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The guards on duty, upon seeing the token, looked strangely at the man in front of them and asked, "You are…"
Gu Chengfeng lowered his voice and imitated his father's tone, saying, "Don't you even recognize this Marquis? His Majesty has issued a decree for this Marquis to leave the capital immediately. This Marquis has official business to attend to. Why aren't you quickly letting this Marquis pass? Delaying His Majesty's affairs, how many heads do you think you lot have to lose?"
"We dare not!"
The lead guard quickly gestured for his subordinates to clear a path and respectfully stood aside.
In truth, they had never seen Marquis Gu, so they couldn't discern the authenticity of Gu Chengfeng's voice.
However, the token Gu Chengfeng presented was genuine, and Marquis Ding'an Estate was indeed the Emperor's trusted subordinate.
Furthermore, the imperial court had been experiencing a series of crises, and the Empress Dowager had ordered Gu Changqing to reorganize the Gu Family Army.
With all these factors combined, no one doubted that someone would impersonate Marquis Gu to deliver a fake imperial decree.
This was a capital offense punishable by beheading.
Gu Chengfeng estimated that the next day, his father would be brought before the Emperor for questioning.
However, since the imperial court had chosen to reinstate his eldest brother and the Gu Family Army, they were unlikely to take his father's life. At most, they would punish him for failing to educate his son properly, perhaps with a hundred caning or something.
Marquis Gu had been awakened from his sleep in the middle of the night, shivering uncontrollably, completely clueless why.
Once Gu Chengfeng left the city, he galloped northward as fast as he could, fearing that the guards might reconsider and give chase. He only stopped when his horse was almost out of breath.
He looked back.
"They shouldn't… have caught up, right?"
"Don’t worry, they didn't catch up."
A casual voice came from behind a thicket, making Gu Chengfeng startle so much that he nearly fell from his horse.
In the dead of night, there was an unexpected voice behind a large tree. Was it a person? Or a ghost?!
Hold on, that voice sounded somewhat familiar.
Gu Chengfeng collected himself and turned to look in the direction of the big tree.
He had been in such a hurry earlier that he didn't take a good look, but now, in the dim moonlight, he saw a horse tied to a tall plane tree, and next to the horse stood a youth dressed in green clothes.
The youth, with her hands crossed, leaned casually against the large tree behind her.
After speaking, the youth walked out from the tree's shadow.
Gu Chengfeng then saw her face.
"It’s really you?"
He exclaimed in astonishment.
Gu Jiao pointed at herself with her arms still crossed, tilting her head and saying, "Surprised?"
"How... How can I not be surprised? Why are you here in the middle of the night and not sleeping? You're even out of the capital." No, it’s at least twenty or thirty miles away from the capital.
Gu Chengfeng looked at her with suspicion, "You're not going to ask me to run errands for you again, are you? I’m warning you, this time I won't go with you no matter what you say! I have something very important to do!”
It was an extremely urgent matter!
Lives were at stake!
"Mm." Gu Jiao responded, letting go of her crossed arms and standing up straight. She then patted the strong and sturdy steed beside her before effortlessly mounting the horse.
It was only then that Gu Chengfeng noticed she was riding a top-quality steed, no less impressive than his father's prized horse.
"Aren't you going to leave?" Gu Jiao looked at him strangely.
Gu Chengfeng was too surprised to react to her words immediately. He stared straight at her horse and asked, "I thought you don’t know how to ride a horse?"
"I'm not good at it." Gu Jiao corrected him, "But I should get better later."
After all, it was a thousand miles to the border, which should provide plenty of practice.
Gu Chengfeng still didn't fully grasp her meaning. His gaze moved from her horse to her back.
The small wicker basket she usually carried on her back was hanging from the saddle, replaced by a large wrapped object.
Even though it was wrapped in cloth, Gu Chengfeng could sense a faint but strong aura from the object.
"What are you carrying on your back?" He curiously asked.
"A red-tasseled spear." Gu Jiao replied.
"Why is this red-tasseled spear so big?" The suspicion in Gu Chengfeng's eyes became even more pronounced, "And why are you carrying this thing in the middle of the night?"
Gu Jiao gave him a faint glance and said, "Are you going or not?"
"I'm definitely going..." Gu Chengfeng was interrupted by Gu Jiao as she urged her horse forward a few steps. He watched her direction and reminded her, "Hey, aren’t you going the wrong way? That's not the road to the capital."
Gu Jiao responded calmly, "Who said I'm going back to the capital?"
Gu Chengfeng chuckled, "If you're not going back to the capital, are you planning to go with me to the border?"
As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes widened, and he rode his horse next to Gu Jiao, staring at her cold profile. He asked, "You... You're not..."
Annoyed, Gu Jiao reached into her bag and stuffed a steamed bun into his mouth.
Gu Chengfeng mumbled as he chewed, "Wait, you need to make yourself clear. Are you really going to the border? What are you going to do there? Don't you know that the border is at war? The State of Chen has already taken three cities at the border. It's not a good place for a leisure visit!"
Gu Jiao tugged on the reins and replied, "Mm."
Gu Chengfeng furrowed his brows.
This girl didn't seem to have that much free time.
"Hey, you’re not going to the border because you heard something happened to our grandfather, are you?" Gu Chengfeng muttered, "You're not even the real Gu Jiao, so you don't need to concern yourself with my grandfather's affairs."
The border was too dangerous.
Even Princess Ning'an, with three Dragon Shadow Guards, was captured by the remnants of the previous dynasty. It showed how formidable those people were.
This wasn't the kind of mess she should be getting into.
Gu Chengfeng looked at her solemnly and said, "Tell me the truth. Are you really going to the border, and why are you going there?"
The fact that he could ask the second question meant that he already had an answer to the first in his heart.
"To save someone." Gu Jiao answered.
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