Zhenguan: I, Dou Fengjie, will not be the first cuckold.

Madeleine used money to pave the way and managed to find Longzhengfang.

"Oh, Fangzheng, this is a little something from a friend in Frank, it will make your wife smell nice."

"It has a rose scent."

Madeleine handed a small bottle of rose perfume to Don Bugu.

The perfume, with a hint of crimson, is in a clear glass bottle, making it seem as if its high price is justified.

Madeleine and his men dared to ask for one string of cash, or one thousand coins, for this bottle in the West Market.

"What? Shredded pork can be fragrant?"

Tang Bugu muttered to himself as he put the perfume into his satchel, intending to give it to his aging and fading wife.

There was no way around it; long robes and wide sleeves were not the proper attire for a mere neighborhood official, so naturally, he couldn't perform any magical feats like hiding his inner world in his sleeves, and he certainly couldn't accept bribes with such nonchalance and detachment from worldly affairs.

Without power, how can one suppress the "Yuan"?

"We'd like to get to know Dou Zhangke and explore the differences between Eastern and Western cultures."

Madeleine's smile held a hint of slyness.

Tang Bugu hesitated for a moment, then raised his voice slightly: "This is against the rules. Besides, Young Master Dou is in mourning and it is inconvenient for him to visit."

Despite verbally refusing, Tang Bugu, the owner of the rose perfume, happily accepted both bottles.

A commoner from Taiyuan quietly left the east gate of Longzhengfang and headed towards the palace.

They knew very well that Dou Fengjie absolutely could not be abducted by foreign powers, nor could they allow him to betray the secrets of the Tang Dynasty.

Although Dou Fengjie was not yet an official, his background meant he knew far more than ordinary people.

Tang Bugu told Madelan to wait inside the neighborhood while he went to Dou Fengjie's residence to deliver the message.

"Young master, oh, steward, I would never be so greedy as to seek such a small benefit..."

Tang Bugu offered a weak defense, his words not even believing himself.

"Take it if you should, otherwise you'll be doing your job as the neighborhood head for nothing."

"He wanted to sound me out, and I also wanted to get something done through him."

"Therefore, bring him here with the court officials, so that all things may be witnessed."

Dou Fengjie didn't care that much.

"I have met the steward. He is very learned and fluent in Latin; he is the most talented person Madeleine has ever met."

Madeleine praised it highly, ignoring Yuan Cong's expression beside her.

Dou Fengjie slowly brewed the tea, stirring it gently in the large pot with bamboo chopsticks.

Add some salt, a little vinegar, a few drops of Litsea cubeba oil, and sprinkle with scallions, ginger, and garlic—it's thirst-quenching and filling.

Dou happy held the charcoal pestle and, with a piece of animal charcoal in his hand, added it to the stove at the bottom of the cauldron.

After the tea had boiled three times, Dou Fengjie divided it into five brown porcelain bowls from Hongzhou, offering one to Yuan Cong, one to Tang Bugu, and one to Madelan, and then giving one to the greedy Dou happy.

"Jean Valjean, you flatter me. I am merely standing on the shoulders of giants to see further," Dou Fengjie replied calmly.

"Oh, dear sir, my name is not Jean Valjean, but Madeleine." Madeleine clearly had no idea what Les Misérables was.

"Yes, Jean Valjean." Dou Fengjie raised his bowl and took a sip of tea, feeling an exquisite sensation.

Dou Fengjie was very talkative and often hit Madeleine's sore spots.

"It is said that the King of Dagbel's power is being gradually eroded by the palace mayor, and the feudal lords below him are also expanding their influence?"

"If the Frankish kingdom were like the ancient Roman kingdom, divided among the king's sons, which side would you favor?"

"Brotherly nations are far more ruthless in conflict than against foreign enemies. Where will your descendants hide then?"

Dou Fengjie's relentless pursuit left Madeleine in a sorry state.

Madeleine originally intended to persuade Dou Fengjie to go to the Frankish Kingdom, but he was so persuaded by Dou that he was eager to bring his whole family to join the Tang Dynasty.

"To come and serve the Tang Dynasty, you need some gifts to secure an official position. Do you understand the meaning of a pledge of allegiance?"

"Bring me a whole herd of Yorkshire pigs and Shire horses from Ireland, and I'll guarantee your descendants an official position."

"You think my rank is too low and you don't trust me? Hah, haven't you heard? Next year I'll be a Duke! Equivalent to a Frankish feudal lord!"

Yorkshire pigs need to be crossbred with native pig breeds to become the famous Yorkshire pigs.

Although Yorkshire pigs require meticulous raising and taste somewhat inferior, they are quick to market and have a high fat content, making them a treasure for the common people of the Tang Dynasty.

Whether it tastes good or not should only be considered when we have the ability to improve it.

As for the Shire horse, it was purely something Dou Fengjie wanted to keep for fun; after all, it was only suitable as a draft horse or a pull horse.

As for the claim that he was a feudal lord, that's pure nonsense. When Dou Gui was alive, his actual fiefdom consisted of only one hundred households, barely enough for a village in the capital region.

"The keeper seems to know these two islands inside and out!"

Yuan was so shocked that he couldn't speak, and he even ignored the pungent smell of the Litsea cubeba oil.

He wasn't some uneducated Tang Bugu; he naturally knew how important Dou Fengjie's abilities were.

Fortunately, Dou Fengjie used him as a witness to show that he had no intention of defecting to foreign lands.

Dou Fengjie continued to tempt him: "Bring me white asparagus, cabbage, chicory, and onion seeds as well. I swear on my status as a Duke, I will at least leave your family one seventh-rank official and two eighth-rank officials."

Yuan Cong's lips twitched, not wanting Dou Fengjie to continue boasting, but he realized that with Dou Fengjie's status and ability, placing several seventh-rank officials was no exaggeration.

Dou Fengjie, in particular, was exceptionally cunning and never specified whether it was an official position or a nominal one!

Assigning an official position to Dou Fengjie might be a bit of a challenge, but isn't assigning a low-ranking, honorary official position easy?

Madeleine's blue eyes blazed with fervor: "You write a guarantee!"

-----------------

Liangyi Hall.

Li Shimin, who was warming his feet with a foot warmer, listened to the report from the two Taiyuan soldiers with a look of astonishment.

Dou Fengjie wouldn't run away; he was confident of that.

It would be quite remarkable if they could persuade the Frankish envoy to consider surrendering to the Tang Dynasty with his entire family.

"Hey, interesting. He went to all that trouble to coax Madeleine here, only for some livestock and seeds?"

"Wang Fangzhen, based on your observation, what is Dou Fengjie thinking?"

Li Shimin looked at Yuan Cong, who was entering Dou Fengjie's residence.

"In my observation, apart from that Sharma weighing over 1,500 jin, the other things he wants are probably not just for satisfying his appetite."

"Vegetables can give commoners more choices; Yorkshire pigs, according to the steward, are crossbred with pigs from the Tang Dynasty. The resulting pigs are fed a more refined diet, but they grow faster and have more fat."

"The downside is that pigs that grow quickly don't taste as good."

Wang Fangzhen stated the facts without any emotional bias.

As the emperor's messenger, it's best not to have any emotions.

Even during the Zhenguan era, many commoners could only afford to eat meat a few times a year, so the taste was somewhat negligible.

"You know, in Lingnan, some people are so hungry they eat rats."

"That bastard, even in his anger he doesn't forget the Tang Dynasty, so he hasn't disgraced the Dou family."

Li Shimin waved his hand in satisfaction.

Wang Fangzhen had nowhere to vent his 30-year-old aged wine.

Did people in Lingnan not have meat to eat?

Those were hairless, unopened baby mice. They were fed honey and eaten raw with chopsticks; the locals called them honey mice.

Furthermore, the Heibo Pu tribe has a dietary habit of eating rats and pickling rat jerky, which has nothing to do with hunger.