What Gu Yun hit him with was the white jade flute: "You see yourself as a pig and a dog, who will see you as a human person? You don't know how to cherish yourself, who are you crying to, seeking to be loved? Are you low or not? Are you low or not? Are you low or not?"

With each of his scolds, he delivered a slash, three slashes in a row onto Chang Geng's palm, all hits were in the same place, the red mark did not spread.

After finishing, Gu Yun used the white jade flute to tilt his chin up: "How other people treat you, what relation does it have with you? Others fear you, respect you, you would become invincible, others abandon you like an old shoe, you would truly become a goddamn mass of mud? Just a barbarian woman who already died eight generations ago, with a meager bit of heretical magic disturbing the mind. Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Chang Geng: "..."

"Your Royal Highness Yan Wang was praised for knowing more than what could be contained in five carts of books*, but do you not know what is called 'self-respect'? What is in your five carts? Toilet paper?" Gu Yun threw the jade flute aside as he spoke and sighed, "You waited all day just to be beaten. Now you've got what you want. Get out of here."

*学富五车, an idiom that means wealthy in knowledge

Chang Geng sat on the bed, grasped his red and swollen palm, slightly relished in the white-hot pain, and looked up at Gu Yun incredibly.

Gu Yun poured himself a cup of herbal tea with his back towards Chang Geng and drank it slowly, as his anger waned out, he asked, "When will the Liangjiang refugees be able to settle down?"

Chang Geng said in a hoarse voice: "... If it's fast - before the end of the year."

Gu Yun asked the same question as Xu Ling: "When can we go to battle at the Northern Frontier and Jiangnan?"

Chang Geng closed his eyes and answered softly, "The internal affairs of the Western countries are not united. From this point of view, we can see that even the pope's position is on the verge of collapse, he will send envoys to negotiate with us within the year. If the plan is taken into account, one or two years of rest and recuperation will enable us to go into battle."

Gu Yun was silent for a moment. "After the war, how long will the peace last?"

Chang Geng: "When the country is strong and powerful, the four sides will fall into place."

"Mm," Gu Yun nodded and said, "You can go ahead."

Chang Geng wasn't able to react for a moment: "Go... Go where?"