Gu Yun looked gloomily at Chang Geng, who had closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing, head in a complete loss, sitting sadly on the side.

There was an ancient saying - 'cultivating one's moral character, managing one's household, peace to the land under heaven'. Gu Yun did not know whether it was because he did not cultivate himself properly or what, but both his family and country were all in a mess, exhausting him to death.

It only took a few steps from the palace to arrive at the manor; even if the carriage was being pulled by a tortoise, they would still arrive in an instant.

When Gu Yun stepped out, a wooden bird flew towards him and directly landed on his shoulder, tilting its head and staring at him.

Suddenly, Gu Yun felt an extended hand behind him. He did not know when Chang Geng had quietly exited the carriage, taking the bird away.

His face appeared just as terrible as before, but its usual calmness had been restored.

Chang Geng held the wooden bird, not rushing to open to see whose letter it was from. While the old butler took the carriage away, he walked over to Gu Yun's side, whispering: "If yifu feels uncomfortable, I can move out, I will not hang around in front of you to be an eyesore, and I will never act out of line again in the future."

The bloody hue in his eyes had all vanished, his lids drooping, his expression appeared cold, revealing a kind of thoughtfulness when one's heart had turned into cold ash.

Gu Yun stood dumbly for a moment, found that there was indeed nothing he could say or do, then turned and left without a word.

Only from early that morning did Ge Chen and Cao Chun Hua know something had gone wrong the night before. They had soon waited at the door for a long time; as they rushed to meet them right then, Gu Yun was utterly silent, moving past them with a grave expression.

Chang Geng watched his back. A slight trace of blood still remained on the corner of his lips, appearing even more exhausted than Gu Yun, who had been kneeling all night.

Ge Chen: "Big brother, what happened?"

Chang Geng shook his head. After Gu Yun's figure had disappeared entirely, only then did he retract his gaze and reach out to lift the wooden bird's lower abdomen, taking out a piece of paper from the middle.

The note read: "At the beginning of the new Emperor's accession, when Marshal Gu escorted the Northern Barbarian Prince, he had fallen seriously ill. The second brother of our family had traveled from Taiyuan for his treatment and did not return until a month later."

Signed with one word, 'Chen'.

There was no telling how long the wooden bird had been flying for; its two wings showed signs of being worn down.