Chapter 400: Farewell
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
“Distinguished emperor’s son-in-law!”
It was not the first time Zhou Bao had heard someone call him that. But the voice of the man gave him a pang of nausea because it was too unctuous.
The man who rushed to them was a short, fat fellow. He was chubby, like a ball of flesh. His long magnificent robe and very oily voice of greetings caused Zhou Bao to shiver a few times.
“Gosh, who is this guy? That’s too weird!”
“Feng Daban, why are you here?” As he was wondering, Yan Yunfei came up to the fat man and helped him up. “How is my mother?”
The fat man, named Feng Daban, had already stood up, but instantly fell down on his knees again when he heard Yan Yunfei’s question. “I’m useless. I’m useless. The Queen, the Queen…”
“What… What happened to my mother?” Yan Yunfei asked urgently.
“All right, stop the questions. It looks like she’s still alive. Don’t waste time here, or you won’t get to see her one last time!” Zhou Bao reminded her impatiently behind.
“Yes, yes, that’s right. The Queen has been talking about Your Highness’s name these days. I’ll take you in at once!” Feng Daban nodded repeatedly and led Zhou Bao and Yan Yunfei straight to the Royal Capital. The soldiers, who surrounded them, had made way for them and dared not to stop them.
It was not until the figures of the three disappeared, that the soldiers were relieved and began to talk amongst themselves.
“Who are they? To be so prestigious that Eunuch Feng should fetch them himself!”
“You idiot, didn’t you see that it’s Princess Qingyang!” A well-informed soldier said.
“Princess Qingyang? Isn’t she married and is living in the Wuyang Region in the northwest now? Why…”
“How stupid you are! Can’t she go back to her parents’ family when she’s married? Didn’t you hear what Eunuch Feng called the man? Emperor’s son-in-law! Don’t you realize who he is?”
“Emperor’s son-in-law? Oh, he is Zhou Bao of Yunzhou!”
“Finally realized? You’re so stupid!”
“God, we’ve just surrounded him, and we’re not dead. How lucky we are!” said those soldiers while touching their chests.
“He is Zhou Bao of Yunzhou? He didn’t look like Zhou Bao, but looked very gentle, like an ordinary scholar.”
“A scholar? Which scholar can kick Commander out? Oh, right, Commander!”
When the Commander was mentioned, these soldiers remembered that their Commander had been kicked out by Zhou Bao and they still did not know whether he was alive or not. Hence, they swarmed towards the Commander and took care of him.
“Is this the Royal Capital? Hehe, what a powerful force of oppression! I guess even an expert of the Mysterious Realm can’t escape unscathed from here! Eh, what are they doing?”
Entering the Royal Capital’s inner palace, they followed Eunuch Feng and finally reached their destination after many corners. Then they saw a lot of people kneeling in front of the Queen’s bedchamber.
By this time, the rain was already heavy. But these people continued to kneel and kept motionless, letting the rain fall on them and drip down, as if they could feel nothing.
Silence ruled in the bedchamber. The Emperor said nothing. He and his ministers seemed to be in a state of confrontation.
Ignoring this, Eunuch Feng dashed to the front of the bedchamber with quick short steps and shouted, “Here comes Princess Qingyang and emperor’s son-in-law, Wuyang Earl, Zhou Bao!”
His voice, containing a bit of internal strength, was wiry, loud and unctuous, making Zhou Bao involuntarily shiver.
Crash!
The sound of a crackle of porcelain, followed by a steady voice, came from the bedchamber, “Come in!”
“Come in, Princess Qingyang and Wuyang Earl!” Eunuch Feng called again.
In fact, after the first shout, the court ministers, kneeling on the ground, all looked back at them.
After all, the emperor’s son-in-law, Wuyang Earl, Zhou Bao, was the man of the day. He had become famous in a short period of time and performed many large feats. Now, he was known as the strongest man below the Mysterious Realm, the lord of the first outlying prefecture in the northwest. Everyone wanted to see such a character. None of these ministers had ever seen Zhou Bao. Naturally, they did not want to miss the chance.
However, at the sight of him, they were disappointed.
In their imagination, an expert like Zhou Bao, even in the absence of being nine-foot tall and having a nine-inch waist, should, at the very least, be strong, and should be able to exude an expert’s momentum and impressive manner, making people admire him at first sight. But now, standing before them was only a scholar-like young man, who did not look as good as some of the children with advantages in their own family.
“Is this Zhou Bao who comes from Yunzhou, one of the four teenager experts of the Jin, the strongest man below the Mysterious Realm and the Leopard of the northwest?”
Zhou Bao did not know what these people thought, nor did he care. Today he was just a son-in-law coming to see his mother-in-law with his wife. He had no intention of having any relation with these ministers.
Hearing that Yan Yuntian asked them to come in, Zhou Bao took Yan Yunfei by the sleeve and went to the bedchamber.
“Wait!” Just as they were entering the bedchamber, there came a sudden shout.
With a slight frown, Zhou Bao stopped and looked back, only to find that it was the old man that knelt at the front.
Perhaps it was because he had kowtowed for so many times, his forehead was bruised with blood, despite this, his expression commanded respect, even with the solemnity of an imposing manner and an air of awe-inspiring righteousness.
Eventually, Zhou Bao raised his eyebrows. He was unconcerned when faced with a man, but now facing the gathered fate of more than 100 ministers, he saw a hint of something-the vermeil fate was gathered over their heads. It was not clear, but Zhou Bao felt it was very stable. It seemed that these people were destined to be wealthy and honorable.
“Are you Zhou Bao?” Seeing Zhou Bao looking at them with a frown, the old man asked with a clouded face.
“Why bother asking me since you know the answer?” Although he knew that their fate was vigorous, Zhou Bao did not care. Anyway, it was all the fate of common people, which he did not fear.
“You are His Majesty’s son-in-law and a commander of a border-province of the imperial court. I don’t care what you think, but as a person of Jin, you have an obligation to admonish His Majesty to not to delay state affairs for his private ends!”
“What? Has he become a fatuous and self-indulgent ruler?” Zhou Bao asked.
More than 100 ministers almost choked to death at his remark. The guy was really outspoken! With a word, the Emperor’s nature was determined—a fatuous and self-indulgent ruler!
“No, not yet. The Emperor has not held court for more than 10 days, but many important things require His Majesty to make decisions. Over the past few days, the state affairs has been piled up and can no longer be delayed to handle. If it goes on like this, there will be big trouble!”
“Since such being the case, why bother to be a f**king Emperor who cannot accompany his own wife and who made so many people kneeling outside? It’s really silly!” Zhou Bao muttered, but the sound made it clear to all the people around him. Suddenly, his heartless words made everyone stiff, even the old man with an air of awe-inspiring righteousness turned dull.
“Come on in!” There was a roar of rage in the bedchamber.
Zhou Bao shrugged his shoulders. Then his mouth opened with a tiny curve, but it was not a smile. At this moment, Yan Yunfei was pinching the flesh of his waist and then, twisted it hard.
He hissed and followed Yan Yunfei to the bedchamber. As soon as they entered the bedchamber, Yan Yunfei loosened her small hand that was twisting Zhou Bao’s waist and went straight to the bed.
“Mother!” Rushing to the bed, she held Luo Xuehuan’s hand tightly and cried miserably.
Feeling bored, Zhou Bao looked up at Yan Yuntian. At this moment, Yan Yuntian had released Luo Xuehuan’s hand and was looking at him.
It was the first time they had met.
“You’re younger than I have thought!”
“You’re much older than I have thought!”
The two people simply exchanged a few words, and Yan Yuntian said no more, turning his eyes to Luo Xuehuan with tenderness, which made Zhou Bao feel a little embarrassed.
Yes, this was quite embarrassing. He seemed to be the only idle man in the bedchamber.
“Cough, cough!”
A few slight coughs broke the awkward silence.
Yan Yuntian and Yan Yunfei were simultaneously startled.
“Mother is awake! Father, my mother is awake!” Yan Yunfei cried with surprise. Yan Yuntian was also touched, but his eyes were full of grief.
Zhou Bao gave a gentle sigh. Luo Yun did wake up, but it was a sudden recovery prior to death.
“Yunfei, is that you? My little Yunfei, I’m not dreaming, am I?”
“No, mother, you’re not dreaming. It’s me, your little Yunfei. I’m back!
The thoughts after a long separation and the last farewell were all very strange to Zhou Bao. As a reincarnated man, his feelings for all the people in the world were subtle. As he came into contact with more and more people and, encountered more and more things, he seemed to be very close to a lot of people, but that was only superficial. Even with Wang She, the main reason to maintain their relationship was mutual interest.
Thus, he was not used to such scenes.
Standing there, he was a little awkward, until he heard a thin voice, “Are you Yunfei’s husband? Come, come here, let me take a good look at you!” The bitterness on Zhou Bao’s face got stronger.