Jiapingguan Chronicle

The roast duck was served quickly, cooked to perfection; the skin was crispy but not burnt, and the meat was tender but not dry.

This time, the roast duck was served per person. The ducks weren't very big, one per person, which was just right.

Old Master Mo specially assigned a chef from the kitchen with exceptional knife skills to slice the duck for them. The duck legs were cut off separately and placed on a plate, which was carried by servants of the Marquis's residence, walking past each person. Anyone who wanted to eat could take one, and those who didn't could refuse.

The duck skin and duck meat were sliced ​​off and placed on separate plates. Each person received a plate of duck skin and three plates of duck meat.

Jin Miaomiao glanced at them, then reached out and took away all the duck skin in front of Chu Han, Third Grandfather, and Shen Cha, leaving not a single plate behind.

"Hey!" Chu Han raised an eyebrow slightly, looking displeased. "What are you doing? I haven't even taken a bite yet!"

"Yeah, what's wrong with having a bite? We won't eat much more."

"Really not going to eat much?" Jin Miaomiao sneered. "You two have long lost your credibility with me. You said you'd only have a sip of wine and a bite of skin, but what happened? You emptied two wine jugs and ate that huge pork knuckle." She looked at Chu Han. "Although that can keep you young and help you live a long life, you still have to be careful. After all, you can still get sick. If you eat too much and hurt yourself, you'll be the one who suffers, right?"

"Okay, okay, I won't eat that. I'll eat something else."

"And Uncle-Master, without your great-uncle's blessing, you can't eat whatever you want. As you get older, you need to take good care of your health. We were hoping you could stay with us for a few more years, so please take good care of yourself."

"Listen to this, listen to this!" Chu Han patted Third Grandfather. "This little mouth is so sweet, she's already saying such things, are you still going to be heartless and not listen to her advice?"

"That's their scheme, but you can't just ignore it."

"Hey, what do you mean by 'our scheme'? We're doing this for your health." Jin Miaomiao snorted, feigning displeasure. "The duck is good, but the roasted skin isn't good for you. Let the younger ones finish it off for you!"

As she spoke, Jin Miaomiao walked up to Shen Jiu and Xia Jiu, placed two dishes on their table, and then put the rest in front of Qi Zhifeng.

“You’re still young, it’s okay for you to eat a little more. You can have a big fight later.” She looked at the duck meat on the table for the three children. “Is this enough? If not, there’s more outside.”

"It'll be alright, but if it's not enough, we'll let you know, don't worry." Shen Jiu glanced at Shen Cha and winked at Jin Miaomiao. "Also, if my sister doesn't want any more, just bring it to me."

“Okay, you all know her appetite, she probably can’t eat more than a couple of bites. You can go and get the rest yourselves. We have something to talk about over there, so we might not be able to take care of you.” Jin Miaomiao nodded, walked back to her seat, and placed the duck meat that looked pretty good in front of her in front of Chu Han and Third Grandfather. “It’s lean, you can eat it.”

Chu Han shook his head helplessly, picked up a piece of duck meat with his chopsticks, put it in his noodle bowl, mixed it, and took a small bite.

"This roasted duck is delicious!"

“Indeed, it’s rare to find such high quality.” Shen Cha nodded, took a couple of bites, and put down her chopsticks. “Grand Uncle just said that the Shi family intends to form a marriage alliance with the Jing Prince’s Mansion, but they should also know that even if they can’t inherit the throne, the Jing Prince’s Mansion wouldn’t marry into the family. They dare to send such an invitation to the Jing Prince’s Mansion, do they have some trump card?” “The trump card is Madam Shi herself.” Chu Han took a bite of duck meat, placed another untouched plate of duck in front of Xiao Fengqi, raised his chin at him, and continued, “At that time, Huayuji had already opened. Although it wasn’t as grand as it became later, and it only had one store, the sales were still quite good. At least in the Shi family’s eyes, their heir was quite capable.”

"They think the Jing Prince's Mansion has high daily expenses, so they need to use their own people to make money?" Shen Cha rolled her eyes helplessly and said, "Don't they know that the Jing Prince's Mansion has far more assets than they do?"

"If they had known, they probably wouldn't have done such a thing. Although the Shi family can be considered one of the prominent families in Jiangnan, their vision and perspective are still far inferior!"

"Indeed," Shen Cha nodded. "But is this Madam Shi, at such a young age, so highly regarded?"

“That’s how it is!” Xiao Fengqi wiped his mouth, put down the bowl in his hand, and said, “The Shi family’s selection of an heir is completely different from other families. They don’t follow common sense. In other words, they don’t care whether the child is born to the legal wife. Instead, they look at whether the child has the ability to take on the responsibility. All the children in the family receive the same education from a young age, read the same books, and have the same tutors. They are tested without the children’s knowledge. Those who pass the test become candidates for heir.”

"How does Young Master Xiao know so much?" Jin Miaomiao looked at him curiously. "Could it be that the Xiao family is the same?"

“Hmm!” Xiao Fengqi nodded. “But the Xiao family has fewer people than the Shi family, so it’s not very obvious. Besides, my younger brothers and sisters are all much younger than me and can’t be my opponents.”

"understood."

Jin Miaomiao nodded, looked at Chu Han who was slurping his noodles, then at Xiao Fengqi who had picked up his bowl and started eating, and then picked up a piece of duck meat with her chopsticks and slowly chewed it.

"This Madam Shi," Chu Han said, wiping his mouth with a handkerchief after finishing most of his bowl of noodles, "after sending an invitation to the Prince of Jing's residence, my brother specifically had someone investigate her. At that time, she was just eleven years old."

"Isn't it a bit early to be engaged at the age of eleven?"

"For families looking for a son-in-law to live with them, this isn't too early. After all, marrying off a daughter and taking a husband are different things," Chu Han smiled. "My brother's investigation revealed that when Madam Shi was nine years old, she had already passed all the Shi family's tests and become a candidate for heir. In the following two years, instead of choosing to open her own shop like other candidates, she took over several struggling shops. In just two years, these shops were revived under her management. Although they weren't particularly profitable, they were much better off than before when they were on the verge of closing down."

"A business genius?" Shen Cha frowned slightly. "It's not that such people won't appear, but" she thought for a moment, "if the people around them don't guide them well, they can easily go astray."

“Xiao Cha is right, that’s exactly it.” Chu Han nodded. “But as you all know, the Shi family isn’t a family with a very upright family tradition. It’s not that the Yelü family has a bad tradition.” He smiled at the Third Grandfather. “It’s just that the Shi family has its own ideas, and they’ve gone astray along the way.”

"Don't worry about me. The Yelü family's family traditions aren't that bad, but they're not much better either."

Third Grandfather smiled, finished the whole bowl of noodles, and then glanced at the duck meat that Shen Cha had barely touched.

"Stop looking, you can't eat anymore!" Jin Miaomiao noticed Third Grandfather's gaze and reached out to block it. "Please wait a moment, duck soup is simmering outside, it'll be ready to drink in a little while." (End of Chapter)