Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2711 Still Vigorous in Old Age 95.0
“Yes, that’s the bald guy.” Xiao Fengqi nodded to Qi Zhifeng, then looked at Chu Han and said, “As you know, the Shi family and the Xiao family are somewhat related.”

"Hmm!" Chu Han thought for a moment, "Now that you're the head of the Shi family's main branch, you should call me Seventh Uncle, right?"

“That’s right.” Xiao Fengqi sighed. “Because of this, when the Shi family’s caravan passed through Linhuang Prefecture, the Xiao family was responsible for receiving them. However, at that time, I was still young and was just following the adults in my family to watch the excitement and see what the Shi family’s caravan was like. Also with me were two young masters of the Yelü family and little brother Qi.” He looked at Qi Zhifeng and reached out to rub his head. “This guy was only five or six years old at the time, right? He was led by the two young masters of the Yelü family, one on each side, following me. Children are not qualified to stand in front, not even the heirs of various families. They just stood far away and watched the adults socialize.”

"I can't remember anything else, but I do remember that the leader of the caravan was a big bald man. His head was really shiny, even shinier than a gemstone. He wasn't very tall, probably not even as tall as I am now, maybe up to my earlobe. He wasn't particularly strong either, he looked lean and wiry, quite different from the image of a noble family scion from the Central Plains that we usually have of him."

“After all, they are merchants, completely different from those pampered scions of noble families.” Xia Chen smiled. “Once they go out and see the world, they broaden their horizons and become incomparable to those people.”

"But there's one thing they all have in common." Qi Zhifeng snorted twice, "They're so arrogant and disdainful of the elders of the Xiao family."

“Yes!” Xiao Fengqi sighed. “The entire caravan was incredibly arrogant. They spoke to the people who received them with their heads held high. When they arrived at the inn where they stayed,” he looked at Shen Cha, “the one the General stayed at, they expressed extreme dissatisfaction, picking and choosing, nothing seemed to meet their standards.”

"The place I'm staying at?" Shen Cha, Jin Miaomiao, and Mei Lin, who was sitting to the side for some unknown reason, exchanged a glance. "It's pretty good. I think it's quite nice. The innkeeper is very welcoming, the food is clean, and it suits my taste perfectly."

"Perhaps it's because Sister Xiaocha has lived in the north for many years, so everyone's lifestyle habits are similar, but..."

"They're just a traveling merchant caravan, what's there to complain about in terms of customs or tastes!" Jin Miaomiao rolled her eyes. "They just want to show off in front of you because they have some connections."

“That’s right.” Xiao Fengqi sighed, nodded to Jin Miaomiao, and said, “That’s exactly what they meant. They only rested for two days in Linhuang Prefecture, and those two days turned our lives upside down. They really don’t have any sense of being guests. They can make a ruckus even in the middle of the night. On the day they arrived, they found fault with everything from head to toe. It was either that the bed wasn’t clean, or the food wasn’t clean, or that the people serving them weren’t polite. Basically, they could find fault with everything we could think of and everything we couldn’t think of.”

"Especially that bald guy."

“Yes, especially that bald guy. He’s not even a member of the Shi family’s main branch. He does have the surname Shi, but he’s beyond the fifth degree of kinship.” Xiao Fengqi sneered. “I don’t know if he did it on purpose, but he’s always picking fights, and in the middle of the night no less.”

"Fengqi's brothers couldn't stand by and watch, so they secretly followed them after they left Linhuang Prefecture." Qi Zhifeng looked at Xiao Fengqi. "Did you go with them too?"

"Yes, they didn't want to take me, but they were afraid I'd tell my elders, so they had no choice but to bring me along." "You beat them up?" Shen Cha looked at Xiao Fengqi, and seeing him nod, gave him a thumbs up. "Was that fun?"

"It was incredibly satisfying; I vented all the anger I'd been holding in for the past two days. Not only that, I also wrote several letters with the same content and sent them to the Shi family's main branch through the Yelü family's channels, complaining about their actions. Later, I heard that the bald man was punished by the main branch, and after that, the caravan was replaced. The new leader was much better in attitude."

"Is the Shi family unrelated to Mian?" Shen Cha looked at Chu Han. "Shouldn't these major families disdain doing such a thing?"

“Yes, it’s alright.” Chu Han sighed. “When we interrogated them, their leaders were about the same as this bald guy from the Shi family. We thought they had a lot of backbone, but we didn’t expect them to give up after only a few blows. They all became spineless.”

"A family that bullies the weak and fears the strong has no reason to exist."

Shen Cha looked at Chu Han, wanting to ask a question, but then felt it wasn't appropriate.

"What do you want to ask?" Chu Han raised an eyebrow slightly. "Hesitating like that is not like you."

"I was wondering, have you considered that Mian and the Qinglian Sect could actually mutually destroy each other?"

"I know what you mean, but unfortunately, that's not possible." Chu Han smiled and shook his head at Shen Cha. "The Qinglian Sect and Mian have completely different businesses. Without conflicts of interest, there's no possibility of them fighting to the death. Moreover, the information the Little Prince gave us focuses more on the involvement of those aristocratic families. As for the conclusive evidence in those cases, they don't know about it; we'll have to investigate that ourselves. The Little Prince's ultimate goal is simply to use us to eliminate his sworn enemies, to get rid of all the aristocratic families who were connected to the Imperial Observatory back then and those who attacked him in the past."

"In other words, they were only focused on the movements of their sworn enemy, and didn't have any evidence related to the case." Shen Cha nodded and exchanged a glance with Jin Miaomiao. "After all, they themselves aren't clean. If they act rashly and attract the other party's attention, their own secrets might be exposed."

“That’s right.” Chu Han sneered. “The little prince has lived too long, so he’s very cautious and cunning. He won’t do anything that’s even slightly dangerous or would hinder his grand ambitions. At the time, someone was helping him deal with his sworn enemy, so he didn’t need to risk his own and the future of the Qinglian Sect. However, we did him justice. The families behind Mian were all punished and could never make a comeback.”

"Although Mian has those shady businesses, she should also have legitimate businesses, right?"

“There are powerful families behind them, but after those families fell, their businesses were divided up by other families.” Chu Han smiled and looked at the others. “Guess which family took the most business?”