Chapter 1 Zheng Fan Takes Possession

Zheng Fan reached out to pick up the object and examined it closely. He had to admit, when anything was crafted to its extreme, it could truly give off the feeling of a work of art.

"Ah~"

The Empress Dowager of Jin beside him let out a gasp, almost fainting from shame. This time, without Zheng Fan needing to press her down, she buried her face in the quilt, not daring to look up.

"Heh."

Zheng Fan chuckled.

He knew what this thing was.

Don't think only modern people of later generations would play with this; ancient people had been playing with it a long time ago. After all, what changes with social development are external conditions. The essence of humanity, and its instinctive needs, have always existed.

This thing was called Mr. jio, or Mr. "Guo". In different periods, it had other aliases, such as "Jingdong Personnel" or "Guangdong Personnel."

Just like Jinhua ham or Gaoyou preserved eggs in later generations, it had created a brand effect.

In archaeological excavations, quite a few of these kinds of things have been unearthed, many from the tombs of eunuchs. Because ordinary people would be too embarrassed to put this thing in as a burial object, while eunuchs, because they lacked it, had always had a kind of "worship" and "longing" for it.

Generally speaking, these things were mostly made of ceramic, because wood would easily rot after soaking for a long time.

Of course, those with better conditions could choose copper, silver, or jade.

However, the Empress Dowager of Jin's was even more high-end.

Made of ivory!

"Empress Dowager, matters between men and women are human nature, and there's nothing to be ashamed of. Although I have offended and disrespected you before, I would never deign to publicize this matter. You can rest assured."

For some reason, the Empress Dowager's emotions stabilized because of this promise, perhaps because of Zheng Fan's earlier straightforwardness, which led her to believe his promise.

Zheng Fan smiled for a while, then put the thing back in the box, returned it to the hidden compartment, and covered it up securely with the soft quilt.

Then, he got up and walked to the desk in front, picked up the teapot, and began to pour water—to wash his hands.

The Empress Dowager heard the sound of water and raised her head to look over. Seeing Zheng Fan washing his hands, her already red face was impossible to tell if it had become even redder, but a hint of anger flashed in her eyes.

This boor was actually disgusted by her...

After washing his hands, Zheng Fan turned around and found that the Empress Dowager's face was flushed, and she was actually quite beautiful.

Perhaps because of Mr. jio, everyone was no longer as constrained as before. Zheng Fan said,

"Let me be honest with you, I definitely have to take the ancestral temple and the national treasury. I'm here this time to seek wealth. As long as you listen to me and don't make trouble, you can go to Yanjing with your son to enjoy life, uh, taking your ivory one with you."

The Empress Dowager took a deep breath and seemed to have completely let go of her restraints, saying directly:

"The ancestral temple cannot be touched!"

"Where else in your Jin kingdom is there any remaining wealth besides the place of worship?"

"No matter what, the ancestral temple is not allowed to be touched!"

"Your words don't count now, be good, don't be emotional."

"This Ai Jia, I still have some private savings here."

"Don't touch your private money. I'll decide that you can take it to Yanjing."

"Should Ai Jia thank you? General Zheng."

"As you wish."

Although this Empress Dowager of Jin was not as sensible as Princess Consort Fu, men just have that cheap streak in their bones.

They don't cherish women who offer themselves willingly, and even have a bit of restraint and "self-love."

On the contrary, Zheng, the city defender, was truly interested in teasing someone like the Empress Dowager.

Of course, although Si Niang kept saying that she wanted to arrange a harem of princesses or empress dowagers for him,

Can women's words be believed?

Zheng Fan still remembered when he was filling in the later plot of the comic "Feng Si Niang," he was in the studio room designing those plots where Si Niang ruthlessly tormented and tortured those unfaithful men in various inhumane ways.

He vaguely remembered that he was very excited at the time.

Thinking about it now,

He was really like a fool.

"Let's talk until here, but I can't go out for the time being. Do you have anything to eat here?" Zheng Fan asked.

"Aren't you afraid that Ai Jia will poison you?"

"You're not willing to die," Zheng Fan said casually.

"Ai Jia, Ai Jia, Ai Jia is the Empress Dowager of a country, Ai Jia..."

"Okay, you're not old, so don't always act old-fashioned, go get me something to eat."

The Empress Dowager hesitated for a moment, then went to bring over a fruit plate with many pastries and dried fruits inside.

After placing the items in front of Zheng Fan,

Zheng Fan just held a piece of pastry in his hand, toying with it.

"Aren't you going to eat?" The Empress Dowager asked.

"I'm scared."

"..." Empress Dowager.

"By the way, how many years has the late emperor been dead?"

"More than ten years."

"Oh, then it must be hard for you, being a widow with an orphan."

The Empress Dowager silently picked up a piece of pastry, put it in her mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it.

Zheng Fan still toyed with the pastry in his hand, as if it were not meant to be eaten, but a toy.

"General Zheng, Ai Jia thinks you are a really interesting person."

"Oh, are you interested in me?"

"You..."

"Don't be nervous, and don't be angry. A lot of changes have indeed happened today. Just relax, after all, there will be many similar changes in the future, you have to get used to them."

"..." Empress Dowager.

"Actually, your Jin kingdom could have been maintained for a longer time."

The Situ family was preparing to fight the wild men in the Heavenly Cascade Mountains.

The Yan people would not launch an attack on the Situ family at this time.

The two sides would tacitly divide up the fate of the Jin kingdom together, a win-win situation for everyone.

However, the Jin Emperor himself caused this incident, triggering a chain reaction.

In Zheng Fan's view, the purpose of the Jingnan Marquis's coming this time was just to sweep away the capital region, which was no longer of any value, and to move the Jin Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and the close relatives of the royal family to Yanjing.

In the future, the Jin kingdom would be clean, with only the Yan Kingdom and the Situ family.

The Jingnan Marquis was not planning to use force against the Situ family at this time, otherwise, he would have brought the main force of the Jingnan Army from Litian City.

"Ai Jia agrees with my son's plan," the Empress Dowager said.

"What's the use of your agreement? You, a woman who has lived in the palace for most of her life, may be good at playing palace intrigue, but how can you meddle in military affairs?

Actually, if your son hadn't messed things up, I might have come here during the holidays to pay my respects to you with gifts.

I am the city defender of Shengle City, Shengle City, you know it, right?"

The Empress Dowager nodded and said, "The most barren and impoverished place in the Jin kingdom."

"..." Zheng Fan.

Calming down,

Zheng Fan said,

"Originally, when your son was returning from Yanjing, I traveled with him, walking together for many days, thinking of flattering your son to get acquainted with him, so that it would be convenient to cooperate in the future.

Who would have thought that your son wouldn't even bother to pay attention to me? I completely offered a hot face to his cold ass."

"Pa!"

A crisp sound.

The Empress Dowager's face, which had just calmed down, turned red again, and she looked at Zheng Fan in disbelief.

Zheng Fan placed his palm in front of him, gently rubbing his fingertips,

And said:

"Now we're even."

Just then, there was a sound outside, and more cavalry entered the palace.

"Okay, I have to go out and get busy. Thank you for your hospitality, Empress Dowager. We'll meet again if we have the chance."

Zheng Fan got up contentedly and walked to the door of the bedroom.

What he saw was Ren Juan, the General Commander of Xin Su City.

Ren Juan did not dismount.

Behind him followed a group of knights covered in blood.

"This humble subordinate, Zheng Fan, the city defender of Shengle City, pays his respects to General Commander Ren!"

Wearing armor, he didn't need to kneel.

"Yu Huacheng is dead," Ren Juan said with a somewhat unfriendly expression.

Zheng Fan was stunned for a moment, then understood.

It seemed that Liang Cheng and the others had inherited his good luck in snatching heads.

"City Defender Zheng is indeed skilled in managing his subordinates. This general admires him."

"You flatter me, sir. We are all brothers in arms of the Jingnan Army."

In front of Li Fusheng, it was "We are all from Beifeng County, we are our own people, very much our own people."

In front of Ren Juan, it was "We all follow the Jingnan Marquis, we are also very much our own people."

"Could it be that this general is jealous of your achievements? The Marquis is not here right now. This general came here specifically to see if the Empress Dowager of Jin is inside?"

"Reporting to the general, she is inside, safe and sound."

"Good. This general orders you to keep a close watch on the Empress Dowager of Jin and maintain the stability of this palace, without any mistakes."

"This humble subordinate obeys the order."

"Alright, this general must lead his men to the suburbs to meet the Marquis."

"Please go ahead, sir, I'll take care of things here."

"Mm."

Ren Juan might have wanted to deliberately show some closeness, squeezing out a little smile, this smile was very awkward and uncomfortable.

Zheng Fan then realized that the other party's earlier scowl was not because Liang Cheng and the others had killed Yu Huacheng and he was jealous of him for stealing military merit, but because this person's face was naturally this "enemy face."

Ren Juan led his troops away, and even specially assigned two hundred more soldiers to Zheng Fan, which meant that Zheng Fan now had five hundred cavalry to guard this bedroom, or rather, the entire Jin palace.

In the past, this would definitely have been a joke, but now,

Knowing that with five hundred Jingnan Army cavalry in hand, Zheng Fan dared to charge against a thousand Jin regular army cavalry.

Right now, in the capital region, not to mention a thousand regular army cavalry, could they even muster a thousand organized troops, or even a thousand rabble?

After stretching,

Zheng Fan walked back to the bedroom again.

Inside, the Empress Dowager of Jin was still sitting in the chair, seemingly in a daze.

When she saw Zheng Fan returning,

The Empress Dowager trembled all over.

"Oh, isn't this the Empress Dowager? What a coincidence, we actually met again."

"..." Empress Dowager.