Courtyard House: A System Connecting Two Worlds, Resources for the Nation

"Ugh—ugh—"

The ship left the dock and continued north along the canal.

After Zhou She was captured and put on the ship, he was put into a separate cabin. In less than half an hour, he was already going crazy!

At this moment, his legs were stretched straight forward, his hands were handcuffed above his head, and his body was leaning back at a 45-degree angle, maintaining this posture throughout.

The pain from muscle spasms and joint compression was getting worse, but his mouth was stuffed with a rag, making it difficult to speak.

Compared to this torture, he even missed the slaps Zhao Pan'er and Song Yinzhang gave him when he first boarded the ship. He would have preferred even two wooden sticks!

It's better than being unable to move and having to endure this torment.

At most, the person would wriggle a couple of times like a maggot, which did nothing to alleviate the physical pain.

After changing his clothes and washing up, Song Yinzhang followed Zhao Pan'er to Zhou Feng's cabin door and knocked on the door.

"Thank you... thank you so much, Master Zhou, for saving my life!"

Before Zhao Pan'er could speak, she immediately bowed down as soon as Zhou Feng opened the door.

Zhou Feng didn't reach out to help her up, but simply nodded lightly: "No need to thank me, it's just for Zhao Niangzi's sake."

Zhao Pan'er frowned slightly, reached out to help Song Yinzhang up, her face showing a hint of pleading.

"Master Zhou, although we have brought Yin Zhang out, it would be better if Zhou She personally wrote her a letter of divorce."

Especially since Song Yinzhang would later need to restore his reputation and return to his status as a law-abiding citizen, this letter of divorce was crucial for his removal from the household registration system.

"It's alright. In two hours, I'll have Old Chen accompany you. Forget about the divorce papers, I'll even accept you as my mother."

Although Zhou Feng couldn't understand the purpose of the position Chen Tao and the others had put Zhou She in, nor did he know where the pain came from.

But from Zhou She's howls and the rising emotional value, one could tell that he was definitely not feeling well.

"Alright, thank you, Master Zhou."

Zhao Pan'er pulled Song Yinzhang back to her cabin, where Sun Sanniang was already resting.

"Yinzhang, the way you looked at that Master Zhou just now was rather inappropriate."

Ignoring Sun San Niang, Zhao Pan'er held Song Yin Zhang's hand with a very serious expression.

"Sister, that Mr. Zhou saved my life, and I want to thank him. Why?"

Seeing Song Yinzhang's innocent expression, Zhao Pan'er couldn't help but sigh softly.

She was exactly the same as she was a few days ago when she insisted on leaving with Zhou She, but how could Zhou Feng be compared to a scoundrel like Zhou She?

"Yinzhang, it's not that I'm stopping you from doing anything, but this Master Zhou's identity is mysterious and his background is unknown. I'm afraid you'll get trapped and won't be able to get out."

Putting aside how skilled this group was when they went to capture Zhou She, the fact that there was a commander of the Imperial City Guard locked up in the innermost cell already showed her how unscrupulous Zhou Feng and his men were.

If they can maintain this dominance, that's fine. But once something happens, with Song Yinzhang by their side, there's no other way but to perish.

"Sister, as you said yourself, their identities are mysterious, so they must be either rich or noble. I can ask Master Zhou to help me get rid of my lowly status, so why not?"

"you…

Zhao Pan'er scratched her head helplessly. These were the sisters she had watched grow up. If it were anyone else, she would have given up long ago and let them live their lives in vain.

But she absolutely couldn't tell San Niang and Yin Zhang about the matter of the Imperial City Guard Commander, otherwise something bad would definitely happen!

Just as Zhao Pan'er was in a dilemma, not knowing how to persuade her sisters, several carriages arrived at the gate of Qiantang County.

The soldiers guarding the city tried to stop them, but the leader slapped them aside.

"Outrageous! The person sitting in the carriage is the current prime minister; are you blind?"

After the soldiers dispersed, the convoy drove straight to the Qiantang County Government Office.

At this moment, Zheng Qingtian was standing in the government office, looking around anxiously, like an ant on a hot pan.

How could a mere magistrate of Qiantang possibly have the virtue or ability to meet with Minister Xiao?

Finally, when the officer who had informed him of his orders entered the government office, he breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly went to greet him.

"Lord Yu, I have been waiting here for the Prime Minister's summons for quite some time. I wonder when I will be able to see him..."

"If you're getting impatient, you can leave. Anyway, my magistrate can't do anything to you, the magistrate of Qiantang."

After hesitating for a moment, he took out a coin, covered it under his palm, and tried to hand it to the guard opposite him while bowing. However, the guard refused him outright and didn't even look at him.

"My lord, what urgent matter has brought you to Qiantang in person?"

The officer's lips curled into a sneer: "I'm just here to pave the way. When the Prime Minister arrives, you can ask him yourself."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Xiao Qinyan led his men in from outside and went straight into the main hall of the government office.

Compared to his calm demeanor when he received Gu Qianfan's message in the original novel, Xiao Qinyan was now extremely agitated.

"Your humble servant is Zheng Qingtian..."

Before Zheng Qingtian, who had followed Xiao Qinyan in, could finish speaking, Xiao Qinyan, who was standing in front of him, kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

Where is my son?

???

Zheng Qingtian, who was kicked to the ground, was stunned.

Why did this Minister Xiao come here looking for his son?

"Lord Shi, I have never met your son before. Is there...is there some misunderstanding?"

Seeing Xiao Qinyan's ferocious expression in front of him, Zheng Qingtian panicked!

Throughout the court, everyone knew that Minister Xiao was meticulous in his thinking and ruthless in his methods.

If I offend him, I'm afraid I won't even be able to get through the night.

"Misunderstand?"

As soon as Xiao Qinyan finished speaking, the guard standing to the side unfurled a wanted poster, which depicted Gu Qianfan.

"I'm asking you, where's my son?"

As his gaze swept over Gu Qianfan's face on the wanted poster, Xiao Qinyan gritted his teeth and grabbed Zheng Qingtian by the collar, his eyes even bloodshot.

Gu Qianfan is his eldest son. Although he did not take his surname Xiao because he married into the Gu family, they are still blood relatives. Now, he has disappeared without a trace under the wanted notice of a mere county magistrate. How could he not be furious?

"I was completely unaware of this matter and had no intention of offending you, sir. I beg the Prime Minister for mercy! Perhaps you have already returned to Tokyo!"

Zheng Qingtian was truly dumbfounded.

He was already terrified when he risked his life to issue a warrant for the arrest of a commander of the Imperial City Guard.

Who would have thought that this commander was actually the son of Minister Xiao?

If he had known the other person's true identity beforehand, he would have been crazy to provoke them!

"Go back to Tokyo? I have already sent people to search by land and water from Qiantang to Tokyo, but there is still no news of my son! I will give you one more chance. If you are still stubborn, then your whole family will have to go down and apologize to my son."

After discovering that Gu Qianfan was wanted, Xiao Qinyan immediately sent people out to search for him, but to no avail.

Left with no other option, Xiao Qinyan could only hope that he had been arrested by the Qiantang County government.

Now, there is still no news of Gu Qianfan from the Qiantang County government, and in his anxiety, Xiao Qinyan is starting to feel frantic.

If Gu Qianfan had fallen into Qingliu's hands, he would have sought revenge for his son, but not to the point of this.

Xiao Qinyan could not tolerate that a mere magistrate of Qiantang County dared to do such a thing to his son.

"Men, send more people to search for Gu Qianfan's whereabouts along the route from Qiantang to Tokyo. Search every carriage and boat along the way carefully, leaving no stone unturned."

"yes!"

Watching his subordinate leave quickly, Xiao Qinyan glanced at Zheng Qingtian, who was still kowtowing, out of the corner of his eye, and then turned and walked outside.

Just as Zheng Qingtian breathed a sigh of relief, he heard a voice from the doorway: "Send Lord Zheng on his way, and take the entire Zheng family with you to accompany him."

Zheng Qingtian's eyes widened as he tried to struggle again, but he had no chance to resist. The officer and two guards held down his upper body and forced the poison down his throat.

Another full day passed, and Zhao Pan'er and the others were still resting in their cabin when they heard Zhou Feng knocking on the door.

"Come out, everyone, we've arrived at the dock."

Although the Bian River runs through the entire city of Tokyo, given Zhou Feng and his group's current situation, it was not suitable for them to enter the city directly. Therefore, they stopped at the nearest dock outside Tokyo.

"The three ladies can get on the carriage and head to Tokyo first. We still have some things to take care of."

As soon as the boat came to a stop, Zhou Feng noticed three carriages parked in the distance.

This was arranged in advance by the three who arrived in Tokyo first. Zhou Feng didn't stand on ceremony and arranged a car for Zhao Pan'er and the others to go to Tokyo first.

After all, what he was about to do was something these three women couldn't handle.

Song Yinzhang looked at Zhou Feng, about to ask a question, but Zhao Pan'er pulled his arm hard, so he could only shut up hesitantly.

After the three of them boarded the carriage and left the dock, Song Yinzhang looked at Zhao Pan'er with some dissatisfaction: "Sister Pan'er, why didn't you let me finish? Perhaps we could do something for Master Zhou?"

A term Zhou Feng had mentioned before inexplicably flashed through Zhao Pan'er's mind: "love-struck"...

Using this word to describe my younger sister is truly an incredibly apt description!

"Yinzhang, we are three frail women, unable to lift a finger, and without any connections. What can we possibly do to help them?"

Song Yinzhang pouted: "Sister Pan'er, didn't you come to see Brother-in-law Ouyang? I'm not very familiar with him, so I can do some work for Master Zhou here."

"Shut up! Don't get involved in what Master Zhou and the others are doing; it's too dangerous! You must come into the city with us!"

Zhao Pan'er was truly speechless about her younger sister, but without directly explaining the situation, changing her mind would be quite difficult.

There was no other way but to force her to leave.

Fortunately, Sun San Niang noticed that Zhao Pan'er was in a bad mood and helped persuade her, which made Song Yinzhang shut up.

Unbeknownst to them, Lu Ming, who was driving, also breathed a sigh of relief at that moment.

Although he was a top soldier, his strengths lay in infiltrating behind enemy lines and intercepting intelligence, but dealing with women left him somewhat helpless.

Especially since it's uncertain whether Zhao Pan'er will develop a different kind of relationship with the superior among these three women, it's even more troublesome.

After the three left, Zhou Feng and the others loaded the equipment that needed to be taken off the ship onto the vehicle. Gu Qianfan and Zhou She were given anesthesia and tied up under their seats.

Zhou Feng instantly brought the entire ship back to the modern world, where the nine people waited at the dock, also entering a state of combat readiness.

Lin Yin even launched the drone to check if anyone else was around.

If others witnessed Zhou Feng's sudden disappearance and reappearance, they would have no choice but to silence him.

Fortunately, Zhou Feng reappeared after midnight, and no one else passed by the random dock, which saved them a lot of trouble.

Driven by the two carriages, they headed towards the house that Lu Ming and his group had bought.

Once they arrive at that residence, Zhou Feng can transport some large supplies there.

Examples include attack helicopters, armored vehicles, assault rifles, and communication equipment.

The remaining 90 spots have also been allocated.

The team includes 10 science and technology experts, 8 biomedical experts, 10 intelligence and political experts, and a special elite squad of 50 selected members.

The remaining 12 spots are reserved as backups, and can be filled if there is an additional need or if any are missed.

After returning to his residence, Zhou Feng rested until dawn before leading the group towards Tokyo.

On one hand, he wanted to participate in the upcoming plot, and on the other hand, he also wanted to buy an extra house in Tokyo.

Although Zhou Feng and his group have only been in the Dream Record world for a short time and haven't made any big moves, he can be considered the richest man in this world!

After all, they have the entire Dragon Kingdom supporting them, so gold and silver are not a problem at all.

Even 1 million taels of silver, Zhou Feng could come up with, but it was simply unnecessary.

"Master...uh...my lord, are we going to find Lady Zhao now?"

Chen Xiao asked somewhat awkwardly.

The title "official" still felt a bit awkward to them, coming from the modern world.

"Let's split up. The four of us will participate in the plot development, while Lu Ming and the other six will buy another house in the city. It will be more convenient for them to handle things in the future."

Large military equipment could be stored in houses outside the city, while individual weapons could be stored in houses inside Tokyo for emergencies.

According to the plot, after they settled down in Tokyo, Zhao Pan'er should have gone to the gate of Gao Guancha's mansion to wait for Ouyang Xu.

So they can just go directly to the entrance of the Gao residence.

Unexpectedly, just as the five of them arrived at the intersection where the Gao residence was located, Zhou Feng, who jumped down from the carriage, saw Zhao Pan'er and Ouyang Xu get into a carriage and head in another direction.

"Let's go, let's follow them and teach that Chen Shimei a lesson later!"

Zhou Feng turned around and immediately climbed back into the carriage, patting Qin Ming, who was driving, on the shoulder.

Facing the somewhat strange gazes from Chen Xiao and the others in the car, Zhou Feng coughed lightly: "I also have a mission to complete, and I need to interact with the characters in the story."

"That's right! We understand!"

The group immediately nodded in understanding, but felt somewhat awkward following the two characters in the story in this way.

As soon as he saw Zhao Pan'er and the other person enter the teahouse, Zhou Feng swaggered in after them and found a seat.