Chapter 36: 36

The next day, when Mu Zhiming finally woke up, he realized that it was already dawn. After turning his head, Mu Zhiming noticed that Gu Heyan was no longer in the room. After that, Mu Zhiming slowly sat up on the bed as he pressed his left hand against his forehead. When he finally began to feel sanity returning to his body, Mu Zhiming banged his head in disgust.

The first thought that came to his mind after waking up was: ‘I want to die.’

After all, his whole body felt uncomfortable, he had a terrible headache, and even though his stomach was clearly empty, it felt like it was churning.

The second thought was: ‘I still want to die.’

Given that he couldn’t remember what had happened last night. The last thing Mu Zhiming remembered was that he had asked Gu Heyan to knock him out.

The third thought was: ‘I really, really want to die.’

Although Mu Zhiming doesn’t remember what happened last night, he knew that he must have done something crazy in his drunken state.

When Mu Zhiming was 12 years old, he drank realgar wine1 at the reunion banquet of the Mid-Autumn Festival2. When he woke up the next day, he found himself covered with ink stains. Caiwei told him that he got drunk and copied the discipline rules like a madman. No one was capable of stopping him.

The thing was, he didn’t write on paper, but on the walls, tables, clothes, quilts, and vases. Where he could write, he didn’t, and where he shouldn’t write, he did.

Since then, Mu Zhiming had rarely tasted wine. In cases when he had to attend a meeting where drinking was plentiful, Mu Zhiming always made sure to drink as little as possible so as not to get drunk.

Unexpectedly, this time, Mu Zhiming had overindulged in drinking to the point of losing control.

”
”
‘And it just had to happen in front of Gu Heyan too.’

With both hands squeezing his head, Mu Zhiming collapsed on the bed, trying to remember what had happened last night. However, no matter how hard he tried, his memory remained as empty as it currently was.

Just as Mu Zhiming was crying inside his heart, the door of the room was opened and Gu Heyan calmly walked in.

Taken aback, Mu Zhiming looked up, only to meet Gu Heyan’s gaze. After what felt like a long time, Gu Heyan was the first to look away and began to walk towards the bed. Upon arrival, Gu Heyan placed something in Mu Zhiming’s hand.

It was a bowl of warm, sweet and glutinous millet porridge to nourish the stomach. This was exactly what Mu Zhiming, who had a hangover and stomach ache, needed the most.

“Ah….Thank you.” Mu Zhiming hurried to thank him.

Gu Heyan nodded, and with a voice that didn’t waver, he said: “Drink it.”

Mu Zhiming picked up the spoon, and as he gently stirred the millet porridge, he said sarcastically: “He-xiong, was I….drunk last night?”

Gu Heyan: “Hmm.”

Mu Zhiming smiled awkwardly: “I didn’t do anything out of line, did I? I….can’t remember anything….”

Gu Heyan’s eyes trembled slightly as he asked: “You don’t remember?”

“No, I don’t.” Mu Zhiming looked at Gu Heyan’s face carefully. “Ever since I was a kid, I get drunk easily and will do crazy things. I can’t remember anything I did while drunk after waking up the next day. Did I scare you last night? Did I overdo something?”

Gu Heyan whispered: “No.”

“I apologize anyway.” Mu Zhiming said. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

“If you don’t hurry to drink the porridge, it will get cold.” Gu Heyan said.

“I’ll drink it now.” Mu Zhiming hurriedly lowered his head to drink the porridge. Through the corner of his eyes, he observed Gu Heyan. After seeing that Gu Heyan looked as calm as usual, and didn’t show any kind of dislike or discomfort towards him, Mu Zhiming thought: ‘Can it be possible that last night I really didn’t go mad and fell asleep right after I got drunk?’

After drinking the porridge, Mu Zhiming’s stomach felt much more comfortable. So, Mu Zhiming and Gu Heyan began to discuss their next trip.

Now that all of the questions they wanted to understand had been answered by the stone, the logical thing would be to return to the barracks. However, there was one thing that still remained on Mu Zhiming’s mind.

“He-xiong, do you remember the young woman we met when we first arrived at the village? The one who was fetching water.” Mu Zhiming asked.

“Mm-hmm.” Gu Heyan nodded.

“She mentioned an old woman. She said that this old woman was the only one in the village who knew why the stone would protect the village from being plundered by the Gouji Kingdom.” Mu Zhiming said. “I want to meet her. I’ve been thinking that she may know something, something we may want to know about.”

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Gu Heyan: “Then we’ll go see her.”

—

Mu Zhiming and Gu Heyan first went to look for the young woman they had met before, who enthusiastically told them the old woman lived at the end of the village and was surnamed Feng. After they thanked the young woman, they went to the end of the village, where they saw an old ancestral temple surrounded by sandalwood and smoke. There were several children kicking and playing with stones in the open space in front of them.

Mu Zhiming walked forward with a smile: “May I ask if any of you knows Granny Feng?”

A boy with pigtails looked up at him: “Are you looking for my grandma?”

“Granny Feng is your grandmother?” When Mu Zhiming’s eyes fell on the little kid, and squatted down near the boy to be at his level. With a gentle smile, Mu Zhiming said: “Can you take me to her?”

“Alright.” The boy nodded and led Mu Zhiming and Gu Heyan towards a yellow loess house, which was next to the ancestral temple. Before they could reach the courtyard, the little boy ran in with scattered feet. “Dad, Mom! Someone wants to see Grandma!”

The people in the village were very friendly, and this family was no exception. After welcoming Mu Zhiming and Gu Heyan into the house, they asked about the purpose of their visit.

Mu Zhiming bowed and said: “We have traveled here to record local customs, and we’re very interested in the calligraphy and painting on the big stone at the front of the village. We heard that Granny Fang knows what they mean, so we came to ask for advice.”

“So that it is.” The host nodded and said somewhat awkwardly: “Granny is not feeling well today and has a slight headache, so she has just gone to rest. Why don’t you two come back tomorrow afternoon?”

“Such a bad coincidence.” Mu Zhiming said regretfully. “Then we’ll come visit tomorrow.”

After they bid their farewell to the family, Mu Zhiming and Gu Heyan went back to the inn in silence. When they came close to the inn, Mu Zhiming couldn’t stop himself from asking: “Did I….really not do anything weird last night?”

When Gu Heyan glanced at Mu Zhiming, he could see Mu Zhiming’s face was filled with bitterness from not knowing what he really did while he was drunk: “You climbed up the gate at the entrance of the village.”

Mu Zhiming: “….What? The village gate? Did I climb it? Huh? How did I get there?”

Gu Heyan shook his head.

Feeling both helpless and amused, Mu Zhiming said: “Then how did I get here?”

After hesitating for a brief moment, Gu Heyan finally said: “I carried you.”

Mu Zhiming was stunned, but after reacting, he hurried to bow: “Thank you for taking care of me, He-xiong.”

Gu Heyan said softly: “It’s nothing.”

Mu Zhiming breathed a sigh of relief after finally knowing what he did, but right after, he felt a bit of annoyance.

‘Why can’t I remember that? Wouldn’t it be a waste if I can’t even remember what Gu Heyan did to make me behave and carry me on his back?’

Mu Zhiming and Gu Heyan entered the inn, but the second they stepped foot inside, they both froze in place.

The small inn, which hadn’t received any guests for a long time, had a new client. The man looked like a swordsman, dressed in thick, dark gray cotton clothing. He was sitting by a window, and when he heard a sound coming from the door, he glanced over. After seeing Mu Zhiming and Gu Heyan, the mysterious man’s eyes showed a bit of surprise.

After all, the war had just ended, and this village was too close to the Gouji Kingdom. It would be impossible for ordinary people to dare to come to this remote village for the time being.

As the man’s eyes turned towards Gu Heyan and Mu Zhiming, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. However, he soon indifferently withdrew his gaze.

Mu Zhiming, on the other hand, was shocked to see that man’s face. For fear of exposing his thoughts, Mu Zhiming looked at the ground. In a panic, Mu Zhiming suddenly forgot how to walk, and froze in place.

“What’s wrong?” Gu Heyan asked in a low voice, after sensing that something wasn’t right.

“Nothing, let’s go to our room.” Mu Zhiming smiled at Gu Heyan.

Gu Heyan didn’t ask any further questions and walked towards the second floor. Mu Zhiming followed him close behind, his smile slowly disappearing.

Mu Zhiming knew who that man was. His name is Xiao Ren, and he’s Fu Yi’s secret bodyguard!

In his previous life, Mu Zhiming met him once. At that time, he felt that this man was greedy and considered money the most important thing in life. Mu Zhiming even once asked Fu Yi why he had such a person by his side as a secret bodyguard. Fu Yi replied: “As long as you give him money, he will do his job properly. Don’t worry.”

‘Why is Xiao Ren at the border? Could it be related to something Fu Yi appointed him to do?’

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