Chapter 17

Qin Feng traveled a thousand years back to the Eastern Han Dynasty. His father-in-law, Zhen Yi, did not recognize him. Not only did he not reminisce about their old relationship, but he also planned to have over a hundred people beat him to death.

Who was Qin Feng? How could he be bullied? With a wave of his hand, Dian Wei and Xu Chu led their men into action.

Zhen Yi, with his large number of followers and an inherent sense of nobility towards the poor, directed them angrily, "Beat him to death! How dare he have designs on my daughter! Beat him hard, beat him to death!"

Qin Feng, wearing sunglasses, snapped his fingers, "Let him beat me!"

Crack!

Not to mention the twenty Dragon Guards with Xu Chu and Dian Wei, just the two of them alone knocked out all of Zhen Yi's over a hundred servants.

The refugees were shocked and retreated, clearing a large area. As they watched, they became even more astonished.

"This guy with the black eye circles is too strong!"

"His subordinates are so capable!"

"Could he be a Yellow Turban rebel?"

At this moment, in front of the Zhen family's gate, the ground was filled with groans as over a hundred servants lay beaten. Some were clutching their chests, others their stomachs, and some were even holding their heads and crotches.

Zhen Yi, no longer calm and composed, was terrified. When he looked at Qin Feng, he felt that the man with the black eye circles had a "very dark" aura, a great malevolent star. Zhen Yi trembled all over, almost wetting his pants. He didn't care about the over a hundred servants on the ground and turned to run towards the gate. In a flash, he was inside, shouting, "Close the gate quickly! Notify the authorities! There are bandits, traitors, rebels, Yellow Turbans!"

In one breath, Zhen Yi had accused Qin Feng of four major crimes.

The surrounding refugees were all scared away, only stopping to watch from a distance.

Xu Chu, alarmed, hurriedly said, "Lord, this old man is going to report to the authorities. Ye City has thousands of government troops. What should we do?"

Qin Feng couldn't oppose the government troops; instead, he needed to become one of them and climb the ranks until the opportunity for chaos arose. Therefore, he couldn't oppose the government troops and had already considered that Zhen Yi wouldn't recognize him.

The gate was about to close, with Zhen Yi's fearful and hungry look behind it.

Qin Feng took off his sunglasses and quickly said, "Father-in-law, the Grand Tutor Hu Guang gave your father a tripod from the Shang Dynasty. Your father fell ill and soon passed away, but that tripod contained something. I'll wait here. Go back and check, and you'll know the truth. If you report to the authorities, the first person they'll arrest will be you, a member of the party!"

"My father? Hu Guang!" Zhen Yi was stunned, his body trembling.

Thud! The gate closed.

Xu Chu, anxious, said, "Lord, what if he reports to the authorities?"

Qin Feng smiled, "Zhen Yi is a smart man. He won't report to the authorities."

At this moment, Dian Wei said cleverly, "Lord, is what you said about the tripod and the party true?"

"Of course it's true," Qin Feng smiled.

"How did you know, Lord?"

Hearing this, Qin Feng couldn't help but recall the past life.

Once, during the reign of Emperor Hongwu, when the world was peaceful and people were fond of antiques, Zhen Yi presented a tripod from the Shang Dynasty as a birthday gift, symbolizing the establishment of the empire. This tripod had a significant history, supposedly used by King Wu of Zhou. Qin Feng examined it closely and discovered a hidden letter. It was a letter from Hu Guang, the leader of the party, to Zhen Yi's father during the Party Prohibition. This was a matter of the Han Dynasty, unrelated to the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, Emperor Hongwu laughed and threw it away.

But he remembered this incident, and now he used it to threaten Zhen Yi.

On the other hand, Zhen Yi, furious, walked through his estate, and all the servants knelt by the roadside.

"Who provoked the master?"

"We heard it was a refugee!"

"Who dares to provoke our Zhen family! That person must be dead, thrown into the Wei River to feed the fish, right?"

"Don't mention it. Over a hundred of our people were all knocked out!"

"Ah! Knocked out by a refugee! Is this even a refugee?"

As the servants were shocked by the outcome, Zhen Yi, still furious, entered his study.

Zhen Yi's three sons, upon hearing the news, all came. The eldest, Zhen Yu, seeing his father's anger, immediately said, "Father, I will report to the authorities and severely punish the refugee who caused trouble!"

"I'll go too!" the second son, Zhen Yan, waved his hand.

"I'll go too!" the third son, Zhen Yao, added.

The three sons turned to leave, but just as they were about to go out,

"Stop!" Zhen Yi walked to the door, frowned, and said, "Let me think about it. No one is to go without my permission!"

The three sons had to re-enter the room, and the door was slammed shut, leaving them outside.

After closing the door, Zhen Yi hurriedly searched through his belongings and finally found a tripod on the third shelf of the bookcase. He examined it carefully and found a yellowed letter in the hidden compartment at the bottom of the tripod. The handwriting was hurried and messy.

The letter roughly said: At the time, Grand Tutor Hu Guang, feeling that the party members were about to be destroyed by the eunuchs and could not protect themselves, requested Zhen Yi's father to take care of Hu's descendants.

As the letter fell to the ground, Zhen Yi felt the tripod in his hands become unbearably hot and dropped it.

The loud thud woke Zhen Yi. He knew very well what the Party Prohibition was.

The Party Prohibition, a millennium-old event, was a matter of life and death at the time. Emperor Ling of Han, believing the eunuchs, did not execute a large number of scholars but dismissed the Grand General and the Three Excellencies. All their students, former officials, relatives, and friends were banned for life. Tens of thousands were implicated. This event was named after the eunuchs banning the scholars as "party members" for life.

Anyone involved would be under lifelong house arrest, and there was a risk of execution.

Although the situation had relaxed somewhat, with the Ten Attendants in power, a misstep could mean the extermination of the Zhen family. As the head of the family, Zhen Yi could not risk the lives of his three hundred family members.

He jumped up and rushed to open the door.

Seeing their father come out, the eldest son, Zhen Yu, quickly asked, "Father, what do you think? Should we report to the authorities?"

Zhen Yi waved his hand, "Don't report to the authorities yet. That person must have a significant background. Invite him into the estate, and I will ask him."

"Ah?" The three sons thought they had misheard. The person had beaten up over a hundred people at the gate and was now being invited in?

Zhen Yi, trying to protect his sons, said, "This might be the son of an old friend. Go back. Don't tell anyone about this. Don't tell your mother, and certainly not Zhen Mi. Understand?"

The three sons, though confused, replied, "Understood."

As Zhen Yi walked out, he heard his sons discussing behind him.

The eldest, Zhen Yu, said mysteriously, "Did you hear? The guy outside called Father 'father-in-law'!"

The second son, Zhen Yan, looking enlightened, said urgently, "I know. His family must have fallen on hard times, and Father doesn't want to recognize this marriage anymore..."

The third son, Zhen Yao, concluded, "The guy refused, and they had a dispute, leading to the fight."

Hearing this, Zhen Yi trembled with anger, almost wanting to kill his sons, and scolded, "Brats, how could you think of such things? If you put this effort into your studies, you would have brought glory to our family long ago!"

The three sons, their hair standing on end, fled. From a distance, they said, "We must be right. That's why Father scolded us!"

...

The gate of the Zhen family estate opened again. When Zhen Yi came out, he was smiling and said loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Misunderstanding, it was all a misunderstanding, nephew. Everything is a misunderstanding. Come into the estate, and let's talk."

Everyone was stunned. Except for Qin Feng's people, everyone had the same thought as Zhen Yi's three sons.

"This must be the Zhen family reneging on the marriage!"

"They found out they couldn't beat him!"

"So they changed their mind!"

Qin Feng, turning his eyes, thought, What is this old man up to? No matter, let's go in and see. Qin Feng, fearless, was only afraid of not seeing his wife. So he waved his hand and led his Dragon Guards into the estate.

Thud! The gate of the Zhen family estate closed, and the crowd outside dispersed, still discussing the event.

Thus, the news spread in Ye City, "Did you hear? The Zhen family's son-in-law came to the door!"

"Zhen Yi is reneging on the marriage!"

"He was beaten up by his son-in-law..."

Regardless of the endless speculation outside, inside the Zhen family estate, a deal was being made.

In a secret room, the two men faced each other, kneeling on the floor.

Zhen Yi glared at Qin Feng, "No matter where you got this information, how much do you want for your silence?"

Qin Feng sneered, "Money is necessary, but I also need people. I need your help, father-in-law."

"Ah!" Zhen Yi was shocked, his hair standing on end. He jumped up, "You want money and people?"

Qin Feng also stood up. In his previous life, he was Emperor Hongwu, and in this life, he was the "leader." Without people, he couldn't fight. Recruiting people with the Zhen family's help would be ideal. So, Qin Feng nodded slightly.

Zhen Yi's face twitched. He assumed Qin Feng meant his daughter. He thought, "You want money and my daughter too!" His eyes flashed with murderous intent, "Since you are so ruthless, don't blame me for being even more ruthless. Tonight, while you sleep, I'll take your life!"