Time Travel: The Best Doctor in Ancient Times

Chapter 734: Chapter 569 Their First Meeting

You, from the Southern Border!

Gu Changsheng’s clamor went unnoticed by the Gourd Brothers and the bandits behind them, but that opening phrase, they heard loud and clear!

”We from the Southern Border? Young Master, it’s not your fault you’ve been adrift in the Central Plains since birth, but you are most certainly a Southern Border Miao person!” Sensing that Gu Changsheng was excluding himself from the Southern Border, the eldest of the Gourd Brothers suddenly took exception, straightened his face for a rare earnest moment, and spoke.

”Uh...” Gu Changsheng’s clamor suddenly fizzled out.

Clearly, these people were not on the same wavelength as her!

Their points of concern were so diametrically opposite!

At the severe accusation from the eldest Gourd Brother, Gu Changsheng was at a loss for words!

A Southern Border Miao person? He was a basket of Southern Border Miao people! Across two lifetimes, past and present, he’s damn well been a bona fide Han person! A person from the Central Plains, understand?

Dammit, it’s just that in this life, his birth mother was a bit special, that’s all!

For an authentic Han soul, this was undoubtedly a very annoying blow!

Gu Changsheng’s face turned a whole cycle of red, green, and blue, but was speechless against the accusation from the eldest Gourd Brother!

The eldest Gourd Brother glanced at him, then began to rifle through his father and mother’s belongings. In just a moment, he retrieved a bright yellow parcel from the embrace of Hongyan Jiaojiao and handed it to Gu Changsheng, ”Young Master, during the turmoil of those years, I barely remember anything, only vaguely recalling when chaos was rampant and the people were panicked, our mother took us and fled in haste. Besides the Vermilion Bird Gu, she desperately took this out too!”

Upon hearing this, Gu Changsheng uncertainly reached out and took the small parcel.

The thing that Hongyan Jiaojiao had risked her life to take with her must be extremely important!

The texture of the item through the packaging made Gu Changsheng’s phoenix eyes blink.

It was a book!

Martial arts secrets? The Sunflower Manual? Pah!

Gu Changsheng couldn’t help but slap his own wayward head!

”Young Master, this is the family register of the Phoenix Imperial Clan. With the Phoenix Palace on Great Swamp Mountain in ruins, this might be the only remaining family register of the Phoenix Clan. Please keep it safe,” the eldest Gourd Brother said as he lifted his parents from the ground, his gaze tinged with regret as he looked at the woman before him, ”Young Master, whether you accept it or not, and regardless of what you truly feel, you are the last of the Phoenix Clan. The mark of the Flame of the Red Sun is the best proof. Your return to the Southern Border fulfilled our mother’s lifelong wish, which is a rarity. Whether the Phoenix Clan of the Southern Border will perish after you or not is beyond our control now!”

With that, the eldest Gourd Brother bowed his head, a pained expression crossing his eyes as he looked at his parents, now slumped in sleep.

Next to the bulky frame of the eldest Gourd Brother, Hongyan Jiaojiao appeared incredibly delicate. Deprived of the Vermilion Bird Gu, Hongyan Jiaojiao now looked over a decade older, with fine lines showing on her pale face.

Yet, she seemed to be sleeping so peacefully...

The eldest Gourd Brother sighed deeply, then turned to Gu Changsheng with an unmistakable air of dejection and said timidly, ”Our Hongyan Clan has already given its all in loyalty. Now, there are no more Gu women to assist you, Young Master. Whatever happens to the Southern Border or the Phoenix Imperial Clan, we of the Hongyan Clan are powerless. The road ahead is yours to take; please take good care of yourself, Young Master!”

After saying this, the eldest Gourd Brother, cradling his parents, struggled to kneel down before Gu Changsheng. Following his lead, the Gourd Brothers and the band of bandits all knelt and gave a deep bow.

Then, they stood up and, without any hesitation, turned and left.

Holding the small package containing the family register, Gu Changsheng watched their lonely figures departing, opened his mouth to call out, yet eventually gave up.

The mood, inexplicably, was no longer beautiful.

Gu Changsheng felt affected, more or less, by Hongyan Jiaojiao and her family!

At his feet, a snake and a chicken were facing off with drawn crossbows, yet Gu Changsheng seemed not to notice them, his head bowed in disappointment.

Just as Yuan Bao and the others were about to be driven crazy by their lady’s behavior, Gu Changsheng looked up at the sky, sighed, and said, ”It’s getting late. Let’s camp in the Red Rock Mountain tonight and continue our journey tomorrow.”

”Yes!” Yuan Bao and Si Xi, hearing this, immediately responded with joy and hurriedly got to work.

Truth be told, they were more accustomed to their lady’s carefree nature. Seeing her so down, they too felt a heavy sense of discomfort.

Now that they had decided to make camp in the Red Rock Mountain, Yuan Bao, Si Xi, and Liu Nv quickly got busy setting up the camp, arranging the cooking pot, searching for water, and even the newly appointed Green Dragon Gu Spirit Python was coerced into hunting by Yuan Bao!

The only one left with nothing to do was the Fire Chicken.

But Yuan Bao couldn’t stand seeing anyone idle; not even a chicken could escape duty!

Thus, the Fire Chicken was also assigned a task: start the fire!

It was very simple, just place the Fire Chicken underneath the propped-up pot, and its flames all around were even more convenient and efficient than firewood!

Gu Changsheng looked at the fire turkey being chased under the pot by Yuan Bao with a little stick and couldn’t help the corners of her mouth twitching. Okay, with this turkey, at least there’s some use for it!

At the very least, they’d save on firewood!

Watching everyone bustle about setting up camp, Gu Changsheng, with an indescribable expression, cradled the family genealogy in her hands and walked up the slope of a nearby hill.

Footsteps in lockstep followed behind, along with a faint scent of ambergris.

Without guessing, Gu Changsheng knew that the evildoer was following her...

Finding a spot on the hillside with an open view, Gu Changsheng sat down without paying attention to Zhou Mu, who took a seat beside her, and looked up at the afterglow of the setting sun, finally mustering the courage to open the genealogy in her hands!

The Phoenix Clan genealogy, a very thick booklet!

Apart from the simple words ”Phoenix Clan” on the cover, there was only the emblem of the Flame of the Red Sun!

Gu Changsheng looked at the emblem on the cover, raised her hand to touch the mark on her forehead, which was identical...

Turning a page, she saw densely packed writing, each Phoenix Clan member’s life from birth to death detailed within...

Some dedicated to the military, some living with the Southern Border Royal Family, a plethora of tales...

Gu Changsheng flipped through the pages at a leisurely pace, almost feeling the weight of a family’s historical heft wash over her...

Her alabaster hand stopped on the last page, and her finger rested on the final name...

”Fenghuang Ruoshui...” This was her mother’s name. The spouse’s slot was empty, with only a few brief notes about her life...

Gu Changsheng’s fingers caressed that name over and over, absentmindedly repeating it countless times!

”Evildoer, do you know? When my ghostly spirit came here, only Xiao Cui and the little meat bun were with me, everything about this era was completely foreign to me, this wasn’t my time or space, I wasn’t familiar with anything here, but they gave me the initial warmth, and the three of us depended on each other as we left the Capital City to head south on our own, and then we met Han Qiu and Han Mo, and then I met you...” Her life, from the moment she met him, started to change, and she didn’t dislike this change at all!

Gu Changsheng spoke softly, as if reminiscing.

”No!” Zhou Mu reached out his arm to embrace the woman next to him and spoke indifferently.

”Huh?” Gu Changsheng looked up in confusion, ”What do you mean ’no’?”

Their eyes met, hers filled with puzzlement.

”You met me before Han Qiu and her brother,” Zhou Mu said with a hint of a smile, his eyes filled with adoration.

Upon hearing this, Gu Changsheng’s brow furrowed slightly.

Seeing this, Zhou Mu gently raised his hand to smooth her furrowed brow, his eyes warm as he spoke, ”I once met a woman in the Capital City. She was scolding a young child with a wisdom tooth, interrupting my council, and even taught her son outside my window, claiming she could make her son become a great official, a general, a merchant, or a famous doctor, no matter what the child wanted to be!”

As Zhou Mu spoke, Gu Changsheng’s phoenix eyes gradually widened.

She had said such things indeed; shortly after arriving in this world, after obtaining a letter of decision for her son from Li Mansion, she had taught her son on the street and seemed to have said those exact words...

”At that time, I was curious about what kind of woman could utter such pearls of wisdom as ’The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.’, and it was only after my men reported back that I learned she had just been divorced by Li Mansion...” Zhou Mu continued with a smile as he sorted Gu Changsheng’s hair at the temples, ”During that time, caught up with sentiment towards Hetian and Han Qiu, I was busy investigating the matter of Han Jingye’s loss of Tongguan City and couldn’t linger on my curiosity about you!”

”Little did I expect that fate had its own plans, and as I traveled privately to the Capital City and was on my way back, I was ambushed by a siege of heavy troops and ended up being saved by you, and Han Jingye’s children, as well, ended up by your side!”

Gu Changsheng didn’t know what to say upon hearing this.

She had no knowledge of Zhou Mu’s recounting!

Having known each other for so long, already engaged to be married, Gu Changsheng only now learned that her supposed first meeting with Zhou Mu during that stormy, rainy night was a heroic rescue; it turned out she was wrong!

He knew her much earlier than she thought!

What was this called? A twist of fate?

”So Changsheng, when I first knew you, only little Gu Ze and Xiao Cui were by your side!” Zhou Mu nodded slightly, his voice imbued with conviction.

He had known his Changsheng from the very beginning!

”So, you saw me just a few days after I came to this world?” Gu Changsheng asked incredulously.

Zhou Mu nodded with a smile, ”Yes!”

Upon his confirmation, Gu Changsheng’s lips involuntarily twitched. The memories of her poverty in the Capital City surged in her mind, so without hesitation, Gu Changsheng swatted away the hand that was cheekily caressing her cheek and said angrily, ”Damn it, you recognized me so early, and you couldn’t even spare me some silver, do you know I was so poor back then that all I had left were my underpants?”