Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2696 Still Vigorous in Old Age 80.0
Bai Meng, carrying two food boxes, heard Shen Cha's words in the flower hall. He raised an eyebrow slightly, looked at Chu Han standing beside him, who refused to move forward after hearing him mentioned, and sighed softly.

Hearing the sigh beside him, Chu Han turned around to look at Bai Meng and smiled.

"Why are you sighing? Your grandfather must have told you that sighing too much at a young age makes you age faster, right?"

"That's true. It's not just my grandfather; all the elders say the same thing."

Bai Meng smiled shyly, looked at Chu Han, then at the flower hall, opened her mouth as if to say something, but didn't know how to start.

"What? What do you want to ask?" He couldn't help but chuckle when he heard Shen Cha say that he had created all the current interrogation methods. "You want to ask me why I didn't go in, right?"

"That's what I mean." Bai Meng nodded. "Wouldn't it be nice to go in and hear Xiao Cha praise you?"

“If I go in, Xiaocha will be too embarrassed to say anything. It’s better to stand outside and listen to what they think of me.” Chu Han raised an eyebrow slightly, snorted, and said, “Don’t think I don’t know. Although we all went through a so-called snow disaster together, you are still distant from me, showing more respect than closeness.”

“Grand Uncle, you are not only our elder, but also the elder of our elders,” Bai Meng looked at Chu Han with a helpless expression. “We respect our elders, but as for being close to them, we can only say that unless we have lived together inseparable since childhood, there might be no possibility.” He thought for a moment and shook his head slightly. “No, not necessarily. Most people are probably like me. No matter what, we just can’t feel close to His Highness the Eagle King.”

“The Eagle King,” Chu Han chuckled, “I understand. I avoid him whenever possible. The Eagle King’s lineage is too bloodthirsty; he carries a murderous aura. So, you only feel awe when you approach him, not affection. But I’m different.” He patted himself, “My hands are clean, I don’t have anything on them.”

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Bai Meng pout with a look of disgust and raise her chin towards the flower hall.

At this moment, Shen Cha's relatively weak voice came from inside the flower hall.

"Don't you believe it? The methods used by the Shadow Camp, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Judicial Review are just a little bit of what our great-uncle used. They didn't learn much, just the basics."

"You heard that? They said it was just the tip of the iceberg." Bai Meng snorted twice. "I haven't seen anything else, but I have seen some of the Shadow's methods. Don't say that His Highness the Eagle King is ruthless; Uncle, you're not much different either."

"Well," Chu Han smiled slightly, "we're all in the same boat. In our line of work, who can really be clean? At most, we just haven't killed anyone." He patted Bai Meng's shoulder, "We're all in the same boat, so let's not judge each other. Besides, that's not a valid reason for you not to get close to me." He gestured with his chin toward the flower hall, "Look at Haolin, Xiaocha, Lao Qi, and Yao Jia, they all have a good relationship with me."

"Grand Uncle, to be honest, Grandfather once mentioned you and the Jing Prince's Mansion to me," Bai Meng shrugged helplessly. "He said that if I ever meet you or Prince Jing, I must show them respect, but..."

"Let's not get too involved, okay?" Seeing Bai Meng smile sheepishly, Chu Han sighed and said, "Old Bai still holds a grudge against me."

"What do you mean?"

Chu Han rolled his eyes and said irritably, "I just visited your residence when I returned to the capital one year and took some of your grandfather's collection with me. Your grandfather is still making a fuss about it."

"You," Bai Meng looked at Chu Han, then suddenly remembered something. "My grandfather once said that a shameless person stole ten jars of Qiuyuebai liquor from him, didn't he? And the new tea that the palace had just bestowed upon him that year, only two ounces in total, was also taken. My grandfather was so angry that he cursed in the streets for days." "So angry?" Chu Han raised an eyebrow slightly. "I haven't been back to the capital for so long, what's wrong with taking some of his wine and tea? With his health, the imperial physicians have told him countless times not to drink alcohol, but he still hides it and drinks it secretly. The late emperor told me that every time the imperial physicians came back from your residence, they would go to the palace to complain."

"Complain?" Bai Meng had never heard of this before. "Complain about what?"

"You're being disobedient, ignoring doctor's orders, and insisting on drinking even when you're told not to. Fine, you'll drink, just admit it. No, you're refusing to admit it at all." Chu Han raised an eyebrow at Bai Meng. "Tell me, is the imperial physician right or wrong?"

Bai Meng wanted to deny Chu Han's words, but her conscience wouldn't let her lie through her teeth. "You're right. I've caught Grandfather doing this more than once. He can clearly smell the alcohol, but he just won't admit it."

"The late emperor was very troubled by this, so he assigned this task to me, who had just returned to the capital."

"You're acting on the orders of the late emperor?" Bai Meng couldn't believe Chu Han's words. "How could that be?"

"You've been working in the palace all these years, so you should know that His Majesty has a jar in his private treasury that has never been touched, right?"

"what!"

Bai Meng suddenly realized that when he was a child, he and Song Jue ran to a small private storehouse of the late emperor. There were many novel things inside, the most eye-catching of which were ten jars of wine. The two of them originally wanted to taste the wine, but the eunuch who was ordered to find them beat them to it and took them out of the storehouse. They did not have the chance to taste the wine.

Later, he and Song Jue also secretly entered that private vault, but found that the ten jars of wine were missing.

"What did you think of?"

"Is the wine you stole still in the palace?"

“That’s right!” Chu Han nodded matter-of-factly and said, “I rarely drink alcohol, especially Qiu Yue Bai, which I don’t like at all, so I sent it to the palace. Compared to alcohol, I prefer tea, so the new tea that I took from your grandfather’s place is indeed mine. Because I took the blame for the late emperor, he gave me a pound of that year’s new tea.”

"I see." Bai Meng looked at Chu Han and couldn't help but exclaim in praise, "Well done!"

"Isn't your change of attitude a bit too quick?" Chu Han looked at him with a half-smile and said, "Just now you were saying I was a shameless person, but now that you know this is the late emperor's will, you've changed your attitude? Xiao Bai, you can't be like this. You have to stick to your original intentions and stick to your initial judgment, right?"

“Grand Uncle, that’s not what I meant. There’s more to the story.”

"What's the second half of the sentence?"

"After you took away my grandfather's collection that time, he was so heartbroken that he didn't touch a drop of alcohol for more than a year. It was because of this that his health gradually improved, and he seemed to have stopped drinking heavily later on."