Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2579: Atonement for Sins 42.0
"That's right!" Shen Cha nodded, looked at Merlin who had opened the door curtain and brought the kitchen staff in to deliver lunch, waved his hand, and said in a low voice, "We'll talk about Brother Yaojia later."

Song Yaojia didn't know what she wanted to know, so she could only nod and watch Merlin lead the servants to put out several things that were suitable for inside, and also placed two small clay stoves on the long table.

"What are you doing?" Song Yaojia glanced at everyone, and they were all looking at him curiously. He looked at the servant who was lighting the stove and asked, "Do you want to make it here?"

"To answer your Excellency, I made a hot pot. Mr. Mo asked me to light a stove."

"That's right!"

Song Yaojia nodded and watched the servant light the clay stove and put two earthenware pots on it. She watched the soup in the pots slowly boil and smelled the aroma of meat. Before she could do anything, she heard her stomach growling.

"We..." Shen Cha looked at the seven or eight meat dishes on the table and felt that it was a bit too much. He discussed with Shen Haolin, "Should we send some to Miaomiao, Lao Er, and Lao Wu? They probably won't be able to come back for dinner."

"Replying to the general, General Merlin sent someone to deliver a letter earlier. Mr. Mo has already prepared lunch for the prison. The person delivering the food should be here now."

"Not bad!" Shen Cha gave Merlin a thumbs up. "Since they've eaten it, we'll just leave them alone."

Merlin took the servants out and came back to tell Shen Cha and the others that he was going back to the tent to eat, when he saw Shen Cha waving at him.

"what happened?"

"What else?" Bai Meng stood up and pressed Merlin down on his seat. "Let's eat here. Where else are you going?"

The leopard and falcon looked at Merlin and followed Bai Meng's words.

Merlin was not pretentious. He responded and ate with everyone else openly.

"Old Mo said this was specially made for the eldest brother, and it took him half a day to cook!" Merlin took a small bowl, filled it with mutton soup for Shen Cha, and said, "The old man specifically told you to drink a bowl before eating anything else."

"Oh, I see!" Shen Cha took the bowl handed over by Merlin, placed it in front of her, and waved at her, "Don't worry about us, eat your own food."

Merlin responded, sat there obediently, and began to eat his lunch. Shen Cha drank more than half a bowl of mutton soup, and felt a lot warmer. She looked at Yingbao and Yingshuan, who were still talking to Shaobai even when they were eating. She shook her head helplessly, and then looked at Song Yaojia who was chewing a lamb leg, and sighed softly. The Dai Wang Prince should let the noble ladies in the capital see this. His mouth was full of oil, and he didn't look like a gentle and modest gentleman at all.

"What's wrong?" Song Yaojia felt Shen Cha's gaze, turned around and watched her drinking the soup slowly, and was stunned for a moment, "Did I eat it on my face?"

"I think my uncle and uncle Dai will be very pleased to see you like this." Shen Cha looked at Shen Haolin with a smile, "Finally, you are not eating cat food slowly anymore, right?"

Shen Haolin didn't say anything, just nodded, and stuffed the already cut mutton into Shen Cha's mouth.

Song Yaojia swallowed the meat in his mouth, took out a handkerchief from his sleeve, wiped his mouth, took another sip of mutton soup, and then slowly answered Shen Haolin's questions.

"After all, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. If we still eat like that here, wouldn't it seem a bit out of place? Besides, we are all family, and there are no outsiders. Who are we pretending to be like that for?"

"That's right. Palace banquets and other banquets are just for show." Bai Meng picked up a chicken wing and gnawed it. "The food is not tasty and I can't eat enough. It's just pure suffering."

"I have a question. If Brother Yaojia doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't have to." Shen Cha took a steamed bun and ate it, smiling at Song Yaojia, "The Censor and we have never been in the same camp. Even though Mr. Zeng is fair and upright and doesn't just believe rumors and accuse people, he still doesn't get along with us. Brother Yaojia, how come you have an intersection with his child, and..."

"What else?" Seeing Shen Cha's embarrassed look, Song Yaojia finished his mutton soup, smiled, took a bowl and served himself a bowl of diced meat risotto, and said, "Secretly get married? Is that what you want to say?" Seeing Shen Cha nodded, he shook his head gently and said, "You are wrong. We don't even know each other's names, and she doesn't even know my true identity. How can we be secretly engaged? We just have a little affection for each other. When we wanted to get to know each other better, Lord Zeng's transfer order came down."

"How did you two know each other?" Bai Meng touched his chin. "I only heard you mention this person before, but I never knew how you two knew each other. Since you are so concerned about him, the process of knowing each other should be fresh in your memory, right?"

"You guys have no recollection of this incident?" Song Yaojia looked at Shen Haolin, Xue Ruitian and Bai Meng. "Xiaocha has no recollection because she was in the mansion that time and didn't go with us. Didn't you all go together?"

"You mean," Shen Haolin, Xue Ruitian and Bai Meng exchanged glances, "the time when you and Xiaojue were attacked?"

"Yes!" Song Yaojia nodded, finished his bowl of fried rice with diced meat, and then went to get some chicken from the bubbling pot of braised chicken next to him. He also symbolically covered it with a few green vegetables. He sat back in his seat, holding a green vegetable in his mouth, and said, "During that Lantern Festival, although we went with guards, we were crowded together and soon got separated. Xiaojue and I were also squeezed out, and then we met the assassin." He looked at the others and said, "You also know that a little girl dragged us away and hid us in a shop, so we avoided the assassination this time. After all, during the Lantern Festival, the patrol camp and the imperial guards were all on the street. If they made too much noise, they couldn't escape."

"She didn't run away afterwards." Bai Meng sneered, "She was arrested, wasn't she? Princess Runing and the Duke were arrested on the second day of the Lantern Festival. The entire Princess's residence was ransacked, but later evidence proved that the Princess didn't know what the Duke had done, so she was only imprisoned for life. Otherwise, she and the Duke would have been executed."

"Yeah!" Song Yaojia nodded, "But that was the first time I saw her, I mean the little girl who saved us. The second time we met was on the street, with Xiaojue. The three of us met again in the shop where we had hidden before."