Two Years Later.
By the banks of the Fushui River, the hundred-thousand-strong army of the Northern Frontier had pitched camp. Once they got through tonight and marched for another day tomorrow, they would finally be home. The cultivators were busy cooking over makeshift stoves, feeding their horses, and washing their clothes. The great river shimmered beneath the rosy glow of the setting sun, illuminating the spirit beasts and celestial steeds resting along its banks, as well as the men bathing in the shallows, scooping up handfuls of clear water to wash themselves.
“Hey, give my back a scrub, will you? We’ll be home tomorrow! I’m covered in mud. My mother’s going to tear me to shreds when she sees me.”
“Bro, can you shave my face later? I’m no good at doing it myself.”
“You little punk. Since when did you become so vain? You didn’t give a damn about your looks during three years of campaigning. Come on, admit it. You’re in a hurry to get home and see that little girl of yours, aren’t you?”
The men gathered in the shallow inlet, laughing and joking as they teased one another and tidied themselves up. Their eyes and brows were filled with a sweetness they could hardly contain.
A loving mother’s hands stitch the clothes her son will wear; a young woman dreams of her beloved in her springtime boudoir. The wanderers were returning home. Some would fulfill their filial duties, others would marry wives. Each had something to look forward to.
Perhaps Mo Xi was the only person in the entire army who had nothing to look forward to.
He pushed aside the flap of his tent and walked to the riverbank, watching the sun slowly sink below the horizon, leaving a golden reflection across the water.
After two years of adjustment, having experienced all the emotional twists and turns one could expect from being transported into a book, Mo Xi had long since come to understand and accept his situation. He had truly become a person in this world.
But life had hardly been easy when he first completed the soul fusion. He had suffered a high fever and had no idea what was happening around him. All he did, day and night, was dream. Within those dreams, he witnessed many of Lord Xihe’s past experiences—
His father’s death, his mother’s betrayal, and the turmoil within his family.
His first meeting with Gu Mang at the cultivation academy.
His adventures with Gu Mang in Liansheng Town, where they subdued demons and exorcised evil spirits.
…
And so on.
It had to be said that Gu Mang had projected a great deal of his real-life experiences into The Forbidden Book. Many of the fictional details even had clear counterparts in reality.
For instance, in real life, Mo Xi and Gu Mang had been classmates.
In The Forbidden Book, they had also trained together at the cultivation academy.
For instance, Gu Mang loved to fool around in real life.
The Gu Mang in The Forbidden Book was a womanizer, too.
And then there was Mo Xi’s family background in reality. His family had been poor, and his father had been honest and upright, while his mother had been exceedingly fond of socializing. Later, Mo Xi’s father died in a car accident. His young and beautiful mother grieved for only a short while before becoming involved with one of his father’s friends. One day, Mo Xi returned home and caught the two of them meeting secretly in the living room. His father’s funeral had not even reached its first anniversary yet…
In The Forbidden Book, Lord Xihe’s family situation was not all that different. His father had died in battle when he was young, but his mother had an affair with her late husband’s sworn younger brother and even bore a son who shared her blood but not his father.
Unable to stomach such a revolting situation, Lord Xihe had severed ties with his mother long ago. He established a separate residence for himself and never set foot in the Mo family estate again.
Thus, just as in reality, Lord Xihe had no family, no wife, and no concubines. The entire imperial capital of Chonghua was waiting for him to return, yet among the countless illuminated homes, not a single lamp had been left burning especially for him.
The best thing about this particular characterization was that it closely matched his real-life experiences, making it relatively easy for him to accept.
Just imagine what would have happened if Gu Mang had characterized him as an irresponsible little hoodlum like Yue Chenqing, someone who spent every day finding ways to flirt with different women—or, failing that, even tried to seduce a female dog. Mo Xi might have suffered an OOC death long ago.
Mo Xi stood alone by the riverbank, his expression as cold as ever. Beneath the sharply defined bridge of his nose, his pale lips were pressed together. The flames of war that had raged for years had finally gone out, but all their remaining embers seemed to burn within his dark eyes, making him appear even more restrained. He looked like a man who had emerged from a snowy night, as though what bound him were not the silver belt of his armor or his black leather military boots, but the weight of rules and propriety.
“Lord Xihe, we’ll be back in the capital tomorrow. You’ll get to see the princess again!” Yue Chenqing had just finished bathing and was climbing up from the riverbank when he spotted Mo Xi. Grinning, he continued, “Absence makes the heart grow—”
“If you want me to kick you back into the river, by all means, finish that sentence.”
Yue Chenqing promptly shut his mouth. Then he bowed solemnly to Mo Xi. “…Marshal Mo, I think you could probably attain Buddhahood in this lifetime.”
The princess Yue Chenqing was referring to was, naturally, Princess Mengze—the very woman Mo Xi had married and fathered eight children with in the OOC ending. Mo Xi did not even want to consider such a possibility.
Standing by the river, he gazed at the distant mountains, their slopes dark and blue beneath the evening sky. He knew that once they crossed those mountains, they would reach the imperial capital of Chonghua, a place Lord Xihe had been away from for a very long time. Two years of military service meant that nearly a thousand days and nights had passed. By now, Mo Xi had grown less obsessed with what might be happening in reality. There was no point dwelling on it when he could do nothing about it anyway.
But Gu Mang…
Mo Xi’s gaze darkened slightly.
He remembered reading in the outline that after Gu Mang was captured, the sovereign had not killed him. However, something had gone wrong with Gu Mang’s body. As Little Cop Blossom had summarized it, “Those problems put B in a very difficult position.”
At the time, Team Leader Mo had not been particularly interested in what had happened to Gu Mang’s body.
But now, as B himself—Lord Xihe, Marshal Mo—he desperately wanted to travel back and make that Little Cop Blossom write a disciplinary report.
What kind of vague, ambiguous summary is this supposed to be?
Why couldn’t you just write down what actually happened?!
Had Gu Mang lost an arm or broken a leg? Had he gone blind or lost his tongue? Couldn’t someone at least give him a spoiler?!
But the setting book remained silent, the Tear of Li Jun could offer no assistance, and Little Cop Blossom’s outline was practically as useless as if it had never been written.
So Mo Xi still had no idea what had happened to Gu Mang.
The soldiers, however, were well informed. Even after two years, they continued to gossip enthusiastically about it whenever they had nothing better to do.
“The legendary Marshal Gu actually ended up like that…”
“He used to be a warrior hailed as a beast from the heavens. Ah, who could have predicted something like this?”
“My mother wrote to me that she went to watch when Gu Mang was escorted back to the capital. She said that when the city gates opened, the sight was so shocking that nobody could believe their eyes.”
So what exactly had they seen? What had Gu Mang become?
Mo Xi had no idea. The men all held him in awe, and the moment he appeared, the cultivators who had been chatting away immediately fell silent. They bowed to him with impeccable decorum.
“Greetings, Lord Xihe.”
Mo Xi could only give them a cold nod. After standing there for a while, he turned and walked away with his usual icy composure. Naturally, he spent the rest of the night in a foul mood, lying awake in his tent and staring at the canopy as it billowed and rustled above him.
He had even considered summoning a soldier to ask what had happened. But the Tear of Li Jun immediately warned him:
【Lord Xihe is proud and aloof. He would never voluntarily inquire about Gu Mang’s recent circumstances. If you defy your character, your character fidelity will be reduced by 3%.】
Mo Xi’s character fidelity was at 76% at the time. He could have lived with losing those three percentage points, but Ba Niao had understood his personality far too well. If Lord Xihe could not bring himself to do something, Officer Mo could not bring himself to do it either.
Yue Chenqing had muttered a few things about Gu Mang in his ear, but Yue Chenqing was an unreliable talker who loved embellishing stories with his own imagination. He managed to tell ten different versions of the same story ten times. And Mo Xi was too proud to engage with him voluntarily.
As a result, even now, Mo Xi still had no idea what condition Gu Mang was in.
He knew only one thing.
Gu Mang was still alive.
And that was enough.
The following day, the army began its triumphant return.
The entire city was bustling with excitement. Men, women, children, and the elderly all poured into the streets to welcome the returning soldiers, leaving the city nearly deserted of anyone who remained indoors.
“Welcome home, Lord Xihe!”
People knelt one after another. Their thunderous voices rolled forward like waves surging back against the current.
“Welcome home, Lord Xihe—!”
As the procession entered the city, a strange atmosphere suddenly rippled through the crowds lining the main road. It was like pouring a basin of water into a pot of hot oil, only for someone to hurriedly slap a wooden lid over it, forcing all that sizzling excitement beneath the cover.
The people kept their heads lowered, yet their eyes constantly darted toward the front, sneaking glances at the elite cavalry of the divine realm as they rode past.
Mo Xi wore the uniform of the imperial guards. His long boots, reinforced with iron plates, rested in the stirrups. Apart from his belt and gauntlets, which gleamed with a chilling silver sheen, he was dressed entirely in black.
“Lord Xihe is so damn handsome!”
“I’m going to die. I’m really going to die.”
“I think he just looked at me!”
“Oh, give me a break! The only person in his eyes is Princess Mengze!”
“But he’s not even married to the princess! He’s already thirty, with no wife, no fiancée, not even a concubine. What’s wrong with me dreaming a little? Honestly!”
The other generals and soldiers were considerably more cheerful than Mo Xi.
One by one, they happily waved at the citizens welcoming them from both sides of the road. Yue Chenqing was especially enthusiastic. He even accepted flowers from the young women and cheerfully prepared to tuck them behind his ear. Only after Mo Xi shot him a warning glance did he reluctantly give up, cradling the flowers in his hands instead and sniffing them with an exaggeratedly aggrieved expression.
The main road was long. It took nearly half an hour to ride slowly from the city gates to the royal palace.
Yue Chenqing behaved himself for a little while before returning to his usual flamboyant antics, smiling and shamelessly flirting with passersby.
“Hello there, beautiful~”
“You’re so pretty~”
“Your humble servant is looking for a concubine. Food and lodging provided!”
“Yue Chenqing!” Mo Xi barked.
Yue Chenqing clapped a hand over his mouth.
Mo Xi found this entire stretch of the story thoroughly uncomfortable. Being stared at by young women and middle-aged matrons all along the road was one thing, but after arriving at the palace and attending the award ceremony, he still had to endure a banquet full of unmarried noblewomen.
“Lord Xihe, it’s been so long since we last saw you.”
“Lord Xihe, you seem to have lost some weight.”
“Lord Xihe, do you think my hairpin looks pretty today?”
The most alarming of them all was Princess Yanping, the younger sister of Princess Mengze. She had just reached the age of fifteen, yet her figure had already developed into something remarkably graceful. She was considerably more alluring than her older sister, and every glance she cast seemed to brim with the lush vitality of spring.
Smiling sweetly, she approached Mo Xi.
Her lips were fresh and luscious, like juicy berries.
“Brother-in-law,” she teased with a grin.
Mo Xi lowered his eyelashes and paused for a moment at the title. Then he turned to leave.
Yanping hurriedly caught hold of him.
“Brother-in-law, you never go and mingle with the other girls. You just stand here with that stern look on your face. Are you upset because my sister didn’t come?”
“Your Highness has mistaken me for someone else. This subordinate is not married.”
“I’m just calling you that for fun!”
Mo Xi suppressed his anger and replied coldly, “This is no laughing matter.”
“All right, all right, don’t be angry! My sister hasn’t been in the best of health these past few years. She caught a chill again last night, otherwise she would definitely have come to see you.”
Mo Xi knew that Princess Mengze’s declining health was, in fact, closely connected to him.
So he asked, “Is she seriously ill?”
Yanping pressed her lips together, smiling.
“You’ve been exposed to the winds beyond the frontier for two whole years, and you’re still thinking about her? Don’t worry. It’s just a headache and a fever, the same old problem. You know how she is. She’ll be fine after resting for a while.”
Mo Xi said nothing.
“Lord Xihe, my sister has already agreed to become the holy maiden of Chonghua’s sacrificial altar. She’ll never be allowed to marry for the rest of her life. Are you really going to spend your entire life unmarried because of her?”
“…”
“When she pursued you back then, you wouldn’t even spare her a glance. It’s too late to regret it now.”
Yanping stood very close to Mo Xi, enveloped in the cloying fragrance of cosmetics. Jewels and pearls glittered among her black hair, and a peony-shaped forehead ornament in rouge red adorned her brow. She wore a strapless ruqun, and when she smiled, she deliberately leaned forward, making the exposed swell of her pale, snow-white breasts tremble like polished jade.
“Why not consider me instead? I’ve grown up, too. I’m no worse than my sister.”
As she spoke, she reached out with her delicate hand, intending to wind it around his belt.
“It’s just a night in bed. No need to take it so seriously.”
She smiled sweetly, the tip of her rosy tongue appearing between her lips as she licked them.
“You’ll like it.”
It’s just a night in bed. No need to take it so seriously.
Those words could easily rank among the three phrases Mo Xi hated most in his entire life. Princess Yanping had failed to seduce him, yet somehow managed to strike his most sensitive nerve with astonishing precision.
Mo Xi very nearly lost his temper on the spot and smashed his wine cup over her head.
The Tear of Li Jun warned him:
【Warning: Smashing a wine cup over Princess Yanping’s head in public constitutes improper conduct. Character fidelity will be reduced by 10%.】
“…”
Mo Xi forcibly set down the wine cup. After a brief pause, he said icily, “My apologies.”
Then he walked past her.
Outside the hall, the terrace bore a striking resemblance to those found in medieval Europe in the real world. Perhaps when Gu Mang had constructed this fictional world, he had unconsciously incorporated some of his own personal tastes.
Mo Xi took another glass filled with amber-colored liquor from a servant and walked to the edge of the terrace. His long legs, encased in black leather military boots, relaxed slightly as he leaned against the vermilion railing and gazed out at the myriad lights of the city.
That night, the imperial capital of Chonghua was ablaze with lights, turning the darkness into a sleepless sea of brilliance. Soldiers who had laid down their armor were returning to the gentle embrace of their homeland. The lights on earth shone even brighter than the stars in the sky.
At last, away from the suffocating noise of the banquet hall, he could breathe. He closed his eyes for a moment.
He had spent two years getting used to this aristocratic identity, one that attracted admiration wherever he went. Yet he still disliked it. He still could not grow accustomed to it.
If there was one aspect of Lord Xihe’s characterization that felt most alien to him, surely it was this. He had no idea why Gu Mang had given him such an extravagantly privileged background.
When had he ever lived such a life?
It was all too unreal.
Under Gu Mang’s pen, he had become a nobleman born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Only Mo Xi himself knew that, in reality, he had been nothing more than a poor student who could not even afford a decent set of clothes when he was young.
He had no money, and he had a bad temper. At school, the boys mocked him and the girls looked down on him. Even some of the teachers secretly despised him. No matter how stubbornly he refused to admit defeat and how desperately he worked to improve his circumstances, all they ever saw was that shabby old military coat.
Only Gu Mang had been different.
Only Gu Mang had consistently gone out of his way to help Mo Xi fit in with his circle of friends. He would praise this quality and that quality in him, then tell him with unwavering conviction, “You’re such a good person, Mo Xi. One day, you’ll make something of yourself. You’re going to be amazing.”
Later came the college entrance examinations.
Mo Xi entered the police academy, and the military coat his grandfather had left him was replaced by a crisp, dark blue uniform. He grew tall and handsome, resilient and strong. Every year, he was recognized for outstanding performance, and he ranked near the top in every assessment. He earned more and more respect, and after graduation, he repeatedly distinguished himself through meritorious service. His rank climbed higher than that of any other officer from his graduating class.
But no one knew what Mo Xi’s past had been like.
At the beginning of the story, there had been only Gu Mang, carrying his little schoolbag as he walked toward the child sitting quietly in the corner of the classroom.
Sunlight spilled across the room.
He smiled and said, “Hi, my name is Gu Mang. Can I sit next to you?”