Chapter 1 The Banquet

The banquet was prepared.

As usual,

the groom's father, Marquis Zheng, sat in the seat of honor,

with the old woman sitting opposite him.

Xue San and Hu Bamei sat together;

Si Niang sat next to Marquis Zheng.

Fan Li and the monk called Ada set up a pot outside the hall.

Originally, Fan Li planned to cook meat, but Ada refused, and then put a lot of potatoes in it, preparing to cook a large pot of mashed potatoes.

Fan Li turned his head to look at the banquet in the hall, then looked at the large pot of rolling potatoes in front of him, and frowned;

Finally,

he looked at Ada,

and continued to sit there,

only to start adding salt to the pot.

Grandma saw that there were still two seats left at the table and couldn't help but ask;

"Are there any family members who haven't arrived yet?"

Grandma's words had changed, already assuming that the two families were one family.

In fact, this was normal;

Jingnan Wang once said to the Sword Saint: The martial world is, after all, something that can't be brought to the table.

And it was indeed the case.

Even if there were pythons and dragons emerging from the martial world, the truth was that real pixiu were actually used as mounts in the Yan Kingdom court.

Some people were born in the martial world, with a skill to rely on, seemingly free and unrestrained, but when compared...

For example, right now,

the prestige of the Pingxi Marquisate

was on display here.

After her initial affectation, Grandma immediately knew her place.

Of course, in the beginning, it was Marquis Zheng, as the "patriarch," who gave them some dignity for Xue San's sake.

Otherwise,

Grandma wouldn't be sitting at the table now, but on the execution platform, being tortured by the Blind man;

Fan Li wouldn't be sitting there with Ada cooking mashed potatoes,

Most likely Ada would be carried up by Fan Li and thrown into an iron cage to be teased, because Ada didn't seem to know any secrets or have any value, so Fan Li could play with him.

Zheng Fan picked up a spoon, first took a sip of the chicken soup in front of him, and said to Si Niang beside him:

"Did you call them?"

Since it was a family banquet, the women of the inner quarters should be present as a sign of respect.

"I did, Master."

At this moment,

a burst of laughter came from outside.

"Hehehe, we're late, we're late."

The Princess and Liu Ruqing walked in,

both women holding trays in their hands, with phoenix hairpins and ruyi scepters on top, all exquisite and precious yet not flashy treasures.

Before the expedition to Chu, Jing Renli had sent some of the Princess's palace utensils;

After the expedition to Chu, Jing Renli came again, this time sending the Princess's wedding items, which was equivalent to a dowry.

Therefore, the Princess was not short of these things at all, and casually picking out a few would be "priceless."

"Come, good sister, try wearing this and see."

The Princess personally helped Bamei put on the hairpin and then put a bracelet on her wrist.

"When Third Master gets married, the occasion doesn't need to be extravagant, because our Marquis and Third Master don't like making a fuss, but the substance must not be sloppy, otherwise it would be our fault as women."

Saying that,

the Princess walked up to the old woman,

and said;

"We can't be careless about what should be given at an engagement, look, this is for you, please don't be polite, as the elder of the bride's family, you deserve it."

What the Princess gave the old woman was a jade box, crystal clear, suitable for raising small spirit insects inside.

Grandma's breath hitched when she saw this. She wouldn't care if she was given some gold or silver, but this was really a good thing.

Great Chu had a Bureau of Beast Control, and the Chu royal family was good at raising demon beasts, which was no secret;

Although Yingdu had been destroyed,

the vast Chu Kingdom still stood there, with a solid foundation that could withstand destruction.

"That is, thank you very much, Your Highness."

Grandma was about to get up to thank her.

But the Princess affectionately reached out and stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder:

"Since we're getting married, we're all one family, so there's no need to be so formal. Our Marquisate seems big, but in fact, there aren't many family members. From now on, you can live here for a long time, both to accompany your sister and to enjoy your old age here."

Hearing this,

Grandma's instinctive reaction was to look at Marquis Zheng sitting in the seat of honor.

To be honest,

as a member of the martial world, if one could move into the Marquisate as a guest, that would be like a common weed turning into a phoenix.

In the Marquisate, enjoyment was secondary; the main thing was that here, you could use a lot of resources if you wanted to cultivate or do something;

Most importantly, you would be very safe here.

Now,

the Yan Kingdom's military power shook the world,

and this Pingxi Marquis was an extraordinary figure who had recently risen to prominence.

Given time, in another ten or twenty years, he might become another true Zhenbei Marquisate.

Who wouldn't want this kind of backing?

Marquis Zheng smiled and nodded,

saying:

"Let's start the banquet, this Marquis is a bit hungry."

He went out hunting in the morning, and then talked for a while after returning, so he didn't have time to eat.

The Princess and Liu Ruqing took their seats;

After Marquis Zheng picked up the first chopstick, everyone else began to eat.

Zheng Fan was good at being polite but didn't like being polite.

In fact,

anyone who was good at being polite didn't like this kind of activity. If you let Marquis Zheng sit with King Jingnan, the Yan Emperor, and the big shots in the court, he would definitely speak up to liven up the atmosphere;

But in his own home, there was no need.

Si Niang also ate quietly.

The Princess naturally took over the control of the event.

The Princess kept talking to Bamei and the old woman, discussing how the wedding should be handled.

It could be seen that,

although Third Master was a bit cynical on weekdays,

when things fell on his own head, and were related to his marriage, Third Master occasionally looked at the Princess with a bit of tenderness.

Eating people's food makes them soft-mouthed, and taking people's things makes them short-handed, this was an unchanging truth since ancient times.

"This shrimp paste is good."

Si Niang put a shrimp paste into Marquis Zheng's bowl, "He Chunlai's craftsmanship is getting better and better. I wonder when he will be able to teach an apprentice to take over his job."

"There's no rush." Zheng Fan smiled, "I told him that this Marquis's three meals a day are the most important, and with this goal, he can make even better dishes."

Liu Ruqing ate quietly,

She was a concubine,

In fact, in principle, she wasn't qualified to be at the table on such a formal occasion;

But the Marquisate had never valued these rules very much. Besides, it would be too boring to snub her for no reason, and if she became depressed and called "Uncle" without that flavor, it wouldn't be good.

Peaches needed to be moisturized with mist to stay plump.

Afterwards, the Princess began to talk to Grandma about raising demon beasts.

Grandma also raised some small insects herself, so the two immediately had a common language.

The meal

was eaten in a pleasant atmosphere.

After the meal,

Marquis Zheng pointed at Xue San,

and said;

"Take a day off, accompany them to stroll around the mansion and the city."

Xue San nodded in agreement.

Afterwards,

Third Master took Bamei and the old woman,

Fan Li took Ada,

and the group left the mansion.

Third Master disliked trouble the most, but unfortunately, in this situation, he could only go through the trouble.

Although he had a lot of capital,

Having a lot of capital also had its difficulties; it was hard to find a suitable match.

Forcing things was too boring. Only with genuine affection and other mediums in between could things be smoothed over.

Inside the hall,

Liu Ruqing was making tea,

and Xiong Liqing was serving tea.

"Husband."

"Sister."

"Mr. Bei."

The Blind man held up his tea and said:

"How long does Master plan to wait?"

Zheng Fan took a sip of tea and said:

"If she's a sensible person, she'll come to you in a couple of days. What you did last time wasn't wrong, but in the future, we don't have to be so extreme when we do things."

"Yes, this subordinate knows his mistake."

"It wasn't wrong, I said, in that situation, it was necessary to know more, but now, we can change to a better way."

Brutal exploitation

was certainly simple and quick,

but it was like slash-and-burn agriculture, too rough and inefficient.

Careful cultivation, to say nothing else, looked pleasing to the eye.

His subordinates were generally divided into several types.

Ordinary subordinates could be summoned and dismissed at will;

A little higher were people like He Chunlai, who had cultivation value and shaping value, and were worth investing some sentiment in;

People like Jin Shuke were even more advanced, reaching the level where he needed to pat their shoulders from time to time;

The most top-level was someone like the Sword Saint.

The old woman, for Xue San's sake, could be somewhere between He Chunlai and Jin Shuke.

The words Xiong Liqing said at the dinner table were also because she understood what her man meant, that he wanted to bring the person into the mansion for future use.

"This matter can be followed up to see if there can be any other gains. Third will be aware of this, and he will come to you when he needs help. After you handle it well, give me a summary."

"Yes, Master."

The Blind man put down his teacup

and said:

"Actually, that old woman is really not simple, at least, she has some ability, for example, she saw something when she helped Third look at his fortune earlier."

Zheng Fan was not surprised by this and said directly:

"People like us are like ghosts borrowing corpses to return to the world."

Those who really had the ability to use a demon-revealing mirror would definitely be shocked.

In short,

the destinies of these Demon Kings were very peculiar. In short, they were very inconsistent with their current words, deeds, and identities.

It was somewhat like celestials falling into the mortal world, but their roots were still there.

"After the old woman finished reading Third's face, she peed her pants in fright."

This meant that

the Blind man had been eavesdropping all along.

"Hehe." Zheng Fan smiled, "Then it seems that she is indeed capable."

Seeing a clue, and being so scared that she peed her pants,

were vastly different.

"In that case, in a couple of days... No, let's just do it tonight."

Marquis Zheng didn't like to wait when he wanted to do something;

"Wait for Third and the others to come back, and then have the old woman read his fortune again."

Si Niang said: "Didn't that old woman already say what Master's fortune was, that he would eventually change from four claws to five claws?"

As for having her read other people's fortunes,

it was nothing more than letting the old woman pee her pants a few more times.

Zheng Fan shook his head

and said;

"I want her to take a look at Tiantian."