Jiapingguan Chronicle

After lunch, the others left the central military tent one after another.

Xue Ruitian and Bai Meng are going to the big parade ground to watch the afternoon competition and see if there are any good seedlings that suit their tastes. If so, they can bring them to their side and train them well.

Eagle Leopard and Falcon dragged Shaobai to the small training ground. They had agreed to have a sparring match after lunch. Their main purpose was to try and see how to quickly break through Shaobai's tactics.

Before they left, Shen Cha kept Shao Bai and said a few words to him. It was nothing else, just asking him to stay on the stage for two more days, and then consider stepping down after they got on stage.

Merlin and the others had almost left, so she cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks on the table, put them in a lunch box, and carried it to the door of the big tent. Then she wiped the table, cleaned up the garbage, and made new tea. Except for Shen Cha, Shen Haolin and Song Yaojia had freshly brewed tea in front of them, and there was warm water in front of Shen Cha.

After all this was done, Merlin washed his hands, saluted to the three people, and left the central military tent.

She didn't walk far. She picked up a small stool from the side and sat down at the door of the tent to guard it.

Song Yaojia waited for Meilin to leave, picked up the tea in front of him, took a sip, looked at Shen Haolin and Shen Cha, and raised his eyebrows slightly.

"What do you mean? Is there anything else you two want to ask?"

"Skipping the Spring Banquet shouldn't be the real reason, right?" Shen Cha yawned, leaned on Shen Haolin's shoulder, looked at Song Yaojia, and said, "Since the Emperor's uncle and the prince have known about the existence of the Zeng family for a long time, and they also know that you meet often, they can more or less guess your thoughts and will not force you to attend the Spring Banquet."

"So sure?"

"Yes!" Shen Cha nodded. "They have told you more than once that they want you to find someone who suits your heart and who you love, and not to make the same mistake as them. Whether it's Uncle Emperor, Uncle Wang, or Uncle Ning Wang, they definitely don't want you to go through what they went through. So, since you don't want to attend the Spring Banquet, they let you follow General Yingbao and the commander-in-chief to the border."

Song Yaojia didn't say anything, but slowly drank the tea in the bowl and sighed softly.

"Xiaocha is really thoughtful. The Spring Banquet is just an excuse on the surface. In fact, the people they really want to avoid are my mother's family." Song Yaojia snorted coldly, "This time they made a special trip to the capital just to get someone into the palace."

"Send someone into the palace?" Shen Cha thought for a moment and looked at Shen Haolin, "To strengthen the relationship?"

"That's pretty much what I mean." Song Yaojia nodded, "But it's not just that. My uncle said that their approach is probably the same as it was back then."

"Same as before?" Shen Cha looked at Song Yaojia, then at Shen Haolin, "What way?"

Song Yaojia gestured to Shen Haolin, indicating that he should tell Shen Cha that it was really difficult for her to speak ill of her father and mother.

"My aunt entered the capital as a candidate for imperial consort, just like Consort Hui." Shen Haolin thought for a moment, "They should have entered the capital together. When my uncle was in power, he only selected her that time, not a second time." He looked at Song Yaojia, "Isn't that right?"

"Yes!" Song Yaojia nodded, "On that occasion, Concubine Hui stayed in the palace, and my mother was canonized as the Princess of Dai. And this time, they are planning the same thing." "But, Brother Xiaojue hasn't even started yet, how come..."

"They want to go to the palace in the name of my mother to pay their respects to the Empress Dowager and the concubines. When they do, they want to bring the girls from their families with them to let the Empress Dowager and the concubines take a look. If they are not satisfied, they will try every means to get them into the palace. In fact, they don't have to get them into the Dai Palace. Any palace will do. As long as they can become the Crown Prince's Consort and then the Princess, their goal will be achieved." Song Yaojia sighed, "However, their ideal goal is still to get into the Dai Palace."

"Have they arrived in Beijing?" Shen Cha frowned when she saw Song Yaojia nod, "Have they met the Empress Dowager and several concubines?"

"When I came out, they hadn't." Song Yaojia raised an eyebrow. "It's just that they sent a letter to visit the palace, but my uncle and father are already in Wangxin Town. It's not easy to get in there. You can't get in just by relying on a letter or my mother's reputation. So, they pinned their hopes on the Spring Banquet. If they can attend the Spring Banquet or enter the palace, then their plan will be half successful."

"The ones that Master and Uncle Wang told you about are here?"

"No, the Queen Mother called me into the palace to tell me, because at the beginning, they handed in a sign to enter the palace first."

"The queen didn't agree, did she?"

"Yes!" Song Yaojia nodded. "I didn't reply to them at all, so in order to prevent them from getting involved, I ran away quickly."

"This family's face" Shen Haolin sneered, "It's really big. How dare they come to Beijing after seeing how they treated the princess back then!"

Shen Cha didn't know what the story was. When Princess Dai passed away, she was still being negotiated by the couple and had no idea about the twists and turns involved.

She looked at Shen Haolin, then at Song Yaojia, eagerly waiting for them to answer her questions.

"My mother's family is not high-born. Her family is just an ordinary scholarly family. They opened a few private schools in Xuzhou, that's all. They said they were noble and didn't want to be officials. They just wanted to teach. But what's the truth? Several uncles and cousins ​​from my mother's family failed the exams no matter how hard they tried, so they had no choice but to become private school teachers."

"Families of scholars are the easiest to be chosen." Shen Cha nodded, "What happened next?"

"After my mother became the Princess of Dai, they used the excuse of visiting her to come to the capital every few days and wanted to live in the palace. At that time, my father and mother had just gotten married, so how could they agree? So they found them another place to live, and the rent was borne by the palace. They were not satisfied and wanted to send their two cousins ​​to the Imperial College, but the threshold of the Imperial College was too high. The two cousins ​​could not pass the entrance examination at all. After taking the exam several times, they wanted my father to suppress them with their status, but my father did not agree. At this time, my mother became pregnant, but because her family shouted in the palace every day, within three months, she..." Song Yaojia shrugged helplessly, "This is my brother or elder sister whom I have never met. My father was furious because of this and forced them to be expelled from the capital. After a few years of peace, they came to the capital again because my mother was pregnant again, that is, with me."

"The princess's difficult labor has something to do with them?"

"Yes!" Song Yaojia nodded, "It was the same reason. This time they wanted to send my cousin to the Imperial College. During that time, my mother's condition was not very good. They disturbed her in the palace every day. On the surface, they said they were taking care of her, but in fact they said a lot of sarcastic words. In the end, my mother was so angry that she got very angry and drove them out. Although they were driven out, it had a great impact on my mother. She was depressed for the next few months, and eventually she passed away not long after giving birth to me."

(End of this chapter)