Zheng Fan couldn’t understand what this meant, but he truly felt an inexplicable sense of dread.
The Yan Emperor’s light tone and indifferent attitude were like an abyss; just looking into it made his heart race.
Ji Chengjue had once said how incredibly ruthless his father was. Zheng Fan hadn’t thought much of it before. After all, an emperor, if not a bit ruthless, how could he call himself the lone and supreme ruler?
But facing him in person, Zheng Fan realized whoever ended up with such a father probably had no childhood to speak of.
"Chief Zheng, it is time for you to take your leave," Wei Zhonghe whispered to Zheng Fan.
Zheng Fan recovered his senses and immediately said, "Your servant takes his leave."
Wei Zhonghe accompanied Zheng Fan out of the Imperial Study, and then said, "Chief Zheng, whatever His Majesty says stands. If you find the time, you can visit the Third Prince at the lakeside pavilion. The pavilion is quite desolate, and the Third Prince gets terribly bored there all by himself."
"Thank you for the advice, Eunuch Wei."
Eunuchs all seemed to be greedy for money. However, Zheng Fan, for one, hadn’t come prepared, and for another, he felt that even if he had, he wouldn’t dare try to curry favor with this Wei Zhonghe by offering silver.
What he most wanted to do right now was to leave this capital city and return to Green Willow Fortress.
Perhaps such a thought might seem a bit unambitious, but this was Zheng Fan’s first instinct.
His second instinct was: It smells so good!
Wei Zhonghe didn’t escort Zheng Fan any further and walked back into the Imperial Study.
Zheng Fan entered the imperial garden, and the fragrance began to intensify. Slightly veering off course, he walked a short distance to the west and saw a middle-aged man sitting by a pond, roasting a leg of mutton.
The middle-aged man looked at Zheng Fan, waved, and said, "Give me a hand."
Actually, upon seeing this man, Zheng Fan had already guessed who he was.
Throughout the entire Yan Empire, men who could roast a leg of mutton in the imperial garden and also sport a beard probably numbered only three.
However, Lord Jingnan was currently at the Tian Family’s estate, busy with the cleanup after wiping them out. He had just seen the Emperor in the Imperial Study. So, there was only one person left.
That man was said to have been living in the West Garden—built by people from the Qian State under the previous emperor’s orders—ever since he arrived in the capital. But if he wanted to come to the imperial garden to roast and eat a leg of mutton, it would be perfectly normal. Newest update provıded by 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✦𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚✦𝕟𝕖𝕥
Chief Zheng was a bit tired; these past twenty-four hours had truly been an incredibly eventful day.
First, he accompanied Lord Jingnan for roast duck, incidentally chatting with Ji Chengjue for a while. Then he went to a prince’s residence, witnessed the scheming among the princes, and then personally handled the crippling of the Third Prince. Afterward, he immediately followed Lord Jingnan home. At the Tian Residence, just as the servants brought out the food, he received Lord Jingnan’s military order to exterminate the family. After the extermination, he was dispatched as a messenger, entered the palace, and had just met the Yan Emperor.
He had just come out of the Imperial Study, his back drenched in cold sweat, and before the sweat could even evaporate, he encountered the Earl of North Border sitting there roasting a leg of mutton.
Seriously, this plot was just too packed. In his previous life, when he drew comics, he wouldn’t have dared to make it so relentless without any breaks. The reason was simple: if you didn’t pad it out and control the pacing, how could the comic be long? And if it wasn’t long, how could you charge for it?
But there was no helping it. The Earl of North Border was sitting right there, beckoning him over. No matter how bitter or tired he felt, no matter how much he complained about society, he had to go.
Zheng Fan trotted forward. He didn’t bow but squatted down directly.
Eating barbecue with a superior was definitely a quick way to build rapport. In such a situation, being too hung up on etiquette and insisting on formal greetings would seem distant and might even spoil the superior’s enjoyment of the barbecue.
Thus, one minute on stage requires ten years of practice offstage.
After waking up, he had been flattered by Blind Bei and the others for more than half a year. Perhaps it was all so that today, when facing these influential figures, he could act with such ease.
Zheng Fan had once been very curious why Blind Bei and the others kept finding indirect ways to flatter him day after day; it turned out their intentions ran this deep.
Zheng Fan slowly turned the leg of mutton, watching the fat drip continuously onto the charcoal. This aroma...
He was truly getting a bit hungry. At Ji Chengjue’s roast duck shop, Zheng Fan had been preoccupied with talking to Ji Chengjue and had only eaten a duck leg. Later, at the Tian Residence, he hadn’t had a chance to eat dinner properly before being swept into the family extermination.
After all that running around, he really hadn’t eaten much substantial food all day.
Seeing that it was almost dawn, he didn’t feel much fatigue. The things he had done and seen today were all exciting enough to keep any sleepiness at bay. It was just... hunger.
Truthfully, to be honest, roasted leg of mutton was delicious, but it was hard to say it was out-of-this-world good; just like Ji Chengjue’s roast duck, no matter how elaborately prepared, it was still just a roast duck.
People who had experienced an era of material abundance often encountered a similar issue. Sometimes, when traveling and eating a local specialty, they would most likely think... Oh, it’s just okay. Then they would happily take pictures and post them on their social media.
Food isn’t some panacea. Unless you add drugs to it, the kind of special effects where food frequently glows, like in *Chinese Young Master*, don’t exist. When it comes to eating, what really matters is the mood.
And a significant factor affecting your mood is the people you’re eating with.
Back in Green Willow Fortress and Hutou City, Zheng Fan had enjoyed sitting down with Blind Bei in the mornings to drink porridge, accompanied by a few dishes of pickles and a salted duck egg. They ate with great relish. After the meal, they would offer each other a cigarette, and a pleasant day would begin in this manner.
Now, this leg of mutton was being personally roasted by the Earl of North Border. The leg itself inevitably carried an aura of celebrity. Coupled with his existing hunger, Zheng Fan’s craving for this leg of mutton intensified even more.