Chapter 283 Siblings (First Update)
Gu Changqing's hand missed its target and remained frozen beside his temple for a long time.
Gu Yan remained silent and did not even glance at him, making it easy to sense her resistance.
However, Gu Changqing wasn't sure if this resistance was directed only at her or at all men. After all, having been disgusted by Tang Ming, it was normal for her to be averse to being touched by others.
Thinking this, Gu Changqing lowered his hand, which had been frozen in mid-air, and gazed at Gu Yan with a tenderness that he himself did not realize: "When did you wake up?"
"Good morning," Gu Yan said softly, his eyes lowered and his tone somewhat distant.
His appearance pained Gu Changqing, who regretted not cutting off Tang Ming's arm. A strand of hair fell down from his temple, resting on his thin cheek.
Gu Changqing subconsciously raised his hand, wanting to brush away the unruly strand of hair, but before he could touch it, he remembered his current situation and silently lowered his hand.
"I just came to see you."
He spoke cautiously, not daring to get too close to Gu Yan, partly because he was afraid of accidentally triggering Gu Yan's bad memories, and partly... he couldn't explain it himself.
It's as if Gu Yan is different from before, and their relationship has also undergone some kind of change.
He didn't want to think too deeply about it, so he could only use Tang Ming as an excuse, believing that everything was because of Tang Ming.
Gu Changqing stared intently at Gu Yan: "It's getting late, you should get some rest. I have other things to do, so I'll be leaving now."
After saying that, he stood up, intending to leave, but then paused, his gaze falling on the medicine barrel that had lost most of its heat, and bent down.
Gu Yan replied, "No need, I want to soak a little longer."
“…Okay.” Gu Changqing responded, put the towel she was holding back on the medicine bucket, and said to him, “Then I’m leaving.”
Gu Yan remained silent.
Except for the moment when Gu Changqing entered, when Gu Yan glanced at him (whoever it was, he didn't know who it was), Gu Yan didn't look at him again until Gu Changqing left.
He heard Gu Changqing leave the house.
But whether it was just his imagination or not, he also heard the sound of chains.
The chains on Gu Changqing's feet were completely cut off, but a small piece remained on his hands. After he went out, it accidentally fell out of his sleeve and bumped into the shackles.
Gu Changqing quickly pressed down on the iron chain, looked back at the house, as if looking at Gu Yan through the heavy night.
He quickly looked away, then mounted his horse.
He rode back to the military camp.
As soon as they arrived at the camp gate, a large group of soldiers, fully equipped and ready to go, surrounded them. The soldier who had been knocked unconscious by Gu Changqing earlier had woken up and was standing next to Hu, the deputy general in charge.
"Ah! Lord Hu! It's Commandant Gu!" The soldier spotted Gu Changqing, drew his sword, and though frightened, resolutely stood in front of Deputy General Hu. "He's the one who killed Xiao Zheng and Liu Yi! He even knocked my subordinate unconscious!"
His gaze toward Gu Changqing was filled with hatred and wariness, completely unaware that if Gu Changqing hadn't deliberately knocked him unconscious, he would now be facing a charge of dereliction of duty, given his stunned state at the time.
Gu Changqing is a case in point.
Doing the best things, bearing the worst reputation.
Never explain, never clarify.
Deputy General Hu looked at Gu Changqing with a complicated expression: "Take Commandant Gu down!"
The crowd swarmed forward, surrounding Gu Changqing. However, the intimidating presence of the cold-faced Yama was still there, and no one dared to be the first to rush forward and capture him.
Gu Changqing dismounted.
The crowd pointed their spears at him, but involuntarily took a step back.
Gu Changqing slowly stretched out his hands, surrendering without resistance.
Only then did the crowd muster their courage and step forward with the shackles. They looked at him warily, then steeled themselves to unlock and remove his old shackles, replacing them with two new ones.
Deputy General Hu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Take him back to the torture chamber and await Lord Tang's judgment tomorrow!"
It rained heavily all night until dawn.
Because it rained at night, the ground was wet, and Xiao Jingkong slipped and fell again when he went out.
Gu Jiao picked him up, wiped his little hands, changed his clothes, and sent him to school.
The Hanlin Academy staff start their shifts very early, and Xiao Liulang set off before dawn.
After sending Xiao Jingkong to the Imperial College, Gu Jiao turned around and went to the clinic.
The second landlord was directing his servants to load boxes of medicine onto the carriage.
Gu Jiao looked at it and asked, "Where is this going to be sent?"
The second landlord said, "Little Gu is here! I haven't seen you for a few days. How's everything at home?"
Gu Jiao hadn't come to the clinic these past few days, saying she was busy at home. She didn't elaborate on what she was busy with, and the second boss wisely refrained from asking further.
"Yes, everything is fine." Gu Jiao nodded.
The second landlord was relieved and said, "These are a new batch of wound medicine, which need to be sent to Tiger Mountain Camp. I will have Doctor Song and Xiao Sanzi deliver them in a while."
"I'll go," Gu Jiao said.
The second landlord frowned: "You're going? It just rained last night, the roads are difficult to travel on, I'm afraid the carriage will slip."
"I'll go." Gu Jiao's attitude was very firm.
The second master knew her temperament; once she made up her mind, nothing could change it, especially since it was just delivering medicine. He told Xiao Sanzi to slow down the carriage.
"Then don't rush on your way. Also," as if he had thought of something, he whispered a reminder, "Something happened at Tiger Mountain Camp these past few days. Lord Tang's nephew was injured. Be careful when you deliver the medicine, and don't bump into anyone."
"I know," Gu Jiao replied.
After the goods were loaded, Gu Jiao and Xiao Sanzi went to the Tiger Mountain camp.
It rained last night, and the sky hasn't cleared up much today. It's gloomy, and vultures are circling overhead.
Just as they were about to arrive at Tiger Mountain Camp, Gu Jiao unexpectedly ran into Gu Chengfeng.
Gu Chengfeng had just arrived. He got off the carriage from the Ding'an Marquis's residence. Gu Jiao was still sitting inside the carriage, but he recognized Xiao Sanzi and asked, "Who's in the carriage?"
Gu Jiao lifted the curtain.
"It's you? What brings you here?" Gu Chengfeng entered uninvited, boarded Gu Jiao's carriage, and said to Xiao Sanzi, "Keep an eye out, call us if anyone comes."
Xiao Sanzi didn't rush to answer him. Instead, he looked at Gu Jiao and saw her nod slightly. Only then did he jump off the carriage and cautiously keep watch for the two of them.
This is the official road leading to the Tiger Mountain Camp. Five hundred steps ahead is the camp, which is within the camp's territory. Ordinary people would not easily come here.
They were soldiers coming and going from the camp, but there weren't many of them.
Seeing that it was safe around them, Gu Chengfeng said to Gu Jiao, "Have you heard about what happened last night? My brother is really foolish. How could he force his way out of prison in the middle of the night? Although he hasn't been convicted yet, he still holds an official position and is in the military camp. Escaping without permission will be treated as desertion! I really don't understand where he went in the middle of the night—"
At this point, Gu Chengfeng noticed that Gu Jiao had remained silent. His gaze fell on Gu Jiao's unsurprised face, and his eyes widened. "Do you know where your older brother went last night?"
Gu Jiao didn't say anything.
Of course she knew.
She came over to change Gu Yan's dressing, and just as she reached the door, she saw Gu Changqing ride away in front of her. Gu Changqing had already passed by, so he didn't see her.
Although no word had leaked out, she had treated Tang Ming's injuries and guessed that Gu Changqing had hurt him so badly, and also guessed that Gu Changqing might be imprisoned in the military camp for investigation.
A person under investigation is not supposed to leave the camp without permission; she just came to check on Gu Changqing today.
"Big brother didn't go to Biyue Alley, did he?" Gu Chengfeng asked tentatively. Seeing Gu Jiao's tacit agreement, he stood up abruptly. "Did you go to see Gu Yan—ah—"
He got up too quickly and forgot that he was in a carriage in the clinic, which was not as tall as the carriage in the Marquis's mansion. His head hit the roof of the carriage, and he gasped in pain.
"Ahhh!"
He shouted.
Whether it was pain or madness, the eldest brother's act of visiting Gu Yan was inconsolable.
"Have you called me enough?" Gu Jiao asked him indifferently.
Gu Chengfeng snorted, thinking to himself, "How could I possibly yell as loudly as you? Once you sober up, you don't even remember how you grabbed my ear and howled like a madman all the way here!"
Gu Chengfeng sat down again, his emotions subsiding, leaving him only with a bewildered and dejected look: "You should know that my elder brother is imprisoned, right? He escaped from prison last night. His actions are equivalent to desertion, which is punishable by death, not to mention that he also killed someone."
Gu Jiao frowned: "He killed someone?"
Gu Chengfeng lowered his head and said sadly, "I killed two guards. The news reached the Marquis's residence last night, and my grandfather rushed over overnight. He hasn't returned this morning. I guess things might not be going well, so I wanted to come and see my elder brother. I thought you knew."
"I don't know." Gu Jiao never expected that Gu Changqing would kill someone to escape from prison; it didn't seem like something he would do.
Gu Chengfeng thought so too.
He said, “I don’t believe my elder brother would indiscriminately kill innocent people, and neither does my grandfather. But the evidence is overwhelming. It’s said that someone saw my elder brother holding a blood-stained sword, standing next to two dead soldiers. However, the soldier who witnessed this wasn’t silenced by my elder brother. If my elder brother was really so depraved as to indiscriminately kill innocent people, why leave a witness alive?”
Gu Jiao remained silent.
Gu Chengfeng's analysis made a lot of sense, but it would take someone to believe it. Gu Changqing had killed Tang Ming first, which had thoroughly offended Grand Marshal Tang. Grand Marshal Tang would not let go of this great opportunity to execute Gu Changqing.
Gu Jiao said, "Let's meet the person first."
Gu Chengfeng had no objection: "Okay, I'll take you in."
Gu Chengfeng thought that as the son of a marquis, bringing a maid into the military camp shouldn't be a problem. If all else failed, he could just say that Gu Jiao was the daughter of a marquis, which should at least give him some face.
When they arrived at the military camp gate, the two were stopped.
The reason given is that no unauthorized personnel are allowed to enter!
"What kind of 'unauthorized person' are you! I am a member of the Marquis of Ding'an's household!" Gu Chengfeng was furious.
However, the soldiers refused to let them pass: "This is the order of the Grand Marshal of the Army and the People's Liberation Army. There is nothing we can do about it."
Gu Jiao slowly lifted the curtain and handed over a token: "Medicine deliveryman." She pointed to Gu Chengfeng, "He's a worker at our clinic."
Gu Chengfeng: I...I...when did I become a clinic employee?!
The soldier took the identification card and examined it, then looked at Gu Chengfeng suspiciously: "Is he a young master from the Marquis's mansion or a clerk from the clinic?"
Gu Chengfeng hesitated for a long time before replying, "Medical...medical clinic worker."
The soldier returned the token to Gu Jiao: "Don't stay too long, come out after you deliver the medicine."
"Okay." Gu Jiao took back the card.
Gu Chengfeng was completely dumbfounded. What? In this day and age, the title of the legitimate son of a marquis's family is not as useful as that of a shop assistant in a medical clinic?
The two entered the military camp, where the same physician was checking the medicine. Having dealt with Miaoshoutang several times, they were quite familiar with each other. In addition, Miaoshoutang's wound medicine was indeed more effective than ordinary wound medicine, so he was very polite to Gu Jiao.
He knew Gu Jiao wasn't the type to cause trouble, so when Gu Jiao went out, he assumed she was just going out for some fresh air and didn't stop her.
Gu Chengfeng took Gu Jiao to the torture chamber where Gu Changqing was being held.
Tang Yueshan had given an order that no one was allowed to visit Gu Changqing, but the two of them were lucky today, as the guards recognized Gu Jiao: "Miss Gu!"
"You know him?" Gu Chengfeng looked astonished.
"A brief encounter." Once, Gu Jiao came to the military camp to deliver medicine and happened to see a soldier collapse with abdominal pain. She treated him without charging him.
Gu Jiao said, "I'll go in and check on him, I'll be out in a bit."
"Well... alright, Miss Gu, hurry up. If my companion comes over and finds out I let you in, it'll be a big problem."
"Mm." Gu Jiao nodded.
The soldier furtively opened the door for Gu Jiao: "Go quickly, Miss Gu."
Gu Chengfeng: This works too?
The two entered the torture chamber.
Gu Changqing sat alone against the wall on a musty straw mat. The door to the torture chamber was opened, and blinding light shone in, but he didn't even lift his eyelids.
"Big brother!"
Only when he heard Gu Chengfeng's voice did he turn around with a sullen face. When he saw that Gu Jiao was also there, his expression turned even colder: "What are you doing here?"
In just a few days, Gu Changqing had become so haggard that he looked like a completely different person. His cheeks were stained with blood, his lips were chapped, his eyes had lost their sparkle, and stubble had grown around his lips, the faint bluish ring of which pained Gu Chengfeng's heart.
"You shouldn't have come. Go back now." Gu Changqing forced himself to suppress the emotions churning inside him, coldly turning his face away from Gu Jiao and Gu Chengfeng.
The two of them naturally wouldn't leave.
Since we're already here, we should at least get to the bottom of this.
Gu Jiao knelt down on one knee beside him, placed the small basket on the ground, and took out a water bag from it for him.
“I’m not thirsty,” Gu Changqing said.
Gu Jiao placed the water pouch on the straw mat next to him: "Why did you suddenly go to see Gu Yan? Who led you there?"
Her question was so direct that it caught Gu Changqing off guard.
Gu Jiao said, "You don't have to tell me, I'll find out myself."
Gu Changqing's heart tightened, and he said, "Don't investigate, don't get involved."
Gu Jiao looked at him and said, "Then tell me."
Gu Changqing hesitated for a long time, closed his eyes, and slowly said, "It's Feishuang."
"Cough!" Gu Chengfeng choked. "Feifeifei...Feishuang?"
Gu Changqing said, "That's right, I fought with him, and I recognize the mask he wore and the hidden weapons he used."
Gu Chengfeng retorted, "It couldn't be him!"
"How do you know it wasn't him?" Gu Changqing asked, then suddenly realized something was off. "You know Feishuang?"
It's not surprising that Gu Jiao knew. Gu Jiao had fought with Fei Shuang before, and Gu Changqing had told her personally that the person was Fei Shuang.
But Gu Chengfeng, this spoiled brat, is either at the academy or in the Marquis's mansion. How could he possibly know about the people in the martial arts world?
"I...I heard it from her!" Gu Chengfeng decisively shifted the blame to Gu Jiao.
At this point, Gu Changqing realized that the two had come together. Gu Jiao had previously sought out Gu Chengfeng to learn calligraphy at the Marquis's residence, although it was actually extortion.
But Gu Changqing didn't know that.
Does the younger sister prefer her second brother?
Gu Chengfeng: "Brother, believe me, it's not Feishuang."
Gu Changqing: "How can you be so sure?"
"...It's her again!" Gu Chengfeng continued to shift the blame to Gu Jiao, "She said she ran into Feishuang last night and told me on her way here!"
Gu Jiao: "..."
Is it acceptable to keep shifting the blame?
Gu Changqing frowned and looked at Gu Jiao: "Feishuang is causing you trouble again?"
Gu Jiao said without changing her expression, "No, it was just a coincidence. He was drunk, completely drunk."
Gu Chengfeng's lips twitched.
“The person I fought last night didn’t smell of alcohol.” Gu Changqing thought about it carefully. The other party’s movement technique was not very similar. The reason he identified Fei Shuang was mainly because of the mask and the hidden weapons on the ground.
Gu Chengfeng asked, "So, brother, you broke out of prison to hunt down Feishuang?"
Gu Changqing shook his head: "No, he told me that someone wanted to take my life, and if they couldn't take mine, they would take A-Yan's, so that they could vent their hatred."
Gu Chengfeng felt a pang of sadness. Was the prison break really because he was worried about Gu Yan? Was Gu Yan that important? Who was it that said they wouldn't acknowledge Gu Yan back then?
But look at what they've done now?
He'd risk his life for Gu Yan!
Doesn't he know what the consequences will be if he rushes out like that?
Or perhaps he didn't realize that this was a trap deliberately set for him by the other party?
No, how could he not see that?
But he just wasn't willing to take that gamble.
Gu Chengfeng felt as if a ball of fire was burning in his chest, causing pain to his internal organs.
He turned around, his eyes red and swollen, and ran out!
"Miss Gu, someone's coming!" a soldier warned.
Gu Jiao left the water pouch with Gu Changqing and then came out of the torture chamber herself.
Gu Chengfeng wiped away his tears and stormed forward, saying angrily, "Leave me alone!"
Gu Jiao: I didn't intend to talk to you either.
(End of this chapter)
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