The old butler listened to his voice; although it was weak, it was still reasonable. It was not his place to continue to press the matter. He had to turn back and called the other servants, together with Ge Pang Xiao and Cao Niangzi, who were watching over with concern. They all turned around to look at Chang Geng's door a few times as they took their leave.

Chang Geng sat by the door. As soon as he looked up, he saw the pair of shoulder guards that Gu Yun hung on his bed.

The object was dark and cold, giving off a sense of inhumanity, but it was left there by the original owner in order to dispel his nightmares.

He did not know how long he had sat there. The brazier in the room gradually warmed his cold body. Chang Geng regained a little bit of strength. He climbed up to clean up after himself, changed into new clothes, and found the medicine that his martial arts instructor had given him when he injured himself in a sword training session the other day. He washed the wounds then carefully applied the medicine on them.

He took Gu Yun's shoulder guards down, hugged them in his arms, and laid, face up, on his bed.

He did not cry.

It might have been because there was no strength left, or because he had just shed blood.

Quite often as one already chose the road of shedding blood, they would not shed tears anymore. After all, a person only had a little bit of water; there could only be one side to focus on.

Chang Geng clashed with the enemy destined to entangle with him for a lifetime - utterly defeated, he also came to recognize the power of the opponent.

But it was strange how he felt no fear, much like in Yanhui, when he was alone in Xiu Niang's room, facing the barbarian in Heavy Armor.

He had a kind and gentle attitude, but nothing in this world could ever force him to give in.

Ah... anything except Gu Yun.

Chang Geng thought with exhaustion: "I hate Gu Yun to death."

Then he tried Gu Yun's shoulder guards on himself. He had never worn armor before, and he didn't know whether it could fit. He only felt that this thing pressing on his body was a lot heavier than he imagined. He fell asleep with it on; there were still countless layers of nightmares waiting for him ahead.

The next day, Chang Geng announced that he would like to go out for a while.

The entire manor was shocked. The scene of His Highness being carried out the door by Marshal Gu on New Year's Eve was still vividly in their eyes.

Gu Yun's original words were: "Delay him for three or five days. At that time, we will have already passed the seven major gates to the Northern Frontier. He won't be able to chase after and will have to behave."