Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2509 Reconciliation 51.0

After hearing what Jin Miaomiao said, Ke Chenyi stared at Jin Miaomiao blankly. He looked as if he was frozen and looked particularly stupid.

"What do you mean by looking at me like that, Mr. Ke?"

When Jin Miaomiao saw Ke Chenyi like this, she couldn't help but despise him in her heart. She really should let those who are obsessed with this guy see that the person they like is of this character.

"What does this gentleman mean?" Ke Chenyi said with some difficulty. He swallowed his saliva. "This is the largest and only teahouse in the city. It has nothing to do with me? The real boss is the general?"

"Yes, that's right!" Jin Miaomiao nodded, "The owners of the land deeds and house deeds are all the Duke of Zhenguo Mansion, so they naturally belong to the general."

"But." Ke Chenyi swallowed his saliva, "I heard from my aunt herself that she had a teahouse in the bitter cold border area. Could it be that she was not talking about here?"

"Are you kidding?" Jin Miaomiao sneered. "The people in the court, the Duke's Mansion, the Marquis' Mansion, and the Shen Family Army, are not the same as the Empress Dowager. We are the opposite sides of the court. Is she crazy enough to run to the enemy's territory to open a teahouse? Isn't she afraid that we will find out and expose her secrets?

"But she is the Empress Dowager. If you really do that, aren't you afraid?"

"Why should I be afraid?" Shen Jiu sneered. "Although her crime has not been announced to the world, she is also a traitor and a traitor. If it weren't for the late emperor and Your Majesty showing leniency, she would have been cut into pieces. Letting her end her sins in the cold palace is already very worthy of her. The evil she has done is too numerous to list." He glanced at Mian Bai, who looked unhappy, and said, "Do you think what I said is right?"

"Yes, what the young general said is right." Mian Bai nodded, "I still say the same thing. Although the Empress Dowager has done me a favor, it is a small favor. She has done something that harms Daxia, which is a big favor. Even if I have received the Empress Dowager's favor, it cannot erase the things she did wrong."

"The class owner is righteous."

"General, you are overpraising me. After all, if the Empress Dowager really succeeds, people like me who rely on performing arts for a living will definitely not be able to survive. The people will not be able to live and work in peace and will have to flee from the war. Who will hire musicians to listen to opera?"

"Well, that makes sense."

"Although I was born in a poor family, my family was not always like this. It was just that my grandparents encountered some troubles at that time." The class owner sighed softly, stretched out his arm towards Shen Cha and Shen Jiu, and showed the pattern on it, "This. The general should have heard of it?"

"Is your family related to this?"

"Replying to the general, the reason why I fell into the Jiangnan Music Bureau has a lot to do with them." Mian Bai took the tea handed over by Mei Lin, thanked him politely, covered his mouth with his sleeve, took a sip, and continued, "When my grandmother was seriously ill, my grandfather listened to them and did not hire a doctor to treat my grandmother. Instead, he spent a lot of money to buy the so-called..."

Mian Bai couldn't continue speaking. He took a long time to open his mouth.

"Talisman water, huh?"

"Yes!" Mian Bai sighed deeply and said, "At the beginning, my grandmother's illness was not that serious. If she had consulted a doctor in time, she could have been cured. It would not have turned out to be the case later. But my grandfather would not listen to my father, my eldest uncle, and insisted on going to them to consult a so-called..."

"I spent a lot of money, but the magic water I bought was useless. Not only was it useless, but it made the old lady's condition worse, right?"

"That's right, General." Mian Bai nodded, gave a bitter smile, and continued, "Originally, it was a wealthy family, but because of my grandfather's stubbornness and the persistence of those people, the family eventually became penniless."

"Yeah!" Jin Miaomiao nodded. "Based on my understanding of them, if the victim's attitude becomes a little loose and he no longer trusts them, they will use some very dirty means, such as..."

"They hired hooligans to harass my family, and their methods were extremely vile." Mian Bai sighed, and was silent for a long time before continuing, "In the middle of the night, when everyone was fast asleep, they quietly sneaked into the yard, banging the gongs, waking up the neighbors. When they heard them cursing, they quietly left. Not only that, they also sent people to throw dirty water and feces water at the front and back doors of the yard, doing whatever disgusting things they could, until we were forced to sell the house and couldn't live there anymore. Even so, they refused to stop. Of course, they didn't just do disgusting things, they also used both soft and hard tactics, sending so-called messengers to show their care, saying that this happened because..."

"You're not sincere enough." Jin Miaomiao sneered, "That's why you're haunted by the evil spirit."

"Master Jin is right!"

"Their words are really true." Jin Miaomiao's face was full of disdain, "It has been the same for ten years, without any change." She looked at Mian Bai, "The boss's grandfather must have been scared by them, so he should continue to spend all his family wealth, right?"

"Your Excellency is right. My grandfather was a timid man to begin with. After being tossed around by them like this, he became even more timid and quickly took the money from selling the house and land to offer sacrifices. But even so, my grandmother eventually passed away. But because of my grandmother's illness, the family owed a lot of foreign debts, so my father sold himself and went to the Jiangnan Music Bureau to become a musician. He met my mother in the music bureau, and my mother's experience was exactly the same as his. The two of them gradually became familiar with each other, and two hearts with common experiences came together. After I was born, as far as I can remember, my parents told me to be wary of people with this pattern, but..."

"You never expected that the person who saved you was also the mastermind who kicked your family into the abyss, right?"

"Yes." Mian Bai was not surprised at all that Jin Miaomiao knew all this. These people in the Shen family army were the supporters of absolute imperial power, because they themselves were part of the imperial power. Therefore, they would never tolerate the Empress Dowager's intention to subvert the imperial power.

"You..." Jin Miaomiao looked at Ke Chenyi who was completely dumbfounded. "Are you afraid to believe how dirty the silver you want is?"

"You are not trying to scare me with what you said. Is it all true?"

"The class owner's situation is definitely not an isolated case. In those days, many families were destroyed in this way." Jin Miaomiao raised her eyebrows slightly, "This is not a secret in Jiangnan."

"Yes!" Mian Bai nodded, "The Empress Dowager's family actually made their fortune from this." He looked at Ke Chenyi, "It can be said that your parents, your aunt, your uncles and aunts are all beneficiaries."

"When did you know about the relationship between the Empress Dowager and them?"

"After he became the manager of Yuyueyuan, it was less than two years since he..." Mianbai pointed at Ke Chenyi, "recognized the Grand Empress Dowager."

"That is, you only knew about this two years before he entered the palace?"

“Yes.” Mian Bai nodded. “I once stayed away from the Grand Empress Dowager, but then she noticed it and asked me if I had any opinion about her. I didn’t dare to say anything. I could only say that I was always in contact with the harem and there would be rumors in the palace. But the Grand Empress Dowager said, don’t worry, everyone knows that she just likes to listen to music.” He sighed, “Later I figured it out myself. If I could stay with the Grand Empress Dowager and know who caused my family to be destroyed and caused me to be born a slave, I might be able to avenge my family. But later I found out that the late emperor had surrounded them, and my enemies were gone. As for the Grand Empress Dowager…”

"You still have to repay the favor."

"Yes." Mian Bai nodded, "Repaying favors and revenge is my principle. Since the revenge has been taken, I will continue to repay the favor. So, I stayed by the side of the Grand Empress Dowager until I took over her." He turned his head and looked at Ke Chenyi, "I want to know, when did you hear that the Grand Empress Dowager had a teahouse? Were you hiding outside and eavesdropping when we were chatting?"

"I didn't eavesdrop. I just didn't want to interrupt your conversation. I just listened for a while." Ke Chenyi also knew that he had made a misunderstanding. He touched his chin, thought for a while and said, "That time when I went to the palace to perform, because I helped the Empress Dowager and the late emperor a lot, they let me and the troupe stay in the palace for a while, so as not to be hurt by the rumors outside after I went out. And the ladies in the palace also hoped that we could perform for a few more days, so we agreed. After all, the remuneration for performing in the palace is much higher than that for performing outside. During the days I was in the palace, I went back to see my aunt as long as I had nothing to do. After all, she is my only relative, and I hope to enhance our relationship."

"Then you overheard us talking about the so-called teahouse?" Seeing Ke Chenyi nod, Mian Bai sneered, "When will you change your habit of only listening to the first part and not the second part? The bitter and cold border we are talking about is not Daxia, but Liao, and the teahouse we are talking about is not the teahouse in Jiapingguancheng, but the teahouse in Qilinguan. What's more, the Empress Dowager was not talking about her teahouse, but that if she is free in the future and does not have so much pressure and responsibility, she will leave the palace and open a teahouse in the bitter and cold border."

"I didn't know it then, but now I know it, don't I?" Ke Chenyi sighed, "But who would have thought there was really a teahouse here? When I saw this teahouse, didn't I think it was what I imagined?"

"Then why don't you ask around first!" Mian Bai rolled his eyes. "This teahouse is the property of the late Princess, also known as the wife of the late Duke of Zhenguo. It was the dowry given by the late Emperor to his own sister. It was the dowry of the Duke, the General, and the mother of General Shen. It is the private property of the royal family." He looked at Ke Chenyi, who was shocked, with an indifferent expression. "How can you be so shameless to be thinking about something you shouldn't be thinking about?"

"The class owner knows everything." Shen Cha raised his eyebrows and smiled faintly, "But, you are right, this is indeed my mother's dowry, and it has nothing to do with the Empress Dowager. Mr. Ke should stop having delusions."

"I already know." Ke Chenyi sighed and said with disappointment, "I didn't expect it to be like this. If I have offended you, please forgive me, General. This is indeed my fault."

"Ignorance is not a crime, it doesn't matter." Shen Cha thought for a while, "Does Mr. Ke insist on coming to the border, besides the teahouse, do you have any other ideas? I heard Xiaotong say before that if you only go to a place once, you will..."

"General, don't listen to what that kid said, because what he said is not entirely true. I did want to go to the teahouse, but I also felt that it might not work, so I kept it a secret. However, I have used this trick in other places, but I have never been to those places a second time."

"If I'm not mistaken, the hidden trick you mentioned should be the theater tickets, right?" Shen Cha handed the teacup in his hand to Meilin and glanced at Ke Chenyi. "Master Ke told me before that all this was instigated by the boss Mianbai. He was the one controlling everything behind the scenes. Isn't that right?"

"Yes, that's true." Ke Chenyi nodded. "He has been doing this for many years, and he is happy with it. There is no need to be serious about it, right?"

"Are you so confident?"

"Why not? This is his promise. He will take care of everything and protect me. Why not just do it?" Ke Chenyi glanced at Mian Bai and said contemptuously, "He was originally sent by my aunt to take care of me. What's wrong with him taking the blame for me? Besides, what other use is he? He is a useless person. I respect him by using him."

"Mr. Ke, although you have a good family background, you have been displaced and made a living outside since you were very young. Where did you learn these ways of looking down on others and treating people with contempt? From the opera troupe?" Jin Miaomiao sneered, "Although the owner of the Mianbai troupe made a mistake and was punished with castration, he is not your slave and should not be ordered around by you or treated like this. He tolerated you only for the sake of the Empress Dowager. Have you ever thought about what kind of situation you will end up in if this only affection is worn away by you bit by bit like this?"

"Isn't that the case now? What else could there be? The worst that can happen is that I confess my crime and go to be reunited with my parents and my aunt. This is actually a good thing for me." Ke Chenyi said indifferently with a slightly sarcastic tone, "I have seen, eaten, and enjoyed it. What does it matter if I die now? I don't have any regrets. On the contrary, you are thinking about when I can go on stage and sing twice more every day, but now that I am gone, you have no place to listen. This is your regret, a lifelong regret, isn't it?"