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

The Marquis of Yongchang turned himself into a monster? That's quite an unexpected surprise!

The stool was uncomfortable, so Gu An simply sat cross-legged on the floor, talking animatedly, getting more and more excited as he spoke. He said he had spent three days wandering the mountains with the men the Crown Prince had given him. The first day they were completely clueless; the mountains were so vast, who knew where those men were hiding? The second day…

In the early hours of the morning, he suddenly remembered what Lu Zhiyuan had told him: those who do secret things always act furtively.

So he dispersed his men, sending them to nearby villages to inquire about any strange occurrences. With many hands making light work, they gathered a considerable amount of information in just half a day.

The information was mixed, some true and some false, requiring careful discernment. Fortunately, he was a true general; while he might not be good at real combat, he was an expert at intelligence analysis. From the information provided by the people, he selected several similar pieces, and from those similar pieces, he identified the identical ones, thus pinpointing the area of ​​suspicion.

Gu An slapped his thigh: "I must say, our Marquis is truly a talent. His men aren't just bandits, but also martial arts masters and people from all walks of life. What's even more amazing is that, regardless of whether they're black, white, or gray, they're all sincerely convinced of our Marquis's abilities and willingly obey his commands. If I may speak out of treason, if this Marquis were to become emperor, our Northern Liang would prosper for at least a century."

Fearing the Crown Prince's displeasure, she had Gu An, who had spoken recklessly, executed. Lu Zhiyuan hurriedly looked at the Crown Prince, but saw that his expression remained unchanged. It seemed that he also harbored considerable resentment towards the things his father had done during his reign.

Having spent decades in hiding, Gu Andong had become a rough man who didn't care about details. Seeing that the Crown Prince hadn't spoken, he continued, "This Marquis of Yongchang didn't just start buying charcoal this year."

In previous years, this had happened too, secretly and discreetly. He would have people buy excess charcoal from the common people, or have his men disguise themselves as ordinary citizens and buy charcoal from various shops. Don't underestimate the small amounts they bought; ten catties here, twenty catties there—it added up to a considerable sum.

Gu An stretched out both hands and looked at them.

"This Marquis not only uses his intelligence to buy charcoal, but also to gather and refine herbs. He gathers herbs in one place, refines herbs in another, and tests herbs in yet another. He's not exactly a bad person, but the people he tests herbs on are all vicious and wicked people he's captured; none of them are innocent. Does Your Highness still remember that snake? The one that bit me and turned me into this grotesque creature?"

Unable to catch the larger one, it found a mother snake and had several small snakes born.

Lu Zhiyuan couldn't help but speak up: "What use is this little snake? The thing he needs lives in a snake hole and cannot be eaten directly. It needs to be swallowed by a large snake and then transformed. As for how it is transformed and how it acquires medicinal properties, no one else knows. Catching the little snake is useless to him."

"Of course, the Marquis of Yongchang is not such a stupid person. Your Highness and the Crown Princess, do you still remember that I said there were many skeletons in that cave? Those were all caught to feed snakes or to lure large snakes out of their caves to catch small snakes. They let the large snakes raise the small snakes in the cave, and every once in a while they would catch one to test the results of the medicine. This process alone lasted for decades. I was an accident, an accident they did not know about."

"General Gu said that the Marquis of Yongchang has turned into a monster, but..."

"Does the Crown Princess mean to become a monster like me?" Gu An pointed to his face: "No, it's different from me. I'm just disfigured and look like a monster, but he has truly turned himself into a monster."

No one wants to be a monster, and no one wants to be seen as a monster. Gu An can say this so casually, partly out of habit, partly out of acceptance, and partly out of a state of mind. Whether he accepts it or not, he is who he is; he cannot change himself, nor can he change how others perceive him.

When I saw myself transformed into this grotesque form in the bronze mirror,

He had considered death. But behind him were his brothers who had risked their lives with him, who had been unjustly accused and died with their eyes wide open in disbelief, and on his back lay the injustice done to his entire clan and family because of him. How could he die so easily?

If you survive, then what happens next doesn't matter.

Gu An knew that even if the truth came out, he could not go back to the past, nor could he appear as Gu An.

When he left that dilapidated Taoist temple, he had already come to terms with it. Instead of clearing his name and seeking revenge, he decided to find a secluded place in the deep mountains and forests to live out his days in seclusion.

Gu Anle chuckled, his eyes sparkling with different kinds of light.

"I can't explain it clearly. Your Highness and the Crown Princess will understand once you come with me."

The Crown Prince asked considerately, "Does A-Yuan want to go?"

“I want to go.” Lu Zhiyuan took the Crown Prince’s hand. “I want to meet this Marquis of Yongchang. I want to accompany my brother, the Crown Prince.”

"Alright!" The Crown Prince nodded: "Ah Yuan can do whatever she wants! Ah Yuan, please wait a moment, your husband and General Gu will go and make the preparations first."

As the Crown Prince carried Lu Zhiyuan to the carriage, Lu Zhiyuan clearly noticed that the Crown Prince had become much thinner and no longer paid as much attention to his appearance as before; his chin was covered with a raw stubble. The Crown Prince felt a pang of sadness; in just a few days, his A-Yuan had lost a great deal of weight. Her eyes had become larger, her skin paler, and her lips paler.

"Your Highness has lost weight. Has he not been eating properly these past few days?"

"Have you lost weight? It wasn't A-Yuan who said that you would look better if you were thinner."

"I'm not talking about my brother, the Crown Prince, but Liu Ying. She always eats snacks behind my back, getting all chubby." Liu Ying's smiling face flashed in my mind: "She's just greedy, but she makes up an excuse, saying that if she's fat, she can take the fall when there's danger. Silly Liu Ying, she never thought that what would kill her in the end would be a knife to her neck. No matter how much she eats, it won't grow on her neck."

"Ah Yuan—" the Crown Prince said softly, "Don't think about these things anymore."

"Okay." She was smiling, but her eyes were red. "Think about what to say when we go to see Marquis Yongchang? Think about what we'll eat when we come back? I've lost weight, and so has my brother, the Crown Prince. We need to eat some big fish and meat to make up for it."

"What would you like to eat, A-Yuan?" The Crown Prince placed her in the carriage. "I'll have them prepare it in advance."

Lu Zhiyuan tilted her head: "I want to eat what Crown Prince Brother likes to eat!"

The Crown Prince was slightly taken aback, looking at Lu Zhiyuan who remained motionless, and the people outside also stood still. Lu Zhiyuan touched his face and said softly, "In the past, you always accompanied me to eat and catered to my tastes. From now on, I will accompany you to eat and eat what you like to eat."

"It's a deal, A-Yuan can't go back on her word." He covered her hand and said to the people waiting outside, "Tell the kitchen to prepare hibiscus tofu, vegetarian ham, honey ham, and eight-treasure meatballs. Madam likes them."

I love to eat it too.

Lu Zhiyuan gave the Crown Prince a coquettish glance: "Crown Prince, you're just flattering me. These are all things that A-Yuan likes to eat."

The Crown Prince gently tapped the tip of her nose: "Nonsense, these are also my favorite dishes. Ah Yuan, have you forgotten? On my birthday that year, Ah Yuan personally made these four dishes for me and taught me how to distinguish between vegetarian ham and honey ham."