FIMA Ch84: The Minister Can

Gu Siyuan glanced at the clothes on him and said calmly: “The crane cloak on the Sixth Highness looks somewhat familiar?”

This was clearly the one he had draped over him last time seeing him cold.

Xie Xuan blinked his eyes, seemingly knowing nothing, and said with a beaming smile: “Is that so? This Prince picked it up in the courtyard, thought it looked pretty good, and just made do wearing it.”

“…” Gu Siyuan.

His ability to spout nonsense with a straight face has reached a certain realm.

He slightly raised his sword eyebrows, smiling yet not smiling: “Indeed worthy of being the Sixth Prince’s courtyard, with outstanding people and fine geomancy, to actually be able to pick up such clothes casually on the ground?”

Xie Xuan smiled widely: “General Gu feels these clothes are pretty good, and this Prince feels the same way…”

Not only did he say so, but he also lowered his head, leaned close to smell it, and reached out his slender, cold jade-like fingers to gently touch it.

The movements were gentle, carrying infinite affection. It was unknown whether he was touching the clothes or touching a certain person through the clothes.

Addicted to playing.

Gu Siyuan sneered: “Not as much as the Sixth Highness who is thrifty and manages the household well, daring to wear even picked-up clothes.”

“Thrifty is easy to say,” Xie Xuan rested his chin on his slender wrist and blinked at him: “Managing the household, how is this calculated? General Gu… whose household does you want this Prince to manage?”

Gu Siyuan stared into his cunning and beautiful eyes, and then looked at his clean and beautiful white jade-like wrist, which was extremely dazzling before his eyes. He wanted to hold it in his palm to play with carefully, and also wanted to forcefully snap it.

After a long while, he settled his state of mind.

Not planning to talk nonsense with this guy anymore, he directly raised his hand, grabbed the crane cloak, exerted slight force, and pulled both the person and the clothes over.

“Probably managing my, Gu’s, household. After all, a clear ‘Gu’ character is embroidered on the bottom corner of this crane cloak’s large hem.”

As he spoke, his clear and cold gaze swept downwards.

Caught off guard, Xie Xuan fell onto his lap. Being exposed, he wasn’t embarrassed, but directly rested his chin on his hands, lying on the knee of the person in front of him. Looking up, he continued to tease: “How could this Prince go manage General Gu’s household? Isn’t that the General’s wife’s job… Oh, no, this Prince actually forgot, General Gu swore solemnly last time that you don’t plan to marry, and also domineeringly wouldn’t let this Prince marry either. Could it be… General Gu had this idea early on?”

Gu Siyuan lowered his eyebrows to scrutinize the person on his knee, reaching out to pinch those bright red lips that kept opening and closing. His gaze was terrifyingly deep, and his voice even heavier: “You better not let it continue speaking, otherwise, I’m afraid the Sixth Highness will truly get to know what ‘domineering’ is, and what ‘insubordination’ is?”

“…” Xie Xuan seemed to realize he had teased too far. Sticking out his bright red little tongue, he smiled ingratiatingly: “Just a joke, why is General Gu so stingy, truly reluctant to part with a single crane cloak. This Prince will just return it to you.”

Xie Xuan spoke readily, and indeed immediately reached out to pull that crane cloak.

However, as soon as his hand touched the collar tie, the movements of his fine white fingers visibly slowed down.

First, he leisurely unfastened the buckle strap, but somehow, he accidentally touched the collar of the single unlined garment inside. Thus, his fair, delicate collarbone was instantly exposed.

Yet Xie Xuan acted as if he knew nothing, continuing to take off the entire crane cloak, holding it with a few fine, white jade-like fingers: “Here, returning it to General Gu then.”

His black hair draped over his shoulders, his skin transparently white under the moonlight, like an alluring demon.

Gu Siyuan narrowed his eyes. While taking the crane cloak, he grabbed his wrist at the same time.

The next moment, his palm slowly moved toward the collar again, about to caress that delicate collarbone and the large area of smooth, fair skin exposed.

Then, Gu Siyuan turned his palm, pulled the collar down to tighten it, draped the crane cloak back on, retied the straps, and said seriously: “Don’t act up, I’m not the one drinking bitter medicine if you get sick.”

“…” Xie Xuan.

All the romantic mood is gone.

He hurriedly tightened the crane cloak, covering his neck tightly as well.

After a long while, Xie Xuan looked at Gu Siyuan with his pitch-black eyes, smiling yet not smiling: “No wonder everyone says General Gu has a heart of iron and stone, remaining unperturbed even with a beauty present.”

Gu Siyuan raised an eyebrow, saying unhurriedly: “Why doesn’t the Sixth Highness consider, perhaps the present beauty isn’t enough?”

“…” Xie Xuan.

What do you mean?

From childhood to adulthood, he had seen people call him many things, but never seen anyone call him ugly.

Xie Xuan reached out, grabbed a pastry from the table, and took a fierce, big bite, seemingly treating it as an object to vent his anger.

Watching his furious appearance, Gu Siyuan found it amusing in his heart, but his face remained impassive.

Instead, he reached out to hold his thin, fragile wrist. The pulse was faint, but already much better than before.

“It seems you’ve obediently drunk the medicine these past days.”

Speaking of this, Xie Xuan got angry again, puffing his cheeks and saying: “What kind of medicine is that of yours, bitter to death.”

Gu Siyuan sneered: “The medicines the Sixth Highness drank before were all not bitter, but were they useful?”

Xie Xuan thought about how he indeed felt much more comfortable these days.

Last time in the small garden of the Ningshou Palace, after Gu Siyuan took his pulse, he presented a medical prescription the next day, saying it could cure his illness and needed to be drunk every day.

Xie Xuan started drinking medicine from the time he could eat, falling sick intermittently every year.

This was a weakness brought from the womb. The imperial physicians in the palace, the best in the world, couldn’t cure it, and he had long stopped expecting it.

However, he had some interest in Gu Siyuan’s medical skills, and inexplicably believed Gu Siyuan would absolutely not harm him, so he intermittently bought the medicine from outside and drank it for a while.

Unexpectedly, his body had been feeling much more comfortable recently.

Although his hands and feet were still cold, he could sleep soundly every day now.

Xie Xuan looked at Gu Siyuan, saying probingly: “This Prince truly didn’t expect that General Gu’s medical skills were actually much more superb than the imperial physicians.”

Gu Siyuan pinched his chin, met his cunning eyes, and said carelessly: “Since the Sixth Highness bought medicine outside the palace, didn’t you casually have someone look at the prescription? Do you not know this is used for detoxification?”

Xie Xuan’s condition wasn’t an illness at all, but poison.

The poison was very slight; it wouldn’t kill a person, but it would make one weak year-round, ruining the foundation bit by bit.

It wasn’t that the imperial physicians in the palace couldn’t cure it, they just didn’t dare to cure it.

The night wind blew in through the window, and the black hair draped over his shoulders gently tickled his cheeks.

Xie Xuan reached out to tuck the strands of hair behind his ear, his chin rubbing gently against Gu Siyuan’s broad palm, smiling faintly: “Oh my, General Gu truly loves to take things seriously. This Prince just wanted to take the opportunity to praise General Gu.”

Gu Siyuan’s expression remained unchanged, his palm slowly moving up to cover his beautiful eyes, saying calmly: “Stop smiling, it’s really ugly.”

“Alright.” Xie Xuan wasn’t angry, but indeed stopped smiling.

His whole person looked blank, like a lifeless, beautiful porcelain doll.

However, the next moment, his whole person woke up from the sluggishness. A tremendous force came from his arm, and then his whole person left the ground, sitting on a warm thigh.

Gu Siyuan held the person in his arms, pointing to the table nearby: “Before I came, what were you doing?”

Xie Xuan tried hard to ignore this intimate posture, puffed his cheeks, and answered: “Imperial Grandmother’s birthday is coming soon, I was making a birthday gift.”

Gu Siyuan asked casually: “What birthday gift?”

Xie Xuan smiled: “A hand-written ‘Ten Thousand Longevities Picture’.”

Gu Siyuan raised an eyebrow: “Just ten thousand ‘Longevity’ characters? Truly lacking in originality.”

Xie Xuan puffed his cheeks, unconvinced: “I lack originality, could it be a rough fellow like you has originality?”

Gu Siyuan glanced at him, smiling yet not smiling: “Is the Sixth Highness using a goading method?”

Xie Xuan rolled his eyes slightly, saying haughtily: “Hmph, who cares?”

Gu Siyuan suddenly stood up, saying coldly: “Prepare the brush and ink.”

“…” Xie Xuan.

Hehe, truly arrogant.

A perfectly fine prince had turned into a study boy.

After everything was prepared, Xie Xuan heavily complained about himself in his heart. Truly worthless.

One must know that usually, he was the one being served by servants, but now he went to serve this cold-faced rough fellow.

Gu Siyuan ignored the wild thoughts of this prince with a moody temper. He picked up the writing brush with his right hand, brewed his emotions for a good while, and slowly dropped a few characters on the paper.

He was a martial artist. Usually holding swords and dancing with spears, the strength in his hands had always been very steady, so holding a brush was naturally not bad either.

Actually, as himself in his own lifetime, he probably didn’t write with a brush very often, but at this moment, for some reason, he had an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

Especially in such an antique room, with a person ‘adding fragrance by the red sleeves’ beside him.

As if at some unknown time, in some intersecting spacetime, such a scene had once appeared.

Looking at the characters falling on the paper, Xie Xuan widened his eyes slightly.

He was a prince from birth. Compared to those true literati scholars, he wasn’t considered outstanding in reading and learning; after all, he didn’t expect to pass the imperial examination to be the top scholar in the future. But having grown up in piles of fine clothes and rich food, he had seen many good things.

Good and bad could be easily distinguished. For example, this handwriting of Gu Siyuan’s was clearly extraordinary, not much worse than the calligraphy of masters collected in his mansion.

He raised his head, looking at the person in front of him with bright, sparkling eyes, as if knowing this person for the first time.

“Only being a General of the Household of the Imperial Guards truly wrongs General Gu.”

Gu Siyuan didn’t stop his hands, casually answering without raising his head: “This official’s wish is to be a Confucian general.”

“Ha…” Xie Xuan burst into laughter. Thinking of this person’s usual cold-as-ice appearance, he couldn’t connect it with the term ‘Confucian general’ at all.

He thought for a moment, and asked curiously again: “General Gu wants to lead troops onto the battlefield?”

Gu Siyuan paused slightly, lifting his eyes to look at Xie Xuan: “That depends on the Sixth Highness’s future decisions.”

The corners of Xie Xuan’s mouth curved slightly, his fine eyebrows raised, and his always cunning eyes revealed a bit of cold sharpness: “It seems General Gu is a pro-war faction.”

Gu Siyuan neither avoided nor gave way, meeting his gaze, his voice chilling and awe-inspiring: “This official does not advocate war, but will not yield; those who offend Great Liang, no matter how far, will be eliminated.”

Great Liang had gone through four generations. Although it looked like a peaceful and prosperous era now, it was actually just an appearance.

Back then, the founding Great Ancestor of Great Liang drove away the grassland people to ascend the throne. Now, sixty to seventy years had passed, and those people on horseback had almost recovered.

Resources were scarce on the vast grasslands, and the grassland tribes were born with wild natures and crazy for war.

In these recent years, they would harass the borders and plunder merchant caravans whenever they had nothing better to do.

But having lived a peaceful life for many years, neither the Great Liang court nor the soldiers were willing to easily start a war; nowadays, they basically turned a blind eye.

Just in the past winter, the grassland people’s incursions crossed the line more and more. They abducted over six thousand commoners at once, and ultimately made the regional commander of Yanmen Pass use grain and weapons to exchange for the people back.

In this process, nearly a thousand adult males were killed, and the females were violated.

After it was reported to the capital, Emperor Jianzhao had no reaction whatsoever.

Emperor Jianzhao’s thoughts were easy to understand. He was a cowardly person to begin with, and at his age now, he really didn’t want to start any more disputes. The grassland people were now strong in soldiers and sturdy in horses, intentionally provoking trouble. If Great Liang accepted the battle and lost, wouldn’t it smear his lifetime legacy as an emperor?

And besides the grassland people in the north, the Japanese pirate disaster along the southeast coast had never ceased either.

Compared to the grassland people, they were much more rampant, burning, killing, looting, committing all kinds of evils, and even colluding with local officials and garrisons.

However, Great Liang had no experience in naval warfare. Over the years, they had always lost more than they won, until Yu Zhiyao appeared, and the battle situation somewhat changed. But Yu Zhiyao was already over fifty years old; how many more years could he hold on?

Hearing these simple sixteen characters.

Xie Xuan’s body seemed to tremble slightly.

The eyes he looked at Gu Siyuan with revealed an unspeakable radiance.

After a long while, he raised his thin, weak wrist, gently placed it on Gu Siyuan’s arm, and gripped it forcefully: “This Prince promises you, if one day I sit in that position, I will definitely do it.”

“Mm.” Feeling the temperature on his hand, Gu Siyuan nodded.

Neither of them said anything more; everything was understood without words.

The time arrived at late spring.

The spring scenery was bright and beautiful, the climate gradually warming up, even producing some slight heat.

Because he had severely frustrated the forces of his several sons last time, Emperor Jianzhao’s mood had been quite good recently. When there were arguments in the royal court, he just narrowed his eyes and watched.

However, today he visibly became much more irritable again.

Having stripped so many officials last time, this time they had to fill the vacancies. These several princes naturally started arguing again, all wanting to put their own people up.

Among them, the argument concerning the new Commander of the Capital Garrison was the most intense.

How could Emperor Jianzhao let them have their way? Having finally stripped the original people down with great difficulty, he now only wanted to hold the Capital Garrison in his own hands.

Even if it was Xie Huan’s people, he was somewhat hesitant.

Therefore, in the royal court, he said directly: “I remember the former Commander of the Capital Garrison had been in office for less than two years before problems occurred. Therefore, I have decided, after today, I will personally keep an eye on the Capital Garrison.”

The courtiers fell into absolute silence.

The Capital Garrison was related to the safety of Kyoto, as well as the safety of the imperial city and His Majesty.

If they tried to forcefully fight for it from His Majesty’s hands, it would be easy to be suspected of harboring rebellious intentions.

However, although the Capital Garrison was held in the Emperor’s hands, His Majesty had a myriad of state affairs to attend to every day. He couldn’t personally run to the Capital Garrison for no reason. He definitely still needed a position of Superintendent to help him transmit orders and supervise daily defense affairs.

Thus, the courtiers set their minds on this again.

But after arguing all morning, there was still no conclusion.

For this candidate, Emperor Jianzhao was also hesitating.

He was still considering it while sitting on the imperial carriage. When he looked up and saw Gu Siyuan in armor nearby, he suddenly asked: “Siyuan, you are from a military background. Which general do you think governs the army the strictest, is the most loyal to me, and is suitable to take on the role of Superintendent of the Capital Garrison?”

Suddenly asked such a thing, Gu Siyuan answered with an unchanged expression: “General Yu Zhiyao naturally governs the army the strictest. As for loyalty, it’s something invisible and intangible, this official doesn’t trust others.”

Emperor Jianzhao also smiled: “Well said, Siyuan still has a straightforward temper.”

Right at this moment, Gu Siyuan suddenly said: “However, if the Superintendent of the Capital Garrison Your Majesty needs is merely someone strict and loyal, then perhaps this official can take it on.”

“You… who did you say?” Emperor Jianzhao seemed unable to react for a moment, and asked again.

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