CHAPTER 386: CHAPTER 386: FUGITIVE SLAVE

A little over a quarter of an hour later, Master Xiao Han saw Gu Jinli to the entrance of Hu Yun Temple.

"Little donor, remember to bring me some more food next time you come. The food from your home is really delicious; last month, I even dreamt you brought me a mule cart full of bean cakes, all for me. I sat in the mule cart eating and ate until I was stuffed," Master Xiao Han shamelessly expressed her love for bean dregs cakes to Gu Jinli.

Gu Jinli laughed and said, "Sure, next time I come, I’ll bring you a mule cart full of bean cakes so you can eat to your heart’s content."

Master Xiao Han smiled and squinted her eyes upon hearing this, saying to Gu Jinli, "Little donor, I’ll be waiting for you then, you have to keep your promise."

"Of course, I’ll keep my word. Don’t you worry," Gu Jinli assured Master Xiao Han, while inwardly pondering what sort of role Master Xiao Han really played in Hu Yun Temple. Why had the temple master not asked Master Xiao Han to leave when speaking with her?

However, since the temple master trusted Master Xiao Han, she must be reliable, and there was no need for her to worry too much.

Wang Yongfu and Gu Jin’an had been waiting at the entrance for a while. Seeing Master Xiao Han close the door and go in, Wang Yongfu immediately approached and said, "Xiao Yu, have you delivered everything?"

Gu Jinli nodded: "Yes, let’s go home."

She handed the reins to Wang Yongfu and let him lead the mule ahead, while she and Gu Jin’an walked behind.

Wang Yongfu, being clever, knew that the siblings had things to discuss, so he didn’t wait for them and walked on his own, keeping a distance of a dozen meters from them.

On the deserted mountain path, Gu Jin’an asked in a low voice, "What is the relationship between Master Hu and the Lu Family?"

Gu Jinli replied, "Hu Yun Temple should be one of the places reserved by the Lu Family for their secret existence. The successive masters of Hu Yun Temple should have been servants of the Lu Family."

She recounted to Gu Jin’an the moment she had offered a bow to Master Hu and how Master Hu had avoided it.

Only servants would dare not accept the respect due to their masters.

Gu Jin’an frowned upon hearing this, not pleased by the confirmation of their guess: "This matter is too hot to handle. It’s enough for just the two of us to know, don’t tell mother for now."

If Great Chu does not fall, they would have to keep this secret for a lifetime.

Gu Jinli nodded: "Yes, it’s enough for the two of us to know about this."

Mrs. Cui was faint-hearted, and all she could remember was not the Lu Family or Hu Yun Temple, but only the nanny who had taken her wandering many years ago.

However, that nanny was already dead. Before the Lu Family could stand openly in the light, it was better not to let Mrs. Cui know about this matter.

Gu Jinli then detailed the events that had happened in the temple and the words spoken by the temple master to Gu Jin’an without missing a single word.

After hearing everything, Gu Jin’an was finally much relieved: "Right now, the Emperor is busy eliminating the founding heroes; he won’t have time to search for noble families from the previous dynasty."

The first Emperor of Great Chu also decreed that as long as the noble families from the former dynasty submit to Great Chu, the Great Chu Royal Family would absolutely not confiscate their property.

It was only because the noble families were afraid that succeeding emperors would covet what was in their possession that they chose to hide from the world.

As for where they are hiding?

According to Scholar Shang, some are in Great Chu, some are overseas, some are with Da Rong; in any case, it’s difficult for the Great Chu Royal Family to find them and annihilate these noble families and seize their possessions for the state treasury.

Gu Jinli thought of the current Emperor of Great Chu and couldn’t help but say, "Though hiding and living is not good, since they’ve lost, it is necessary to hide for dozens or even hundreds of years. After all, no one knows whether the successor will go mad and carry out a bloody purge."

"Now, this one, who can even kill the Founding Heroes, what is there that he can’t do?"

It seems that the current Emperor of Great Chu also has good luck. After executing loyalists and inciting the entire Northwest Border Army to turbulence, in the end, there were still Founding Heroes willing to lead troops to suppress the rebellion and help him reclaim control over the Northwest Border Army.

Although the army that quelled the rebellion has not yet returned to the capital, Great Chu has settled down again.

But, given what this Emperor of Great Chu is capable of doing, Gu Jinli feels that within her lifetime, Great Chu is bound to fall into chaos again.

As soon as she crossed over, she encountered a famine and had enough of the troubles of a chaotic world. Thinking about how unreliable this Emperor of Great Chu is, she still needs to rush to make money, buy land and people, build a fortress, and train a capable Protector team to safeguard her life.

Great Chu does not allow for private armies, but it allows for Protectors, and there’s no limit to the number you can have. As long as you have money and food, you can maintain as many as you want.

This is a great advantage for those who want to cause trouble.

However, Gu Jinli doesn’t understand why, with such a big loophole right there, the Emperor of Great Chu doesn’t issue an order to limit the number of Protectors a rich household can maintain.

If not limited, then just wait. Overnight, may Great Chu be full of them.

Gu Jinli doesn’t know that the first Emperor of Great Chu, due to the cancellation of private armies, had quite a serious upset, and the newly established Great Chu almost collapsed.

And a large part of the troublemakers were military generals who had followed the Emperor Chu in conquering the territory.

Those generals believed that the first Emperor Chu’s abolition of private armies was to snatch their military power and to remove them, so they rebelled.

The first Emperor Chu was frightened, though he firmly cancelled the private army system, he permitted the maintaining of Protectors, with no limit to their number, which finally pacified the rebellious generals.

The first Emperor Chu also always remembered to reduce the number of Protectors across regions but died before he could begin.

Before he died, he did leave a will, instructing his descendants to reduce the number of Protectors when Great Chu was stable so as not to follow the pattern of the former dynasty where noble families had their own troops, and the former dynasty’s Imperial Family was untouchable. If you dared to provoke, thousands of private soldiers would gather to fight you.

It’s just that the first Emperor Chu had planned everything so well, only to find his son was not up to the task, and his preferred grandson, instead of reducing the number of Protectors across Great Chu, turned his blade first towards the most loyal families among the Great Chu Royal Family’s Founding Heroes.

And then, because of a drought disaster, this great upheaval occurred.

Gu Jinli and Gu Jin’an were quietly talking on the mountain path and finished discussing the matters before even leaving the mountains.

During the beginning of the afternoon, they arrived at Da Song Village at the foot of the mountain, picked up the parked mule cart, harnessed the cart, and had Wang Yongfu drive, with the three of them returning home.

Over an hour later, just as they got home, Third Grandma told Gu Jinli: "Xiao Yu, Old Man Xue from Hukou Town, who has a feud with Village Chief Sun’s family, that Xue Mingyu, had a servant send you a letter. Your mother has placed it in your room for you. Go and take a look."

"Okay, I know, Third Grandma," Gu Jinli answered and first went to the kitchen to fetch some water to wash her hands and face. After cooling herself down and gulping down a bowl of warm water, she returned to the room she shared with Gu Jinxiu. She picked up the letter on the table and started to read it.

After reading, her expression turned solemn... Old Man Xue’s letter mentioned Old Master Lu, saying in the letter that Old Master Lu might be a runaway slave!