Jiapingguan Chronicle

“I didn’t expect Old Master Mo to have such an experience. But having more experiences like this when you’re young isn’t necessarily a bad thing for him.” Jin Miaomiao stroked her chin and chuckled. “I’ll have a chat with him sometime when I have time.” She glanced at Third Master, “Tianxiang Restaurant released them so easily? What about their chef?”

"The new owner brought back his trusted confidants. Besides acquiring the secret recipes for several famous dishes at Tianxiang Restaurant from Lao Mo, the people he brought back also had their own new recipes. With this combination, Tianxiang Restaurant quickly returned to normal. From the young owner's actions against Lao Mo to the new owner's resurgence, the whole process took about three or four months. Later, I heard that they weren't idle during those three or four months. Because there was little revenue, they simply suspended operations and renovated Tianxiang Restaurant, which is what it is now. The original Tianxiang Restaurant had five floors, but after the renovation, there is only the third floor. The second and third floors are all private rooms with a minimum spending requirement. Most importantly, the dishes at Tianxiang Restaurant that require advance reservations can only be ordered by guests in the private rooms; guests in the main hall on the first floor cannot order them."

"Why is this again?"

"Most of the customers in the hall come because of its reputation, wanting to see what makes Tianxianglou so delicious. They only order a few signature dishes, and in most cases, they don't order the dishes that require reservations. And, as it turns out, the new owner's idea was right."

"He seems like someone who knows how to do business."

"Therefore, Tianxianglou enjoyed many more years of prosperity under his leadership."

"I see." Jin Miaomiao nodded, grinned at the Third Grandfather, and turned to Xiao Fengqi. "Excuse me for interrupting your story. Please continue."

"It's nothing. I'm quite curious about this Tianxiang Tower too." Xiao Fengqi waved his hand, looked at Chu Han, and continued, "Just now, when my great-aunt was young, she went to visit the Miao family with her parents. On the second floor of Tianxiang Tower, she met the Shi family. Although the old lady Shi was not very old at the time, her arrogance was already evident. The Shi family saw the Miao family and stopped to greet them because they were all from Yangzhou and from the same aristocratic family. At that time, they did not know that the people accompanying the Miao family were from the Xiao family, so when they spoke to the Miao family, their words were very offensive, saying things like how kind the Miao family was, helping even unknown poor relatives."

“Yes, the Shi family has always been like this.” Chu Han waved his hand at Xiao Fengqi, seeing the sneer on his face. “I already felt it when we interrogated them. An ordinary member of the Shi family could yell at the officials in the government office, saying that if they dared to treat them like this in the previous dynasty, they would have been killed long ago.”

"They're really arrogant. My master once said that among the powerful families in Jiangnan, the lower their status, the more arrogant they are, and he was right. The scions of families like the Wang, Xie, and Qin families wouldn't say such things, and they wouldn't dare to." Jin Miaomiao sneered, then looked at Xiao Fengqi and asked, "And then? Did the Shi family find out they were from the Xiao family?"

"Understood." Xiao Fengqi sneered. "The elders of the Miao family aren't pushovers; they won't let anyone spread such rumors about them." He thought for a moment, "According to seniority, the elder of the Miao family is my great-aunt's great-aunt, and I..."

"Don't worry about how we address each other, we all understand." Chu Han waved his hand. "Go on."

“Yes, benefactor.” Xiao Fengqi nodded. “After the Shi family finished speaking, that aunt told them slowly that they were actually from the Xiao family. In terms of family, everyone was related. If the Xiao family were poor relatives, then the Shi family were probably the poorest of the poor.”

“That’s right!” Chu Han nodded. “Although the Xiao family only produced one empress dowager, she was a woman who was just as capable as any man. In terms of strategy and vision, she was no less than any wise ruler.” He looked at his third grandfather. “Don’t be upset, I’m just stating the facts.”

"I'm not upset at all; I completely agree with your point of view. I met her once or twice when I was little, and she left a very deep impression on me." The Third Grandfather smiled. "The reason I don't get involved in those messy things in Yiqing Prefecture, and I don't like to fight for power, is somewhat related to her. I told her that I was very interested in studying medicine and in flowers and plants, but my family wasn't willing to listen to me. They thought I was still a child, that I didn't understand anything, and that it was all just a passing fancy. Later, when I went to the palace to see her, I talked to her a lot. She encouraged me to choose the path I liked, to do what I loved, and to be myself, not a puppet of my family or elders." "I heard from the Master that Uncle Shi secretly ran away from home."

“It wasn’t exactly sneaking around. Actually, everyone in my family knew I would leave that night, so they all brought me things during the day, like moving house,” the third great-grandfather said, laughing and crying at the memory. “But I was young then and didn’t know what they were thinking, so I didn’t realize it back then.”

"When did you come up with that idea?"

“When I was learning from my master, I don’t know why, but I suddenly understood. When I returned after completing my studies, I asked my parents why they had come to this realization. They said it was the Empress Dowager who persuaded them, which made them change their minds.”

"Uncle, are you your only child?"

“Of course not.” Third Grandfather shook his head gently. “I have an elder brother and a younger brother. The reason this throne has fallen to me is because they didn’t want to be tied to the throne at home, so they all ran away under various pretexts. My elder brother loved the sea, so he took a group of brothers and went to sea. The last letter that came back was his will. As for my third brother, he fell in love with a woman from the Western Regions and ran away with her. The news came back a thousand years later that he had passed away.”

"When Empress Dowager Xiao did this, didn't anyone suspect her?"

"Do you suspect her of abusing her power for personal gain? Do you suspect her of deliberately weakening the Yelü family's strength?" Third Grandfather shook his head at Shen Cha. "Our branch of the family never had much ambition to begin with. The Empress Dowager reasoned with us and appealed to our emotions, and the family members quickly changed their minds. Anyway, the throne has no place for our family, and no matter how hard we try, we can never become the kings of Liao, can we?"

"That's true. The Xiao family was just one step away from replacing the Yelü family, but they withdrew because they knew that the chair was not easy to sit on. If their descendants were not capable enough, even if they took it now, it would be taken away by someone else."

“That makes sense.” Xiao Fengqi nodded. “Therefore, the Empress Dowager’s dying wish to the Xiao family was to never get involved in this.”

Shen Cha glanced at the Third Grandfather, then at Xiao Fengqi, smiled, took a couple of sips of soup, and said, "What happens after the Shi family finds out they're from the Xiao family?"

"His attitude has changed drastically. As my great-aunt would say, he was arrogant at first and then obsequious, which is utterly despicable." (End of Chapter)