Gu Chi: "..."
Though he had been prepared for this, hearing her say it herself still left him feeling awful. He forcibly tamped down his emotions and teased her in as even a tone as he could manage. "Our lord is still years away from her prime. Why are you already thinking so far ahead?"
By seniority, Lin Feng was indeed a junior. As for age, she wasn't much younger than Chu Yao and the others—only twenty-odd years.
Among ordinary people, twenty-odd years was nearly two generations. But in a world where Literary Scholars and Martial Gall Warriors could easily live for centuries, barring an untimely death, twenty-odd years could still count as the same generation. Our lord knew this, yet she was still grooming Lin Feng to be her chief aide in the future, placing great hopes in her. What did that mean? It meant she had no intention of holding power for long.
Perhaps twenty-odd years. Perhaps thirty-odd.
Once again, a new generation would replace the old.
Shen Tang had known Gu Chi for more than a decade. How could she not know his emotions were rising and falling? She smiled and leaned closer. Seeing her still smiling, Gu Chi's suppressed emotions rebounded, and his anger flared, scorching his reason in an instant. "Why are you still smiling, my lord? What's so funny about this?"
She hurried to put out the fire and soothe him.
"Isn't this just planning ahead?"
If she intended to keep things running for the long haul, she had to consider every step of the future in advance. She couldn't wait until she was desperate and the cupboard was bare to start cultivating a successor's inner circle, could she? Shen Tang's explanation clearly failed to convince Gu Chi. He gave another cold laugh.
"Planning