"It's thousands of men like your father, women like your mother, children like you, and old people like Uncle Wang." Gu Shen said, "the place where we live together is called Great Liang. We have a lot of good things here. The silk we wear, the steam carriage we ride when we go out, and even a plate full of….what do you like to eat?"

Gu Yun said, "Meat."

Gu Shen: "..."

The child has no ambitions.

"But there is a place where there's a group of people whose appearance is slightly different from us. They are poor. There is also meat, but not enough to fill the stomach, a lot of it is air-dried." Gu Shen opened Gu Yun's mouth, looked at his row of delicate baby teeth, and shook his head contemptuously. "Anyway, you might not be able to chew it. And it is always not enough. There is no food nor the snacks and candy you eat daily. They are hungry every day. Do you know what hunger is?"

Gu Yun's expression was in awe; obviously, he didn't know.

"So they often exchange food with us." Gu Shen said, "but as it continued, they were not satisfied. They think we give them too little, so they send people to rob us."

Gu Yun's eyes widened, he curled up and hugged one corner of the quilt nervously, as if he was afraid of being robbed of his meat and candy.

Gu Shen said, "That's why Great Liang needs iron armor and someone like your father to keep one side peaceful."

Gu Yun blinked: "Peace?"

Gu Shen picked him up and put him on his own chest. His chest was broad and firm; his heart beat steadily and slowly. He patted Gu Yun on the back and told the child what was called "peace" and "the Black Iron Camp".

He talked about the roaring Heavy Armor, the Eagle that cut the sky, the Light Armor that covered thousands of miles in a day, and how the Black Iron's three armies crossed the northern borders to make wolves bow down.

There was no telling when Gu Yun had fallen asleep. Gu Shen opened his eyes and looked at him. He saw that there was still some redness in the corner of his eyes. A paw grabbed the fabric on his chest, as if wanting to put it into his mouth.

Gu Shen couldn't help thinking, "If you are ambitious, the world will be at peace for another generation."

Then, he felt that he had placed such a big hope on this round meatball, which was a little wistful. He laughed at himself, raised his hand to turn out the steam lamp, and thought to himself, "Well, let's go with the flow."

At least for this moment, Gu Shen of iron blood was still with a coddling and indulgent heart, and wanted his only little son to grow up carefree.

(V)