Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2620 Still Vigorous in Old Age 1.0
While Master Jiang and Shen Cha were talking about the Empress Dowager's early life, Shen Haolin sat quietly to the side and listened without interrupting. He only spoke a few words when he had questions.

Just as Shen Cha said before, he wasn't really interested in these old stories. In the backyards of wealthy and powerful families, there are bound to be all sorts of messy things. If the head of a family has several children, and these children don't all have the same mother, then it's not uncommon for brothers to fight each other for their own interests.

However, when he heard that the Empress Dowager's seventh grandfather had colluded with bandits for his own benefit, and that they had been brought into his home from the inside, he couldn't help but give this seventh grandfather a thumbs up.

"Brother?"

“Over the years, it’s not uncommon for brothers to quarrel or even for couples to turn against each other, but most of these cases involve relatives, friends, or in-laws. It’s quite rare to see someone befriending bandits and inviting trouble into their home.”

“It is indeed rare to see someone so stupid.” Master Jiang agreed with Shen Haolin. “His elders were good at judging people. If the family business had been handed over to someone like this, it would probably have been lost long ago.”

"Fourth Grandfather is right." Shen Cha glanced at Shen Haolin, who was deep in thought, raised an eyebrow, and said, "What has come to mind, brother?"

"There is indeed a question, but I'm not sure if I should ask it." Shen Haolin glanced at Master Jiang, thought for a moment, and said, "As a junior, it's indeed inappropriate to pry into the past of an elder, especially since it involves their secrets. I..."

"Don't feel embarrassed, I know what you want to ask." Master Jiang waved his hand at him and said with a smile, "You want to ask if it's possible that if you only saw your wet nurse being almost assaulted, she wouldn't have suffered such serious trauma, right?"

".yes!"

"It's not just something she saw; she experienced it herself. That second-in-command really did want to harm her."

"it is as expected."

"Yes, the second-in-command confessed himself. Since he had already done it, he might as well go all the way and not let anyone in this mansion go. He even wanted to take the Empress Dowager back to the mountain stronghold. It was because of this fierce resistance and personal experience that she was left with a shadow etched into her bones. Once a man, even a eunuch, crosses the line in her mind, she will be very vigilant. According to my brother, she is like a cat with its fur standing on end."

"Even Master Falian is not acceptable?"

“That’s right!” Master Jiang nodded. “So, those who know this secret won’t suspect that there’s any illicit affair between the two of them. Even if Master Falian or Ning Changguo once had some admiration for the Empress Dowager, they wouldn’t cross her bottom line and have any further contact with her. Because they know that if they do something too extreme and offend the Empress Dowager, they won’t even be business partners anymore, let alone friends.”

“That makes sense.” Shen Haolin nodded. “The Empress Dowager has a knot in her heart that no one can touch, not even Master Falian, who knows her inside and out, can untie it. So, the white moonlight can only remain a white moonlight, right?”

“Yes!” Master Jiang sighed. “Besides, this Master Falian also has his own ambitions. He won’t give up his ambitions because of the love between a young man and a woman. Perhaps he likes the Empress Dowager very much, but…” “Compared to his goals, he doesn’t like her that much.” Shen Cha spread her hands. “Both of them are ambitious. As for feelings, they can have them or not. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t affect them that much.”

“It’s not that there’s no impact at all. There are still some concerns. They’re afraid the other person will be unhappy, or they worry about whether the other person is in danger. Otherwise, Master Falian wouldn’t have traveled all the way from Jiangnan to Xijing City and willingly helped her open Ciji Hall in Xijing City, right?” Shen Haolin sighed. “Just based on this, no one would believe that there is no affection between them.”

“Brother is right. There’s another point: Master Falian knew that the Empress Dowager deeply hated things like the Forget-Me-Not Powder. So, even though he had the formula for the Forget-Me-Not Powder while the Empress Dowager was still alive, he never proposed to do this business. It was only after the Empress Dowager passed away that he brought the Luan and Liu families and the Ning family under his control and had them do this business for him. After all, with the Empress Dowager gone, her forces suddenly lost their leader, so it was only natural for him to take over.”

"Are you sure he had the prescription at that point?"

"It's confirmed, it must have been taken from the palace." Shen Cha nodded. "I previously searched the palace's private treasury, which stored items from the previous dynasty. There are concrete records that the last emperor suffered from pain, unable to eat or sleep, and relied on a longevity ointment developed by the Imperial Medical Academy to relieve the pain and fall asleep. Miao Miao copied down the formula for the longevity ointment, and the finished product is basically the same as the Forget-Me-Not Powder. However, Miao Miao said that the quality of these things is probably not very good, since the ingredients for the longevity ointment are too expensive, even wealthy merchant families couldn't afford it. So, while the ingredients for the Forget-Me-Not Powder are also acceptable, they are still far inferior to the longevity ointment. But compared to those in pharmacies, the quality is very high."

"Looking at it this way, he can be considered a man of loyalty and righteousness. He knew the Empress Dowager disliked it, so he didn't do it. He only took action after the Empress Dowager passed away." Master Jiang nodded. "You were thinking that since he had feelings for the Empress Dowager, he would also be saddened by the Empress Dowager's nephew because of his affection for her. So you spread the word that the person had been found to lure him here, right?"

"Yes, we are the garlic, but we don't know if he will fall for it."

"Yes, he will." Fourth Master Jiang gave them a very confident answer. "Because this is the Empress Dowager's last wish, she will come to see it no matter what." He looked at Shen Haolin and Shen Cha. "Whether you can catch her in the act depends on your abilities."

Shen Haolin and Shen Cha exchanged a glance and nodded slightly.

"On the other hand, Luan and Liu probably didn't know Master Falian's true identity, but the Empress Dowager, Patriarch Luan, Patriarch Liu, and Ning Changguo did, otherwise they wouldn't have mentioned silencing him."

Before Master Jiang and Shen Haolin could even open their mouths, they heard footsteps behind them. When they turned around, they saw Uncle Yan and Qin Zheng dragging Xue Ruitian and Bai Meng over.

"What's going on here?"

Shen Haolin and Shen Cha exchanged a glance, then quickly stood up to offer Qin Zheng and Yan Bo their seats and poured them tea.

"No matter what, we must go on stage today." Yan Bo stretched out his hand and pointed at Xue Ruitian and Bai Meng, "Let you two ignorant brats see what it means to be vigorous even in old age!"