After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

The sudden death of the late emperor cast a deep psychological shadow on the current emperor, who feared he would also die young like his predecessor. Therefore, he asked his younger brother, the imperial uncle whom Gu An referred to as the Imperial Uncle, to find a way to achieve immortality for him.

In the eyes of the world, the Marquis of Yongchang appeared out of nowhere. He quelled a rebellion on the southwestern border single-handedly, without using a single soldier, relying solely on his silver tongue, and was specially granted the title of Marquis of Yongchang by the emperor.

For the next ten years, he traveled along the border of Northern Liang as a marquis, quelling wars, mediating conflicts, and immersing himself among the people to help them solve their urgent problems. The world called him the Wise Marquis, but they only knew his name and never saw him in person.

Unlike other marquises, he neither craved glory nor coveted wealth, but was fond of the mountains and rivers of Beiliang. He wrote two travelogues, one recording the unique features of Beiliang's mountains and rivers, and the other focusing on local customs, traditions, and strange legends.

The years in the palace were long, and Lu Zhiyuan and Liu Ying often used his two travelogues to pass the time. In Lu Zhiyuan's mind, the Marquis of Yongchang should be a deceased person, but she never expected that he was actually the emperor's younger brother, and a living one at that.

Under the guise of traveling through mountains and rivers, Marquis Yongchang searched for the secrets of immortality and found something related to it in the back mountain of Xiawa Village.

"Words are no proof; how can we know that what you're saying is true?"

"Young Master Lu, how old do you think I am?" Gu An looked at Lu Yun, his eyes filled with a smile.

"In his forties."

Gu An shook his head: "I'm already fifty-seven years old, but I look like I'm in my early thirties. I'm even a bit older than the eldest son of the Xie family. The Xie and Lu families have some connections and often interacted when I was young. It's no exaggeration to say that I not only held the eldest son of the Xie family, but I also changed his diaper. I gave him his first little wooden sword. Later, I went away to study and was not in the capital for many years. When I came back, he had grown to be as tall as me."

The Xie family members were not only outstanding in appearance, but also in height, standing out among the young masters of aristocratic families. In contrast, Gu An was indeed not tall, at most 1.76 or 1.77 meters.

It's not surprising that Xie's eldest son, who was in his teens, and Gu An, who was in his twenties, were the same height when they stood together.

"In terms of diligence and hard work, the second young master is not as good as the eldest young master. In terms of talent, the eldest young master is not as good as the second young master. When we were young, the eldest young master often discussed studies with me. Outsiders did not know the truth and thought that we were about the same age. The eldest young master did not care about these things, but I wished that others would think that I was young. Over time, the real became fake, and the fake became real."

Gu An gave a wry smile. "When I took up my post as general, Young Master Xie was just a greenhorn. General Xie is still alive, and Young Master Xie is still alive. If Young Master Lu doesn't believe me, he can write a letter. He will get an answer in seven days at most."

My maternal grandfather's garrison was not far from Ganzhou; it would only take three days to reach it by fast horse.

Gu An has no need to lie about his age.

Wait, the age of the Ministry of War...

"Has General Gu's age in the Ministry of War been altered?"

Gu An shook his head, looking bewildered: "Why would I change that if I have nothing better to do? My Gu family is quite prominent in the capital. I, Gu An, wasn't born out of wedlock, so there's no need for me to falsify my age. Even if I wanted to be young, I can't reach into the Ministry of War. The Ministry of War's records are confidential; only people from the Ministry of War can access them. As a general stationed in the field, how could I possibly have that kind of ability?"

Gu An belatedly realized, "Does the Crown Princess mean that my age in the Ministry of War was changed?"

“It’s been altered, so seamlessly.” Lu Zhiyuan pondered, “I’ve seen the files sent from the Ministry of War. General Gu is about the same age as my eldest uncle. Before that, I interrogated a nanny who was involved in the case. The nanny’s age was about the same as your real age. I’ve always found it strange, but I don’t know why. Age, it’s actually your age, an age that has been deliberately altered.”

Gu An frowned: "Why? Why would they change my age out of the blue?"

Lu Zhiyuan closed her eyes: "The archives of the Six Ministries are all confidential, and it is by no means easy to alter them. What Your Highness and I saw was the original archive copied by the Ministry of War. In terms of content, it was flawless, without any trace of alteration. To achieve such a watertight result, all the archives of the Ministry of War would have to be replaced. Only the Emperor could do that."

Gu An was even more puzzled: "What is the Emperor after? To cover up the truth about the missing military rations, to cover up the truth about my murder? Whether I disappeared at forty or at twenty, it makes no difference to the Emperor."

Gu An said bitterly, "The military rations went missing, and they suspected me of colluding with the enemy. The Gu family was implicated because of this; some were exiled, and others were exiled. The Gu family is finished. What's the point of them going to such lengths to change my age?"

"Yes!" Lu Zhiyuan said decisively, "General Gu, do you still remember what happened in the cave? Everyone was dead except for you. Is it possible that you were originally chosen by them, and that they deliberately spared your life? They did something related to immortality to you to observe your reaction."

Gu An touched his wounds, lost in thought: "It's possible! Everyone in the cave died with a single blow, but I was hacked all over. Not hacked, but slashed, cut with a dagger. Although I have many wounds, they're not very deep, and they avoided vital spots. When I woke up, my wounds were stinging, numb, and tingling, as if something had been smeared on them. I thought it was the water from the cave ceiling... no, it wasn't water. When I crawled out of the cave, I drank water from the ground to survive, and it was even sweeter than well water. My wounds were sticky, and the older brother from the farmer's family who cleaned them said it looked like pus."

“Your wounds must have been licked by a snake.” Lu Zhiyuan stared at Gu An’s face. “Your wounds are shallow; they shouldn’t have left such gruesome scars unless something terrible happened. A large snake that lives in a cave must feed on things in the cave, including the longevity medicine you mentioned. If it weren’t for the snake, how would anyone else know the secret of the cave? The snake must have bitten someone, and that person was lucky enough to survive, and instead, benefited from the misfortune by having their lifespan extended.”

Gu An said excitedly, "There is indeed such a legend! The long-lived person was from Xiawa Village and lived to be ninety-eight years old. There is a stele in the village that records this event in detail. The stele does not mention the cave or the snake, but only says that he encountered danger in the mountains and was helped by a deity who touched his head and granted him longevity."

Lu Yun: "Ninety-eight years old is indeed rare, but longevity and immortality are two different things. Immortality means living forever and not dying even when you are old. Longevity means living for a long time, but you still have to die when your time comes."

Gu An: "The inscription on the monument says he went to his death voluntarily. There's a folk saying that if a family has a long-lived member, they will absorb the good fortune of their descendants, causing them all to suffer misfortune. That's nonsense. In Xiawa Village, even if there's no long-lived member in the family, things still go wrong. But if there is a long-lived member, then the misfortunes can be blamed on that member. The old man didn't want his descendants to suffer, so he starved himself to death."

Lu Zhiyuan: "The Marquis of Yongchang was ordered to search for immortality. He has learned that there is a centenarian in Xiawa Village, and he will definitely visit him."