EHW Ch43part2

Huaiyu, having already eaten, stayed behind, propping his chin as he told Manman the latest gossip he’d heard.

“By the way,” Huaiyu said, “I heard there’s some unrest near Liangshan.
A few merchants from the guild had goods passing through there and haven’t returned. I looked into it, it sounds like fighting may break out soon.”

Gu Yunchuan’s hand, holding chopsticks, paused. A shadow crossed his face.
“No wonder Qin Xuan left so suddenly.”

Gu Fangzhi hadn’t expected Huaiyu to know even that much.

He quickly looked away, whistling innocently, pretending to be very, very busy.

Gu Yunchuan seemed quite intrigued by the topic and pressed for more details.
Gu Huaiyu replied,

“The commander over there used to be someone named Li Hao. As long as you greased his palm, things went smoothly. But apparently, now they’re not letting anyone through because something happened to Li Hao. They replaced him with someone else.”

Gu Fangzhi suddenly choked. “What??”

In The Founding Emperor, the protagonist had originally served under Li Hao as an ordinary foot soldier, quietly unnoticed.

During one fierce battle, Li Hao was cut down from his horse. With defeat imminent and the army in disarray, the protagonist volunteered to take command, using his wits to break through the encirclement and lead the troops to safety, defecting afterward.

That battle was intense, so much so that even as a player one could feel the tension.

Every move had to be calculated carefully; each choice could mean life or death.
And in the end, the protagonist led the army to victory with minimal losses, crippling the enemy’s strength.

It was his first major triumph, the starting point of his rise to the throne.

But according to Gu Fangzhi’s carefully reconstructed plotline, Li Hao’s death wasn’t supposed to happen yet, and their opponent shouldn’t have been Xihu, or Pei Xin.

A sinking feeling hit him.

Could Pei Xin… lose?

Gu Fangzhi suddenly regretted not going with Pei Xin after all.

At least then, he could have seen firsthand how far the main storyline had progressed.

His sudden silence caught the attention of Gu Yunchuan and Gu Huaiyu.
Yunchuan asked, “Fangzhi? Are you feeling unwell?”

Gu Fangzhi blinked out of thought. “Ah… I’m fine.”

But in truth, he was already calculating when to go find the Right Chancellor and ask for advice.

Not that he really needed advice, he had already made up his mind.

He had to go find Pei Xin, both to monitor the story’s progress and to keep an eye on the little emperor himself.

Otherwise, it was too worrying.

Keeping a calm face, Gu Fangzhi finished dinner, then casually announced he was going out for a bit.

Yunchuan took two steps after him. “I was thinking of taking a walk anyway. Let’s go together.”

Gu Fangzhi: “……”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to spend time with his older brother, it was just that tonight’s situation was… special.

He was about to grit his teeth and reload to dodge this sudden “stroll,” but then Yunchuan gave him a knowing look.

Gu Fangzhi froze mid-motion, then changed course.
“Sure. Let’s go together.”

As they walked side by side out the door, Yunchuan said,
“The Emperor went to Liangshan, didn’t he? You’re going to find him?”

Gu Fangzhi: “……”

He could guess that?

So smart!

Did he have extra folds in his brain? Must memorize words like lightning.

Gu Fangzhi almost wanted to pry open his brother’s head and install that brain in his own.

Realizing his gaping expression looked idiotic, Gu Fangzhi quickly reloaded and tried again, this time striking a composed pose, narrowing his eyes against the chilly breeze as he glanced meaningfully at Yunchuan.

Yunchuan met his gaze with an equally meaningful look.

Gu Fangzhi… didn’t understand what it meant.

While he was puzzling over it, Yunchuan said, “I’ll go with you.”

Gu Fangzhi was genuinely stunned. “Big brother, you, ”

“The road is long, and it’s winter,” Yunchuan said seriously. “Bandits are common. I’ve traveled that route before; I know how to avoid danger. If you insist on going, I won’t stop you. A man should serve his country. But if I don’t go with you, I won’t be at ease.”

Gu Fangzhi suddenly felt his eyes sting.

This world… it wasn’t just a game anymore.

The people he’d met here weren’t scripted NPCs bound by code, Yunchuan, Huaiyu, little Manman… even that perpetually sulky emperor all felt vividly, painfully real.

He nodded firmly.

Then he hurried to find the Right Chancellor. The old man tried to dissuade him, but seeing Gu Fangzhi’s determination, he gave up, ordering horses, supplies, and four guards to accompany him.

As Yunchuan had said, the road was treacherous.

In winter, icy roads and snow were the least of their troubles.

Even on official routes, mountain bandits appeared eight or nine times out of ten.

Fortunately, thanks to Gu Fangzhi’s ability to save and reload, he practically burned through his save slots but managed to reach safely, without even losing a hair.

Yunchuan couldn’t help but marvel.
“Our luck’s been incredible. And we’ve made good time. If nothing goes wrong, we should arrive by noon tomorrow.”

Gu Fangzhi just smiled faintly, hiding his true power level.

The next day, Liangshan, military camp.

Pei Xin leaned casually against a wooden fence, a long riding crop dangling from his gloved hand.

He’d just returned from patrol.

The black cloak over his shoulders still carried the scent of snow and cold wind.
He toyed with the whip idly, wrapping and unwrapping it around his fingers.

Beside him stood Qin Xuan and several officers.

Behind the fence, less than a meter away, a man hung suspended by his wrists, head drooping weakly.

He was the spy they’d caught the night before.

When his identity was exposed, he’d bitten down on the poison hidden in his molar, trying to kill himself.

By coincidence, or rather, misfortune, just as the man should’ve died, Pei Xin’s vision went black.

When he opened his eyes again, time had rewound by an incense stick’s length, the spy had just been captured.

Rushing to act, Pei Xin and his physicians managed to dig half the poison out of the man’s mouth in time.

The doctors worked through the night.

Good news: the man survived.

Bad news: the poison had left him half-witted.

But not completely, he could still speak, with fragments of memory remaining.
The problem was, his speech was garbled: switching randomly between Xihu, Central dialect, and Liao Moon language.

His pronunciation was slurred and his words barely intelligible.

They couldn’t find an interpreter fluent in all three tongues, except Pei Xin.

So Pei Xin handled the interrogation himself.

Leaning casually against the post, he questioned the spy in one tongue after another, switching rhythm and tone effortlessly as the whip coiled lazily in his hand.

His voice, calm and deep, carried an oddly captivating cadence.

He interrogated for a long time, tracing every detail from the man’s name and origin to who he served.

Piece by piece, he parsed through the slurred syllables until he extracted everything.

When it was done, Pei Xin glanced at the scribe nearby.
Seeing that all was recorded, he straightened and turned to leave.

But as he took two steps, he realized everyone, including Qin Xuan, was staring at him.

He frowned. “…What?”

One of his lieutenants, who had served under him before, spoke up.
“Your tempe- ah- sir’s temper seems… much better than before.”

Pei Xin: “……”

He was known for being decisive to the point of ruthless.

He hated long-winded nonsense; anyone who spoke too slowly usually got snapped at.

But now?

He’d just spent an entire hour patiently translating a half-crazed man’s gibberish.

Was this really their once short-tempered little tyrant?

Had someone possessed him?

Pei Xin: “…………”

Thanks for the question. No, not possessed. Just trained, by two living nightmares.

After all, patience was a survival skill when you had two dads like that.

Forget enduring an hour, he could now calmly repeat the same sentence for an hour.

Could anyone else manage that?

His mood was oddly serene, seasoned, even, with a quiet bitterness.

Thinking of Gu Fangzhi, Pei Xin suddenly wondered what that man was doing right now.
Usually, the “living dad” would rewind during the day and leave him alone at night.

But lately, it had been the opposite, rewinds only happened at night, waking him abruptly mid-sleep.

Exhilarating, in a terrible way.

Though he’d often grumbled that Gu Fangzhi haunted him like the wind…after so many days apart, he had to admit, he did miss him, a little.

Yesterday, he’d even found himself eating a piece of osmanthus cake, for no reason at all.

Maybe he’d just been too exhausted these past few nights.

He couldn’t sleep properly anymore.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, a deputy entered the tent.

“Sir.”

Pei Xin asked lazily, “What is it?”

“At the city gates, we stopped a few men,” the deputy said. “They say they’re from the capital. Here to see you.”

Pei Xin assumed it was an urgent dispatch. “Who?”

The man stepped closer, whispering two names by his ear.

Pei Xin tilted his head, face twisting with confusion.

“…Who?”

The deputy repeated,
“Gu Yunchuan and Gu Fangzhi. We verified their tokens, they’re genuine.”

His living dad? And his living dad’s brother?

At Liangshan?

Here to find him?

Pei Xin’s brows furrowed, his expression shifting from puzzlement… to disbelief… and finally, something faintly pleased.

He asked quietly, “Where are they?”

“They’re just-”

Before the deputy could finish, Pei Xin had already started striding out, long legs carrying him forward swiftly.

The whip spun a quick, playful loop in his gloved hand.