Chapter 482 Beating Up Your Scumbag Father (Second Update)
Today is a joyous day for Xiao Heng, who is being promoted, and it is also a day of celebration for Yuan Tang, who has finally escaped the capital.
Lord Gu of the capital was not so lucky. He suddenly felt a chill down his back in the middle of the night, sensing that something big was about to happen. Sure enough, he was arrested before he even woke up in the morning.
He was completely stunned.
What's going on? Why did he arrest me for no reason?
His father was arrested at the border, and he was arrested in the capital. What a mess this is!
"Lord Gu."
The one who arrested him was none other than Xiao Heng's new superior, the Minister of Justice.
Minister Xing said sternly, "You are suspected of deceiving the emperor, and I need you to go to the Ministry of Justice."
Lord Gu was completely dumbfounded: "Wait, explain yourself! Who has deceived the emperor!"
Minister Xing had anticipated his response, so he brought up the guards who had been on duty at the north gate the previous night and asked the leader, "What happened while you were on duty last night? Tell me in detail."
The leading guard said, "Last night, Lord Gu falsely claimed to have received an imperial edict and left the capital through a secret passage at the north gate."
Lord Gu angrily retorted, "I stayed in my residence all night. When did I ever leave the city? And when did I ever forge an imperial edict?"
Minister Xing looked at the guard: "Are you sure you didn't see wrong? Is this Marquis Gu?"
The guard said solemnly, "That man is holding the token of the Marquis of Ding'an, and his voice is exactly the same as that of Lord Gu!"
Lord Gu's eyes turned cold: "Don't make false accusations!"
"What does it look like?" Minister Xing asked.
The guard was intimidated by Lord Gu's imposing presence. He glanced at Minister Xing before saying, "He was wearing a bamboo hat, so I couldn't see him clearly."
Lord Gu was furious: "Go and investigate the manor! I have never left the manor! Someone must be impersonating me! That token is fake too! My token is clearly here—" Lord Gu said, reaching for the token in his wide sleeve, but unexpectedly found nothing.
Huh?
Where is his token?!
"My lord! My lord! Something terrible has happened! The second young master has disappeared!"
It was Huang Zhong's voice.
Gu Chengfeng has disappeared.
Lord Gu's token has also disappeared.
It would be unreasonable for Lord Gu not to be able to guess what happened.
"My lord! Your horse is gone too!"
Lord Gu's fists clenched so tightly they cracked.
Treason!
That unfilial son!
How come we never noticed before that the second son was so audacious!
Without a word, they stole his horse and token, and left the capital under false pretenses!
Why did he leave Beijing?
Go to heaven!
After careful questioning by Minister Xing, it was confirmed that the height and build of the "Lord Gu" from last night basically matched Gu Chengfeng's, and the characteristics of the horse also matched those of Lord Gu's horse.
It's confirmed that Gu Chengfeng is involved.
Although it wasn't Lord Gu who deceived the emperor, his son did, so he, as the father, wasn't exactly innocent either.
The Minister of Justice reported the results of the investigation to the Emperor.
Just as Gu Chengfeng had predicted, his father was severely punished by the emperor with a hundred strokes of the cane. The emperor showed no mercy, and Lord Gu suffered an undeserved calamity, being beaten so badly that he howled in pain.
Huang Zhong had calmed down. He didn't know when his lord had started down the path of getting beaten up and never coming back.
He skillfully carried the person onto the carriage once again.
...
The border was thousands of miles away, and Gu Jiao and Gu Chengfeng were traveling almost non-stop. In order to reach the border as soon as possible, they changed to a better horse at each post station.
The two traveled even at night, but despite this, due to the weather and road conditions, it still took them nearly twenty days to reach the border.
At the end of October, the border region was swept by howling winds and covered in ice for thousands of miles.
Beiyang City, Lingguan City, and Ye City have all fallen. Gu Jiao and Gu Chengfeng are currently in Yuegu City. As expected, Yuegu City will be the next target of the Chen Kingdom's army and the remnants of the previous dynasty.
Perhaps war was imminent, the ancient city of Yue was filled with fear and unease, with few people on the streets and many shops closed.
Gu Jiao and Gu Chengfeng, dressed in thick fox fur coats, led their horses along the somewhat deserted streets. They had noticed long ago that the further north they went, the more desolate the cities became, with many people abandoning their hometowns and fleeing south, either alone or with their families.
"ah!"
A little girl of seven or eight years old was being led by her family and running forward in a hurry, but she accidentally tripped and fell right at Gu Jiao's feet.
Gu Jiao reached out and helped the little girl up.
The little girl's family didn't even have time to thank her before they grabbed their child and left in a panic.
They were worried that if they stayed any longer, the city gates would close, and they wouldn't be able to get out that night.
War is about to break out in Moon City. Although we don't know when it will start, it's always better to leave as soon as possible.
"Hey! You dropped something!" Gu Chengfeng picked up an old rattle drum from the ground.
The little girl turned back to look at the rattle drum, her eyes filled with longing and reluctance.
Her family pulled her away without looking back.
"Sigh, really." Gu Chengfeng hesitated, realizing that there was no use for the rattle drum if he took it. Since the other party didn't want it, he had no choice but to throw it away.
The situation in Moon City was more severe than he had imagined.
He sighed, "It's already like this before the war even starts; who knows what it will be like when the war actually begins."
Gu Jiao knew that in her dream, rivers of blood flowed, corpses of the starving littered the land, the country was shattered, people were displaced, able-bodied men were slaughtered, women and children were bullied, and the border region had become a living hell.
"Should we stay at an inn or a post station tonight?" Gu Chengfeng asked.
"None of them will stay," Gu Jiao said.
"Then where should we stay? We can't just sleep on the street!" Gu Chengfeng looked at the dark sky above. "I think the weather is not right. There might be a blizzard tonight. If we sleep on the street, we'll freeze to death."
Gu Jiao had no intention of sleeping on the streets. She stopped and stood on the snow-covered street.
She felt like she had been here before.
This street didn't appear in my dream.
She pondered for a moment, then led her horse to turn right.
"Hey, where are you going?" Gu Chengfeng asked.
"The Prefect's Residence," Gu Jiao said.
"What are you going there for?" Gu Chengfeng asked, puzzled.
"Stay," Gu Jiao said sparingly.
Gu Chengfeng frowned: "Stay...at the Prefect's residence? Why stay there?"
Gu Jiao led the horse forward, saying, "It doesn't cost any money."
Gu Chengfeng: "..."
Gu Chengfeng didn't ask Gu Jiao how she knew which direction the prefect's mansion was in. Along the way, she was like a walking map, knowing exactly where everything was!
However, the thought that there was something called a map in the world made Gu Chengfeng feel relieved.
The two arrived at the prefect's residence.
There weren't many patrolling guards on the main streets, but the governor's mansion was heavily guarded.
"Who goes there?" A guard walked towards Gu Jiao and her companion.
Gu Jiao didn't say anything, but casually tossed him a token.
The guard was just a lowly soldier on the frontier and didn't recognize anything in the capital, but Gu Jiao had an imposing presence, and both she and Gu Chengfeng were wearing fine fox fur coats, so they were clearly not ordinary people.
The guard entered the prefect's residence with the token.
About fifteen minutes later, a middle-aged man in official robes, holding his official hat and lifting the hem of his robe, jogged over.
Gu Jiao and Gu Chengfeng were both dressed as men, and wore masks on their faces.
The middle-aged man gave the two men a strange look, suppressed his doubts, and bowed, saying, "My surname is Hu, and my name is Hu Hai. I am the clerk of the prefect's office. The prefect is out on business and did not know that you two gentlemen had arrived. Please forgive me for not welcoming you properly!"
Gu Chengfeng waited for Gu Jiao to speak.
Gu Jiao, however, did not.
Gu Chengfeng remembered that this girl couldn't use a falsetto, so he cleared his throat and said, "It's alright."
"May I ask how you two gentlemen are addressed?" Master Hu asked respectfully.
Gu Chengfeng adopted an air of official authority and said, "Our identities cannot be revealed, so please don't ask."
"Ah, yes!" Master Hu returned the token to Gu Chengfeng.
Gu Chengfeng thought for a moment and accepted the answer on Gu Jiao's behalf.
Master Hu invited the two men into the prefect's residence.
Gu Chengfeng said in a pretentious tone, "Let's find a quiet courtyard. We might have to stay in Yuegu City for a few days."
"Yes! Yes! I'll arrange it right away!" Master Hu hurriedly agreed and led the two to a clean courtyard.
There are three rooms in the courtyard. Gu Chengfeng let Gu Jiao stay in the innermost room, and he stayed in the one next door.
"Go and pick a few clever servants," Master Hu said with a smile.
Gu Chengfeng glanced at Gu Jiao, and seeing that she didn't seem to mind, nodded to Master Hu: "Thank you for your trouble."
Master Hu respectfully withdrew from the courtyard.
The steward followed curiously and said, "Master, who are those two people? Why are you being so polite to them? You even let them stay at Liuxiang Courtyard, which was originally..."
He was interrupted halfway through his sentence by Hu Shiye, who whispered, "What do you know? They have Empress Dowager Zhuang's token; they're from the capital!"
The manager was dumbfounded.
...
Gu Jiao didn't care about the uproar her identity had caused in the prefect's mansion. She went inside, took off her mask, and put down her red-tasseled spear and small basket.
It was freezing cold outside, but the house was very warm because of the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed).
Gu Chengfeng walked in, removing his mask as he spoke to her, "Strange, you've been hiding your identity well all this way, why aren't you hiding it here?"
Gu Jiao took off her deerskin gloves: "There's no need to hide anymore, our whereabouts have already been exposed."
Gu Chengfeng's eyes widened: "When was it exposed? How come I didn't know?"
Gu Jiao said, "We'll be exposed once we enter the Moon Ancient City."
In the dream, Gu Chengfeng was being targeted in the Moon Ancient City.
If nothing unexpected happens, someone will come to drug Gu Chengfeng tonight.
Happy Lunar New Year's Eve!
It seems like I'm serializing something every Chinese New Year, and writing every Lunar New Year's Eve.
(End of this chapter)
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