Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2679 Still Vigorous in Old Age 63.0
"Leave it to me?" Shen Cha was slightly taken aback. "Isn't that inappropriate? They are your guards, and you should be the one to punish them if anything happens to them."

“Although you are my guards, you and Haolin are the ones who suffered the most. Whatever punishment you are given, you should be the ones to bear it, right?”

“That’s true,” Shen Cha said hesitantly, “Although it was wrong for them to trespass into my brother’s and my study, there were reasons for it.”

“It’s true there was a reason for it; they were indeed acting on my brother’s orders, but that’s no excuse for their arbitrarily offending you. They could have easily informed me beforehand, and I could have acted as a middleman, asking you what books you’ve been reading lately, if there’s anything you’d like to read, or if we felt we needed to add anything, instead of what happened now.” Chu Han waited for Zhen Buwang and the others, “We almost caused a major disaster!”

"Second Young Master, we..."

"What? Did I say something wrong?" Chu Han raised an eyebrow, looking at Zhen Buwang. "Or is it that you have other purposes besides wanting to see what books the Duke, the Marquis, and the General are reading?"

“There really isn’t any. We just wanted to see what books were in the study, and we had no other purpose. However,” Zhen Buwang glanced at Chu Han and mumbled, “before we left, the Prince repeatedly instructed us that we absolutely could not tell you about this. If you had known beforehand, you definitely wouldn’t have agreed.”

"My brother knows me very well; he certainly won't agree."

"The prince also said that not only will you not agree, but he will also drag us all to the Duke, the Marquis, and the General to apologize, just like we are now. So rather than having to apologize for doing nothing, it's better to just do it, right?"

"You've come to a pretty good point with that, haven't you?"

"No, no, this is not what we said, it is what the prince said. We think it is correct, so we followed the prince's arrangement."

Zhen Buhui knew he was in the wrong, so he spoke softer and softer until, in the end, unless the people present had exceptional hearing, they could hardly hear what he was saying.

"My brother is really something, it's a good thing," Chu Han sighed, looking at Shen Haolin and Shen Cha. "I've noted this down. I won't try to smooth things over for him. When I get back, I'll ask him carefully why he did it. If you want to know what you're saying, just ask him directly. Do you think I'm worried you're lying?"

“Grand Uncle, the reason why Grand Uncle did this is probably because he felt that we have been too busy to study these days, and he was afraid that we would be embarrassed if we asked him about it back then. So he thought of finding someone to take a look to avoid us being embarrassed.”

"No need to speak up for him!" Chu Han waved his hand. "Anyway, my decision remains unchanged. They are yours to deal with as you see fit. You can punish them however you like."

"This..." Shen Cha turned to look at Shen Haolin, and seeing him nod at her with a smile, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Since there was a reason for it, then let's give him a small punishment as a warning." She looked at Zhen Buwang, then at the others, and said, "Whatever the punishment, you will accept it? You have no resentment whatsoever?"

"No, no!" Zhen Buwang looked at his brothers and nodded repeatedly, then quickly replied, "Whatever decision the General makes, we will accept it."

“Since that’s the case, then I’ll take the liberty of punishing you on behalf of my great-uncle.” Shen Cha raised an eyebrow slightly, turned to look at Mei Lin, and said, “Didn’t Xue Mu mention last time that the books in the study haven’t been aired out for a while, and asked us to find some time to help him air them out?”

"Yes, sir, that's true. Steward Xue has been asking about it these past few days, but," Merlin glanced at the weather outside, "it suddenly snowed so heavily today, I don't know if it will be alright for the next few days."

“It’s alright. Uncle will be staying for a while longer. During this time, a few of you can help Steward Xue of the Marquis’s mansion with some chores. It’ll also be a good opportunity to see what books we’ve been reading all this time, so we can report back to Uncle, right?” Shen Cha looked at Chu Han. “What do you think? Is this punishment a bit too harsh?”

"Of course it's not heavy, it's far too light." Chu Han looked at them. "You all heard that, so get back to work and make amends, understand?"

"Yes, we understand." Chu Han waved his hand, watching as Ying Shisan and Merlin immediately untied the ropes binding these people and removed the gags from their mouths.

"Your subordinate is grateful that the General does not blame you!"

“It’s nothing. Ignorance is no excuse. There’s nothing in our study here. Even if you go in, you won’t find anything.” Shen Cha looked at Mei Lin. “Send them to the Marquis’s residence and hand them over to Xue Mu.”

"Yes!" Merlin bowed to the crowd and left with Zhen Buwang and a few others.

"Alright, now that everything's taken care of, we should head back to the teahouse to settle in."

"please!"

Shen Haolin and Shen Cha escorted Chu Han, Fourth Master Jiang, and Xia Chen to the entrance of the flower hall. As Xia Chen passed Ying Shisan, Ying Shisan quietly slipped him a small bamboo tube. Xia Chen glanced at Ying Shisan and saw the other man winking at him.

Watching the two shadowy figures in the mansion accompany the three people away, Shen Haolin and Shen Cha waited for a while before returning to the flower hall.

"What did you give to Seventh Brother?" Shen Haolin gestured for Ying Shisan to sit down and poured him a cup of tea. "So mysterious."

"By imperial decree of the Empress Dowager, ten people will be allocated to the Prince's Mansion in this election."

"Ten?" Shen Cha raised an eyebrow and chuckled lightly. "What's meant to happen will happen, but..."

"Is the eldest brother worried that the Prince might go to sea again in a fit of anger?"

“Yes!” Shen Cha nodded, picked up a pastry and took a bite. “Does His Majesty agree to this?”

“Eldest brother, she is just a maid, not a candidate for the Princess Consort.” Ying Shisan took out a sealed envelope from his pocket and placed it in front of Shen Haolin and Shen Cha. “The Empress Dowager asked me to give you the list of candidates for this election.”

"How many people are there in total?"

"There are about six hundred people. One hundred and fifty will stay in the palace, and another one hundred and fifty will be assigned to various princely residences, county princely residences, and princess residences. The last ones will be given silver and properly sent home."

"Hmm!" Shen Cha nodded. "Although there are six hundred people, only about three hundred and fifty will actually enter the palace." She didn't rush to look at the list, but instead asked Ying Shisan, "Has His Majesty been in good condition since returning to the capital?"

"It's really good, except that he's always thinking about running away." Ying Shisan rubbed his aching eyes. "Boss, thank you for letting Xiao Yi take my place. Otherwise, I might have gone crazy."

"How to say?"

"Others eat three meals a day, but we visit His Majesty three times a day."