After being slapped by Madam Xu, Gu Xingnuo shook his head and actually smiled.

Mrs. Xu looked at her hand that had slapped her son in disbelief, as if she couldn't believe that she had actually hit her eldest son. "Xingnuo," Mrs. Xu reached out to touch Gu Xingnuo's face that was hit.

Gu Xingnuo stepped back and slowly sat down on the chair he had just sat on. The sandalwood burning in the incense burner made Gu Xingnuo feel a little dizzy. Young Master Gu covered his face with both hands. What happened caught him off guard and he was now at a loss.

"Xingnuo," Madam Xu called out to her eldest son again, "Xinglang, is he in trouble?"

Gu Xingnuo said: "You hope that Xinglang will get into trouble?"

"How could I," Mrs. Xu stood up from her chair and said, "why would I wish for Xinglang to get into trouble?"

"I managed to escape from the Temple of Eternal Life with great difficulty," Gu Xingnuo put his hands on his knees, looked at Madam Xu with red eyes and said, "You actually sent Xinglang away with your own hands?"

"I don't……"

"You didn't?" Seeing that Madam Xu was still denying it at this time, Gu Xingnuo suddenly raised his voice and said, "Do you think I'm a fool? Can't you see it? Eternal Life Temple, Eternal Life Temple, just believe it yourself, why do you have to drag Xinglang into it?!"

Mrs. Xu was also anxious at this time and asked, "What happened to Xinglang? Tell me, what happened to Xinglang?!"

"Eighteen children are dead!" Gu Xingnuo said angrily, "What do you think happened to Xinglang?"

Madam Xu shook her head and said, "Xinglang is dead? That's impossible."

"Tell me, what did Mo Wen do to Xinglang?" Gu Xingnuo asked Mrs. Xu.

Mrs. Xu turned to face the white jade statue of Guanyin on the shrine, lowered her head, and began to chant again.

"You!" Gu Xingnuo stood up angrily.

"My Xinglang is a blessed man," said Mrs. Xu. "I have always remembered what the host master said in person."

Gu Xingnuo looked at his mother as if he was seeing Madam Xu for the first time. After his father died in the war, his mother became silent and stayed in the Buddhist temple all day long. She was such a quiet person that people could not feel her presence, but now she seemed so strange in Gu Xingnuo's eyes.

After a while, Gu Xingnuo turned around and walked out of the Buddhist hall. He had seen some of Mo Wen's methods of doing things, and this man would not do anything to Gu Xinglang in front of his mother, so he would not get anything out of him even if he stood here and asked.

"Back then," Madam Xu suddenly said when Gu Xingnuo was about to leave, "If you could have stayed in the Eternal Life Temple and become the disciple of the Master, your father might not have died."

Gu Xingnuo stood stiffly in the Buddhist hall.

Mrs. Xu finally said what she had been holding in her heart for many years today. She felt a little regretful, but more of a sense of relief.

Gu Xingnuo slowly turned around and looked at his mother, and whispered: "So, you have been blaming me all these years?"

Mrs. Xu replaced the incense in the burnt-out sandalwood incense burner without answering Gu Xingnuo's question.

Gu Xingnuo took a look at the white jade statue of Guanyin that accompanied his mother every day, and suddenly remembered that this was also a Buddha statue brought back from the Eternal Life Temple. Young Master Gu's eyes suddenly became filled with extreme disgust.

"Xinglang will be fine," Madam Xu said with her back to Gu Xingnuo, "Even if he is sent to prison, he can still become a royal consort. Master Mo Wen is right. Xinglang is a blessed man."

Gu Xingnuo walked out of the Buddhist hall.

"Xinglang will be fine," Mrs. Xu murmured softly, with an expression bordering on paranoia on her face, which had not had many wrinkles after all these years.

Gu Xingnuo walked out of the yard where Madam Xu lived like a sleepwalker, and came face to face with the old man who had rushed over.

The old man looked at his eldest grandson. Gu Xingnuo's face turned pale and he looked bewildered. The old man was startled and asked hurriedly, "What happened?"

Gu Xingnuo turned his head to the side and rubbed his face with his hands. When he turned his head to face the old man again, the expression on Gu Dashao's face returned to normal. He whispered, "Nothing, I just heard that mother is a little unwell."

The old man looked at the housekeeper following behind him and said, "Is Xu feeling unwell?"

The housekeeper glanced at Gu Xingnuo.

Gu Xingnuo smiled slightly, but his eyes were cold.

The butler nodded randomly to the old man. The old man was the head of the house, but which servant would dare to offend the eldest young master?

The old man looked at Madam Xu's yard and asked Gu Xingnuo, "Have you asked a doctor to take a look?"

"It's okay," Gu Xingnuo walked forward and walked back with the old man, saying, "Xinglang and the princess haven't come back yet, my mother got anxious waiting, and she felt a little unwell."

The old man was skeptical, but he couldn't be too involved in his daughter-in-law's affairs, so he said, "We are going to Wangxiang Pass soon. You and Xingyan will be away, so you need to let Sun and Lin take good care of your mother."

"Yes," Gu Xingnuo responded.

"Xinglang and the princess need someone to take care of them," the old man said, "I don't think it's easy to rely on these two."

When Gu Xingnuo heard the old man mention his younger brother, his heart ached, but his biological mother lived in the yard behind him, which made Gu Xingnuo not know what to do, and he didn't even dare to hate.

"What's the situation in the palace?" the old man asked again.

"It's still very messy," Gu Xingnuo whispered, "But Xinglang and the princess are fine."

"Well," the old man nodded and said, "The emperor has allocated another 100,000 soldiers to us. After dawn, you and Xingyan will go to the Ministry of War with me. I can't let those people in the Ministry of War fool me about the troop transfer. Xingnuo?"

"Okay," Gu Xingnuo responded to the old man, but he didn't want to listen to what the old man was saying. Young Master Gu only thought that since Wuhuan knew that Gu Xinglang had been to the Eternal Life Temple, this person should also know what happened to his little brother. Gu Xingnuo secretly clenched his fists. He still had to see Wuhuan early tomorrow morning. No matter what, he had to get to the bottom of this matter.

The old man told Gu Xingnuo about the troop deployment along the way. When they reached the door of the study, he suddenly asked Gu Xingnuo: "When will Xinglang and the princess be back tomorrow?"

"Oh," Gu Xingnuo responded casually, still thinking about his own thoughts.

"You kid!" The old man patted Gu Xingnuo on the shoulder and said, "What's wrong with you? What are you thinking about?"

Gu Xingnuo was brought back to his senses by the old man. He looked at the old man and said, "What?"

The old man looked at Gu Xingnuo with concern and asked, "Did something happen to you? Tell me about it."

"No," Gu Xingnuo smiled at the old man.

"Really?" The old man didn't believe it.

"I just thought that we will leave Beijing in three days," Gu Xingnuo whispered, "Grandfather, after staying in Beijing for so many days, I can't bear to leave the prosperity and bustle of Beijing."

A note to readers:

Here is the first update of today. I hope the system doesn’t go crazy!