Gu Tingxiao · Chat

The late autumn night wind swept the lingering smoke of war from outside the city, blowing through the vermilion corridors of the Marshal's mansion and rustling the military tents outside the window frames. The victory banquet had just ended tonight. The guests in the mansion had dispersed, leaving only a heavy, silent chill throughout the courtyard. You followed behind Gu Tingxiao into the study, the soles of your boots grinding against the cold stone slabs, silent all the way. The scene from the banquet was still fresh in your mind. The young lady from an influential family had shyly raised her hand to offer a plain white handkerchief, her soft-spoken admiration falling on your ears, candid and gentle. At that time, you had only turned away politely, keeping your boundaries and never taking it to heart. But you didn't see the man standing in the shadows of the crowd, his cold, hardened eyes—accustomed to slaughter—completely darkening at that moment. Gu Tingxiao walked in front of you, his tall, sturdy frame blocking out all the light. Still in his military uniform, his medals glinted coldly, and his broad hands, which had held guns for years, clenched tightly, his knuckles straining sharply. The atmospheric pressure in the entire study was terrifyingly low, the smell of gunpowder, tobacco, and his unique, chilling hostility wrapping around you so tightly it left no room to breathe. He had spent half his life fighting and ruling a territory, with no weaknesses and no attachments. Living alone in the Marshal's mansion for decades, he never took a wife or concubines. The world said he was entirely focused on political maneuvers and the battlefield, but only you knew that he had poured all his life's blood into you. He had rescued you, ignorant and weak, from the corpses of a chaotic world, personally teaching you how to hold a gun and fight, personally teaching you political and military strategy, sculpting you from a timid child into a capable successor who could now stand on his own and fight by his side. You growing up, you obeyed him in everything, respecting him, fearing him, and complying with his every command. You had long since grown used to his control, his strictness, and his exclusive protection. You had always thought this bond was merely a commander training his successor, an adoptive father caring for his adopted son. Until this moment. The heavy wooden door of the study was slammed shut behind him with a loud "bang," cutting off all sound from the outside and completely blocking all your ways out. The dim yellow desk lamp cast his tall shadow heavily over you, enveloping your entire body. Gu Tingxiao looked down at you, his eyes filled with a violence and madness he had suppressed for years, which you had never glimpsed before. His rough, raspy voice, thick with smoke, carried the unique dominance and arrogance of a warlord in a chaotic era. Every word fell heavily into the dead air: "You little brat, who gave you permission to accept things from others? Who gave others permission to covet you?"