Jiapingguan Chronicle

"Isn't this a classic case of playing favorites against their master? They really do speak one language to one person and another to another. No wonder they're master and servant." Xue Ruitian snorted, his face full of disdain. "No matter what that Qiu guy's identity is, it doesn't change the fact that he's a complete scoundrel, right?"

Song Yaojia and Xia Chen didn't speak, but they both nodded in unison, indicating that they agreed with Xue Ruitian's assessment of this so-called Mr. Qiu.

"It's not that absolute. He's not the only one who treats people differently based on their status." Shen Haolin looked at Xue Ruitian. "Whether he's a villain or not is uncertain, but it's certain that he's trying to test something, and the person he's trying to test isn't him, but Master Falian."

“If that’s what you say,” Xia Chen stroked his chin, tapped his finger on the table, and said, “that makes sense. After all, this slippery little prince not only didn’t step in to stop this Qiu guy from being so loud and bossy, but he also just watched from the sidelines. That’s quite something.” He looked at Chu Han, “Quite unusual!”

“That’s what I think too.” A hint of disdain flashed across Shen Cha’s face, but it disappeared quickly. She looked at Chu Han and asked, “Has Grand Uncle ever considered that they are doing this to force you to show yourself?”

“I’m afraid they weren’t trying to force me.” Chu Han shook his head slightly, glancing at Shen Haolin and Xue Ruitian. “They stirred up a disturbance to get either Shen or Xue to show up, but things didn’t go as planned; it was me who showed up. He probably knew that no one from the Duke of Zhenguo’s mansion or the Marquis of Wuding’s mansion would show up, so he quickly tried to calm things down and have his people apologize.” He sneered. “I still remember it; what he did was truly memorable.”

"What did he do?"

"It's all his people's fault, it's all because he's bad at managing his subordinates, which has led to these people being so arrogant." Chu Han paused, looked at the children, and said, "Then, he slapped that guy surnamed Qiu hard across the face, so hard that he knocked him to the ground."

"So cruel?"

Everyone was surprised to hear Chu Han's words. The speed at which Master Fa Lian turned hostile and the ruthlessness he displayed were beyond their expectations.

"Unbelievable, isn't it?" Chu Han chuckled. "He's typically ruthless to himself and those around him, and he's incredibly good at acting, leaving no room for criticism. After knocking that guy surnamed Qiu to the ground, he kicked him several more times until Qiu's face turned deathly pale before he stopped. Think about it, if we push him any further at this point, it would seem like we're being unreasonable, wouldn't it?"

"He's a truly cunning and treacherous old fox," Xue Ruitian said, rolling his eyes dramatically. "He can't find the slightest fault in anything."

“No wonder Uncle was so impressed. If it were me, I would have been impressed too.” Song Yaojia sighed. “However, I also have a question for Uncle. I heard that this slippery little prince rarely shows his true face. How did you recognize him?”

“What Brother Yaojia asked is also what I wanted to ask.” Shen Cha looked at Chu Han. “Yanyou said that he only shows his true face in his house on his island, and he disguises himself at other times. Therefore, not many people have seen his true face.”

“That happened after the Qinglian Sect was besieged. Before that, he always showed his true face. Besides, almost no one else had seen him except me.” Chu Han sighed. “Also, even if he disguised himself, I could still recognize him.”

"How do you recognize it?"

Chu Han stood up and drew a hand on the board behind him, but the focus wasn't on the hand itself, but rather on the ridiculously round fingernails. "This is..." Shen Cha squinted at the hand, "Master Fa Lian's hand? It looks like..."

"Short and thick, isn't it?" Seeing Shen Cha nod, Chu Han smiled. "You've all seen his portrait." With a flourish of his pen, he quickly sketched Master Falian's appearance on the board, pointed at the portrait with a charcoal pencil, poked the hand, and laughed, "Isn't this face and hand particularly mismatched?"

"This is not just a little mismatched, it's an extremely mismatched pair."

Apart from Shen Haolin and Shen Cha, everyone else stood up and ran to the board to look at it.

"It's hard to imagine that such a handsome face would have such a chubby little hand." Xue Ruitian looked at everyone and couldn't help but burst out laughing. "I used to think of him as a cunning old fox, but now that this handsome old fox has grown a round paw, he seems to have changed a bit..."

"Cute, isn't it?" Seeing Xue Ruitian nod, Chu Han smiled, then became very serious. "Hands like these and fingernails like these are very rare. You must remember this look so that even if he changes his appearance, you can still recognize him."

"Yes, Grand Uncle."

"And another thing." Chu Han looked at Shen Cha, who had already finished drawing, nodded in satisfaction, erased the portrait next to him, and drew a few accessories. He said, "He always wears a few waist ornaments like these. He doesn't necessarily wear them all every time, but he always wears one or two, or three of them. He takes his clothing very seriously. Also..." Seeing that Song Yaojia, Xia Chen, and Xue Ruitian had also gone back to draw, he waited for them for a while. After they finished, he drew a pair of shoes on the board. "He really likes this style of shoes. I don't know if he's not satisfied with his height, but every time he appears, he wears thick-soled boots. I've never seen such thick boots on anyone else in all these years."

“This preference,” Shen Cha couldn’t help but complain, “is indeed quite unusual.”

"So, as long as you remember all of this, even if he changes in countless ways, he won't escape your eyes."

"Grand Uncle, these have been a huge help to us!" Shen Cha wrote down all the drawings in her notebook and gave Chu Han a thumbs up. "As expected, the old fox is the wisest!"

“That’s right!” Xue Ruitian also gave a thumbs up. “Grand Uncle is indeed Grand Uncle, still vigorous despite his age!”

Chu Han was stunned for a moment after hearing what the two of them said, and shook his head helplessly.

"Even though I know you're praising me, it still feels so awkward!" Chu Han touched his face and looked at Shen Haolin. "Xiao Lin, how do you think they could say those two sentences to a face like that?"

(End of this chapter)