Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2477 Reconciliation 19.0

When Xue Ruitian took Bai Meng and Jin Jing to the theater, they happened to meet the people who had spent a lot of money but could not watch the show and could not get their money back. They surrounded Mr. Ke, the troupe owner, and the theater owner, demanding an explanation from them and throwing stones and rotten vegetable leaves on their heads to vent their anger.

Not only that, a few burly men grabbed the owner of the opera troupe and the theater and started beating them. Although the theater had guards, they could not withstand the crowd's excitement. If the soldiers of the Shen family army had not acted in time, these people would have been seriously injured if not killed.

The theater owner was relatively honest when he saw Shen's army, especially when he saw Xue Ruitian and Jin Jing, he immediately knelt down and admitted defeat. In fact, he had vaguely seen Song Qiyun before, but he felt that he was mistaken. After all, they all knew that Song Qiyun had left Jiapingguan City and would not be able to come back in a short time.

But until Xue Ruitian, Bai Meng and Jin Jing showed up, he knew that this matter had alarmed the Shen family army. If he didn't admit defeat, not only would he not be able to keep his theater, it would also be a problem whether he could continue to live here.

But the owner of the opera troupe was not like that. He claimed that he came from the palace and looked down on everyone. Even though he knew that the Mansion of the Duke of Zhenguo and the Mansion of the Marquis of Wuding had a strong background, he wishful thinking that people like the Duke of Zhenguo and the Marquis of Wuding would not bother with a troupe. Therefore, he was very self-righteous and thought that Xue Ruitian, Bai Meng and Song Qiyun were ordinary generals of the Shen family army, and he still bossed them around.

"My brother and sister have never seen his arrogant and domineering appearance. He simply treated us as his servants. The shadows kicked him to the ground and tied him up, and he kept saying that he had a strong background and a backer!" Song Qiyun rolled his eyes and said unhappily, "He was probably like this in the palace back then, so that's why father was so angry that he was thrown into the Jiaofang Bureau!"

"As the owner of a troupe, he can't even read other people's faces. It's hard to believe how he got to where he is today." Bai Meng sighed and led everyone to the stage. "Everyone at Ke has been pulling him back, asking him to stop, but he doesn't care at all. He says he's been around a lot and won't be scared by such a small fight."

"It doesn't matter. No matter how hard someone's mouth is, Lao Wu can pry it open." Shen Cha waved his hand and looked at the stage in front of him. "Who is Mr. Ke? I've never seen him."

"The one in the bright red costume." Xue Ruitian snorted coldly, "I have to admit that this guy is in good shape. I haven't seen him for so many years, but when I see him again, I don't think he has aged at all."

"Yeah!" Shen Haolin nodded, "It's almost the same as the time I saw him when I was a kid."

"This is..." Shen Cha narrowed his eyes and observed carefully, "You were interrupted before you even put on your costume?"

"Second Master said that just as they entered the box, those who didn't buy tickets had already surrounded the garden. The two sides failed to reach an agreement and just started fighting. According to the original plan, the show should have started by now." Jin Jing sighed, "After this incident, Mr. Ke has fallen from the clouds and is no longer so mysterious."

"It's not a mystery at all. His ugly drunken appearance is still vivid in my mind."

As they were talking, the group had already walked up to the stage. The soldiers of the Shen family army who were in charge of guarding the stage saw them and saluted them one after another.

"Move the chairs!" The leading captain waved his hand and ordered his soldiers to move chairs for everyone and line them up in front of the stage. "Marshal, Lord, General, Commander-in-Chief!"

"Captain Qu!" Shen Cha looked at him, then at the troupe members who stood up unconsciously and looked a little uneasy, "How is it?"

"General, the injury is not serious, just some superficial injuries, it will be fine after some rest." Captain Qu came back to his senses and looked at him. "General, what are your instructions?"

"Please come over and talk, Mr. Ke."

"Yes!"

Mr. Ke stood at the edge of the stage, looking carefully at the group of people who had come. He always felt that a few of them looked familiar, as if he had seen them somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where they were at the moment.

Just as he was thinking about it, Captain Qu came over and called him, asking him to go and reply.

Although Mr. Ke didn't know the identity of this group of people, seeing the posture of the Shen family army, he had guessed something.

When he came in front of the crowd, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed obediently. When he didn't hear anyone calling him to wake up, he didn't dare to stand up rashly for fear of offending the important people.

Shen Haolin looked at Jin Jing and raised his eyebrows at him.

Jin Jing chuckled and nodded at Shen Haolin. At this time, his military strategist came in handy.

He stood up from his chair, walked slowly to Mr. Ke, circled around him twice, and then spoke lazily.

"Mr. Ke, you need to give an explanation to the people of Jiapingguancheng about this matter." He said slowly, "You may think this matter is nothing, but it is a big deal at the border."

"My Lord, I am just an opera singer. I don't know anything about money."

"Not clear?" Jin Jing raised an eyebrow. "When you divided the money with the boss, when you divided the reward with the boss, you were very clear."

Without waiting for Mr. Ke to explain himself, Jin Jing waved to a soldier, who took a stack of account books from the stage and held them in front of Jin Jing.

"Although you don't admit that you took the money that was used to cheat the people, there are facts here to prove it. You didn't expect that your boss was on guard against you, did you?"

"I only take what I am supposed to take, and I don't know about the rest."

"Really?" Jin Jing flipped through the account book. "Mr. Ke, how much do you get for singing a show?"

"One hundred and fifty taels per game. If there is any reward, all the reward will belong to me."

"Really?" Jin Jing chuckled, "But it's clearly written on the account book that there are 390 taels per session!" Seeing that Mr. Ke was about to say something, he interrupted him, "Don't say you don't know, your signature is on it."

"I don't know, I'll take whatever you give me."

"Don't ask why?"

"No question." Mr. Ke shook his head and looked up at Jin Jing who was standing in front of him. "Who would complain about having too much silver?" "Mr. Ke, don't you think you are being inconsistent? You don't know where the silver came from, but you don't complain about having too much silver."

"Your Excellency, please excuse me. I am just a singer, not the owner of the troupe. I have no business dealing with the origin of the money. I don't care how it came from, as long as I get enough. As for those people who said they spent money but didn't get a seat, and asked the owner to return the money, I think it is reasonable. But there is nothing wrong with the owner's disagreement. It is the same wherever we perform, and I have never seen anyone make trouble." Mr. Ke showed a faint, sarcastic smile on his face, "Poor mountains and bad waters produce unruly people. This time, I have seen it."

"Troublemakers?" Jin Jing sneered, "In my opinion, Mr. Ke and the class owner are the troublemakers."

Mr. Ke didn't expect Jin Jing to say that. He was very surprised. He looked at Jin Jing's expression carefully and found that the other party was serious. He turned to look at other people and found that they also agreed.

"Me? A troublemaker? Why do you say that, sir?" Mr. Ke shook his head gently. "I just said that I can return the money, but I can also not return it. As long as my money is in place, it has nothing to do with me whether I return it or not."

"How can it be unrelated? You are aware of and supportive of the class owner's actions. Without your consent, even if the class owner wanted to do this, it would be impossible, right?"

Mr. Ke looked at them and felt that his previous thoughts were a bit hasty. Although these people were young, they were not as easy to fool as he had imagined. If he didn't deal with them properly, this matter might not be as easily gotten away with as before.

"Your Excellency thinks highly of me. Whether I agree or not, the troupe owner has to do it. I have to listen to the owner in everything when I perform in this troupe. There is no benefit for me to go against him. So, I just go with the flow and don't agree or oppose. Is that not okay?" Mr. Ke looked at Jin Jing, then at the others, and said, "I am just an ordinary person. I can't influence others. What the troupe owner wants to do is his business. As long as he gives me money and lets me perform peacefully, I won't care. As for those so-called deceived people, they have their own culprits and debtors. They can go to the troupe owner to settle the accounts. What's the point of going to me?" He touched his forehead, "Even if they beat me up, I won't give them money. Why bother?"

"That's not up to you." Jin Jing raised her eyebrows slightly, handed the account book in her hand to the soldier next to her, and walked back slowly, "Okay, I've asked enough questions. He knows about it and has no objection, so he also has a copy of it. The final decision still needs to be made by the Duke, Marquis, General, and Commander-in-Chief. But you can't get away with returning the money and paying compensation, right?"

"Yeah!" Shen Haolin nodded and looked at the shocked Ke family. "You may have face in other places, and some local government offices may not care that you, an opera singer, cannot make decisions, but it's different here."

Mr. Ke looked at Shen Haolin very seriously. He really felt as if he had seen this person somewhere. Similarly, he was also very familiar with Xue Ruitian and Bai Meng.

"Have we met this noble man before?"

"Mr. Ke is indeed a noble man who forgets things easily. At the palace banquet many years ago, Mr. Ke's elegance was really impressive."

"A palace banquet from many years ago?" When Mr. Ke heard the word "palace banquet", his face turned pale. "You are..."

"Don't worry about who we are, but we still remember the demeanor of Master Ke at the palace banquet." Bai Meng raised an eyebrow, "After all, Master Ke is the first person in history who could get drunk at a palace banquet and displease the late emperor."

"How did you know that?"

"It's not a secret. Mr. Ke's heroic deeds spread throughout the streets of the capital the next day and became the talk of the streets. What's more, Mr. Ke always likes to offend the powerful. He either makes trouble in the harem, gets drunk at palace banquets, or behaves improperly in the residences of important officials and is sent to Jingzhao Prefecture. Mr. Ke's deeds can be told for days and nights." Shen Cha looked at Mr. Ke, "It seems that Mr. Ke doesn't care whether he will lose his life or not, or he does this knowing that he will lose his life, right?"

But everyone looked at Shen Cha, unable to say a word. He tried desperately to erase those not-so-good past events, but unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do it.

He lowered his head, not knowing what to say, feeling that his life was finally coming to an end.

Song Qiyun was sitting next to Shen Cha. Seeing Mr. Ke trembling, he couldn't help but sigh.

At that time, he was still in his infancy and had no idea what happened at the palace banquet. He only heard later that the man in front of him had gone crazy while drunk at the banquet, which made his father, the emperor, furious. In addition, he had offended his mother before the banquet started, and had been ordered not to enter the palace to perform again.

He originally thought that someone who could do such a thing must be a very carefree person who didn't care about anything, but when he saw the real person, he was somewhat disappointed.

"Wait a minute!" Song Qiyun suddenly thought of a possibility. He looked at Mr. Ke and said, "Mr. Ke, was your troupe leader expelled from the palace and imprisoned in the Imperial Music Bureau because of you?"

Mr. Ke slowly raised his head and looked at Song Qiyu, not understanding why he suddenly asked such a question, and could only nod slightly.

"Yes, he accompanied me in the performance at the palace banquet, so."

"Brother Xiaojing!" Shen Cha interrupted Song Qiyun and waved to Jin Jing. When Jin Jing came over, he whispered, "There should be some pattern on the back of his neck. Brother Xiaojing, please take a look."

After listening to Shen Cha's words, Jin Jing patted her on the shoulder, stood up, walked behind Mr. Ke, pulled down his collar, and indeed saw the pattern behind his neck. This pattern was not unfamiliar at all, it was the totem of the Qinglian Sect.

"Are you from the Qinglian Sect?"

"The Green Lotus Sect? No, I'm not!" Mr. Ke shook his head gently, "I have nothing to do with the Green Lotus Sect."

"Then what's the meaning of this pattern on the back of your neck?"

"This." Ke touched his neck, "It was the idea of ​​the troupe owner. He said that we are one, so it is better for everyone to have a pattern. Not only me, but also other people in the troupe have this pattern."

Jin Jing looked at Shen Haolin and Shen Cha, and seeing them nod, she waved to Captain Qu who had come before her, and whispered a few words to him.

Captain Qu responded, turned around and gave instructions to his soldiers. They checked everyone in the troupe and found that what Mr. Ke said was correct. Everyone in the troupe had this pattern on their body.

"It seems that the boss's reliance is not the fact that he came from the palace, but..."

"The Green Lotus Sect."