Chapter 7: Shameless

Gu Mo had initially assumed the little girl was merely trying to help him out of a tight spot, so he remained silent. But the moment she turned around, he was slightly stunned, and then he crouched down to examine her closely.

This face—indeed, it looked so very much like her.

"Who is your mother?" Gu Mo asked.

Xuanxuan did not answer; she simply held out her arms. "Hug me~"

Gu Mo did not hesitate to pick her up. "Can you tell me now?"

Xuanxuan tilted her head with a haughty air. "It's so noisy here, and the noise is making my tummy hungry. Let’s go home and have dinner."

Gu Mo scanned the surroundings, but seeing no familiar faces, he carried Xuanxuan away from the street.

Xuanxuan didn't forget to make a face at the old woman, shouting, "Give up, all of you! Daddy is already taken. Anyone who tries to get close to him is just shameless!"

That left the old woman absolutely livid.

Leaving the crowd behind, they soon arrived at Gu Mo’s Prime Minister’s residence.

Xuanxuan, acting like an inspector, peered here and wandered there, grabbing any beautiful woman she saw to ask, "What are you to Gu Mo? Have you slept together?"

"Oh, I am the most important person in Gu Mo's life. As for your second question, yes, we have slept together."

"Huh? Shameless!"

"When we were young and our family was poor, my siblings and I were all crammed into one tile-roofed house. Before I turned five, our eldest brother always slept with us."

The woman wore her hair in braids, adorned simply with two fresh flowers. Her appearance was beautiful and her temperament gentle, and she met this unexpected little guest with a blooming smile.

Xuanxuan blinked her large eyes, suddenly enlightened. "Oh, so you are Gu Mo's younger sister, Gu Anyu."

Gu Anyu leaned down to stroke Xuanxuan’s small head. "Has the little girl heard of me?"

Xuanxuan puffed up her cheeks and brushed Gu Anyu's hand away. "Xuanxuan is a grown-up now, don't touch my head so casually. Shameless."

"You seem to love using 'shameless' as a catchphrase. Why is that?"

"Because someone used those words to scold my mother."

Gu Mo walked over carrying a tray with three bowls of egg noodles. His voice was gentle: "Come over and eat."

Xuanxuan looked at the noodles in her bowl, thinking they looked ordinary, but her mother had always said they were the most delicious noodles in the world—it had to be a lie.

"These must taste terrible," Xuanxuan said, even as she skillfully picked up her chopsticks and began to eat.

Gu Mo and his sister exchanged a look and ate their noodles in silence.

***

Xuanxuan slurped down every last drop of the broth and noodles. Using her handkerchief to wipe the grease from her mouth, she gave her verdict: "Still tasted terrible."

Gu Anyu smiled without a word; if it was so terrible, she wouldn't have finished every bite.

After Gu Mo finished eating, Gu Anyu rose to clear the bowls and chopsticks, leaving them some time alone. Surely they had much to discuss. Her brother never brought people home, let alone a little girl like this.

Gu Mo gazed at Xuanxuan.

Xuanxuan met his gaze without a hint of fear.

"Little girl," Gu Mo said softly, "can you answer my question now?"

Xuanxuan replied, "Since the day I was born, I have only had a mother. All the other children have both a father and a mother. I was so jealous and so angry—why didn't I have a father? I kept pressing my mother, but she always hid it from me. One day, she got drunk, held me, and cried for a long time. She said so many things, and that was how I learned the name Gu Mo. But I regretted it. I don't want to make my mother cry. I would rather not have known than see her cry. Later, someone came along who could make my mother smile. I decided that the person who makes her smile and makes her happy—that person is my father. I have a father now."

Gu Mo fell silent.

Xuanxuan continued, "I will not forgive anyone who makes my mother sad. I know you have a way of gathering intelligence. You must have received the news while you were cooking the noodles earlier."

Gu Mo did not deny it; he had indeed received the information he was looking for.

It was just that Xuanxuan's intelligence seemed far beyond that of a child her age. Many things must have happened in these past few years.

"You can't hide it, and there's no need to hide it from you," Xuanxuan said. "Just watch your mother be happy from afar. You weren't there before, and there is no need for you to be there in the future."

Having delivered her ultimatum, Xuanxuan left.

Gu Mo immediately turned to look for Cheng Xueyang. After listening to Shadow Two's report, Cheng Xueyang felt his headache worsen.

As the sun dipped toward the horizon, the nearly fifty-year-old Emperor was still in the Imperial Study handling state affairs. He read a memorial impeaching Gu Mo and actually chuckled.

The newly appointed Junior Vice Minister of Rites, He Xuan, was grinding ink nearby. A top scholar from the previous imperial examination, he was overflowing with talent and as luminous as the moon, a sight for sore eyes; his focus as he ground the ink was as picturesque as a painting. Lately, He Xuan had been summoned to grind ink every few days.

The Emperor handed the memorial to He Xuan. "Take a look. Another impeachment against Gu Mo."

He Xuan respectfully accepted the document, read it quickly, and parted his thin lips: "The matters stated have no factual basis. It seems Minister Gu has touched a nerve, and they are acting out of desperation like dogs jumping over a wall."

The Emperor’s voice was neither heavy nor light. "You certainly trust Gu Mo."

He Xuan shook his head slightly. "I only trust Your Majesty. Your Majesty has entrusted Minister Gu with great responsibilities to ruthlessly root out corruption. It is bound to shake the interests of some and invite hostility. That he is being impeached is to be expected. It only proves that Minister Gu’s methods are effective, and at the root of it all, it is Your Majesty’s keen eye for talent."

The Emperor looked at him and smiled. "Gu Mo is a sharp blade. In less than a year, he has forced those fellows to cough up their ill-gotten gains with interest, filling the national treasury. He is truly a convenient tool to use."

He Xuan kept his head down, continuing to grind the ink. As a vice minister, he shouldn't be discussing high-ranking officials. Moreover, if the Emperor called him a blade, then he himself was not even the hilt—he was merely the one grinding the ink.

The Emperor spoke again: "The Spring Imperial Examination is approaching, and the position of Chief Examiner is still vacant. Who do you think should fill it?"

He Xuan replied, "This subject does not know."

In previous years, it had been the former Prime Minister, but he had retired to his hometown.

Should he let Gu Mo take the position?

Gu Mo was the Emperor's blade, and the Spring Examination was the vital channel for injecting fresh blood into the imperial court. Students would have to honor the Chief Examiner as their benefactor, and the examiner would have a bond of patronage with them. The Emperor likely would not want Gu Mo involved in that.

The Emperor took a sip of tea and said slowly, "You don't know this, you don't know that—what use are you? You shall take the role. Go and train yourself well."

He Xuan was shocked. The ink stick in his hand snapped in two under the sudden pressure. By the time he came to his senses, it was too late to save it.

The Emperor’s eyes turned cold. "My official, do you seem somewhat dissatisfied?"

He Xuan knelt in terror. "Your Majesty, please investigate—there is absolutely no such thing."

The Emperor waved his hand. "Leave."

He Xuan crawled out. The Emperor had told him to "get out," not to "walk out."

The current Emperor was capricious. Since the former Prime Minister retired, the Emperor had enabled Gu Mo to use thunderous methods to curb the tide of corruption. From high-ranking ministers to nameless soldiers, anyone who had taken bribes was on the list. The entire court trembled.

The people who fell included the Crown Prince’s faction, the Prince Jing faction, and those without affiliation who were just fishing in troubled waters. It was a bloodbath. But everyone knew the one wielding the blade was the Emperor.

When He Xuan left the palace, he went home. For the past few years, he had been living in the Gu residence; his family background was modest, and he could not afford a house in the capital, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold.