“Chu, are you done packing?”

“All done, Dad.”

“Alright, let’s eat.”

Old He Tou and He Chu went together to a tangbing (soup with noodles) shop across the street.

Usually, the two of them would set up their stall early in the morning. If business was slow, one of them would go back early to cook a meal, and they would eat together when the other returned after closing the stall in the afternoon.

If business was good and they were busy for a long time, they wouldn't go back to cook. They would finish their work and find a shop on the street to eat in the afternoon.

Eating out was naturally not as cost-effective as cooking at home, but if business was good and they were busy, they wouldn't mind "splurging" at a shop.

Fortunately, they were all neighbors who saw each other often. Whether it was a big restaurant or a small shop, few didn't accept pork. Even those that specialized in beef or mutton soup or pancakes had to eat some pork to satisfy their cravings when they were tired of their own food.

In addition, the He family was sincere and honest in their business dealings, so when they went to a restaurant and ordered two small bowls of tangbing, the shopkeeper would often add extra and serve them as large portions.

The He family wouldn't stand on ceremony. They would just add a tael or two of meat to the next delivery.

If you wanted to live comfortably on the street, you couldn't be greedy for small advantages.

He Chu handed his father chopsticks.

The two of them began to eat heartily.

After eating the pancakes and drinking the soup, their bodies felt warm and their energy returned.

The two of them left the tangbing shop without going back home. There was no need to set up the stall in the afternoon; it was usually enough to set it up again at dusk.

So, their afternoons were generally leisurely.

When people were idle, they always had to think about something to do, some way to pass the time.

For the more refined, it was writing and painting; for the more elegant and active, it was strolling birds and playing with antiques; and for those who wanted something more exciting, it was cricket fighting or dog fighting.

Of course, there was also a more popular option: going to a teahouse to drink tea and listen to stories.

For the past six months, the He family had gotten used to going to the teahouse in the afternoon to listen to storytellers.

They hadn't had this hobby before, but they were now "relatives of the imperial family."

As relatives of the imperial family, they didn't dare to flaunt their power, but they had to have some "awareness." At least, they were no longer purely unsophisticated commoners. They also had to listen to what was happening outside.

Of course, imperial relatives were imperial relatives, but they didn't go to the top teahouse in the capital. Instead, they went to the Yong'an Teahouse on the same street, and they didn't sit in the small elegant room on the second floor, but at the small table near the entrance on the first floor.

Why near the door?

First, there were people coming and going near the door. The well-to-do all sat on the second floor or inside, and those who were left to listen for free at the door were mostly hardworking laborers. They smelled strongly of sweat, so they wouldn't care about the fishy smell of pork on the He family, which lingered because they hadn't taken a bath before coming.

Second, when the storyteller paused for suspense and his apprentice went around with a large bamboo dustpan to collect rewards, he was afraid of bumping into people coming in and out near the door and upsetting the dustpan, so he mostly wouldn't go there, thus avoiding a reward.

The same old location, the same old door, a pot of laoying tea, and a small plate of peanuts—perfect.

The storyteller was warming up the crowd.

“Esteemed guests, today we’re going to tell the story of the Earl of Pingye entering Chu alone and the Great Chu princess pledging herself to him.”

"Good!!!!!!"

"Good!!!!!!"

The story had actually been told yesterday. In fact, the storyteller at the top teahouse in the capital had started telling it seven or eight days ago.

But after he started telling it, it would take two days for the other small teahouses to hear about it. After hearing about it, they would have to ask their own storyteller to change clothes and go there for tea to listen for two days.

After listening for two days, they would have to think about it themselves. They couldn't tell the same story in exactly the same way; they had to change the way it was told. This thinking would also take two days.

This was called following the trend. The wind passed from mouth to mouth, and naturally it became more and more exaggerated.

From the beginning, when the first wave of storytellers at the top teahouse told of the Earl of Pingye breaking through with the princess on the day of their wedding,

By the time it had gone through several waves and reached the storyteller at the Yong'an Teahouse, it had become the Earl of Pingye fighting the Chu state sword maker alone for three days and three nights.

Then,

Surrounded by the Chu state's army of hundreds of thousands,

He carried the princess and floated away.

This was because the audience was different. Many of the people drinking tea in the top teahouse were dignitaries who had their own channels to know some things. If you told a ridiculous and nonsensical story, you would be ruining your own reputation. But the Yong'an Teahouse was a common teahouse that catered to ordinary people. You had to add some mysterious material to the story to make it interesting.

If you really wanted to get to the bottom of it, did the Earl of Pingye bring back the princess?

He did!

That was enough!

“Dad, this Earl of Pingye seems to be my sister’s husband’s man?”

"Shhh."

Old He Tou lowered his voice and signaled He Chu not to make a sound. He Chu also nodded and looked around nervously, as if he were a Silver Armored Guard secretly meeting in Yanjing City.

For the He family, they mostly heard about their son-in-law’s (brother-in-law’s) affairs from this teahouse. This teahouse liked to talk about the Earl of Pingye every now and then, so the He family knew that the Earl of Pingye had been promoted by their son-in-law in his early years.

So,

He was one of their own!

And now, the story of the Earl of Pingye entering Chu and rescuing the princess had spread throughout the streets and alleys of Yanjing City. Even when the children in the alleys were playing, some of the boys would draw their wooden swords and shout:

“I am the Earl of Pingye!”

Then,

They would hug the little girl next door that they had long been fond of and shout:

“Your Highness, Princess, come home and marry me!”

Then,

The girl’s father would rush out with a shoe and start beating them.

And here,

The He family was listening to the storyteller talk about the Earl of Pingye and the Chu state sword maker fighting in the sky, and they were getting caught up in it,

Suddenly,

A group of armored soldiers rushed over.

The leading eunuch was none other than Eunuch Zhang.

Eunuch Zhang saw the He family sitting at the table near the entrance at a glance.

He immediately shrieked:

“Those two, take them away!”

The He family hadn’t realized what was happening before they were lifted up and forcibly taken away by the soldiers.

…

“You say, this Zheng Fan is really capable of making a fuss. I thought he could rest for a while at Xue Haiguan (Snow Sea Pass), but who knew he would suddenly run to Chu and even kidnap their princess.

Take a look, this is Wu Jing’s memorial. This matter has been settled.”

Zhao Jiulang took the memorial from Wei Zhonghe and read it carefully.

In fact, various rumors had already reached the capital, and even some local government channels had relayed the news.

So, the Earl of Pingye’s entry into Chu was probably real, and bringing back the princess was probably real too.

But the Jingnan Marquis, as always, was unhurried about everything. It seemed that he was deliberately waiting for the rumors to spread among the people before sending in his memorial leisurely.

The focus of the memorial was still on the temporary truce with Chu, and the matter of the princess was just an afterthought.

Therefore, the court was faced with wave after wave of rumors, and they were really unsure of what to do.

Was the princess real? Was there anything wrong with this matter?

Any decision made by the court had to be based on solid confirmation, otherwise, it would be a laughingstock. Therefore, the court had not made any statement on this matter.

Now,

They had finally received definite news.

“Phew… The Jingnan Marquis’ memorial said that the Chu princess took the initiative to go with the Earl of Pingye. Your Majesty, please forgive this old minister for being presumptuous, but I really want to laugh, I want to laugh heartily.”

Zhao Jiulang said this,

And he did it too.

After putting down the memorial,

He placed one hand on his chest and stroked his beard with the other.

Then,

Very seriously:

“Hahahaha, hahaha, ha, ha, hahahaha!”

The Yan Emperor, sitting in the seat of honor, felt a burst of stuffiness, and Wei Zhonghe, as a Qi refiner, felt as if his Qi was going astray under the Prime Minister’s laughter.

Finally,

The Prime Minister finished laughing,

Took a deep breath,

And said:

“Your Majesty, please forgive me. Such a joyous thing, if I didn’t laugh, I would really feel uncomfortable.”

“It’s alright, it’s alright.”

The Yan Emperor also sighed and said, “Wasn’t the Ministry of Rites preparing several titles for the princess in advance? I’m not satisfied with them now.”

“Yes, they are indeed inappropriate,” Zhao Jiulang echoed.

They had previously thought that Earl Zheng was abducting the princess, so titles like "Guiyi" (Returning to Righteousness) and "Zhengqing" (Correct Purity), which carried obvious connotations of "abandoning darkness and turning to the light," would be acceptable. But now that the Jingnan Marquis said that she had taken the initiative to follow him into Yan, the Yan court naturally couldn’t be stingy and take advantage of her in the title.

“Instruct the Ministry of Rites to prepare a set of princess etiquette procedures and the Ministry of Revenue to allocate funds for building a princess residence, and send them all to Xue Haiguan.”

The princess would naturally live in the Earl of Pingye’s residence. This princess residence fund was actually just a way for the emperor to give Earl Zheng a reward under a different name.

“Then… the Earl of Pingye?” Zhao Jiulang asked cautiously.

Logically speaking, the Earl of Pingye should be rewarded, but he was already an earl. If he was promoted again, he would become a marquis. It would be really inappropriate to promote him so quickly at such a young age.

The previous appointment of him as the Earl of Pingye was already considered beyond the norm.

Although the Jingnan Marquis and the Zhenbei Marquis had both been made kings, in reality, the highest rank in Great Yan was still "Marquis."

Fortunately, the Yan Emperor seemed to have already considered it and said:

“Confer Zheng Fan with the title of Grand General Who Establishes the Nation.”

If he couldn’t be promoted in rank, then he would be promoted in position. He was previously the General Officer of Xue Haiguan, and now he was the Grand General Who Establishes the Nation.

But in reality, he was still in charge of the Xue Haiguan area because the State of Cheng had long been destroyed.

Although there was still a Prince of Cheng’s residence in Yingdu City, they were already living a regular life.

The Three Jins soldiers were all under the control of the Jingnan Marquis. The so-called Grand General Who Establishes the Nation was actually just an honorary title. Adding it was the same as not adding it. It just meant that Zheng Bo’s tone would sound better when he announced his name at formal occasions in the future.

The Yan Emperor seemed to feel that it was inappropriate to dismiss him so casually and said:

“Bestow a set of imperial gold armor, and… wasn’t there a barbarian sword in the list of gifts sent by the barbarian envoys last time? They said it was forged from fine iron deep in the barbarian territory. Bestow it as well.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Zhao Jiulang nodded. This should be enough.

After all, rescuing the princess did make everyone very happy. The Great Yan court and the public all felt extremely comfortable, but it was not the same as conquering territory and having solid results.

“Also, issue an edict to Wu Jing, instructing him to be fully responsible for the Chu marriage etiquette, so that the Chu people don’t think that our Great Yan is a barbaric land. Our Great Yan also values etiquette.

The princess insisted on following our Great Yan’s son home, but we elders can’t be ignorant of etiquette.

We must go through the proper procedures;

Let Wu Jing send a betrothal gift to Chu!”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

At this time,

The Yan Emperor seemed to remember something,

And said to Wei Zhonghe, who was beside him:

“Summon the Sixth Prince.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Wei Zhonghe left the imperial study, and after a short while, he returned and reported:

“Your Majesty, after the Jingnan Marquis’ memorial was presented earlier, the Sixth Prince had already taken a copy of the memorial and returned to his residence.”

Because the memorial that the Jingnan Marquis sent was not specifically explaining the “abduction of the princess,” but a military intelligence memorial about the war with Chu, it was first sent to the cabinet. Generally speaking, after such a memorial entered the cabinet, one copy would be sent to the imperial study, one to the East Palace, and copies would also be sent to the other six ministries. It was clear that the one sent to the Ministry of Revenue must have fallen into Ji Chengjue’s hands.

“That bastard.”

The Yan Emperor cursed.

Just then, an eunuch hurriedly ran in from outside. Wei Zhonghe was standing at the door of the imperial study and immediately stepped out to ask what was going on.

Then,

Just as the Yan Emperor was preparing to open the next memorial,

Wei Zhonghe suddenly staggered in,

And said:

“Your Majesty, something bad has happened…”

…

The course of events was as follows:

As the Earl of Pingye’s “patron” in the past, his subsequent “investor,” his subsequent “partner,” and then his ally, and now his good brother;

When Ji Chengjue received this copy of the Jingnan Marquis’ memorial from the cabinet,

He couldn’t wait to immediately leave the palace and go home!

Although the tea houses in the capital were circulating the story of the Earl of Pingye rescuing the Chu princess, no one knew the truth or how much of it was real, including Ji Chengjue.

Because he hadn’t received a letter from Zheng Fan either. It must be that Zheng Fan had just returned and was too busy to write to him. No, it must be that the letter had been lost during transit and hadn’t been delivered.

He had pulled off such a big thing as rescuing the Chu princess; how could he not want to share the joy with his best brother at the first opportunity?

That must be it!

Then, after receiving the Jingnan Marquis’ memorial and seeing the real result, Ji Chengjue couldn’t wait to go home.

When he returned,

He Sisi was sitting in the courtyard eating fruit.

“Hahahaha, it’s true, it’s true, that Zheng Fan really rescued a princess; she’s the Great Chu Regent’s younger sister, who is also the Great Chu Emperor’s younger sister. No, no, she insisted on going with Zheng Fan, hahahaha.”

Ji Chengjue laughed like a child.

Then,

Ji Chengjue reached out and gently patted He Sisi’s big belly,

And said:

“This is great. Zheng Fan’s kid will have Chu royal blood in the future. Not bad, not bad. We can arrange a betrothal.”

Whether it was because he was too impatient to hear about arranging a betrothal,

Or because Ji Chengjue’s gentle pats triggered some reaction,

In short,

Next,

A scene occurred that almost scared the soul out of Ji Chengjue:

He Sisi suddenly showed a painful expression,

Then,

Blood dripped from under her skirt.

This,

This,

This,

It was premature labor!

————

Thanks to classmate Proud Jiao Meow and classmate Blocked Nasal Cavity for becoming The Descent of Magic's 123rd and 124th alliance masters!

Good night.