Chapter 39: The County Seat of Zhending

  The next day, before dawn, Zhao Fei got out of bed early. Because he couldn't sleep, he was too excited. Having been in ancient times for so long, he hadn't even seen an ancient city, which would be embarrassing to talk about. Plus, he had to think about what to do after entering the city, so Zhao Fei basically didn't sleep all night again.

  "I'm always having these dreams, I'm afraid I'll become neurotic." Zhao Fei shook his head and walked towards the courtyard. "In the past when I hadn't crossed over yet, I basically slept soundly until dawn and rarely had any dreams. Why is it that after crossing over, I have them every day? Even if I don't think about anything, after falling asleep, I occasionally hear some inexplicable sounds in my ear. I don't know if it's a dream or real." Zhao Fei was at a loss for what to do with this matter. Every time he fell asleep, he would feel like there were some inexplicable sounds by his ear, but couldn't quite make out what they were. The sounds were very muffled, so much so that he could only tell that there were sounds, but not what the sounds actually were. Therefore, Zhao Fei could only conclude that he was dreaming.

  "Whatever." Zhao Fei shook his head, "Thinking about these things is useless, let's just practice boxing first. Once Father wakes up, we'll be busy again." Forcibly pushing aside those inexplicable thoughts, Zhao Fei began practicing boxing once more. After finishing a set of punches, Zhao Fei wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the sky. "The time is already late, I reckon Father should wake up soon. Let's go wash up first." Just as Zhao Fei finished washing up, he saw Zhao Hu emerge from the house, yawning.

  Zhao Fei in the hospital looked at Zhao Hu, who was clearly taken aback.

  "Xiao Fei, why are you up so early? Why didn't you sleep in a bit?" Walking over to Zhao Fei's side, looking at his slightly pale face, Zhao Hu felt a pang of guilt and asked. At this moment, he regretted what he had said the night before, feeling that it was wrong to hurt Zhao Fei, and guessed that this must be why his son got up so early.

  Zhao Fei saw through Zhao Hu's expression and quickly comforted him, "It's like this, Dad. I'm mainly excited because I can enter the city tomorrow, so I couldn't sleep." Zhao Fei scratched the back of his head and continued, "You also know, Dad, that this is my first time going to the city to have fun since I was a kid, so..."

  Before Zhao Fei could finish speaking, he was hugged into Zhao Hu's arms by a pair of strong hands. Then, Zhao Hu said with some sobbing: "It's all Dad's fault, I'm sorry to you."

  "Dad, how can you say that? If it weren't for my illness, our family wouldn't be so poor either. It's all because of me..." Zhao Fei said with a sobbing tone.

  "Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. You're my son and I'm your dad, it's only natural. Besides, you're the only one left to carry on our family line. I'm still waiting for you to get married and give me a big fat grandson."

  "Dad, why are you talking like that again? I'm still smiling." Upon hearing Zhao Hu's words, Zhao Fei's face involuntarily turned red, and his slightly tearful tone also changed to one of embarrassment.

  Suddenly, Zhao Fei felt a strange feeling. A strange feeling that came from nowhere. After thinking carefully again, Zhao Fei realized that he was changing, becoming unlike his former self, and becoming somewhat childish. His former self would not easily feel shy, and his former self would not be infatuated with a teenage girl.

  "Haha. Alright, alright, I won't say anything more." Zhao Hu chuckled and used it to cover up the awkwardness just now, "Alright, go prepare, we're going into the city soon."

  "Hmm." Zhao Fei nodded in response and shook off the irrelevant thoughts in his mind, deciding not to think about it if he couldn't come up with anything.

  "I'll go prepare then." As he said that and headed into the city, Zhao Fei still seemed very enthusiastic. He didn't want to discuss anything about marriage with his father again. Zhao Fei hastily walked away, afraid that if he slowed down even a step, his dad would catch up to him and start talking about marriage again.

  When he came out of the house again, Zhao Hu had already loaded all the dried rice onto the cart.

  "Alright, let's go." Seeing Zhao Fei come out, Zhao Hu called out to him. Then Zhao Hu pushed the cart and walked out of the door, with Zhao Fei hastily following behind him. As soon as they left the house, Zhao Fei didn't inform the village chief or Zhao Feng, after all, he was still on vacation. There was no need to go notify the village chief about this matter, especially since the village chief was very busy during the autumn harvest season. With a happy and smiling face, Zhao Fei followed Zhao Hu towards the county town of Zhending.

  Zhengding, the old name of Zhengding in history, is a national historical and cultural city name. It is located on the Hebei Plain and was once known as one of the "Three Northern Strongholds" along with Beijing and Baoding. It is the hometown of Emperor Zhao Tuo and General Zhao Yun. It is also the northern gate of Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province. The geographical location is superior.

  As he walked towards Zhengding County, Zhao Fei recalled the information he had checked before crossing over. Because it was indeed the hometown of Zhao Yun, and among the Three Kingdoms, Zhao Fei's favorite general was also Zhao Yun, so Zhao Fei had specifically checked the information about Zhengding.

  Thinking of this, Zhao Fei couldn't help but smile smugly. At that time, he admired Zhao Yun as an idol, but now, Zhao Yun was his brother. The twists and turns of fate were indeed surprising. If his good friends knew about this, they would be even more shocked.

  "Heh heh." As he thought, Zhao Fei chuckled foolishly to himself.

  "What's wrong with Little Fly, thinking of something good?" Zhao Hu asked hurriedly as he inadvertently saw Zhao Fei's smile.

  Upon hearing Zhao Hu's voice, Zhao Fei recalled his own memories. "Uh... no... nothing, Dad." Zhao Fei replied hesitantly.

  "You won't be thinking of that little girl from that family, will you?"

  When Zhao Hu said this, Zhao Fei's expression was shocked. "How can that be, Dad? You're talking nonsense again." Before, I thought my dad was quite honest, but now he's also making jokes, is this the legendary humor? Humph, who would think of their own father like that. Turning his head to look at Zhao Hu, he found that Zhao Hu's expression was thick and didn't seem to be joking. At that time, Zhao Fei was puzzled, could it be that I just smiled too much and made my father think I'm having romantic thoughts?

  "Look, there's the city of Zhending right in front of us." Before Zhao Fei could delve deeper into thought, Zhao Hu's words interrupted his train of thought. He looked up and gazed forward, and the scene before him left Zhao Fei stunned. He had spent all night thinking about what ancient cities might look like. To say that he had seen them in historical dramas on TV, but it was completely different from seeing it with his own eyes, which had a shocking force to it.

  Zhao Fei stood there in a daze. All he saw was a desolate plain with a yellowish-brown city standing tall. The yellow city walls were overgrown with weeds, which looked like they had withered away. On the top of the high city walls, there was a crenellated wall built on the outside, and through the gaps, one could vaguely see someone patrolling. In the center of the city gate, there was an arrow tower. Looking up at it, it seemed quite exquisite. "That must be where the commander-in-chief sat during wartime to direct the battle," Zhao Fei thought to himself. "The view of the city from there must be great."

  Although what he saw was indeed shocking, the yellowish appearance of the city wall struck Zhao Fei. This made Zhao Fei feel that the impression in his mind of the city wall being built with green bricks was vastly different, and that everything shown on TV was fake and unreliable. Moreover, the ancient and elegant atmosphere could not be replicated no matter how hard one tried. There were no high-rise buildings, no bustling streets, everything was authentic and original, and seeing this made Zhao Fei tremble slightly.

  Zhao Fei stopped in his tracks, looking mysterious and bewildered, his body slightly trembling. Zhao Hu couldn't help but ask: "Little Fei, what's wrong? Why did you stop walking?"

  "Oh, it's nothing, Dad. Just a bit shocked. Let's keep going, I'm fine." Zhao Fei came back to his senses and continued walking towards the city gate.

  As I approached the city gate, a moat about 5 meters wide stretched out before it. A huge drawbridge spanned the river, with people coming and going in a lively bustle. At the entrance, several soldiers wearing leather armor and grasping long spears stood listlessly at attention, watching the passing pedestrians. As I looked up at the city gate, a phrase suddenly flashed into my mind: "Majestic..." The gate was very wide, with two large characters carved in the center... Zhen Ding... They seemed somewhat faded, revealing their historical vicissitudes.

  "Alright, let's put in some more effort and talk about it after we enter the city." Zhao Hu turned his head to say to Zhao Fei, wiping the sweat from his face, and then pushed the cart again, slowly walking towards the city gate. Looking at these people coming and going, Zhao Fei felt very comfortable. Humans are indeed social animals, in the past Zhao Jia Village had only that many households, making it seem desolate, while Zhengding City was obviously bustling with activity.