Jinzhou City.
Gao Zhengxin woke early and immediately summoned Tian Bode to ask how matters were progressing.
"It's been two days. How is it going? Have they sent word?"
Tian Bode gave a rueful smile. "Those two extraordinary men are not my servants, my lord. I asked them for a favor. If they do not report back, I have no way of knowing."
Even so, the longer he went without news from them, the more worried he became.
Gao Zhengxin grew visibly agitated and paced back and forth across the room.
Watching his lord, Tian Bode sighed.
He had watched the young man grow over the past few years.
Among the Gao Imperial Clan, his young lord had once been an oddity: studious from childhood and measured in his conduct.
For a time, Tian Bode had thought that perhaps not everyone in the Gao family was absurd. Then an upheaval revealed that the heir who had seemed like a breath of fresh air among them was not the Commandery Prince of Zhao's son by blood.
In truth, he was not even a Gao!
Yet the Commandery Prince of Zhao knew and still treated him as his own son.
Tian Bode had soon pledged his loyalty anew, without a second thought.
Gao Zhengxin, however, had changed completely after learning the truth. He abandoned the Han Learning he had once loved and instead imitated the other members of the Imperial Clan at every turn. He distanced himself from his trusted Han retainers and drew close to the Xianbei, even committing outrageous acts on purpose. He would not hear a word about the Han or the Wei-Jin era; the slightest mention sent him into a rage. He handed out punishments at the drop of a hat and even took to killing like the