Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2707 Still Vigorous in Old Age 91.0
Qi Zhifeng's face puffed up with anger. Without saying a word, he bared his little tiger teeth and reached out to grab Xiao Fengqi.

Xiao Fengqi didn't dodge when he saw him grabbing at him; instead, he happily used him as a scratching post. After all, Xiao Qi's grip wasn't strong enough to hurt him. If he dodged and Xiao Qi missed and got hurt, he wouldn't be able to explain it to Yelü Nan when he got back.

Qi Zhifeng scratched for a while until his anger subsided, then he stopped, huffing and puffing as he moved to sit between Shen Cha and Jin Miaomiao.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was wrong, okay?" Xiao Fengqi apologized to Qi Zhifeng with a cheerful smile, "Please forgive me!"

"Hmph, I won't speak to you for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, but I'll forgive you after that!"

Xiao Fengqi smiled helplessly and could only agree.

Chu Han rested his chin on his hand, watching Qi Zhifeng's commotion, and clicked his tongue twice.

"How could someone as mature and composed as Lord Qi have such a lively son like you?" Chu Han pinched his cheek again and said, "It's good that way. Children should be lively and energetic, not like your father, who is so old-fashioned at such a young age."

"Um," Qi Zhifeng thought for a moment, then mustered his courage and said, "I have a question, but I'm not sure if I should ask it."

"Ask away, ask whatever you want."

"My benefactor, how old are you?"

"Oh, that's very impolite!"

"Huh?" Qi Zhifeng looked at Chu Han with a wronged expression and said, "Didn't you tell me to ask that?"

"I mean, you can't just ask a girl's age, and the same goes for boys." Chu Han's mischievous hand reached out to Qi Zhifeng again, pinching his cheek, and said, "Right now, I'm probably the oldest person in this room, so what you really want to ask is..."

Is there really some secret to longevity or some kind of anti-aging technique?

"Yes, but there will be a price to pay."

“Of course.” Qi Zhifeng curled his lips. “We were just saying that longevity or anti-aging techniques come at a great price, and living a very long time or maintaining a youthful appearance doesn’t seem like a good thing, right?” “Is that what you all think?” Seeing the others nod, Chu Han smiled. “It’s really amazing how clear-headed and insightful these kids are these days.”

"Of course." Xue Ruitian stretched and yawned, saying, "Putting everything else aside, let's talk about your age-preserving technique, Uncle. It must be the most troublesome thing, right? Even in daily life, many people will unconsciously look down on you because you look so young, right?"

"Of course there was some initial discomfort. My appearance didn't change, but my age did. As I got older, I'd hear people say things like, 'You're too young, it won't work out,' and so on. I used to get a little upset about it, but it didn't last long, and I always got my revenge. But now I don't think about it that way anymore. I just take it as a compliment. As long as it's not too much, I just laugh it off and don't do anything excessive. But if they go too far, then they can't blame me."

"Oh!" Qi Zhifeng nodded and said, "Then I have no more questions. You can continue to tell us why Master Falian can't join forces with Mian. Even hatred can be used as a tool, right?"

“The hatred between them is not ordinary. I just asked what the atmosphere was like in the previous dynasty, and you said it was about flattering the weak and belittling the strong, right?” Chu Han looked at Xia Chen and Song Yaojia, and seeing them nod, he continued, “I also said that the description is not accurate enough. To be more accurate, it’s about killing someone and destroying their spirit. To put it bluntly and simply, if you have nothing, they will bring it up and show off in front of you. They want to trample your self-esteem underfoot, and only feel satisfied when they see you with a pained expression and a look of resentment but helplessness.”

"This..." Xiao Fengqi gave a bitter smile. Seeing everyone looking at him, he said, "Isn't this just a coincidence? Most of the families we've come into contact with fight like this. Because they know they can't afford to kill anyone, they all resort to these underhanded tricks. On the surface, everything seems calm, but underneath, undercurrents are surging. If eyes could kill, the nobles of Linhuang Prefecture would have changed several generations ago."

“That’s right. This kind of mental torture is far more powerful than physical violence. Our little prince has been subjected to this kind of psychological torment since he was a child. It’s not uncommon for him to be attacked in secret. There were even young monks at Xiangguo Temple who were bribed by his brothers and sisters to try to kill him. If his master hadn’t been so vigilant, he would have been dead long ago. And all of this was orchestrated by those aristocratic families.” Chu Han sighed softly. “As you all know, this man is not a magnanimous person. On the contrary, he is extremely vengeful. How could he possibly cooperate with his enemies?”

"That's true. Cooperating with an enemy would be a disservice to my former self."

“That’s right.” Chu Han looked at Qi Zhifeng, then at Xiao Fengqi. “Not only did he not cooperate, he also sent us a lot of information.”

"Sending a message?" Shen Cha frowned slightly. "Does he know that you were in charge of Nian Mian's case?"

“No!” Chu Han shook his head gently. “It was those two.” He pointed to Xiao Fengqi and Qi Zhifeng. “Before they were abducted, my mission was to join forces with Liaoxia to investigate Mian. The official statement was that because many cases of child abduction had occurred in the three countries recently, it was suspected to be the work of the same illegal organization. Therefore, we had to join forces to eliminate this organization. But at that time, we had already learned about this organization called Mian by contacting various aristocratic families in Jiangnan, as well as some nobles in Linhuang Prefecture and Yiqing Prefecture who were certain that they were not involved in the case. At first, it was composed of the sons of more than a dozen middle-class aristocratic families. It was originally an expedient measure to resolve the infighting among the aristocratic families, but we did not expect that they would become better and better. As their scale grew larger and larger, their audacity also grew, and they even started to engage in child trafficking.”

"Now that you mention it, the family traditions of those dozen or so aristocratic families are really nothing special; they don't even stop this kind of business."

"This kind of business has always been extremely profitable. Aristocratic families have many members and many restrictions. They can't do this or that, which leads to many aristocratic families being prosperous on the surface but empty inside, with more and more debts. But after doing this business, the holes in their family accounts are filled, and they are not so struggling to make ends meet. Naturally, they will not give it up."

“That’s true.” Shen Cha nodded. “Greed is insatiable, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. It’s always a perfect saying. But…” She hesitated for a moment and said, “They are, after all, members of their own families. Aren’t they afraid their own families will be implicated?”

"Don't worry, if the truth really comes out, we can just cut ties."