Chapter 135 You can hit him, scold him, but please don't leave him.
Gu Nanxiao and Yunxi put on human skin masks, changed into the clothes of Taoist boys, and were led by Taoist Qingfeng towards the East Palace. They took a small path, so they passed many abandoned palaces.
The two saw a group of guards gambling in a secluded palace. As they passed two concubines' sleeping quarters, they heard obscene and lewd sounds coming from inside.
Seeing the palace in its current state, Gu Nanxiao gripped the tray so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
He never imagined that just thirty years after his grandfather handed the throne to his uncle, it would become what it is today.
Seeing the chaos in the harem, Yunxi couldn't help but shake her head and sigh. It's true what they say, like emperor, like soldiers. The emperor's licentiousness and debauchery naturally inspire his followers. The once solemn and dignified palace has now become a den of debauchery.
They arrived at the Eastern Palace without any hindrance or inspection along the way. What they found, however, was the Crown Prince, who was already unconscious.
The Crown Princess glanced at Master Qingfeng and the two young Taoist disciples, one tall and one short, behind him, and then waved away the concubines of the Eastern Palace who were kneeling on the ground and weeping.
Master Qingfeng took out a red pill and handed it to the Crown Princess, asking her to dissolve it in water and give it to the Crown Prince.
After everyone waited for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the Crown Prince finally groggily awoke. His cloudy gaze swept around the room, finally settling on the tall Taoist boy.
Gu Nanxiao slowly removed the human skin mask, knelt down before the Crown Prince's bed, and whispered, "Cousin Crown Prince..."
With just one sentence, the eyes of the two brothers both welled up with tears.
The Crown Prince laboriously reached out his hand to Gu Nanxiao, who immediately understood and grasped the Crown Prince's withered hand in return.
The two brothers looked at each other for a moment, seemingly saying nothing, but in reality, it was as if they had exchanged a thousand words.
After a while, the Crown Prince calmed down a bit and ordered his wife to bring him the brocade box. Soon after, the Crown Princess returned with a sandalwood brocade box and handed it to the Crown Prince.
With difficulty, the Crown Prince took out a tiger tally from the brocade box. He handed it to Gu Nanxiao with trembling hands, and said in a hoarse voice, "Cousin Xiao, do your best to protect the people of my Great Yan."
The tiger tally, which seemed to have no weight, felt as heavy as a thousand pounds when Gu Nanxiao received it. This was his cousin, the Crown Prince, entrusting him with his final wish, and it was also what he had always hoped for.
The crown prince knew that this awakening would likely be the last time he opened his eyes. Therefore, he wanted to finish explaining the most important matters as soon as possible.
Then, he turned his gaze to Yunxi and gestured for everyone to leave first, as he had something to say to Yunxi alone.
Gu Nanxiao, Daoist Qingfeng, and the Crown Princess all withdrew from the hall and waited at the door.
When only the two of them remained in the room, the Crown Prince gave Yunxi a weak smile.
Although his gaunt face no longer bore the mark of his former gentle and refined appearance, his still warm gaze remained reassuring.
The Crown Prince took a deep breath and slowly said, "I know that Miss Zhao is no ordinary person, so I have a request."
Please, Miss Zhao, use your profound knowledge to benefit the people of this region and assist your cousin Xiao in becoming a wise ruler.
Xiao's cousin does have some personality flaws, because he has received far too little love in his life.
In the three years you were away from him, he relied on self-harm every night to get through it all. Thank goodness you came back, otherwise he might have gone completely insane one day.
I can tell that he truly loves and respects you, so I also hope that you can stay by his side for a long, long time.
If he acts up again, you can hit him or yell at him, but never leave him again.
Upon hearing this, Yunxi's eyes widened in disbelief, but after a moment, she realized that this was indeed something Gu Nanxiao was capable of doing. At the same time, a wave of bitterness welled up in her heart.
The Crown Prince then told Yunxi several amusing anecdotes about Gu Nanxiao's childhood. Only after seeing the genuine love in her eyes did he feel at ease allowing her to leave the palace with Gu Nanxiao.
He then summoned the Crown Princess, saying that he had some time left and wanted to spend some more time with his beloved wife.
Seeing Gu Nanxiao and the others outside the hall looking very heavy-hearted, Yunxi's mood wasn't much better.
Just as the two were about to leave the East Palace, they heard an extremely mournful cry coming from the Crown Prince's bedchamber.
The two paused, but seeing more and more people pouring into the palace, they didn't dare turn back and hurriedly left the palace.
Just as they were about to leave the palace gates, someone suddenly shouted, "The Eastern Palace is on fire! The Crown Princess went with the Crown Prince!"
Yunxi froze upon hearing this, but Gu Nanxiao grabbed her hand and quickly led her out of the palace gate. If it weren't for the slight trembling of Gu Nanxiao's arm, one would have thought he truly didn't care, judging solely from his expression.
Yunxi and Gu Nanxiao only briefly met with Qi Jinxiu before hastily leaving the capital amidst the chaos.
Instead of returning directly to their fiefdoms, they took the tiger tally and went to the Tiger Roar Army's encampment in the Northern Frontier. Once there, Gu Nanxiao successfully used the tiger tally to mobilize 150,000 Tiger Roar Army soldiers.
Subsequently, an equal number of Northwest Army troops were sent from the fiefdom to reorganize with the Tiger Roar Army. The commander of the Tiger Roar Army was then replaced by Feng Xun. Shen's maternal uncle was promoted to Grand General.
As the saying goes, "A new emperor brings a new court," and Shen's uncle showed great cooperation with Gu Nanxiao's orders throughout the entire process.
He was never one to crave power, and now that the Tiger Roar Army was back in the hands of his brave and resourceful nephew, he was quite at ease.
Otherwise, if one day the imperial court, in a desperate situation, were to cut off their supplies to force them to surrender, he would have no way to support an army of 300,000 men on his own.
Rather than letting this fierce and powerful army fall into the hands of that licentious and tyrannical emperor, it would be better to support his own nephew to the throne, at least he still carries half of the Shen family bloodline.
I believe that the Empress Dowager and the Princess Consort would be happy to see this happen.
Thanks to Qi Jinxiu's cover-up, the Emperor was completely unaware of the Tiger Roar Army's movements.
At this time, the Great Yan court had almost become a one-man show by Qi Jinxiu. Apart from him and Daoist Qingfeng, the emperor basically no longer met with anyone.
After a year, crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, and yams in the Northwest achieved an unprecedented bumper harvest.
Countless grain merchants from all over the country flocked to the area, transporting these inexpensive yet filling foods and seeds to sell throughout the country.
From that year onward, Gu Nanxiao's fiefdom began to flourish. They also built several official roads to facilitate trade with merchants from other regions.
Many technical schools were also established, open to both men and women, and in a short period of time, a large number of talents were trained for various industries.
The Empress Dowager and the Princess Consort both changed their opinion of Yunxi a lot. In fact, they even pleaded for Gu Nanxiao on his behalf, hoping that Yunxi would agree to marry Gu Nanxiao as soon as possible.
That year, Gu Nanxiao changed his strategy for pursuing Yunxi. He shifted from an aggressive and forceful approach to constantly enticing her.
Just then, Gu Nanxiao knew that Yunxi was soaking in the hot spring, so he quietly followed her in. In front of Yunxi, he slowly took off his clothes, layer by layer.
He revealed his strong waist, splashing water on himself while teasing Yunxi with his alluring peach blossom eyes.
Yunxi is a sucker for good looks, so naturally she couldn't resist such flirting. This time, Yunxi took the initiative to get closer. And it has to be said, this method was indeed effective.
With Yunxi taking the initiative, the nightmare-like situation from before did not occur again.
Yunxi didn't know when, but her feet had moved on their own and she was standing in front of Gu Nanxiao. Her hands were also uncontrollably placed on his well-defined eight-pack abs.
Just as she was about to slide down the V-line, she suddenly saw the dense knife marks on Gu Nanxiao's thigh hidden in the hot spring.
Yunxi had always kept a distance from Gu Nanxiao because of her inner turmoil. Naturally, she was able to see the scars he had left behind.
If we calculate based on 365 days in a year, then the knife marks on his legs must be at least a thousand, it seems he really was self-harming every night.
Yunxi's distress overshadowed the romantic atmosphere between them. She raised her hand and pinched Gu Nanxiao's waist hard, questioning him with a hint of anger:
"Who told you to hurt my beloved Xiao Lang like this?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com