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Shen Zhong was extremely unhappy with Fan Xian's move and quickly found a way to attack him. He said that Fan Xian was revered as the God of Poetry in Nanqing and had a bright future. He had no reason to plan for Qi State, nor was there any need to ignore his bright future for a mere smuggling fortune. He must have ulterior motives.

Fan Xian didn't expect that Shen Zhong could actually fight back at this time, so he didn't think of an excuse at all. His mind raced, trying to find a suitable excuse.

Faced with the heavy questions and the questioning of the Queen Mother of Northern Qi, he was silent for a while, and suddenly an idea flashed in his mind.

"Reporting to the Queen Mother, in fact, the foreign ministers did this not for the profit of smuggling, but for selfish motives."

"Oh, then I am very curious. If you are not smuggling gold and silver, what is your selfish motive?"

The Queen Mother of Northern Qi was tempted by the profits from smuggling, but she also wanted to know Fan Xian's purpose, so she had to be on guard against him.

Chapter 1467 Si Lili is pregnant, and the little emperor is also pregnant

Fan Xian knew very well that as a person from Qing Kingdom, no matter how nice he spoke, the Queen Mother of Northern Qi would never completely trust him.

He had to find a good excuse, and it had to sound reasonable, at least not something that people would think was fake.

Fortunately, he was quick-witted and came up with a more reasonable excuse.

"Reporting to the Queen Mother, there is indeed a hidden reason why we did that."

Queen Mother of Northern Qi: "Oh, tell me about it."

Fan Xian said, "I persuaded the general to join the Queen Mother and gave the Queen Mother the future profits from smuggling. I also hoped to ease the relationship with the Queen Mother and thus have some contact with your country's princess and get closer to her."

The Queen Mother of Northern Qi was surprised: "To get closer to the eldest princess? She will marry the Duke of Qing soon. Is your purpose for Mr. Zhou?"

"The Queen Mother is indeed very discerning. She saw through my thoughts at a glance."

Fan Xian pretended to be admiring, and then explained: "The Queen Mother should know that although I have a small reputation in Qing Kingdom, I will be in charge of the treasury after I return. However, because of this, I don't know how many people in the country regard me as an enemy and want to get rid of me as soon as possible, so I must find a strong enough ally, or a backer, in Qing Kingdom."

Without waiting for the Queen Mother to speak, Shen Zhong spoke first, "But as far as I know, Mr. Fan's father is Si Nanbo, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and you are the Director of the Inspection Institute, and you are deeply trusted by Chen Pingping, the President of the Inspection Institute; and although the Duke of Zhenguo is a duke, he does not serve as an official in the court of your Qing Kingdom. If you want to find a backer, you should not look for the Duke of Zhenguo, right?"

Fan Xian retorted, "Commander Shen is wrong. You may not know the status of the Duke of Zhenguo in our Qing Kingdom. Although he does not hold a position in the court, as a Grand Master, his status is equal to or greater than that of the Crown Prince. He may not be as important as Ku He to your Great Qi, but he is definitely not much different."

"But I heard that Lord Fan has a good relationship with that Duke of Zhenguo."

"If I really had a good relationship with the Duke of Zhenguo, then how could I have been assassinated so many times on the way to your country and almost lost my life?"

"Perhaps it could be that Lord Fan directed and acted in this film himself?"

"Lord Shen is really thoughtful. I still owe the Duke of Zhenguo 60,000 taels of silver. If our relationship is really good, he will definitely stay in the diplomatic mission. Do you know what the most powerful wind in the world is? Pillow talk. If I directly try to get closer to the Duke of Zhenguo, the effect may not be good, but if the eldest princess blows the pillow talk, the effect will definitely be very good."

After hearing what Fan Xian said, the Queen Mother of Northern Qi and others in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment.

They all understood what Fan Xian meant, but they didn't expect him to say it so openly.

Pillow talk, how dare you.

But according to Fan Xian's statement, his behavior seemed to be justified. The Princess of Northern Qi was from Northern Qi, and was nominally the daughter of the Queen Mother of Northern Qi. If he had a good relationship with the Queen Mother of Northern Qi, he would surely be able to get the Princess of Northern Qi to behave better, and then he could please Zhou Chen through the Princess of Northern Qi.

This series of relationships seemed strange, but it made sense. Even if Shen Zhong wanted to say something, the Queen Mother of Northern Qi no longer wanted to care.

After Fan Xian discussed the profits from smuggling with the Queen Mother of Northern Qi, Shen Zhong had actually already been defeated. Within a few days, the news of the smuggling conspiracy spread throughout the capital, and soon, Shen Zhong, who opposed this matter, became a thorn in the eyes of most people.

In the blink of an eye, it was the birthday of the Queen Mother of Northern Qi. The birthday banquet was arranged directly in the inner hall of the imperial palace. Officials from Northern Qi and officials from the delegation from Southern Qing attended the banquet together.

Zhou Chen was naturally also among those invited, but he did not go with Fan Xian and the others, but went alone.

In the main hall, officials from Northern Qi and members of the Southern Qing delegation arrived early.

As the Queen Mother of Northern Qi and the protagonist of today's birthday banquet, she sat in the main seat. Even the young Northern Qi Emperor Zhan Doudou could only sit below her. Zhou Chen, because of his status as a grandmaster, sat opposite Zhan Doudou.

The rest of the officials were located on both sides below, with people from Northern Qi on the left and people from Southern Qing on the right.

Shortly after the birthday banquet started, Lang Tao took the initiative to challenge Fan Xian to a fight. Fan Xian straightforwardly admitted defeat.

But Lang Tao was unwilling to let Fan Xian go just like that. He stood up from the ground and faced Fan Xian.

"Master Fan, are you admitting that Nanqing is weak and its warriors are in decline?"

Fan Xian replied: "I admit defeat on my own initiative. It has nothing to do with Qing Kingdom."

Lang Tao said coldly: "Didn't the delegation win in front of the gate? Didn't they plant flags when entering the palace when entering Shangjing? Why didn't they dare to take action when I came today? Are all of you Nanqing warriors so afraid of the strong and bully the weak?"

Fan Xian's eyes flashed, and he said, "Lang Tao, right? There are more than one Nanqing warriors present today. You said that we Nanqing warriors bully the weak and fear the strong. I think you are the real bully. If you really have the ability, you should not challenge me, but challenge the Zhenguo Duke of Daqing."

As he spoke, he stood up and bowed to Zhou Chen above him.

"Duke Zhenguo, this Lord Langtao said that our Nanqing warriors bully the weak and fear the strong. What do you think?"

Zhou Chen glanced at Fan Xian and was quite speechless. This kid.

Sure enough, Lang Tao's face changed and he quickly turned around and saluted Zhou Chen.

"Sir, I have no intention of insulting you. I am talking to Fan Xian..."

"I know, but since it's the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, fighting and killing is too unlucky, so forget about the martial arts competition. Queen Mother, Your Majesty, what do you think?"

The Queen Mother and Zhan Doudou looked at each other. Naturally, they had to give Zhou Chen face, otherwise if Zhou Chen wanted to take action, Lang Tao would not be his opponent.

So the Queen Mother waved her hand and said, "Mr. Zhou is right. Birthday banquets are for celebration. Fighting and killing are too unlucky. Lang Tao, there is no need to compete."

Zhan Doudou also echoed, "What the Queen Mother said is right. There is no need for a martial arts competition on the day of the birthday banquet."

Lang Tao felt a little unhappy, but since even the empress dowager and the emperor said so, he had to endure it even though he was unhappy.

"Fan Xian, you are really good at speaking and arguing, but you totally lack the determination and momentum of a warrior who is always forging ahead."

After saying this, he saw that Fan Xian didn't care at all, so he could only return to his seat in displeasure.

The birthday banquet continued, and Fan Xian drank leisurely, but his heart was not as calm as he appeared.

If Zhou Chen hadn't been present to intimidate him today, Lang Tao would definitely not have let him go. Lang Tao was Ku He's eldest disciple. Although he had never fought with him, he knew very well that he would never be Lang Tao's opponent.

If a real fight came, he was not afraid that Lang Tao would kill him. Lang Tao didn't dare, and neither did the people of Northern Qi. But they didn't dare to kill him. If they attacked him from behind, he would be unable to defend himself.

This diplomatic mission to Northern Qi made him realize once again the importance of strength. If he could now possess ninth-grade true qi martial arts, he wouldn't have to be so cautious and guard against everything, and he wouldn't have to rely on Zhou Chen's name to intimidate others.

Halfway through the birthday banquet, Shen Zhong stood up again and wanted to stop the smuggling activities of Beiqi and Fan Xian, but Shangshan Hu seized the opportunity and used Shen Zhong's sister to severely impeach Shen Zhong. Shen Zhong did not know how to advance or retreat, and still wanted to stop the cooperation between the two parties. The angry empress dowager directly removed the python pattern on his official uniform.

It seems that he just removed the python pattern, but everyone knows that this is the beginning of Shen Zhong's downfall. Shen Zhong's current status is certainly due to his own abilities, but the biggest reason is that he relied on the power of the Queen Mother to achieve his current status. Without the Queen Mother's favor, his power would be like rootless duckweed.

Once Shen Zhong loses his power, it will be much easier to kill him, which is what Fan Xian is happy to see.

However, he has never found out who the people who were involved in the smuggling with Northern Qi were, which has made him feel uneasy.

After the birthday banquet, Fan Xian went to see Zhou Chen again.

"Duke Zhenguo, I had no choice but to use you today. Please forgive me."

Zhou Chen said: "I told Wang Qinian that if you encounter any trouble in Shangjing City, you can borrow my name. I can't blame you today."

Fan Xian said gratefully, "Thank you, Duke Zhenguo, for your generosity. If you really let me fight with Lang Tao, it would definitely bring shame to our Daqing."

"Now that you know, practice your martial arts well when you go back. Your domineering true qi has the potential to break through to the level of a grandmaster, so practice well."

Zhou Chen's words made Fan Xian very confused. He had not shown Zhou Chen the full text of Tyrannical Qi, so why did Zhou Chen seem to understand Tyrannical Qi better than he did, just because he was a grandmaster?

However, Zhou Chen said that the Tyrannical Qi could be practiced to the level of a grandmaster, which made him unconvincing. On the contrary, he felt that the Tyrannical Qi was not easy to practice and there were always problems.

I wanted to ask Zhou Chen for advice, but after thinking about it, I decided not to do so.

After today's birthday banquet, the Qing Kingdom delegation began to pack up, and in a few days, they would prepare to leave Shangjing and return to Qing Kingdom.

Zhou Chen originally wanted to leave with the Qing Kingdom delegation, but at this time, when he went to find Si Lili late at night, he found out that Si Lili was pregnant.

The Qing Kingdom delegation had been in Northern Qi for a long time, and he had been in a relationship with Si Lili before that, so it was normal for Si Lili to become pregnant at this time.

The reason why he didn't have time to go with the Qing Kingdom delegation was because Zhan Doudou was very dissatisfied. She and Si Lili were obviously together with Zhou Chen, but Si Lili got pregnant and she didn't react. So she was unwilling to let Zhou Chen go and she had to make her pregnant before letting Zhou Chen leave.

Zhou Chen agreed to his request and decided to stay in Beiqi for two more months at most. In these two months, as long as Zhan Doudou was fine, he could work overtime and there should be no problem.

Fan Xian was also very disappointed when he learned that Zhou Chen would not follow them back to Qing Kingdom. He had originally hoped that with Zhou Chen accompanying them, he would not have to worry about danger along the way.

Now it seems that my idea has failed.

A few days passed in a flash, and Fan Xian and his companions also set off. When they left, Shen Zhong was still unwilling to give up, and led his own assassins to attack the delegation. Fortunately, with Zhou Chen's reminder, Fan Xian and the Northern Qi side were prepared and did not let Shen Zhong succeed.

In order to protect his sister, Shen Zhong told Fan Xian the truth about the smuggling and was then taken away by the Northern Qi imperial guards.

Fan Xian was stunned by the truth told by Shen Zhong. He never expected that the eldest princess Li Yunrui was actually in cahoots with the second prince and that they were actually working together to commit smuggling.

This news was too shocking for him, because he always thought that the Second Prince was a good person and his opponents were Li Yunrui and the Crown Prince, but the truth was so cruel.

With a heavy heart, he started his return journey.

…………

Originally, Zhou Chen decided to stay in Beiqi for another two months, but just over ten days later, his goal was achieved and Zhan Doudou became pregnant.

Afterwards, Zhan Doudou took the initiative to announce that Imperial Concubine Si Lili was pregnant. Once the news came out, it immediately caused a shock in the Northern Qi court.

An emperor with descendants and an emperor without descendants are two completely different concepts.

The person who was most shocked was the Queen Mother of Northern Qi. She was the first to get the news and was stunned at the time, because as a mother, she knew Zhan Doudou's situation best. It was absolutely impossible for Zhan Doudou to let Si Lili get pregnant.

So she personally brought the imperial physician to Si Lili's bedroom. After confirming the facts, she immediately called Zhan Doudou to her bedroom, then dispersed all the eunuchs and palace maids, and asked Haitang Duoduo to guard the gate. There were only her and Zhan Doudou in the palace.

The Queen Mother of Northern Qi was livid and angrily asked, "What on earth is going on?"

Zhan Doudou did not show any emotion, but said calmly: "Don't worry, mother. It is within my plan to deal with her situation."

"You call this part of your plan? She's pregnant. Do you know what this means? Whose child is she carrying?"

The Queen Mother of Northern Qi was extremely angry. Si Lili was now the Imperial Noble Consort. If she gave birth to a prince, he would be the 'eldest prince'. But she knew very well that this had nothing to do with their Great Qi royal family. How could she allow a bloodline outside the Great Qi royal family to get involved in the throne of Great Qi?

Zhan Doudou said: "Mother, in fact, not only is Lili pregnant, I am also pregnant."

"what?"

The Queen Mother of Northern Qi could not believe her ears. She almost jumped up. She rushed to Zhan Doudou and grabbed his shoulders with both hands.

"Do you know what you're talking about?"

"I know, mother, this is my plan. Let Lili and I get pregnant at the same time. If I give birth to a prince in the future, I will let Lili be his mother. Then she can become the crown prince of Da Qi."

"What if you give birth to a girl and Si Lili gives birth to a boy?"

"Then send the child to his father to raise. The mother of my child will still be Li Li."

The Queen Mother of Northern Qi was shocked that her daughter had not even discussed such an important matter with her.

"Who is the father of the baby in your belly? Who is the father of the baby in Si Lili's belly?"

"Lili and I are both pregnant with Zhou Chen's child."

"Zhou Chen? All of them belong to Zhou Chen?"

The Queen Mother of Northern Qi was shocked again, and pointed at Zhan Doudou with trembling hands: "You, you are really crazy."

Zhan Doudou said calmly, "Mother, I'm not crazy. Don't you think this is a very good result? Zhou Chen is a great master, and I am the emperor of Northern Qi. The combination of our bloodlines will definitely give birth to excellent offspring. Moreover, as the father of the child, Zhou Chen will definitely be bound to our Great Qi. After all, my child is his own blood, and my sister will be his wife in the future. In this case, which one will he choose, Great Qi or Southern Qing?"

"hiss."

The Queen Mother of Northern Qi took a breath. After her initial anger and shock, she calmed down and thought about it carefully. It seemed that there was some truth to it.

Chapter 1468 Leaving Northern Qi, the Wedding Day

The Queen Mother of Northern Qi thought carefully about what her daughter said. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her. This plan and process seemed very absurd, but if the result was really as her daughter said, then it would definitely be a very good choice.

"The Emperor of Nanqing is already wary of Zhou Chen. If you can win him over to our Da Qi, then our Da Qi will be even more powerful."

The most fundamental reason why Southern Qing is now strong and Northern Qi is weak is that the mother and daughter are unable to control the political situation and are unable to unite as one. They were able to sit firmly in their current positions thanks to the help of Grand Master Ku He.

If they can get Zhou Chen's support again, their positions will be more stable. Zhan Doudou is not far from ruling the country herself, and then she can slowly take control of the government. In the future, it may not be impossible to change the situation of Qing being strong and Qi being weak.

Zhan Doudou said, "Don't worry, mother. I have been with Zhou Chen for so long, and I have gradually figured out his character. It is said that great masters are extraordinary and don't care about worldly love, but Zhou Chen is different. He seems to be indifferent and doesn't care about anything, but in fact, he cares more about love, family, love, and even friendship than ordinary people. In his eyes, it is more important than power and wealth."

"Are you trying to use blood ties and love to bind him and use him?" asked the Queen Mother of Northern Qi.

"Do not."

Zhan Doudou shook his head and said, "He's such a shrewd man, if you use this method, how can you really restrain him? I said he cares more about love, but I don't mean that you can restrain and use him with this. How can he not distinguish between false and true feelings? I used an open strategy, and my efforts were sincere. I didn't want to restrain or use him, but to use this to leave a way out for Da Qi."

The Queen Mother of Northern Qi looked at Zhan Doudou solemnly and said, "I think you are in love with him, but you are sincere to him, but he may not be sincere to you. You, Si Lili, and Pian Pian, I heard that there are women in his mansion. This grandmaster is really romantic and suave."

Zhan Doudou said nonchalantly: "What does it matter? I'm not planning to grow old with him and stay together for the rest of my life. Compared to these, as the emperor of Da Qi, I have more important things to do."

The Queen Mother of Northern Qi was very satisfied when she heard this.

"Very good. You are the emperor of Da Qi, so you should put Da Qi first. Those romantic relationships are not suitable for you. You can have them, but you can't indulge in them."

"That's what the Queen Mother said."