Jiapingguan Chronicle

Upon hearing Chu Han's words, the children present were all stunned and looked at him blankly.

“I’m sure it’s him, this is my advisor, but…” Jin Miaomiao looked at Xia Jiu, Shen Jiu, and Shen Cha, then at Xiao Fengqi and Qi Zhifeng, “How…how could they have any connection?”

"Your grandmaster has met people from the Xiao and Qi families." Third Grandfather smiled. "When he took me as his apprentice, your grandmaster took your master to Linhuang Prefecture and met all the royal relatives and nobles from the North and South Courts. When he came back, he told my senior brother and me which families we could contact and which families we should stay away from. He forgot all about it after he finished speaking, but he told us to remember it well."

"It's advice for Master and Uncle-Master, right?"

"Hmm!" Third Grandfather nodded. "My senior brother is alright; he mainly gave me advice." He looked at Xiao Fengqi. "Back when your great-aunt was still a child, my master had already met her and chatted with her for a while. He thought she was a good person, very insightful, and a person of upright character who would stick to her principles. Although the Xiao family would be feared by the Yelü family because of Empress Dowager Xiao, and would experience a period of decline, under her leadership, they would still develop very well. However..." He chuckled softly, "My master said that her love life wouldn't be smooth, and she might end up alone."

"That's not very accurate. With me around, my great-aunt won't die alone."

“That’s not what my master meant. She meant that she didn’t have any children of her own, but she also said that the successor chosen by your great-aunt would be very good and would follow her will.” The Third Grandfather smiled at Xiao Fengqi. “See, wasn’t my master right? As the only heir of the Xiao family, you have followed your great-aunt’s last wishes and, at the right time, allowed the Xiao family to be reborn, right?”

"Yes!" Xiao Fengqi nodded. "Master Qingsong is amazing!"

"As for you," the Third Grandfather looked at Qi Zhifeng, "Master's impression of your grandfather was so-so, but after ten years or so, he met your father and liked him very much. I asked him what was so endearing about him, and he said your father was a person with a childlike heart, who wouldn't easily change his mind once he set his mind on something." He spread his hands, "As it turns out, he wasn't wrong, was he?"

“That’s true.” Qi Zhifeng nodded. “Putting everything else aside, everyone disagreed with him marrying my mother, but he was stubborn to the end, and it turned out he was right. The two of them are doing very well.”

"So I said, my master is quite accurate in judging people."

"Looking at it this way, Uncle doesn't differentiate between Xia, Liao, and Jin people." Shen Cha nodded, looked at Chu Han, and said, "Grand Uncle said that Master had a hard life when he was young, and things only improved after he met Master and Uncle. Is it because he's so good at judging people?"

“It’s because he’s too unconventional that others think he’s an oddball.” Chu Han sighed. “Qingsong’s original family wasn’t particularly wealthy, but they were a decent family. There were three children in the family, and Qingsong was the youngest. Qingsong said that his mother always talked about how the celestial phenomena were very unusual when he was born, with the sky full of red clouds.”

"So is this good or bad?" Jin Miaomiao looked at Chu Han, then at Third Grandfather. "Or is there some other explanation?"

"There's no definitive answer to this; some people think it's good, others think it's bad," Chu Han chuckled. "It all depends on one's own heart, but Qingsong's mother thought it was a good thing, proving that this child was different from other children. Later events proved that he was indeed a very unique person. Qingsong said that when he was little, he was different from ordinary children. While other children were running around outside all day, he preferred to sit alone in the yard all day watching the flowers and plants, watching the sky. When he started his formal education, he changed from watching the sky, the ground, the flowers, and the plants to reading books, to the point that both his family and the people at the school thought he was very unsociable."

"The bullying started, didn't it?"

“Yes!” Chu Han nodded at Shen Cha. “Qingsong was bullied. You know, children are born with two sides—innocent yet cruel. Some of the things they do seem very extreme to us adults, but to them, it's just for fun. They don't have a sense of right or wrong, good or evil, and they don't know the impact their actions will have on others.” “And their parents, grandparents, maternal grandparents, and all sorts of relatives will just use the same excuse.” Shen Cha sneered, “They're just kids, they're just playing around. Don't take it too seriously.”

“That’s right.” Chu Han nodded. “Because Qingsong is quiet and doesn’t mingle with the other children, they isolate him and bully him. They throw his pens and books everywhere and put tiny bugs on his stool to scare him, but Qingsong doesn’t seem to care. The private school teacher knew that Qingsong was being bullied, so he went to Qingsong’s father and brothers, as well as the families of the children who bullied him, to ask the bullies to apologize. But their families just said what Xiaocha said earlier.”

"Completely indifferent, right?"

"Yes, they think it's just kids playing around, nothing serious at all."

"and after?"

“That’s very interesting.” Chu Han chuckled and said, “After Qingsong learned that the children’s elders had this attitude, he comforted his parents and brothers, telling them not to worry, that he had his own way of dealing with it.”

"Will those kids become even more aggressive?"

“Yes, they will.” Shen Cha nodded. “They will think that their parents were invited to the private school by the teacher and accused of bullying them because the clerk complained to the teacher. In the eyes of children, this behavior is very excessive, and they will definitely want to retaliate.”

"Xiao Cha is right. When Qing Song returned to the private school, he found that the people who had bullied him had blocked him at the entrance. The leader ordered his lackeys to surround Qing Song and try to take his things. Qing Song just looked at the child who was giving orders with a very cold gaze, glancing up, down, left, and right. The child felt very scared. Just as he was about to let his lackeys bully Qing Song, he saw Qing Song's eyes roll back and he fainted to the ground."

"Huh? You've already fainted?"

“Yes!” Chu Han nodded. “Moreover, the place where he fainted was right in front of the private school, which is located on the street. When he fainted, many people gathered around to watch. As soon as they saw a group of children surrounding one person, the onlookers knew what had happened. They sent someone to the private school to inform the teacher, while they spontaneously surrounded the children to prevent them from running away.”

"So, did the advisor really faint?"

"I was really dizzy, and I was dizzy for two or three hours."

"How did you do it?"

"Well," Chu Han held up two fingers, "I naturally used a little trick." (End of Chapter)