Regardless of what intentions these people harbored, whatever schemes they might have had, these few gestures had earned Guo Jin's utmost goodwill.
They also caused Guo Jin's defenses to gradually ease.
"I never thought that in just over a decade since Grand Tutor Guo Shun passed away, the Guo family would decline to this extent. Truly, fortune plays tricks on people, and the Heavenly Dao is unjust."
Jiang Chen sighed softly.
Hearing these words, Guo Jin's shoulders trembled despite himself. Dark tears rolled uncontrollably from his black eyes.
"You… sir…"
"Guo Jin, let me be direct. I am Jiang Chen, the young lord of the Jianghan Marquis's estate."
"Jiang Chen? You're that Jiang Chen who farted at the Heaven-Worship Ceremony?" Guo Jin was genuinely stunned, then scratched his head in some embarrassment. "I misspoke—You're the Jiang Chen who cursed out all the nobles at the Highten Dragon Marquis's manor?"
"Ha ha." Jiang Chen laughed. "Good and bad, you've hit on both. That's right, I'm that Jiang Chen."
Guo Jin felt relieved. Knowing the other party's identity, his inner defenses weakened considerably. Yet for a moment, he didn't know what to say.
Seeing Jiang Chen burn incense and pay respects to his ancestors, Guo Jin stammered, "Young Lord Jiang, the entire Royal Capital says my father was a deserter, a disgrace to the Kingdom. Why would you… why would you pay respects to him?"
"Rumors die with the wise. Some things are either spread by those with ulterior motives or by fools too dull to know better. Your father fought his way back through a bloody battle, delivering critical intelligence. He was a hero to the Kingdom. I learned all of this from Princess Gouyu long ago. That is precisely why I came to find you today."
Guo Jin had never heard such words from anyone before. Hearing Jiang Chen say this, he first froze in disbelief, then burst into loud sobs and threw himself before his father's memorial tablet.
"Father, did you hear that? Young Lord Jiang spoke justly—he said you were a hero of the Kingdom, that your contributions are recognized! Can your spirit in heaven hear this?"
By this point, tears were streaming down Guo Jin's face, and his voice was choked with sobs.
Clearly, labels like "deserter" and "disgrace of the Kingdom" had forced Guo Jin to carry far too heavy a burden for someone his age.
He had trained diligently, only to be met with rejection everywhere he went.
Wherever he went, the moment people heard of his background, the same line came: "Oh, the son of that disgrace to the Kingdom?"
Shouldering this infamy, Guo Jin had endured his childhood, survived his youth.
The scorn of the world, the contempt—he had grown more and more withdrawn, more and more bitter. In his life, apart from his mother whom he depended on, all he had left was the steel blade in his hand.
And yet—
The contempt of the world had not made him contemptible. He refused to accept it. He would prove through the blade in his hand that the Guo family was no disgrace to the Kingdom!
But even now, Guo Jin still had not found his chance to rise.
Not a single noble house was willing to give him that opportunity!
Jiang Chen deeply empathized with Guo Jin's anguish. Being falsely accused, looked down upon, oppressed from childhood—it was truly not easy to endure.
He gently patted Guo Jin on the shoulder. "Let me keep this short. My Jiang family is competing for the First-Rank Nobility this time. In the Hidden Dragon Examination, I drew the task of recruiting personal retainers."
"You… want me?" Guo Jin's powerful frame shuddered slightly. He raised his head, shooting a look of disbelief.
All these years, he had been met with cold stares everywhere, rejected at every turn, with no door open to serve. He had thought that for the rest of his life, he would have only his steel blade for company—a wandering martial artist drifting through the world.
Yet fate was wondrous like that. At his lowest point, someone had unexpectedly extended an olive branch.
"It's not just you I value, but the loyalty and righteousness of the entire Guo family."
Hearing this, Guo Jin choked up. Even knowing that Jiang Chen's words might be nothing more than a calculated move to win hearts, he was moved beyond measure.
As the saying goes, "A kind word warms even the coldest winter."
And Jiang Chen's words—"the loyalty and righteousness of the Guo family"—struck at the most tender place deep in Guo Jin's heart, the place that most needed warmth.
"Young Lord, for those words alone, I, Guo Jin, vow to follow you to the death for the rest of my life, never to abandon you in life or death!"
Guo Jin was no man for grand speeches, but a voice of absolute conviction rose from the depths of his soul, telling him this was what he should do, what he must do!
Jiang Chen was never stingy with his subordinates.
He immediately ordered that Guo Jin's mother be brought to the Marquis's estate and personally treated by physicians from the Medicine Hall. At the same time, he told Guo Jin to lock the front gate of his residence and have the neighbors relay a message to the Zhou family.
"If the Zhou family wants to make trouble, tell them to come to the Jianghan Marquis's estate! If they feel that making trouble there isn't entertaining enough, they can go to the Royal Palace and take it up with Princess Gouyu!"
These were the words Jiang Chen left behind before departing.
Since Princess Gouyu had recommended Guo Jin, Jiang Chen had no qualms about borrowing a bit of her authority. After all, this was what the royal family owed the Guo family.
Back then, Guo Jin's father had been a personal retainer of Eastern Jun, Princess Gouyu's elder brother, who was the Crown Prince at the time. During a battle against an enemy nation, Eastern Jun sought to win military merit but fell into an ambush. Only Guo Jin's father had fought his way out through a bloody melee, delivering critical intelligence back to the Royal Capital before collapsing from exhaustion and dying.
Because the Crown Prince died unexpectedly in battle, the throne's succession was changed to the current king, Eastern Lu.
After Eastern Lu was named Crown Prince, there were even rumors in the kingdom that the former Crown Prince Eastern Jun's death might have been the result of someone colluding with a foreign power, betraying him. And since Eastern Lu's position as Crown Prince was newly established and his foundation unstable, he was especially cautious—even going so far as to distance himself from suspicion by ignoring the Guo family, who had risked their lives to deliver vital intelligence, never even publicly acknowledging the full truth.