Gu Yun knew nothing about acupuncture and moxibustion, and he memorized everything Miss Chen taught him by rote. He had often heard such sensational rumors among the people that a wrong needle could paralyze a person, so he was very careful and could not afford to make a mistake in the depth of the needle, which was really difficult for his blind eyes.

Not until the last needle was put in place did Gu Yun heave a sigh of relief. A thin layer of sweat appeared on his body. He picked up the sweat towel beside him and wiped his hands. Turning back, he saw Chang Geng staring at him with his face turned sideways. The bloodshot and double pupils in his eyes were gone. His eyes were quiet and distant, reflecting the faint light of the gas lamp, like a double room of fireworks under an ancient Buddha and in a green lamp.

Gu Yun: "What are you looking at?"

Chang Geng raised the corners of his mouth stiffly, but with the silver needles in his body, he became expressionless and could not smile.

Gu Yun's eyes quickly swept across his smooth back. Although he wanted to "avenge" very much, he did not dare to disobey the doctor's order. He touched him at this time, so he coughed and said, "Okay, stop laughing, and rest quickly. Don't you have to get up early tomorrow?"

"Zi Xi," Chang Geng didn't have many facial muscles to use, so he could only speak softly, more and more like a spoiled child, "Kiss me, please?"

Gu Yun glanced at him warningly: "Looking for trouble, huh? You've become a hedgehog, and you're trying to seduce me."

Chang Geng had seen through him long ago. Just calling him "adoptive father" could make someone surrender. A gentleman among these gangsters would not lay a finger on him when his body was full of needles. Therefore, he looked at Gu Yun fearlessly and just smiled - the corners of his mouth could not be raised, but his eyes were full of smiles.

Gu Yun thought to himself: "It's crawling over my head."

However, he was not an old monk after all. Looking at the young man's exposed broad shoulders and narrow waist, his hair was loose like satin, whether it was black or white, he could not remain indifferent, so he had to sit aside and close his eyes to rest. Not long after, he heard a rustling sound from the side. Gu Yun opened his eyes and saw Chang Geng crawling up like a zombie, approaching him, first touching his lips, then gently kissing his lips, thinking back and forth, his thick eyelashes trembling slightly, which was in sharp contrast to his wooden face that was pricked by a needle.

Gu Yun wanted to push him away, but Chang Geng was covered in needles and he had no idea where to start. Before he could even open his hands, Chang Geng threw him onto the bed.

The beloved threw herself on him half-naked with her black hair loose. Gu Yun's throat moved visibly, and he felt that his patience was about to become steel. He immediately slapped His Royal Highness Prince Yan on the buttocks in anger: "The needle is still on your body, you are crazy again!"

Chang Geng leaned on him, resting his chin on Gu Yun's neck, and murmured, "I'm fine. It's just that when I thought of you in my arms that day, I always felt like I was dreaming and couldn't wake up. I've never had any good dreams. I'm always afraid that I'll be happy at the beginning, but some evil spirit will come out and stab me. I was a little scared by myself and got a nightmare."

Gu Yun looked up at the bed curtains, thought for a moment, and asked, "What do nightmares involve?"

Chang Geng didn't know if he heard it or not. He just looked at him without answering and pecked at his cheek again and again.

Gu Yun stretched out his hand to block it: "Don't be annoying, you lit the fire and you don't care to put it out."

Chang Geng sighed. For the first time, he didn't want to listen to the doctor's advice at all. He calmed down and whispered, "You look really good in court clothes."

Gu Yun picked a place without needles and hugged him lazily: "What doesn't look good on me?"

He was already a little sleepy, because Chang Geng couldn't sleep well, and there was a lot of tranquilizing powder burning in the room. It was hard to say whether it could calm Chang Geng's mind, but Gu Yun, who was affected by the incident, was getting sleepy earlier and earlier.

He was ambushed by people from the Western Regions, and his old injuries recurred. Half a year has passed, and although his injuries have improved, he can feel that his energy and spirit are not as good as before. When he was on the front line, his heart was still tense. Now that he has returned to the court, he does not have to be on guard every day. The tension in his heart has relaxed a little, and he often feels a lingering weariness. He closed his eyes in a daze after saying a few words.

Chang Geng loved his self-righteous and unapologetic aura and laughed softly a few times: "It would be great if I was the only one who could see it. I would see it in court robes, I would see it in armor, and I would see it in casual clothes. No one is allowed to covet it..."

There was a mixture of truth and falsehood in his words. Gu Yun, who had already closed his eyes, thought it was just a playful whisper in bed. He smiled evilly and replied, "That's probably not possible. But I can wear nothing and only show it to you."

Chang Geng's eyes changed immediately. There were several silver needles standing upright from the back of his hand to his wrist. He did not delay his hand from slowly moving up and moving his hands and feet to wake Gu Yun up.

Gu Yun had no choice but to avoid the silver needles on the back of his wrist and hand, and held Chang Geng down, saying with some sleepiness: "Don't make trouble, do you want to take a few more needles?"

At this moment, the window frame was knocked gently a few times from outside.

Gu Yun's eyes were clear of sleep: "Well? I'll go."

He put Chang Geng down carefully and pushed open the small window. A dirty wooden bird flew in and fell into his hand. The wooden bird was very old and had a sandalwood scent that was marinated in it. It drifted into Gu Yun's nose.

Gu Yun handed the wooden bird back to Chang Geng: "Is it that bald donkey Liang Ran? Where did he go again?"

Li Feng had cleaned up the Huguo Temple, and originally wanted to give the position of abbot to Liaoran, who had made great contributions in saving the emperor. However, Liaoran refused the position and still stayed in the temple with a figurehead, continuing his ascetic life as a wandering monk.

"Help the refugees in Jiangbei to settle down." Chang Geng climbed up unsteadily. "Sometimes monks' words are more effective than those of government officials among the common people."

As he spoke, he opened the wooden bird, took out the letter from Monk Liangran and read it. The smile that had been lingering on his face gradually disappeared. After a while, he sighed slightly and put the letter aside.

Gu Yun took it and scanned it: "How come I haven't heard about the epidemic in Jiangbei?"

"The climate over there is hot and humid, and many people have died. If they can't handle it in time, it's not surprising that an epidemic will occur... The canal basin was rectified only last year, and I assigned them the task of settling the refugees as part of their political achievements. Assholes, they even learned to conceal the truth." Chang Geng whispered. He sat on the edge of the bed, and his entire soul seemed to be fixed in his body by a few silver needles. He looked particularly tired and numb. His eyes fell on the corner of the bed. The gas lamp at the bedside cast a large shadow on his nose bridge and his thinner face. "I thought that one treatment would at least last two years, so I'll just have to endure these two years first. Who knew it would be like this..."

If the system wasn't rotten to the core, there probably wouldn't have been such audacious and reckless local official.

Seeing that he was not surprised, Gu Yun asked, "You already know?"

Chang Geng was silent for a while: "Zi Xi, help me remove the needle, it's almost done."

Many people are running around, many people are losing their lives, and the court is still arguing.

Gu Yun quickly removed the silver needles from his body, picked up a thin shirt from the side and put it on Chang Geng, then put his arm around Chang Geng's waist: "Don't think about it, have a good sleep, tell me if you have any difficulties, don't always carry it alone."

This touched a nerve in Chang Geng. He suddenly turned around and looked at Gu Yun: "Will you help me no matter what?"

Gu Yun thought for a moment and replied, "Heavenly principles and moral principles are above all else. Apart from that, if you want the stars, I won't give you the moon. Even if it's cloudy or rainy, I'll build a ladder to the sky to pick them for you. Okay?"

At the end, he seemed to be joking again, but Chang Geng didn't laugh this time. Maybe it was because his body, which had been sealed just now, had not yet been able to fully relax, or maybe he heard the hidden meaning of Gu Yun.

Gu Yun gently touched his ear: "Come here, lie down."

Chang Geng turned around and grabbed Gu Yun's chin. His eyes, which were as calm as the sea of ​​stardust just now, suddenly stirred up a storm, discarding his usual gentle and elegant appearance. His cheeks were pale, his eyes were extremely black, and the veins on the back of his hands were throbbing, revealing the power of the legendary ancient evil god.

Only when he saw Gu Yun frown did Chang Geng loosen his grip on his fingertips. He stared at Gu Yun for a moment with an indescribable look: "Zi Xi, don't take back what you gave me."

Gu Yun replied calmly, "Okay - I'll give you all the salary from the Marquis' Mansion, but can you give me one or two taels of silver as pocket money every month?"

Chang Geng's expression darkened when he heard him talking about something else, but Gu Yun smiled and hugged him and rolled onto the bed: "I won't leave you, I swear to God - why are you so suspicious? Go to sleep, I'm so sleepy."

Chang Geng insisted: "Even if I really..."

"I won't abandon you even if I go crazy." Gu Yun rested his head on his curled arms, and patted Chang Geng's hand intentionally or unintentionally. He closed his eyes and said, "If you dare to go out and hurt others, I will break your legs and tie you up in the house, watching you all day long. Are you satisfied? You have to come here in the middle of the night to be scolded..."

It was clear that what he said was not a good thing, but Chang Geng's breathing suddenly became rapid, and his eyes lit up in an instant. He wished he could swallow the person in front of him in one gulp, but then he remembered the doctor's advice. After all, he still had some sense and did not dare to take risks with the Wuer bone. He just stared at Gu Yun for a moment, and finally lay back unwillingly.

Chang Geng closed his eyes and imagined the scene again. His whole body tensed up and he wished that Gu Yun would really break his legs and lock him up in a room - even a small dark room would do, he would never complain.

He tossed and turned for a while, and finally couldn't help but stretched out his hand to hook Gu Yun's wrist: "It's agreed that if I go crazy, you will lock me up, or if you want to die before me in the future, give me a bottle of Hedinghong, and send you away and I will end my life...hiss!"

Gu Yun raised his hand and slapped his butt. This time it was not a caress, but a real slap. It hurt like a fire.

Gu Yun: "Break the lantern, shut up, and get out if you don't want to sleep."

King Yan, who had been mumbling weirdly right after the injection, was finally silenced by a slap in the face. Gu Yun was still worried when his consciousness fell into a coma - Chang Geng's words "self-destruction" might really be something he could do. It was unknown whether it was his nature or whether Wuergu was changing him subtly. Although Chang Geng tried his best to conceal it, Gu Yun could still feel his paranoia and extremely fierce temperament more and more day by day.

What will happen if this continues?

Emperor Long'an's grand court meeting was originally held once every ten days, but during the recent extraordinary times, many things have been pending, so it was changed to every day. All the civil and military officials in the court had to be alert and get up at five in the morning and stay up until midnight, but the Grand Council had to arrive more than half an hour earlier than all the court officials.

The next day, when Gu Yun was woken up by Huo Dan, Chang Geng had already left and failed to wake him up. It was not known whether his movements were too gentle or Gu Yun was sleeping too soundly.

"Put out that thing," Gu Yun rubbed his temple and pointed at the incense burner, "I'm almost in a long sleep because of the smoke from it."

Huo Dan extinguished the incense burner as he was told, but he said, "General, this is just an ordinary incense that helps you sleep and calms your nerves. How come it's fine for others to inhale it, but it's like a knockout drug when it's used on you? You can't blame the incense burner. You feel so tired every day. It's obvious that you are suffering from a lack of energy and blood. You're so young, how can you continue like this?"

"Hush," Gu Yun winked at him and lowered his voice, "I'll go ask Miss Chen to prescribe me two doses of medicine tomorrow. Stop talking to others, do you hear me?"

Commander Huo believed that "military orders are as heavy as mountains", and he immediately responded in a serious tone: "Yes!"

At the same time, he was thinking carefully about the words in his mind, "The Marquis asked me to 'stop talking', neither to talk too much nor to keep silent, so I have to think carefully and allocate the opportunities to complain reasonably."

The court meeting that day was tense from the start. Several major families joined forces and threw out the memorial that Jiang Chongtuo had sent to Chang Geng the night before. Then the Minister of Revenue, Lu Chang, took the lead and stepped forward to strongly impeach the Ministry of Works for recommending thirteen tycoons to get involved in Ziliujin, saying that they had "obvious ambitions." The two groups of people almost started fighting in public in the hall, but were stopped by the furious Emperor Long'an.

Fang Qin watched from the sidelines leisurely, glancing at the emperor's ugly expression and exchanging glances with his followers, knowing that he had touched the emperor's sore spot.

As expected, Li Feng let out a long breath, pinched his temple, and said slowly: "Let's think about this matter in the long run. I also think that private sale..."

Before he could finish, Jiang Chong suddenly stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, the officials from the Military Affairs Office came here early this morning to discuss this matter. Their concerns coincided with those of Minister Lu, and they all thought that it was inappropriate to privately sell purple gold to civilians and merchants."

This sentence stunned everyone. Fang Qin looked at Prince Yan hesitantly. Suddenly, he was a little confused about who this mysterious prince was sitting on the same bench with, and he didn't know what he was up to today.

Li Feng had a good impression of Jiang Chong, a loyal minister whom he had promoted. After hearing what he said, he felt that what he said was very much to his liking, so he waved his hand to signal him to continue.

Jiang Chong: "However, the disaster of refugees is imminent. There are already many bandits in the Central Plains and Shuzhong area. Even if Marquis Anding kills a fire dragon, there may be "water dragons" and "wind dragons" hidden among the people waiting to take action. As long as there is profit to be made, they will surely emerge in an endless stream. The refugees are good people today, but if they are forced to live, they will become bandits tomorrow. At present, the four borders are already plagued by wars. If we have a fire in the backyard, how can we talk about recuperation? Wouldn't those foreign enemies laugh at us? Moreover, I heard that there was an outbreak of plague in Jiangbei a while ago. If it is true, it will make the situation even worse..."

Before he could finish his words, there was a loud bang in the court.

Li Feng's eyes went dark: "Plague? What plague?"

Fang Qin, who was usually calm, was stunned at first, then he realized something and looked up in disbelief at Minister Lu who had been aggressive just now - last year, a large number of officials along the canal were removed from their posts by Prince Yan, and all the major families were busy placing their own family members there. The Governor-General of Liangjiang was Minister Lu's brother-in-law, and the head of the Lu family of this generation was not very encouraging, but he had relatives in the court, and Concubine Lu was the mother of the emperor's eldest son, so she had a deep foundation... But Fang Qin never expected that they would be so bold!

In the Daliang Dynasty, the emperor was far away, and if a major disaster occurred in a place, it was common to conceal or exaggerate the disaster situation - the former was for the officials' own reputation and political achievements, and the latter was to cheat the country for more disaster relief funds. At present, the country was poor and weak, and there was no money to be made, so they were afraid that they would suffer if the epidemic became serious. In addition, the Lu family was smart and feared that the emperor would worry more about the people's livelihood than about Zi Liujin, and they followed the wishes of those businessmen, so they deliberately withheld the news.

Fang Qin understood the mess immediately and glared at Lu fiercely, wishing he could bite his teeth until they bled. Why didn't they think that the truth would come out sooner or later? The King of Yan unexpectedly inspected the canal last year, and it's only been a few months now? The head of the previous one hasn't even rotted into a skull yet!

Emperor Longan himself was diligent and hardworking, and he hated corruption and fraud the most. Prince Yan was a freak who did not form cliques or engage in private interests, and who seemed to be very good at dealing with people but was actually ruthless. The Lu family was simply courting death under the noses of these two.

If we fail, it will be all because of these self-righteous villains!

Li Feng was furious and said, "Lord Jiang, please explain yourself clearly!"

Chang Geng stepped out of the group calmly and said, "Your Majesty, I like to copy scriptures and worship Buddha in my spare time. I have a close personal relationship with Master Liaoran. After Master Liaoran resigned from the position of abbot of Huguo Temple, he went south to Jiangbei to help settle the refugees. However, he is a commoner and it is inconvenient for him to disturb the local officials, so he just went around begging for alms, preaching the Dharma, and raising some donations from local wealthy families to solve the urgent problem. A few days ago, Master Liaoran asked someone to bring a private letter back to me, telling me the severity of the disaster and asking me to find a solution as soon as possible. However, the letter mentioned that the epidemic in Jiangbei was so serious that I had never heard of it. I just received the letter and the real situation has not been verified. Lord Jiang was anxious and spoke quickly just now. Please don't blame me, my brother."

As Prince Yan spoke, he glanced at Minister Lu without any hostility, and then his eyes swept across Minister Fang, whose face was ashen, as if intentionally or unintentionally.

Li Feng took a deep breath and said grimly, "The six ministries and nine ministers, as well as the important military secrets, didn't hear a single word of the news, but it was leaked by... an ascetic monk in plain clothes and with a broken bowl. If this is true..."

He was silent for a long time, then gnashed his teeth and said, "I don't know who in this court has the final say."

All the ministers in the hall knelt down in a rush.