Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2666 Still Vigorous in Old Age 50.0
Upon hearing Shen Cha's question, Master Jiang remained silent for a moment before gently shaking his head.

"You mean you're not entirely sure?"

"We weren't sure before, and we can't say for sure now. We," sighed Master Jiang, "well, it's hard to say, but we can say that the possibility is very high."

"What does this mean? Wasn't the investigation conducted back then precisely because they had problems?"

Shen Cha was puzzled. She looked at the others, and they all had similar expressions, their faces full of questions.

"At the time, we just felt they were suspicious, acting furtively, and might be doing something bad in Xijing City, so we investigated. Back then, we only knew about the Qinglian Sect, but we didn't really know how troublesome or difficult to eradicate it was." After saying this, Master Jiang cautiously reached out to take the pastries on the table, but heard Song Yaojia and Xia Chen snort in unison, so he had to withdraw his hand. "Even now, we know that there is definitely someone or a group of people behind Master Falian, but we can't say for sure that the person who was with him back then was the mastermind."

"So, we can only be sure that he has someone backing him, but we can't be sure that this person is the same one we saw in the teahouse and on the streets of Xijing back then, right?"

"Hmm!" Master Jiang nodded. "But even if he's not the person behind the scenes, he's probably a confidant of that person."

"How to say?"

“Master Falian should be the most important pawn that the mastermind put in Great Xia. Although we don’t know what the mastermind is going to do, or how many people he has released, we can be sure that there is only one person who can cause such a big storm and be besieged by us for generations. Such a person should not be easily abandoned.”

“That logic doesn’t quite work.” Shen Haolin shook his head slightly. “Now that Fourth Grandfather has said that, it feels like the Little Prince is being used as a shield to distract us.” He looked at Chu Han. “What do you think?”

“We have considered your suggestion, but…” Chu Han shook his head slightly, “it’s unlikely.” He looked at Shen Cha, “Xiao Cha is an expert in this, so you tell me why.”

"When it comes to chess pieces, fewer but better ones are key," Shen Cha smiled. "If you put too many pieces in, they won't have any restraining effect; instead, they'll easily cause chaos and expose your own weaknesses."

"That's right. Suppose the person behind the scenes has planted pawns other than Little Mudfish in the Great Xia, then there will be two people in charge, forming two organizations with different styles. There will be competition between these two organizations, and the two people in charge will compete for favor with the person behind the scenes. This is not a good thing for the person behind the scenes, and he will eventually choose to abandon one and support the other."

“Perhaps there was another one at the beginning, but now there’s only this one.” Shen Cha nodded. “Judging from the Little Prince’s style of doing things, he’s doing the same thing. His only partner in Great Xia is the Empress Dowager, who only has the Ning family. The Luan family, the Liu family, and later the Wang family, and even the people in the southwest are all subordinates of their subordinates. Only after the Empress Dowager and the Ning family were gone did he choose the Luan family and the Liu family as his successors. It seems that the people behind him are doing the same thing.”

"Hmm, that makes sense." Shen Haolin was convinced by Shen Cha, nodded to her, and poured her a cup of tea to soothe her throat.

After finishing her tea, Shen Cha looked at Master Jiang and held up one finger.

"Shall we move on to the next question?"

“Yes!” Shen Cha nodded. “Is the person behind this, or the person’s confidante, a woman?”

"Well, how should I answer you?" Master Jiang thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. The person we saw in the teahouse was most likely a woman, because we could be pretty sure of it from her height, figure, and clothing, as well as from her vaguely defined features. But..." "But what?"

"The person we encountered on the street that time was a man."

"A man? Is it a woman dressed as a man, or a man dressed as a woman?" Xia Chen stroked his chin. "This enlightened monk is quite extraordinary."

"The person we saw in the teahouse during the Lantern Festival that year was definitely a woman. Judging from her figure, build, clothing, and even her face under the dim light, we could be pretty sure it was a girl. But years later, the person we saw on the streets of Xijing City had a similar build, but a different appearance. However, judging from his clothing, he was definitely a man." Master Jiang sighed. "I've talked to the eldest prince a few times. When they caught up with him, they heard him speak, and his tone and voice were more masculine, but we can't rule out the possibility of him impersonating someone else."

"There's still no answer?"

"No." Master Jiang shook his head gently. "After all, we haven't seen that person since that day. It's as if he disappeared from the world."

“Disappeared?” Xue Ruitian snorted coldly. “He has indeed stopped showing up, but he has started to do things. Through Master Falian and the Empress Dowager, he has silenced everyone who has ever seen him.”

"Little Four!" Chu Han looked at Master Jiang, "Do you still remember what that person looked like?"

"The one in the teahouse and on the street?" Seeing Chu Han nod, Fourth Master Jiang thought for a moment, "I remember, do you want me to draw it?"

“Yes!” Chu Han pointed to the board behind him, “Draw it on this.”

"it is good!"

Master Jiang agreed, finished his tea, stood up, walked to the board, wiped off the drawing, picked up a charcoal pencil, and began to draw portraits of the two key figures he remembered.

"Grand Uncle wants to see what these two people look like, and whether we've seen them before, right?"

"Xiao Cha is so clever, that's exactly what I meant." Chu Han stroked his chin, picked out a pastry that looked good from the table, took a bite, and said, "Hmm, it tastes good, but it's a little too sweet."

Upon hearing this, Master Jiang turned around and said, "Uncle Wang, the one you took is the sweetest one here; none of the others are as sweet."

"Really?" Chu Han raised an eyebrow slightly. "I just find this one more pleasing to the eye." He watched Master Jiang paint for a while, but felt that he couldn't produce anything worthwhile in a short time. He then turned around, looked at the children, and said, "What are your thoughts? Tell me."

“I was just thinking,” Song Yaojia said, taking out his fan again and tapping his palm absently, “Could this person have never left Great Xia and have always lived here?”