TVLMS Chapter 71

On the first day of his marriage to the fortress master, Gu Xiyu lay in bed all night like a dying patient.

This new room did not seem to be the fortress master’s exclusive bedroom, and after confirming that he could not cooperate with him in whatever he was supposed to do, Wei Chiyan left the room and locked the door behind him.

Gu Xiyu was woken up the next day by Wei Chiyan, who had changed back into his black clothes.

He had ordered the kitchen to boil a bowl of medicine for Gu Xiyu according to the doctor’s prescription and personally brought it to him.

He wanted to make sure that Gu Xiyu remained alive. After all, this was his fortress; how ominous would it be if he died a day after getting married? The night had gone by, and the average person should have recovered, but when he went in, he found Gu Xiyu still huddled under the covers. He did not recover, and even looked paler.

He put the soup on the table and went to the bedside, only to see that Gu Xiyu’s eyes were closed and he was frowning like he was having a bad dream or feeling uncomfortable. He stretched out his hand, intending to wake the man by simply shaking him, but when his palm touched his forehead, he felt the heat coming from his body.

“……” Wei Chiyan, who had never been seriously ill since he was a child, was speechless. He even wondered if Gu Xiyu had done something last night when he wasn’t looking, deliberately making himself ill so he could take the opportunity to do something.

[Gu Xiyu?] He tried to find out what Gu Xiyu was thinking through the identity of the ‘intelligent system’.

The person on the other side didn’t answer him; instead, his eyelids moved, as if he were gradually regaining consciousness but couldn’t really wake up.

Gu Xiyu was really suffering now, and he didn’t know how long it had been since he had been tortured like an ordinary person; his body was so hot, yet he felt cold. His consciousness felt like it was being pulled into water by a myriad of vines, and no matter how hard he struggled, he could not leave.

In the confusion, he had another dream, a dream about the Great Demon from the previous world.

Wen Yu and Wen Ruo were of the same species. Wen Ruo had chosen to inherit the image and abilities of the human race permanently because she had fallen in love with Lu Feng, the main protagonist, but Wen Yu had remained in his original, unfixed form until he decided to close the portal with him. He did not doubt Wen Yu’s feelings for him at that time, but he was a little curious.

Wen Ruo said she made that choice because she felt she had found herself. Since the Great Demon did not make this decision as well, it meant that he had not found an answer to his questions. But there was no way Wen Yu would have agreed to sacrifice himself if he had not found the answers to all his questions.

It was only at the last moment before he left that he realized Wen Yu had actually found them after all. His only regret was that time did not allow him to confirm which race Wen Yu had finally transformed into and what he had become.

The dream brought him back to the moment when they were about to disappear in the middle of the portal.

This time, Gu Xiyu finally saw what Wen Yu had transformed into. It was a man, but not in the appearance of Admiral Caesar. He waited for a while in his dream, watching the glow of his transfiguration fade away to reveal the face underneath – and then he woke up with a start.

When Gu Xiyu opened his eyes, his thoughts were slow to calm down, and he was clearly in great shock.

His Wen Yu had taken on the appearance of the fortress master, which could only be described as frightening.

What was even more frightening was that the fortress master was now standing beside his bed, and the physician who had come to see him last night was respectfully standing face to face with him, the two of them whispering something.

When Gu Xiyu came to his senses, his head felt heavy, and he tried to speak but found his throat particularly dry, as if he were seriously ill.

He heard the physician at the bedside say, “…… probably caught a cold when you went out yesterday. He is too weak, and even a small cold can kill him if he is not careful.”

Gu Xiyu’s face became expressionless, and he felt like killing himself to get another body.

He looked over, accidentally meeting the fortress master’s eyes, and saw the same disdain in his eyes.

“……”

The day after he became the wife of the fortress master, Gu Xiyu returned to his life of drinking medicine every day. There didn’t seem to be much difference except that the environment was no longer as luxurious as it once was.

The fortress master didn’t pay much attention to him after that, and even the medicine was brought by someone else. On the contrary, the young girl who took care of him was more attentive and worried he was bored, so she asked, “Can you read and write? There are several books in the fortress collected over the years but no one here likes to read. I can bring you some if you like them.”

“Okay.” Gu Xiyu replied softly, and asked, “What does the fortress master do when… he and his men go out?”

The girl taking care of him was called Xia Qiu. She was about twenty years old, slim, with a very animated look and a particularly lively aura, reminding him of the original owner’s sister, Murong Qingwan. So Gu Xiyu would always have a little more patience when dealing with her. They got along well, so the fortress master simply let her stay and look after his needs.

Xia Qiu was very resourceful, and once she heard his question, she understood what he was trying to pry, so she said, “Madam, don’t worry; in fact, most of the brothers in the fortress are doing legitimate things, unlike those other rogue fortresses.”

“Most?” Gu Xiyu caught the keyword.

Xia Qiu coughed lightly before explaining, “…… A small number of people, such as the Lord, Brother Liu, and his group. The rest are normal troops of Luohe Fortress, but we, the small civilians, are not qualified to know what they are doing. They do occasionally snatch some resources from outside, and as far as I know, most of the targets the fortress master sets are evildoers holding ill-gotten gains in their hands.”

The fortress his ‘husband’ was in charge of was called Luohe Fortress, which was probably related to the stone tablet he saw that day. From Xia Qiu’s description, they seemed to have a different style from the Tianyun Zhai group, who stopped people on sight. To use an idiom, they were robbing the rich to help the poor.

It didn’t really match up with Ah Wen’s fierce aura.

And if he remembered correctly, he even captured someone from the court.

Xia Qiu also tried to brush up on the fortress master’s goodwill: “We’re not sure what evil those people have done, but as long as they’re the ones the fortress lord wants to deal with, they’re definitely not good guys!”

Gu Xiyu smiled: “But I did nothing and was still forced to stay in this place.”

Xia Qiu lost her voice for a moment. Her gaze became a little evasive, and the atmosphere instantly became awkward.

He decided to not take all of Xia Qiu’s words to heart for the time being, not that he thought Xia Qiu was lying; he just thought Ah Wen might be hiding something from them as well.

Just the fact that they had kept him, an innocent passerby, was enough for him to distrust him.

Xia Qiu was silent as she tidied up the room for him. She held the empty serving tray for a long time before gritting her teeth and saying to him, “Madam, I’m sorry.”

Gu Xiyu stopped drinking his soup and raised his eyes toward her. She bowed her head and said in a firm tone, “For the people in this fortress, the fortress master’s orders are better than anything else.”

“Whatever decision the Lord makes must be right, and as long as it is in his interest, we will be obliged to follow.”

She ran out after saying this, not forgetting to lock the door of the room behind her.

The spoon in Gu Xiyu’s hand remained in the air for a long time before he slowly lowered it. The spoon was gradually submerged in the reddish-brown soup, and he looked down at the calm water, suddenly a little envious of this fortress owner who could have so many loyal subordinates.

The great demon…was always alone, and as a member of the royal family in this world, he must have several enemies from all sides.

His fingers tightened slightly and he was a little lost in thought.

So much for wanting to get to his side sooner.

——

“Fortress master, the group of people who went into the city to scout for news have returned. They accidentally got into a bit of a scuffle with the affiliates of Tianyun Zhai, and several brothers were injured.”

Wei Chiyan was planning to go out for a trip, but before he reached the gate of the fortress, Liu Ping came to report, followed by a large and dusty group of men behind him. His eyes swept over the crowd and finally settled on a man in red.

The other man was about thirty years old and was one of the small pillars of the fortress. He was called Chen Wei, and everyone in the fortress called him Brother Wei. He was considered to be Wei Chiyan’s right and left arm in the fortress, and whenever he was away, he would simply leave the management of the fortress’s important matters to him.

Chen Wei was not considered a senior member of the fortress and only came to this place after Wei Chiyan took over. However, he was very capable and had helped the men in the fortress with many matters, so everyone, including Wei Chiyan, trusted him.

When he returned with the men who had gone out, his left arm was wrapped in several circles of gauze. Chen Wei was skilled and rarely got hurt.

So Wei Chiyan was a little puzzled: “What was the reason for the conflict?”

“I met them on my way down the mountain. I’m not sure of the details, but from what Brother Wei said, they suspect that we intercepted or took something important from Tianyun Zhai. Those people were very arrogant, and the brothers couldn’t swallow the anger of being humiliated, so they finally didn’t hold back and attacked them.”

Liu Ping said, scratching his head helplessly, “It was just a trip to purchase something, so we didn’t have many people with us. We were lucky to manage to retreat and come back safely.”

“I don’t know what Tianyun Zhai has been planning again lately; the brothers who stayed in the city as eyes and ears said that they seem to be looking for something important lately. I suspect they are looking for Madam. But I don’t think she is important enough for them to go against the palace.”

Liu Ping was even more worried than Wei Chiyan: “Moreover, according to the men who have returned, the officials in the nearby towns have recently posted a search notice for… the princess from the Dayan Kingdom. The attack on the bridal party has already been reported to the court, so the fortress master should be more careful in the next few days.”

But Wei Chiyan was not anxious: “Don’t worry; when I say they can’t find out about us, they can’t.”

The one who disappeared was the ‘princess’ of the Dayan Kingdom, and the one he married was a prince, so there was no way they would match up.

Liu Ping didn’t know what Wei Chiyan was thinking, but he was relieved when he saw that he was not anxious. “Also, an imperial edict naming a crown prince came down.”

“There was no surprise, it was the First Prince who was crowned.”

Wei Chiyan remained calm.

It was still unknown whether this position in the Eastern Palace would remain the First Prince’s.

He had just finished chatting with Liu Ping about these matters when Chen Wei came to their side, clasped his hands together, and said to him with a smile, “I heard from the brothers of the fortress that during the time we were away, the fortress master got a wife! Congratulations to the Lord!”

“Thank you.” Wei Chiyan felt depressed when he thought of the ‘little wife’ whom he couldn’t even touch and who was as fragile as a clay doll.

Forget it; he’ll just go with the flow.

What he wanted was to use Gu Xiyu to catch a ‘fish’.

Chen Wei looked to his left and right and said curiously, “I heard that Madam is particularly good-looking; why isn’t she with you?”

Wei Chiyan thought for a moment and said, “It just so happens that I’m going to meet her, so come with me and you can help me look after her the next time I’m away.”

“She’s very hot-tempered and not very manageable.”

Chen Wei’s interest was slightly aroused.