“Put something on. You’re a divine healer who treats others; if you catch a cold yourself, that wouldn’t do.”
Zhang Dengqing repeatedly said it wasn’t necessary, truly annoyed by him, and utterly puzzled: “I really don’t understand you, how can you be so composed? These two months, I’ve secretly heard countless soldiers gossiping that the so-called Imperial Inspectorate, led by an imperial princess, is here to investigate a big case, and the heat is now on your Gu family. Wasn’t your own father placed under house arrest for several days? Gu Jinyu aside, how is it that you, a young heir, aren’t anxious at all?”
Gu Pinghan silently crouched beside him: “Is the Divine Physician worried about me?”
“I just find it strange!” Zhang Dengqing denied. “Of course, if your Gu family really has broken some law and gets imprisoned and tried, it would be deserved, and I’d only clap in approval from the sidelines.”
Gu Pinghan looked at the work he was doing: “I originally thought the Divine Physician wasn’t interested in these things.”
“I just find it odd.” Zhang Dengqing was sewing an anti-poison medicine pack. “The war’s looking like a great victory is at hand, how come at this critical juncture a powerful and influential Imperial Inspectorate shows up to investigate fund embezzlement at a time like this?”
Gu Pinghan gave him a hand: “Oh, it’s precisely because victory is assured no matter how muddy the waters get, that they want to treat this place as a stage for fighting over fame and profit.”
Zhang Dengqing quickly looked around, while Gu Pinghan, head lowered, explained to him as if opening a floodgate: “Don’t worry, with me here, there are no idle people around. Fighting for fame means fighting for battle merits and rewards; chasing profit means chasing the remaining huge funds. When we went to war, military command was split five ways, but Jinyu wanted to hog the lion’s share. Of course, he fought the most, and his achievements could swallow it, so he went to contend for it.
“As for chasing profit, I originally thought it would be the Su or Ge family coming to chase. Now looking at it, I understand the imperial family has come to openly chase it themselves. Jinyu dragged this battle out until today; halfway through, nine massive shipments of relief funds came in total. Half of it was squeezed out of the various noble clans by the central government under the banner of protecting the nation. If no one embezzles, the leftovers are difficult to dispose of.
“So whether true or false, this embezzlement charge will definitely be pinned on the other commanders besides Jinyu. Only then can the imperial family rightfully seize those so-called enormous ‘ill-gotten gains.’ Jinyu fights for fame, the imperial family chases profit—the two don’t conflict.”
Zhang Dengqing came somewhat to his senses: “You mean, the Northern Expedition is a raft, and dragging out the warfare and concocting this embezzlement—that’s a duet between Gu Jinyu and the imperial family?”
“They probably only confirmed it midway.” Gu Pinghan’s expression remained indifferent. “He said he was afraid of dying, and that’s true. The Northern Rong were hard to fight at first; their poison was unavoidable. Draining money without spending lives—fighting a war of attrition was the most suitable. Afraid to die but still wanting to vie for power, so he exaggerated to deceive the entire central government into donating relief funds and roped the imperial family into fleecing the sheep together. That’s roughly how it was done.”
Though it sounded simple, after nearly two years of dragging on, Zhang Dengqing didn’t know whether Gu Jinyu had profited or lost.
He became a bit curious: “Did all this come from Gu Jinyu telling you?”
“No need, I guessed. He fights for his, I do my own; watch long enough and you know what he’s thinking.”
Zhang Dengqing frowned: “But given his methods, it’s very likely that your own father could be among those wrongfully accused of embezzlement. Look, your princely father has already been put under house arrest.”
“When he rode off alone that day to shoot his own ‘eldest daughter,’ he certainly wasn’t thinking about being a father.”
Zhang Dengqing was choked: “True… when I heard that news, it stunned me for half a day. Nicely said, it was for the greater cause; but honestly, even a vicious tiger won’t eat its cubs. To fire twelve arrows, how could he be so ruthless?”
“Mm.”
Zhang Dengqing still wanted to say something, but it choked in his throat, so he lowered his head to work.
“I know what you’re thinking in your heart.” Gu Pinghan pursed his lips. “You think our Gu family’s kinship is too cold and thin.”
“Cold-blooded, I suppose.”
“Yes.” Gu Pinghan looked down at the round, cute basket of medicinal pouches he was tying. “I hate Changluo, hate the people of the great clans, and can’t even bring myself to like the Gu family, blood kin included. When I was younger I thought I could just endure it, a life like Father’s or Uncle’s, a big dream where waking or not didn’t matter, who knew…”
He gave a short laugh: “One day I woke up and suddenly didn’t want to follow the rules anymore. I wanted to become a monk, to retreat into Daoism, to castrate myself, to kill myself.”
Zhang Dengqing: “………”
Gu Pinghan’s expression quickly returned to calm: “Leaving Changluo is good. The Gu family doesn’t need two ministers; let Jinyu fight for his weighty court position, while I prefer to connect with the chaotic, blade-and-shadow-filled martial world. Once this war is over, you’ll return to the jianghu, and I can travel with you for another stretch.”
Zhang Dengqing, having been diverted by him, stopped asking about their twisted kinship.
He’d also seen through it anyway: Gu Pinghan was deeply averse to talking about Gu Yan.
Gu Pinghan indeed did not want to talk about it, having no way to begin.
But he still ended up, involuntarily, at the tent where Gu Yan was confined, standing far off and watching, like a wooden puppet in the cold wind.
He could see that Su Mingshao had originally gathered a complete chain of false evidence targeting Gu Jinyu, but Gu Jinyu had prepared early in secret, countering by pinning it all on Gu Yan with forged evidence.
Gu Yan firmly claimed the embezzlement was a frame-up, and during his six days under house arrest, he only requested to see Gu Jinyu, never mentioning Gu Pinghan.
After all, a minor officer like him wasn’t enough to be on the Prince Zhenbei’s radar.
The three words “Prince Zhenbei”—a hereditary noble title, a noble curse of obsession.
Gu Pinghan knew the meaning of his own name, and also knew why Gu Yan had an obsession that surpassed everything—the pacification of Hanzhou and suppression of the Northern Rong.
It was simply inherited.
Gu Pinghan stood in the cold wind for an unknown length of time when a fluttering sound passed; he looked up and saw Blossom Ashes fly ahead of him, plopping some bird droppings.
It didn’t land on his head, for which he was immensely grateful.
A faint bloody scent came from behind him; even in this vast world, Gu Jinyu still habitually walked silently.
Gu Jinyu, still in his battle attire, knew what Gu Pinghan was thinking the moment he saw him standing there: “I’ve come to see Father for the last time. Third Brother, together?”
Gu Pinghan’s eyelid twitched; he was silent for a moment, neither nodding nor shaking his head: “Father never summoned me.”
Gu Jinyu, for once being considerate: “Then I’ll go inside to talk, you listen outside first. I’ll speak with Gao Mingshi.”
Gu Pinghan was quiet another moment, then followed.
Gu Jinyu entered the tent where Gu Yan was confined without any hesitation. Once inside, the tall Prince Zhenbei, undiminished in authority, still sat upright at his desk, leafing through old military documents.
Gu Jinyu stood, giving the manor’s etiquette one last formal recitation: “Senqing pays his respects to Father.”
Gu Yan expressionlessly lifted his eyes to look at him.
Gu Jinyu walked over to sit opposite him, considerately sparing the dignified Prince the need to look up at him: “Senqing is the name I chose for myself. I am not the biological son of the Gu family; this truth has been boiling up in Changluo for nearly half a year. Once I return, the name you bestowed upon me might be changed, so I gave myself a new name early.”
Gu Yan looked at him: “This news was also released by you?”
“Yes.” Gu Jinyu nodded. “I personally told that consumptive surname Su; since he sees me as a thorn in his side, he naturally would spread it far and wide.”
After saying this, he laughed: “But Father, didn’t you ever suspect it was the imperial family’s doing? After all, to show your loyalty to the late Emperor, to declare your devotion, you directly wrote a Confession Letter to him, personally telling the imperial family about the identity swap between me and Xiaodeng. You handed over the knife yourself, and now it’s stabbed back at you—shouldn’t you first reflect a bit on yourself?”
Gu Yan retorted: “Was the charge of embezzlement also a knife I handed over?”
“Otherwise?”
Gu Jinyu casually crossed his legs, speaking as though chatting about everyday matters: “Every generation sees new waves pushing the old, but if you could have properly protected us and fulfilled your duty as a father, I wouldn’t have to lay this blade before you today. Countless confinements and lashings from my childhood need not be mentioned again, but there is one matter for which I still occasionally hate you, Father.”
He looked at Gu Yan: “When I was around ten, you invited a military man—hardly a comrade—into the Gu household to teach me, Third Brother, and Ge Dongchen, who used to come by to sponge. My prince, you clearly knew that martial man was scum with a vile preference for young boys, yet you still invited him in to be our martial arts master. Ge Dongchen was the luckiest; he didn’t know what that master really was, and later even foolishly said, ‘The master died, what a pity.’ Pity for what? Not a pity, right? You once told me about that master’s value—do you still remember?”
Gu Yan remembered and recited word for word: “That was a whetstone I chose for you all.”
“Yes, it was your painstaking effort, your fatherly love as deep as a mountain.” Gu Jinyu laughed. “Watching me draw a bow and kill for the first time at the Winter Hunt—you were pleased, weren’t you? What Third Brother couldn’t do, I did; watching me slaughter freely—you were pleased, weren’t you?”
