Chapter 56: Who Can Have Everything Their Way

Hua Cangming, the young man with a resolute and firm expression, bowed respectfully to Gu Liubai and said, "I am Hua Cangming. My father is Zou Jianan's own maternal uncle, and I am his cousin. Thank you."

"No need for formalities, we are just helping each other out," Gu Liubai replied with a slight smile. "Since you have handled the border passes according to my instructions, my name from now on is Gu Ningxi."

"I will accompany you back to Youzhou, and the border passes will be delivered to us by noon tomorrow," Hua Cangming bowed once more.

He felt a deep sense of reverence for Gu Liubai at this moment and did not quite dare to meet his eyes.

"That is very good." Gu Liubai smiled faintly and said nothing more.

Zou Suoyi and Steward Wu were still lying motionless, it being unclear whether they were genuinely unconscious or merely feigning it.

The line of carriages in the rear had also fallen into a dead silence, with not a single person inside the carriages daring to move.

The old woman had cried to the point where she could weep no more, while Zhou Lü'er was still howling with great vigor.

Gu Liubai glanced at Zhou Lü'er and reminded him, "Zhou Lü'er, this is your great-grandmother."

"Great-grandmother?" Zhou Lü'er had never heard this term beyond the frontier.

Gu Liubai explained, "It means your father's grandmother, family. Your father is her grandson, and you are her great-grandson."

Zhou Lü'er didn't care to figure out all the other details, but the moment he heard the word "family," he let out another loud howl, crying, "I have family?"

The old woman, who had previously been too exhausted to cry, suddenly found the strength anew. "My precious great-grandson, yes, you have come home, you have family. Great-grandmother has failed you!"

Zhou Lü'er's face was covered in snot and tears, yet the old woman did not mind at all. Suddenly, Zhou Lü'er raised his head, looked at Gu Liubai, and wailed, "Brother Fifteen, I have family, but you don't."

Gu Liubai was rendered speechless. Zhou Lü'er, you certainly know how to say the right things.

Chen Tu saw that Zhou Lü'er and the old woman were going to keep howling for a while longer, and finding it difficult to hold back any further, he leaned closer to Gu Liubai and whispered, "Gu Fifteen, Brother He is so formidable, why didn't you give me a heads-up beforehand?"

Gu Liubai smiled. "I was afraid that if I told you, you would think I was just bragging."

Chen Tu gave a bitter laugh, feeling that was indeed a distinct possibility.

"He reached the eighth rank and yet almost died, lost a hand, and was nearly eaten by wolves." Chen Tu could not help taking a deep breath, asking softly, "That hardly sounds simple either."

"The internal affairs of the Buddhist sect are still being investigated by He Huoluo. It cannot be explained clearly in a moment, and He Huoluo is unwilling to bring it up, so you shouldn't ask him," Gu Liubai said earnestly.

Chen Tu recalled He Huoluo's reticent demeanor earlier and nodded involuntarily.

"Zhou Lü'er, tell your great-grandmother to rest, and by the way, deal with this bunch of people."

Gu Liubai knew that based on Zhou Lü'er's physical stamina, he would likely howl for at least the entire night. However, seeing the old woman's exhaustion from travel and the severe mental shock she had suffered, if things dragged on any longer, she would likely fall seriously ill.

Zhou Lü'er obeyed him implicitly.

He wiped the snot and tears from his face, instantly halting his weeping and wailing, and hugged the old woman as he said, "Great-grandmother, take a rest."

This single address of "great-grandmother" stirred the old woman's grief anew, and tears streamed down her weathered face. "My good great-grandson even knows how to care for people now. Great-grandmother truly has failed you."

"It's fine, as long as great-grandmother treats me well from now on." Zhou Lü'er genuinely did not mind; he could simply sense that the old woman before him, much like Gu Liubai, truly regarded him as family.

"Great-grandmother will definitely treat you well." Supported by Zhou Lü'er and Hua Cangming, the old woman tremblingly stood straight.

"All of them back to the camp with us, not a single one allowed to be missing."

Having spoken just these few words, she was completely drained of strength, her entire body trembling.

Yet the carriage convoy of Zou Suoyi and Steward Wu seemed to have finally ushered in its judgment. The entire convoy was shrouded in a strange atmosphere; not only were Zou Suoyi and Steward Wu dragged up from the ground, but even the deceased Black Flood Dragon Swordsman, whose chest bones had been entirely shattered, was loaded onto a carriage.

To say not a single one could be missing meant precisely that.

Because she was the eldest elder of the Youzhou Zou clan, a lady of the first-rank patent of honor, and the two deceased Zou clan censors-in-chief were both her sons.

Her maiden surname was Hua, and her paternal family was the Youzhou Hua clan. The current Youzhou Military Governor, Hua Huaixian, had to address her as his great-aunt.

The convoy did not return to the town of Longlezi, but instead headed toward the border military encampment to the east of the town.

This was a garrison used by the border army for troop training, featuring dozens of buildings in addition to tents.

Before the arrival of the convoy, the border troops here had already cleared out several rooms and tents in the very center of the encampment. The two bathing rooms were filled with rising steam, and bathwater had already been prepared, infused with mugwort and emitting a faint fragrance of the herb.

Except for a few generals, all the soldiers had withdrawn from the encampment and were patrolling its perimeter.

Chen Tu looked at the border soldiers patrolling the camp's periphery, his eyes filled with emotion.

These men might inspect their border passes at the checkpoint tomorrow, yet tonight they had surrendered the encampment's finest quarters to them and even stood guard on their behalf.

Just as before, the Yangguan checkpoint, which should have been exceptionally difficult to pass, had been negotiated with absolute ease simply by finding that group of greedy guards.

Gu Fifteen was right: worldly affairs were complex, but as long as one found the right approach, everything would be resolved effortlessly.

Even a scion of a top-tier aristocratic family like Pei Yunquu might not have been able to secure such conveniences from the border army, yet matters that were difficult for the powerful figures of Chang'an to accomplish were not particularly hard for the Youzhou Military Governor's side.

The scene Chen Tu had most hoped to witness finally unfolded.

Zhou Lü'er and Gu Liubai finally began their baths.

The two of them began scrubbing away years of accumulated grime from each other in the bathhouse.

Chen Tu had originally intended to wash up as well, but after watching the two of them casually scrub for a moment—stirring up a layer of sludge in the pool—he quickly dismissed the thought.

Lady Zou showed an excessive and unmistakable fondness for Zhou Lü'er.

She seemed terrified that Zhou Lü'er would vanish from her sight once more. Lacking the physical strength to keep watch outside the bathhouse herself, she had assigned Hua Cangming to stand guard outside, terrified of any mishap.

An old lady in her eighties, nearly ninety, had personally come to receive her great-grandson.

The son of the Youzhou Military Governor, a fourth-rank military officer, was acting as a bathhouse guard.

Chen Tu felt that even storytellers could never dream up such a plot.

The crucial question was: how on earth had this Zhou Lü'er turned out to be Lady Zou's great-grandson?

...

The two steaming rooms served distinct purposes: one was the bathhouse, and the other was designated for Zhou Lü'er and Gu Liubai to change their clothes.

When Zhou Lü'er and Gu Liubai emerged from their bath, Hua Cangming delivered two sets of clean garments inside.

Zhou Lü'er's skin was flushed bright red from the bath. Having scrubbed away all the grime, he appeared even thinner, the joints of his spine protruding like the beads of an abacus.

His entire body was as red as a monkey's rump, making the birthmark on his posterior all the more striking.

The robe Hua Cangming had prepared for him was still somewhat large, but Zhou Lü'er was thoroughly satisfied with it—it was lightweight, warm, and featured a large fur collar that would prevent the wind from blowing down his neck.

"I heard from Brother Fifteen that you are from my great-grandmother's maternal family, which makes you my cousin?" Zhou Lü'er was naturally quick to warm up to people. Although Hua Cangming appeared rather stern, after locking eyes with him, Zhou Lü'er sensed that he was a good person.

Hua Cangming nodded. "What Mr. Gu said is correct."

Zhou Lü'er was instantly delighted. "Then cousin, we should get closer in the future."

"Naturally." Hua Cangming took a deep breath. He had never imagined that Zou Jianan was still alive, let alone that he would turn out to be a youth of this sort. On the journey to Longlezi Town, he had imagined that even if Zou Jianan were truly alive and had endured so much hardship, he would appear aggrieved, fragile, and gloomy.

Yet the Zhou Lü'er before him was so optimistic and cheerful, his weeping and wailing expressed with such uninhibited vigor.

"Your great-grandmother is of advanced age and needs proper rest, otherwise the subsequent travel will easily make her fall ill," Hua Cangming said softly, looking at Zhou Lü'er, who seemed entirely unacquainted with sorrow. "Later, when you go out to let her have a look at you, how about resting in the tent right beside hers?"

"Will do." Zhou Lü'er agreed readily. "Cousin Hua, you're a good person."

Hua Cangming didn't quite know how to respond to that, suddenly hesitating, "How about... you sleep inside her tent and coax her into resting as soon as possible?"

Zhou Lü'er understood his intentions instantly. "Will do, I'll go right now and coax great-grandmother to sleep."

"Mr. Gu, as for those people, I plan to let the old lady question them tomorrow after she wakes up. I will escort Jianan over first. Could I have a few words with you alone afterward?" Hua Cangming asked earnestly, looking at Gu Liubai.

Gu Liubai smiled faintly. "Of course."

"Then Brother Fifteen, I'm going to go coax great-grandmother to sleep."

"Go on, go on."

It was merely a few steps away; the tent chosen by Lady Zou herself happened to be the one closest to these two rooms.

By the time Hua Cangming walked back, Gu Liubai had just finished changing his clothes.

Without showing any favoritism, the padded jacket and robe prepared for him matched the style of Zhou Lü'er's: a grey brocade jacket with silver hidden patterns, lined with soft fur and topped with a fox-fur collar.

When Hua Cangming had met Gu Liubai earlier, he had merely thought the man possessed refined features. But now, thoroughly washed and attired in this outfit, Hua Cangming felt that Gu Liubai exuded an extraordinarily transcendent aura.

Especially when Gu Liubai casually used a wooden twig to pin his hair into a Daoist bun, this otherworldly and transcendent quality reached its peak in Hua Cangming's eyes.

When Zhou Lü'er wore this attire, he looked somewhat like someone who had stolen his clothes; ordinary aristocratic scions wearing such garments looked like wealthy young masters; yet Gu Liubai wore the exact same attire with an air of complete distinction, his aura entirely divorced from the luxury of the fabric.

"Please follow me, sir."

Hua Cangming was at least ten years older than Gu Liubai, yet he maintained a constant and profound respect toward him. He led Gu Liubai into a tent, had someone bring over hot tea to wash away the greasy scent of dog meat, and then spoke with solemn caution, his voice low: "I do not know if Mr. Gu is aware, but in truth, Zou Jianan's exile beyond the frontier was connected to a decision made by Lady Zou back then."

Gu Liubai took a sip of tea, shook his head, and said, "I am not familiar with the particulars of the matter, but I know Zhou Lü'er is the posthumous child of Lady Zou's eldest grandson. He was sent beyond the frontier before he was two years old, which certainly involves significant issues. Only in recent years did I learn that the Zou family has never given up searching, and I could confirm that Lady Zou always wanted him to return alive."

An expression of thinly veiled worry appeared in Hua Cangming's eyes. "My younger sister holds Lady Zou's deep affection and frequently visits to keep her company. The old lady told her on several occasions that if Zhou Lü'er could not be found, if there remained no news of him, she would die with everlasting regret and refuse to be buried in the Zou family ancestral tombs after her death."

Gu Liubai furrowed his brow slightly. "It sounds as though she harbors a sense of guilt?"

Hua Cangming gave a bitter laugh. "Zou Jianan was a posthumous child, and the old lady had always favored her eldest grandson the most. Naturally, that affection transferred onto Zou Jianan. Even Zou Jianan's name was personally chosen for him by an eminent monk from Chang'an at her request, carrying the auspicious meanings of kindness, good fortune, beauty, and optimism."

Gu Liubai smiled. "It suits the current Zhou Lü'er quite well."

Hua Cangming nodded, continuing, "It was simply that Zou Jianan was congenitally deficient, weighing merely four and a half catties at birth. Afterward, he suffered from one major and minor illness after another; on one occasion, he fell so gravely ill that his breathing stopped entirely, and they thought he was beyond saving."

Gu Liubai nodded as well. "My mother said he possessed a fierce life-force. When they rescued him, his body had already grown cold."

Hua Cangming took a deep breath, taking a long moment to regain his composure before speaking. "An eminent monk from Chang'an was passing through Youzhou at the time, wishing to travel to Tianzhu. Before his departure, he told the old lady that if Jianan remained in Youzhou, he would surely die. If she wanted him to survive, she had to send him to stay near Loulan for a full three years. Though reluctant beyond measure, the old lady finally made her decision, having Jianan sent to Loulan. Yet who could have anticipated that shortly after the convoy crossed the frontier, it would be ambushed, vanishing without a trace. She had imagined she would see her lively great-grandson bounding back after three years, never expecting that thirteen years would pass before she saw him again."

Gu Liubai smiled with deep emotion. "Perhaps the world witnessed by that eminent monk differed from ours. He perceived trajectories invisible to ordinary mortals, yet no matter how closely one's intellect approaches that of the divine, complete omniscience remains an impossibility."