Gu Mang clutched his head, waves of dizziness surging before his eyes.
Concealing it from others…
Taking the surname Lin…
The Chu family of Lin’an…
These scattered fragments stabbed into his skull like sharp knives, drifting through the depths of his already muddled mind and stirring up the memories connected to them.
In his daze, he seemed to hear a soft, satin-like voice quietly singing:
“Red begonias, yellow begonias,
How melodious when the wind blows one day.
Little children answer from afar,
Making one yearn for father and mother.”
The singer’s voice faintly carried the accent of Lin’an. It was a Jiangnan water-town nursery rhyme, soothing a child who was about to fall asleep.
Red begonias, yellow begonias…
Gu Mang painfully took a step backward, his temples throbbing. On one side were memories fading away; on the other were recollections being stirred awake. The scattered fragments of the past were like drifting wind and falling snow, impossible to grasp, yet every now and then an image would suddenly dart out, making him even more confused.
He seemed to see the little house in Wangshu Manor from those years ago. Auntie Lin wore a sleeveless jacket and sat beside the window. As she patted Gu Mang, who was asleep against her knees, she softly sang, “How melodious when the wind blows one day. Little children answer from afar…”
In his memory, his younger self sleepily narrowed his eyes and gave her a smile, mumbling as if in a dream, “Auntie Ni, you sing so beautifully.”
Auntie Lin’s gaze was as gentle as spring cotton. She stroked the child’s hair.
“If A-Mang likes it, Auntie Lin will keep singing it for you.”
“Then won’t you get tired?”
The woman smiled. “No.”
“Then won’t you get thirsty?”
“No.”
The little child, dazed with sleep, yawned and curled up beside the woman like a small animal.
“Auntie Ni, if you were my mother, that would be so wonderful.”
The hands stroking him suddenly stopped, trembling slightly.
But Gu Mang at that time did not notice these details at all, nor did he look up and see the complicated expression on Auntie Lin’s face. He merely curled up a little more and adjusted himself into a more comfortable position against her.
Outside the open lattice window, delicate flower petals drifted down with the spring rain, blown into the room.
That faint pink seemed like a beautiful dream that could awaken at any moment.
“Little children answer from afar, making one yearn for father and mother…”
Gu Mang suddenly dropped to his knees deep within the dreamscape. His skull felt as though it were about to be split open by a heavy blunt axe. Clutching his head, he collapsed onto the ground and gasped for breath.
He was like a dying fish, his convulsions growing more and more violent.
Murong Lian had said—
You should at least remember—
Remember what?
Remember that Auntie Lin’s surname had never actually been Lin, but Chu, and that he was not some servant of Wangshu Manor, but the child of Murong Xuan and Miss Chu…
Wasn’t that it?
He could not stop himself from recalling the important matters he had written in his own books. And the sentence he had mentioned repeatedly was:
“Wangshu Manor has saved your life. The past is difficult to put into writing, and the entanglement is difficult to express. I hope you will at least remember this matter and not make things difficult for the Lord of Wangshu Manor.”
So before he lost his memory, he had already known the truth, hadn’t he?
As if sensing the violent tremor of his thoughts, some memories that had already sunk into the abyss suddenly flickered and surfaced like dragons emerging from the water.
Amid the nursery rhyme about begonias drifting in the wind, he vaguely remembered what Auntie Lin had said to him before her death.
The sickly woman tightly gripped his hand. Her withered lips opened and closed as she said to him, “A-Mang… Madam Zhao… Although Madam Zhao has… has this and that wrong with her… but she… she is not like the ruthless and vicious jealous woman the whole of Chonghua says she is… Cough, cough… She… is different from her family… Her heart is kind… It’s just that she is too stubborn. Many misunderstandings others have about her… she doesn’t want to explain them…”
“But you must not misunderstand her… If it weren’t for her… A-Mang, you wouldn’t have been able to come into this world…”
“Do you know…? She… she saved your life and your mother’s life.”
A faint smile appeared on Auntie Lin’s thin, sunken face.
“So please, don’t resent the mother and son, Madam Zhao and the Young Master. They actually…”
By the time she reached this point, breathing had already become extremely difficult. Her pale lips trembled, and her eyes remained fixed on Gu Mang’s face, as though she wanted to engrave him deeply into the depths of her soul.
Her voice was as soft as the hum of a mosquito, yet tears still glimmered in her eyes as she stubbornly continued:
“Actually… they… are pitiful people too…”
Wanting something but being unable to obtain it, retreating yet having nowhere to go.
A mother and son bound by bloodline and pride.
How could their lives possibly have been any better?
“Auntie Ni! Auntie Ni!!”
Little Gu Mang lay beside the woman’s bed. The woman’s eyes were still open, clear tears running down her cheeks, but the light in them had suddenly gone out.
At that time, Gu Mang did not yet understand what life and death truly meant, but he vaguely understood that this woman who had sung nursery rhymes to coax him to sleep would probably never come back.
He therefore burst into loud sobs.
He was so heartbroken, so devastated by the first permanent separation of his life, that he was unable to think deeply about what Auntie Lin had told him before she died.
It was only much later that he vaguely realized that Auntie Lin, who had been able to say those words, must have known something about the truth of his birth.
At the very least, Auntie Lin should have known who his biological mother was.
But she had never left him the chance to ask.
Later, Gu Mang grew up.
Even though Murong Lian had constantly made things difficult for him and humiliated him, he almost never held a grudge or quarreled with him.
Perhaps it was because Auntie Lin had never asked anything of him. The only thing she had asked him to do before her death was not to make things difficult for Madam Zhao and her son.
Or perhaps it was because Auntie Lin had never lied to him. She had said that Madam Zhao had shown him kindness, and therefore it could not have been wrong.
He had always regarded them with gratitude.
On the other hand, Gu Mang had also always been investigating the truth of his own origins. From forbidden books and little pamphlets circulating among the common people, from rumors and hearsay passed from mouth to mouth, he gradually developed some vague suspicions.
Year after year passed.
Until one time, while cleaning out the long-sealed library of Wangshu Manor, he discovered a box containing letters exchanged between Murong Xuan and Miss Chu.
Everything finally came to light.
He finally realized clearly that he should be a descendant of Murong Xuan, and that he and Murong Lian were half-brothers, sharing the same father.
By then, however, both Auntie Lin and Madam Zhao had already become fragrant bones beneath their graves.
Gu Mang had no ironclad evidence to prove his bloodline.
In fact, by that time, he had already developed dreams of his own.
He had lived in the darkness for too long. He had met Lu Zhanxing and a group of good-for-nothing friends from the dust and mud. He did not want to shed a layer of skin, bloodied and dripping, just to climb ashore and stand among the powerful and noble class to which he was supposedly supposed to belong.
He had been a slave for so many years that he knew the suffering all too well.
Therefore, what he yearned for even more was to bring the people in the cold caves with him and advance against the wind, rather than merely preserve himself.
The only thing he still cherished about his true identity was that, during an end-of-year ancestral offering ceremony, he could not stop his eyes from reddening when he faced a stack of ceremonial robes left behind by Murong Xuan.
He reached out and gently touched the blue-and-gold heroic sash.
Taking advantage of the absence of anyone else, he properly tied it around his forehead.
It was clearly something that belonged to him, yet he could only secretly wear it like a thief.
Before he could even stand before a mirror to take a proper look, the door behind him suddenly burst open.
Murong Lian stormed in, fury blazing in his eyes, mixed with anger and resentment.
“You lowly slave! How dare you touch my father’s belongings? Take it off!!!”
Take it off!
Murong Lian’s command was harsh and urgent. He even reached out to snatch the heroic sash from Gu Mang.
“This belongs to my Murong family. What are you?! You think you deserve—”
At that time, Gu Mang was too heartbroken to notice that Murong Lian, who had rushed in and tried to forcibly take the sash from him, seemed far too anxious and far too frightened.
He had once thought that Murong Lian bullied him simply because he disliked him.
It turned out that was not the case.
Just as Gu Mang had learned the truth that the two of them were actually brothers and had never exposed it, Murong Lian had also known the truth for a long time.
Precisely because of that, every bit of Gu Mang’s progress felt like a burning slap across his face, and every success of Gu Mang’s seemed like an enormous threat to his power and authority.
“The two of you share the same bloodline and are both heirs. If you don’t study properly, sooner or later Wangshu Manor will belong to him.”
“How can you be inferior to a brat born from a commoner?”
“Murong Lian, you must treat him as a sword hanging above your head. Think about it. If one day he finds out that he is also a member of the Murong family, how could he not seize your power?”
The two of them had both known about their blood relationship, one before the other.
Yet one had always regarded the other with deep vigilance, maliciously interpreting his every action.
While the other had guarded his mother’s dying wish, silently yielding and protecting him.
Until today.
Gu Mang suddenly awoke from the illusion, breathing rapidly—
Everything before his eyes was pitch-black.
He did not know where he was, how long he had been unconscious, or what day or time it was now. He had no mind to care about any of it.
His lips merely moved soundlessly as he raised his trembling hands and covered his eyelids.
The surroundings were utterly silent.
He lay in the darkness, his consciousness in complete chaos.
He rubbed his face hard, only to find it wet beneath his fingertips.
He trembled slightly.
The blood that had flowed from Murong Lian’s grievously wounded body seemed to still be in his palm.
The court session had ended.
The Lord stood with his hands behind his back on the terrace behind the Golden Hall.
The sky was gray and hazy. Dark clouds churned like ink, pressing toward the imperial capital and royal city.
Dragonflies circled low around the tender lotus leaves in the flower pond, and the wind already carried the scent of an approaching torrential rain.
“Your Majesty, the remnant soul of the Blood Demon Beast has already been placed into the trial. So far, everything is proceeding smoothly.”
Zhou He stood to the side and reported to the Lord.
“However, there have been frequent movements from Liao. I’m afraid they do not intend to leave Chonghua much time to respond. As you said during today’s court session, they could launch a massive invasion at any moment. I’m afraid I won’t be able to develop the thing you need before the great war breaks out.”
The Lord closed his eyes.
“Man proposes, Heaven disposes. It was not easy to obtain this remnant soul of the Blood Demon Beast. That alone is already Heaven’s favor. I believe in the fortune of Chonghua’s state. Don’t think too much about it. Just do everything you can.”
Zhou He acknowledged this, but did not show any intention of leaving.
The Lord turned his face toward him.
“What? Is there something else?”
“Yes,” Zhou He said. “The Blood Demon Beast’s remnant soul is extremely weak, so its spiritual power cannot be fully exerted. I heard that the State Preceptor of Liao uses a demonic zither to gather qi for it, but the Bureau of Arcane Arts does not possess such an artifact. I’ve thought over this matter again and again, but I still haven’t found a suitable solution, so I wanted to boldly ask Your Majesty for help.”
“So after all that, what you want is a magical artifact capable of nurturing the Blood Demon Beast’s spiritual power?”
Zhou He nodded.
The Lord frowned.
“This is indeed somewhat difficult. Originally, this matter could have been entrusted to the Yue family, but that old man Yue Juntian’s health is getting worse and worse. Not long ago, he took everyone from the Yue Manor to their old fief in Lin’an, intending to recuperate at Hundun Cave. He won’t be coming back anytime soon.”
Zhou He asked, “What about Elder Qingxu?”
“He isn’t in the capital either. He said that, after all, he is related by blood to the Yue family. Even when bones are broken, the tendons remain connected. Although Yue Juntian refuses to acknowledge him, the old man is now approaching the end of his life. Qingxu is not someone who holds grudges, so he followed them there as well.”
The Lord continued, “The three great artifact masters of Chonghua—Yue Juntian, Jiang Yexue, and Murong Chuyi—are all currently in the Lin’an fief.”
“…”
“But the matter of the Blood Demon Beast is definitely the most important.”
The Lord said, “I’ll write a letter to Yue Juntian today and send it to him. While he is recuperating in Lin’an, I’ll have him first find a way to develop the artifact. Don’t worry.”
“Yes.”
The Lord was about to offer a few more unnecessary reminders when an attendant hurried over and quietly said, “Your Majesty, Lord Xihe is waiting outside. He says he wishes to see you.”
The Lord therefore said to Zhou He, “You may leave first.”
Then he said to the attendant, “Let him in.”
Zhou He withdrew.
In the corridor, he encountered Mo Xi.
The Northern Frontier Army had returned from its victory at Daze three days ago. During those three days, the strange events that had occurred at the front had spread like wildfire.
Even someone like Zhou He, who usually had little interest in matters outside his own affairs, had heard that during the battle between the two armies, the State Preceptor of Liao had used Gu Mang to threaten Mo Xi.
Not to mention all the romantic or sordid speculation surrounding the matter.
For a time, the entire city was abuzz with rumors.
Although no one dared to openly confront Mo Xi and question him about it, almost every household, every mouth, was secretly discussing the relationship between Mo Xi and Gu Mang whenever they had nothing else to do.
Things that had once seemed like insignificant details—
Such as Murong Lian once saying that Mo Xi had secretly gone to Luomei Villa to visit Gu Mang.
Or Mo Xi once openly clashing with Murong Lian in court over who Gu Mang should belong to.
And so on.
At the time, people had thought nothing of such things.
Now that they carefully thought about them, however, they seemed filled with hidden currents and were extraordinarily ambiguous.
And Zhou He, having personally witnessed Mo Xi hijacking a prisoner, naturally had a few more suspicions than ordinary people.
Therefore, when he saw Mo Xi beneath the covered corridor, he deliberately pulled out a cold, mocking smile.
“Lord Xihe, here again to plead for that good brother you’re so inseparably close to?”
“…”
“This time it won’t be so easy. He is the prime suspect in the attempted assassination of Lord Wangshu.”
Mo Xi could not be bothered to pay him any attention.
With his handsome face cold, he walked straight past Zhou He without even blinking and headed toward the terrace of the Golden Hall.
When he arrived, the Lord was sitting beside the carved railing, holding a stalk of foxtail grass and teasing the red dragonflies circling above the pond.
“Your Majesty.”
“Mm. You’re here.”
Mo Xi did not beat around the bush and asked directly, “How is Lord Wangshu?”
“Mengze is responsible for watching over him. His condition isn’t very good. It has already been so many days, yet there is still no sign of him waking.”
“…”
“But don’t worry. I know the truth of the matter. No matter what, I will never believe that Lord Wangshu was assassinated by Marshal Gu. It’s just that he is currently at the center of attention, so we still have to put on the proper appearance publicly.”
The Lord paused before continuing.
“The ‘prison cell’ where I am holding him for questioning—although it is called a prison cell, you have already seen it with me. In truth, it is a quiet treatment room suitable for him to recuperate and rest. If you want to see him, you don’t need to report to me. Just go directly.”
Mo Xi said, “That is precisely why I came.”
The Lord raised his brows slightly.
“Why?”
Before coming, Mo Xi had thought about many things.
He had wanted to tell the Lord that even if the royal family provided Gu Mang with the most comprehensive protection, he still could not feel at ease.
He had wanted to explain that the first half of his life had already been filled with too many separations from Gu Mang, and that he did not want Gu Mang to leave his sight again.
He had even considered directly telling the Lord about his relationship with Gu Mang.
But now that he was actually here, he felt that any unnecessary explanation was pointless.
He had a very subtle feeling—
It seemed that the Lord already knew everything.
There was no need for him to say anything more.
Thus, Mo Xi said, “I still intend to secretly bring him back to Xihe Manor.”
The Lord was silent for a moment before sighing.
“Lord Xihe, imprisoning him for questioning is merely something we are saying publicly. You know that ever since you returned to the city, I have never treated him poorly. The dark demonic aura within him has gone berserk, and his memory has become so disordered that he is on the verge of collapse. I have been doing everything I can to treat him.”
“I know,” Mo Xi said. “These past few days, I’ve also been tied up with military affairs at the Military Affairs Office, leaving early and returning late. I know I’m unable to take proper care of him, so I’ve had to rely on Your Majesty to look after my senior brother.”
“It’s good that you understand…”
“But now I’ve finished everything I had on hand. I still want to accompany him personally.”
“…”
The Lord put away the foxtail grass, startling the surrounding dragonflies into scattering in all directions.
“You don’t trust me?”
“I merely promised him that I would never leave him again.”
The Lord sighed.
“Lord Xihe, now all of Chonghua is watching him, and watching you as well… As for those rumors outside, I don’t know whether you—”
He did not continue.
After a pause, he said, “He will be safer staying here with me.”
But Mo Xi had no intention of negotiating.
He simply looked at the Lord in silence, unwavering.
After a long while, the Lord finally gave in, rubbing his temples somewhat helplessly.
“…Fine, fine, fine. If you truly don’t want to leave him here, then take him back from my treatment room. But you must be extremely careful. Under no circumstances can you let anyone realize that he is still staying at your residence.”
Mo Xi clasped his fist.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
He was just about to turn around and go retrieve him when a high-ranking royal palace shadow guard suddenly rushed over.
The guard leaped down from the roof ridge and immediately stumbled, falling to his knees.
It was obvious that he had suffered extremely serious injuries.
“Your—Your Majesty!”
The Lord was startled.
“What happened?”
“Something’s wrong! Someone… someone highly skilled has broken into the treatment room!!”