sight and hearing and remembered his negligence, it was too late - Tan Hongfei directly led his men into the capital.

The anxious Jingzhao Yin was forced by General Tan to check for suspicious outsiders in the capital, and the messenger who was ordered by Gu Yun to retrieve Tan Hongfei had just jumped off his horse when an unexpected person arrived with a blood letter and drums.

The herald officer did not dare to trespass into Jingzhao Yin, and hurriedly sent someone to inform him. However, the place was already in chaos, and it took a full incense stick of time before someone led him in.

Before he could say anything, he saw the commander of the Northern Camp, Tan Hongfei, stand up with his eyes wide open, and crack the table with a slap, scaring the Jingzhao Yin Zhu next to him so much that his official hat was crooked.

Tan Hongfei: "Who are you? Say it again!"

The middle-aged man holding the blood letter said word by word, "I am the owner of a pastry shop outside Dongjiaomin Lane. I have an old adopted father who was originally the eunuch Wu He, the seal of the late Emperor Yuanhe. Many years ago, he found a substitute to fake his death and escaped from the palace by chance. He has been hiding among the people ever since. Unexpectedly, he was still found by thieves more than ten years later. In order to avoid implicate his family, he committed suicide last night. My body is as small as a firefly and as insignificant as rotten grass. My life is not worth mentioning. But my late father left a will for me to announce this injustice to the world."

Jingzhao Yin Zhu Heng instinctively realized that the matter was of great importance, and hurriedly shouted, "You are so bold and unruly. You are talking nonsense. The eunuch Wu He was taken to the Heavenly Prison and beheaded because he plotted to murder the heir to the throne. Are you trying to frame the Dali Temple for not doing its job well?"

The man banged his head on the ground and said, "My father wrote a letter in blood before his death. Now I am here to see you with his head in my hand. How dare I say a single word of falsehood?"

Back then, the story of the chief eunuch Wu He accepting bribes and conspiring with a disfavored concubine to kill the Third Prince was once a hot topic. As this matter also involved Gu Yun who was still in the palace, the former members of the Black Iron Camp wished they could tear that ignorant eunuch into pieces.

Tan Hongfei said with a gloomy face: "Master Zhu, why not listen to what he says."

Gu Yun's messenger instinctively knew something was going to happen. Thinking of Gu Yun's instructions before he left, "Don't let him get into trouble," he immediately said, "General Tan, the Marquis asks you to return to the camp immediately."

Zhu Heng hurriedly said, "That's right, General Tan, please go back first. If there is any news about those foreign bandits, I will immediately send someone to inform you..."

At this moment, the middle-aged man kneeling in the hall suddenly raised his voice and said, "I want to sue the late Emperor Yuanhe for being deceived by the Northern Barbarian Concubine and using evil tricks to poison loyal people—"