Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 62: Turning against guests
The courtyard was quiet, and the two lanterns hanging at the small door were not lit, because Gu Jizu did not go out at night and did not want to be disturbed.

But that night, there was a regular knock on the door.

In a small independent room in the courtyard, Miao Chunniang had wiped off the rouge on her lips and was sitting in front of a bronze mirror, taking off her hair bun and combing her long hair. She heard the maid outside the door say, "Young Madam, Gu Jingnian is here."

Subconsciously, Miao Chunniang was about to put her hair up again, but a moment later she said, "He's here to see the young master this time."

"The young master has fallen asleep."

"I'll ask."

Miao Chunniang simply tied her hair, put on her clothes, and went to Gu Jizu's residence.

At the end of the corridor is a rather mysterious house. Lying at the door is a huge hunting dog. It is very old, with mottled fur. It is said that it once saved Gu Jizu's life on the battlefield and found him from the pile of dead bodies by smelling his scent.

Although in front of outsiders, it was always Miao Chunniang who pushed the wheelchair, but in fact, Miao Chunniang's status in Gu Jizu's heart was far inferior to that of this old hunting dog, and could not compare to a few old servants.

Tiptoeing past the old hound, she knocked on the door.

An old voice sounded in the house.

"Madam, the young master has gone to bed."

"It's Gu Jingnian who has arrived."

Inside the door, the old servant did not respond, turned and walked into the darkness.

Gu Jizu was not asleep. He was sitting in a wheelchair, holding an empty medicine bowl in his hand, in a daze, and no one knew what he was thinking about.

Opposite him, Master Ma squatted carefully, not daring to disturb Master Gu's deep thoughts. After hearing the report, his eyes quickly turned and he bravely reminded: "Master, the medicinal materials are indispensable. We still have to let him go to the border with us."

"Ah."

Gu Jizu responded dully, and then asked someone to bring Gu Jingnian over.

After a while, with a few low and fierce dog barkings outside the door, Gu Jingnian arrived. Miao Chunniang was not qualified to enter, so she saw him off and left.

In this courtyard, she didn't look like a young lady, but more like a maid.

"If I remember correctly, this is the first time you have come to see me on your own initiative." Gu Jizu said, "What's the matter?"

"Gu Jiye wants you to say hello to the doctor of the Ministry of Personnel."

"Any business?"

Gu Jingnian glanced at Master Ma, then at the medicine bowl in Gu Jizu's hand, and asked with rare concern, "Are you taking medicine?"

"Yes, Mr. Ma prescribed medicine for my legs."

Gu Jizu responded calmly, as if he could grow another pair of legs just by drinking the medicine.

Gu Jingnian was in no mood to joke with him. He glanced at Master Ma and thought that since this guy would not feed the tassel to Gu Jizu, if he wanted to cure Gu Jizu's leg, he would have to learn from Huang Hu.

He then asked, "Medicine to strengthen your body? You want to grow leeches on yourself?"

Gu Jizu stroked the medicine bowl with both hands, looked up at him, and said, "If I plan to do this? Would you be willing to feed me some more blood?"

Gu Jingnian was speechless and finally laughed.

"You're a fucking lunatic."

"I'm crazy." Gu Jizu said frankly, "I've been crazy for a long time, but do you know how much I want to stand up again? No, you will never be able to feel it!"

"Boom!"

He smashed the medicine bowl in his hand to the ground, breaking it into pieces and scattering broken porcelain.

When he raised his head again, Gu Jizu's usually calm expression was completely out of control, becoming distorted, hideous and angry.

He stared at Gu Jingnian with red eyes.

"A loser like you has no idea how hard I have worked since I was a child. I have studied literature and martial arts tirelessly. I should have stood very high, accomplished great things, and outshone everyone else. But for more than a decade, I have been sitting here, watching others achieve success, feeling lost inside... That's all. I don't need you to understand. I just need a little bit of your flesh and blood."

After speaking so many words, the silence returned. The waves in Gu Jizu's heart began to surge, but he soon lost interest again.

It's really boring to have a heart-to-heart talk with a monster like Gu Jingnian who can grow a broken leg. It's better to talk about something practical.

"Okay."

Unexpectedly, Gu Jingnian responded straightforwardly, saying, "But the question is not whether you can suck my flesh and blood when you grow a snake heart, but whether you can live until then?"

"If Huang Hu can do it, then I can do it too."

"You only saw Huang Hu, you didn't see the tens of thousands of people who died."

"As a son of a general, what I fear least is the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers for one general's success," said Gu Jizu.

Gu Jingnian said: "Others sacrificed thousands of lives to create peace, but you are willing to kill as many people as you can to stand up for yourself."

“You talk as if you care.” Gu Jizu said calmly.

Gu Jingnian really didn't care how many people died, because Gu Beiming had only taught those great principles to Gu Jizu, and he only overheard a sentence or two from time to time at most.

Anyway, no one has ever asked him to care about the people.

"Well, what are you going to do specifically?"

"I thought you were here to stop me."

"I know myself well. I am just your medicinal material. How can I stop you?" Gu Jingnian said, "I will tell Pei Nian that I have persuaded you to give up those crazy ideas, but you should do it secretly and don't involve the Gu family." "I know." Gu Jizu said, "As long as Si Niang can give birth safely, you won't care what I want to do, right? This is your only request."

We were chatting happily when he suddenly emphasized this sentence.

Gu Jingnian's face turned cold. Feeling his threat, hatred appeared in his eyes again.

"Sometimes I envy you for having a soft spot." Gu Jizu sighed, "Unlike me, I don't have anyone I care about anymore."

"Tell me about your plan." Gu Jingnian's tone became even colder.

"Don't worry about anything else. Just get ready. When the time comes, I will take you to the border."

"Do you know how many people are staring at me?"

"What are they staring at you for?"

"The great pharmacist and the forces behind him are looking for another 'herb'." Gu Jingnian said, "It's not the herb you want, and its efficacy has nothing to do with you."

"understood."

Gu Jizu also felt a little embarrassed. Taking Gu Jingnian away would inevitably attract the attention of the Cage People, Kaiping Division, and many other forces.

The country of Rui strictly prohibits alchemy. Even if he is the eldest son of a general and has made great contributions, once he is discovered doing such a thing, he will be ruined at the least, and his family will be exterminated at the worst.

While Gu Jizu was lost in thought, Master Ma quietly gave Gu Jingnian a look, gently shook one finger, then moved two fingers and made a walking motion.

Gu Jingnian then realized that Master Ma did not want to raise the snake, but wanted to take advantage of Gu Jizu's trip to the border to send Yingyao away.

After a while, Gu Jizu tapped the wheelchair with his fingers and said, "Don't worry, wait until I am ready. You should try not to cause any trouble recently. It is best to resign from the Kaiping Division."

"Okay, there are quite a few spies planted in the mansion by others, let's clear them out."

"I'll do it." Gu Jizu didn't care about these things in the past, but when he spoke, his tone was naturally confident.

Gu Jingnian asked again: "If you don't have your father's support, you may not be able to accomplish this. Will you tell him?"

"Don't worry about it, go ahead."

As soon as Gu Jizu said this, the old servant appeared from the darkness and stood behind Gu Jingnian.

This old servant was very skilled in martial arts. When Gu Jingnian was a child, he often thought that after he outlasted this old man, he would kill Gu Jizu. After so many years, the old servant was older, but seemed even stronger.

Outside the house, the old hound stood up and let out a low growl.

Gu Jingnian had fought with this dog when he was a child. At that time, he was not as tall as the dog and was bitten to pieces. Since then, the dog thought he was weak and could be bullied, and every time it saw him, it wanted to pounce on him and bite him.

In the darkness, the only light came from the lantern in Miao Chunniang's hand, illuminating her graceful figure hazily, adding a bit of beauty.

She took Gu Jingnian and left the suffocating main room, walked to her little house and stopped.

Gu Jingnian almost bumped into her, but stopped himself in time. He only smelled a faint fragrance and a few strands of hair brushing against his face, and then a soft hand held his.

"Relax?" Miao Chunniang asked.

Her voice was soft and her tone was calm. There was no deliberate seduction in her voice, and no coquetry, flattery, or orders. It was just a gentle inquiry between friends.

"No." Gu Jingnian said in the same calm tone.

Miao Chunniang sighed, "There is no one else I can hug. Don't worry, he doesn't care about us."

"No." Gu Jingnian said, "If I develop feelings for you, I'll be a fool."

"Relax, there's nothing to be emotional about."

There was a hint of sarcasm on Miao Chunniang's lips, and it was unclear whether she was mocking herself or him.

She walked Gu Jingnian out of the courtyard and saw that it was pitch black outside the gate, so she handed the lantern in her hand to him.

Gu Jingnian didn't answer and just walked away.

The courtyard door slowly closed again, and the hazy figure of the beautiful but lonely woman holding a lantern gradually disappeared into the darkness...

--------

Gu Jiye did not dare to get too close to Gu Jizu's yard. He waited on the path in the distance. When he saw Gu Jingnian coming out, he walked up to him and asked, "How is it?"

"Brother hasn't expressed his opinion yet, so he should be considering it."

"How long will he have to think about it?"

"I don't know." Gu Jingnian agreed, looked up at the treetops in the courtyard, and said, "Let's drive away all the birds in the house. They are chirping and disturbing my sleep."

After saying this, Gu Jingnian waved Gu Jiye away and went back to his room.

He closed his eyes, calmed down, and gradually he could feel Ying Yao nearby.

At first, he got involved in these things because the Gu family was wrongly accused. He also made up a story to scare Gu Jiye, but he didn't expect that his words would come true, and Gu Jizu really planned to put it into practice.

He was fed up with dealing with this world where the strong prey on the weak, and finally came up with a preliminary plan.

Use Gu Jizu to eliminate the spies left by others around him, find Ying Yao, and send her away; the Great Pharmacist has been staring at Ying Yao, and he must be making a move, so use the caged man to find him, and team up with Pei Nian to get rid of him; as for Gu Jizu, it is impossible to persuade him, so Mei Chengzong can be used to kill him to avoid trouble, since he has been wanted to be killed anyway; finally, take advantage of the conflict between Mei Chengzong and Xu Yun and let them kill each other.

The predators took advantage of him, and he took advantage of them in return.

At night, Gu Jingnian had a dream. He dreamed that he rose up like the human pig who had led an uprising in Yue State that he had heard of today, and killed all those who posed a threat to him. Then he felt relieved.

(End of this chapter)