Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2716 Still Vigorous in Old Age 100.0
"A bowl of cheese?" Jin Miaomiao was taken aback by Chu Han's words, looking at him with confusion, and said, "This stuff isn't rare, is it?"

“Rare? How could it not be rare?” Chu Han shook his head gently, looked at Jin Miaomiao and smiled. “Back then, su luo was a delicacy. Apart from Xijing City and Jiangnan, it was practically unheard of in other places. Moreover, families who could afford su luo were generally either rich or noble.”

"Huh?" Jin Miaomiao was taken aback. "No way. Although there was no such thing in the border area a few years ago, ordinary families can afford it now."

"Didn't you say it was in the last two years?" Chu Han looked at Jin Miaomiao with a smile. "Mianhe's plan was implemented when you were one or two years old, and Haolin and Xiaotian were four or five years old. Don't you think it would take at least ten years?"

“That’s true.” Xiao Fengqi nodded. “When I was a child, cheese was not cheap and it was not common. Usually, only a few families in the palace and those with close ties to the palace had it. It was indeed not very common.”

“That’s right.” Chu Han added hot tea to everyone except Shen Cha, and poured a bowl of plain water for Shen Cha. Seeing her disgusted look, he smiled, “You’re taking medicine, so drink less tea!” He looked at Jin Miaomiao, “Isn’t it okay to not drink tea for two hours before taking medicine?”

“Strictly speaking, you can't drink anything while taking the medicine, only plain water.” Jin Miaomiao patted Shen Cha's arm, helped Chu Han add water to the small tea stove, and watched as the tea stove slowly began to churn. She said, “I was wrong. Back then, it was indeed a rare item. However, the Shi family and the other families, while not as powerful as the Wang and Xie families in Jiangnan, were still quite prominent. Getting a bowl of su luo (a type of cheese) shouldn't be too difficult for them, right?”

"Indeed, but this bowl of cheese is a catalyst, a trigger, that runs through Mian and this raccoon plan."

“Project Tanuki.” Xia Chen stroked his chin. “I remember my family saying that when my grandfather was just born, there was a similar disturbance in the palace, and similar situations occurred in the Liao and Jin palaces around the same time, right?”

"Your Highness is referring to the matter of the concubines in the harem giving birth to a prince, only to have him switched with another?" Seeing Xia Chen nod, Xiao Fengqi sighed and said, "I've heard about it too; my great-aunt was a witness to it."

"What's going on here?" Everyone else looked bewildered, glancing at the two people and then at Chu Han.

"You two are quite young, yet you know a lot!"

“Among our group, we two are probably the oldest.” Xia Chen pointed to himself, then to Xiao Fengqi. “I’m about half a year older than Young Master Xiao. The rest of them are younger than us, and Xiao Cha and Miao Miao are even younger. With just these few years’ difference, we naturally know more. Besides,” he smiled sheepishly, “when I was little, I loved listening to my elders tell stories. You know, I have several aunts who were released from the palace, and they know a lot of stories.”

“That’s true.” Chu Han nodded. “What you’re talking about doesn’t really have anything to do with this Tanuki Project, but we’ve also suspected that this Tanuki Project might be a continuation of the last one. So we investigated it, but found that it’s indeed unrelated.” “But why did similar things happen to Xia, Liao, and Jin almost simultaneously?”

"Because the remnants of the previous dynasty were behind that incident." Chu Han shook his head helplessly. "As you all know, the remnants of the previous dynasty were causing a lot of trouble back then, so it wouldn't be surprising if they did something."

“That doesn’t make sense!” Shen Cha frowned. “It’s one thing for the remnants of the previous dynasty to hate us, but why are they also targeting the Liao and Jin? The Yelü and Wanyan families haven’t offended them, have they?”

"General, you're mistaken. It's not that we haven't offended them; it's that we've offended them quite a bit," Xiao Fengqi sneered. "Back when the Great Xia Dynasty was established, some remnants of the previous dynasty came to our territory begging for our refuge, but we refused. I heard they said some very harsh things, which enraged them. They fought us several times, but lost and suffered heavy losses. They slunk away, leaving behind a threat that they would one day turn our world upside down." He spread his hands towards the crowd. "I don't remember their exact words, but that's the gist of it. So, the enemies of the remnants of the previous dynasty aren't just the Great Xia, but also us. They think we're heartless and collude with the Great Xia."

“It’s already quite remarkable that they could come up with such a reason to hate you,” Shen Cha said helplessly, rolling her eyes. “Then they shouldn’t hate the Little Prince. Their goals are the same as the Little Prince’s. They should have taken the initiative to join forces with the Little Prince instead of angering him and ending up with their entire army wiped out.”

“They hate many people, and it’s hard to say who they hate the most or who they hope will be wiped out.” Chu Han shook his head helplessly and said, “Although the Tanuki Plan has nothing to do with the remnants of the previous dynasty, we believe that this plan overlaps significantly with the last one. It’s highly likely that some of the families, led by the Shi family, still remember something similar that happened before.”

"Trying to copy the cat?" Seeing Chu Han nod, Shen Cha thought for a moment, then exchanged glances with Xia Chen and Song Yaojia. "It's not impossible. Obviously, the reason they joined forces with the nobles of Liaoxia is because there are people there who remember this mess. In their view, the failure that time was probably due to external factors, and this time, as long as they are more careful, there won't be any problems."

"The idea was quite good, but things didn't go as planned. Their plan coincided with the late emperor's thorough investigation of all the cases committed by Mian and Mian. As a result," Chu Han shrugged, "they were just unlucky."

"It was indeed bad luck, but how come Mian, who had been involved in child trafficking for so many years, was suddenly exposed?" Song Yaojia stroked her chin. "Is it related to the Little Prince?"

"No." Chu Han shook his head gently. "Actually, before we officially investigated Mian, there was a very serious case of child abduction in Daxia. To be precise, it wasn't just one case, but several, but no one connected it to Mian at that time."

“Oh, now that you mention it, I understand. I’ve actually heard a bit about that sensational human trafficking case that shocked the Great Xia Dynasty.” Xia Chen took a sip of tea and explained to the others, “That was the year before my grandfather passed away. I don’t know if it was related to my grandfather’s serious illness, but anyway, the beginning of that year wasn’t particularly good. A lot of messy things happened, and this was just one of them.”