Gu Yun managed to catch a large weak point of Shen Yi from out of nowhere. He was in a very good mood, his waist was no longer sore and his back was no longer painful. He ushered his horse forward, whistling a tune that sounded not much different than his flute playing ability.

"Gu Zi Xi!" Shen Yi gritted his teeth, catching up with him. "You... You..."

You bastard!

In broad daylight, to avoid insulting his superior on the open street, Shen Yi used all his strength to suppress the latter part of the sentence.

After Gu Yun had entertained himself enough using Shen Yi, they dismissed their family guards and walked to the Imperial City together. Only then did he say with seriousness: "Miss Chen's character is not bad, she also has a lot of ability - as for the likes of you, I guess she should have no problem beating three or five at a time."

Although this sentence asked for a beating of its own, Shen Yi did not feel offended at this moment, he listened with relish - especially when Gu Yun talked about the first time he met Chen Qing Xu on the traitor's ship many years ago, Shen Yi sighed with grief and regret, wishing that he could insert himself into that moment.

"As for her temperament, likes and dislikes... I don't know very well either. Maybe Chang Geng is even closer with her." Gu Yun said, "But there is one thing, I need to tell you about her family background."

"Chen family of the Shanxi manor, I know," Shen Yi answered. "With many generations of doctors, practicing medicine to save people. Their family style is very clean and honest."

Gu Yun gave a slight huff: "You investigate so thoroughly, are you planning to come and ask for her hand in marriage?"

Shen Yi said, "Three letters and six etiquettes*, of course, cannot be lacking."

*traditional Chinese pre-wedding custom

Gu Yun: "..."

This brother of his was an odd person. In his early years, he read a basket of books and was deeply poisoned by the family traditions. However, people only teach etiquette to outsiders, and act proper and decent towards outsiders. After closing the door, they each showed their dirty side only to themselves, not affecting anyone, they all understood each other's false image of decency.

Only this Shen was different. From an outsider's point of view, he abandoned Han Lin to enter Ling Shu, and later degenerated into the rank of soldier, infamous for 'deviating from the classics and betraying the Tao'. But inside, he was a true upright and proper man of 'see no evil, hear no evil', to the point of even though he had been mingling with a group of veteran soldiers all day long, he was not stained with their mud for over ten years.