Chapter 254: Godfather

Zheng Fan left.

He left together with the Marquis of Jingnan.

On the newly completed stretch of Shengle City’s wall, the Blind Man, Siniang, and Xue San stood side by side, watching the two figures gradually disappear into the distance.

Fan Li had no idea what was so interesting about standing on the wall and staring after them.

He scratched his head, then went back to hauling bricks below.

The Blind Man held one of those oranges that seemed to last forever.

As he peeled it, he asked, “How come he didn’t take you along, San’er?”

Xue San replied, “I’d also very much like to know.”

Then, Xue San turned toward Siniang.

“Siniang, your man ran off with another man.”

Siniang shook her head and sighed.

“This old lady can’t beat him.”

The tone of the conversation began drifting in a strange direction all by itself.

The Blind Man immediately stepped on the brakes.

“But there is one thing we can be certain of. At least while Master is beside the Marquis of Jingnan, there shouldn’t be much danger to his safety.”

“You say that like you haven’t considered what sort of opponents the Marquis of Jingnan himself runs into,” Xue San replied.

The Blind Man popped an orange segment into his mouth.

“Now you’re just arguing for the sake of arguing.”

Siniang said, “Still, it does look like the Marquis of Jingnan genuinely places great importance on Master.”

The Blind Man nodded.

He agreed completely.

At the same time, they all knew that Master himself also held a particular kind of “fondness” for the Marquis of Jingnan.

Like an elder.

Like an older brother.

There was admiration in it, and reverence as well.

It was somewhat similar to how he had felt toward Sha Tuo Queshi.

“Rather than saying the Marquis of Jingnan values Master himself, I’d say he values the collection of us as a whole,” Xue San said.

Liang Cheng’s command ability.

The Blind Man’s analysis of the larger situation.

Siniang’s craftsmanship.

And so on.

“You can’t quite put it that way,” the Blind Man countered. “And I’m not arguing with you this time.

“Master has already gone far enough away that there’s nothing wrong with speaking ill of him now.

“But there’s one thing we have to admit.

“Master has a certain charm.

“He knows how to judge the proper distance, how to handle that balance, and how to build good relationships with people of that level.

“If other people are good at pretending to be pigs so they can eat tigers, then what Master excels at is pretending to be a corgi.”

“After Master advances next time, I’ll make sure to repeat that evaluation to him word for word,” Xue San muttered.

“It’s just a pity.

“If this were the era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, then honestly, committing ourselves completely to the Marquis of Jingnan and following him wouldn’t be a bad choice.”

The Blind Man turned and glanced down beneath the wall.

“Forget it. We should finish dealing with the matters in our own hands first.

“The construction of the city wall needs to move faster.”

Siniang nodded.

“I’ll give the order.

“It doesn’t matter if a few more slaves are worked to death.

“When the time comes, we can find an excuse to kill a few of the wild-savage overseers.

“The remaining wild-savage slaves will probably end up even more grateful to us.”

“Siniang, just do whatever needs doing.

“Don’t say it aloud.

“When you say it like that, it makes me feel like a terrible person.”

The Blind Man continued eating his orange.

Xue San hopped onto one of the battlements and asked, “Should we send someone ahead to notify A’Cheng?”

“No need.

“The Marquis of Jingnan has his own plans.

“They may not even intend to rendezvous with A’Cheng.

“Maybe they’ll simply cross the Tianduan Mountains themselves and go for a stroll across the snowfields.”

Xue San shuddered.

“Blind Man, you’ve already got a woman.

“How come the way you talk is starting to sound more and more like A’Ming and A’Cheng?”

The Blind Man ignored the comment.

Instead, he turned toward Siniang.

“Let’s get to work.

“Everything is hardest at the beginning.

“Now even the idlest person among us has gone out.

“We don’t have any excuse not to work ourselves half to death anymore.”

...

City Defender Zheng was suffering inside.

Truthfully, he had ten thousand reasons in his heart for not wanting to go to the snowfields.

The Tianduan Mountains alone had already been enough to make him sick of the place during his previous trip.

It was no wonder that after the Jin people drove the wild savages out of the Three Jin lands, they had merely entered the Tianduan Mountains every so often to raid and plunder rather than exhausting themselves trying to wipe the wild savages out completely.

First, the environment within the Tianduan Mountains was genuinely brutal.

Even if you conquered the place, there was not much value in developing it.

It was the same reason the people of Yan had little interest in the desert.

Second, the truly formidable savages lived on the snowfields.

Unless the Jin people wanted to imitate the State of Qian inside the Tianduan Mountains, pouring vast amounts of money and manpower into building entire chains of fortresses and defensive works, then even if you drove the savages out, they would simply come back after a while.

Was the hot-spring pool in the rear residence no longer warm enough?

Had Siniang suddenly forgotten how to do needlework?

Why abandon a perfectly good life just to cross mountains and ridges and freeze his ass off on the snowfields?

But the Marquis of Jingnan was riding right beside him.

Zheng Fan did not even possess the courage to complain.

Normally, he could speak a little casually around Tian Wujing.

That was to create a sense of closeness.

People who had been great figures for too long might actually enjoy that sort of informality.

But when it came to matters involving military discipline, trying to bargain or whine would genuinely be the equivalent of an old man swallowing arsenic because he thought he had lived too long.

For the first two days after entering the mountains, they could still see traces left behind by Liang Cheng’s forces.

But over the next four or five days, those traces disappeared almost completely.

A path two riders could cross might still be impossible for a large army.

Liang Cheng had probably gone off to clear a different route.

Fortunately, after several major campaigns, Zheng Fan’s riding skill had become fairly solid.

And the physique of a Seventh Grade Martial Artist was not merely decorative.

Long stretches of hard riding no longer rubbed the insides of his thighs raw.

Finally, on the seventh day after entering the mountains, they crossed the last valley.

The snowfields lay before them.

Calling the place “snowfields” did not mean the entire land was covered in ice and snow.

In reality, this should have been an extraordinarily vast pasture.

Nature had simply chosen to play two extremes with the climate here.

For half the year, grass and vegetation flourished.

For the other half, the land was buried beneath ice and snow.

Winter had already ended.

Spring had long since arrived.

Yet the snowfields before them still retained great expanses of white.

Only a few scattered patches had begun showing traces of spring.

Zheng Fan and Tian Wujing stopped to rest beneath a slope.

City Defender Zheng gathered some dry wood and lit a fire.

He began heating water, then took out the travel rations he carried and divided them between himself and Tian Wujing.

Tian Wujing was not picky about food.

When the dishes were good, he ate them with obvious enjoyment.

When all he had was dry rations, he chewed them without so much as a frown.

Sometimes Zheng Fan found himself thinking that the Marquis before him was probably the most emotionless machine among everyone he had ever met.

“That woman I saw earlier in Shengle City.

“Your wife?”

Strictly speaking, based on their ages, Siniang should have been Zheng Fan’s younger maternal aunt.

But with a woman that beautiful, Tian Wujing was obviously not naïve enough to believe Zheng Fan merely treated her as a maid.

“Yes, Marquis.”

“When do you intend to have children?”

Zheng Fan froze.

This emotionless machine was actually about to discuss child-rearing with him?

“The barbarians remain unconquered. How could I think of starting a family?”

“Speak like a normal person.”

“The arrow hasn’t hit the target yet.”

More accurately, it had not merely failed to hit the target.

The new recruit was still in training and had not even been allowed onto the range yet.

“When you start preparing to become a father, the feeling really is different.”

“Yes, yes.

“Marquis, are you hoping for a little Commandery Princess or a little Marquis?”

“I like girls.”

“This subordinate likes girls too.”

Zheng Fan poured out the boiling water and handed it to Tian Wujing.

“I don’t know whether, by the time this campaign ends and I return, I’ll still make it back in time for her delivery.”

“Marquis…”

“I’m thinking too much.

“Once you enter a battlefield, you cannot allow such things to influence you.”

Zheng Fan lowered his head and dipped the steamed bun in his hand into the hot water.

“As long as Nanmen Pass is locked down, and we help the Situ Clan deal with the savages this time, the newly conquered Jin lands will finally be completely stabilized.”

“Yes, Marquis.”

Nanmen Pass was the very pass whose gates Yu Ciming had personally opened when the Yan army entered Jin.

As long as that pass remained secure, neither the minor states beyond it nor the State of Qian could enter Jin territory.

At the same time, as long as the Situ Clan at the easternmost edge remained stable, they could help keep an eye on Chu.

In theory, that meant the newly conquered Jin lands would have been completely swallowed by Yan.

As for resistance among Jin’s common people, so long as Yan itself did not fall into chaos, such resistance would never grow into anything significant.

According to the Blind Man’s analysis, since Yan had abandoned such a perfect opportunity to join forces against the State of Dacheng, then it was obvious that its attention was still ultimately fixed on the State of Qian.

“Zheng Fan.”

“This subordinate is here.”

“Many of the things you had people send me—even this Marquis never thought of them.”

Other people sent gold.

Silver.

Valuable goods.

Shining treasures accompanied by long gift lists.

Zheng Fan had instead sent many small items needed by a woman giving birth, along with mild nourishing medicines suitable for pregnant women and intended to help secure the pregnancy.

Ordinary people would never dare send medicine into a Marquis’s residence.

No one wanted to bear responsibility if something went wrong.

But Zheng Fan dared.

He had also sent rice cakes, steamed buns, and other inexpensive gifts ordinary families would give alongside celebratory red eggs.

It was all extremely down-to-earth.

“This subordinate thought that you probably wouldn’t be lacking anything else, Marquis, so…”

“You put thought into it.”

This was the second time the Marquis of Jingnan had said those words.

“This subordinate should put thought into it.”

“Juan’er said the thing she liked most was the little bellyband you sent for the child.

“Your wife embroidered it?”

“Yes.”

“And the other clothes as well.

“There are enough for the child to wear until five or six years old.

“The needlework leaves absolutely nothing to criticize.”

“Yes.

“A child’s skin is delicate.

“You have to be careful about what they wear.”

“Juan’er said the same thing.

“She also said that after the child is born, she wants to invite your wife over and learn needlework from her.

“She said that for the first half of her life, she was accustomed to holding a saber.

“Only after becoming pregnant did she begin to feel that perhaps a woman’s hand is better suited to holding a needle.”

“When the time comes, this subordinate will bring my wife to your residence to congratulate you on the birth of your child, Marquis.”

Tian Wujing finished the last piece of dry ration in his hand.

He dusted off his palms.

But he did not immediately stand.

Instead, he looked at Zheng Fan.

Then said, “Juan’er also said that City Defender Zheng has been very thoughtful toward the child.

“Since the child will be wearing clothes sent by City Defender Zheng in the future, why not have the child recognize City Defender Zheng as godfather?”

It was phrased as a question.

And yet Zheng Fan could not tell whether those words had truly come from Dujuan, or whether…

Was this a pleasant surprise?

Becoming the godfather of your ultimate boss’s child?

In this entire world, perhaps only the Emperor of Yan and the Marquis of Zhenbei truly possessed the standing to become godfather to Tian Wujing’s child.

And now, he had actually been given that qualification as well.

Or was it a fright?

Because becoming part of Tian Wujing’s family, recognizing Tian Wujing’s child as his godchild in the future…

Just think about how the people of Yan regarded Tian Wujing.

Zheng Fan truly had not expected that while chewing dry rations and drinking boiled water, he would suddenly be presented with a question like this.

Yet City Defender Zheng, who had always been cautious and skilled at protecting himself, for once did not want to calculate the gains and losses.

He wanted to keep things simple.

To be a little more spontaneous.

After all, pretending to be someone’s obedient grandson was never because he actually enjoyed the feeling of acting like one.

Zheng Fan nodded.

He did not pretend to be overwhelmed with joy.

He did not act ecstatic, or unable to contain himself, or deeply honored beyond words.

He simply answered calmly, “All right.”

[End of Chapter 254]