Zhang Gongjin felt a bit embarrassed by his retort and turned to Cheng Yaojin and the others.
"Brothers, look at his smug face, can you stand it?"
"I can't stand it, for sure!"
Niu Jindai immediately chimed in, "Why the hell should we stand him? Beat him! I can't stand seeing him so pleased with himself!"
"That's right, beat him up!" Cheng Yaojin pulled his chair back and charged at Chai Shao with murderous intent.
Yuchi Jingde quickly followed, and Niu Jindai wasn't to be left behind.
Zhang Gongjin leaned on his chin, watching with amusement. The thought of the three ruffians beating up Chai Shao was incredibly satisfying.
Indeed, when it came to fighting, it was most enjoyable to watch others do the dirty work!
What made him even more pleased was that he was the one who had instigated this fight!
The men were sitting around a table. For Cheng Yaojin to get to Chai Shao, he had to pass by Niu Jindai, Zhang Gongjin, and Qin Qiong in sequence.
Just as he reached Niu Jindai, the two exchanged a glance and then, working together, lifted Zhang Gongjin up.
"What the hell are you guys doing? Weren't you going to beat up Old Chai?"
Zhang Gongjin couldn't quite grasp what was happening, struggling while suspended in mid-air.
"Hahahaha, your talent for causing trouble is growing daily, you really think we're fools to be bossed around by you?"
Cheng Yaojin shouted, then gave Niu Jindai a signal. With a sudden surge of strength, they used Zhang Gongjin as a weapon, smashing him towards Chai Shao.
Chai Shao had been prepared for a group assault, but he hadn't anticipated this turn of events.
He kicked his chair aside, then extended his hands, grabbed Zhang Gongjin's clothes, and using the force-dispelling technique of Tai Chi, with a 'four ounces deflect a thousand pounds' move, he hurled Zhang Gongjin far away.
"Bang!"
The man had not expected this at all. One moment he was watching the fun, and the next he was being tossed like a sack of rags into a haystack.
Chai Shao didn't give him time to get up. It was the fifth year of Zhenguan, what virtue was there to speak of?
He lunged forward, pinned Zhang Gongjin in the haystack, and began a flurry of blows.
"Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!"
The sound of flesh meeting flesh was quite pleasing to the ear.
"Ouch! No hitting my face!"
"Where the hell are you reaching?"
"Old Chai, if you keep this up, I'm going to lose my temper with you~~"
No matter how much Zhang Gongjin struggled, he was still no match for Chai Shao. Unsurprisingly, he ended up with a bruised and battered face.
Five minutes later, Chai Shao stretched his slightly sore wrists and looked at Zhang Gongjin's aggrieved and defiant gaze, smiling.
"Hahahaha, how is it, feel good?"
"Let me tell you, as a consort, I love it when you're annoyed with me but can't do anything about it!"
Zhang Gongjin: .............
Parallel world, Bianliang City.
The fluctuating magnetic field within the world portal only affected the people of this world; it had no effect on Fang Er and Wang Xuance.
The two sat on the city wall, watching as the people one by one disappeared, finding it quite boring.
"My Lord, with all these people gone, how many treasures do you think will be left behind?"
Wang Xuance suddenly pointed in the direction of the imperial palace.
Fang Er's heart stirred, and he instantly jumped to his feet, waving his hand.
"Let's go, let's go into the palace to find treasure!"
The two descended the city wall one after the other. Fang Er casually produced two motorcycles, mounted one, and sped towards the imperial palace.
Wang Xuance quickly mounted the other and followed behind him.
The once heavily guarded imperial palace was now deserted.
Even when they occasionally encountered a few imperial guards, they were all expressionless, hurrying towards the nearest world portal, paying them no mind.
As the door to the Secret Pavilion was pushed open, Wang Xuance couldn't help but let out a pig-like squeal at the sight of the rows upon rows of wooden chests.
"Hahahaha, my Lord, there must be plenty of treasures here!"
As he spoke, he casually opened a wooden chest, peered inside, and his smile immediately froze.
"Empty?"
Disbelieving, he opened the surrounding wooden chests one by one, but his heart grew colder with each one.
Disappointed, he closed the chest again and complained to Fang Er.
"My Lord, is the Zhao family out of their minds? Why would they put a pile of empty chests here?"
Fang Er chuckled beside him. The silver in the chests had been collected by him a month ago, so naturally, only empty chests were left!
"Alright, good things wouldn't be placed so openly out in the open."
"From the outside, this Secret Pavilion is much larger than this. Let's find the hidden door."
Wang Xuance immediately walked towards the surrounding walls, took out his pistol, and tapped the walls intermittently, using the sound to determine the location of the hidden door.
As for Fang Er, he wasn't particularly concerned about what treasures could be found here. Even if the Zhao Song dynasty was wealthy, they weren't as wealthy as he was!
At worst, he could send people out with gold dredging ships for a quick trip, and that would be enough!
Bored, he sat down on the steps by the entrance, casually opening his system panel. He glanced at the store refresh countdown; it still needed twenty days.
He took out a book on chemical engineering and was about to flip through it when he suddenly noticed a line of conspicuous red text that had appeared on the system panel at some point.
Mission: Organize a sports meet.
Completion Reward: The month after completing the mission, one item of your choice can be unlocked when the store refreshes.
Mission Countdown: 45:55:03
What the hell!
He had actually forgotten about this!
With less than two days left to complete the mission!
With such a tight deadline, how could he possibly have the mood to read a book?
He quickly put the book away and began to rack his brain for ideas.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
~
Just as Fang Er hadn't yet figured out how to organize the sports meet, a series of banging sounds suddenly came from the side courtyard next to the Secret Pavilion.
"Who's there?"
He instinctively shouted towards that direction.
But apart from the continuing banging sounds, no one responded to his shouts.
"My Lord, what's wrong?" Wang Xuance, who was still searching for the hidden room in the Secret Pavilion, rushed out upon hearing this.
Fang Er pointed in the direction of the banging sounds and said, "There seems to be someone over there. Be careful and go take a look."
"Yes, my Lord." Wang Xuance cautiously loaded his pistol, prepared to fire at any moment, and then tiptoed towards the side courtyard.
The banging sounds continued. Wang Xuance, holding his pistol with both hands, shouted into the courtyard again from outside the gate, but still received no response.
"Clang~"
He kicked the courtyard gate open with his foot, and the situation inside was instantly revealed.
The courtyard was empty. Only a woman was knocked to the ground by the gate he had kicked open.
The woman got up numbly and continued to walk towards the courtyard gate, as if she felt nothing, even though her forehead was bleeding from the impact.
Fang Er finally realized what was happening. It turned out that due to the magnetic field fluctuations in the world portal, she was uncontrollably trying to walk outwards, but was blocked by the courtyard gate.
In her dazed state, she could only bang on the door, but didn't know that the gate opened inwards!
"My Lord, there are many letters here!"
Wang Xuance rushed out of the courtyard and handed a thick stack of papers to Fang Er.
He took them and casually flipped through a few pages before immediately turning to look at the woman who was leaving.
This woman was none other than Empress Dowager Xiao of the Liao Dynasty!
No wonder she was locked up here~
This was no ordinary woman. To prevent her from blending in with the common people and escaping after going to the Americas, thus causing trouble in the future, Fang Er decided to personally escort this lady back.