Jiapingguan Chronicle

"So fierce? He started fighting without warning?" Shen Jiu gave Shen Cha a thumbs up. "Sister is wise. You shouldn't get entangled with someone like him. He doesn't understand any of that stuff. Might makes right."

"It's not quite like that. After all, Gongsun Yu is practically defenseless, and he's injured. If we were to make a move, wouldn't it seem like we're bullying him?" Xia Jiu frowned slightly. "However, for someone like Gongsun Yu who lives entirely in his own world, bullying is probably the most effective method." He looked at Shen Jiu. "Right?"

"That's true." Shen Jiu thought for a moment, looked at her sister, and said, "So, did you chase him away, sister?"

"How did you manage to drive them away?" Jin Miaomiao patted him. "You forgot? Gongsun Yu was beaten up several times before and was so badly beaten that he couldn't get out of bed. This time, when he came to see us off, he even had someone carry a soft chair over. When he was talking to your sister, he specifically dismissed his servants and guards and told them to stay away. So, when your sister made her move, I was the only one there. I would never have stopped her."

"You did an excellent job." Shen Jiu gave her sister another thumbs up and said, "So you hit someone?"

“She didn’t hit him.” Jin Miaomiao waved her hand at Shen Jiu. “Don’t you know what kind of person your sister is? She’s very measured. Every lash looked fierce, like it was hitting Gongsun Yu, but I saw it clearly, it didn’t actually hit him. It was just creating a scary, terrifying atmosphere.” She smiled, turned to Shen Cha, and said, “You just wanted to scare him, didn’t you?”

“That’s one aspect, but there’s another aspect, which is that I wanted to vent my anger.” Shen Cha took a sip of tea, sighed helplessly, and said, “I had a lot of anger inside me at the time, and if I didn’t let it out, I might suffocate.”

"Is it because you feel that while you are fighting to the death on the border, the people there are living a miserable life, but all you get in return is these spoiled brats running rampant in the capital?" Xiao Fengqi immediately understood what Shen Cha meant. He stretched out his hand, and the two patted each other, saying, "When I found out what my family was doing, I had the same thought as you."

“This is all very normal.” Chu Han and Third Grandfather exchanged a glance, then smiled at them simultaneously and said, “Over the years, every time I’ve met people like this, I think the same way you do. Only those who have truly experienced the battlefield know how wretched they were in the past. But there aren’t many people who have this opportunity.”

"That's right," Shen Cha nodded. "Since they can't feel that kind of cruelty, I'll let him experience what the terror of near-death is like. Of course, it's also a way of warning him that the tricks he uses on those young girls won't work on me at all."

"You're flirting with a blind man, aren't you?"

"Hmm," Shen Cha glanced at Xiao Fengqi, who was raising an eyebrow at her with a mischievous grin, and rolled her eyes helplessly. "That's roughly the idea, but at the same time, I'm telling him that I don't have much patience and I'd rather take action than talk."

"No matter what, you did a great job. That kind of person deserves to be beaten!" Shen Jiu high-fived Xiao Fengqi, Qi Zhifeng, and Xia Jiu, then looked at her sister with a smile and said, "So, did you achieve your goal, sister? Was he really scared?"

"Judging from his appearance at the time, he was probably terrified, but he pretended to be calm." Shen Chayi shrugged. "He was lying on the recliner and couldn't move on his own. Even if he was scared, he could only persevere. However, his terrified eyes and pale face betrayed him. I watched his face go from slightly rosy to white, then to deathly pale, and then to ashen. I saw large drops of sweat falling to the ground before I finally stopped. Actually, it didn't last long, and I didn't hit him more than twenty times."

"Twenty or so lashes and he's like this? That's too weak!" Shen Jiu said with a look of disdain. "And then?" "I told him that this matter ended there, and if we met again, we should act like strangers, as if we didn't know each other. If he continued to cause trouble, it was hard to guarantee that the whip wouldn't fall on him next time." Shen Cha smiled. "After giving him the warning, I left without waiting for his reaction. However, before I left, I saw his guards and servants running towards him, and I also heard him ask his guards why the young lady of the Duke's mansion was so rude, hitting people at the drop of a hat."

"It seems he really doesn't know you?" Xia Jiu frowned slightly. "That's unlikely, isn't it?"

“It’s possible.” Seeing everyone’s surprised expressions, Chu Han smiled. “The Marquis of Xibo is good at eating, drinking, and having fun. As for other things, he doesn’t care about anything else at all.” He looked at the children staring at him and explained, “They’ve been bitten by a snake once and are afraid of a rope for a thousand years. The Gongsun family was also a prominent family in the previous dynasty, and they held a considerable position in the court. They weren’t exactly influential, but they were close. The Gongsun family is related to the Wang family by marriage. The great-grandmother of the current Marquis of Xibo is the second young lady of the Wang family.”

"That's still pretty impressive, but why is he so unambitious?"

“Because of fear.” Chu Han sighed. “Once upon a time, everyone was ambitious, and the Gongsun family was no exception. But at the end of the previous dynasty, they were purged by the royal family and eunuchs, and since then, they have never been involved in worldly affairs.”

"Oh, I see."

As soon as Chu Han explained, Shen Cha understood. During the purge in the previous dynasty, many people from the major families in Xijing City died. The last emperor used the excuse of having important matters to discuss to summon the heads and heirs of the major families in the capital to the palace. At that time, the war was urgent, and apart from a few families such as Wang and Xie who did not go to the palace, all the other families sent their heads or heirs to the palace. As a result, none of them came out alive.

The last emperor did this without caring about the backlash or the retaliation from the powerful families. He was thinking that since he was going to die anyway, he might as well take a few people down with him. The more people he had to die with, the happier he would be.

This directly led to most of the aristocratic families fleeing Xijing City, while the remaining families spontaneously opened the city gates and welcomed the Xia army into the city.

Thinking of this, Shen Cha couldn't help but sigh. It was all the fault of the previous dynasty!

"And then?" Xiao Fengqi looked at Shen Cha curiously. "Did you see him again after that?"

"Gongsun Yu?" Shen Cha nodded. "I've met him, but he ran away as soon as he saw me, as if he was really afraid I'd whip him again." (End of Chapter)