Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2643 Still Vigorous in Old Age 27.0
"The Little Loach Prince? You mean Master Falian?"

Shen Cha and Shen Haolin moved the board out from the corner, bypassed Chu Han who was wandering around the flower hall, and placed the board in the most conspicuous position.

"Yes, it's him." Chu Han strolled around for a while, then stood in front of the board, took the charcoal pencil Shen Cha handed him, gestured to everyone, and said, "Don't you think it's very apt? He's like an eel, slipping away. Even when you see him, even when he's right in front of you, he still manages to slip through your fingers. You're furious, but there's nothing you can do about it." He shrugged. "So, I advise you not to be too optimistic, you must be more cautious."

"Loach is a pretty apt description, but we're not too optimistic. It would be best if we could catch him, but if not, we'll just destroy his base." Shen Cha smiled. "If he wants to make a comeback, it will take him much longer. Let him experience what it means to be alone and helpless, isn't that good?"

She glanced at Merlin, who had just entered, and had someone place the prepared snacks, refreshments, and hot tea on the table.

After Merlin had arranged everything and poured tea for everyone, he knew they had something to talk about, so he quietly withdrew.

She closed the door but didn't leave. She found a sheltered spot to sit down, where she could see anyone approaching the flower hall.

Seeing that Merlin had left, Shen Cha turned her attention to Chu Han. She picked up the cup of tea on the table and handed it to him.

"What did you just say? You want to destroy his stronghold?" Chu Han shook his head slightly. "It won't be easy unless we find someone close to him."

“Actually, we have found it, but we can’t be completely sure yet.” Shen Cha spread his hands. “We don’t know who Master Falian can trust.”

"Right? That aligns with our thoughts. But stop calling him Master Falian, Master Falian, what kind of master is he?"

"Isn't it true? Even this identity is fake?"

"It's not fake. Although he studied under an old monk at Daxiangguo Temple, and the old monk was indeed an enlightened monk, and he himself had a certain understanding of Buddhist scriptures, he was still attached to worldly things and could not transcend the mundane world. He can't be considered a master."

"That's true."

"Now that we've come this far, let's continue. What are your impressions of this Mudfish Prince? What kind of person is he in your eyes, and what qualities does he possess?" Chu Han looked at everyone, his gaze falling on Shen Cha. "Xiao Cha, you go first."

“I think he is a cautious, shrewd, careful and thoughtful person.” Shen Cha watched Chu Han write these words on the board, thought for a moment, and then added, “He is cunning and shrewd, an old fox who has lived too long.” She glanced at Chu Han, “Grand Uncle, that’s not what I meant.”

“I know living too long is indeed meaningless, and I don’t understand why he keeps causing trouble. Anything else to add about the Loach Prince?” Seeing Shen Cha gently shake her head, Chu Han smiled and looked at the others, “Xiao Cha is done. What about you?”

“Disregard for human life.” Shen Haolin glanced at Chu Han and added, “In my opinion, he believes he is the only person in this world, the only one worthy of living. Besides himself and those he deems worthy, everyone else is like dust; their life or death doesn't matter much, they have no impact whatsoever. These people include the followers of the Qinglian Sect, those who make money for him, those who risk their lives for him, and those who stand against him and oppose him. In his eyes, they are not human beings, but merely tools he can use to achieve his goals.” He looked at Chu Han. “That's exactly what I wanted to say.” “Well said!” Chu Han wrote Shen Haolin's words on the board, then looked at Xue Ruitian, Xia Chen, and Song Yaojia, asking, “What about you?”

"We think similarly to Haolin and Xiaochai, we don't have any particular feelings, after all, we've never really met them in person, right?" Xue Ruitian stroked his chin. "Anything else?" He looked at Xia Chen and Song Yaojia, "What do you guys think?"

"I do have some experience, but I'm not sure if I'm right," Xia Chen said, looking at everyone. "Although I haven't had any direct contact with them, I'm probably a little better off than you guys, so I guess I've gotten a basic understanding?"

Chu Han glanced at Xia Chen, "You... ran into him?"

"I don't know if it's him, but my intuition tells me it is."

"What happened?" Chu Han's expression turned very serious. "How did you run into him?"

“Uncle, I sailed out to sea under the flag of the Great Xia, so petty thieves and pirates usually wouldn’t come near us. But the ship we encountered that day was particularly curious and kept loitering around our ship. Later, I felt something was wrong, so I had the sailors call out to them and ask them what they wanted.”

"what did they say?"

“They don’t say anything. We call out to them, and they move away a little, but they come back after a short while.”

"I just wanted to see you guys." Chu Han nodded. "We encountered this before, but we weren't this persistent. We ran away after calling you twice."

"Uncle, you know me. When I was young, I had quite a temper. I could tolerate it once or twice, but after a few more times, I couldn't take it anymore, so..."

"You're thinking that since he can be with you, you can be with him too, right?"

"Yes!" Xia Chen nodded. "Anyway, I didn't have much of a purpose for this voyage. We finally encountered one, so why not follow and see what happened? They probably didn't expect us to react like this, so they quickly turned their ship around and tried to escape. But I wasn't going to let them get away, so I followed them wherever they went, eventually catching up to an archipelago. That archipelago was clearly set up with an array, but I'm not very proficient in arrays, so I could only see it but couldn't break it." Xia Chen sighed and said, "We could only watch helplessly as the ship disappeared. We stayed for a while, and when we were sure it wasn't coming out again, we left. When I came back and talked to Haolin, Xiaocha, and Xiaotian, we discovered that the archipelago was actually this guy's lair. If we had known earlier, we would have chased after them no matter what."

"Luckily, we didn't chase after them. If we had, you wouldn't be coming back." Chu Han sneered. "Be careful in everything you do when you're out there. Didn't I tell you that before you left?"

“Yes, my great-uncle said so, so I didn’t chase after him.” Xia Chen sighed. “However, after I came back, I’ve come to understand something. That guy is unpredictable and hard to fathom. The more I think about it, the less I understand. What is he trying to achieve by causing all this trouble? To restore the previous dynasty? It doesn’t seem like it. We discussed before that if he wanted to restore the glory of the previous dynasty, he wouldn’t have waited until now to take action. If it’s simply to amass wealth…” He shook his head slightly, “It doesn’t seem like that either. In short, I don’t know what he’s trying to do, I don’t know what his purpose is.”

“I have a feeling about him,” Song Yaojia said, glancing at the others. “He seems to really enjoy manipulating others; he seems to love watching it. If anyone ruins all of this, he’ll punish that person and make them wish they were dead.”